December 2024

Well, the time finally arrived for the reason we went to Disney on this trip, the Christmas Party. We got to the park early and started riding some rides. We started with Brinley's favorite, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. While we were in line I started asking the kids what things they wanted to do at the party. I got a little upset because nobody was commenting on things that they wanted to do. I had been researching for weeks about what all to try and do and then the time comes for decisions and nobody speaks up. You can tell in the top picture that the kids hadn't recovered fully from my little episode in line. Maybe the ride was just what we needed though because we were in much better spirits afterward. The kids just wanted to ride the rides, but I wanted to focus on more of the things that you couldn't have on a normal day. We did some compromising and did a little of both. 

We met some characters. Some of the lines were not very long but we would try and have Jennifer or myself stand in line while the kids did something else. We also got lots of compliments on our matching pajamas. It is also a lot more fun when you get to talk with the characters. The costumed characters only get to talk with their actions which can make things interesting. 

Some more pictures from our meet and greets with characters. I think they should really try to redo the Abu costume. He looks crazy. 

The fireworks show was awesome. Disney really knows how to do the holidays right. I also would love to have the budget for the fireworks. There is no telling how much money that they spend on these every single day.

The longest wait of the night was to meet the characters from Winnie the Pooh. The kids were both excited about meeting them. Jennifer waited in line while the kids and I rode a ride and then we switched out so that Jennifer could go get some hot chocolate. We finally met them after 20 minutes. 

We also took some of the offered magic shots that they offered around the park. It is always fun to see what they add to the photo. They just tell us to look or do something silly in a certain direction.

The ride we were all excited about getting to ride was Tron. It is our favorite ride as a family. Nobody typically sits out on this ride. The middle pictures were the only one where something went bad for the night. I put our backpack with Landon because he had extra leg room. Well, during the ride on one of the bumps in the ride I heard a clanking sound. Turns out that my water bottle fell out and was at the bottom of the ride. We filled out a lost and found item form. Unfortunately, I got notified by email when I got home that they were unable to find our bottle. 

The kids were not excited about me getting photos with almost every photographer on Main Street. Landon even took his mother’s jacket from her because he was cold. 

The other perk about the event is that you get free cookies and drinks. The hot chocolate was delicious, but the apple cider and egg nog left a lot to be desired. We tried most of the cookies at the event and then stocked up on some for the rest of our trip. I personally thought the sugar cookies were the best. I think this was honestly the best party we had ever attended. I feel like we got some much accomplished for the night. 

It was just magical getting to see it “snow” on Main Street at Disney. Last year when I saw it I thought it was a bunch of bugs showing up in the spotlights. 

Apparently meeting all the characters at the party sparked something in Brinley. She wanted to start meeting everyone. She also started having them all sign her Stanley water bottle. 

We stopped for a little photo shoot and we told the photographer that we only wanted pictures of the kids. He turned around to snap a picture of Jennifer and I. He initially tried to take a picture of another woman that was close to me. I had to tell him that’s not my wife.  

We finally got to meet and get a picture with Mandolorian. He acted like he didn’t want to get a picture with Landon, but I was not going to take no for an answer. I followed him around until he said we could. I even took a photo for another family and waited through multiple other interactions with other guests. 

Landon and I headed over to Epcot to ride Guardians and Brinley and Jennifer stayed back at Hollywood Studios to meet more characters. It makes me sad that we didn't start meeting all of them earlier in the year. We could have met almost every character during the past year. 

Brinley rode the Tower of Terror all by herself. This is huge because when she was 4 years old I talked her into riding with me by telling her the ride was just like an elevator. She had vowed to never ride it again which saddened me because it was one of my favorites. I got her to try it again this year and she found out how much she liked it too. 

Landon and I went to ride Guardians. It had been broken down earlier in the day when we were all at Epcot. It got opened back up and we were able to ride twice because we used the girls virtual queue passes too. 

One last trip to Club Cool. Landon truly loves this place. Anytime we are close he wants to go in and get some drinks. 

We ended the last night at Disney at the Magic Kingdom. We rode everyone's favorite rides one last time.

First time ever that Landon and I were both able to max out the Buzz Lightyear ride. I had shown him over the past year all the right targets to hit to get the most points possible. After we got him maxed out I had to get mine up. I couldn't let the little guy out do me. 

I got these two one last of their favorite treats at Disney. Brinley loves the Mickey ice cream on a stick and Landon loves a bucket of popcorn. I am so glad we brought the buckets for popcorn with us this time. We forgot on one of the trips and had to buy another bucket. 

Our last ride on Brinley’s favorite ride, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. 

We spent the last part of our time taking some pictures on Main Street. The kids were over it, but I was just trying to soak in the last moments at the park. I am not going to say never, but I think it is going to be a while before we go back. 

We got Landon one last treat before leaving the Magic Kingdom. Brinley had picked out a sweat shirt that Grandpa was going to give her for Christmas. Landon looked but couldn't find anything that he wanted. So, cotton candy it was. 

How it started and how we finished. The picture on the left was from our first trip to Disney and on the right was our last trip. These two sure are growing up. It won't be long before they are both taller than Jennifer. 

Our financial advisor for the past two years has had a Christmas gathering at the Kentucky Theatre. They had snacks and we got to watch Home Alone 2. The kids look forward to this because they love getting all the snacks during the movie. 

We came home and had to get started on decorating the house. We started with the kids doing their own gingerbread house. Brinley definitely got Jennifer's creative genes and came up with a very elaborate decoration. Landon was busy most of the time eating his candy. 

McKinley and Taylor wanted to go out to a couples Christmas party. So, we volunteered to watch Nora. We played with all her toys, the kids fed her dinner, read her some books, and we even wore our sunglasses at night. Jennifer helped her make some Christmas ornaments to give to her parents. 

Our last alphabet date just so happened to be the letter Z. We headed downtown for a lunch date at a restaurant called Zim’s Cafe. It was a nice little restaurant. We had a good lunch. After getting home we shared some Zebra cakes to officially close the book on the alphabet dates. 

McKinley and Taylor started a little tradition a few years ago where they would take the kids to Five Below to pick out gifts for Christmas. They get gifts for one another and for both Jennifer and I. The kids have a lot of fun picking out gifts and it is always fun to see what they get everyone. They also took Nora to eat at Chick-fil-a for the first time. 

We decided to celebrate Christmas with my parents and siblings in Columbus this year. We all headed up on December 14th to begin the festivities. We all arrived and snacked and talked before deciding it was time to open gifts. Apparently the early morning got me because I passed out. My siblings said they thought I might have narcolepsy. The kids all enjoyed opening gifts, at least I’m told they did.

The cousin crew picture gets harder for some and easier for others. Brinley is now the keeper of Nora until she can remain seated for the duration of the photo shoot. 

Next on the agenda was heading to a church that had a walk through nativity and story of the birth of Jesus. This was a really neat experience. The kids all really enjoyed getting to pet the animals at nativity. 

Next on the agenda was dinner at a place called Granddaddy’s Pizza. We all arrived and I quickly went to find the only TV in the place that was showing the UK vs Louisville game. It just so happened to be between to tables eating dinner. I didn’t care. I just wanted to watch the last five minutes of the game. Well, in that five minutes of game action the dinner plans fell apart. Nora had a meltdown (tired and hungry), there was a wait to get in the restaurant, and Eliana fell and busted her lip open. Plans quickly changed and we all headed back to Andrea’s. Only good news at Granddaddy’s Pizza is that  I got to watch the Cats finish out the win. 

That night after the kids went to bed we had our yearly sibling rivalry game. It used to be the pickle ornament competition but we got to rowdy over that so Dad comes up with some type of game for us to compete in to try and win the prize. This year consisted of 5 mini games and the winner had to win 3 of them.  There was a balancing cup challenge with ping pong ball, darts, 50 piece puzzle, maze game, and a word search. I was only able to claim victory in one, but it was my specialty the jigsaw puzzle. McKinley ended up victorious this year and took home the special edition silver coin. 

The next morning we all got up and went to watch Olivia in her ballet program of the Jr Nutcracker. She was one of the mice and she did an amazing job. She had told her mom that she was nervous because so many people were coming to watch her performance. Well, she did great in the spotlight.

We all headed over to the Rusty Bucket for lunch after the ballet. We enjoyed a nice meal together before having to head back to Lexington. 

We came back from Columbus and Landon wanted to play one of the games that he got for Christmas. Jennifer and I played Qwirkle with him. It was close, but I barely beat him. It is a fun little game. 

Brinley’s travel softball team had their annual Christmas party. Some of these people have become like extended family members we have spent so much time together. They had a gingerbread house competition and also played some squishmallow volleyball. I am ready to see how much all of these grow and develop for summer ball after working out with their respective school teams. Excited for a summer of fun at the ballpark. 

This has been one of my favorite Christmas traditions that we do as a family. Sox years ago we did this puzzle and it took us over 55 minutes. This year we did it under 29. I also think it is crazy that 4 times we have had the same last piece. I believe everyone just does the puzzle because I want to, but we all get into it once it starts. 

We all went to church in the morning, but it was the kids week to work in children’s church. So we all headed back to the night service so that we could all hear the message together and all enjoy the candlelight 

Christmas Eve I had to work for a few hours. After I got off I came home and finished up a puzzle that Andrea had gotten for me while I was recovering from surgery. Then I had heard about another church having a candlelight service so we headed over to check it out. Crossroads did a wonderful job and I am so glad that we went. Next I gave the kids and Jennifer an option of Chinese or Waffle House. They picked Waffle House. After dinner we came back home and watched Christmas movies and opened up the presents that the kids got each other. One game they got was Family Meme Night so we all played it. Brinley ended up pulling out the victory. 

Christmas morning was really different this year. It was the first time I didn’t have two children waking me up from a dead sleep to ask to open presents. Landon and I got up early and he played video games while explaining it all to me. Brinley didn’t get up until 10 am. I had just finished making breakfast so we ate before any gifts were opened. We opened gifts while watching the Disney Christmas Parade on TV. The kids opened their gifts. We spent the morning doing their Harry Potter puzzles. Earlier in the week I had asked for dinner requests. We ended up deciding on steak and shrimp, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, mac and cheese, rolls, and Olive Garden salad. 

This year we took some advice from a friend of mine and got the kids 4 things: something to wear, something to eat, something to read, and something they want. We (Jennifer) got them things for their stocking too. 

It was a beautiful day on Christmas and the weather was in the high 50's. I told Landon that we should go out and throw some lacrosse ball around. Tryouts will be here before you know it in February. 

The old guy has never let me down since I asked for peanut brittle one Christmas as a child. This year I wondered if he would be able to deliver it. Earlier in the week I had asked people about their favorite Christmas traditions. My tin of peanut brittle has become one of mine. 

Brinley had told me that in class she learned how to make monkey bread. I told her that we could make it over the break. Well, Winnie the Pooh showed up to help me bake this delicious treat. I was told afterwards that her school one was better, but she hadn’t gotten the recipe from the teacher before school let out. 

Back a couple months ago Landon asked to go to Skyzone, a trampoline park. When we got there they had a deal going on for a fall pass. If you went 3 times then it basically paid for itself. At the time Brinley said she didn’t want the pass. Well, someone has kept randomly deciding that she wanted to go jump with her brother. I have learned my lesson and I should have just gotten her the pass too. Landon has gone close to 30 times. It would be awesome if it wasn’t a twenty minute drive across town. He spends most of the time playing dodgeball so I in my head rationalize it as strengthening his throwing arm. 

He has also discovered back flips. He has gotten really good at them. Only problem he has at the trampoline park is little kids walking into the area where he is flipping. The other day I watched him hit 3 backflips consecutively. I was really impressed. 

Winter time and being stuck in the house always makes me want to do puzzles. Landon doesn’t love puzzles as much as me, but he asked me to help him with this Mario one that had been in his room for quite some time. It is really hard because it doesn’t have your traditional rectangular border. Doesn’t matter we finally knocked it out. 

Landon had been trying for quite a while to climb the taller warped wall. Well, on the last day of his fall pass he was finally able to do it! He was so proud and I know wanted to explode with excitement, but he slid down the pole and I thought we could leave. Nope, he said dad I want to do it again and he did!

My family finally agreed to take a picture in our Christmas pajamas. I told them I refused to take the tree down until we got one last picture in our Mickey Mouse pjs. 

Jennifer came up with fun games to play every hour while we waited for the ball drop. We watched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the fourth installment of Die Hard. We had a good time finishing off 2024 together. May 2025 be a year full of growth spiritually and to live life to the fullest everyday. In 2025 I want to be more like Jesus and less like me. 

November 2024

I stopped in after work to say Happy Birthday to McKinley. Nora didn’t care about the birthday singing, but look at her eyeing that cake and candle. 

Before we left for Columbus I stood outside in the cold for an hour waiting in line before the polls opened. I wanted to make sure that I did my civic duty and placed my vote. I knew that I had to work on Tuesday and it wouldn’t be likely that I could get away to vote. In my opinion if you don’t vote then you can’t complain about the government. 

We weren’t able to go up to Columbus for Olivia’s birthday so all of us siblings decided to pick a weekend to get together. The first weekend in November we all went up and met at the zoo to start off the weekend. The kids had fun seeing the animals and they even fed the giraffes. This was Nora’s first zoo experience in her life. 

Everyone even got to ride the carousel, well everyone that wanted to ride it. Nora’s first carousel ride with all the little kids riding. 

Landon came to Uncle McKinley’s house so that we could leave from his house to go to the UK game after I got off work. He had some time to play in the leaves with Nora while he waited for me to get off work. 

On the way home from Columbus weekend we stopped at Kings Island to ride a roller coaster. Yes, we stopped to just ride one roller coaster, Diamondback. Landon did a few trick or treat stations and then we got in the car and drove the rest of the way home. 

On Election Day apparently Landon wanted to do nothing more than play Monopoly. He got it set up and after I got home from work Jennifer and I played with him. I got the early lead because I got all the cheap properties and then bought a bunch of hotels on them. After about an hour and a half I was ready to call it quits so I gave Landon all of my properties. Also Jennifer looks terrified in this picture. 

I had a day off from work so I took advantage and spent some time smoking some meat. I did a pork shoulder and a rack of ribs. They were both delicious. The only bad part was that my smoker charger over heated and started to burn the plug. So I guess that I did it up right for my last time with this smoker. 

The kids had youth group so Jennifer and I took advantage and got in an alphabet date. This one was V. We first started by volunteering at church for meal pack. Then we headed across the street to Five (V) Below and we found some good finds. One being a Villians puzzle and the not so good Violet Crumble bar which was not good at all. Then we stopped at DQ for some vanilla ice cream with toppings, which some people call blizzards. 

The kids attend an after-school club called Wyldlife. It is a Christian based group where they have snacks and a devotion. They spent the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge. They had a good time at the water park and with all the activities they had planned. I was a nervous wreck sending my little kids off with some college kids that I had never met. 

The kids were gone on their weekend to Great Wolf Lodge so Jennifer and I went to the UK game together. Kentucky handled Bucknell pretty easily. I had a co-worker text me that she had an extra seat behind the bench. I decided to stay up top with Jennifer because I didn’t think she would appreciate being abandoned up top. 

Both the kids said they had a good time, but none of Brinley's friends actually signed up to go on the trip so she had to make some new friends for the weekend. Just like a Where's Waldo - see if you can find Brinley in the top picture. 

After the game we had our Y alphabet date. We went to Gumbo Ya Ya and I got something called a Yatwich and Jennifer got gumbo. Then we went out for some frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf. 

Jennifer and I were able to get another date in while the kids were gone on their overnight adventure to Great Wolf Lodge. This was our N date. We had North Lime Donuts, gNocchi and noodles for lunch at Pasta Garage, and Nothing Bundt Cakes. The fried lasagna was one of the most delicious things I have ever had here in Lexington. 

Nine weeks post op and I officially graduated from physical therapy. These guys really helped me get myself back to the closest I am going to get for now. I have run in the neighborhood, but it is going to be a while before I run any races. 

Landon randomly asked me about making oobleck. We had the ingredients, cornstarch and water, so we made it. He played with it for over an hour. Then later in the night got it out and played with it again. 

As I got to McKinley’s house after work one day I couldn’t go in to say hello and catch up. So, my consolation prize was these two waving hello to me. 

Landon and I went to catch a UK game together. We went down to see the players and give them a high five when they leave the court. There are a lot of really nice players on this team and they are really great ball players. They run a really fast paced kind of basketball, which was a spark of excitement we had been missing the past few years. 

I tried to catch a picture of Landon as he was leaving lacrosse practice. He was carrying two backpacks, one on the front and one on the back. He quickly took the front one off when he saw me with my camera. 

Landon was eating a tootsie roll that his teacher had given him at school and while he was chewing he felt something hard. Turns out that it was his tooth that had fallen out. He told me why the teacher had given him the tootsie rolls. He was playing a game in social studies where it puts one kid against the entire class to see who can answer the most questions. Landon defeated the class and the teacher was impressed and gave him a handful of tootsie rolls for his achievement. 

These two love a good nap. Both like to curl up too. 

Not often does Brinley go to the basketball games, but I told her that I wanted her to go with me. We had a good time. We grabbed Goodfellas on the way into the stadium and then we stopped for blizzards on the way home. People in the arena are crazy for paying $7 for a regular ice cream cone. I took a picture of the number of 3’s the boys hit on this night - 17 of them. This is a really fun team to watch. 

Since we were going to be gone for Thanksgiving we decided to fix a big meal the weekend before. We invited the other Lexington Heflin's over to eat with us too. 

We celebrated a little early for Thanksgiving because we were leaving town on actual Thanksgiving day. The night before I asked McKinley if they didn’t have anything then they could come over and enjoy some food. Nora came and tried a couple of firsts with food. She loved sweet potatoes (maybe due to the marshmallows) but not a big fan of mashed potatoes. 

We took the kids to see the movie Wicked as a last-minute decision.  Brinley and Jennifer had seen the play over the summer when we went to NYC, but it was all new to Landon. Everyone enjoyed it even though we had to sit in the front row. Brinley had to keep telling me to quit singing along. Great movie, but very sad that we have to wait for part 2 to come out. 

One morning I made the kids some muffins for before school. Landon was the first to get up and he thought that someone left them out. He put them in tupperware and put them in the fridge. A very nice job, but then nobody else knew that they were there to be eaten. The next day I made some chocolate chip banana bread for them. I made sure to leave them a note telling them that they were for them. 

Dad and I had planned to go see our alma maters play against each other. It is the only time I have taken someone that is cheering for the opposing team, but I figured little Western wouldn't be that big of a problem. We made it to the game but not before Dad fell on the steps heading up to our seats. Just so happened that a man I had met a few weeks earlier at my bible study was there to catch and help him up. After we got up to our seats and dad caught his breath from all the events we had an awesome time. I told Dad about the over under game that I have started playing with the kids at the games. We both predicted what the other's team would score and then we had to decide if they would go over or under that score. Turns out I was spot on for the night. I picked that WKU would score 33 in the first half and 68 for a final score. I nailed both of them. It was really great to get some time with my dad. We laughed and talked the whole night. 

Over the summer when I was looking at times for us to go to Disney for the Christmas party I found some great tickets for Thanksgiving break. So we loaded up the car on Thanksgiving morning and headed to the airport. We were unsure what would be open so we packed a lunch for the airport, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Goes down as the weirdest Thanksgiving lunch I have ever had. 

Our first stop of the day was Epcot. In the morning at home I had booked a virtual queue for us to ride Guardians of the Galaxy. Our call back time was scheduled for around 11 am. When we arrived at 4 pm we decided to give it a shot and see if they would let us ride. In pure Disney fashion they let us ride without even questioning anything. We also started this trip off differently than all the others because I told the kids we were going to meet some characters. We met Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie. The kids enjoyed it, with the exception of the characters all wanted to give them a hug. I am not a big hugger myself so I get it. One thing that Brinley said for sure she wanted to see was the show Fantasmic so we headed over to Hollywood Studios to make sure we could catch that show. We ended the night with Thanksgiving Giordano's pizza - which just so happens to be my favorite pizza on the planet. 

Some of the pictures that the photopass people captured of my kids hugging Minnie. 

The next morning we started the day off at the Magic Kingdom. I got a virtual queue for Tiana's Bayou. Of course it called us back at 9 am and it was still a little cold outside. It was ok, but I think Jennifer and I both wish they had just kept the old Splash Mountain. After riding that we decided to try some beignets, which they put both honey and powdered sugar on them. I thought they were just ok. I prefer the ones that I make at home. Next we went and rode the Jingle Cruise which told holiday themed jokes. The kids both wanted some Dole Whip after we got off that ride. 

A big thing at Epcot is drinking around the world. Well, since we don't drink we decided to do something different and eat around the world. We stopped at every country around the world showcase and tried a food at every stop. Then we all put them in order of how we liked them. The above collage is how I ranked them according to my taste. The only think all of us agreed upon is that Canadian poutine is disgusting. Here are all the foods that we tried in my order: German - caramel butter cookie, Mexico - cheese empanadas, German - pretzel bread pudding, England - fish and chips, Japan - shaved ice with sweet cream, French - baguette, Italy - pizza, Norway - school bread and strawberry rice pudding, Canada - maple popcorn, China - potstickers, Morocco - cookies, and finally the poutine from Canada. 

Epcot celebrates Christmas through all the different countries. They also have an event called the candlelight processional. They sing and tell the story of Jesus by reading from the Bible. I had told Jennifer and the kids that I would like to see it. Well, it just so happened to be the very first showing of the year and it was jammed packed with people trying to see it. They have a guest reader and the opening act was Josh Gad, aka the voice of Olaf. We didn't make the seating for the show, but we watched from the back of the audience in the standing room only. We made it through about half of the show before the kids started complaining about their feet hurting. 

Some of our shots from the rides at Magic Kingdom. 

The kids fight non stop some days, but other times they are best friends. They were walking with their arms around one another and walking in step with one another. They were actually walking like the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus. 

Some more of our ride photos and a few photopass shots. My favorite picture is the Hollywood Tower of Terror picture. We talked Jennifer into riding with us and the picture was amazing. She hates this ride, but her picture brought the kids and I so much joy. She screamed like a little baby during the entire ride. 

I had read so many reviews that this little French ice cream shop had the best treat in Epcot. It is called a croque glace and it was a scoop of ice cream and chocolate sauce inside a brioche bun. I was super excited to try it, but was severely disappointed. It also didn't help that I was listening to the UK vs Louisville football game and we were getting smoked. However, the kids and Jennifer weren't impressed either. 

On the night of the 30th we had been to three of the parks for the day, but Jennifer and Brinley didn't want to keep going for the night with Landon and I. We dropped them off at the hotel and then the boys headed to the Magic Kingdom to complete our fourth park of the day. We rode Tron and a few other rides while the wait times were really low. I had a good time spending some one on one time with my boy. I let him pick anything that he wanted to do and we did it. 

Landon was pretty hungry and he wanted to eat a pretzel. Everything taste better when it is Mickey shaped.