social weekend and busy week

We had an overly social weekend....busy family festival on Saturday with friends and then we came home and all crashed for a few hours after being in the unseasonably warm upper 80's temps and summer-like sun and then Saturday night Jon and I went to Jack's new school's biggest fundraiser which was a Mardi Gras dinner party with creole style food and silent auction and dancing.  As Jon put it best, it was like prom in the school gym, all decorated, and with a live DJ and dance screen only with an open bar and adults, haha!  I was worried it was going to be kind of hokey but some friends of ours whose kids already go there invited us and my friend also arm twisted me into being a corporate sponsor so to the event we went and IT WAS FUN!  It was probably the most fun we've had in years honestly.  We laughed, danced, enjoyed the drinks and food and we ran into so many people we knew and I have sponsored a lot of things and been to lots of things even when I was at my old firm where they sponsored but I am telling you I got so much coverage at this event, it was amazing and so many of our friends kept congratulating me again on going from where I was to where I am now in such a short time.  Jon got a bit wild with the silent auction so he will be "on restriction" for that next year...hello, when you win the item, that means you have to PAY for it lol!!!  Good thing it was for a good cause and donation to the school and church is all I can say.

This week is another busy week.  We're winding down February and planning for the weekend.  We have out sitter coming for Saturday and Saturday night and Jon and I are going to spend the day together and one night away for my birthday.  I hemmed and hawed over this because honestly I like to just BE AT HOME after working so much all week and of course I like the down time with the kids but with my birthday falling on a Saturday we decided to take advantage of that so we are staying at the Dolphin in Orlando and it should be a relaxing day. 

We've been enjoying planning some of the activities and make reservations for our Disney Cruise which is finally coming up in May!!  I booked this trip LAST January and I am so glad I did as we made payments along the way and it has been paid in full for a few months now including even the gratuity!  We set sail for 5 days beginning on Mother's day so it shoudldbe a fun week.  We opted to do the 5 day 4 night as a trial to see how everyone does and with the ages we have, I think this will be just enough fun and just enough of everyone sleeping in one room!!!  The kids both travel well but I really don't enjoy us all sleeping in one room, I tend to not sleep too well which is pretty exhausting after a few days with this arrangement.  We did get a deluxe family suite so should have ample space and we got a balcony so we'll see.  You can bet I will have details on what worked and what did not when it is all finished.  I've already been scoping out the 7 day itineraries for future years!!    We took care of getting everyone's passports over our Christmas stay-cation so now we really are all set.  I've ordered some cute personalized cruise outfits for the kids from Etsy and have been buying little things for the trip for them here and there so this should be really fun!!  Without the cost of airfare added to this trip, even with some extras built in, it is really not more than a family would spend for a week away realy just about anywhere else.  Disney Dream ship...here we come!!!  P.S. while I was freaked out with the cruise disaster recently in the news........what are the odds of that, seriously??!! I'm not going to worry that the ship will lose thrust and we will be stranded in the middle of the bahamas lol!!!

what do the little boys do up north all winter long???

As the mother of a 4 and a half year old boy....I think MANY times WHAT IN THE WORLD do mothers of little boys do up north during the winter months of pure hibernation, there are only so many art projects and play dough things we can do?!!!  The witching hour hits on the weekends about 3-4 pm...we've had usually a slow leisurly morning, we've usually been out and about mid-late morning and then back to the house for lunch and sissy's nap and quiet time for the 4 year old boy who has refused to nap and no longer at all naps for the past 9 months or so....but by 3 or 4 pm he is CLIMBING the walls and I welcome the sunshine and fresh air outside and open up those big french doors and gladly go sit on my patio in the sun while he runs laps around the pool on the patio deck and yard, or kicks over a dozen soccer goals in his net in our yard, or climbs the ENTIRE swing set (and not in the ways he should be doing) just to get that witching hour energy out!  I've said it a hundred times out loud living in the year round outdoor welcoming climate that we have but I really do not know what people do with boys up north!!!  I am again thankful on this sunny temperate day that we live in south Florida!!

Just as we are today

The kids are feeling better this morning and actually ate hungrily for the first time in a week!  They are content just playing around the house so I grabbed the camera to snap a few photos of our life just as it is today on a lazy slow Sunday morning!  On Sunday February 10th you will find our house preparing for Valentine's day next week, yesterday Jack and I made individual Valentines bags and treats for each of his classmates.  We also put together a special gift for his teacher, Miss Fran, and for our nanny, Miss Ann.  We put up our valentine's decorations to make the house festive about a week and a half ago, and besides that, we're just enjoying another gogeous breezy sunny February Florida morning.  These are some of the best months down here when we don't run the AC and can have the doors and windows open to catch the sea breezes!!  No bugs and humidity and unlike the summer months, the sun doesn't have quite the zip it can have so we can sit in the sun and not be scorched or sweat.  Reminds me of late May or early June in Ohio, one of my favorite times of year up there.

Yesterday we took down the "baby pen" that had surrounded Sarabeth's play mat and toys as we don't really need that anymore and opened up the play space and mat for both kids to enjoy.  They love it and are playing in the space and with the toys as if it is all brand new! 

Here are some glimpses around our house this Sunday morning...I was going to unload and reload that dishwasher but as nice as it is this morning, I decided that can wait a bit!!

blech, ahh

We had one HECK of a week last week.  We arrived home after a really fun weekend on Sunday afternoon.  We were all pretty tired but we got unpacked and I had us organized for the week ahead just in time to sit down and enjoy some snacks daddy had prepared for the superbowl.  Everyone was sitting on the couch, the snacks were being passed around and all of the sudden, while I was out in the garage getting one last thing ready for the week ahead using our new garage cubby system...I heard Jon yell for help and I am telling you, the way he yelled, I came running thinking someone surely had injured him or herself so badly they needed stiches or something...little did I know what awaited us!!  I laughed when I found that he was freaking out because Sarabeth had thrown up all over him!!  Seriously...just throw up and ALL of that noise he was making.  I thought she had just choked or something, or coughed too hard and gagged as she was getting over a cold.  Phew.  I helped them clean up and change and was ABOUT to sit down to once again enjoy some snacks and watch a few minutes of the superbowl when the vommitting began again and at that point, I knew we were totally and utterly in for a VERY BAD night.  We got more than memories from Disney, we had contracted the very terrible norovirus stomach bug that is going around like mad down here these days.  Jon and I were up the ENTIRE night with our poor baby until 3:30 am when we all finally were able to rest a bit and the vomitting that had been coming EVERY 20 minutes since 6 pm finally subsided.  In this time period we went through like a dozen towels the ONE rug in our entire house that is otherwise tile had been hit with the first throw up episode so that had to be cleaned, and at some point in our utter exhausted state we thought if we layed SB in bed between us (this was around 2 am) that we could cover the area in towels and we would wake up and if she threw up, it would hit the towels...I knew this was NOT a good idea but exhaustion won out so we risked it and gambled and LOST big time.  We had her propped up so of course she did not choke but instead, she projectile vomitted ALL OVER our bed.  Jon's pillow, my pillow, us, our duvet cover and the insert..OMG.  It was something else I tell you.  I stayed home wiht her MOnday and she was just so weak, however so snuggly (the only good thing about a sick child at this age is that they for once let you hold them for hours) which I loved to do!  We read books and rested all day and I tried my best to hydrate her.  I called our nanny Ann off as I did not want to expose her.  Tuesday miraculously we all woke up still well and went to work and school and  I thought we had beat it and it woudl not spread...wrong again...this new strain which is from Australia has alonger incubation period...48-72 hours...so around 2:30 Wednesday am I fell victim and was up that entire night, and home that next day, Jack also came down with it Wednesday morning, although of course NOT until he was already at school, he got sick at school and Jon had to turn around from work and get him and bring him home.  Thank goodness Ann was there and did not tell us to take a flying leap...she hung in there with us and was so good, and sweet and kind with Jack, vomit and all.  It was as if she was a blood relative she was so kind and loving to him when he really needed it and I was flat on my back in my own room sick as a dog.  Of course poor Ann took one for the team and her turn was Thursday and Finally, Jon, bringing up the rear got it at 2 am on Friday...so we had another sleepless night.  I do not want to repeat that EVER again.  We washed hands  and were germ concious at Disney but it did not help, this time of year is rough for bugs like this, and same thing at our house wiht the bug...it is just so darn contagious...stay well friends and if in doubt stay out of grocery stores and public places in general this time of year if you can!!!  We are on the mend this weekend, just laying low trying to get our strength back.  Luckily we have had gorgeous warm sunny days, our windows and back french doors are wide open pumping fresh clean germ free air into this house!!

Fort Wilderness camping weekend

The Peshke Family first camping trip as a family

The Cabins and Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground...

 

 

 

 

We went camping this weekend!  It was a really FUN weekend, and something completely different than we are used to doing at Disney!  We visited their Fort Wilderness campground and cabins area and if we had not gone to the park for one morning, you would never know you were even just across a small lake from the Magic Kingdom and the rest of the resort parks and areas!!  We explored one day while we were at Disney in October or November and drove around and discovered the campground and cabins area of Fort Wilderness and researched the cabins a bit online and decided it would be the perfect weekend during one of our "winter" months.  We rented our cabin for the weekend, we arrived early on Friday morning to get an extra day as we had read how many things there were to do on the Fort Wilderness property.  We towed out golf cart in a trailer as golf carts are how most families get around at Fort Wilderness.  The golf carts are allowed to drive on all of the roads and trails and for those that dont bring their own, most families rent a cart or their stay.  You can even drive your cart to a cart parking area and board the boat to WDW's Magic Kingdom.  We really had a great time, we were the first to arrive on Friday to the cabins in our aread but by Friday at dinner time, all of the cabins were full of family's with family truckster's and toys in the driveways and decks.  Our neighbors turned out to be one of Jon's customers and from our same town but it really felt like a true get-away and if no one had told me, I would have had NO idea I was in Orlando, much less Florida.  Our cooler than normal temps for this weekend really made the weekend as well...80 and hot is not exactly what I imagine for cabin weather, we had a cool weekend with night temps in the low 40's an highs in the low 70's and sunshine the entire weekend, it was really great!

 

The kids enjoyed exploring outside, they loved to dance to the music Jon played while we grilled out (we ate one time in a restaurant for a Character breakfast with Pooh and Tigger on Saturday morning at Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom) and the rest of the time, we ate meals at our cabin which we cooked.  The cabins have a full kitchen, one full bath, one bedroom with a double bed, a pack and play, a set of bunk beds and a tv, and the living room converts to a second bedroom by night with a pull down queen sized murphy bed.  We would love to come back to rent another cabin, it would be a really fun weekend with another family along for fun, or it would be a great place for multiple families to gather for a family Florida celebration.  You could squeeze two families to a cabin, or juggle kids around a bit, but it would be tight with only one bathroom.  We had more than enough space for our family of 4!  If you're thinking about WDW give the Cabins at Fort Wilderness a try, we really had a nice time.  Boating, pony rides and stables to enjoy, lots of trees, fresh air, and open space, the least commercial of all places Disney I've been and nightly campfires, sing alongs and outdoor family movies where you can roast marshmallows, make smores enjoy Jack's favorite (popcorn) and meet Chip and Dale at their campfire sing along.