The Coombs Family

We promised our kids a trip after we sold our house and we just got back from Legoland. We were there for four days and the kids loved every minute of it. We stayed in the Lego Hotel and they were in heaven as soon as we saw the outside. Inside was a huge play area, and every corner had something fun for the kids to do. We played at the park and went to all the rides and events. The kids were able to take a robotics course, we watched two different 4D movies, we rode the rides all day every day. The water park was fun but it was kind of cold and we get to play in the water a lot at home. They still loved the water but walking from the different areas around was quite chilly. The best rollercoaster was by far the race cars. The kids must have gone on this with us at least 6 times when we were there. It was the fastest and they all loved it. The most engaging ride was the Ninjago ride, where it's like a game. You try and shoot things and we did this one probably close to ten ti...

Calvin got to celebrate his 9th birthday in Legoland with the family. But when he got back from the trip, he really wanted to still have his friend over for a party. We got a birthday package at Legoland, so he got some gifts, a cake, they sang to him, and he got some special buttons and a fast pass for the day. When we got home we invited over three of his close friends on his football team. They were super nice and even got him presents with one day notice. He felt spoiled and the boys played and had fun for hours. Calvin is very social. He always wants a play date. He loves to be surrounded with friends and if he is anywhere where there are other kids, he will get to know their name and hang out with them. He is a really nice kid and never fights with any friends, just his brother. Calvin is really good at math. His teacher decided to give a king size candy bar to anyone who passed all the fluency tests and Calvin dominated all of them really fast. He really wanted that candy ...

This last week I took off to Dallas Texas with two girlfriends to go on a girls trip. The same girls I went with to NYC last year, we decided to try something low key and totally new. None of us had been to Texas and the play Hamilton was going to be there the same time we were able to go on our trip. We booked the trip, met up once to talk about places to go and mostly places to eat, and never thought too much about it. It ended up being exactly what I needed right now. Just a low key trip where we could sleep in a little, stay up all night laughing, get lots of shopping in, eat things like cupcakes and hamburgers and fries for breakfast. We had a blast. Some of my highlights below. The best pie EVER at Emporium Pies! And our waitress was so adorable, Stacy had all the Southern Charm! Started it off with pedicures, then a 90 minute massages a few days later Amazing shopping, best cupcakes ever, and we may have tried almost every flavor.... Cute little garden area th...

Caleb and I got to celebrate being married 15 years this year. We went up to Portland and stayed at a mini White House bed and breakfast. The house was adorable and very charming. Our room and bathroom were beautiful and the breakfast was amazing. We stayed in North East Portland and went to dinner and dessert and ate way too much food. The next day Caleb taught a class in Portland and I went to catch up with an old friend. It was a short trip but super relaxing and just what we needed.

 Ronin Dean has finally had his birthday and is officially four years old. He's been lying all year about his age, which he probably gets from his mother. He tells everyone he is either 100, 17 or 18. But he is never three years old. He has been riding his bike all over the place. He is in preschool and hates going to class every day, let's hope that changes when he gets older. He still thinks his dad is the coolest person alive. He is a boy through and through. He wants to shoot guns, jump off the furniture, go fast in cars, and he loves motorcycles. Caleb sold his motorcycle recently and Ronin asks for it all the time. This year we went to a pizza arcade place and let the kids play video games all night and eat lots of food.

 Shelby turned 10 years old this year and she did not want a party. She refused to invite friends over or do a traditional birthday party. She wanted to invite her cousin Kenady only to come hang out. She told me she is older now and she doesn't do little kid parties. She only wanted to go do girl stuff. So we picked up Kenady and the three of us went to the movie theaters and watched a movie together. The girls got a lot of food and the movie was A House With A Clock In Its Walls. Guess what.....the girls were scared to death. They hated the movie. They were freaking out the entire time and couldn't wait to get out of there. They talked about how creepy it was and how they were going to have nightmares the entire night. We went to get ice cream afterwards and go shopping for Shelby. When we got home she got to open presents and Kenady stayed the night. The next morning we went back to the movies and watched another one. Really because they were so scared after the first movie,...

Caleb and I have been searching for land since the year before we bought his dental office. We almost purchased a few houses, but never found the right one. Once we really prayed about it, we decided to buy a practice and forego our dream of land. Well, this year we decided to start looking again. By we, I mean me. I love to look for land and property. I found lots of small 1-2 acre parcels but the houses were all very expensive and terribly out of date. We would end up paying 700-800k for a house that I would want to gut. So we started looking for land we loved, but a house we wouldn't feel bad about tearing out. I found a property on Battle Creek Road that I feel in love with immediately. I was the first to contact the owners and we came and looked at the property the day after it was listed. As soon as Caleb and I came and saw the 10 acres, we had to have it. It has a small 1100 square foot house that is 50 years old and not updated. It has two bathrooms (one includes a washer a...