ORLANDO

Prepare for a lengthy post....!

Eddie has a client, Melvin Ingram, who plays for the Chargers. Melvin was invited to the Pro Bowl last year, and Eddie went and had the best time... Melvin's family made him promise that if they were to return to the Pro Bowl, Eddie needed to come back and bring his family. We were on board. 


So last Thursday, we checked out of school a little early and loaded the car and hit the road. Now, I should say we weren't too pumped about driving, but last minute flight were CAH-RAZY. And, I also should say I am the first to say when my kids are being annoying or less than enjoyable. They were SO SO SO good on this drive. Like, shockingly good.

Thank God for little boys.....

We drove to Jacksonville on Thursday, stayed the night in a hotel and then got up early on Friday to drive to Orlando in time for practice. Nug held out until about 10, then snoozed for a bit, bless his heart.

We got to Orlando early and checked into our hotel- we stayed in the players hotel which was really cool on so many fronts. All these famous players are just walking around- literally everywhere you look.... and the hotel was not open to the public so there was not one fan in there, so these guys all had their guard down and were totally comfortable. It was all players and their families. Melvin's family rented a house, so we were his family in the hotel. Because of this, we had to submit stuff ahead of time to have our credentials checked. Seriously. So when we checked in, we had to collect our badges and they had to be on at all times- and this was super strict. Even the most famous players had to have their badges on. The boys thought this was really neat:

After we checked in, we headed over to the ESPN center for the practice. It was very cool out there, although the sun felt good.

  The practice was cool, but after the practice, we got to get on the field and meet a bunch of players, so that was realllllly cool:

After practice and field time, we headed back to the hotel.  Melvin was in the lobby bar so we chatted with him a bit before heading up to the room real fast.

 Cal was bummed with Chiefs lost because he wanted them to go to the super bowl, but then he learned that meant that Patrick Mahomes would be at the pro bowl- and he realllllly wanted to meet him. Well, we happened to hop in the elevator with him! Not sure if you can tell from the pic, but Cal was about to pop. He was super friendly and happy to take a picture. 

We geeked out a bit more, seeing some players (Cal somehow knew every single one of them....and most of their stats....),

 Then we headed over to Melvin's family's house they rented- it was massive and really nice! This is his niece and she LOVED Andy! These two were side by side the whole rest of the night.

The next morning, we were hitting Disney! We had to sort of take plans minute by minute because we were supposed to stick with Melvin and fam but then things sort of fell apart, so we took the tickets and hit the park!
While we were waiting for the bus in the lobby, Emmit Smith was standing behind us... had to take a pic... pretty cool.

We loaded the bus and headed to Disney!

 Here we are!

The park was crowded, somewhat... but not too bad! And that's good because all fast passes were filled up... peeps do that way in advance! WOW.... noted. 

We explored, rode some rides, waited in some lines... and got a sick hat. 

 It was cold on this day. Like, really cold, especially for Orlando. I think it was 48 with the wind chill- and it was blowing....! I threw a vest in my bag for me in case it got cold, and Andy ended up wearing it- haha

The park is so pretty at night. We stayed until the fireworks show and then scooted out. 

 It was a really fun day- wish I had planned some fast passes in advance, but lesson learned for next time! I loved this time with my people,

We ended the night with warm showers and room service. It was pretty great!

Sunday was game day, so we had a lazy morning in the room... goofy was still....goofy. 

Then it was time to get game ready. Sadly, it was POURING out. And blowing. So it was raining sideways. Ugh. We layered up....a lot.... And stayed goofy (he loooooooves his hat. LOVES.)

 

We got some Melvin Pro Bowl shirts to put on and we were ready to go!

 (hat still on....)

 Melvin has a good fan club!

The game was....wet. There are no other words to describe it. Well, wet and cold. And sideways blowing- there was just no way to stay dry.

 We poncho'd up, but with the wind blowing the rain, we were all pretty wet quickly.

 We made it to the third quarter before we decided to head on out. It was fun, but reallllllly cold, hahaha!

We got in the car after the game (after changing in the hotel bathroom!) and started driving to get a head start on the trip home.

Once again, the boys were beyond good in the car, thanks Apple. Also, the look like teenagers back there.

 PHEW what a long post.... I withheld posting ALLLLL of the pictures, you're welcome.

Can't wait to do it again!

 

Swimming and swimming!

We are spending a lot of time driving to the pool lately. Truth be told, I am really, really proud of how well Cal is doing in the new group. It is a lot harder, from what I gather (pretty sure they had a "full fly" practice where they did primarily butterfly the whole time. I would die.), but Cal is loving it. I was worried he would give a little push back from the increased practice times, but he's really enjoying it. Thankfully.


We had a meet this last weekend and I am pretty sure this smile says it all:

I am learning, when you have been swimming for a while, time drops are more and more rare. I see kids celebrating two tenths of a drop in their swim. Sweet Cal dropped over 3 full seconds in his first two events and over 5 seconds in his third event. He had a sleep over the night before so I thought he would be tired, but he proved me wrong, as he does so often. I shouldn't doubt him! He did a 100 IM, 100 free and 50 back. And he was still smiling at the end of it all.

My time with this kiddo is precious and I adore him. I am so beyond proud of the hard work he is dedicating to this.

 

Basketball Season

Moving on to the next big sport in our house: basketball. Andy's the most excited about this one. Cal realllllly wanted to try tennis, so we made him pick a sport- his swimming has taken off and he's swamped with it all. He said he would take a break from basketball.... fast forward, it's been too wet/cold/wintery to play tennis and he advanced to the next swim group, which practices when tennis would be so he should have just played basketball. Plus both boys could have been on the same team.  So many bummers. Oh well!

You know what's NOT a bummer? Getting on a team with red and green for the colors. GO BULLDOGS (and reindeer, if we wanted to change the mascot.....). What are the chances my Christmas loving kiddo would get this???

 Their first game was last night, and I must say, I love watching him play. There is SUCH JOY as he plays. He does not run down the court. He skips, happily. He is smiling and going for the ball and taking the shot. He even did some passing, which was great. He loves his coaches and his team mates.

Looking forward to watching more basketball from this kid!

 

I HEART NYC

The boys have had a fascination with NYC as long as I can remember. Especially Andy. So this year, when brainstorming ideas about Christmas, I suggested to my parents, maybe a trip to New York, instead of gifts would be awesome. Andy, Mr. Christmas lover himself, in NYC during the holidays... we couldn't think of anything better!

And, oh how amazing it was. We had THE BEST time ever. We woke the boys up early on December 18th- my parents were there for this part too, which was extra cool.... and told them to get dressed, we were headed to New York... pretty sure they were shocked, but it was the cutest thing ever.

When we landed in New York, we dropped our bags and started walking...

We walked to the Empire State Building- something the boys have always wanted to do, and went to the top. It was COOOOOOLD up there, but the views were crystal clear and it was gorgeous! Andy got to see the statute of liberty (another obsession), so we were all happy!

 Seeing the statue of liberty///

After Empire State Building, we grabbed some lunch and walked down through Rockefeller- seeing their faces as they saw the tree for the first time was amazing.

Then we went to Radio City to see the Rockettes! It was awesome! Loved it! We were given 3D glasses when we walked in- and there was this whole thing where Santa throws gifts off of his sack- the boys were dying at this, haha, they loved it.

 After the show, we walked back to Rockefeller to check out the tree at night... it was just beautiful!

The next morning, all the boys wanted to do was ice skate in Rockefeller...after watching it the day before, they were set on doing it. We got there and shockingly, there wasn't much of a line, so we jumped in and got on the ice. This was a highlight of the trip for all, I think. It was so, so much fun! Sweet Cal resembled a new born giraffe attempting to skate, while Andy was off doing loop-de-loops around the place. It was terrifying and hysterical all at the same time. Eddie and I just tried to not pull anything... mom and dad found a table with a view and documented our escapades.

 After ice skating, we had to make an unplanned stop back in the room to switch to dry clothes (hahaha) and then we walked to Carmines, which was another total highlight of the trip! We so loved this restaurant! It was so fun and SO yummy!

After Carmines, the boys took advantage of the drinks consumed and talked Grandpa into buying new shoes at the Nike Experience store... this place is really, really cool....

 After the Nike store, we had a quick break, so the boys went back to the hotel to rest, so mom and I broke free and went to Henri Bendel...our favorite place.... We were a little excited!

That night, we saw Aladdin...OH MY HEAVENS, we loved it! Loved, loved, loved it! It was full of excitement and fun and everyone really enjoyed it! Such a good show! I have no pictures from this though.... haha

The next morning, we were up and at em early, to catch a boat to go see the Statue of Liberty. It was a beautiful day for it and we loved the tour out there.

We had a great rest of the day-- Disney Store in times square and a delicious lunch we found too. We headed back to the airport around 2... sad it was time to head back to the real world!

It was SUCH a fun trip and the best Christmas present ever for the whole family. We are still talking about the trip. The boys screaming at the TV on NYC that they recognized times square was pretty amazing too.... I love the memories we made there!