kindergarten fun facts: weeks 12 + 13 + 14

My bad, dawg.

And this week was just a crap shoot. Monday Kennedy had a doctor's appointment, Tuesday and Wednesday she was out with a horrible cough that had kept her (and luckily me) up all night. Thursday she went to school and today I'm letting her play legitimate hookie and we are heading to Bronner's for the day with granny.

Tis the season!

Leia

y u do dis

Fall television, I'm officially upset with you; and no I'm not singling (this looks horribly misspelled) out any one network.

As I may have mentioned before Westworld had it's season one finale this past Sunday.. okay we all knew it was going to come to an end after just 10 episodes. What I didn't know was that I'd have to wait more than a year for the season two premier.

YEAH. 2018.

Then, on top of that. The This Is Us fall finale was on Tuesday. And COME ON. WE ARE ALL WATCHING. WE ALL LOVE THE SHOW. YOU DIDN'T NEED A HUGE CLIFFHANGER TO KEEP US ON THE HOOK. JESUS!

In the fetal position.

Leia

christmas things

There are so many holiday, Christmas-y things I want to take the girls to but it's crazy to realize that time is very quickly running out; and now that Kennedy is in school it's not the greatest thing to pull her out of school for the day on one of my days off. But weekend holiday stuff at this point.. shoot me. Our trip to see Santa is going to be headache enough.

Things I still would like to do with them:

Toledo Zoo Lights Before Christmas (or Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo)

It's somewhat affordable, ~$15 per person, and you can still head inside to get warmed up if it's too chilly. Last year we didn't even need our coats, but it's not quite looking the same this time around.

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

If I do end up pulling Kennedy from school for anything it will be for this on Friday. We didn't get to go last year and I would really hate to miss out this year as well. Brendon and I have had an ornmanet made for each Christmas we've been together and it's a bummer to not have one for 2015. It's also just fun to look at all the ornament and specialty Christmas displays. Sure, you can go in the summer time, but it just doesn't have the same effect.

Wayne County Light Fest

Though the line through the place is always jam packed it's never a bad experience. It's only $5 per car and you get to enjoy the different light displays from the comfort of your heated seats. Mmmmm.

The Rink at Campus Martius

This will probably be the first thing I cut from my list. Kennedy did some skating last year but was still definitely wobbly. Add that in with Piper and we all might be quite miserable. 

We'll see what we're able to get through. Likely the cold is going to discourage me from a lot of the outdoor events, but we'll see! I will try to persevere for the wee ones! Such a good Michigander I am.

Baby it's cold outside.

Leia

westworld season one: complete

So sad it's over; just so many emotions. So many theories; most of which I was following ended up coming to light over the course of the season; sadly that meant only ten episodes. They are supposedly locked in for four more seasons and for that I am happy. There are so many ways they can take the show and I think that will be good as far as keeping it's integrity and longevity.

Since I'm not one for spoilers I just have two things that need to be cleared up. Maybe some other Westworld travelers would like to join in on a conversation about these and other topics.

WHERE ARE THEY?! I'm so upset that no mention was made about either Elsie or Stubbs and their current whereabouts. Lost to Ghost Nation? To Arnold? WHERE?! Dead?! PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD.

And really, how did the Man in the Black Hat perform a blood transfusion on Teddy. Did he make Teddy drink it? Did he have a kit in his satchel? Out of all the far fetched things that happen on this series I am incredibly hung up on this scene 😂

Farewell til next year my confusing peeps.

^^ best acting on the show goes to this dude right here and he only got an episode or two under his belt. Also upset, they never revealed what Bernard whispered into his ear when he got put into storage..

REMEMBER.

Leia

adventures in sewing: holiday dresses

I started on the girls holiday dresses a few days ago and I had the worst little helper! 🙈

Yo, Pipes! I really need that fabric!

I'm totally nervous about this endeaver. Unlike my blanket I'm following a pattern, and this pattern seems SO COMPLICATED. Watching my mom sew I'm like, "Hm, I can totally do this!" HAHAHAHAHAHAA, GOOD ONE. The dresses have collars on them and I've already tried to alter the pattern because there is no way a novice like myself can make it look pretty the way the pattern calls for. It has turned out a little wonky so far, but I am holding out hope!

Sew, sew, sew your boat!

Leia

conversations with kennedy

One of my favorite things about this time of year is seeing all the homes of the people that put effort into decorating with lights. SO PRETTY! So typically when we're driving once the sun has set I enjoy pointing out houses with lights to the kids. "Out Piper's window!" etc. While Kennedy requested we drive past our house to check this one out before heading to the store her emotions on the topic changed drastically.

*driving home from grocery shopping*

Me: "Oh, look more lights up here! And so many colors this time!"

Kennedy: *sighs* "You're not the light patrol you know."

😒

I laughed and laughed the rest of the way home. Thanks kid. Sheeeeeeeeeesh.

Santa is going to have to check his list again..

Leia

the canadian pacific holiday train

Last year Brendon and his brother happened upon a beautiful lighted train. They weren't right on it and unfortunately they weren't able to get to the right tracks in time. Asking around, I discovered it was The CP Holiday Train. I actually marked the calendar in my phone for one year later to remind myself to look up their schedule in hopes I wouldn't miss it. Lo and behold, I didn't need the calendar reminder because I had a few wonderful people send me a schedule with updated stops and times. Maybe I talked about it a little bit.

The day was here! The train was going to be rolling through on Wednesday between 9-10pm and the train's Facebook page was going to update when they made it through customs from Windsor into Detroit. Ding, ding, ding! Around 8:15pm or so we got word that they were through. Our Crock-Pot hot chocolate was just finishing up and we started grabbing all of our things to head out into the country. I was hoping to find a spot that wasn't too crowded and away from city lights. We had success! There were only two or three other cars waiting.. until someone thought it polite to park on the opposite side of the dirt road and not only block our perfect view of the tracks but obscure the road. Yeahhhhhhh.

Piper passed out after the first 30-45 minutes of waiting, and Kennedy reacted like a vampire when I tried turning on a lights to take a picture.

We ended up waiting for almost 2 hours for this damn train. Apparently it makes a stop shortly after the boarder to pick up food donations (the primary cause of the train is to raise money/food/awareness for food banks). I'm not sure if there was clear mention of this or if I overlooked it in my excitement that the train was going to be in town and I would be there to see it.

Finally after following the post I got word that it had passed through my hometown and would be to us in roughly 15 minutes. Kennedy tried falling asleep at this point and I wasn't going to allow it. No way was I going to let her sleep after waiting for hours!

When we saw the train approaching we opened up my sunroof to stand out of it.

Guys.

Guys.

GUYS.

The train flew by us in a matter of 20 seconds. 

It was much shorter than I had anticipated. I think maybe it would have passed by a little slower had we been waiting right in town, but we will never know. When it initially passed Brendon and I burst into hysterical laughter. We had waited SO LONG and for THAT?! Next year I will do even more research in hopes to have a better and more tolerable plan. It was still cool, but shit.

Laser beam powers, activate!

Leia