Not-so Magic Kingdom

Woohoo! It was finally Spring Break and time to head to Florida again, this time to Orlando to fulfill the Christmas surprise. It was my first time to travel with the kids on a plane since the pandemic. Funny that the pandemic was bookended by trips to Florida for us... (I hope that's the end and I didn't just jinx us!) Good thing I have such good, experienced travelers with me!

 

Travel went smoothly, from Mr. J dropping us off (that's right - he didn't make the trip!) to checking bags, flight, claiming baggage, and getting on the right bus to our hotel. (I will say that we flew budget airline Spirit, and when I asked at the gate, we got upgraded 15 rows to be seated all together, which made it a very tolerable trip!) We arrived at Port Orleans - Riverside half an hour before official check-in, and our room wasn't ready yet. That was fine; we left our bags with Bell Services and explored the grounds a bit. It is a beautiful setting on a Disney-made river with Antebellum-style buildings and southern charm.

We found these hammocks tucked away off a path and had some nice, quiet moments enjoying the fact that we were on vacation. Owen loves a good hammock, and he's all thumbs on this trip, as you'll see in many photos.

Fast forward to an hour + later, and we were running out of things to explore without a swimsuit or a room check-in. It was also a little warm, so we got some overpriced shakes at the dining room and sat at a table overseeing the water wheel.

Finally, 2.5 hours after our arrival and 2 hours after the listed check-in time, we got a notice that our room was ready. We trucked to our room, which was in the last (first?) building, all the way in the back by the unscenic parking lot. The kids' MagicBands let them into the room, but mine did not. We discovered a very princess-y room, and the kids were not impressed. Owen and I booked it back to Bell Services to claim our bags and groceries (which had been delivered two hours prior), and carted everything back to our outpost on the fringe of the resort.

After unloading and a much too brief rest, we had to get back to the dock to catch a boat down to Disney Springs and our dinner reservation. While we waited for the next boat, I popped in to the lobby to see why my MagicBand wasn't letting me in our room. The nice young lady reset my band to our room and noticed that the kids' bands were switched, so she offered to straighten that out as well. She said she'd just have to detach and reattach our reservations, but it wouldn't be any trouble. Seeking to avoid further issues later, I said sure, why not. And voila, I was back in time for the river boat!

Our Disney planner made meal reservations for us every day to ensure we got good food and a nice break from being on our feet. Our first dinner reservation was at Morimoto's (as in Iron Chef Morimoto), and it did not lack in atmosphere. Hadley tried some new food (lo mein) and it came with a kiwi-strawberry Boba tea. I went for duck ramen, Owen had dumplings and miso soup, and we all split a California roll (kid's fave). It was all pretty good, especially if you just forget that they're charging 2x what you'd normally expect to pay... And this pic was just before H knocked over her Boba and spilled half of it into her lap.

After dinner, we completed our loop around Disney Springs, which is basically an open-air shopping mall. There were too many people, but we enjoy the Lego store's display, an "active volcano" at Rainforest Cafe, and copious Christmas ornaments to mark the occasion. We knew we had an early morning coming up and a long wait for a boat back to the hotel, so we didn't stick around too long.

[OK, a little aside here. We paid extra for Genie Plus, which is their new Fast Pass system, all done through an app. You can reserve one ride at a time (starting at 7AM), every two hours through the app, but it's first available. That means that you don't really know what time your reservation will be, and it means that the popular rides might fill up before much time has passed.

Now remember that little snafu with our MagicBands earlier? When I woke up at 7AM to get our plans started for the day, the app told me that I didn't have any reservations for the park, so I couldn't reserve any rides. The help chat/phone numbers both had 2+ hour waits, so I had to hustle back to the lobby to get it straightened out. Twenty-ish minutes later, they gave us new park reservations and a couple of ride reservations for our troubles. Back to the room, breakfast on the go, long wait at the bus stop, a crowded bus ride later, and...]

The train station was our first sight that we were really at Walt Disney World! The train wasn't running, but we had seen the station in our pre-trip research. And our first sighting of Cinderella's castle! Absolutely stunning in person!

Though our plans were a little off-track, we still got to Pirates of the Caribbean before there was a wait! It's a classic and very entertaining, especially with the addition of Jack Sparrow. This was our first ride - here we go!

Jungle Cruise was nearby, but the wait was already incredibly long, so we walked back to the empty treehouse. I took these pictures for Uncky Dan, because he introduced us all to this classic Disney movie.

Since our ride reservations weren't until lunch time, we had to bite the bullet and wait in some lines. Our first choice was Haunted Mansion. Another classic ride with the added bonus of much entertainment in the line. We had watched a Behind the Attraction about this one, so we knew all of the things to look for, like the stretching room, Madame Leota, and the dancing ghosts. Loved it!

In our traversing between Frontierland, Adventureland, and Liberty Square, we saw the backside of a parade with Mickey and Minnie. It was a little bittersweet that the kids weren't interested in the characters or princesses, but it did allow us a little more freedom, I think.

After we made it through the Haunted Mansion, it was back to Frontierland and Splash Mountain, our first Genie+ reservation (made by the hotel). We walked nearly to the front of the line and barely had time to get our ponchos on. Spoiler alert: we didn't really need the ponchos.

This ride featured Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, and Brer Fox, but rumor has it that it will undergo a Princess Tiana makeover sometime soon.

On our way to Fantasyland, we got a closer view of the castle and walked under it. There are a series of beautiful mosaics there, telling the story of Cinderella. I didn't know about these, so it was a nice surprise.

The hotel had booked Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for us, so that was next. It was one of the kids' favorite rides - a newer coaster with a smooth ride and mine carts that could sway side to side a little too.

With our party of three, we sometimes got split between cars. I'm in the next car, but the Photo Pass thought this was a nice family of four. The juxtaposition of the elated looks on the kids' faces and the fear on the lady in front cracks me up.

The rest of the afternoon was a mix of reserved rides (mostly later in the evening) and fillers in between. The Laugh Floor was a pretty funny show that included audience participation. Other fillers included Winnie the Pooh (excellent timing to be there when it reopened after difficulties closed it down in the morning), Hall of Presidents (not as creepy as we thought and educational), and the Carousel of Progress ("There's a great big, beautiful tomorrow...")

We made it over to Tomorrowland and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Owen liked this ride's combination of riding and shooting. It was fun! Three thumbs up!

We waited in a hot, sunny line to do the Tomorrowland Speedway. Hadley white-knuckled it, bouncing back and forth on the central track, but became smoother once I took over the pedal. Owen cruised along behind us in his own car. 

Finally, it was time for our Space Mountain reservation. This was a herky-jerky ride that I did not care for, and my motion sickness made me close my eyes most of the time, but I think the kids liked it.

We explored around Dumbo's circus area and rode Ariel's mermaid ride when storm clouds started rolling in. We also refueled with a delicious, huge sweet roll from Gaston's Pub.

As darkness fell, we made it to It's a Small World, another classic. I'm glad to report that it had been updated from the Disneyland version I remember circa 1986. The kids aren't quite as creepy, though the stereotypes are strong.

Our last ride was Jungle Cruise, reserved much earlier in the day for 8:30pm. Raindrops started falling on our way there. No pictures, but I think it lost something in the dark and the engine was so loud that we couldn't hear the dad jokes in the back. Plus, the skipper was trying to get Hadley to smile, and we all know that she'll dig in her heels before she loses that battle.

On our way out, the fireworks began, but it was pouring pretty good by then. We stopped to watch bits of it, but ultimately decided that 12+ hours in the park was enough and it was worth it to beat the crowd that would soon be waiting in the rain for their buses. Whew! Day 1 down, and it was a doozy. It started off rough, but it ended up being almost magical.

Springing Forward

This February-March transition has many of the same events each year. Hadley's school held an open house for the kids to have a little show-and-tell opportunity of what they've been working on. It's always nice to see where H spends most of her days.

Hadley was in the middle of a unit on archaeology, specifically on Ancient Egypt.  Her sarcophagus even contained a mummified hot dog! (a project they undertook to understand the mummification process) Ew!

Not long after that, we celebrated J's birthday! (and Oma's from a distance!) He chose our favorite chocolate cake as his birthday cake, and Hadley helped me make it again. We are getting pretty good at this by now. Though our icing writing could use a little work.

For Graeme's Run, a cold front/rain storm had blown in, but we were tough and showed up anyway. There was a little window of no rain perfectly timed over the run. There was "free" food and beer at the finish, and it benefitted the Children's Heart Foundation, so it was all good!

Go Texan Day is at the beginning of March, celebrating Texan Independence and leading into the Houston Rodeo. Isn't our cowgirl cute?

Texas Independence Day is also a big celebration for the University of Texas Alumni. This year we even had members of the alumni band come in to play some music for us, which was a special treat. Hook 'em!

Speaking of music, Owen had a spring orchestra concert. This one was just for First Year Orchestra (FYO), and it was a field trip day where they also played at the high school. Owen is enjoying the cello and plans to continue next year and beyond.

Apparently, recordings of the FYO songs inspired First Year Art students to create some abstract art. Not sure why the art is all in neon colors, but there you go.

Finally, after a mild winter, spring is starting to show in the life outdoors in flowering trees and pollen on the wind.

And indoor life is springing too. I thought I might be killing my Christmas Cactus, since it didn't bloom around Christmas like it should have. But here it is in March blooming with several more buds to come. So exciting!

Of course, not all indoor life is so exciting. I don't know if it's pandemic-related or just in our bones, but we generally do like to be home with each other, even if it's just reading in the same room. I cherish these simple times when that's enough.

Texas, Touchdowns, and Tumbling

Whew! Busy weekend. Hadley started off the weekend with a Friendship party at school and then a Daddy-Daughter dinner and a movie date (in place of the dance that has become so popular). They had Chick-Fil-A, saw Sing 2 in a movie theater, and went for Fro Yo afterwards. (We think that was our first movie theater experience in at least two years!) Sadly, we did not get photographic evidence, so you'll just have to take their word for it. Owen and I had a low-key Mother-Son dinner and movie at home.

The next morning we participated in a service project that I coordinated for our local Texas Exes chapter. I took the kids and we cleaned equipment, storage areas, pantries, and flowerbeds for the Ballard House, a local non-profit facility that houses patients and their families (for free!) when they have to travel 100+ miles for medical treatment in the area. Such a wonderful organization, we are always happy to do our small part for the community.

It was a pretty nice day, but a little overcast, so we went to the non-crowded park down the street to get some fresh air before heading home. Oh, and we also stopped for some wings at a Longhorns basketball game watch.

That evening, Owen had another flag football game. He's on the Colts this year, and the league is for 5th-7th graders. Through 4 games, they have a 4-0 record, and their wins have not been close, which is a nice change from last year. We still didn't know anyone on the team, but we lucked out with a good quarterback and a couple of tall kids.

Dad had to step in as coach, when the actual Coach went out of town in Week 2.

The league has a new app this year, so Hadley and I have been scoring the games, and the coach's wife live-streamed one of the games. That last part allowed me to trim out one of Owen's touchdown runs to share! He's having fun and enjoying it this year.

Finally, Hadley competed in her first gymnastics meet on Sunday morning! The meet was held at the gym where she practices, so it was very convenient and not too early a start to the day. Hadley was required to wear the team leotard and slick back her hair. If you know H's hair, then you know that's no small feat! She wanted a French braid, so she could roll backwards, and I managed a decent one with lots of hairspray to assist! It managed to stay tucked in place until the last event when the bobby pins gave up.

The gymnasts lined up by height. I didn't realize they do this to determine the apparatus and mat heights needed to help out the staff, but now you know. And we got pretty good seats.

I videoed all 4 of her events, but she only okayed the floor routine to be posted on the blog. All in all, I'd say she did fantastic for performing in her first meet 4.5 months after taking a 2-year hiatus for the pandemic! The bars are her least favorite apparatus (a lot of ab and upper body strength required) where she got a 7.75. She got 8.7 on beam and floor and 8.25 on vault.

We learned a lot and now we know what to expect, if she wants to do another one. She said she did, but maybe not for a couple of months, so that she can work on her ab strength and routines some more. Everyone left with a medal, and her team "won" first place out of two gyms in the session. (Not sure how that's determined, but yay!)