Life has been so nutty around here for the last few months that it has taken me a while to catch up on some of the posts I have wanted to write. One of those is one about New Years 2018. We had such a great weekend and it isn't something we want to forget (though it will be long before that happens). So in the interest of documenting the memories, I wanted to post about it.
Before I get to the actual New Years holiday though, I have to back up a bit and talk about our alma mater. UCF managed to do something in the regular football season that no other team could do this year. Go undefeated. It's hard to believe that just two years ago they went winless. Crazy. There were some serious anxiety provoking games (especially at the end), but they did it. They managed to win every game they played which meant winning the conference championship. As the winners of that game, we knew that they were likely going to play in one of the New Years 6 bowls. Namely, the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. So, with nothing more than the hope that they would end up there, we bought tickets to attend the game. Thankfully, it was announced not long after that, that UCF would in fact be playing the Peach Bowl versus Auburn. Whew. The SEC. That's not something to take lightly. We had our tickets and were ready. The biggest bonus to them playing in Atlanta is that meant we could go up and spend some time with Julie, Eric, and Evie for the weekend and they offered to watch the kiddos while we went to the game. We couldn't pass up the weekend with family and football. I told that story to tell this story:
On New Years Eve (Sunday), we set out bright and early for Atlanta. It was cold. And only going to get colder but the kids were ready. We got them up at 7 and loaded them into the car in their pajamas with their blankets and started on the road. They didn't go back to sleep or anything but we like that we can get part of a drive out of the way before they wake up fully and start asking 1,000,000 questions. Or start arguing with each other. Or start bothering us non-stop. We usually leave a bit earlier, but we decided to not rush as much as we often would. One of the downfalls to traveling on a Sunday is that our favorite quick breakfast stop, Chick Fil A, isn't open. Oh well. We made it a couple hours up the road and stopped at a McDonald's. We took a bathroom break, changed the kids into real clothes, and brought breakfast in the car. Unfortunately, Kenzie and Steven were still getting over the flu (which we didn't know was the flu until poor Evie got it pretty seriously and ended up going to the doc). Both Steven and Kenzie ran fevers for about 48 hours but continued to be tired and lack any sense of appetite for the next few days. (Sidenote: Will had it too but literally only ran a fever for less than 24 hours and had no other issues until a couple of weeks later when he had an ear and sinus infection that the doc said could be related to the flu weeks earlier but we will never know for sure. I had it and had a short fever too along with being pretty tired but I wasn't hit as hard as some of the other family members that caught it and both of us were over it at the point that we left for Atlanta.) We started Moana after breakfast and refused to stop driving until we finished the movie... plus some. We made it into Georgia long before lunch and stopped for lunch eventually at Wendy's. We made it in and out fairly quickly. Thankfully... because 10 minutes after we ordered a bus carrying a girls' high school basketball team came in. We would have had to leave if we had arrived after them. There was no way we would have wanted to wait to order when they were all done. After lunch we set up Cars for the kids to watch. Will made it about 15 minutes in and fell asleep. We ended up turning it off shortly after that and Kenzie spent the rest of the drive coloring mostly. She ended up falling asleep about 30 minutes out from Julie, Eric, and Evie's house. Both kids woke up right before we pulled into their driveway. I think we did fairly well for only stopping twice on the way up. We also decided to make this the first really long car trip we took with Will not being in a pull-up at all. And it worked out really well. He tends to not have accidents during naps anyway so even sleeping for more than an hour wasn't an issue. (Now if he would just wake up dry from night time sleep... We could ditch pull-ups all together.) The kids were super excited to see everyone when we got there. We got set up in their house and spent some time resting before we got ready to go to dinner. Thankfully, Julie was able to borrow a couple coats for the kids because it was COLD. We ended up going to Avalon for dinner which has grown substantially since the last time we were there. We ate at a great Mexican restaurant called The El Felix. It was really good. Evie wasn't feeling great and Kenzie was still getting over being sick so none of the kids ate a whole lot. Will ate some of the quesadilla we got them to split and some rice but that was about it. Okay, okay. Both of our kids ate a lot of chips, too. They never pass up chips. Sick or not. We walked around Avalon for a few minutes after dinner but it was so cold that we didn't make it too long. Our Florida bodies are not built for the cold. I told Steven I can't live in a place that I have to spend 15-20 minutes getting everyone ready to walk in the cold at a place like Avalon to spend 4 minutes walking to said place before arriving and spending 10 minutes removing clothing. Bless those people that can and don't mind. It's just not my thing. Julie had made the kids cute New Year's shirts which they wore and when we got back to the house, we had a New Year's Dance Party and did a kids' countdown to the New Year before sending them all off to bed. We went to bed fairly early ourselves because we knew we had a big day the next day.
The next day we were up pretty early with the kiddos. We kept them in bed as long as possible and then I sat with them in the playroom for a while trying to keep them quiet but then it was time for breakfast anyway. After eating breakfast we were about to change over the kids' seats from our car to Julie and Eric's car when Eric came inside to tell us it was snowing. We immediately got the kids bundled to the best of our ability and ran outside. It was minimal flurries but the kiddos were still excited to see snow for the first time. It was freezing though so we changed over the seats and then set out on our way to the Peach Bowl. We decided to drive part way into the city and then take the Marta the rest of the way. On Eric's advice, we chose a station that wasn't too crowded and would let us take one line all the way to the stadium's front door basically. It was pretty easy to get everything figured out and after standing in the crazy cold, we were on our way to the stadium. Okay, well also after we had to change train cars three times due to some issue with doors not securing. We were quite crowded in the cars we eventually ended up in and we were all on our way to the same place so we were stuck together for a while. We made it to the stadium and had to deal with the freezing walk from the train station to the stadium. So. Cold. Steven actually had trouble feeling his feet for the next 30 minutes after we arrived and were back in the warmth. We took off our coats but neither of us ever removed our sweatshirts during the game because we still felt chilly. Mercedes Benz Stadium is amazing! Seriously, we walked in and were in awe. Such a cool place. Also, I'm super glad the roof is broken and unable to be opened. We discussed many times that if this game was outside, we would have NEVER considered going. We found our seats pretty easily. We sat down for a bit before heading out to get some food for lunch. One other thing we noticed (and were told but didn't believe until we saw it), was that the food was crazy inexpensive for stadium food. We each got a hot dog for $2. And the sodas were cheap. Plus there were soda machines so you could refill it. Can't beat that! We sat in our seats and realized pretty quickly that the fans were probably about 70% UCF and 30% Auburn. We'll take it. We enjoyed the pre-game show. The bands were both good but I'm giving the edge to UCF (of course). Then it was time for kick off. The game was phenomenal! There were moments when we thought it was for sure going to be over soon and then UCF would do what they do best and make amazing plays when necessary. I don't think I have ever been to a more exciting game. It all came down to the final few seconds. And then... there at the end... UCF pulled off the unthinkable. They won! The officially completed an undefeated season. We stayed to watch the trophy by presented and bask in the excitement that was UCF football this season.
The ride back on the train was much lighter than the ride to when we were wondering if UCF could pull off something no one thought possible. Thankfully we rode back with almost solid UCF fans as the Auburn people cleared out in the fourth quarter (way before they should have because they were all leaving before Auburn took the lead for the final time... which didn't last). We were still riding the high when we made it back to Julie and Eric's house. We made it just in time for dinner, too. Julie cooked us some yummy pasta and we had a great New Years dinner. At that point, it was pretty late and Evie wasn't feeling very good so we got the kids ready for bed and let them get to sleep. We watched TV for a while after that but turned in early too since we were exhausted.
The next morning we got up pretty early and left to start the long drive home. Unfortunately, Evie had officially caught the flu we had been passing around. She also got it worse than us so we wanted to get out of everyone's hair since they were all dealing with that. Poor little one. She was not feeling good at all. Our trip back home was uneventful. We were having a bit of a fit watching the temperature not get warmer as fast as we would like. It didn't get above freezing until about noon when we were almost to Gainesville. Craziness. We were pretty happy to get back to our (slightly) warmer house. I will admit that we used the emergency heat setting when we first got home just to make the house bearable since we had not left the heat on while we were away. We wish we had more time to spend with Julie, Eric, and Evie in Atlanta but we hope to make it back up sometime sooner rather than later. We so appreciate them letting us infiltrate their house for the weekend and then watching the kiddos while we were at the game. The kids had a blast with them and are still talking about the fun they had and when we can do it again. =)
It was a whirlwind weekend... but so much fun.
Side note: While we were there, we officially finished the Second A Day video for the year. Here it is in case anyone is interested. It is about 12 minutes long but we LOVE the way it turned out.
Before I get to the actual New Years holiday though, I have to back up a bit and talk about our alma mater. UCF managed to do something in the regular football season that no other team could do this year. Go undefeated. It's hard to believe that just two years ago they went winless. Crazy. There were some serious anxiety provoking games (especially at the end), but they did it. They managed to win every game they played which meant winning the conference championship. As the winners of that game, we knew that they were likely going to play in one of the New Years 6 bowls. Namely, the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. So, with nothing more than the hope that they would end up there, we bought tickets to attend the game. Thankfully, it was announced not long after that, that UCF would in fact be playing the Peach Bowl versus Auburn. Whew. The SEC. That's not something to take lightly. We had our tickets and were ready. The biggest bonus to them playing in Atlanta is that meant we could go up and spend some time with Julie, Eric, and Evie for the weekend and they offered to watch the kiddos while we went to the game. We couldn't pass up the weekend with family and football. I told that story to tell this story:
On New Years Eve (Sunday), we set out bright and early for Atlanta. It was cold. And only going to get colder but the kids were ready. We got them up at 7 and loaded them into the car in their pajamas with their blankets and started on the road. They didn't go back to sleep or anything but we like that we can get part of a drive out of the way before they wake up fully and start asking 1,000,000 questions. Or start arguing with each other. Or start bothering us non-stop. We usually leave a bit earlier, but we decided to not rush as much as we often would. One of the downfalls to traveling on a Sunday is that our favorite quick breakfast stop, Chick Fil A, isn't open. Oh well. We made it a couple hours up the road and stopped at a McDonald's. We took a bathroom break, changed the kids into real clothes, and brought breakfast in the car. Unfortunately, Kenzie and Steven were still getting over the flu (which we didn't know was the flu until poor Evie got it pretty seriously and ended up going to the doc). Both Steven and Kenzie ran fevers for about 48 hours but continued to be tired and lack any sense of appetite for the next few days. (Sidenote: Will had it too but literally only ran a fever for less than 24 hours and had no other issues until a couple of weeks later when he had an ear and sinus infection that the doc said could be related to the flu weeks earlier but we will never know for sure. I had it and had a short fever too along with being pretty tired but I wasn't hit as hard as some of the other family members that caught it and both of us were over it at the point that we left for Atlanta.) We started Moana after breakfast and refused to stop driving until we finished the movie... plus some. We made it into Georgia long before lunch and stopped for lunch eventually at Wendy's. We made it in and out fairly quickly. Thankfully... because 10 minutes after we ordered a bus carrying a girls' high school basketball team came in. We would have had to leave if we had arrived after them. There was no way we would have wanted to wait to order when they were all done. After lunch we set up Cars for the kids to watch. Will made it about 15 minutes in and fell asleep. We ended up turning it off shortly after that and Kenzie spent the rest of the drive coloring mostly. She ended up falling asleep about 30 minutes out from Julie, Eric, and Evie's house. Both kids woke up right before we pulled into their driveway. I think we did fairly well for only stopping twice on the way up. We also decided to make this the first really long car trip we took with Will not being in a pull-up at all. And it worked out really well. He tends to not have accidents during naps anyway so even sleeping for more than an hour wasn't an issue. (Now if he would just wake up dry from night time sleep... We could ditch pull-ups all together.) The kids were super excited to see everyone when we got there. We got set up in their house and spent some time resting before we got ready to go to dinner. Thankfully, Julie was able to borrow a couple coats for the kids because it was COLD. We ended up going to Avalon for dinner which has grown substantially since the last time we were there. We ate at a great Mexican restaurant called The El Felix. It was really good. Evie wasn't feeling great and Kenzie was still getting over being sick so none of the kids ate a whole lot. Will ate some of the quesadilla we got them to split and some rice but that was about it. Okay, okay. Both of our kids ate a lot of chips, too. They never pass up chips. Sick or not. We walked around Avalon for a few minutes after dinner but it was so cold that we didn't make it too long. Our Florida bodies are not built for the cold. I told Steven I can't live in a place that I have to spend 15-20 minutes getting everyone ready to walk in the cold at a place like Avalon to spend 4 minutes walking to said place before arriving and spending 10 minutes removing clothing. Bless those people that can and don't mind. It's just not my thing. Julie had made the kids cute New Year's shirts which they wore and when we got back to the house, we had a New Year's Dance Party and did a kids' countdown to the New Year before sending them all off to bed. We went to bed fairly early ourselves because we knew we had a big day the next day.
The next day we were up pretty early with the kiddos. We kept them in bed as long as possible and then I sat with them in the playroom for a while trying to keep them quiet but then it was time for breakfast anyway. After eating breakfast we were about to change over the kids' seats from our car to Julie and Eric's car when Eric came inside to tell us it was snowing. We immediately got the kids bundled to the best of our ability and ran outside. It was minimal flurries but the kiddos were still excited to see snow for the first time. It was freezing though so we changed over the seats and then set out on our way to the Peach Bowl. We decided to drive part way into the city and then take the Marta the rest of the way. On Eric's advice, we chose a station that wasn't too crowded and would let us take one line all the way to the stadium's front door basically. It was pretty easy to get everything figured out and after standing in the crazy cold, we were on our way to the stadium. Okay, well also after we had to change train cars three times due to some issue with doors not securing. We were quite crowded in the cars we eventually ended up in and we were all on our way to the same place so we were stuck together for a while. We made it to the stadium and had to deal with the freezing walk from the train station to the stadium. So. Cold. Steven actually had trouble feeling his feet for the next 30 minutes after we arrived and were back in the warmth. We took off our coats but neither of us ever removed our sweatshirts during the game because we still felt chilly. Mercedes Benz Stadium is amazing! Seriously, we walked in and were in awe. Such a cool place. Also, I'm super glad the roof is broken and unable to be opened. We discussed many times that if this game was outside, we would have NEVER considered going. We found our seats pretty easily. We sat down for a bit before heading out to get some food for lunch. One other thing we noticed (and were told but didn't believe until we saw it), was that the food was crazy inexpensive for stadium food. We each got a hot dog for $2. And the sodas were cheap. Plus there were soda machines so you could refill it. Can't beat that! We sat in our seats and realized pretty quickly that the fans were probably about 70% UCF and 30% Auburn. We'll take it. We enjoyed the pre-game show. The bands were both good but I'm giving the edge to UCF (of course). Then it was time for kick off. The game was phenomenal! There were moments when we thought it was for sure going to be over soon and then UCF would do what they do best and make amazing plays when necessary. I don't think I have ever been to a more exciting game. It all came down to the final few seconds. And then... there at the end... UCF pulled off the unthinkable. They won! The officially completed an undefeated season. We stayed to watch the trophy by presented and bask in the excitement that was UCF football this season.
The ride back on the train was much lighter than the ride to when we were wondering if UCF could pull off something no one thought possible. Thankfully we rode back with almost solid UCF fans as the Auburn people cleared out in the fourth quarter (way before they should have because they were all leaving before Auburn took the lead for the final time... which didn't last). We were still riding the high when we made it back to Julie and Eric's house. We made it just in time for dinner, too. Julie cooked us some yummy pasta and we had a great New Years dinner. At that point, it was pretty late and Evie wasn't feeling very good so we got the kids ready for bed and let them get to sleep. We watched TV for a while after that but turned in early too since we were exhausted.
The next morning we got up pretty early and left to start the long drive home. Unfortunately, Evie had officially caught the flu we had been passing around. She also got it worse than us so we wanted to get out of everyone's hair since they were all dealing with that. Poor little one. She was not feeling good at all. Our trip back home was uneventful. We were having a bit of a fit watching the temperature not get warmer as fast as we would like. It didn't get above freezing until about noon when we were almost to Gainesville. Craziness. We were pretty happy to get back to our (slightly) warmer house. I will admit that we used the emergency heat setting when we first got home just to make the house bearable since we had not left the heat on while we were away. We wish we had more time to spend with Julie, Eric, and Evie in Atlanta but we hope to make it back up sometime sooner rather than later. We so appreciate them letting us infiltrate their house for the weekend and then watching the kiddos while we were at the game. The kids had a blast with them and are still talking about the fun they had and when we can do it again. =)
It was a whirlwind weekend... but so much fun.
Side note: While we were there, we officially finished the Second A Day video for the year. Here it is in case anyone is interested. It is about 12 minutes long but we LOVE the way it turned out.
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