Happy Valentine's Day

Our recent tradition has been silly expressions on cookies.  Instead of "Hug Me" and other sentimental phrases, we had, "Get Lost" and "No", etc.  My favorite this year was Cameron's where he wrote, "Hiss! From Duchess to Jingo".  Kenzie was most proud of the one that simply said, "UGH".  

The dance club at the high school had a fundraiser where they sold roses, so I sent some to Kenzie in class.  She sort of rolled her eyes that they were from "Your Not-So-Secret Admirer".  She told me, "Gee, I wondered who that was!"  I could only respond, "I said it was not secret!"  She liked the flowers, though, and put them in a vase on her desk.

Cameron wanted a green box, so I spray painted a fruit snack box.  Then he took a Sharpie and drew strange things all over it.  I asked him several times if he wanted any help or any of the many craft supplies we randomly have around.  He was very content with whatever he'd drawn, though, so that was easy enough!  He came to the car after school exclaiming, "I love Valentine's Day!"  He had plenty of candy and treats, and his friend next door even brought him over a small box of chocolates.  That was about it for us!

Back to Home

Hanging out in the Orlando airport waiting for our flight home.  We were all sad to leave, although the kids were starting to say they missed the cats and were glad to sleep in their own beds again.

I always think it's cute to watch everybody wheeling their matching duffle bags in a line.  I know people get a kick out of us sometimes as we go by. 

Snazzy Cam Buddy on the ride home.

We picked up some Del Taco since our fridge was pretty empty, and Jingo the Cat was so excited to see everyone that he kept hopping up and purring at anyone and everyone.  Usually he ignores us while we're eating, so the kids all got a kick out of it.  

Duchess gave everyone the cold shoulder, although she did eventually come sit on Kenzie's lap, but Jingo purred like crazy for several days.  He wanted to snuggle far more than usual (and is on my lap as I type this!).  Sweet that the kitty missed his people.  It was definitely hard to come back to the real world and leave the fun, the palm trees, and the giant whirlpool tub behind, but I guess it's time to work and save up for the next trip now!

Last Day at Disney World

Headed to the ferry for one last day at the Magic Kingdom!  In person the castle was easy to spot, although it now looks super tiny in the picture.

Our last day was cool and mostly cloudy, but didn't rain, so that was a nice way to end the week!

Entering the park, where some characters were dancing about.

Headed down Main Street towards the castle.  Sometimes it's sad that the kids have grown up so quickly, but this trip they all had their own backpacks and carried their water bottles and lunches, so there are definitely perks as well!  I didn't have to be the pack mule this time around!

The kids are in that ship directly ahead.  We were stuck here on the Peter Pan ride for a few minutes so I tried to take a picture.  Hadn't been on the ride since I was a teenager, and the kids had never been.  Apparently they weren't expecting it to "fly" and were quite surprised when there was suddenly nothing beneath them!

One last time on the teacups!

Cameron had such fun driving that he insisted we do that again as well.  

My family teases me that when it's cold I always think of ice cream.  It was very fitting that as soon as the sun went down and it was chilly outside, I remembered we hadn't yet had a Dole Whip.  Parker and Cameron couldn't even remember what those were, but they were happy once they tried one!

Watching the Liberty Belle go by as we finished our treat. 

I thought this was sweet, that Kenzie let Cameron play on her phone as we waited for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We all enjoy that one, so we waited twice this day for it.  As it got closer and closer to the time the fireworks would start, it seemed like we would totally miss the show by being inside in line.  Instead we were quite lucky - the fireworks were in full swing during our ride, so each time the train looped outside, giant fireworks were bursting overhead.  The kids were beyond amazed.  "We got to ride our favorite ride twice, and even with fireworks!  I am satisfied!" Parker exclaimed.  As we exited the ride, we were then able to catch the fireworks finale as well, so it was great timing all around.  We were all pretty tired, so we rode a few more rides after that and then headed back to the hotel to pack up a bit and get ready for an early start for the airport.  Definitely sad to realize the week was coming to an end, but it had been another fun day!

Disney Springs

Silly poses outside the M & M Store.  Thursday evening we wandered around Disney Springs before our dinner reservation at the T-Rex Restaurant.  

It was pretty with the palm trees and fountains everywhere.  Impressive how many people were out and about shopping on a random Thursday evening in January, too.  It's not crowded in this picture, but several places were very busy.

We stopped at the Coca-Cola store for Kenzie to look through all the fun merchandise, and then at the rooftop bar we bought the trays of flavors from around the world.  The kids tried everything, even the super bitter drink, Beverly, from Italy.  I also thought the sour plum from China tasted like barbecue sauce, so that was gross, but most were just interesting like the cucumber one from Russia.  Chris was missing some of his taste still from Covid, so he didn't mind the sour plum drink and also finished off a couple of the stranger ones for us!  

Kenzers with the view from the roof.

It didn't live up to the "Sunshine" reputation while we were there, but it still was neat to be in Florida!

Waiting in the line to check in for our reservation at T-Rex, a totally over the top restaurant filled with animatronic dinosaurs.  We packed our lunches most days in our backpacks and ate breakfast and simple late dinners in our hotel, so this was our big splurge dinner.

Walking to our table.

Every 20 minutes or so there was an "asteroid" and the whole restaurant got even louder.  I laughed at the online reviews that pointed out this was not a great spot for a romantic date.  It was definitely a fun restaurant for kids.  Cameron was having a great time.

Here's a picture Kenzie took for me, because Cameron really wanted me to see his pizza and fries.  As random as it sounds, I was rushing to buy a couple of cookies.  Gideon's Bakehouse is extremely popular, so much so that there was a waiting list just to join the line to buy the cookies.  I really wanted to try them, so I put my name in before we went to dinner since they told me 90 minutes.  Of course right after we ordered I got the text saying I could join the line.  I wasn't sure how long before I'd lose my spot in line, but since the shop was very close to T-Rex and our drinks hadn't even arrived, I figured I would run over quickly.  Silly me, I have horrible sense of direction and got turned around on the way back and wound up making a huge detour.  (I kept thinking, how hard could it possibly be to find a restaurant with a giant T-Rex skeleton outside it?)  Cameron was halfway done with his pizza when I finally returned, but I just had to chuckle at myself and hope the cookies were worth it.

Back at the hotel, I had started cutting up the cookies when I remembered to take a picture - they were quite massive!  Chocolate chip on the left and cookies and cream on the right.

They were really good!  Even split five ways it was a good portion of cookie for everyone.  I would even wait in line again for those cookies should I ever be back to Orlando, and that's saying something!  So ended our "rest" day, where we still walked as many steps as we had in the parks!

Hanging Out at the Hotel

Thursday was our rest day, so we had a later start than usual and just spent the morning sitting around.  I obviously thought Cameron was funny in his panda hat eating his breakfast each morning, as I seemed to take a picture each time!

Kenzie and I chuckled about this.  When we had groceries delivered, I had a small box of truffles included.  They were $2.50 but it was fun to deliver them around as the kids sat in the hot tub or while they watched TV.  We pretended we were super fancy.  So here's Kenzers lounging and having a truffle on vacation!

After lunch we wandered around the resort grounds a bit, since we hadn't taken the time to explore yet.

This made me laugh.  There was a little nature trail, and Cameron running ahead made it seem like we were tracking an elusive animal!

Found him in the gazebo!

After a long summer of drought in Utah, it was so bizarre to see fountains blasting away all over the place in Florida!  

Since it was Grandma Arnold's birthday, we took a picture next to a statue she was sure to like and texted it to her.  

Based on the people we passed each day, we seemed to be the youngest people at the resort by about 30 years, yet there were little playgrounds scattered about the property.  It sure made this little boy happy!

Had to take a picture, because in Florida it is correctly called Putt Putt!  Chris likes to tease me because in Utah it is boring old Mini Golf only.

It was a small course, but there was lots of running around and fishing the balls out of the shrubbery.  Cameron alternated between being ecstatic and extremely dejected depending on how he was doing, even though nobody was even attempting to keep score.  It's hard to be the little brother sometimes!

We ended our trip around the resort by riding the boat that shuttled back and forth across the lake.  The boat captain was a funny guy who told silly jokes (of the "Dad jokes" variety) the whole way.  Cameron tried to make up a few jokes of his own to tell, and Chris even shared one that the captain hadn't heard before.  Had the kids all chuckling.  Then it was back to our room to gather up our stuff to head to Disney Springs!

Hollywood Studios

A couple of mornings it was too chilly to use the patio, but Wednesday morning was cool but not cold.  With a sweater on, it was quite nice to eat some pizza (the true breakfast of champions!) and enjoy the view of the lake.  

Parkee Bud joined me for breakfast.  He had made a Mickey Mouse out of his muffins.

Cameron was eating cereal (and reading his joke book) inside and didn't want to join us.  (Kenzie was asleep.  Most mornings she waited until the last possible second to wake, and then quickly had an english muffin and orange juice as she got ready).

We spent Wednesday at Hollywood Studios.  We had only spent a tiny bit of time there Saturday night, so Wednesday was our main day to explore.  We first rode the Skyliner outside the park and then headed in.  It rained the first part of the day, but thankfully by mid-afternoon it stopped.

I already miss the palm trees!

Kenzie's main souvenir she wanted was a bottle of Coke from Star Wars land.  They are round and look like a thermal detonator or something, with neat writing on it.  She was quite happy.

It was neat to walk around and look at the ships and droids on display.  From time to time, sounds would play as if a ship was flying by overhead, too.

Checking out the Millennium Falcon again.  Cameron had remembered some neat shock trooper toys he'd seen earlier and we had to look around until we found the store again.

Watching Mickey go by.  

We enjoyed Toy Story Land.  Slinky Dog Dash was a fun roller coaster, and the Alien Swirling Saucers was simple, but cute.  The whole land had giant Christmas lights and Tinker Toys everywhere.

Toy Story Midway Mania is also a lot of fun!  Cameron was thrilled to get a green cannon.

We ended the day back at Star Wars land one last time.  The boys pretended to play the chess game on the Millennium Falcon as we waited to ride.  It really did look like the inside of the ship as you entered!

Our last ride was the Rise of the Resistance, which broke down just after we entered the line.  We had ridden it Saturday night and had wanted to ride it one last time before leaving, so we stuck around hoping it would be back up soon.  Thankfully it did eventually start back up, although we wound up in line well over an hour in total.  At one point you pass this room filled with Storm Troopers.  I suppose we should have gone closer for the picture but by then we were all tired and just trying to hurry and walk through for the ride.  It was neat, though!  

Cameron insisted on posing several times with his new toys.

"I have more imagination now!" he exclaimed.  (Early the next morning, I heard lots of buzzing and realized it was the weapon.  He was out on the patio and was in his own little world playing with it!)