Bits and Bobs

It's been a whirlwind of a few weeks this November.  Here is just a smattering of what I didn't cover in the longer posts...

Idiom day at school - Can you guess what they are?

Stinkerbell is an egghead.  MadHatter - When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

The Apex Fun Run with Stinkerbell's class.  The whole school learned about leadership, fundraising and healthy living which all culminated in the kids running laps to raise money for safety equipment at their school.

We finally have a bit of real furniture in the house - our new chairs, rug, and end table.  Can't wait until the rest of it shows up!

A rainy day movie at our favorite theatre!

Finally, she is back in gymnastics!

Perfect fall sunset over the backyard.

Loving our new MEL science kits!!!

The girl's rooms are finally shaping up.  Not done yet, but getting as far as we can until our things from Munich arrive!

I kept something alive long enough for it to bloom!  (this is an accomplishment, trust me)

A jump in the pool, fully clothed, after a successful Christmas card photo shoot.

Hair pain streaks.  Never again - that stuff is sticky!

She found a little piece of "home" in the grocery store.

Class trip to the Everglades!

The cat and I lounging - I was enjoying the view out of my bedroom window, she was enjoying the sun!  Which I seemed to be blocking when I took the picture and she let me know she was not happy.

Sandsculpting Championships

The day after our fabulous Thanksgiving we decided to get out of the house and work some of the stuffing off.  Fort Myers Beach was having the American Sandsculpting Championships so we thought we would check it out!  So much talent on the beach that afternoon...

The amount of detail was insane.

Some were still being worked on in the amateur category.

And they were all pretty impressive.

And then we saw this guy on our way back to the car...It made us all chuckle but really, why would you do that to your dog?

Thanks.Giving.

It had been 7 years since we last celebrated one of the most American of holidays on U.S. soil.  Sure, we had celebrated most years but no matter how hard we tried, it just wasn't the same.  The first year we did nothing at all and tried to pretend it was just another day (though I did write about it here).  Then we tried a Friendsgiving and a vacation rental celebration before heading to Europe for 2 more attempts at holding them with Friends (here and here respectively).  And then I gave up.  As much fun as they were, it just wasn't the same and each year it just made me feel more and more lonely because even though you enjoyed the company, it almost seemed forced.   Which is the opposite of what you want on Thanksgiving Day.  Yep, I had turned into the cynical expat.

This year though we were home.  Finally.  And with my parents living only a short drive away we hopped in the car and spent the weekend as a family!  Something we had not had in years.  Was it everything I had missed and longed for all of those years?  Yep!  And more.  It was easy and relaxed and fun.  We made crafts and Stinkerbell helped cook.  I did a puzzle with a little help from the others when they had a minute.  We watched the Macy's parade and then the Dog Show.  We drank wine and talked and generally just enjoyed the day.  It was not forced; it was not squeezed in between homework and the next school day; it was not celebrated thousands of miles away from home.  And I wouldn't have had it any other way!

This year, I am thankful for being home.

I hope you had just as fabulous a day as we did!

This is what the girls looked like at their last Thanksgiving at home...

We all seem to have grown a bit since then.  In more ways than we can count.

Searching for Remy

A trip to Disney World is never complete without a trip around the World Showcase.  And when your oldest finds out that they are also conducting a seek and find contest that allows her to win a small prize at completion you wouldn't be able to get her into the car until she was done anyway.

We already had the map and stickers since we had visited a couple of days before with Nana and Grampa.  MadHatter had already found a handful of the Remy statues but was not going to quit until she saw them ALL.  Stinkerbell then decided that she would like to also complete all of the Kidcot stops (a personalized souvenir for kids at each of the 11 world showcases).  I explained to them both that we still needed to drive home before midnight, and if they chose to do these two adventures, then we probably wouldn't have any time for rides.  Surprisingly, they readily agreed and off we went...

We did take our daily selfie...

And then it started raining, so we ducked in to taste soda at Club Cool.  My favorite flavor is still Inca Cola from Peru.  MadHatter's is the vegetable one from Japan and Stinkerbell is just happy that she has soda.

The rain had let up a bit, but it was still pretty gloomy out.  We had a mission though, and MadHatter was not going to be put off any longer.  We had learned last night that the Remy's were not very big.  And they could be hiding anywhere.  We really had to keep our eyes open.  Though who am I kidding, I was never going to be the first one to find him.  Both of my girls have eagle eyes, so I was just content to watch them have fun.

Can you see Remy?

Now you can.  Tiny and well hidden, right?

We found a few more...

And I found a beer.  It was a food and wine festival after all.

We took a break to get some Henna tattoos in Morocco.

Listen to the drummers in Japan

And have lunch at the Biergarten in Germany (of course!)

And then we went back to hunting Remy's full time.  The little guy was hiding everywhere.  Just never in plain sight...

All rats Remy's found, we decided to head over to France for some ice cream. 

Before turning in our completed map to claim our prize (which was a bit disappointing as they had run out of everything except the beer coozie.  But MadHatter loved it!)

It was getting fairly late at this point, and I did want to get the girls home before midnight, so we bid adieu to Epcot, and all of Disney World.

See you real soon, Mickey!