Day 171- Early Birthday Celebration + Packing time

Saturday was a super fun day if I say so myself. I figured out working super late once and a while helps clear your mind and your plate! I got so much biz handled and organized until January 6 that I felt a sense of relief all day!

That translates into major kid hang out day while Joe got some last minute work done.

Caitlin is turning 10 on Monday, December 23 and we’ll be in NY that day so we decided an early birthday celebration was in order.

Kids had a little bit cocoa and they each had 1 powdered donut hole. They were leftover from Sydney’s party and I had found them in the cabinet 😀

Sometimes you just need to break the rules a little!

We then opened presents for Christmas and Cate’s bday since they all agreed carrying all our gifts to NY and back was silly. They also knew Santa was bringing them 1 “big”’gift each to the hotel suite!

Luke got a Shawn the Sheep stuffie from the girls and grandma Edden gave them Amazon money to buy anything they want when they get back to FL in January. Brilliant.

Caitlin got an awesome bubble wand and giant bubble kit from us for her birthday. It’s the same kind her Aunt Annie had made for her years ago that we ended up not taking with us. The original was made out of sticks and rope and mirrored the store bought one to the tee!

Sydney and I decided after bubbles to take a ride together. I do my best to spend a little alone time with each kid each week if not every day.

Our ride took us over to the marina where we caught the ferry to Magic Kingdom last week. While there we found a wooden checker board and decided to play. We had the best time! Sydney is a very good checker player for only having played a few times in her life.

We then made our way home and had some lunch!

I decided it was important to focus some energy back on cooking since a few days prior we were at the Parks so much that our meals had gone sour- in my opinion!

I cooked black bean soup for lunch today and tomorrow and made some muffins to take on the airplane ride to NY. That’s always helpful to have with you for a snack in a pinch!

Joe at Salchichas, I had my friend from Alaska’s canned Salmon- YUM- and kids ate black bean soup! Simple and easy.

With our luggage all pulled out and needing to be packed I decided it was pool time.

I’m a firm believer in work taking up the amount of time you give it so I figured I’d start packing right before bed 😀

We stayed at the pool for hours. We lost track of time it was so much fun. We met Mike again in the hot tub ( he’s from Louisiana and owns a crawfish business) and Amy and her husband from Pompano Beach, FL. Joe and I both after meeting new people and hearing their stories is one of the most interesting parts of our trip!

Everyone does it differently. Mike loves Disney and has been coming 45 years with his family. He started coming when he first joined the military. He comes several times a year. It’s his happy place. Amy and her husband and 2 kids come come/ year and go to Ft Wilderness to hang and camp and enjoy the grounds. They sold everything and moved to A1A right on the beach to live in a condo community. They said they like the smaller space.

Cool stuff.

We were going to do Campfires songs and s’mores last night but it rained so we all stayed in the RV and watched Old school Christmas movies like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.

By 9:30pm I was almost finished packing and the kids were getting ready for bed! Tomorrow will be a loooooong day of moving to a new RV Resort to keep the rig plugged in for the week to keep our food refrigerated. Then hopping in an Uber to the Orlando airport to catch a 5:00pm flight to NY!!!

Whoooha. I’m exhausted just thinking about it 😀

Stay tuned for our NY adventures….