Pizza with the girls
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New Bedroom Furniture
Jennifer finished up the painting of our room just in time for the new bedroom furniture to be delivered on Friday. The whole room looks really nice. Jennifer summed it up perfectly with her statement, “I feel like a grown-up now.” It’s funny, it’s such a true statement.
The mattress is a Tempur-Pedic. So, it’s a little different than we are used to. We’ve slept on it two nights now and I can’t say that it’s the most comfortable bed I’ve slept on. We’re hoping that our bodies get used to the new mattress soon.
Let the Painting Begin
If you follow Jennifer’s Facebook stream, then you will know that we recently bought a new bedroom furniture set. It’s actually our first set. We’ve been married for twelve years and we finally decided to spend a little money on our room. I bought a new TV a couple of weeks ago and last Friday Jennifer was shopping and found a set she loved.
Well, they deliver the new furniture on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. So, with her school work (mostly) done, she bought some paint and started to paint in preparation for the big day.
Abby’s 11th Birthday
Just can’t believe that Abby is eleven years old. The time has flown by so fast. This web site started with her birth and continues on chronicling each of the French girls as they grow up.
After going skating a few weeks ago with some neighbor friends, that was all Abby could talk about wanting to do for her birthday. So, when I went to the roller rink a few weeks ago with Emily for one of her friend’s birthdays, I signed her up for a fun filled afternoon of skating with her friends.
First off, I didn’t know roller rinks still existed, but when you step into this place, it’s like a land that time forgot. The decor and the condition of the building is like something out of the 80’s, but I guess that’s the charm. I really enjoyed the video games, getting really close to a high score in Galaga.
At the end of the afternoon, they gathered for cake and opening presents. She told her friends she either wanted a gift certificate to Justice or art supplies. She got about 5 gift certificates to Justice (and one set of art supplies).
Abby said she had a great day and thanks everyone who sent her a gift and/or a card for her birthday. She’s growing up to be a very considerate kid.
From Soccer to Lost Teeth
Realized today I’ve been lax on posting to Frenchville lately, so I thought I would do a quick update.
Soccer season is finally over. It all came down to a final game between Izzy’s team and Emily’s team. It ended in a tie, 0-0. Emily has gotten really good a soccer and I think she’s looking forward to moving up to the next level next school year. Izzy did well for her first time. Now at the end of the season, she seems to not be afraid of getting into the mix where the ball is. She still needs to learn the position she’s playing and work on focusing on what is going on on the field. The season ended in a party over at one of Emily’s teammates house. They won a contest that had their backyard converted to a miniature Disney water park.
Last week was Halloween. You can really tell that the girls are getting older now. None of their costumes were standard. We had Abby as a devil, Emily as a vampire queen, and Izzy as a witch. The evil trio for sure. With Jennifer’s school schedule it was a little tricky this year, but the girls went around the neighborhood with our excellent neighbor until I got home and took over candy duties from Jennifer so she could go to her class. The candy haul was pretty good this year despite sticking to our small neighborhood. We are still snacking on the candy a week later.
Finally, it was a momentous occasion for Izzy. She lost her first tooth. Frenchville now has covered all first teeth falling out. From Abby to Emily and now Izzy. She was so excited. When she woke up in the morning the Tooth Fairy had brought her the standard $5. She’s still saving up to buy us a swimming pool.
It’s Soccer Time
It’s soccer time once again, but this time we have a new participant. Izzy has thrown her cleats into the fray. After years of watching Emily play, she wanted to get onto the pitch too. What’s amazing is that Emily and Izzy are actually in the same division. It goes 6 – 8 years old with Emily moving up to a new division in the spring. In a typical big sister move, Emily refused to let Izzy be on her team, so they are on opposing teams. What’s cool is that they play different teams all year, but their last game is against each other. Abby and I spend our Saturdays analyzing the two teams and trying to evaluate who is going to win the final game.
Because we sometimes have to spend three hours out in the hot Florida sun, we bought a canopy. Our first week we were out there from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon. Emily was the first game, then we had an hour break before Izzy’s game started. We would have definitely burned to a crisp if we didn’t have it.
Emily’s is looking great this year. Her team is currently 1-1 with a victory this week. Emily is playing offense now and she actually had 4 shots on goal, but none hit the mark. She’s still without a goal, but improving with each game. She shows incredible hussel, out running a lot of the other girls on the opposing team.
Izzy is a work in progress. Hey, she’s only played two games. It reminds me of Emily’s first season. I keep telling her to “get in there” and to pay attention. She’ll get there. She looks so small out there, but her team is currently 2-0 and they beat the team Emily’s team lost to last week. Will Izzy’s team beat Emily’s team in the last game? Stay tuned to Frenchville in the coming weeks to find out.
Disney’s Vero Beach Vacation, Days 1 & 2
Once again it was time to use our Disney Vacation Club points. Last year we used them to go to Hilton Head, South Carolina. This year we decided to try a resort a little closer: Vero Beach, Florida. It actually ended up being closer than we thought: only an hour and a half to get here.
Since the resort has a full kitchen, we started out vacation with a trip to Publix. We were going to already be spending money eating out and on various excursions. Better if we can eat a few meals in. The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming at the pool.
The first night I walked across the street to pick up some pizzas from a local joint. Then, I hooked up my MacBook Air to the TV and we watched a movie over Netflix streaming. After the movie we headed over to an event that must be at every Disney Resort: campfire sing-along with s’mores.
In the morning we had breakfast at the resort and we were accompanied by Donald and Goofy. I think the girls are officially getting too old for the Disney characters. Abby insisted that none of the characters should touch her on the head. The rest of the day was spent at the pool and lounging around the room. In the evening, we dropped the girls off for three hours of actives and dinner while Jennifer and I snuck off to have a nice meal.
First Day of School 2011
The first day of school is finally here! Jennifer is especially excited because the girls will be out of the house for a week before she has to start up school herself, continuing towards her Bachelors in Interior Design. The downside for me is I have to wake up a little earlier to get the girls out of the door since I’m on breakfast duty.
Abby is going into 5th grade this year, it being her last year in elementary school. Next year she’s going to be responsible for getting herself on the bus. Emily is going into the 2nd grade and Izzy into the 1st grade. We were happy to find out that Izzy got Ms. Owens for her teacher this year, who was Emily’s reading teacher last year. Izzy isn’t showing any signs yet of the same reading issues that Emily has, but at least Ms. Owens can help diagnose it early if that is the case.
It’s funny how the anxiety of sending them off to school now is totally gone. I remember that day five years ago when we put Abby on the school bus for the first time. Now we are practically shoving them onto the bus and waving goodbye.
July Update
Earlier this month, Nana and Poppy finally came for a visit. Poppy had never visited since we moved back to Orlando and Nana was last here just a few weeks after we moved back. It was nice spending time with them and giving them a tour of Orlando. We decided to do what Nana likes best: shop. While we were at one of the outlet malls, we tried to see the final space shuttle lift off, but it was too cloudy to see it from Orlando.
Since Nana & Poppy were in town, this gave Jennifer and myself a chance to escape to one of the Disney resorts. We had a nice dinner at Portobello in Downtown Disney and then went back to the Bay Lake Towers, where we were staying. At the top of the tower, was a Disney Vacation Club exclusive bar called Top of the World where we were able to watch the fireworks from across the street at The Magic Kingdom. The show was amazing. They even had speakers for all the music that plays during the fireworks.
We enjoyed Nana and Poppy’s visit and hope they will come back soon.
The following Tuesday, July 12th, was the launch of NCAA Football. The studio was decorated with NCAA Football banners and they served the whole studio breakfast.
Finally, July 24th was my birthday and we had big plans. For my 30th birthday, we were still in Austin and celebrated at Dave & Buster’s. Well, they finally opened one in Orlando, after saying that this would be a great place for one after moving here. They just opened this past Monday and it appears they are still working out the kinks. While the food was good, it wasn’t all that hot when it came out. It was also pretty crowded. It’s good to see we can start this tradition back up after 9 years.
Our second stop on the birthday was Blizzard Beach. We decided since we were down south at Dave & Busters, we might as well use our passes to the water park and we spent the whole day there. There was a bit of a scare when Jennifer misplaced one of her bags in the ladies’ changing room, but it turned out okay when she visited the Lost & Found. Phone, driver’s license, and credit card were all still in there.
Our final stop, even though it was 9:00 p.m., was Mellow Mushroom for some pizza. Hands down the best pizza in Orlando and it didn’t disappoint. We were so tired from the whole day, everyone pretty much collapsed.
It was a great birthday and thanks to everyone who wished me a good day on Facebook.
Back to Fireworks
We used to have this tradition of going to see fireworks in Sanford each year. However, since we moved back exactly two years ago this weekend, we haven’t gone back to Sanford. Well, instead of trekking up to Sanford, we decided to try out the Fireworks in our local Oviedo.
The event took place at the newly renamed Oviedo Mall, which hasn’t been doing well economically. Hardly anyone visits the mall and there’s a lot of empty stores as you walk along the mall. The irony today was that there were a ton of people there today for the fireworks, but someone thought it would be smart to close the mall at 6:00. So, the mall has the most people I’ve ever seen, but all the stores were all closed.
Like many others we just hung out near the truck and waited for the fireworks to begin. Expectations were low, but it wasn’t too bad. We had a good vantage point from the back of the truck to watch the fireworks. They handed out these 3D glasses which made the letters “USA” appear next to any light source. They were pretty cool.
The show lasted about twenty minutes and then we tried to get out. It was a mess as all the cars tried to pile out of the mall parking lot with no police directing traffic.
Overall: the fireworks were a hit, but everything else was a bust. The concert and booths in the parking lot were cheap and the mall was closed. They need to get real vendors (like ones in the mall) to either stay open or man booths at the celebration. Also, is it so hard to ask for funnel cake at a 4th of July celebration?
Frenchville 