Texan Reunion

8 is great!

This year Doug and I convinced the Gordon's to head out to the happiest aka(craziest) place on earth for Christmas vacation. It sounded like a grand idea (and it was) other than the thousands of people that joined in our fun. But, sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to meet up with your closest friends.

The guys and all the kiddos (minus Luke)
Waiting for a table of "12" at Claim Jumpers

The night before we met up at our hotel. The kids were anxious with excitement. My boys hadn't seen the girls since the day we drove away from their house in San Antonio (1.5 years ago to be exact). I'll have to admit I was a tad worried they wouldn't hit it off like they did when they were younger, but once they saw each other and got the jitters out, it was just like old times. It's even crazier to think Taylor and Mackenzi were 4 and Maci and Jared were 1.5 when they met!

Warning this is just one of MANY self portraits to come of Ang and I.
However, this time we had to silly girls trying to jump in all of them.

Taylor and Mackenzi

Over dinner, we planned out our three day adventure so we could get the most out of the parks. Doug and I worried that our daughter would not be brave enough to ride anything (this was the case a few years back). Our first day we were full of energy and excitement (as you can imagine)

Double jogger, three kids. We're ready to go!
The first ride of choice, the bobsleds. But, before that a family shot.

They moaned, and guess what this is the happiest one I have! Go figure.

The lines weren't terrible for the first few hours, after that they got crazy! Thank goodness for fast passes, baby swap passes, and Greg & Doug who ran around getting them for us. The longest line we ever waited in was about 40 minutes long, I must say we had quite a good little system.

While the boys took the kids on Star Tours we ran for a quick Diet Coke.
The photo was a rarity since there wasn't ever a time people weren't walking by.

This was probably one of our worst decisions to wait in line for. We all got soaked and were freezing. Note to self don't ride unless it's hot outside!

The best surprise of the morning was while waiting in line for Pirates we were able to watch the Princess and Frog parade. It was darling! Definitely a must see.

The views are always better up on dad's shoulders.




Due to some time spent in line we had to get creative with entertainment.
The hand slapping game was one of the boys favorites.

Can you believe the line on Indiana Jones? Oh, my. Angie stayed out with the kids that couldn't ride due to their height and worked some of her motherly magic.

Weston and Luke slept like this for about 2 hours. Nice.

We had about an hour to kill before hopping the Monorail over to Goofy's Kitchen for dinner, so we pit stopped in Toon Town. Not my favorite land, but the kids enjoyed the roller coaster.

I thought this photo was so cool! This was the view waiting for the Monerail to pick us up for Downtown Disney. We planned on eating only one meal in the park (due to the expense) and managed to hold off the kids until dinner. I didn't say it was easy, but they did clean their plates!

Goofy's Kitchen

I was super bummed that the one and only photo of us was blurring. Grrrr..... This always seems to happen when I try and let someone take a group photo. Such is life! I was recommended by a few friends to dine here. It was pricey, but totally worth it. This was by far Weston's favorite place, he couldn't get enough of Goofy. It was an all you can eat buffet from macaroni to steak!

Goofy also liked Greg.

With full tummies we trekked back over to the park for a few more hours of fun. We ended the day (11pm) to be exact riding the Autotopia cars and Thunder Mountain.

And guess what? We did it all again the next day!

The Last Supper

In March of 2002 we matched to our 5th choice of San Antonio. Ironically, neither one of us thought to much about Texas. We knew we ranked it on our list of 13, but never imagined moving here. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and I can help but thank Him each and everyday for placing us in such a wonderful more "fitting" place. Doug phoned the orthopedic department the day after the match to try and get some information regarding, housing, etc. I don't think it was an "accident" that Greg happened to be in the office the minute Doug was on the phone with the secretary. Doug and him exchanged information and we made arrangements to meet the Gordon's a few weeks later.

Best buds

First meetings I will honestly say really aren't the most comfortable. You never know what is running through the other persons head or what they are thinking. After an exhausting day of searching for homes we met up with Greg and Angie for dinner. Still to this day it's a joke because they waited until nearly 9pm to eat. BUT, they did out of the kindness of their hearts. It was also helpful that they too had two children and were members of our church. It's hard to believe Taylor and Mackenzi were only 5, Jared barely 2 years old. You can imagine the excitement we both had the next day when we saw a house down the street from them. (the sign had just gone up that day) It was also the perfect starter home for our small family.

Taylor being the little mother

Fast forward nearly 6 years later and we had grown to be the best of friends from each other, to our husbands and even our children. Angie has been my rock in so many ways. A person to vent to, cry, laugh and kid swap with. Residency would have been 100 times harder if I didn't have a friend to go through it with. Having said all of that, I can't help but shed a few tears today. They sold their home nearly a month ago and after several months of building they are FINALLY moving into their new home. Thursday to be exact. I am sure that they are more than ready. Especially since she has been commuting her girls 13 miles each way to school, morning and afternoon. I know this isn't the last time we will see them, but the convenience of being only 4 houses apart is coming to an end.

Is Meg not the smallest, cutest baby ever?

I told them I was going to make her dinner after the baby came and today happened to be that day. We had a feast and it was pretty good, except for the uncooked potatoes. This may have been our last supper as neighbors but certainly not our last one as friends! We hope that DeZavala won't hinder you coming back to Lincoln Park :) We will REALLY miss you guys!!



blessing: having great friends

What A Treat!

Yesterday we had the Gordon's over for Doug's yummy homemade egg rolls with some Thai chicken. It was a treat to have them over because it has been a really long time since we have had Sunday dinner together. Maci conducted FHE (which was hilarious) and Mackenzi read a message from the friend. I made some sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. They tasted okay, but for some reason the shapes of the pumpkins weren't so much a shape but a blob of cookie.

My head and nose looking mighty scary!

I was about to type that Angie is FINALLY looking pregnant...she's only 7 months--hello! However, looking at this photo you can't even tell so I guess I would be lying if I said that. Well, if you want to call pregnant a mini bump. It was fun to sit and hang out with great friends.

This morning we woke up to some seriously cold weather. It was pouring down rain and in the upper 40's. Since my kids had shorts laid out for school I was frantically going through their drawers trying to find them some warm pants. Most of my boys pants fit around the waist, but they looked like were heading for a flood. I managed to find some to work for today and ran out to Old Navy to stock up for the rest of the week. Talk about being unprepared!

Due to this cold blast (I like to call it) It was a treat for the kids to actually wear warmer clothes and for me to put on my winter shoes. I definitely wasn't about to wear flip flops in this kind of weather. Brrr.

It was a treat to open up my mailbox and find a Halloween card w/stickers from my sister, and a thank you card from Kelly smiling back at me. I was also hand delivered a thank you along with my Tupperware full of cookies from the Clark's. (which was totally unnecessary) Thanks Sara those cookies were yummy! I have to laugh because her husband home teaches us and I think he has dropped us treats by every month. No complaints here!

good deed: prepared a little Halloween treat for my people I visit.

I copied this poem that was given my last year by my visiting teachers:

It’s Halloween! It’s Halloween!

The moon is full and bright

And we shall see what can’t be seen

On any other night.

Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,

Grinning goblins fighting duels,

Werewolves rising from their tombs,

Witches on their magic brooms.

In masks and gowns

We haunt the street

And knock on doors

for trick or treat.

Tonight we are

The king and queen,

For oh tonight

it’s Halloween!

-Jack Preluctsky-