Week 47: It's Great For A Snack, It Fits On Your Back- It's Blog! Blog! Blog

Before I start, I just want to tell yall.. I totally live here. And, it rocks. All of you (only the cool people), move here- now!

Anyway, Another Thursday Night Blog! We're having another busy Friday and Saturday since, sadly, Calib will be leaving to go to Ohio on Sunday, so I thought I would get the blog in before the weekend festivities begin. We had a big birthday to celebrate this week, plus the 4th. All that plus it's beach and water week! Though, light on the activities, I think the boys have had a good week as we near the midway point of summer vacation. 

Friday Night we hit our local ice cream shop we'd been meaning to go to. The problem with our area is everything is a chain. I mean, DQ is nice and all.. but I need my Toft's fix! We discovered a place not far from here that has cones for $2 - thanks google! The peanut butter chocolate ice cream was awesome, as was the german chocolate cake ice cream. We'll have to be going back.

Late Friday Night we were packed and ready to go for Saturday. Despite the surely busy amusement parks, we were going to brave the crowds and spend all day going to Epcot, Aquatica, and Bok Tower Gardens for a Movie. Peyton came into our room telling us he felt awful we had gone through so much trouble to pack picnic meals (all three even), change of clothes, and all that stuff- but that he just didn't want to deal with the crowds. Since it was his birthday weekend, we cancelled and tried to figure out something else to do to avoid long waits, lots of people, and being in the hot humid weather. Every year (except last year since we were on the cruise ship of course) Peyton complains about how close his birthday is the to the 4th of July. Too many places are just too crowded to deal with them.

I pulled out the groupons and we decided on the bowling one I had. It included an awesome tube of soda, food, and even arcade tokens that I used to win Peyton some stuffed animals out of the claw machine. I think Asa won the bowling game- but I'm not super sure, everyone was having a lot of fun- we didn't really even notice.

After bowling we went out to Al Lopez Park. It's one of the better playgrounds in the area, and with a slight breeze it wasn't unbearable heat wise. We've actually been really lucky that it hasn't been super hot. Even the afternoon thunderstorms didn't get started until this week. We're usually dealing with them in May! We finished our day up with watching Brave. It was a decent movie, but not one of the best Pixar. Maybe not even in the top 5, there's some heavy competition there. 

Peyton did request a family sleepover in the livingroom for his birthday, too. But since his birthday was on a Monday and it was Asa's work from home week, we decided Saturday Night would be the best night for that. We all slept in until about 10:30 Sunday morning.

Sunday was a super relaxed day, everyone (except me) took turns lizard hunting with him. He even has a pretty awesome net to catch them in. Though he kept bringing them inside to show me, and I had to yell at him several times. I don't need those things in the house! Asa took the boys down to the pool too, so I could construct a cover for Peyton's birthday present. 

Being home all day Sunday gave me a chance to make Peyton's cake, too. He requested a strawberry cake, with strawberry frosting in the shape of a fish. I'm not really a baker, but with a little pinterest help, I think I did alright.  The auction was also Sunday night and thanks to game week every single card got sold this week. They are using them left and right! 

Monday was Peyton's actual birthday. The big 1-0. Double Digits! We had all kinds of plans for the day- going to the pool, making slime, playing angry birds. But, we opened presents and that was it. For his birthday he asked for a Kindle. We got him a few other things- some clams for his aquarium, I made the kindle cover- but his Kindle was the big gift. So he sat there and downloaded books and games and apps for a good couple of hours. (If you're wondering about the Goofy Hat, Calib has now deemed it the birthday hat and every person must wear it on their birthday) We're so cute- we're kindle twinsies! 

About 2 o'clock the mail got here complete with 4 birthday cards and $85. Here's the difference between Peyton and Calib. Calib still has birthday money a month later, complete with a check he hadn't even cashed yet. Peyton asked me to front him the money for his check right away so he could go spend it- THAT VERY MINUTE. To be fair, he had been hoping to get a gecko and the cage and everything. So the second he had the cash to do so, he was off. We made a trip to the pet store. Here is the result: I present to you Snuffleuphagus the Leopard Gecko. Yes, that thing now lives in my house. And I have to buy him crickets to eat. 

After we went to the pet store and got home to get settled, we went out to the beach, and a quick light dinner. We all split soups and salads, but let Peyton get whatever he wanted. Despite the tropical storm doing a number on our beaches (they are all currently about half the size that they used to be), it was nice to be out on the sand for a bit.

After dinner we went out to the Sunshine Skyway Pier. What Peyton had really wanted to do for his birthday was go fishing. We had never been, and in fact none of us even knew how to fish (despite Asa's protests that since he watched people fish a couple times when he was younger he knew how). Katie, Kevin and Angela go rather frequently though, and happily obliged when I asked them if they could teach Peyton- even though his birthday was on a weeknight when everyone had to work.

Now, Peyton LOVED this. He would have stayed out there all day. He didn't actually catch anything. But, Katie caught a fish, and Peyton got to be the one to hold it and throw it back (after it flopped all over and touched me. *shudders*). Katie also managed to hook a fishing net complete with a sea urchin inside.Oh, and  I caught a shell, so I'm pretty awesome. I kept thinking about that silly Neopets game where you go fishing and catch old boots and stuff.

Anyway, we were finally able to tear Peyton away from fishing around 10:30. He didn't want to go, but we really wanted to make it home in time to have cake before midnight. We got in the door at 11:41, started up skype (My newly retired mom even stayed awake for the event) and quickly sang happy birthday to him. He finished his cake just after midnight. When, I got put on the clock. My birthday is up next- so start your planning!

Tuesday we all slept in late, except for Asa who had to work (at least it was from home). I gave the boys the day off with school work and chore cards because of the birthday and holiday week. We decided early in the day we were going to try and see the Disney fireworks that night. Disney shoots off their 4th of July fireworks on the 3rd as well. It's usually really busy even on the third though, so we figured we'd park at the Grand Floridian and watch the fireworks from there. Now, I knew this was a pretty popular thing to do- and that the hotels get awfully picky about who parks there on the third and the fourth, so I made an easy cancel-able, no prepayment reservation at one of the hotel cafe's. Sure enough, when we got to the Grand Floridian there was a big sign that said 'Resgistered Guests or Guests with Confirmed Reservations Only'. Ah-ha! I totally outsmarted the system.

We parked and had about an hour and a half to kill. Our original plan was to swim in the pool, and maybe go over to the Polynesian for a Dole Whip. But, shortly after we arrived it started pouring down rain and storming. We did have my kindle though, so we used our hidden mickey book and walked around looking for those while this awesome little mini orchestra played awesome Disney music in the lobby.

Eventually we headed over to where we knew we would have a good fireworks view, and sat on the porch while it rained.

Eventually, the rain and the lightning stopped- and we were front and center for the awesome fireworks (which started an hour after schedule). Despite the fact traffic was horrible getting there- so it took two hours, and we had to wait for two and half hours for the fireworks to start, it was totally worth it. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is better than the Disney 4th of July fireworks.

When it was over, we had about 30 minutes before the pool closed, so we all quickly changed and illegally swam in the pool. FYI, the pool towels at the Grand Floridian are awesome, and kept warm. We did get the stink eye from the front desk lady as we shuffled out of lobby towards the car with towels in hand. We changed our clothes back, but it was still very obvious we were swimming, and now on our way out.

After getting home super late, we all slept in the next day. Asa had the holiday off, and we didn't have too many plans for the day. We did hold the First Annual WATERstraut Olympics. (Yes, you must emphasize the Water)

We had our opening ceremonies, with the lighting of the official cauldron.

The first event was 'Spoon Feeder' in which participants had to fill their bowl with water using only a spoon.

 

Then, of course we had to have the medal presentation for the 'Spoon Feeder' Champions.

The second event was 'Frozen Feet', in which participants had to get as many ice cubes out of their bucket and onto their plate using only their feet in one minute as they could.

And, the medal presentation for 'Frozen Feet'

The third event was 'Plug the Leak' in which you had to keep as much water in your leaking bottle as you could for two minutes.

And, the medal presentation for 'Plug the Leak'

The final event was 'Frozen T-shirt Contest' in which contestants had to take their tshirts that had been frozen in a block of ice and do whatever they could to free them and be the first to put their tshirt on. (This was my favorite and super hilarious)

You may notice a change in the medal presentation here. Someone didn't get the gold and go all Michael Phelps with a sweep and was rather upset.

After that, we had the closing ceremonies in which disqualifications, total medal counts were announced, and official winner portraits were taken.

After the WATERstraut Olympics, we had a cookout complete with Kobe Beef Burgers (if you live by Publix get some of these now, they are SO good), and smores.

Later that night we were trying to find something to do to avoid crowds. We have always heard that a good non-crowded panoramic view of all the firework shows- from Oldsmar, to Channelside, to Busch Gardens- is the top of the airport parking garage. We figured we'd give it a try.

I'm so glad we went out there. While you aren't super close to any of the fireworks the amount you can see from up there is amazing. Random people setting off their own- all the shows- you can see them all. At one point we counted 30 different shows going on. The entire roof- everywhere you turned, you could see them. It was amazing. Now, it wasn't Disney and that kind of amazing, and I'm sure going down to channelside to see them is cool too, but to see the amount of fireworks all being set off at the same time around the bay was pretty awesome too.

Plus, we were right next to our car, there were people but not tons, and the boys happily ate snacks and watched the fireworks, all this without worrying about where to park, the crowds, or the loud noise. While sitting watching the fireworks, Hayden's loose tooth finally fell out. All the people around us congratulated him when he announced to the entire roof top that his tooth had finally fallen out while he held his arms up in the air as if he had just won a 10 K or something. Some nice lady around us even gave him a dollar of early tooth fairy money.

After the fireworks, we came home and sat out on our patio watching people around our pond setting off some pretty good fireworks. The boys did some sparklers, and we ate our special fourth of july ice cream castle cake. All around a pretty good day.

Hayden put his tooth in the pillow I made for the toothfairy, and was pleased to see he got $2 for loosing his very first tooth.

Today was not awesome. Lots of chores to do, Calib even tripled up on the chore cards to get extra points (his will have to carry over till he gets back). The garage had become a mess, so I spent a good hour out there cleaning and organizing. This week our neighbor was getting rid of these giant cabinets in pretty good shape, so we had those for added storage. That really helped with the organizing.

We did find time to make sand dough sculptures which are currently drying, so I'll have to post pictures of the finished products next week. I also made our bachelorette bingo, since we still haven't gotten around to watching Monday's episode.

Tonight Asa took Calib to summer nights at Busch Gardens, while I stayed home and cleaned the house. The theme of this week has also kind of been 'lets do whatever Calib wants since he won't be home for awhile'. Summer Nights was on his list, so off they went.


I did take Peyton and Hayden to the pool though, and we had a successful hour long trip to the pool without using any floaties! Thats a pretty big deal for Hayden.

And now, Asa and Calib are back and chaos has broken out while Sophie barks in her delight that they have returned, so time to upload some pictures and get to bedtimes.

I didn't write anything down this week, but it was pretty funny when Hayden mistook me saying 'it's crowded ' for 'I'm grounded' and freaked out.

Next Up: Beach Days! Island Nights! Fresh Markets! And Awesome Parties!