Saturday, July 23, 2011

Harry and my getaway

Harry and I took an opportunity to get away this past week. We sent Harrison off to Scout camp, Hannah and one of the dogs to Nana and Grandpop's, and the other dog to the kennel. We headed straight for our "happy place"--Orlando. We knew it would be sunny and predictable down there. So, we decided it was the perfect place to go. After Harry got released and recalled to the Bishopric on Sunday, we felt we deserved a vacation.
We got there on Monday afternoon and checked into the Bonnet Creek Resort Hilton. It's on Disney property, but not part of the "magic." It was really nice; and we immediately changed and headed to their pool--the first pool I've been to all summer. We lounged at the pool for a few hours and then headed to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (Yum!). Their portions there are HUGE! We took home leftovers and put them in our cooler for the next day.
Tuesday, we checked out of the Hilton and headed to Earl of Sandwich for breakfast at Downtown Disney. After breakfast, we checked into "our place" at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. We LOVE being Disney Vacation Club owners! Our room wasn't ready yet. So, Harry and I decided to head to the Orlando Temple and do a session. The temple was GORGEOUS! Of course, we didn't expect it not to be, but it was so peaceful and beautiful there--very relaxing. After the temple, our room was ready. So, we headed to the grocery store and picked up a few things for meals at the condo. We had our leftovers for a late lunch and decided to go out for a late dinner to Beaches and Cream at Disney's Beach Club Resort. We each had our favorite burger and fries and we split a No Way Jose' sundae--talk about yummy!! When we finished, we headed down to the beach just in time to catch the Illuminations fireworks. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
Wednesday, we got up late, ate breakfast, and headed to the pool. We spent almost the entire day just relaxing and chilling by the pool. I was reading my kindle and Harry was listening to an audiobook. We grilled some lemon-garlic chicken for dinner and watched some TV. It was so nice to be able to watch whatever we wanted and also eat whatever we wanted for dinner without the kids having any input :).
Thursday morning, we got up and packed to go home :(. We had breakfast at Boma at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. So good!! They have a house juice there called Frunch. It's guava, orange, pineapple, passion fruit and a bunch of other juices all mixed together. After breakfast, we rolled to the car and drove home. It was such a nice getaway. I'm glad we were able to do it. Now, everyone's home and it's business as usual starting tomorrow.
Posted by The Schaefer's at 2:26 PM 2 comments
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Thursday, July 7, 2011

What have we been up to lately?

Well, it's been a while since I posted last (try 10 months!). So, instead of trying to play catch up, I'll just let you know what has been going on recently.
The first week of June, the kids and I headed to Ohio to see my grandmother and sister. Two days into our trip, Grandma and I drove Hannah over to Woodward, Pennsylvania to Camp Woodward for gymnastics camp for the week. We drove the 5 1/2 hours to camp and then turned around and drove back to Grandma's house. It made for a very long day; and the drive is scenic, but lacks places to stop along the way. So, you're pretty much stuck in the car the entire time. So, while Hannah was at camp flipping and flying, Harrison stayed with my sister and played video games; and I got some much needed alone time with my grandma. Harrison and I made a trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio and rode a lot of really fun rides. There were a few that I just couldn't make myself go on, but for the most part we rode everything together. It was a fun time. A few days after our Cedar Point trip, it was time to go pick up Hannah. So, Grandma and I got in the car (again) and drove to State College, PA where we spent the night (Hannah had to be picked up at 9:00 am on Saturday morning). We picked her up the next morning and drove back to Ohio. We thought that she would be very talkative and tell us all about camp; but instead, she slept the entire way back and we only got snippets of what happened at camp. She must have worked hard and had a good time :). The kids and I drove home on Monday and made pretty good time. All in all, a pretty good trip. We got to eat good food, see family, and have some fun.
On July 4th, we had fun. For the first time in about 3 years, Hannah wasn't in the local parade. So, we decided to sleep in and do nothing for a majority of the day. Then, around 5:30, we headed to the golf course to set up camp for the fireworks. We had fun talking with friends and eating sub sandwiches and homemade cookies. Things were going splendidly until about 8:30 pm when the skies began to turn black and look like they were going to swallow us all whole. Luckily, things held off until most of the way through the fireworks display. We had the fireworks in front of us and lightning and thunder behind us. We all abandoned ship 3/4 of the way through the fireworks to head to the car. It was just in time, too. The skies opened up on us halfway home. Overall, a great Independence Day.
Posted by The Schaefer's at 10:02 AM 1 comments
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Monday, September 20, 2010

Crazy Busy Summer

I haven't updated in SOOOO long. It's been a crazy, busy summer for our family. Hannah spent a week at church Girls Camp for the first time. She had a lot of fun. When she got back, we had exactly 24 hours to leave for her next camp. She spent the next week in Pennsylvania at Woodward Gymnastics Camp where she trained with college gymnastics coaches and got to meet 2004 Silver medalist Annia Hatch! She had a blast and wants to go back again next summer.

While Hannah was in Pennsylvania, Harrison, my mom, and I spent the week in Ohio with my sister and my grandmother. We went to Cedar Point, did some genealogy, and enjoyed spending time with family.

When we got back, Harrison had to get ready for EFY in Gainesville, GA. He was gone a week there, came home, and had 5 hours to wash his clothes, repack, and leave for Boy Scout Camp for a week. Luckily, he had a week off before he went to Youth Conference for the weekend. After which, he went to Band Camp in Rome, GA for a week.

See what I mean? It was a crazy, busy summer; but the kids had fun and they weren't bored...AT ALL.
Posted by The Schaefer's at 11:15 AM 1 comments
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Sunday, March 7, 2010

New Gymnastics Season

We decided to let Hannah compete in the Spring gymnastics season, but her coaches changed it up a little for her. Instead of competing at a compulsory level (everyone does the EXACT same routine to the EXACT same music--a nightmare for observers), she competed in preparatory optionals--Prep Op-- (everyone has a list of skills that are required to perform and you get to do it to your own music and in your own way--much more interesting as an observer). Hannah has competed as a USA Gymnastics Prep Op Gold level gymnast this season. She has been able to do and learn some new skills and really LOVES her music (Pirates of the Caribbean). She has done really, really well this season, too. She has been within the top 3-5 every meet and has even accomplished a few 1st places on the Bars. She has competed in 5 Prep Op meets this season and has qualified for the State Championships. We're really proud of her and how hard she has worked this season.

Posted by The Schaefer's at 8:13 AM 0 comments
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Monday, December 28, 2009

Disney in December

We did a Christmas trip to Disney this year. We actually came home ON Christmas Eve. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that has little kids--only to those with teens/pre-teens that sleep in until 9:00 or 10:00 am on Christmas morning :c).
It was VERY crowded. We've never seen it that crowded before (and we've been quite a number of times during different times of the year). We had a great time once the kids realized that they couldn't sleep until 11:00 am and still expect to get on any rides. The wait times were CRAZY--90-120 minutes for Toy Story Mania, 3 hours for Soarin'....CRAZY!!! But we still got to do some really fun things. The kids each got a special outing with Mom/Dad. Hannah and I went to see Cirque du Soleil: La Nouba at Downtown Disney--AMAZING!!! And Harrison and Harry went to see The Blue Man Group at Universal Studios which they really enjoyed. All in all, it was a good Christmas trip.

Posted by The Schaefer's at 7:49 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

USAG Level 5 Georgia State Championship

On November 22, 2009, Hannah had the honor of participating in the State Gymnastics Championship. In order to qualify for this meet, a gymnast must participate in a minimum of 3 meets and score an all-around of 32 points or higher twice. Hannah was able to do this within the first 3 meets of the season; and she was the only one on the Level 5 team to qualify this year.
There have been a few obstacles that Hannah has had to face this season. At the beginning of the season, there was a judge we have since dubbed as "The Battle axe" that was overheard telling another judge not to even bother watching any of the girls from the gym that Hannah goes to. This judge was heard to say that our girls were undeserving of competing. And she would consistently score Hannah and the other girls 1-1.5 points lower than anyone else even though they did just as well. This has been really hard for Hannah to deal with because she works so hard. Also, Hannah does not do well when she is alone at a competition. Even though her coach is there, she gets very anxious and feels very isolated.
Hannah had to deal with both situations at the state meet. We talked about this extensively before the meet. Hannah loves music. So, I let her listen to the song "You're Not Alone" by Michael McLean. We also listened to "Defying Gravity" from the Broadway Musical "Wicked." Both have an incredible message and they brought her comfort and strength. Before the meet started, I sent her a "shout-out" (a message that they read out over the loud speaker). It said,"Hannah, we are so proud of you. Just remember, you're not alone. You're defying gravity! Love, Mom, Dad, and Harrison."
Alone, facing that judge, and everything else that stood in her way, she truly shined at this meet.
Here is what she did:

Vault: 8.325--She placed 18th in the State

Bars: 8.80--She placed 11th in the State and medaled (this was her WORST bar routine,too)

Beam: 8.90--She placed 14th in the State (this was also her WORST beam routine)

Floor: 7.70--She places 20th in the State

Over-all: 33.725--She place 17th in the State

We are SOOOO incredibly proud of her. Now, she starts preparing and training for the USAG Preparatory Optionals Gold Level competitions. Her first Prep-Op meet is in January.
Posted by The Schaefer's at 11:23 AM 1 comments
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Heroes: Then, Now, Forever

This year, Harrison's band presented their show in honor of the veterans. It was titled "Heroes: Then, Now, and Forever." There were quite a few changes to the show over the course of the marching season, but the final show was quite moving. The band presented a special encore performance of the show on November 3rd for the Veterans and their families. We weren't able to video that particular performance, but the Friday night performance is what I have here for everyone to see. We hope you enjoy and our family would like to give a special thanks to all of the veterans for giving of their time and serving our country. We live in the land of the free thanks to the brave.

Posted by The Schaefer's at 8:56 AM 0 comments
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