11,324 Triangles

We're eight days into October and I'm just now getting out my first blog this month. I wish I could tell you we've been totally busy doing awesome stuff, but that really isn't the case. Asa has been in the office extra days due to training and some big meeting (blah!), and on top if it, he's been terribly sick and going to bed at like 8 pm. It's been really no fun around here. But, he seemed to have turned a corner, so we decided to head out to Disney today. 

Another year of Disney magic for the Waterstrauts! While Asa and I had our passes renewed last time we were there with James on our grown up only trip, the boys got theirs all in order today at Epcot. 

(In case you're wondering about this weeks blog title- it comes from how many triangles are on the Epcot ball. Yay Disney fun facts!) 

I'll never understand why it is such an ordeal to renew our passes, but it's always a mess. Today wasn't really any sort of exception, but this big sign at the window reminded us of a very awesome special event that WE GET TO GO TO!!! So, my mom is coming to visit next week (YAY!) and she offered to take us all to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It's a separate ticket event, but I've been dying to go to it for YEARS. She so kindly offered to take us (aren't mom's the best?!!?) And, I was going to keep it a secret from the boys, but I decided I had to plan out costumes in advance, so I needed to tell them. They are as excited as me! 

But, anywhoo.. Since mom is going to the party with us, she likely won't be using a day off her ticket. Therefore, we decided to do the food and wine festival with the boys today in case it's our only chance. 

Since James can't eat seafood, we made today all about the seafood. We started out strong with the seared sea scallop with spinach-cheddar gratin and crispy bacon. It might be my new favorite. 

Of course we made a stop in Ireland for some Fisherman's pie, but I was a little disappointed. It wasn't as good as in years pass, AND the price went up. Not an awesome combo. Still good, but wasn't even in my top three of the day. 

We couldn't convince the boys to go for the escargots in France, but they were all easily on board for the caramel creme brulee. 

We also celebrated Waterstraut Waffle Wednesday in style, getting the waffle with berry compote from Belgium. Fun story: Peyton could never remember the capital of Belgium (it's Brussels), so we came up with a saying that we like to put Brussel Sprouts on our Belgian waffles. (Speaking of flags and such, that boy is all the way through Asia, Europe, North and South America with flags and capitals-- he knows them all-- Africa here we come-- yikes!) 

I forgot to snap a picture of the Baklava in Morocco until it was almost gone, whoopsies. 

I was not a fan of Germany's schinkennudeln (pasta gratin with ham and cheese), but the rest of the family was pretty pleased with it. 

Singapore's mahi mahi with jasmine rice and singa sauce is usually a favorite, it was a little salty this time around though. 

We were pretty lucky to make it half way around the world with not too many crowds to contend with, but I tell you, those crowd calendars are not so reliable. Stay tuned for a project we've been working on regarding that. 

One of Peyton's favorites is South Africa (I mean, come on- it comes with a cous cous like substance). I only took a small bite, as the dish is a bit spicy, but he had asked if we could get it when we were in the car since it was one of his favorites last year, so we had to give it another go. The official dish is: beef tenderloin tips berbere style with okra, jalopenos, tomato and pap. 

We didn't get much we had the last time, but on Asa's must eat list was the pepper bacon hash with sweet corn, potatoes, hollandaise and pickled jalapenos. He had it last time (it was too spicy for me), and wanted it again. Apparently, that little Mickey trophy in front of the booth is awarded once a week for the 'Marketplace of the week'. The farm fresh booth (and the awesome cast members there) are this weeks winners! 

I wasn't too sure about the sweet corn cheesecake in Mexico, but it was pretty awesome actually. 

Calib wanted the lamb meatball and spicy tomato chutney from New Zeland, and it was a solid good pick. Not too spicy, and it came on this fun piece of round bread that was also pretty yummy. 

Meanwhile, we were all prepared to skip Australia since we had stopped there last time with James. But, Peyton claimed the lambchop with the mint pesto and the potato crunchies was something he just couldn't miss out on- so we indulged. 

We were pretty full, but we only had two more booths before we finished the world, and Patagonia is making it's debut this year. Let me tell you, the grilled beef skewer with chimichurri sauce and boniato puree was delicious. My second favorite for sure, right after that scallop in Scotland. 

We finished up our culinary tour of the world with a chocolate-blood orange cupcake, and some watermelon juice. 

We stopped by Club Cool to wash all our food down with some Coke products from around the world. 

The bad news, because we were renewing our passes, we couldn't book fast passes ahead of time online, so we had to wait until we got INTO the park. This is no bueno, if you plan on visiting Disney anytime soon. All the big rides were gone, and there was not much left to choose from. We did get Nemo and Spaceship Earth though. My SD card alerted me that it was full, so that's all I have for Disney pictures for the day. 

But, it was actually a short lived Disney trip. Usually we do multiple parks, and spend all day there. However, Peyton has a match online tonight for his game he plays competatively, so we needed to be home for that. We also wanted to avoid the dreaded 4:30-7:00pm I-75 north disaster. Basically, if we didn't have to be stuck in traffic, we need to leave Disney before 2:30, or after 7- but since after 7 wasn't an option with his match, it was a short lived Disney trip. Tomorrow, Calib has his home school evaluation and Hayden has his book club at the library, so today was the day- and we made it work. 

Asa and Calib are running the Bucs Treasure Chests 5K on Sunday, so they've been training. They ran down to Justins and then over to the pool, while I drove Peyton and Hayden.

Poor Asa, hopefully he stops hacking up a lung long enough to complete the 5K (He's still coughing terribly these days, even if he claims he's feeling better) 

The pool water is colder, for sure. But, it's still not unpleasant. I mean, despite the fact we hit record lows Sunday morning, it was 90 degrees today. 

Speaking of Sunday, it was a total Bucs heartbreaker (they lost to the Saints in overtime--- booo!), but we did have a nice taco/nacho/salad bar to make it a little less depressing. 

And we had such nice weather, the screen door got to be open all day. The cats LOVED it. 

Mayb's and Asa are buddies these days. I won't see her all day, then Asa gets home from work and she's sleeping in his lap! 

Home school was same old same old last week, but this week is October's theme week. It's Science Project Week over here! 

There are some serious prizes at stake (mom, I hope you're prepared to be a judge next Wednesday night) 

Calib and Peyton have much more involved projects. Peyton is covering geodes, while Calib picked to study volcanoes. I found them both some great packets on teachers pay teachers, and some documentaries on Netflix they found really interesting. 

Hayden's is much less involved, so we've got some fun short little projects for this week to do too. We're attempting to make raisins, so I'll let you know how that goes. 

Another fun project we've got going on: we are charting Disney World wait times to see how they match up against the crowd calendar. We check wait times twice a day (at noon and 6pm), on three rides per park. The boys each have their own park and picked three rides (of varying popularity) to watch wait times. Once we collect more data, I'll let you all know our findings! 

That's it from here. It'll be an interesting week for sure. Asa's check was screwy a couple weeks ago and in an attempt to fix it, it was screwed up yet again. So, there is like zero wiggle room on dollars spent at the Waterstrauts for the next two weeks, good thing everything we need is stocked. We won't let a little money woes get us down, we'll just make it into a game of 'how little can we spend'! 

Next Up: We have lots of events going on (a Bucs game, a 5K, some classes), it's free coffee week, plus Science Project week chugs on, and Calib has his evaluation (wish me luck, I'm totally nervous even if I shouldn't be)