Volleyball

Adelie just completed her first season of volleyball.  She had attended a little volleyball camp at the high school over the summer for a few days, but this was her first actual season of playing.  She played in the 3rd and 4th grade league.  Unfortunately, due to our vacation, illness, and a conflict with Stage Kids, Adelie only got to attend 4 out of the 10 scheduled practices during her season.

Adelie got to attend the first 2 and last 2 sessions of her season.

Because of lack of volunteer coaches, Adelie's season was played in a clinic style.  They would practice for the first half and scrimmage for the second half, but did not get to play against other teams.  I had volunteered to help coach her team.  I assisted during the first 2 practices, but after having to miss most of the other practices, other parents stepped in to help coach the remainder of the season.

Even though she only played 4 times during the season, Adelie improved from the beginning of the season to the end of the season.  By the end of the season, she got a few of her serves over the net and also hit the ball back over the net several times.

In Eureka, recreational volleyball starts in first grade, so some of the other girls in Adelie's clinic had been playing for 2 or 3 years while this was Adelie's first time playing.  Adelie would occasionally get frustrated that some of the other girls were more experienced, but she enjoyed herself and would get very excited after making a serve or hitting the ball over the net.

I loved the excitement and pride she felt in her accomplishments.

Although it was an abbreviated season for Adelie, I was very proud of her for trying something new, working hard, and improving throughout her season.  

So proud of my little volleyball player!

Then and Now

So much has changed...

but still the same.

They Say...

When we got to our townhouse the first night, Briggs said, "This hotel is really nice, but it's not what I expected."  When Zach asked what he expected, Briggs said, "I don't know, but not this."

#betterthanahotel

#exceedingexpectations

After leaving the cold Illinois weather and experiencing the beautiful Florida warmth and sunshine, Adelie said, "I am so getting a winter home in Florida.  Maybe I'll get a townhouse."

#goodidea

#i'llcomevisit

We were all so tired after our long days at the parks and slept really well.  A few days in, Adelie told Zach, "I sleep really well in this bed, Dad.  Even better than my bed at home."

#walkingallthemiles

#doingallthethings

#sleepingsosoundly

On our day at Universal, there was a large spotlight shining into the air from somewhere in Universal.  Adelie saw the light in the sky and asked what it was.  When none of us knew, she pondered, "Maybe it's the Floridern lights."

#likethenorthernlights

#onlyfarthersouth

Our Trip: The End

Our final day of our trip was another rest day.  On all our previous trips, I had made reservations at multiple sit down restaurants.  This trip there were only 3 places I really wanted to try to eat and I couldn't get reservations for any of them.  It was another change from previous trips that worked out well in our favor.  I liked not having to plan our day around dining reservations, instead just going with the flow and mobile ordering food when we were hungry.  We saved quite a bit of money by packing a lunch and only eating quick service meals rather than sit down meals.  And we found a few new quick service places that we really liked!  However, the night before our rest day, I happened to see a late breakfast time for one of the restaurants I really wanted to try...so we scored a reservation for breakfast at Topolino's Terrace on our final day.

It was amazing!!

This breakfast was in a beautiful, open, fancy restaurant.  There was plenty of space between tables so we didn't feel crowded, it was not too loud, the food was fabulous, and we got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy in their artist apparel.  It was one of the best character meals we have ever had!

Because it was our rest day, we enjoyed a nice, leisurely breakfast because we were in no rush to get to a park or get back to another activity.  Each of the characters came by our table twice, and they also did a little dance that happened twice while we were there as well.

The restaurant was at the Riviera Resort, so everything was supposed to be European inspired.  Each of the characters was dressed in their artistic best.  Mickey was a painter and Minnie was an author.

Donald was a sculptor...

and Daisy was a ballerina.

The food was excellent.  They brought out pastries, muffins, and juice to start the meal.  Adelie and Briggs both ordered the Mickey waffle dippers, Staley and I both got the sour cream waffles, and Zach got a breakfast steak (which was so good!).  Because I couldn't decide between 2 entrees, they also brought me some spiced sausage hash as a side dish (which was phenomenal!) and brought Zach a waffle as a side dish.  Everything was scrumptious...and we all left full to the brim with a box of leftover pastries for later.

After breakfast, we decided to ride the skyliner to Art of Animation just to walk around one of our favorite resorts.

We walked around Art of Animation, took a bunch of pictures, and played a little on the Finding Nemo playground.

The kids wanted pictures with just about everything, so I have way too many pictures of our pitstop at Art of Animation.

But it was a fun way to spend part of our morning...and to get a few more steps in, since our bodies were now used to walking double digit miles every day.

This was my favorite!

We then rode the skyliner back to Caribbean Beach, then to Hollywood Studios, then to Epcot, and back to the Riviera.  It was a fun way to spend our morning.

We returned to our townhouse and spent the rest of the day swimming, playing, napping (for Zach), doing laundry (for me), packing up, and then ordering in pizza for dinner and finishing off our day with some more Animal Kingdom episodes.

We had such a wonderful trip and week away.  There were so many answers to prayer about this trip.  We all stayed healthy before and during the trip.  Universal and Disney still had their mask mandates in place for indoor locations, which gave an added layer of comfort while there.  All our travel plans and accommodations worked out wonderfully.  The anxiety that had been present before our previously cancelled trips had mostly subsided before this trip, allowing me to feel excitement about the trip rather than worry.  The decisions we made worked out for the best, and everyone had a wonderful time.  We really couldn't have asked for a better trip.

Although we are more seasoned Disney travelers at this point, we still found new things to do and try at every park we went to.  We rode some new rides, fit in shows and activities we'd never done before, met some new characters, ate at new places, and enjoyed the new calvalcades.  It's always fun that, even 4 trips in, there is still so much that we can experience for the first time.

Approaching the parks in a different way also made some of the planning and organization of our days so much easier.  Staying off-site, driving ourselves, not having meal reservations to plan around, planning our days as we went...each of these changes made our trip more pleasant.  And the fact that we have done this 4 times took away some of the pressure to "do it all."  We knew our priorities and those rides we didn't need to do again, making it easier to plan our days around our must dos while still being able to slow down and just enjoy the other things in the parks.

The fact that all the kids were so excited to be back made it such a fun trip.  I loved that they all still wanted to do the family rides together (like Ariel over and over and over again), yet they all wanted to try new things as well.  I loved that Staley was still excited to meet characters, and that she and Adelie had such a sweet time as sisters enjoying each other all week long.  And I loved that we could go for long days on end with everyone still having fun (for the most part) from start to finish.  Oh, and I loved that we could do it all without a stroller!!

It's no secret that the kids and I are the reason that Zach keeps going back to Disney.  He is such a good sport, but the crowds, the lines, the prices, and the rides he can't do make it low on the list of his favorite vacation destinations.  But he enjoys it because we enjoy it.  He has his favorite rides and his favorite lands and his favorite foods and he keeps coming back because he knows it makes his family happy.  I know the larger accommodations, rental vehicle, and extra built-in rest days were all changes that Zach especially enjoyed!

I bought Zach this shirt.  It says, "My wife wanted to go to Disney so we compromised and came to Disney."  It's funny because it's so true!

Adding our Universal day and doing the Harry Potter lands was a nice addition to our trip.  It was a good window for our kids since all 3 of them enjoy Harry Potter at the moment, although waiting until the younger two had been a bit older might have opened the door for them to enjoy more of what the Universal Parks have to offer.  I'm glad we just planned for one day as that was ample time to explore and enjoy the lands that interested our family.

I'm not sure what the future of our Disney trips looks like from here.  After each subsequent trip, I was always ready to start planning our next one.  And I do anticipate more Disney trips in our family's future.  However, as the kids get older, there are also so many other places we want to go as a family.  There are national parks to explore and cities that we've never taken the kids to and road trips that intrigue us and potentially even some international travels in our future.  We loved our Disney trip just as we've loved all our previous ones.  We embraced doing Disney in a new way, finding it, in many ways, more relaxing and enjoyable.  And I doubt this is the end of our Disney journey.  But instead of starting to plan our next Disney trip, my eye is on the atlas and I'm excited to decide where our next adventure will take us.

So for now I'll just say..."We love you, Disney! Thanks for the memories."

Our Trip: Animal Kingdom

We finished off our week of Disney fun at Animal Kingdom.  Much like Epcot, Animal Kingdom generally is a more laid-back day filled with a nice mix of rides, animals, shows, and just enjoying the ambiance of the park.

I always prefer this location for the tree of life picture rather than the front of the park.  I like the lush greenery...and the lack of people in the background.

We started off our day with the safari.  It was the perfect way to begin the day.  Not only was there no line, but the animals were all out and active in the early morning hours.

The giraffes were very active and kept walking through the road or stopping in the road, causing us to stop several times to allow them to pass.  We saw a giraffe baby galloping, two elephant brothers sparring, wildebeests running, and lots of baby animals.

Since we had watched the Animal Kingdom series on Disney + about a year ago and rewatched several of the episodes on our vacation, it was fun to get to see some of the animals that were featured on the series.  We had just rewatched the episode when the rhino was expecting this baby.

One of the fun things we did this time was the Wilderness Explorer program.  Each kid got a Wilderness Explorer book and went to various stations throughout the park to do an activity, learn something, and then get a Wilderness Explorer sticker.  Briggs especially was all about this and loved trying to find the next station.  The kids got 18 of the 24 badges throughout the day.

We also took the Wildlife Express train to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which we've also never done before.  We saw the petting zoo, got a few Wilderness Explorer badges, and then took part in the Animation Experience, where one of Disney's animators taught us how to draw a character.  It was a lot of fun...and everyone did a great job drawing Heimlich from 'A Bug's Life.'

We rode a few rides throughout the day.  Kali River Rapids was one of Adelie's favorites so she, Staley, and Zach did it twice.

Briggs didn't want to do it again, but we found this spot on the bridge overlooking the ride where you could press a button and spray water on people on the ride.  Briggs thought this was great fun and spent the entire time waiting for Zach and the girls spraying unsuspecting riders.

We did the Dinosaur ride.  Obviously it was a little too scary and intense for Briggs and Adelie, since they both kept their eyes closed through most of the ride.  But they did enjoy Triceratops spin.

Unfortunately, Expedition Everest was closed for refurbishment, so that was one less ride we got to do on our Animal Kingdom day.  But we filled in the rest of our day with walking on the trails to see the animals and watching shows.  We REALLY enjoyed the Birds of Flight show and the KiteTails show.  We watched KiteTails twice since they had both a Lion King show and a Jungle Book show.  KiteTails was a water show with these huge kites being pulled by individuals on jet skis.  It was lots of fun!

We again packed a lunch, had a mid-afternoon ice cream treat, and then had dinner at a quick service station outside of Yak and Yeti.  It was SO good!  Another favorite of the trip with Asian inspired dishes.  (Well, Briggs and Adelie had a cheeseburger and PB & J, so not quite so Asian inspired for them.)

We were all getting tired towards the end of the day, but wanted to stick it out so we could enjoy Pandora in the evening with lower waits for the two most popular rides in the park.  So we rested in the shade, played a little at the Boneyard playground, drank some ice water, waved at some Disney characters floating by,... 

and met Kevin from 'Up'.

This was one of my favorite characters that we happened upon during our trip this time.  So fun and novel!!

We ended our evening in Pandora land.  We all road the Navi River Journey boat ride together and then the girls and I got in line for Flight of Passage.  We still ended up waiting over an hour for my favorite ride at Disney, but we visited with the nice people in line around us and the girls spent most of the time again doing their clapping/singing game.  And I love this ride, so the wait was totally worth it!  This was the first time either girl had done the ride and they both really liked it too.  While we were doing our last ride, Zach and Briggs did the Navi River Journey another time, looked in a gift shop, and then just rested on an outside bench until we were done.

We finished off our last park day by closing down the park again.  After our full week of Universal and Disney parks, we had one more rest day before heading home.  We were ready for a day of rest, but we weren't ready to leave the warmth, sunshine, and vacation fun that we had been experiencing.

Our Trip: Magic Kingdom

We spent our entire rest day at our townhouse.  The kids swam (and swam and swam and swam), Zach took a nap, I did laundry and relaxed on the couch or by the pool, I took a walk, and Zach went for a run.  Zach made a yummy brunch and I made a taco dinner.  After dinner, we took a family walk to a playground to play for a bit and then ended our day with ice cream, an episode of the Animal Kingdom show and Bluey on Disney +, and then got to bed early.

All rested up and ready for our Magic Kingdom day!  For Magic Kingdom, we had to park at the Ticket and Transportation Center and take a boat or monorail from the parking lot to Magic Kingdom.  Briggs was thrilled since riding the monorail was on his list of musts for the week.  We ended up taking the boat to the park (since the monorail was down at the time) and then took the monorail back at the end of the night.  Winning! 

We decided to purchase Genie + for our Magic Kingdom day.  I again had technology issues first thing in the morning and wasn't able to get my first reservation for the day as early as I had hoped.  Once in the park, I again was so pleased when guest services was able to give us an extra reservation for the day to rectify the inconvenience from their glitchy technology.

The weather was warm and beautiful.  We used our Genie + reservations for the more popular rides and then filled the rest of our day with lower wait time rides, calvalcades, characters, and shows.

We used our Genie + to ride Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Winnie the Pooh, and Ariel.

When the lines were short, we also rode Tomorrowland Speedway, Ariel (3 more times!), It's a Small World, tea cups, Goofy's Barnstormer, the People Mover, and the magic carpets.

We used our end of the night ride on Seven Dwarves Mine Train for me and the kids while Zach did Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean again.

Briggs said he loved Seven Dwarves Mine Train, although his tightly closed eyes might have indicated otherwise.

Zach always enjoys the Haunted Mansion ride.  The kids have never wanted to do it, so it's one ride at Disney that I have never done either.

We tried some new shows we've never done before like Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress, and the Enchanted Tiki Room.  And because it's a favorite, we made sure to do Monster's Inc Laugh Floor as well.

We packed our lunch again, had some Dole Whip for a mid-afternoon snack, and then had a fish dinner from Columbia Harbor House.  We were always able to find some nice, shaded outdoor seats for all our meals and snacks so we could enjoy the beautiful weather while eating our meals.

We caught the princess calvalcade once (that had all the princesses and the fairy Godmother) and the Magic Kingdom calvalcade once (with Moana, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Alice, Mary Poppins, and Gaston).  Adelie was so excited to get to see Ariel!  The fact that mermaid Ariel was not in her grotto for a meet and greet this time was the biggest disappointment of the trip for Adelie.

But we still were able to meet a few other princesses.  Staley was the kid that insisted we wait in line to meet Tiana...

and Rapuzel.

The girls had so much fun together throughout the week.  Staley was very supportive and helpful when Adelie was apprehensive about a roller coaster or ride.  They had tons of fun making up games and playing together in the pool.  And they entertained each other really well while waiting in lines.  They made up clapping games to 'We Don't Talk about Bruno' and clapped and sang their way through multiple lines each day.  Staley isn't always inclusive or attentive to her little sister, so I loved seeing them enjoy each other so much during our trip.

I love how Staley was always holding Adelie's hand on the roller coasters.

We finished our last rides of the day in time to see the fireworks show.  Because we were already back in Fantasyland, we just watched from the backside of the castle instead of on Main Street.  We couldn't see the castle projections, but had a great view of the fireworks, had plenty of space to spread out, and didn't have to the battle the crowds on Main Street.  And we could even see Tinkerbell fly down from the castle from where we were sitting.

We were in no rush to join the crowds leaving the park, so we took our time once the park closed.  We took some pictures...

admired the castle...

found some more of the golden statues...

and then let Adelie and Briggs shop for their souvenirs from Grammie and Grandpa.  Adelie got an Ariel bubble wand and a baby Ariel stuffed animal.  Briggs got a remote control RC car from Toy Story.

It was another fun, full, beautiful day at Disney.