Whew! I'm tired. That's nothing unusual though. We had another big weekend. We started our weekly Spring Happenings list on Friday. Initially we planned on doing our Friday plans on Saturday but then Kenzie had a school friend's birthday come up so we decided to make some last minute changes.
Friday afternoon Steven came home a bit early and we headed out to UCF to take in a baseball game. We have now hit up football, basketball, and baseball with the kids. They like all sports so far... though Will's first question when we mention a sporting event is always about popcorn. The kid has a popcorn problem. We love watching our kids be able to run around our alma mater's campus. It is just so cool. We love that we get to live close and go back to visit all the time as well as take in various activities and sports on campus. I'm hoping we get them so excited about UCF that they follow in our footsteps one day... though they can choose whatever they want. Except USF. You think I'm kidding? No. I'm not paying for that. ;) Maybe.
We ended up making it fairly early to campus and had plenty of time to grab some tickets before walking over to Dominoes for dinner. This is a nice, easy dinner for us on campus that is close by most of the things we go to and we know the kids will eat it. We didn't have to wait long for our pizza and cheese sticks. As usual, we ate it all. Nothing surprising about that. Will had been asking about pizza for three hours at that point since we made the mistake of mentioning it earlier. Kenzie didn't eat as much as she usually does but she said she was full so we didn't push her. We were still able to polish everything off.
Then we headed back toward the baseball stadium. I wanted to run the kids over to the Knight in front of the football stadium for a picture. I wasn't able to get one the last time we were on campus. I don't think I ever got one at Light Up UCF either so it was time to update it. I can go back to Kenzie being about 16 months old at that Knight and I love to see them grow next to it. Besides they might be Future Knights so they might want to see these pictures one day. Maybe they will get used on graduation announcements one day for all we know. =) (P.S. Ignore Will's football jersey. We know we are doing the wrong sport but he is limited and I couldn't find a UCF shirt I liked for him last minute before the game. We want to hold off on buying him too much right now because he seems to be in a growth spurt.)
Then it was time to go into the game. We decided to go to the upper deck to start. We knew we would likely end up moving to the grassy area in the outfield eventually but we wanted to try the seats first. The kids ran around before it got too crowded (though it was never truly crowded up there) and tried out all the seats they could get into it seemed. We started trying to explain some of baseball's rules to Kenzie and realized pretty quickly that if it isn't a sport that you are used to it is seriously confusing. She couldn't understand why when someone hit the ball they didn't get a point. Will was just watching all the action around him though and was too young to really get it so we didn't even try with him.
Knightro came over early in the game and we wondered if Will was going to have a problem like last time when he broke down in tears but he was super excited about Knightro. He wanted to give him a high five and we managed to get a selfie with him.
The game was slow moving (as baseball often is) and the kids attention started to waver some around the second inning. We were honestly wondering if we would even make it half way through the game. After the top of the third I took them down to potty and decided to wait for Steven downstairs until the end of the third when we were going to get a snack and then head out to the grassy area. I stood downstairs for about 15 minutes watching fly balls go over my head. I spent that 15 minutes on high alert. I could totally see our kids being the ones to get beaned in the head because they weren't paying attention. We were also able to snag another picture with Knightro downstairs. Will ran right up to him to give him a hug. Once Steven came down we were able to pick up our snack and move on to a less frightening area of the stadium. Unfortunately, they didn't sell popcorn but we settled on a soft pretzel. Then, even more unfortunately, the pretzel was pretty stale so the kids weren't super into it. At that point though we were in the grass and the kids were running and playing. We had to call Kenzie back a few times because she totally thought she could play with the big boys playing in the area but they were much older than her and ROUGH. We knew she could handle herself to a point but they also didn't want a little kid hanging around. Will was trying to edge his way into their game too but he was less overt about it. Kenzie just walked right up to them and asked to play. He sort of followed some of them around quietly to see if he could get in on the action. Luckily, the kids had each other or I don't think we would have made it long. They ran, slid, rolled, climbed on each other, and did everything else imaginable for the next 5 and a half innings or so. Kenzie did manage to snag a spot next to some calmer big boys down by the fence that were actually watching the game. They seemed okay with her and her little brother tagging along. The boys were funny and were all amused that their 8 year old friend and Kenzie were the same size. they may have been big siblings though because they were perfectly find with Kenzie and Will being right next to them. While we were out there we managed to catch a foul ball. Well, really, it bounced up and landed at Steven's feet but he grabbed it (and was promptly booed by half the stands as they seemed to think he was going to keep it instead of give it to the boys that were hoping to catch it) and gave it to Kenzie and Will. In reality, we kept it because we liked it and don't want it ruined but we are saying it belongs to the entire family. P.S. Can we talk for a second about how cute Kenzie's shirt is?? It is perfect for this Disney Knight. Minnie thinking about UCF is too cute. It's still a bit big but she loves it.
At the top of the ninth we were debating calling it a night and headed back towards the entrance. We were given vouchers when we got there though that if we waited through the game then we could get free shirts. We were so close to the end that we let the kids run around behind the press box at home plate near the exit until the end of the game so we could get the free shirts. It was sort of like being in college again. It was free... so we stayed. Haha! The shirts are thin but actually pretty nice. The kids probably won't wear theirs until they are 12 or 13 because they only went as small as adult small but we have them saved for them for now. We didn't make it home until close to 11. It took Will a while to fall asleep in the car but Kenzie was out before we were off campus. Both kids snored the entire way home and then transitioned to bed easily and slept great all night. We run these kids around like crazy on the weekends but the plus is that they sleep well. Kenzie doesn't nap so she has been falling asleep easier lately in the car than Will.
Saturday morning started pretty early. We decided to head down to the Seminole Wekiva Trail to walk along the trail and find the "Paint the Trail" section. A friend of mine posted a picture with the wings a few weeks ago and so I had to google this trail. We found out that there is a guy that paints murals on sections of fencing for a little over a mile of the trail. We had to see it. Plus, we like any activity that gets us moving and out of the house so this was perfect. We loaded everyone up and headed out. We parked at the Jones Trailhead off Markham Woods Road almost to Lake Mary on advice from a blog I found and walked South along the trail. About a half mile down we started seeing his murals. (The blog said they started within a quarter mile but it was definitely somewhat closer to a half.) They were awesome. There were so many that I wanted to stop to take pictures of all of them but picked and chose a few that we really liked. It went on (with some breaks between some of them) for about a mile or slightly more. Apparently he wants to paint the entire length of the trail which I believe is 12-14 miles long. We eventually found the wings I was looking for and turned around just after that. We ended up walking almost 3.5 miles but we had a terrible pace because we stopped to take so many pictures. Kenzie and Will walked a lot too. Kenzie wanted to run so I ran with her. She made it about .05 of a mile (she has to do .12 or so for the Princess race next February) without stopping but I think we need to just slow her a bit and she will make it farther. She is booking it and wearing out easily so it's a matter of training for her. We made it back to the car right as it started to drizzle. It never really turned into anything, but we were glad we made it back anyway just in case it had wanted to pour or something.
We made it home in time for lunch and Will's nap but I had to get Kenzie ready to go. A friend of hers from school was having a birthday party. Steven and Will stayed home (and then eventually ran some errands) while Kenzie and I went to the party. She had a blast! Her friend had a water slide blow up thing similar to what Kenzie had at her party last year. I think we are going to look into that type of bouncy thing for her birthday this year. She seemed to like it more. It looked pretty cool. For over two hours she bounced between that, the trampoline, and the swingset/play thing. She must have been exhausted but she never let us know. She just kept going. She did pretty well with the pinata too. I'm fairly certain that she is going to be asking for one at her party this year. After the cake was served we headed home. I need to remember to try to create a Facebook page for her class at school so we can keep in contact. Kenzie's birthday is over the summer (obviously) so we have a hard time inviting her school friends. I have a few parents that I am friends with on Facebook but not all of them.
Initially we had plans to try to head out to New Smyrna for a picnic dinner but the party ended later than I guess we were thinking or something so we nixed the idea and instead packed up a picnic and went to Magnolia Park or the "Sunset Park" as the kids call it since we usually watch the sunset. They were able to play on the playground, play a bit of tetherball, and then we found a bench overlooking Lake Apopka for a picnic. After dinner we walked over to the water and watched a small gator swimming around near the shore. There were a few people fishing so he was pretty interested in that and we were all interested in him. There are actually a ton of gators in Lake Apopka (that's the lake that the "gator drive" is along) but we haven't ever actually seen one at Magnolia Park before. We know they are there of course but they don't come out often. Maybe because there are so many people around. All I know is that I would not want to fall in the water. We then drove to the other side of the park to look for peacocks. We found a couple but not as many as we usually see. The kids were pretty tired. Kenzie was so tired that she was having random crying breakdowns so we ended up glad that we didn't go to the beach. I don't know that she could have handled that. Well, in reality she likely would have just fallen asleep on the way there but either way, this worked out well.
Sunday ended up being pretty much the same old, same old. We initially considered trying for that picnic on the beach for dinner but Sundays are tough because we have to get back into the swing of things. While Kenzie doesn't have school on Monday, Steven does have to work and he has to be up and out of the house around 6:45 so we elected to not go. We might add it in next weekend. Steven was volunteering at church (as was I but I only do one service) this weekend anyway so we would have been pressed for time.
Instead we decided to work on some things in the backyard. We finally bagged up all the piles of leaves that I raked last weekend. Our official bag count of leaves removed from the backyard is at 41. We have raked the entire yard BUT we could probably start over again now and go through it over and over again for a while. Leaves are still falling. We also painted the picnic bench we bought at Lowe's. We are so excited about this bench. But before we start to use it, we wanted to stain and seal it to protect it somewhat from the elements. We made a good choice too because it looks awesome! We did two coats on the top and seats and one on the sides. Now, once it is dry I need to get under it and do the inside just so that it looks even when you look at it. Plus, that just adds more protection to it. We want it to last a while. I'm hoping we can get it taken care of and have a picnic on it next weekend. Surprisingly, the kids were a lot of help today. Kenzie helped us stain part of the table. We had to cut her off at some point though because we didn't want it all over her. I'm covered and it's going to be a pain to get off. Then both kids wanted to help rake and pick up leaves. We both elected to skip a run tonight so we could go on a family walk and I don't think either of us regret that one bit. We don't get to do that often anymore because of Steven's crazy work schedule and our running so it was nice to do together.
We are super tired (as we often are) but the kids had a blast and we did too. I say it every week. We just don't like to sit around much. We would rather be tired and have all these new memories. Next weekend might be a bit slower (I think I have said that before) but we still have at least one new thing planned. We have a slightly busy week ahead of us but it will be good to get Kenzie back in school and get back to our (mostly) regular scheduled programming.
Friday afternoon Steven came home a bit early and we headed out to UCF to take in a baseball game. We have now hit up football, basketball, and baseball with the kids. They like all sports so far... though Will's first question when we mention a sporting event is always about popcorn. The kid has a popcorn problem. We love watching our kids be able to run around our alma mater's campus. It is just so cool. We love that we get to live close and go back to visit all the time as well as take in various activities and sports on campus. I'm hoping we get them so excited about UCF that they follow in our footsteps one day... though they can choose whatever they want. Except USF. You think I'm kidding? No. I'm not paying for that. ;) Maybe.
We ended up making it fairly early to campus and had plenty of time to grab some tickets before walking over to Dominoes for dinner. This is a nice, easy dinner for us on campus that is close by most of the things we go to and we know the kids will eat it. We didn't have to wait long for our pizza and cheese sticks. As usual, we ate it all. Nothing surprising about that. Will had been asking about pizza for three hours at that point since we made the mistake of mentioning it earlier. Kenzie didn't eat as much as she usually does but she said she was full so we didn't push her. We were still able to polish everything off.
Then we headed back toward the baseball stadium. I wanted to run the kids over to the Knight in front of the football stadium for a picture. I wasn't able to get one the last time we were on campus. I don't think I ever got one at Light Up UCF either so it was time to update it. I can go back to Kenzie being about 16 months old at that Knight and I love to see them grow next to it. Besides they might be Future Knights so they might want to see these pictures one day. Maybe they will get used on graduation announcements one day for all we know. =) (P.S. Ignore Will's football jersey. We know we are doing the wrong sport but he is limited and I couldn't find a UCF shirt I liked for him last minute before the game. We want to hold off on buying him too much right now because he seems to be in a growth spurt.)
Then it was time to go into the game. We decided to go to the upper deck to start. We knew we would likely end up moving to the grassy area in the outfield eventually but we wanted to try the seats first. The kids ran around before it got too crowded (though it was never truly crowded up there) and tried out all the seats they could get into it seemed. We started trying to explain some of baseball's rules to Kenzie and realized pretty quickly that if it isn't a sport that you are used to it is seriously confusing. She couldn't understand why when someone hit the ball they didn't get a point. Will was just watching all the action around him though and was too young to really get it so we didn't even try with him.
Knightro came over early in the game and we wondered if Will was going to have a problem like last time when he broke down in tears but he was super excited about Knightro. He wanted to give him a high five and we managed to get a selfie with him.
The game was slow moving (as baseball often is) and the kids attention started to waver some around the second inning. We were honestly wondering if we would even make it half way through the game. After the top of the third I took them down to potty and decided to wait for Steven downstairs until the end of the third when we were going to get a snack and then head out to the grassy area. I stood downstairs for about 15 minutes watching fly balls go over my head. I spent that 15 minutes on high alert. I could totally see our kids being the ones to get beaned in the head because they weren't paying attention. We were also able to snag another picture with Knightro downstairs. Will ran right up to him to give him a hug. Once Steven came down we were able to pick up our snack and move on to a less frightening area of the stadium. Unfortunately, they didn't sell popcorn but we settled on a soft pretzel. Then, even more unfortunately, the pretzel was pretty stale so the kids weren't super into it. At that point though we were in the grass and the kids were running and playing. We had to call Kenzie back a few times because she totally thought she could play with the big boys playing in the area but they were much older than her and ROUGH. We knew she could handle herself to a point but they also didn't want a little kid hanging around. Will was trying to edge his way into their game too but he was less overt about it. Kenzie just walked right up to them and asked to play. He sort of followed some of them around quietly to see if he could get in on the action. Luckily, the kids had each other or I don't think we would have made it long. They ran, slid, rolled, climbed on each other, and did everything else imaginable for the next 5 and a half innings or so. Kenzie did manage to snag a spot next to some calmer big boys down by the fence that were actually watching the game. They seemed okay with her and her little brother tagging along. The boys were funny and were all amused that their 8 year old friend and Kenzie were the same size. they may have been big siblings though because they were perfectly find with Kenzie and Will being right next to them. While we were out there we managed to catch a foul ball. Well, really, it bounced up and landed at Steven's feet but he grabbed it (and was promptly booed by half the stands as they seemed to think he was going to keep it instead of give it to the boys that were hoping to catch it) and gave it to Kenzie and Will. In reality, we kept it because we liked it and don't want it ruined but we are saying it belongs to the entire family. P.S. Can we talk for a second about how cute Kenzie's shirt is?? It is perfect for this Disney Knight. Minnie thinking about UCF is too cute. It's still a bit big but she loves it.
At the top of the ninth we were debating calling it a night and headed back towards the entrance. We were given vouchers when we got there though that if we waited through the game then we could get free shirts. We were so close to the end that we let the kids run around behind the press box at home plate near the exit until the end of the game so we could get the free shirts. It was sort of like being in college again. It was free... so we stayed. Haha! The shirts are thin but actually pretty nice. The kids probably won't wear theirs until they are 12 or 13 because they only went as small as adult small but we have them saved for them for now. We didn't make it home until close to 11. It took Will a while to fall asleep in the car but Kenzie was out before we were off campus. Both kids snored the entire way home and then transitioned to bed easily and slept great all night. We run these kids around like crazy on the weekends but the plus is that they sleep well. Kenzie doesn't nap so she has been falling asleep easier lately in the car than Will.
Saturday morning started pretty early. We decided to head down to the Seminole Wekiva Trail to walk along the trail and find the "Paint the Trail" section. A friend of mine posted a picture with the wings a few weeks ago and so I had to google this trail. We found out that there is a guy that paints murals on sections of fencing for a little over a mile of the trail. We had to see it. Plus, we like any activity that gets us moving and out of the house so this was perfect. We loaded everyone up and headed out. We parked at the Jones Trailhead off Markham Woods Road almost to Lake Mary on advice from a blog I found and walked South along the trail. About a half mile down we started seeing his murals. (The blog said they started within a quarter mile but it was definitely somewhat closer to a half.) They were awesome. There were so many that I wanted to stop to take pictures of all of them but picked and chose a few that we really liked. It went on (with some breaks between some of them) for about a mile or slightly more. Apparently he wants to paint the entire length of the trail which I believe is 12-14 miles long. We eventually found the wings I was looking for and turned around just after that. We ended up walking almost 3.5 miles but we had a terrible pace because we stopped to take so many pictures. Kenzie and Will walked a lot too. Kenzie wanted to run so I ran with her. She made it about .05 of a mile (she has to do .12 or so for the Princess race next February) without stopping but I think we need to just slow her a bit and she will make it farther. She is booking it and wearing out easily so it's a matter of training for her. We made it back to the car right as it started to drizzle. It never really turned into anything, but we were glad we made it back anyway just in case it had wanted to pour or something.
 |
| Besides the wings, this was my favorite part. You could add your own thing with sidewalk chalk in containers on the wall. We all decided we want to live at the beach (so we added it) |
Initially we had plans to try to head out to New Smyrna for a picnic dinner but the party ended later than I guess we were thinking or something so we nixed the idea and instead packed up a picnic and went to Magnolia Park or the "Sunset Park" as the kids call it since we usually watch the sunset. They were able to play on the playground, play a bit of tetherball, and then we found a bench overlooking Lake Apopka for a picnic. After dinner we walked over to the water and watched a small gator swimming around near the shore. There were a few people fishing so he was pretty interested in that and we were all interested in him. There are actually a ton of gators in Lake Apopka (that's the lake that the "gator drive" is along) but we haven't ever actually seen one at Magnolia Park before. We know they are there of course but they don't come out often. Maybe because there are so many people around. All I know is that I would not want to fall in the water. We then drove to the other side of the park to look for peacocks. We found a couple but not as many as we usually see. The kids were pretty tired. Kenzie was so tired that she was having random crying breakdowns so we ended up glad that we didn't go to the beach. I don't know that she could have handled that. Well, in reality she likely would have just fallen asleep on the way there but either way, this worked out well.
Sunday ended up being pretty much the same old, same old. We initially considered trying for that picnic on the beach for dinner but Sundays are tough because we have to get back into the swing of things. While Kenzie doesn't have school on Monday, Steven does have to work and he has to be up and out of the house around 6:45 so we elected to not go. We might add it in next weekend. Steven was volunteering at church (as was I but I only do one service) this weekend anyway so we would have been pressed for time.
Instead we decided to work on some things in the backyard. We finally bagged up all the piles of leaves that I raked last weekend. Our official bag count of leaves removed from the backyard is at 41. We have raked the entire yard BUT we could probably start over again now and go through it over and over again for a while. Leaves are still falling. We also painted the picnic bench we bought at Lowe's. We are so excited about this bench. But before we start to use it, we wanted to stain and seal it to protect it somewhat from the elements. We made a good choice too because it looks awesome! We did two coats on the top and seats and one on the sides. Now, once it is dry I need to get under it and do the inside just so that it looks even when you look at it. Plus, that just adds more protection to it. We want it to last a while. I'm hoping we can get it taken care of and have a picnic on it next weekend. Surprisingly, the kids were a lot of help today. Kenzie helped us stain part of the table. We had to cut her off at some point though because we didn't want it all over her. I'm covered and it's going to be a pain to get off. Then both kids wanted to help rake and pick up leaves. We both elected to skip a run tonight so we could go on a family walk and I don't think either of us regret that one bit. We don't get to do that often anymore because of Steven's crazy work schedule and our running so it was nice to do together.
We are super tired (as we often are) but the kids had a blast and we did too. I say it every week. We just don't like to sit around much. We would rather be tired and have all these new memories. Next weekend might be a bit slower (I think I have said that before) but we still have at least one new thing planned. We have a slightly busy week ahead of us but it will be good to get Kenzie back in school and get back to our (mostly) regular scheduled programming.
Comments
Post a Comment