Weekend Wrap-Up

Avery is back in Bogota this morning, but it was a girls weekend around our apartment.

Friday, the girls did homework in the morning then we spent the afternoon and evening going to see a movie.  It took us 6 hours, including transportation and the movie.  We walked for an hour and 15 minutes after the movie just trying to get a taxi :(.  Good thing I live the opposite direction of the airport or I may have just kept walking that way.

We saw the final Mocking Jay movie, which was my first of the series to see!

Avery was able to spend time duck hunting with his family.  So happy he was able to go hunt!

Isabella shared with me these new photos of Princess Charlotte.  She is a cutie!

And she favors her big brother George!

This notice above was in the girls school newsletter. Under 6th grade, you will see Brook's name listed.  She was recognized for an excellence in writing award!

While going through Brook's school papers, I found this science paper on rock cycles.  The photo isn't very clear, but at the top, the teacher wrote a note asking if she could keep this :).

The rest of our weekend was homework and watching some Christmas shows.

Pray these girls can get caught up on all their school work this week with decent grades.  

Happy Monday!

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope you all had a great day with family and friends.  Here is a re-cap of our Thanksgiving week:

As some of you may remember, last year our mall had strange decorations.  This year, they are much better, except for this one thing.  You know, the inn in Bethlehem that had a plastic slide coming off the 2nd floor??  What, what??  I don't remember that part of the Christmas story.

Yours truly

Facebook sent me this reminder of what happened 4 years ago.  I took Isabella for her first Black Friday shopping experience with Target at midnight.

I made a huge tub of homemade "cool whip" to have with pies on Thanksgiving.  I made a lemon pie for the gathering.

Wednesday night, we watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving special and a Hallmark movie while decorating the Christmas tree.

Thursday morning,  I was so thankful to be able to stream the Macy's Christmas parade.

I cooked  and we went to our team leaders home for Thanksgiving meal with our teammates.

Here we are!  Avery is in the USA this week with his family for the holiday.

Isabella with Evie Jude, the youngest member of our team.

After returning home, I did Black Friday online shopping and talked with family. I am glad we made it through the holiday and it was a good one.  Now we will spend the rest of our weekend decorating for Christmas, watching movies, and homework!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our apartment to your home!

For today's post, hop on over to www.bogotabridges.com.

What's Up Wednesday ~ November

It's the last Wednesday of the month, what??  So I am participating in What's Up Wednesday.

What we're eating this week:

Monday - Our first night back was grilled cheese and tomato soup!

Tuesday - church dinner at United

Wednesday - cereal probably (Avery will be in the USA)

Thursday - hopefully some turkey as the girls and I celebrate with our MTW team

What I'm reminiscing about:

I'm reminsicing about our recent trip to Orlando and holidays when the girls were younger.

What I'm loving:

Christmas season and music!

What we've been up to:

Catching up on homework, unpacking, and re-adjusting to our reality here

What I'm dreading:

Traffic in Bogota

What I'm working on:

Christmas gifts for the girls!

What I'm excited about:

Being in Memphis for Christmas, seeing my family, having fun with friends, and feeling cold air again!

What I'm watching/reading:

I'm trying to watch Christmas movies when I can.  I started to read Yes, Please last week.

What I'm listening to:

I am listening to the sounds of traffic right now, but hope to listen to Christmas music later in the day!

What I'm wearing:

Comfly clothes

What I'm doing this weekend:

I hope to decorate our tree Wednesday night, have a relaxing weekend, and make sure the girls are caught up on their school work from our trip.

What I'm looking forwrd to next month:

Flying to Memphis for Christmas!

What else is new:

So far, not too much.  We have a few things on our December calendar, but basically, just trying to survive school until Christmas break.

Cruisin'

We left Orlando, drove to Port Canaveral, and took a short 3 day cruise to de-tox from Disney.  If you know me, you know I love a cruise.  It had been a while since I had been on one, so this was a great opportunity while we were 45 minutes from a port!

First, we made one more stop by Target :)

Boarding the ship 

There goes Isabella

Our room

(the girls beds folded down from the ceiling)

We boarded early, so this is the pool pre-people!

We headed straight to lunch....and ice cream!

Ready to set sail!

We had grey skies however, and some rain.

Day 2 of the cruise we made a port stop in Nassau, Bahamas.  We went to Balmoral Island for our excursion for a beach day.  Avery and Brook are in that water swimming with dolphins and it was pouring hard rain the entire time.  Other than the downpour, it was a great experience for them!

A dream come true!

It sadly rained during our time at the island.  

This is where we stayed when Avery and Brook were finished swimming with the dolphins.

The rain cleared literally 10 minutes before we were leaving...just in time to take some photos.

Brook standing in front of the area where she swam with the dolphins.

Heading back to our ship

(we are the one on the right...the smaller one :))

Dinner

A Carnival classic - strawberry bisquie soup

And their famous dessert - warm chocolate melting cake

We watched our cruise directors dance at  Mardi Gras theme party.

I lit up Brook's hair with glow sticks!

Towel art left on our bed

While sailing Saturday, our ship basically came to a stop because they saw this banana boat.  It was unmanned and the Coast Guard was called.

Meanwhile, we found ice cream and their chocolate desserts!

Isabella on the slide

Brook

Even with the rain, and me being in bed 2 hours after setting sail due to drowsiness, it was still fun for all of us to be on a cruise again.  We arrived port, shuttled to the aiport, and were in our beds in Bogota the same night.  Back to life here......

Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom

We are back in Bogota and the girls are on the school bus.  We jump back into things really quick around here.  My plans are to take an hour bus ride to go buy cheddar cheese today.  And unpack sacks from Target :).  Continuing with vacation updates, here is the next installment!

Day 3 in the parks was spent at Hollywood Studios and Day 4 was in Animal Kingdom.

Tower of Terror

Brook rode this for the first time and Isabella rode Rockin Roller Coaster for the first time. It was fun to do the first rides with them!

Stunt show

There is a new sing-a-long from the movie Frozen and it was so cute!

Avery enjoying a turkey leg!

Mitchel and Avery

Christmas lights

Animal Kingdom

Flags are flying at half staff 

Brook rode Mt. Everest for the first time.

We took the safari ride.

We went to the Lion King show.

Isabella was so excited to find this snack!

After leaving the park, we went to the Port Orleans Resort for dinner. They had cities listed that are on the Mississippi River in their lobby.  It is a beautiful hotel and setting.

Avery's jumbalaya

Brook's pork chop

I had crawfish mac-n-cheese with a side of a sirloin steak.

And Isabella had pasta :)

We returned to the hotel early and watched some of Aladdin poolside.

This is our last Disney vacation for a while and last one while the girls are younger.  I loved still seeing some thrill and excitement and experiencing some firsts of Disney with them.  It was crowded and crazy at times, but a great trip!