Christmas and a Disney Vacation

We were blessed with a fantastic Christmas this yea with the people that we love dearly. We started the holiday season the weekend before Christmas. Santa came to our house that Friday night since Evan would be spending Christmas Eve/Day with his mother. Our tradition is carried on from when I was a little girl. The boys were allowed to open ONE present-- their Christmas pajamas.

Saturday was WONDERFUL! Celebrating our little family Christmas the weekend before may very well become our new tradition. The kids were up at 4:30am. We told them to go back to bed, but Kaleb was having none of it... An hour later, we gave up and let them get up. Though Greg and I were rather groggy, we were as excited as they were to see what Santa had left them.

Evan received a new red camera from Santa! He was thrilled and went through no less than 3 sets of batteries by the time the day was over.

Kaleb received a Fisher Price iXL, and screamed "A DS" at least 12 times while we were attempting to free the new toy from the packaging and show him how to turn it on.

The whole family was surprised and spoiled with a new Wii game--Epic Disney, from our kitties. We were all tickled and spent a good 2 hours taking turns playing it. Afterwards, I got started on our little family Christmas dinner-- ham, mashed potatoes, veggies, and wine/sparkling apple juice. It was such a change of pace for us-- we weren't trying to open our Christmas gifts and then rush off to all of the other Christmas parties. The kids got to spend time really enjoying their new things. It was really nice.

Sunday, we spent with Greg's folks for our annual Christmas breakfast.

We received lots of wonderful gifts, including flannel sheets, a sleeping bag for Kaleb and ANOTHER game for Evan's DS. I was especially tickled by my new piece of luggage from Rick and Myra! Kaleb is finally warming up to his Uncle Lance and is slowly getting over his fear of him.

Monday meant I went back to work and Greg began his two week Christmas break from work (the punk). However, he wasn't completely off the hook. I had signed him up to be the chair of the 1st Grade Christmas Party at Evan's school (HA!). From what I heard, he did a great job and Evan said it was lots of fun!

I found out on Thursday that I was allowed to take off Christmas Eve Day from work, so Greg and I made the decision that we were ready to leave. We went over to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bruns and Aunt Judy since we were going to be leaving early the next day and wouldn't get to spend Christmas with them. We were very spoiled by my grandparents. Kaleb is especially thrilled with his new "Judy Blanket" and now sleeps with no less than 3 blankets every night. When he toddles into bed with us he brings no less than those 3 blankets, too-- JudyBlanket included.

We were invited to Florida by my folks for a Disney vacation. The entire family was going to be there.

We got home that night, and packed the car, intending to leave no later than 4am the next morning. The car was packed at about 11pm. We were so excited and ready to leave, and neither of us were tired, so we gathered Kaleb up in his PJs and tucked him into the van. It worked out really well! He slept off and on throughout the night and all the next day, watching Disney movie after Disney movie after Disney movie. He also spent much of his awake time playing his new DS, with cars, coloring and just being a wonderful little traveler.

We made it down there Friday evening at about 7pm. We CAMPED on Christmas Eve. It was nice an warm for our first 24 hours there. The next morning, Kaleb opened a couple of little gifts from us --because you can't NOT open up a gift on Christmas Day, right? Then we helped Mom and Dad pack up the camper and we drove across Kissimmee to the two condos that Mom and Dad rented for the week. WOW! We always have the best luck when we get condos. Somehow, they managed to get the condo that the owner always stays in. Once we got settled in, we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant-- A Christmas Story -style. A little gross, but lots of fun!

Greg and I decided to spend the next day at Disney Hollywood Studios. Grandma and Papa decided that they would take Kaleb for the day and give Mommy and Daddy a nice break together. We had SO much fun!! We went on every ride (some twice!) and just had a good day playing together. The bottom dropped out on the temperature that day-- I think the high ended up being about 40.

The next day, everyone else arrived and spent the day recovering from the drive. We met up with Evan and his mom at a winery to bring Evan back home with us. We celebrated our Bruns family Christmas-- where Grandma and Papa spent WAY too much on everyone, considering our gift was Disney! We had a blast.

On Tuesday, Greg and I took Evan to Epcot. We had an absolute blast going through the whole park and riding every single ride. Evan shocked the daylights out of us with his extreme bravery on several of the rides. We were crazy enough to blast off with him on the Mission Space, and took the extreme version of the ride. He LOVED it. Greg and I thought he was flipping out at one point and there of course was nothing we could do but scream "It's okay, Evan!!" over and over again and hold onto his knees. We couldn't even turn our heads because of the G-force. He finally screamed at us "I'M FINE" because he was tired of us worrying about him. We laughed pretty hard at that. He told us "THAT WAS SO COOL" when we got off, but refused to go on it again. HA!

Grandma & Papa, along with Kaleb and the rest of the gang, went to Animal Kingdom. They had lots of fun seeing all the animals, going on rides, and seeing "The Lion King". We have reports that Kaleb was absolutely enthralled with the show.

Wednesday, we relaxed. Part of our group went to an orange grove to pick some sweet citrus. Can I just say-- it's HARD knowing what's what and which fruit is truly ready to be picked? It was fun for me, up until Kaleb decided to help himself to an orange. He was SO sticky, I ended up stripping him down out in the grove. then, he wanted to free himself of his diaper. It was over at that point for the two of us. The rest of it is not a pretty story.

Thursday, the whole family went to Magic Kingdom. We. Had. A. BLAST! Went on all sorts of rides-- Kaleb included!!! and spent lots of time as a family. It was one of the busiest days of the year at Disney-- they closed the park gates at 10am or so-- Someone said there were about 100,000 people there that day. On a typical day, they see about 20,000. So, it was a little busy, and lines were long. But, it was still a great day. Of course, my favorite ride was Small World. Kaleb loved it, too. =-)

Most of the family left on Friday. We decided we were going to leave later in the day on Friday but our plans were changed for us by our van. We went out to a Disney World outlet store on the other side of Orlando. As we were heading back to the condo, the electrical went out in the van and the battery light came on, as well as the check engine light. I pulled into a gas station so we could fill up the gas tank, and just had a gut feeling that something was seriously wrong. I tried turning the van over, and it wouldn't even click. The van was dead. As a doornail dead. At 5pm on New Years Eve.

We called AAA and a wonderful man came out to assist us. He jumped the van, and asked if he could try something. He did something to the battery and said "there's your problem". The alternator was out. Snicklefritz. What in the world were we going to do on a holiday to get that fixed?? We tried calling our warranty company's emergency line. They offered to help us at a cost if we were in peril. But couldn't do anything to fix the car. Referred us to the repair assistance line. Tried that "24-hr help line" that was closed for the holiday. We couldn't even ask them WHO could fix the darn thing on a holiday. SO, tried contacting a bunch of parts places. nobody had an alternator for our van. We located a Pepboys who had a part and could fix it for us the next day.

So, we waited. We helped mom and dad load up the camper and all of our stuff from the condo and moved to the orange grove where we had picked our fruit earlier in the week- they had camping there, too! We were finally able to pick up the van around 12:00. Thank goodness for my parents, and thank goodness we hadn't left early the day before. That would have been a disaster of epic proportions.

We were finally able to leave around 4pm on New Years Day. We made it home on the 2nd around 11am and spent the day unloading and relaxing.

We had such a wonderful holiday this year. We're quite spoiled and had a wonderful trip!

Updates, and hopefully back in the groove again!

SO, It's been a long time since I've really updated. I need to get back into the groove of updating this blog regularly again, if only to keep those who we don't get to see as often anymore (ahem.. you know who you are)..

Let's see-- the quick version of updates regarding the family:

Evan has turned seven (in September) and is now in 1st grade. He's quite the reader and is excellent in math! He'll tell you his favorite subject is gym. He continues to be quite the sports-star, participating in Karate (he's a blue belt!), baseball, spring and fall soccer and starting this next week-- Upwards Basketball. His team will be "The Suns". He loves to play his Nintendo DS, the Wii, with Legos, puzzles and anything outside. Evan is also now in Cub Scouts, and we just found out this week that he is one of the first two kids in his den who have earned their Tiger Scout badge!!! Way to go, Evan!

Kaleb turned two in October, and these have been rather trying times. He is a sweet kid, but has quite the temper when he doesn't get his way. He loves his puppy, ducky blanket, Judy-Blanket, sleeps in a tent on his bed, and ANYTHING (we do mean anything) related to Toy Story. His tent is Toy Story, and he has nearly every character from the movies. He also loves trains, planes and automobiles and strains his neck every time we cross a railroad track. We're in the throws of potty training right now. It's been interesting, to say the least. He also talks non-stop, and in complete sentences. We're shocked on a daily basis on what he has to say.

Both boys enjoy watching Disney movies and playing together with their Geotrax. They generally get along, but anyone who has younger siblings knows how trying a baby brother can be. We try to balance their time together with time apart, as well-- this typically comes in the form of nap-time for Kaleb.

Greg continues to enjoy his work at the Educational Service Center. He's found some new opportunities for growth there, and has even lead a class for parents dealing with difficult teens. I'm still working at Home Instead Senior Care, and while there are trying times, I generally enjoy my career choice and working with seniors continues to be my passion-- especially those with memory loss.

Both Greg and I have re-discovered our passion for reading. We purchased Nooks (e-book readers) for each other for Christmas, and find ourselves reading more and watching TV less. I can't remember the last time we watched a network television show. We do still enjoy watching movies and have re-discovered dating, something we've been missing for quite a while.

I put up a post about my grandfather's death in May. He's greatly missed, but he's dropped by in my dreams a few times for a visit, which has been nice.

I've joined a fantastic group- Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS). Its a Christian based mother's group that gives moms a chance to meet others for fellowship. I've had to miss the past few meetings due to work on Saturdays, but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things later this month. It's much needed and I've met some great ladies!

Coming up next-- Christmas and Disney!