Carnival Break/Barcelona 2013

Sunday I tried a new waffle recipe from my almost 10 lb recipe book!  They were good and everyone enjoyed them!
Today Amber had a b'day party to go to at another indoor play place, but we hadn't been to this one since last year so that was good!  The boys came with us and went bowling next store and out to lunch so it was a nice event for all!
The boys got to watch another movie from my friend in the afternoon.
I finished getting our stuff packed as we will head towards the sun in a few days!  I have had enough of the snow for now!

Monday we went to the Chiropractor and then I went to the mall for a few errands.  It is not like a mall at home.  It is more of variety of stores, not clothing all clumped together so I can get all my errands done in one place.
Then home as Jacob had a friend come over for the day and they had a fun time and ended the day with building a snow man and a good snow ball fight, b/c it snowed again last night and throughout the day today! Then we drove Sean over to a friend's house for a late afternoon playdate and then off to the sports store off the highway in the opposite direction, nothing is ever close here!  Jacob wanted some school bball shorts but they were all sold out and some hockey skates.  We are going skating again tomorrow and he went twice last month, so he really wanted his own pair.  The first store didn't have any in his size, but they recommended we try the other store on our way home.  So we drove there and they had some.  They had skates there for sale for over $800!  I am guessing for those really good hockey players.  Needless to say we didn't spend anywhere near that, but they still were $130 and that was the second most cheapest pair they had and they had a lot of skates, but not a lot in his size.  Of course since he is now in the men's sizes the prices go up quite a bit.  Jason met us at the first store and then came with us to the other store and was looking for some for himself since he said Jacob would grow into them pretty quickly!  But he didn't get a pair.  So that took about 2 hours and then it was time to go back and get Sean and go home for a late dinner.  Jacob was saying this was a great day and was so excited about his skates.  Once at home he unpacked them and put the skates safety blades on and then packed them up in a bag with a sweatshirt for ice skating tomorrow!

Tuesday we got a great goodie package from a friend at home!  And I was at home when the guy delivered it!  Everyone enjoyed their gifts!
After lunch we went ice skating.  We took one of Sean's friends and then meet 3 other families there.  The kids just love ice skating!  Jacob got to use his new skates.  Amber and a friend were trying to twirl and skate backwards today!

Then both my boys went over to Sean's friends house and Amber and I dropped off my car at the dealership so they could replace my cracked windshield.  I also ordered new floor mats and hopefully that will help the smell go away!  It took about 30 min. to get everything taken care of as far as dropping off the car.  The one guy didn't speak English and I asked the other guy who was next to him if he could help me translate since he wasn't helping anyone and he said, oh that guy over there can help you.  Well, that guy over there was on the phone for like 5 more min.  Really the first guy just couldn't help us for a few minutes!  Customer service with almost everything here sucks!
So once we waited for the other guy to get off the phone he helped me.  But then I wanted to order the floor mats and he said oh that is a different guy.  So then another guy came out who didn't speak English either so that guy had to help us as well.
I finished getting everything together for our trip tomorrow!

Wednesday morning we got all ready for our trip to Barcelona!  We were excited to fly someplace warmer and see the sun!  You don't realize how much you miss it until you never see it!
So our flight was late morning out of the airport here, so we didn't have to drive far.  We decided to fly out of Lux even though it is like double the cost of taking the cheap airline, but time wise it is so much better.  What we have done and a lot of people do is fly the cheaper airline, but you have to drive to another country to catch their flights, so either Belgium or Germany.  So it is a pain.  This trip was so much easier and convenient!  We only had to drive 20 min. to the airport.  We got sandwiches on the plane for lunch and then Amber even took about an hour nap!  The flight was about 2 hours long.  Once we landed and got our luggage, got a cab, always a challenge for 5 people and luggage in Europe!  It was about a 25 min. ride into the city where we had rented an apt.  The street we were on is a great location and pedestrian only.  So the cab dropped us off at the end of the street then we just walked down to it.  We had to wait about 10 min. for the owner to arrive and let us in and show us around the apt.  He reminded me of one of my cousins, but maybe even a bit taller 6'6" or so.  This apt. is over 120 years old.  It has been remodeled but they tried to keep some of the original stuff.  So the Spanish tiles in some rooms are still there along with the high beamed ceilings and brick wall.  It has a lot of character to it.  The apt. has maybe about 12 foot ceilings in it.  It has 3 bedrooms, but I think it was originally just a one bedroom apt. and they turned the 2 big rooms in the front of the apt. that have the big old windows, new windows on the outside double pained so we didn't hear hardly any street noise, into bedrooms with big old doors.

The apt. has a funky layout with the now 3 bedrooms, a remodeled kitchen, dining area and family room.  But I think the front 2 rooms maybe were like a living room and a parlor room.  Very neat!  I wish I could see a picture of what it used to look like- if walls could talk.  We like to rent apts. b/c we get so much more space then the tiny hotel rooms in Europe plus we have a hard time finding a place that will let 5 in a room.  They want us to book 2 rooms and if we are going on vacation I would like to stay together! 
We hung out for a bit here and then walked to the grocery store about 10 min. away and picked up some necessities plus peanut butter and BBQ sauce to take home with us!  After everything was unloaded then we went walking.  Their famous street was just about a block or so from us.  We walked around the square and the kids feed the pigeons.

Then we headed to our favorite vacation restaurant when it is available- any guesses? 
Hard Rock Cafe!  Needless to say we enjoyed a good meal!  We had eaten at one when we were in the south of Spain over fall break so we couldn't add this one to our country count of 6 Hard Rocks!  I of course mapped it out before we got here!

After dinner we just walked down the main/famous street with shops/cafes/ etc.  They actually have a whole middle walk way in the middle with booths of things set up.  We walked all the way to the end.  I think it is about a mile and at the end is a tall statue of Christopher Columbus pointing to America.  This is the port area as well.

From here we turned around and walked back.  On the way back we spotted a Dunkin' Donuts and a really neat covered fruit/veg/fish/meat and spice market.  We will have to come back for donuts another day as we already got breakfast foods at the store. 
Tonight I booked us tickets to go to a dinner and Flamingo show for tomorrow night!  I am looking forward to it and I thought the kids might enjoy it.


Thursday we had breakfast in the apt and then walked over to the plaza with the tour buses and bought the 2 day pass.  Today we did the orange line.  With big cities we find these are the best way to see the city and sights and hop on and off to visit the sites.  The city is so big it has 2 routes, one west and one east.  We got on at around 9:30 and returned home today around 3:30.  We first got off the bus at the Montjuic area and were going to take the cable car up to the castle but it has been down for repairs for 3 weeks.  So they replaced it with a bus going up there.  Once up there we walked around the castle and cannons and then saw the inside courtyard and the roof.

Outside the castle they had a little cafe set up so we got some sandwiches for lunch.  From here we took the bus back down and got back on the tour bus and got off 2 stops later and saw the Museum National Art de Catalunya.  It is the largest in Europe.  It was nice, but we didn't get through all of it.

From here we walked down and also took an escalator, as this museum was atop of hill, to the Magic Fountain.  This is a huge fountain that plays a 20 min. sound and light show at night.  Other things we saw today were the Olympic Stadium, 1992 Olympics were here, the old bull fighting area which closed down in 1977 and they kept the outside of it but the inside is now a shopping mall.

And we drove by some of Gaudi's famous buildings.  He is a famous architect that did a lot of stuff around the city. 

So after the fountain we got back on the bus and finished the tour.  From here we walked back to our apt. as the kids were tired.  For dinner tonight we took the kids to the Flamingo dinner show.  The food was ok, the kids got kids meal and we got the Spanish dish, Paella with seafood.  It was ok.  But the show was nice.

The show was for an hour.  Amber liked it when all the girls came out in their long skirts and danced with their frilly dresses.  The boys enjoyed it too!  I told them maybe mom should get a flamingo dress and start tap dancing around the house!  They didn't think that was a good idea!


Friday we headed back to the bus tour and did the green line today.  We just bought a 2 day ticket and then we can ride either line.  This bus with both lines hit all the sights we wanted to see so it was great!  When we go on these trips what I normally do is before we leave I research the city and make a list of things to see and do and then once we get here we see what we can do in our time there.

So today the first stop we got off at was the famous Sagrada Familia church.  This is a famous church.  The famous architect Gaudi took the project on in 1884 and when he died in the 1926 people carried out his plans for the church.  Well the church continued to be worked on and it still has about 30 more years of work until they estimate it will be complete!  Can you believe it!  It is amazing to see.

The line for the entrance wrapped around the corner, but it was only about a 20 min wait.  So inside is so much light and beautiful mosaic colors.  In 2010 the inside was complete enough for masses and the Pope came and blessed the church.  For lunch we spotted a KFC and had to stop.  They still don't have biscuits here.   How can they not have biscuits and the coleslaw wasn't good.  But the chicken tasted the same.  I had been in contact with a friend from Lux who was here and they were in line at the church.  So we went over and said hi to them.  Then we had our Spanish churros with chocolate.  Then back on the bus for 2 more stops.

Here is Parc Guell.  This is an area that was designed by Gaudi.  It was built as an upscale neighborhood, but never took off.  It had 2 houses on it and then a park like area.  So we walked around and then went in the 2 houses.

One of the houses is a gift shop and the other the a museum of what the house would have looked like.

Then we walked back down the hill and back on the bus

until the last stop where we got off and saw 3 more houses Gaudi did.  We toured one, the Casa Batillo.  It was built for the Batillo Family and was an amazing house.

After we toured it we walked back to the apt.
For dinner tonight I had seen an add for a restaurant that was in the tourist book and it said they served 70 types of tortillas so I thought we would try it out.  We took a cab there and when we got the menu, I guess tortilla in Spanish means omelet.  So we all had omelets for dinner.  Jacob was complaining about it, but the other 2 ate them up!  Then we just walked home and had dessert we had bought from the store.

Sat. was our last full day here and we had seen most of the things I wanted to see so we took the kids to the aquarium.  They say it is the largest in Europe.  It was nice and they had some tunnels you could walk through where the sharks and stingrays swim over you head.  This is a big flat fish.  He is very thin and just big.

I think we finished in an hour though.  From here we walked to a mall around the corner.  All of this property was along the port on the sea.  So we had lunch at a nice Seafood restaurant where we could sit outside and see the sea.  It was nice.  From here we walked back up and did the Gothic district.  In here were the original walls of Barcelona until they were torn down in the 1850's for expansion.

So this area has narrow streets/pedestrian friendly only.  They say people lived within the walls of the town and had these narrow streets and not much light would get in b/c the buildings were so close together, and they had to deal with the pollution from the factories that were all in this area as well.  So b/c of these they had poor living conditions and sicknesses.

Then we saw 2 churches in this area.  We visited them both.  Big difference in how dark they were compared to the Gaudi Church we saw yesterday!

One of the churches we took the lift up to the roof.

There were some Carnival parades around the area with people/kids groups prepping for it. From here we walked to Dunkin' Donuts that we had spotted our first day here on that famous street.  So we got some for breakfast tomorrow.  Lux doesn't have any good donuts.  They have 2 kinds and that is it.  Then we just walked back to the apt. and read or watched a movie.  Then for dinner we just decided on Hard Rock again after our adventure dinner last night.  We went back out on the street for dinner around 5:30 and it was packed.  It is a popular street and square there but there were a huge amount of people around compared to what we had seen all week!  We only had to wait 10 min. for a table.  A lot of people were leaving probably from lunch.  Hard Rock is one of the few restaurants opened all day.  Here lunch is from 2-5pm, but most restaurants open at 1pm for lunch.  Then a typical dinner would start at 9pm! 
So after dinner we walked back to the apt. and watched another movie and I got some wash done.  It was nice having a washer and dryer.  Most places either don't have one or just a washer.  It was nice to get some of the dirty clothes done before we head back!

Sunday we just hung out in the morning and enjoyed our donuts with some scrambled eggs I made. Jason went for a run around town.  I told him make sure he doesn't get lost.  We ate lunch at the apt. and then left for the airport.  It was a good visit!
The flight was a bit delayed so we got back to the house around 6:30 or so.
Time to get everyone ready for school tomorrow!

Week of Feb.3, 2013

Sunday morning Sean and I had the usual RE class and church.  This morning Jacob had an ice skating party to go too, so he was excited about this.  Jason took Amber and they just stayed and went ice skating too so she enjoyed it!  Then they had lunch there and played at a park until Jacob's party was finished.  After the party they watched some of the boys hockey game next door. 
This afternoon the boys finished watching the Jurassic Park series and they both liked the 3rd one the best!
Before bed Jacob goes to pack up his PE clothes only to realize he lost his PE shoes!  Ugh! What is it with the shoes!

Monday morning Jason got up at 6am to start watching the Super Bowl.  Kickoff here was at 12:30 am so he wasn't staying up for it and good thing with the black out and all.  So by 7:30 am we all watched the half time show, so that was nice.  We got to see some of the commercials and then I saw the rest online.
Today I drove out to Arlon in Belgium.  They have a big strip mall with a bunch of stores.  I hadn't been out there in about a year.  So I went and did the sports store and got good priced mittens, running pants for the boys, and Jacob needed a bigger racket and Sean wanted a cover for his racket, etc.  So I got some good deals.  I went to about half of the stores.  One appliance and things store I found a cake ball pan.  I hadn't seen this anywhere here.  It is a pan that makes cake pops or cake balls, but of course they were out of stock so I ordered it but it could only be delivered to the store and also the iron I wanted had to be ordered too.  Figures.  Now I have to come back out in a week or so.  It is about 30 min. or so away.  Last week after the maid left I came home to find the iron on the top shelf and the water had run down all the shelves and made a mess.  It looks like it may have cracked somewhere. 
They also have a little grocery store out there.  It is one that I used to shop at in Brazil.  It reminded me of Brazil!
No sign of Jacob's PE shoes today.
After pickup we drove to my friend's house that is still sick at home now on week 2 with the kids and dropped off my banana bread and some coloring books for the kids.
When we got home I showed Sean some nice black shoes I had bought for him to wear with his suit for his 1st Communion.  They are a little big as they didn't have them in his exact size but for 15 Euros you can't beat that price!  So he puts them on and says, "I look like a lawyer!"  Ok too funny I am not sure why a lawyer wears those as Jason says he wears shoes like that all the time.  I guess he doesn't count since he isn't a lawyer!  So then Sean proceeds to do a little jig around the house in them, so funny!
Amber and I have been practicing the boys old little books they made in preschool or Kindergarten and tonight she read one by herself!  It is always so exciting when your child first reads by themselves!!

Tuesday I had an appt. at the mall and then a quick run to the store for a handful of things and then back home for French.  I am debating if I should really continue with this.  I enjoy being able to know French words, but I am not putting in much effort and doing anything outside of class.  So I just don't know if it is worth it. 
I ran to the Woman's club before pickup b/c in their last news letter they said they had some Valentine candy.  I thought I would stop and get some b/c in addition to not having valentine's plates they don't sell any Valentine's candy here.  But they only had 2 boxes of heart peeps left and I wasn't interested in that.  They really didn't have too much stuff on their shelves.  They store the food in the garage and some times I have been walking up when they have been in the garage bringing food up and have just shopped from their shelves in the garage b/c they have like triple the amount of food in the garage then in their apt.  And then I would help them bring food up to put up for sale.   But I really just want to shop in the garage every time I come there! 
Jacob had bball after school and it was a little bit sunny after school.  Then when we left home an hour or so later to go back to school and get him, the sky turned gray and it started to snow and just blow around like crazy and then all of a sudden it just started pouring snow.  It was crazy.  All of a sudden it made traffic a mess as cars started sliding into one another b/c they didn't give themselves enough room in front of them.  I had to drive them to tennis and it was a disaster!  Jacob had to walk from the bball gym to the car, it is a bit of a ways and he was covered in snow.  It had piled up on his hat and jacket.  Then of course they are working on my short cut roads from the tennis club so I had to go the long way and the guy in front of me slid into the guy in front of him! 
Jason left work early today and said he would pick up the boys from tennis but the traffic was so bad he couldn't get to them in time.  I really didn't want to go back out in this but went back and got the boys.  The snow lasted for about an hour and then stopped, but a lot came down in that time.

Wednesday morning was dress up day for Carnival for Amber!  She went as a Flamingo dancer (Spanish)!

On the way into school I popped into the gym where Jacob has PE and what do you know!  I found his shoes!  Seriously can only a mom find shoes.  I love the quote, "I looked everywhere and couldn't find them!"  Seriously put some effort into it.  So I took those and put them in his locker so he would see them when he opened it!
All the preschoolers looked cute in their costumes this morning.
I did 2 errands and then back early to school to catch the end of the preschool Carnival parade around the school!  They had made noise makers in class so they walked around shaking those and the 4 classes paraded through the school.
Just Amber and I came home for lunch.  Her main ballet friend is still out sick.  Then we went back for ballet and to wait for the boys.

Thursday I spent the day baking and getting ready for Amber's Valentine's Party we are having at the house tomorrow.  So I baked cupcakes, which the kids will decorate and then baked pink chocolate chip cookies.  Then I got the sugar cookie dough made and it had to be refrigerated so then I got those baked in the afternoon as heart cookies.
After school we are outside the building walking towards the car and one of Sean's friends comes up and asks if he can have a play date.  So I said sure go ask your mom as we have never had this boy over before.  So I figured his mom was close by.  Well like 10 min. later the 2 of them come back and say they can't find his mom.  He is the oldest of 4 children.  So we walk back in and then back over to the other building where he last saw his mom and walk all around that building looking for her.  He knew she was meeting with a teacher but we couldn't find her and they weren't in her room.  So as we are walking out of that building he asks the principle for that building and he said they were in one of the rooms up front.  Then we see her and the boys says, "oh yeah I have hockey tonight after this so I can't play,"  Ok, we just spend like 20 min here to see if this boy could come over and all along he wasn't going to be able too.  And I am not sure why he was so far away from his mom that he found us on our way to the parking lot and his mom was way back in the other building. 
Jacob had bball practice and then they had a pizza party.  My friend brought him home and then he had guitar after dinner.

Friday I spend the morning getting ready for the party and calling the Dr. about one of my toes which still hasn't healed.  I have an appt. in 2 1/2 weeks but it is so painful I wanted to get in earlier.  They told me they are booked until Aug. but I could go and sit and wait and maybe she could squeeze me in today.  I talked to the Dr. to see if she could prescribe me something over the phone but she said she really needed to see it and since it was snowing she thought maybe some of her older clients wouldn't want to drive over.  I couldn't wait all day at her office.  I have no patience for waiting in the first place and with the Valentine's Party I couldn't sit there all day.  So I told them to call me if there was a cancellation before my next appt. but next week she is on vacation.  So around 12:30 they called me and told me someone cancelled for the 2pm appt. but I would have to wait still.  So I took it b/c that is when she starts up back again from lunch so I knew if I just got there first I should be seen first.  So I got to the Dr. office at 1:30 and waited by her door until she opened.  She scheduled 3 people for 2pm so since I got there first thank goodness she saw me.  She swabbed my toe and gave me some other medicine and told me I need to do a blood test.
I made it back in time to get the kids from school and headed home for the Valentine's Party.  Amber had 6 friends over, 3 boys and 3 girls.  We had snacks and then they got to decorate the cupcakes and cookies.  My boys enjoyed doing it too!  After snacks I had a big craft table set up with some different things for them to do.   Then at 5 some of the moms came back for drinks and snacks.  It was a nice way to end the week since today was the last day of school before Carnival break. 

At the end of the party Jacob had become a DJ and was playing songs with videos for the kids and they were having a great time dancing!

Sat. morning I got up and went to the lab for the blood test.  I don't do well with these types of things.  She did a good job, but took 7 vials of blood.  I was ready to pass out in the chair.  I kept hearing her change the tubes where you collect blood and was like when is this going to end!  I made it through and had to sit in the chair for a bit.  I got my orange juice in the car and then finally got to the pharmacy.  You can tell everyone had left town since there was no one out or in line at the pharmacy. 
Today we decided to go to the Aquarium in France that was near the big zoo we had taken the kids to see in the fall which was like a $100 to get in.  The aquarium was quite small and not at all what we excepted.  We ended up running into traffic to get there.  It should have taken us 25 min. to get there and it took 45 due to the traffic headed to the France Alps everyone leaving to go skiing.  The aquarium had 3 separate small buildings that you had to walk outside between.  It was a bit different but there were some neat fish and some different fish in there.

They had these little eels that looked like worms with most of their bodies out of the sand and their tails not.  So we enjoyed it. 
We spent the afternoon resting and then went out to Chinese for dinner.  It was a nice day and by the end of the day the swelling had gone down and my toe wasn't as painful.

Week of January 27th, 2013

Sunday I took Sean and his friend that slept over to their RE class and then we had church.  In the afternoon again the boys just worked on their projects.  I was helping them and Amber was walking around bored looking for something to do!  For dinner we decided to just go to Pizza Hut.  It was just a bit after 5pm and the place was packed!  Crazy since it is early for people here to eat dinner and maybe just the fact that there are no other places open that this place gets all the business!  So we enjoyed our pizza!

Monday morning after drop off I went out to Germany to my stores and got back at 12.  It takes all day to put all the stuff away and I always have a packed fridge after.  I can only go when I don't have a lot of stuff in the fridge b/c I know I will fill it up. 
After school Jacob had a friend over.  And once we got home Amber decided she wanted to be comfy and put her pjs on at like 4pm! 

Tuesday I had French right after drop off b/c she had something else later in the morning.  So it is close to the time of the class and I am thinking to myself there is no way she won't be late.  Coming this way into town there is a lot of traffic in the morning.  Sure enough right at 9:15 she calls and says the French word for bottleneck.  So by the time she got here I only had class for 30 min. 
Today I spent some time doing our insurance paperwork from the end of last year.  We were doing so well with not many bills and then Dec. hit!  So we pay out of pocket and then have to fill out forms, submit claims and see how much we get reimbursed.  So that took awhile!
Today Jacob had bball practice and then the boys had tennis.  So by the time it is time for bed Jacob is pretty tired on these days. 

Wednesday I ran to the store for groceries.  They don't sell black beans here.  It amazes me all the time what they don't sell here.  Then I got annoyed since a lady rammed her stroller into my ankle.  I turned around and she just walked away without saying anything!  Ok if it were crowded and she accidentally bumped into me, trust me I know.  But it was in front of the check out aisles, ton of room and no people.  Ugh people here are so rude!
When I opened the fridge in the basement at home, 2 rolls of crescent dough had exploded!  So weird.  They were in different spots in the fridge and they didn't expire for 10 more days. 
I picked up Amber and a friend for lunch and ballet.  Her normal ballet friend is out with the flu along with 2 other of her friends.  We are hoping we all stay healthy over here!  The little girl we picked up was missing her book bag with her ballet clothes at school.  We couldn't find it.  I am not sure if it got lost at school or they forgot to get it out of the car in the morning.  The next day we found it in another part of the preschool!  So she borrowed some of Amber's ballet clothes.  Well then Amber is in tears, because all of a sudden that is the ballet outfit she wanted today.  We ended up being a minute or so late b/c of her meltdown!
Tonight I think we may have hit a milestone!  Jacob went to go upstairs and he said he was going to shower.  I was surprised b/c he showered yesterday and he normally showers every other day.  He said he is now going to shower every day!  Well there we go! 
The weather has warmed up here and melted all the snow, but now it is windy and rainy.

Thursday I was suppose to have my luncheon for the group of girls we rotate b/t houses and restaurants for lunch, but everyone or everyone's kids were sick and one friend had company in town.  So I just postponed the lunch and we will do it again.  So the one other girl that wasn't sick we just went out to lunch today.  We went to a Chinese place I hadn't tried before and it was very good.  I brought home my left overs and the kids gobbled it up for dinner!  This friend is from Norway so I love hearing about it.  I hope we can visit some day.  I have another friend that moved back there last year so I would love to go and visit.  Anyway I didn't realize that they weren't on the Euro.  It is very expensive to live or visit there.  I thought here was expensive and she thinks things are cheaper here, all relative to where you come from!
Jacob had bball tonight and we don't have to house any boys for the home game this weekend.  Then I got my soup made, Chicken Tortilla soup that I was going to make for the luncheon today.  It turned out really good.  When I dropped Jacob off at guitar I took some of the soup over to my friend at home with 3 sick kiddos with the flu.  I set everything down in front of her door and knocked and then stepped back!  I am going to try and not get sick!  She was laughing!  I thought she might enjoy it since she has been home all week.  You start to go stir crazy.

Friday I had tennis.  My friend had given me an extra one of her rackets to try as she didn't think mine was that great (:  So there weren't many people at tennis.  I guess a lot of the coaches are sick so maybe they canceled.  My instructor was sick but we had a sub today and one of our girls was not there too.  He was a little bit harder on us then our normal instructor and I came home with sore arms!
After school Jacob had practice and then a bball game so he stayed at school and then Jason met him there a little bit before the game.  It was just one game tonight.  Sean had a b'day party to go to after school at an indoor climby/play area.  So I took him, another friend and then Amber and we just stayed so she could play too.  Some of her friends were there as they had their brothers going to the party too.  So it worked out well. 
After everyone was ready for bed we started our Jurassic Park Series weekend.  My friend let us borrow her ipad and she just puts on it whatever movies we want to watch for the weekend.  I made her name into a web site for her, hee hee ( hernamerentals.com)  So she put all 3 Jurassic Park movies on for the boys to watch this weekend.  Amber and I didn't watch them as I don't care for them but Jason thought maybe the boys would like them.  So they watched the first one.  Sean didn't like it too much but Jacob enjoyed it.  We will see if anyone has any dino nightmares tonight!  And on to the second one tomorrow night!
Before bed Jacob emptied out his bball gym bag and realized he left his bball shoes in the locker room, ugh!  There is a 50/50 chance we see those again!  I asked him how could he forget his shoes and he said the lights weren't working in the locker room and so he packed up what he thought was everything but missed the shoes.  So maybe if there is no light in there no one will see the shoes to take!  We will see tomorrow morning!

Sat morning Jason took Jacob back for the game and to help him look for his tennis shoes.  By the time Jason got up to the gym Jacob had already found his shoes in the lost and found!  Thank goodness he got them back!  They had a good game and they won!  You can see the excitement from the crowd!

After the bball game Jacob went home with a friend on the team.  This boy loses a lot of things.  Last year his mom said he lost 3 winter coats.  One of them was bright orange! 
We came home and had a nice afternoon and then once Jacob came back home we went out to dinner at an Italian place we hadn't tried.  It was ok.  After dinner the boys continued on with their Jurassic Park series with movie 2.