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Disney World vs Disneyland

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Jeremy and I just came home from a much needed no-kids vacation. We will be celebrating 15 years of marriage next week and our last ‘big vacation’ was for our 10-year anniversary. We’ve had a few 2 to 3 night getaways, but nothing extensive or far away.  We had some flight points from our trip to Seattle last July and I was excited to snag round trip flights to LA for us for just $22 with our points! Naturally, my first choice was - let’s go to Disneyland!! I had never been (Jeremy went once when he was a kid, but doesn’t remember much!). I was so excited to finally see where everything started! We arrived on Tuesday early from a nonstop morning flight and we headed straight to Downtown Disney - so crazy to see everything right there together!! We had a two-day ticket for Wednesday/Thursday and briefly thought about adding a day and just jumping into one of the parks… but food was in our mind and we just wanted to eat.  After lunch at Black Tap Craft Burgers and Shakes (yum)… ...
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If I knew...

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 If I knew six years ago what I know now, would I have done things differently? Would I have said I love you more? Would I have spent more weekends with her? Would I learned more and helped her fight harder? No - instead of I wish I had known... I get to reflect on "I'm glad I did" I don't remember the exact day that mom told us about this upcoming surgery. I remember we were all camping. Jeremy and I were hanging out in Damon & Mandy's trailer playing a game while Micah and Solomon were sleeping. Paige was asleep in mom & dad's trailer.  Mom came in to talk to us. I wish I could remember the conversation more, but in mom fashion, I wonder if she down-played it and I didn't think it was something I really needed to be concerned about. When a family member mentions the word cancer you want to ignore it and hope for the best. You want to think they'll get it all with surgery or that it will be benign.  The surgery was scheduled for December and i...
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Disney During COVID

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So we did it. I calculated the risks, reviewed videos, read blogs, and asked opinions from people/co-workers I respect and trust. And I took Paige to Disney World. We had a cruise booked for October during Fall Break - Halloween on the High Seas. It would've been the first cruise for the girls and Jeremy and I's third cruise. I was so excited for them to experience it. When COVID started getting a lot of attention in the US in early March, Jeremy said 'what about our cruise'? And I was like - our cruise is in October, I'm sure they'll figure this out by then. I was crushed when we made the decision in early July to cancel (and Disney has since officially canceled that cruise as well).  Paige was crushed when I told her, she was very much looking forward to the cruise. As an alternative, I had started looking at something fun Paige and I could do for her birthday. As Disney Vacation Club members, we have 'points' that we can use to stay at the resorts and...
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Decisions

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Reasonable - what is reasonable for us as a society? Consistent - what is the best chance of having a consistent learning environment for my kid? Flexible - how flexible will the virtual learning option be? Normalize - how long will we be wearing masks? will we eventually think of it as normal? Anxiety - what is our society going to look like one year from now? Fear - when will I have to take my COVID-19 test? These are words that have been circling in my head for the past couple of weeks. Words that I didn't think would ever have as much weight to their meaning as they do right now.  Parents, we are facing decisions. For some, it's the hardest decision we've had to make. For some, it's an easy decision. For some, the decision is out of their hands.  In-Person Virtual Homeschool For us, it's one of the hardest decisions we've had to make. Until last week I was adamant about the girls going back to school in-person. We are both working from home and doing virtual...
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First Class & Whole30

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My first class is finally over.  Done. So long. Good riddance. I learned two things from this class. 1. Online classes in an 8-week period are NOT my jam. Too much information, too quick. 2. Group work with people you don't know absolutely sucks.  - Weekly readings, from not 1, but 2 textbooks. - Weekly quizzes - Weekly discussion board posts.      - Initial response - 600 words      - Replies - 2 of them, 450 words each.      - All had to have 2 references and one biblical integration - Group project      - Annotated bib; outline; draft; final This class started off okay. I knew going into it there would be a lot of homework.  The readings - yes, they were terrible. Cramming 150-200 pages of reading in just means that I don't retain most of what I read. Highlighting didn't help. I just read too fast, just to get it done. I think there may have only been one week that ...
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One Year

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Facebook Post: February 7th: 2019, 11:11am John 14:1-3 "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going."  Mom passed peacefully early this morning with her family by her side. While we are saddened and grieving, we are celebrating her new life in Heaven and that she is no longer in pain.  Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers during this time. We will update when we have more information about celebrating her life.  One year ago today we were huddled around mom's bed as she drew her last breath. We were there with her the moment her earthly body was no longer, and she rand into the arms of Jesus. One year ago today my dad, my brothers, and I sat around d...
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Goodbye 2019

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Goodbye, but not good riddance. The definition of good riddance: to express relief at being free of a troublesome or wanted person or thing . I don't want to be 'free' of 2019. I want to remember it and cherish it. Towards the end of 2018, mom made a great facebook post listing all the great things that had happened. To the best she could, she chose to look at the positive things that happened. At the end of 2018, we didn't think 2019 could be much worse. 2018 had been a hard year for our family. It was a year of sickness, loss, and death. We had no idea what 2019 would bring. 2019 may have been a year of loss, but in the midst of our grief, we found joy. January - - Celebrated family Christmas (very late due to one person being out of town). - Mom got to spend time with some of her closest Huntington friends - a group of women who watched their kids grow up together. I'm so thankful they all took the time to get together. - Carole (mom's best friend)...
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