MDEsquare: New Year with Our People

Monday, January 4, 2016

New Year with Our People

Our people came to visit. They spent a week with us; we had great plans to be outside and GO TO THE BEACH!! Yeah, right. We didn't plan for 35-40 degree weather when we moved to Galveston. Needless to say our plans of basking in the sun with a cool beverage in hand was too much for Mother Nature. We decided to brave a walk (some of us barefoot) on the beach despite 18-22mph winds. Do we look cold? The russian lady in the back says "DA!"

So what's a group of 8 to do when the weather isn't cooperating? We adults were ready to play cards but the kids were bored and fidgety. It was especially difficult since we live on the 2nd floor. We constantly had to remind all four kids to "shuffle, shuffle, shuffle" their feet so we wouldn't get a noise complaint from the downstairs neighbor. We made them find something to do, that didn't involve running around; they decided to play "Doodie Head".

I had never seen the game before, but it's pure genius and hysterical. Throw the doodies on to your opponent's head to score points. HA! Deona thought it might be fun to have a family competition. It seemed only fair we draw names; each kid would pick an adult. This is how our 1st annual "Camp Marvel" came to be (i just picked the name because I couldn't think of anything else). Our teams were formed : Monica & Everett, Dani (Ori) & Zoe, Deona & Ava, and Dina & Emory. We came up with a couple of competitions for each day. The kiddos were SOOOOO excited and looked forward to competing. So much fun!

So sad we didn't get photos of all the activities. Ping Pong and Target Shootout were played in the fitness center and luckily we had the place all to ourselves. The kids played Wahoo while we adults played Hand & Foot. ParachuteTarget was a game where each team took a turn throwing a toy solder (with parachute) off the second floor balcony on to a target (2 beach towels) on the bottom floor. The kids LOVED it and it gave them an opportunity to run up and down stairs.

Corn Hole is a game on property so it was convenient and another exciting activity. I gotta say Cornhole is NOT my forte.

Other things we did, besides competing, was visit Moody Garden's.

This time of year is especially beautiful. We walked through the Festival of Lights....

then the kids went ice skating.

This was the first time iceskating for Everett & Emory.

The kids skated until their feet were tired and bums were sore. They all did great! Afterwards we headed home for cups of hot cocoa.

Mario Kart 8. on the wiiu, was another fun activity for the kids. I'm so glad we purchased it for Christmas.

Ori and I had a great time putting this puzzle together.

To celebrate and bring in the New Year we added a "Polar Bear Plunge".

Who's CRAZY idea was that?!!!! *whistling* :)

I WISH we had planned to set up the camera/video for this stunt. The water was ICE cold and I knew if I we were going to do this we couldn't think about it too much. There was no adjusting and no walking in for me; I had to jump in or it was a "no go". Just to note, NO ONE was forced to do this. This was at your own will. Well....except for Ava.... she tiptoed in and tiptoed out. Silly Ava. Ori noticed she wasn't completely wet so Ori threw her in. Everett squealed and shrieked, loud enough to draw neighbors to their balconies. I'm sure some thought we were abusing our children; how dare we make these poor children go swimming. HA! I've never felt water that cold before. I remember thinking, "I need to get myself to the side". After I pulled myself out, I stood frozen waiting to make sure everyone found their way out of the pool. There was so much chaos; our movements were choppy and disorganized; very similar to chickens with their heads cut off. DAMN, IT WAS SOOO COLD, but WOW what a fun and crazy experience for us all.

I'm not sure I would have even attempted this crazy stunt had there not been a hot tub in sight.

102* water never felt so good. AHHHHHHHHHHHH..........................

*hi-five* to Ori, she and I were the only 2 (dummies) who "jumped" in.

Later that evening we finished off the competition with PieFace!

Dina is the luckiest human being in the whole wide world. Never Pied. NOT ONCE!

I, on the other hand, got pied, EVERY SINGLE TIME!

I am so glad the kids were bored because it forced us to improvise and come up with a plan which ended up being an absolutely fabulous week for us all.