October 2017 - our babies are turning 5!

[Taitai]

Hey O17! It’s been a while, but I figured we should at least check in for our littles’ 5th birthdays! How is everyone doing? @duskmonkey danvers August Blooms CoachTsWife mommabakes curmudgeon

[Taitai]

My DS2 is turning 5 in a few weeks, and we’re throwing a big party for him - 18 kids and 17 adults are coming. Eeek! I’m excited that we can be having big parties again, however, since that basically didn’t happen around here for 2 years with pandemic restrictions and all. The government FINALLY dropped all COVID restrictions as of today, so it will be nice to see things normalize further.

Aside from birthday party planning, all is going well over here. Both boys are in school full-time, which is AMAZING. They are avid readers, and DS2 is even reading basic sentences now. He loves The Bad Guys, Dog Man, and Judy Moody. Still into the typical Lego, trucks, cars, and trains stuff too.

As for travel - we have a trip coming up to Australia over the winter school break, which I’m super excited for! We’ve never been!

[curmudgeon]

Hi friends!! We are also in the midst of party planning. DS2 wants to invite his entire class of 16, plus our usual friends and family. Invites just went out today so I’m nervous of how many RSVPs we get! He wants a pirate party and I am having so much fun planning this one.

Our PreK is a lottery and DS didn’t get picked, so he’s still in daycare. It’s a bummer because he has no interest in reading or anything yet. He just wants to run wild all the time.

Last month we went to Disney World and had the best time. I really wish we could go back soon.

I miss hearing from everyone!!

[Taitai]

curmudgeon Sounds like you are going to have a super fun and big party for your DS2 as well! Our theme is Paw Patrol, with Chase and Marshall as the favorite characters. I foresee a bunch of Paw Patrol cruisers and figurines laying all over my house.

Exciting that you all went to WDW! Was it really crowded? How did the boys do? We’d really like to take our kids in the next couple of years, but I heard this year will be extra busy, with pent up demand from COVID forcing people to delay the past few years. What were your boys’ favorite parts of the trip?

[CoachTsWife]

Happy Birthday to our O17 littles! My DS2 turned 5 in late September. We just had a family party for him with about 20 people, but it was a really nice time with perfect weather. He's really doing well in preschool - we were worried because he never wanted to go to daycare. But he's having fun and learning and loves his teacher. He's at the same preschool DS1 attended and we love it there so much.

He's also doing soccer (mostly just learning, no real games) right now and loves it. (DS1 is also playing soccer so between them we are at the soccer field 4 days a week. Send help! )

Meanwhile DH is mid-football season and the team is 6-0 and it's really fun but also super busy.

curmudgeon, I'm also curious to know how your boys did at WDW. DH has mentioned planning a trip in the next year or two but I wonder what ages are ideal (I've never been and he hasn't been since he was a kid).

Good luck to everyone planning parties!!

[curmudgeon]

I could talk about Disney all day. We love going. We stayed M-F and hit all the parks and Disney Springs. Stayed at the Beach Club and were able to walk to Epcot. Bus waits and rides to other parks were not long at all.

The boys did sooo good. They didn’t even fight. We went Labor Day week which is supposed to be one of the slowest. Wait times for most things were around 15 minutes, so not bad at all.

The boys were all about the rides. They didn’t want any character meets or shows. We took our time but it was always what do we ride next?! DS2 was able to ride everrrything. Even Space Mountain. And he loved every second. His favorites were the Haunted Mansion and Expedition Everest. I think their favorite part was having a late dinner (8pm) then hopping over to Magic Kingdom until it closed. They were really pumped to be out so late.

We rented a stroller for DS2. DS1 (9) was fine with the walking. And I did an Amazon grocery delivery for water, fruit, deli meat, snacks, etc. We packed a backpack for the park and just handed the boys food as we walked 😆. We did a couple of dining reservations but mostly just winged it. We are discussing another trip in 2 years or so since it was such a blast.

[curmudgeon]

Also, we have gone 3 times now. DS1 has been 3, 5 and 9. And I don’t know if I’ve enjoyed watching him experience it at one age over the other. It’s still just as magical at 9 for him. He was still as excited to see all the characters at a breakfast as he was at 3.

[Taitai]

curmudgeon Your trip sounds awesome! They just goes to show the benefits of visiting at times when they project crowds to be low. Not sure if we’ll ever be able to time it like that, because being so far away, we’d want to do a WDW vacation while we were already in the USA for a longer break (like over the summer) and adjusted to the time zone/over jet lag. Really great idea to just pack snacks and go during the day as well. I feel like my kids would be alllllll about the rides. Maybe next summer for us - even if it’s not really the ideal time to go crowds and weather-wise.

[curmudgeon]

Taitai you could always purchase Genie+ to help with wait times some. We bought it this trip and I wish I hadn’t. It was a waste and we hardly used it, but I was nervous about crowds. I have never been in the summer, but I’d just pick the top things we must do and know that we likely won’t be able to get to everything. Or stay extra long to try and fit it all in!

[curmudgeon]

Is anyone doing fall festivals or pumpkin patches this year? A donut shop near us just spent a few weeks in NY learning all about apple cider donuts. H is getting some in the morning and I can’t wait to try them!

[Taitai]

curmudgeon Cider donuts are my fav, and sadly they don’t have them out here. Pumpkins (like the big orange ones) also don’t exist out here, but we do have the green Japanese pumpkins, which we carve and use as Jack-o-lanterns. If you go to the pumpkin patch, please post pics so I can live vicariously through you!

ETA - But they DO have pumpkin spice lattes over here now, which was never a thing until last year, so at least I can have that. You don’t know how excited I was to have one this month, lol.

CoachTsWife - I forgot to mention, congrats on your H’s team being 6-0!! My nephew is now playing JV football, and I so wish I could go to see one of his games. I also need to finish Friday Night Lights Season 1 still - I like that show a lot. Finally - great to hear that your DS2 is enjoying pre-school! What wonderful news 😊

[curmudgeon]

The cider donuts were kind of a let down. They were good, don’t get me wrong! But I did not taste any cider flavor at all. They tasted like regular donuts. 😬 Maybe I’ll try again after they have more practice making them.

[CoachTsWife]

Thanks Taitai. They won again last Friday so are 7-0! Might break the streak this week as we play another (bigger) undefeated team. You never know though! Does your nephew's school stream their games? That came out of covid, which is SO nice. Might not be a convenient time for you, but you could check into it.

We have several pumpkin patches around us, but finding time in the fall is so hard. We went last year but haven't found time yet this year.

[curmudgeon]

DS’s birthday is tomorrow!! H and I took off work and plan to take him to Boo at the Zoo. And get one of those McDonalds Halloween buckets that are supposed to be released tomorrow. Then the party is Saturday. I am under prepared. I still don’t have food planned 😬😬

[Taitai]

CoachTsWife Wow - undefeated! I hope the team did well against the larger school - even if they lost, still a strong record. That’s a really good idea about the streaming thing. I don’t know if they do it for JV, but I’ll ask! Hope you and the fam get to go to the pumpkin patch before Halloween.

curmudgeon How was the party? I love boo at the zoo events - I remember we did that in Okinawa a few years ago, and it was so much fun. Hope you all had a great time, and I’m sure the party was a blast!

[Taitai]

Hello from a rainy beach vacation. The kids are off of school this week, so we thought we would take a trip to the beach, and it has rained almost constantly 😩. We got unlucky with a monsoon showing up on the same day as our arrival. Oh well - we at least have our own pool with our room, which is covered and protected from the rain, so we can still do that.

We have our big annual Halloween party next weekend. Like 70 people are coming this year and I’m not ready at all. Yikes!

[curmudgeon]

Taitai how did your huge party turn out? I bet everyone had an amazing time!!

[Taitai]

Oct 23, 2022 21:02:46 GMT -6 curmudgeon said:

Taitai how did your huge party turn out? I bet everyone had an amazing time!!

It’s on Saturday! I’m going to be frantically making lots of Halloween treats and directing H to get everything ready for drinks/bartending in the next 24 hours. Will let you all know how it goes!

Is everyone ready for Halloween, costumes and all?

[curmudgeon]

We are ready for Halloween!! Although our neighborhood is trying to get trick or treating moved to Sunday because of the Astros game.

DS’s party was Saturday and the kids that came had so much fun, they are all planning more play dates at daycare. A mom messaged me that they want to go to a carnival and ride a Ferris wheel. 😂 If only we knew of one nearby!

[Taitai]

curmudgeon Awesome that your DS2’s birthday party went well! Also, my mind was confused when you asked about our party - I thought you meant the Halloween one, which we are having at our place tomorrow. Our other big party this month, DS2’s bday, went really well!! About 45 people came, and we had a magician which the kids loved. And all Paw Patrol. It’s great to see DS2 and his friends getting so big and enjoying themselves more independently.

Now we just have to survive tomorrow, and no more parties for a while!!

[curmudgeon]

FB memories is full of the boys’ costumes through the years and it’s making me all emotional looking back. And reminding me I need to suck it up and do family pictures despite how my body looks right now.