Funny Jake

Some friends posted pictures while in London. I told Jake we were looking for Big Ben. After we found it, I scrolled to the last picture. Jake held up his hands and shrugged as he said, "Me no find Big Drew."

Jake Dabbing at BHS

Jake dancing at BHS

Jake got deputiized

Jake and Reagan

Kate's 12th Birthday Stats

Weight: 105

Height: 64.5"

Daddy's shoes

Phelan Kid Update

Ben played in his second ever soccer tournament. He had to play goalie some and defense the rest of the time. He played great except for the first half of the first game when it was very cold outside and he just couldn't shake the cold feeling.  They only got to play 2 of the three games because his Sunday game got cancelled due to rain. 

Ben is struggling with basketball because he is standing and watching when he doesn't have the ball. He did the same thing in soccer early in the season until he learned to keep moving. We hope he will learn to keep moving in basketball too!

Drew played three games in the soccer tournament. He played just about every position on the field and was a vocal leader throughout the tournament. Drew got hurt during a hard tackle in the first game and wasn't able to play much in the second game. However, he faught through the pain and played in his basketball game that night - and managed to score 19 points including his first in-game 3 pointer. His team lost, but when they were down by 6, he almost pulled of a Stephen Curry style pull up 3 pointer from beyond NBA range. It hit the front of the rim straight on - just a tiny bit short.

Drew had to play Sunday morning because his game was before they cancelled everything. His game was at 7:45am and only Chris took him because it was 40 degrees with constant rain and wind. They froze.

Kate only had 2 basketball games this weekend and played well. I am most proud of how she is being a leader and encourager. She is having to be the main scorer, rebounder, and now the point guard after the other point guard just stop showing up. Kate continues to practice with the Brookwood 9th grade team every day and she's now big enough that she fits right in with the team and is even one of the bigger ones. I think she's about 5'5" or a little over now. She is getting closer to my nose. She wears a 10.5 women's shoe now.

Cute Jake things: Every time I see a parent from Jake's class, he/she tells me that Jake is their child's best friend. Tonight, a parent told me that her daughter "called" Jake on her baby monitor and had a long conversation. 

I keep telling Jake that we get presents at Christmas because God gave us Jesus as a present. Each time, Jake says, "Jesus give me presents."

We rode by some Christmas lights tonight and a house had lots of lights along with inflatable animals and a nativity scene. We asked Jake what he saw and he said "God".

Ben had to start wearing his patch again because his vision got a little worse at his last eye check-up. When he started wearing the patch again, he had trouble seeing his schoolwork up close. We have increased the doctors recommendation of 1 hour per day up to 2 hours on our own, and Ben is not fighting the patch because he has "seen" for himself how his vision has changed without the patch.

Go cubs

Kate the baller

Jake the clown

Jake Quotes of the Day

Ben had his eye appointment this morning and he has to go back to wearing his patch for 1 hour every day because his eyesight slipped a little over the last three months when he didn't have to patch. He also had to get his eyes dilated and he mentioned a few times tonight that his eye was hurting him. When Ben sat in a chair in the kitchen rubbing his eye, Jake noticed and said, "Ben eye hurt kiss it" and he went over and kissed Ben's eye. 

At indoor soccer today, Drew and Ben kicked their ball such that it was stuck in the net above the wall where they couldn't reach it. When Chris went over to help, Jake said, "Yay Daddy. Get Drew Ben ball dowwwwwn!"

Two Little Jake Things

"Jake, do you want another bite of your oatmeal?" "Second, Mommy, read book."

"Jake come over here so I can change your diaper." "Just second, Mommy."

This "just a second" stuff is so cute - we just need to teach him when it's ok and when he needs to come right away!

Jake loves for us to read to him more than anything. When he sits in my lap to read, he almost always holds on to my right wrist (and sometimes my left) for the whole book. When I reach to turn the page, his hand keeps holding on. If I reach to scratch my face or something, he keeps holding on. I wish it would last forever!

Neighborhood Halloween block party

Jake is working on 5th grade math.

Jake phrasing

When Jake wants someone to hold something for him, he says "Hold you me....".

So, a book would be "Hold you me book."

I love Kate's shoes!

Kate training

Disney 2016 - The Last Day

We hit Magic Kingdom in the morning to pick off some missed items like the Laugh Floor and repeat big rides like Space Mountain.  About 11, we hit Epcot for some final work around the world showcase and our picture theme of the year (wide angle where's waldo type shots of the kids in the crowds at each country).

To highlight the volume of food, we had the quickservice dining plan which gives each ticket holder two quick service meals and one snack each day in the park.  Jake was not on the plan.  And at the end of the trip, we still had 10 meals and 22 snacks to burn off at once.

So, per usual, we went to Goofy's Candy Company and loaded up those 22 snacks on various rick krispy treats and cookies.  We used the final 10 meals at Wolfgang Puck.  Got all those, fought the searing heat back to the car. and hit the road around 4PM.  Easy drive, one stop, and back in our abode at 11PM ready for the overstuff sports Saturday.

Disney 2016 - Day 8

Hollywood, then Epcot, then Hollywood.

Good crowds and we spent far more time at Holly then we ever thought we would.  I was the spy twice on Star Tours.  Kids got to be Jedis and fight Darth/Kylo Ren.  We hit Toy Story more times than you could count.  Decided to head off to Epcot for food and random rides.  Fave drinks at Club Station Cool were VegitaBeta for adults, Bibo for Jake, and most of the rest for the other kids.

We continued hitting as many characters as possible.  After strolling boardwalk and eating at Epcot, we took the boat back to Hollywood when Kate realized she left her Minnie Ears on Rockin Roller Coaster.  So, we got back as best we could and I sprinted to the gate and got in the park 10 seconds before closing.  Hurried to the ride and got them back just in time.  This is the second trip where a ride lost and found saved Kate's ears.

Faves - D was tower, Kate was rocking, B was Indy, Jake continued his love of monorails, especially at the contemporary no matter how late in the day.

Disney 2016 - Day 7

Today's path - Epcot then Typhoon then back to Epcot.

The whole crew hit Typhoon this time for nice mid day block.  Lazy river time including seeing Kate get trapped under the waterfall and thoroughly waterlogged which seems sort of not in the spirit of laziness. But very funny.

Jake's highlight was meeting Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy and getting to hang out with all three at once.  He also had some quality Donald time that seemed to mostly turn into them comparing feet with each other. 

Those of us on Test Track got to sit on it for about 10 minutes while the ride was stuck.  That was a blast. 

Drew got to talk with Crush and was continually called Druuuuude.  At Typhoon, Kate/Dylan/Sherri/Chris swam with sharks.  In salt water.  And it was freezing cold.  I disliked it, Sherri thought it was fun, and Kate thought it was super awesome.

We spent much time in the wave pool.  Drew and all of his skinniness led to him getting knocked back 50 feet every time a wave came.  I worked on throwing Kate with the wave so she could get walloped as much as possible.

Faves:
Drew - test track
Kate - test track
Jake - meeting Mickey, donald, and goofy and the nemo ride and figment and frozen
Ben - test track
Sherri - watching Jake meet the characters and swimming with sharks

Disney 2016 - Day 6

The day started at Magic Kingdom which was a relatively busy day with a lot of heat.  Just past the midway point of the trip and most people were feeling a little ragged.  With the longer lines at MK, we decided to take an earlier than normal pass at lunch and head somewhere else.  Most of us shifted to Typhoon Lagoon, with Ben and Jake at the hotel to theoretically nap but in reality watch movies and build up energy for the last days push.

At Typhoon, we had about 90 minutes to do whatever could be done.  Hit a few slides, super enjoyed the lazy river.  We then relented as adults and let everyone in the wave pool for 20 minutes just in time to find out the giant wave maker wasn't working then.  So, we basically sat in a giant bath tub with hundreds of people.

Once we all got back together, we hit Hollywood Studios which was basically empty and cycled all the big rides as much as possible til the park closed at 9.  We then shifted to Epcot for a bit of a walk around Boardwalk and food at the mexico pavilion which was awesome.  Slightly less awesome was Ben basically asleep at the table and the walk back to the car.

The big hit of the day continued to be Jake and characters.

Faves - Ben - 7 dwarfs, Jake - being the last person of the night to meet looloo and buzz, Kate - rockin
Drew - splash, Chris - tower of terror, Sherri - walking right on to Toy Story about 4 times in a row and then having a cast member ask us if we wanted to just stay on and ride again since there was no line

Disney 2016 - Day 5

Thanks to park hopping, we bounced between Hollywood and Epcot today.

This was a day heavy on character meetings which Jake thought was delightful.  From start to finish of the trip, he was much beloved by the characters due to his cuteness.  He continually got extra time with them often holding up the overall line and many times had all the characters group around him at the same time.

He was also great at saying cheese repeatedly at picture time.  And, thanks to one character pointing out his Kermit shirt, he then began showing off his shirt (every day, regardless of shirt) to every character.

Events of the day:
Ben lost a tooth in Norway.  He wasn't doing anything specific, it just sort of fell out.  So, we got to clean that up in the Norway bathrooms.
All the kids loved Test Track the most.  That ride brought out their competitive nature as they constantly strove to outscore each other overall and on specific legs.
Jake's faves were Nemo and Frozen which were the first rides where he immediately said "Again" once they finished.
Upon meeting Goofy, Jake got to do the hot dog dance with him and he got extra hugs from Daisy.

Disney 2016 - Day 4

For the majority of this trip, let it be known that Ben did a fantastic job keeping up as the youngest walker in the group.  He was often at the front and worked hard to cover the same ground as quickly as the people with giant legs.  He hit his exhaustion point late on the final full day.  Kate and Drew both clearly started zoning out on the final half day at the parks. 

We took a complete non-park day today due to expected (and real) crowd levels because of the holiday.  We slept in a bit since the water parks opened later.  We hit Blizzard Beach and spent a long time there on water slides.  Jake played in the kids area and did the lazy river.  We hit every piece of that park with pretty short lines and only vaguely searing heat.  We took a sun break and ate at the Wilderness Lodge while also just hanging out in their awesome lobby.  Afterwards, we all shifted to DisneyQuest.  The kids had a blast, the parents mostly just had to follow Jake around.  He did have much fun in the little basketball shooting area and made quite a few shots. 

Fave rides - Kate and the Space Mountain Water slide, Drew was playing tennis at Disneyquest because the game went to deuce 7 times and he won, Ben liked the open water slide, and Jake still liked Hippos even though we saw none.

Disney 2016 - Day 3

Animal Kingdom all day

Our general day was going ride to ride.  For bigger events:
Ben got to visit the first aid station.  At the end of our day, we were heading out of the park, Ben was jogging to keep up and just randomly stumbled.  So, we got to bandage a couple of scrapes.
We ate massive piles of meat at the Flame Tree Barbecue while surrounded by bold cranes looking for a bite
to eat.
While riding the single rider line at Everest, Kate got shifted into a car with the japanese dudes.  Pretty sure they thought she was cute since they asked her age and then took a selfie with her on the ride.  Kate could not have been more uncomfortable and it was pretty funny to listen to her after.
The big 3 kids got to join the soccer party in Africa with goal scoring, headers, and general hilarity.
The bird show is always a big hit.  I got applause for not flinching from a bird flying right over my head.

Fave rides were the safari for Kate, Everest for Drew, Primeval Whirl for Ben, and the safari (hippos specifically) for Jake.

In reality, Jake's favorite is probably always just meeting characters.

Disney 2016 - Day 2

Thanks to hurricane remnants, half of day 2 was in a light to moderate drizzle.  Kept us wet and sometimes cold in a few of the rides, but it totally killed off the crowds which was great. 

We started our day at Magic Kingdom and did most of our normal path hitting big rides quickly and touching on others (especially Jake friendly rides) as time fit.  We also checked into our hotel for the trip (Pop Century).  After a hectic first group of hours at MK, we decided to have lunch at the Contemporary Cafe. 

Since we bought park hoppers, we decided to take full advantage.  We hustled over to Hollywood Studios to knock out a couple of rides like Rockin Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania.  From there, we sprinted over to Animal Kingdom at night because there were no lines.  Did a couple of safaris and rode Everest three straight times in the dark.

From there, we went to eat at the Grand, were told their lot was full, so we parked at the Poly and walked the short mile jaunt at 9:30PM in an attempt to get there in time to watch the MK fireworks as well.  And we made it. 

Favorite rides of the day were Everest for Drew, Space Mountain for Ben, Rockin Roller Coaster for Kate, and Buzz Lightyear for Jake.

Disney 2016 - Day 1

On day 1, we headed out early Thursday morning because hurricane Hermine was scheduled to hit Florida that afternoon so we wanted to be done driving prior to the worst of the storm arriving.  Much of the previous day was spent figuring out timing and thankfully our final start time worked perfectly.  The drive was calm and easy and we arrived at our offsite hotel with ease.  Since we had a lot of time to kill, we visited the huge McDonalds and ate a little bit of everything then spent a couple of hours at Disney Springs looking at everything (including all the new stuff).  Jake got his first taste of Disney just from statues and piles of merchandise to look through.

Back to the hotel at night which is when the storm hit.  At full force, hotel power went out, the generator (and it's evil sounding alarm) kicked in, we tried to figure out where we were in relation to tornado warnings, and the rain came down in huge sideways sheets.  And all of this was from being in the secondary tail of the storm.  Getting hit by a cat 5 must be an atrocious experience. 

Next, on to the parks.

Salute

Jake and the green army man.

He loves these guys.

Tigger and Winnie!

Eating ice cream at the worlds largest McDonald's

Nine year interview

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Available until Sep 29, 2016

Happy bday drew

Drew at 9 years old

Wearing my 1986 celts t shirt

Ben in action

Sent from my iPhone

Ben's first travel soccer game. And his buddy Carson