Happy 30-something'th Birthday

Birthdays in the Owens family are highly celebrated...well, mine generally aren't, but I will move on...the boys love a good birthday party. Keagan especially is always talking about past birthday parties and what kind of party he wants in the future. He has already planned his 5th and is in the early planning phases of his 6th birthday party. I laugh because I enjoy it just as much as he does, but I say (to myself) every year that we aren't going to go big. But we do. Every year and for each boy. And apparently the parties are remembered and cherished, so I am thankful that I do "go big" for their birthdays! When Josh's birthday rolled around, Keagan was still talking about his own past and future parties and Josh got tickled and said "What about mine?!" So Keagan, a little shocked that grown-ups have birthdays (and parties?) asked what kind of party he was gonna have. And Josh said he wanted a Buzz Lightyear party. So the boys and I ran with that. 

Surprise!!!! Like I said, Keagan loves a good party! The best part of the planning was Keagan asking me if there were going to be a lot of friend's at the party. I told him Nope, Just us! And he was a bit disappointed in this...but I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself anyways. Check him out in the picture below! He is his mother's son!

The cake is always the main part of our parties, and Josh was pretty excited about his cake! And guess what?! So were my typically non-cake-eating boys!! 

 

Another lesson Keagan learned about grown-up birthday parties (to go with the not-all-parties-have-lots-of-friends lesson) is that grown-up birthday cakes have one single candle in effort to not catch the house on fire. He was initially confused about why his daddy only got one candle on his cake! It was a fun birthday party...after a lovely dinner and some cake, we wrapped up the party by watching Toy Story 2. Very fitting! :)

Fall Soccer

We tried it again! We said we wouldn't, but we did. And Keagan wanted to play...at least in the beginning. Here are some pictures from this entire season. I really don't have a lot to say because this was a very frustrating and exhausting season. Mostly because Keagan really goofed off most of the time and didn't even try, not even a little bit. Plus, Finley was very difficult and Josh was only able to come to one game all season. It was waaaaay more work for me than it was worth. And I hate that I am saying it, but I didn't really enjoy it and nor did Keagan. At least I don't think. I do, however, think Finn will probably want to play next season because it was hard to keep him on the sidelines. Now, saying all this has made me feel a little bad. So I guess I should add this in: Keagan played with 5-6 year olds, they were huge compared to him. They were also significantly more mature and more dedicated. He just turned 4 in June but was just at the cut-off and instead of keeping him in the U4 (under 4, which I would have preferred) group, they bumped him up to the U6 group. So, I guess I should give Keagan a little credit.

First practice of the season...it was already cold! And Finn demanded (DEMANDED) that he wear soccer shoes, too. That first practice was rough because Finn didn't understand that he could not run out and play with the big boys. He screamed. And he is a loud screamer. And he cried. And I was by myself. It was embarrassing...and I feel certain the other parents were judging. Luckily about 45 minutes in, he became interested in the food I had brought.

Keagan's first game. It was fr-fr-fr-freezing and windy. Luckily Finn did better this time, and Keagan got a lot of play time. He really enjoys being out on the field vs. being on the bench but the boy does not pay a bit of attention to what is going on around him! He is typically off in la-la land. I think he did make contact with the ball twice during this game, so that was super exciting!

A couple of pictures another parent took of the boys playing soccer...the second picture below is pretty classic of how Keagan looked this season. Just "whatever" the whole time! Ha! I look back now and don't know why I felt so frustrated with him because he looks like he was having fun doing his own thing, but it was hard to watch him not give a darn about what was going on!

Our last soccer games: the weather was gorgeous! Imagine, the end of October and the temps were in the high 70s. The trees in the background of these pictures are awesome! It was such a good day! I had hoped Keagan would play a little better this time, since it was our last game, but nope! In looking at these pictures, I am sure you are saying "He looks like he is doing sooo good! What are you talking about, Janine?!" Well, feel free to think that...still pictures can make anyone look good. But poor Keagan usually ran one direction and looked another direction, pushed his teammates to the ground then fell on top of them, and hardly made contact with the ball at all. But I am noticing from these pictures that he did all this with a smile on his face! Oh well...maybe we will find his niche next year. He was pretty proud of his metal, though!

The boys were asked to make silly faces and act crazy...this is what we got. Yikes!!

Day 6 - Epcot

Our 6th and final day at Disney World was spent at Epcot. Don't judge me, please, but this was by far my least favorite park. I am glad we went, but I wish we hadn't spent so much time here and we will likely not go back with small children...unless they grossly revamp it and bring it up to the "Future World" that is one of the main parts of this park. Now, the World Showcase was pretty neat and the Food and Wine Festival was going on. Mmmm Wiiiiiine. But listen, that kind of thing really doesn't interest the 4- and 2-year old set of bored children. And even though we had our wallet's worth of adult beverages while we were there, we still had to find things that interested the boys and there really wasn't much. For all you planning your own trip: this would be a great day for a Park Hopper option. We didn't do that.

The ride that went into the big giant ball (Spaceship Earth) was really pretty cool. The kids liked it a lot. Josh and I enjoyed the walk thru time. But like everything in the Future World at Epcot it needed serious updating...as in, the latest technology highlighted was the huge computers from the 80s. I hope they will revamp this because it could be so cool. Something fun was they took your picture in the beginning of the ride and at the end they showed you your future based on a set of questions you interacted with. The pictures were hilarious! And when we rode it a second time Josh and Keagan made funny faces...it turned out hilarious!

Mine and Keagan's Future: We like to eat healthy and party. Haha!

 Josh's future! He is gonna start exercising...or making fun of exercising? Hard to tell...

Josh was super excited to be up-close-and-personal with Spaceship Earth, the giant golf-ball (as Keagan called it), because it is made of Alucobond, a material that is made at a plant in our town and where Josh worked while we were in college.

At Epcot we did get to do a few fun things...like hang out inside Bruce the Shark's mouth. Fish are Friends, Not Food. (Referencing Finding Nemo, in case you were wondering.)

We also got to ride Soarin'...and Keagan was big enough to ride. This is a pretty cool ride that makes you feel like you are hang-gliding over California. He was a little freaked out at first as he was being strapped into the ride, but once it started he enjoyed it. And thanks to the Baby Swap program, he got to ride again with Josh while I hung out with Finn!

Josh got to ride Mission Space, which was basically a simulator of the space shuttle to the moon.  There were two intensities that riders could choose, and after reading the description of the more intense ride I convinced Josh to ride the less intense one. I wish I hadn't though because he said it was kind of lame. And he didn't want to wait in line to ride the more powerful one. Oh well!

After hanging out in the front of Epcot, also known as "Future World," we walked to to the World Showcase. This really is a super cool part of Epcot. The only problem is, if you are younger than 21 you would be super bored. The boys were not the least impressed. There is one ride, which we rode, but it is actually shut down for good now in preparation for a Frozen-themed ride (imagine that!). If we hadn't had the kids with us (which I doubt will ever happen...as this is Disney World) we probably would have really enjoyed it. Lots of food and alcohol from different countries, and the "countries" were really cool...my favorite part is that the people working in each country were actually from that country! If we hadn't felt the need to "keep moving" with regards to pushing the stroller to keep the kids happy, we would have lingered longer in all the countries. Now, we did eat lunch in Mexico, and it was delish. So were the mango margaritas!

Onto Norway...where we rode the one ride that is actually no longer in operation: Maelstrom. It was a Viking boat ride..

Onto China...where we met Mulan. By now it was really raining off and on so we were back in Poncho City. The architecture was phenomenal, and as is the going-theme throughout Disney there were no cut-corners. Every detail was perfect.

Keagan was sound asleep in the stroller but we wanted a picture with the Chinese architecture in the background. It turned out to be a cute picture of us with Finn, but the photographer could have zoomed out a bit, because the background was fantastic.

The ceiling inside the building where we met Mulan. Isn't this gorgeous!?!

Onto Germany...where we purchased delicious chocolate and I tried on a tiara to make myself feel like a princess. Then I put it back when I saw the price. But I made sure to get my picture!!

Looking back at Spaceship Earth...

Italy!! And gondola's! And authentic Venetian masks. Being in "Italy" brought back a lot of memories and I actually felt like I was back in Venice...and a child again. It was so neat.

Once we got to England, we saw the iconic red telephone booth. And had to ask a stranger to get a picture. We got one picture. And this is it...pretty funny to me!

Canada's iconic food was beer and popcorn. Um. Ok. So we partook...and all were happy.

On our way out of Epcot, the giant ball was gorgeous. And I took a gazillion pictures. I figured I would just post one but it was really beautiful.

Once we got "home" we rode the monorail one last time, and got off at the Polynesian resort where we had learned there was a Dole Whip counter. If you don't know what a Dole Whip is, well, you would be in good company with us. At least until we went to Disney World and saw that the line to get this popular ice cream treat was longer than some of the rides (50+ minutes to get ice cream...that should tell you it is delish). Well, we hunted around and found that a short hop-skip-monorail ride from our resort took us right to the pineapple soft-serve. Josh and I felt like we had stumbled upon something secret, for there were only a few other people there. We got the boys ice cream and ourselves Dole Whip Floats. And because it was something we wanted to try the whole trip, we documented it with a selfie. (Listen: you can buy t-shirts with the Dole Whip logo on it...a big deal)

Before we headed back and turned in for the night, we let the boys pick some designs to get pressed pennies and quarters. They enjoyed this, and continue to enjoy their Disney Coins:

The. End.

Thanks for hanging with me throughout the million Disney World pictures. I am glad the postings are over and I can move on to what's going on in our lives now...but I did enjoy reliving it. It was a great trip that we are still talking about. I am learning that if Disney is easy, and the weather is perfect, and there are no crowds, and your kids don't melt down, then it really isn't Disney. And when people say that you should experience Disney in the rain (or at certain times of the year...or when your kids are a certain age...or whatever...) then it is really a form of Misery Loves Company. And if they are crazy enough to have done it, then you should do it too. All this to say, it really was a very neat and magical place.  And I look forward to taking the boys back again someday (as Keagan says: when he is 7 or 8)...but for now, we are craving a beach vacation. :)