I know I haven't blogged in like ten days, and even then it was just a president's birthday, but I felt like we weren't doing much to share (that's until I uploaded like 80 pictures for this blog- I guess we did SOME things). Asa has been working in the office a lot. Between mandatory meetings, training, people visiting, and a cruise (such a hardship, I know!), he hasn't had a normal work from home week since September, and it's been stressing me out. Life is much more manageable and pleasant when I have him around. (Even if my kids are super helpful, and well behaved). Anyway, this coming week should be "normal", except I won't be here to enjoy it all. The boys and I are heading up to meet up with my mom in New Orleans for a couple of days, and Asa can't come since he is out of vacation days.
Ahead of the trip, I figure I'd get a blog done.
Last week, we got this in the mail, a package from the White House!
I thought when we sent our letters out on President Obama's birthday, we might eventually get some package back, but what we got, I never could have expected.
First of all, everything we got, we got three of, one for each of the boys, which I thought was lovely.
We got these cute first dog cards (there's info all about them on the back, and it's totally amusing).
We got a signed picture of President Obama.
And a signed picture of the first family.
We also got this booklet...
...and a fun "interview with President Obama" info sheet.
But, we also got a letter. And not a generic "hey thanks for sending something" (which is cool even when we get those like we did from Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.
But, we got an actual, personalized letter from the sitting president. How cool is that? Politics aside, we were pretty thrilled here. Sure it took over two months to get anything back, but it was totally worth the wait. It's getting framed for sure!
I actually just led with the most exciting thing to happen in the last two weeks, but we've been up to some other stuff. The new outlet mall opened up by us, and Calib, Hayden, Asa and I went out to check it out. (Peyton didn't have any interest in tagging along for new shoes).
We stopped on the way home for some slushies too.
You might remember our birthday twin project we did for Polk / Harding's birthdays. Well, one night soon after that, Calib was googling all kinds of random dates (like Maybel, Sophie, and Porkchop's birthdays) to see who they shared a birthday week. He discovered last Wednesday was Jeff Probst's (the host of Survivor) birthday, and you know how we like to celebrate birthdays in this house. Well, some nights when we watch Survivor, Asa makes us homemade fries for a snack, and he started calling it Sur-FRY-vor night. So we had to have Sur-FRY-vor night on Jeff's birthday!
Saturday Calib had his first basketball game. Asa was working, so I made Peyton go with me so I'd have some company. He wasn't thrilled, but he didn't argue it too much.
We also finally got around to taking the boys to the Food and Wine Festival.
We got our card loaded up and ready to go.
Our first stop was at the Farm Fresh booth for the Loaded Mac & Cheese. It was less spicy than the first time around, so I liked it even more. It's not exactly Nancy Reagan Mac and Cheese though, and that stuff is my favorite.
We stopped and got the grilled beef skewer with chimichuri and some puree. It might be my favorite. Who's this lady in the picture? I have no idea. I said "who wants to be in the picture with me", and Hayden and her came over.
We had gotten the lamb chop with the mint pesto and potato crunchies when we went with James, and I could have passed on it. (It's delicious, but has a lot of the same flavor as the beef skewer, and is rather pricey). But, it's one of Peyton's favorites, so we had it again.
Let me just take a second to say, is it really November? It might look like a lovely day in my pictures, but it's STILL 90 degrees everyday, with like 1000 percent humidity. I hear a cool down might be coming tonight, and we're all totally excited for it.
Asa went to get a steamed bun, and the lines were REALLY long for it being a Monday, so we played around while we waited.
And Asa got his steamed bun with duck. It's his favorite. They have it at the Flower and Garden Festival too, so he'll only have to wait a few months for another one.
Africa is some ridiculously spicy thing, that Peyton and Asa had to have...
...so while they had that, Calib and I went with this pasta thing from Germany. It was like a mac and cheese lasagna, and who wouldn't love that?
Lucky for me, none of the boys were into the lobster roll at Hops and Barley, but they did like a beef slider with pimento cheese and some delicious topping, which I'm pretty sure had mayo in it, but Peyton ate it anyway.
We did go into a few stores along the way too, the boys always love the stuff in Japan.
Sidenote: I told him to put on the hat, and he didn't argue it much. Way to not give a crap, Calib. I commend you.
Peyton never gives a crap. I tell you, this kid, he doesn't care what anyone thinks (in a good way). Pajamas at 4pm? Sure! Riding your bike in said pajamas? Still don't care.
Plus, Hayden was in Pokemon heaven.
We were off to Belgium for some waffles..
...and after some fisherman's pie in Ireland, we topped off our day with a fun find: a Dole Whip in EPCOT!
We had some fast passes too, but Hayden bailed on test track, so we found a nice spot in the shade. He had an uncrustable for lunch (since he wasn't as adventurous of an eater as he was on the cruise). Luckily, I came prepared.
Then we just hung out in the shade and watched the monorail go by.
The boys also wanted to stop by Club Cool for their coke.
And, shennanigans.
We thought about heading to Hollywood Studios for the lights, but we also thought just heading home sounded appealing. And despite this picture, the clouds were coming, and we were pretty sure we would get poured on if we stayed.
When Asa is in the office, and when I'm trying to get things done, Hayden does the strangest things to entertain himself. There was the board game he made from boxes...
..the sword he made from some foam that came in one of the boxes...
...and the dinosaurs he made from cardboard after watching Jurassic Park.
Peyton and Hayden also had an aquarium class this week, we decided to head out a bit early to enjoy the aquarium a little before class. We saw a penguin in a wagon...
...pet some sharks and sting rays...
...did some other touch tanks...
...and visited with the horseshoe crabs.
Right by the aquarium is where we left for the cruise. The boys were sad about that. They want to cruise again. Me and my sea sickness could pass on it for awhile anyway.
Hayden and I finally got around to updating Flat Hayden.
And for Veterans Day we played True American. If you don't know how our version works, you can click on the link for the first time we played it. I think we've played it five times, and the boy have gotten to do "cheat sheet" to help them answer questions. Today's cheat sheet: a pillow! I bought off white cases and they sharpied all over them. As a bonus, they served as stepping stones so nobody fell in the hot lava. The boys got to pick any president we've done since the last True American. Hayden went with Jimmy Carter.
Peyton did Teddy Roosevelt.
Calib did Dwight Eisenhower.
I LOVED Asa's pillow case on John Adams. I married a creative writing genius.
Our personalized cream soda's.
And the snacks...
We had our prohibition cocktails all set out..
And everyone was ready to go.
I was really impressed with Hayden this go around. He still finished last, but he wasn't that far behind, and he did really well on his cheat sheet, and got lots of his questions right.
I will leave you with Phenom playing True American..
...and Deleno chowing down on some Kale on a paper plate.
That's it from here!
Next Up: We're headed to the Big Easy!
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