Carving of the Pumpkins

Olivia was quite excited about it this year. She was not a fan of the smell of pumpkin goo, I beleive her word was...grrrooossssss! Unfortunately and/or fortunately, however you want to see it, she is also somewhat of a perfectionist. She was drawing the faces on paper for her Dad to duplicate onto the pumpkins and became quite upset because she did not feel her triangles were perfect enough. As you can see, they turned out fabulous and all was well in the end!

Pumpkin Hunting in Belton, MO

If you have never gone to Belton and taken the train, than you are missing some good family fun. We will probably do it again in December. Hat tip to sister Angie for telling us about it.

It was a beautiful day, the pumpkins were way inexpensive (made me realize the grocery stores are totally ripping us off), the girls iced cookies and played games too.

Shayna's Volleyball Games

The Girls had a tough year, but they have all improved tremendously over last year. Next year they will be championship team, with out a doubt!

I have been very negligent posting since December. First the battery in my camera went dead. Then, as most of you know, we were very worried about Shayna's health. She is on the mend and doing quite well. Her neurologist did say that it may be a year before she is 100%.
Pretty soon I will get our Christmas photos and more recent up!

AIRPORT HOPPING TO FLORIDA

If it weren't for bad luck..., isn't that how the saying goes? Sunday at 5:30am the Schaffer Family arrived at the airport for their direct flight to Orlando and then on to Daytona Beach. It all started like this... Upon arriving at the airport we realized the shuttle driver had switched one of our bags with someone else that departed at another terminal. So, J jumped another shuttle to that terminal and hunted the people down to do a bag switch. While he was gone I realized that our flight to Orlando departing at 7am had been cancelled due to an ice storm that kept planes from getting to Kansas City. We managed to get another flight out and we only had to wait around the Kansas City airport for an extra 4 hours. We then flew to Dallas, Texas for a 2 hour layover. We decided to grab a quick bite while waiting for our next flight, quick bite took our whole layover and we were in a rush to pay and get to our gate. While paying our bill the server informed us that their credit card machine was down and there was an ATM across the way..which was also down, so we counted our ones and fives and borrowed 10.00 from shayna to get our bill paid and out of there. We then fly from Dallas to Houston, upon arrival they announce the flight from Houston to Orlando is over booked by ummmmm 23 SEATS!!!!! And, of course, are asking for volunteers to get off the plane. For an obscene amount of money we agree to get bumped (by this time our day is shot to heck anyway). Our layover in Houston was only supposed to be another 2 hours, but it really turned out to be 3hr 45 min. Finally, 18 hours after arriving at the Kansas City Airport and a mere 12 hours after our original ETA we arrive in Daytona Beach at 11:35 pm. Let the party begin....tomorrow. And as you look at my other posts you will see that we did indeed have a great time, right up until the flu started attacking our family one by one....

Official Day 1, CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE and a bottle of Nyquil

the tallest building was our's.

Waking up Monday morning the view from our balcony.

Playing on Daytona Beach. Shayna learned how to body surf and did quite well. The road rash on her stomach went away in a matter of days.

Lunching at Bubba Gump's with Mimi and Poppa in Daytona Beach.

Shayna eating Alligator for the first time. Olivia ate it as well, we told her it was chicken nuggets.