Evan's 14th Birthday

Evan had a great never ending 14th Birthday!!  It started with a friend gathering on the last day of school, May 30th.  We did this because so many of his friends will leave during the summer to go to wherever their home country is.  He was also kind enough to include Brayden.

First we went to Enchanted Kingdom to do Paintballing.  He didn't tell his friends that was the plan, they just showed up and that's where we headed!

They had a lot of fun and I think that they realized paintballs can hurt!!

 We also got to go do go karts!  You have to be 12 though, so Brayden didn't get to, but he will in a few months!

They also rode some of the different rides at EK.

And tried the haunted house!  These are unusual things that I don't usually do when I have all four kids with me.  So it was fun for Evan to do the "big kid" things!

Some of his friends spent the night, and a couple others just met up with us at the mall the next day.  They got to do an escape room and they beat it!!  They were quicker this year than the Mystery Manila we went to last year.  Maybe they are getting smarter?

So, a couple of weeks passed and we went as a family up to Manila for a mini "staycation" for his real birthday!  I brought in these birthday balloons for Evan and packed his presents with us.

He is full slytherin now that he got a robe! 

He also got a phone.  That made him pretty happy.  He's wanted one for a long time now, well a "smarter" phone.  His "dumb" phone just wasn't cutting it for him anymore. . . 

 We spent his actual birthday doing fun things he wanted to do!  I surprised him a little with the laser tag.  I have to say, I think laser tag was a whole lot funner than the paintball!!

Evan even WON!!  He convinced Addison to "be on his team" and since she could sneak up on anyone, she wasn't shooting him!  I think she would have been a contender if she was not so nice!

We did some shopping. Also did some waiting in line which leads to fun pictures like this!

We ate at one of Evan's favorite place, Italianni's.  He got birthday ice cream and a cheese cake!

 Of course, when we got home the next day, we still had his D&D cake for him.  It's not my best work, but he loved it and it was fun. Those are dragon eggs on top, by the way!  On top of the castle. . . in case you can't tell! 

Happy Birthday son!  I hope 14 is the best one yet!!  Love you!

Spring Break - Diving certification!!!

So, back in April, Evan and I got our open water diving certification!  We did a lot of work on the computer beforehand, and then we went over everything over a three day stay at a resort called Bauan Diving Sanctuary.   Our instructor was patient, thank goodness!  Learning to be ok breathing underwater for an extended amount of time is weird at first.  It took some time to get used to it and I still think it may take more time to become fully ok with it!  Of course getting pictures while we were training was difficult!  However, on our first "fun" dive, we took some bread crumbs with us to feed the fish underwater.  There were a lot of fish swirling all around us.  It was cool, for a short while!

Evan did a great job underwater.  He's able to really find his buoyancy well and has no problems with that.  I float like crazy and finding my balance underwater is still something I am working on!

See, he can just sit floating in mid water!  When I did this, I flip all around and upside down!! haha!!

Evan's a natural scuba diver I think.  He loves it and has enjoyed every minute under the water!

Of course I have three other kids who love looking underwater also!  I stayed behind on the last morning at the resort and took them snorkeling.  Evan went on one more dive.  But I still love snorkeling with my little ones!

Andrew's my buddy and doesn't usually leave my side while we snorkel.  He also prefers the seperate mask and snorkel instead of the full face snorkel.  That's cool.  This will help him get used to breathing through his mouth only!  One day that will be helpful when he is diving.

Josh of course was there!  I tend to take pictures of the kids, but he was with Addison and I got this great snorkeling picture of him!

And Brayden, I do have to watch for him sometimes.  He just starts exploring and sometimes gets away from the group.  Not usually too far, but he loves just looking around and doing his own thing with his own timing.

I'm sure I had another 30 + pictures I can add, but just know, it was a great time!  I'm so glad to be certified and hope me and Evan can go every few months or so so we can get better and better at our diving.  In a couple of years I'll have to look at the Advanced open water diving certification. . . we want that so we can look at the shipwrecks around Coron!  Will be worth it!!

New Year's Eve 2018

New Year's Eve was full of so much fun it got it's own post!!!

All the cousins were here and somehow I got to be the planner of the night. . . 

We played a water pong kind of game.  Just trying to bounce the ball into the cups!!  Harder than it seems.

We had amazing hats and snacks and noise makers and all sorts of fun things for the party.

We watched the countdown on TV, just in time to see the countdown, really.

And at midnight the kids got crazy!!

If your lucky, I might actually get these videos uploaded to youtube!  Then you could watch them!  For now, they are just part of the memory.

Happy New Year!