With Katie off at camp, Mikey and I had some time to hang out.
Our first activity of choice was blueberry picking.
Mikey takes his blueberry picking VERY seriously.
Not really.
I think he eats more than he puts in the bucket.
Not a bad haul.
We were just settling into our Mikey/Mommy week when I received a mid-week email from Camp Oasis.
Many of the camp counselors had tested positive for COVID and were in quarantine.
The camp nurse's family was sick, and they couldn't make it to camp. That meant that the ratio of campers to adults was off, and they could not continue camp.
I was asked to come and pick up my camper at my earliest convenience...meaning NOW.
It was the worst possible time to travel during the day, but I drove on out there.
It took me over 3 hours to get there because of traffic.
Ugh.
As I walked up to retrieve Katie, all of the campers were in the mess hall eating dinner.
They were laughing and singing.
It was so sad.
These kids had missed two years of camp because of COVID and here it was shitting on their camp experience again.
It was even harder seeing Katie say goodby to the friends she had just made.
She was a good sport about it but was obviously a little disappointed.
She said they had a really good group of campers this year.
We stopped and took a picture at the beach.
The rest of that week was spent prepping for our big two-week trip to the East Coast.
The kids got some haircuts, Katie had an IV infusion, we dropped off Ralph at the dog sitters house and packed a whole bunch of stuff.
On a Tuesday morning, we hopped on a flight to JFK International Airport.
I spy a large metropolitan area.....
It took us a while to deplane, get our luggage and find our rental car.
Just in time to hit the road during rush hour traffic.
We finally arrived at our AirBNB beach house.
It was a funky place with a LOOOOONG skinny layout.
Houston, we have a problem.
It was pretty apparent that the house had not be completely cleaned before our arrival.
Ew.
The sheets had been taken off the beds, garbage packed up...but had anything actually been cleaned?
UGH.
I reached out to the owner to rectify the situation.
He reached out to his cleaning crew. There was a miscommunication about when we were arriving.
The cleaning crew was going to come out that night and finish cleaning.
Awkward. But okay.
It was about 8pm at this point and we still hadn't eaten dinner.
We gambled that we'd have time to get some grocery shipping done before the cleaners got there.
The kids hung out and watched Food Network and we hit up a local grocery store...which we thought was closing in 30 minutes.
We ran around the store like crazy people only to learn that their overhead announcements and the clock in the store was WRONG.
Sigh.
We got back to the house right as the cleaners were pulling up.
They got to work and Huzbend got to cooking.
He made burgers, corn and waffle fries.
We ended up eating at about 11:30pm or so and finished up at around midnight.
Which wasn't a huge problem as we were still on PNW time.
This was the view out of our bedroom upon waking up the next morning.
Not too shabby.
Our plan for the day was to hike up Sleeping Giant and then meet a friend for lunch.
We didn't have enough room to transport everyone in one car, so we had to borrow a vehicle from Granma and Grandpa.
After a run down of the Jeep and its functions, we were off.
We picked up the cousins and went for a hike.
We took the gravel road up to the castle at the top.
There were some water/rock climbing stops along the way.
DON'T SCRAPE A KNEE.
Your mother will kill me.
Okay. There were MANY stops for water and rock climbing.
Why, hello there.
Made it!
Myself and my two kids were a bit behind the others.
No surprise there.
It was a beautiful, but hot day.
We climbed up to the top of the castle and enjoyed the view (and drank more water).
DO NOT FALL.
Your mother will kill me.
It was time to head back down.
One group photo before we leave!
We decided to get creative on our way down and take various trails off of the main course.
DON'T BREAK AN ANKLE.
Your mother will kill me.
Going off trail proved to be popular.
There were lots of opportunities to do some rock climbing.
Met this dude on the way down.
Ak.
DON'T TOUCH IT.
Your mother will kill me.
This is where things took a seriously wrong turn.
We noticed there was a trail that was steep but that seemed to be a direct shot down to the parking lot.
We decided to try it.
MISTAKE.
It had been too long since we had hiked here and quickly found out that this was the hardest trail in the whole park.
Oh, it was steep all right.
We ended up going down a sheer rock face.
Yep.
Sophie ended up texting a selfie to her mom of her and her brother on a cliff.
Her mom was really going to kill me.
We slowly made our way down the mountain.
Mikey and I brought up the rear.
At the bottom, Huzbend and Katie had turned one way and it seemed that Sophie and Joe had turned the other. Their mom was already ready to kill me, having them lost couldn't be worse, right?
With the help of texting and maps, I was able to navigate them back to where we were.
It was a little nerve-wracking.
FINALLY, we got everyone into one place at the base of the mountain.
We were almost two hours late.
Yikes.
We were still able to meet with our friend for a VERY late lunch at a local Mexican restaurant.
Katie was able to chat with our friend's daughter who was heading off to Oxford in a few weeks.
Hiking, almost falling to our deaths and eating Mexican food really takes a toll.
Good thing the cousins have a pool!
Huzbend had pool duty, as he always does.
I sat on the deck and caught up with my sister and bro-in-law.
Of course, there had to be chicken fights.
Huzbend and Mikey vs. Joe and Soph.
Is there anything better than hanging out with your cousins?
After a long day, we headed out to get some dinner.
Mexican is the easiest cuisine for us to eat safely, and you can never have too many tacos.
I enjoyed some sort of yummy margarita.
And some chimichangas.
After dinner, we headed back to the rental to collapse.
The moon put on quite a show over the water.
Hawaii or the Northeast?
Hard to tell from the pictures.
Katie and Huzbend were out the door early to take some college tours
Meanwhile, Mikey and I stayed at the rental and had the cousins and Grandparents stop by to hang out.
The cousins had some sports practices, so they had to leave a little after lunch.
I used the downtime as an opportunity to do some laundry.
There was an entire pack of tissues in someone's pocket.
What a mess.
Meanwhile......
Katie and Huzbend paid a visit to the University of Connecticut.
Katie can never resist petting a dog.
Even if it was to nose boop a metal statue the school mascot, Jonathan.
Next was a visit to the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
There were lots of older buildings on campus.
This is what happens when I ask Huzbend to take pictures.
Much better.
Katie ended up liking both schools.
Now we just gotta get her to tour some schools closer to home!
While Huzbend and Katie were out visiting the future, Mikey and I were exploring low tide.
There were lots AND LOTS of teeny tiny shells.
Definitely would not want to step on these without sandals on.
This is what the rental looked like from the beach.
Found some hermit crabs to investigate.
Mikey didn't want to hold it.
More yuck.
Tons and tons of tiny snails.
Bleck.
And my kids wonder why I don't like swimming at the beach.
It's because I was traumatized by this beach grossness in my childhood.
We had a good time exploring and pointing out the differences between Northeast beaches and the beaches back home.
Life is good.
Huzbend and Katie returned as the sun set and the full moon rose.
Grandma and Grandpa came over to hear about Katie's visit to the schools.
We also sat out on the porch (for as long as the mosquitos let us) to enjoy the view.
It really was quite pretty.
Soon my sister and the cousins joined to hang out and check out the moon.
We relaxed and talked about all sorts of things.
There was another beautiful sunrise the following day.
We didn't have anything planned until afternoon, so we sat on the deck and watched the beach wake up.
The fancy houses next door had their own beach comber machine busy making the sand perfect.
We were having company for lunch, so Huzbend and I headed out to purchase some lunchie items.
On the way, we had a secret lunch date.
We stopped to get ourselves some pizza.
Speechless.
This looks so good.
I'm drooling.
I want some right now.
With our grocery stop and secret date complete, we headed back to the rental.
I believe chicken nuggets and hotdogs were the lunch options.
After lunch, Huzbend, the kids and one cousin went out for swim.
They ended up swimming out pretty far.
Meanwhile...Grandpa and Joey were dragging their feet.
"Are you goin'? I'll go if you do."
Joe busied himself saving jelly fish from the beach.
Grandpa decided to join the swimmers.
The day before, as Mikey and I were exploring low tide, Mikey said he would NEVER swim in "that water". Huh. I think the water shoes might've helped him overcome his fears.
He still wasn't too happy when he thought of all the stuff he was stepping on.
They all had a rousing game of Marco Polo.
Joey finally moseyed his way out into the water.
Soon, everyone had had enough of sea water.
There was a nifty outdoor shower that they used to wash off when they got out.
Before everyone headed off to their various sports practices, we had them take a picture together.
We had the afternoon to ourselves.
Katie wanted to explore low tide.
She eas a little bit more receptive to touching the critters.
Well some of them.
She didn't want to touch the crabs.
She was afraid they would pinch her.
Hermit crabs were a whole different thing.
She had no reservations about picking up those guys.
I think she would've packed one in her suitcase if it was allowed.
We all went out to dinner for our last night.
Mexican food again...but who doesn't love tacos?
Come on!
Katie tried something new.
Fish tacos.
She ate ALL OF THEM.
With a lot of sour cream.
Cousins.
Only one glass of water was spilled in the taking of this picture.
While we were at dinner we were able to video chat with my other sister.
Sadly, her family was sick and couldn't join us.
It was hard to talk via smartphone, but I'm glad that we got to say hi.
After dinner, we headed back to the rental to have a Multi-Birthday Celebration.
We stuck some candles in gluten and dairy free brownies.
Happy Birthday, Nick, Huzbend, Mikey, Katie, Mikey, Joeyyyyy (& Sophie too)...
The brownies were enjoyed by all.
"Can I have more?"
The family.
I trust these guys as far as I can throw them.
I think this was their fourth serving of brownie/ice cream.
It was getting late, so we took some group photos.
Ugh.
It's always hard to say goodbye.
I think I cried for about 30 minutes or so after everyone left.
Sigh.
The next day we "checked out" of our beach house and began the next part of our trip.
Goodbye weirdly tropical looking Northeast beach!
The beach house was okay.
It really needed a lot of work and was weirdly laid out, but it served its purpose of a meeting place for the family.
We made the long drive back to JFK and boarded our plane to the most Magical Place on Earth.
And no, I don't mean Florida.
I'm not sure anyone would use those words to describe Florida.
I mean Walt Disney World.
Upon arrival, we walked through the airport to find our transportation.
I guess you could say the Most Magical Place on Earth was a little less magical.
This was on the TV as we entered our room.
Katie was excited.
We stopped by the front desk to pick up some gifts that were left for the kids.
Yay for gift cards from Uncle Chris, Aunty Sheila and Cousin Matty!
Speaking of which, we were able to connect with them for a quick hello in the lobby of the resort next door before checking in for our late dinner.
That evening we ate at Beaches and Cream.
It is noted for its awesome ice creamy delights.
Someone was excited to dig in.
Both kids had the French dip sandwich.
They liked their meals, but Katie was most excited for the gluten free French fries.
Next up was DESSERT!
Huzbend and I were extra naughty and shared a peanut butter and hot fudge drenched sundae with vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
It was SO GOOD.
Katie was very serious about digging into her Brownie a la mode
And Mikey got down to business cleaning up his hot fudge and raspberry sauce sundae with dairy free chocolate ice cream.
We didn't finish eating until pretty late.
Maybe about 11pm or so.
When we got back to the hotel room, Huzbend realized that he didn't have his wallet.
He had used our room key to pay for dinner.
He went back down to the restaurant to see if he left it there or if it might have dropped out of his pocket.
No luck.
He looked on the ground on the way back to the room and even stopped by the front desk to report it missing.
It was a very stressful end to a very long day.
As he was getting ready for bed, he suddenly remembered what happened to his wallet
His wallet was in the ROOM SAFE.
The crisis was averted, and he resigned himself to the fact that he would now have to hear about this for the rest of his life.
We got to bed super late, and sadly it was early rise for us.
We were going to rope drop the Magic Kingdom.
The sun was shining, and it was already hot and humid.
Sweat just pouring off as we were working our way through the park to the rope.
Ugh. Florida.
As we shuffled down Main Street to line up at our rope of choice - which in this case was the rope at Fantasyland - Katie spotted this.
It was a bag of cotton candy as big as her.
She was wondering if she could just buy it outright and carry it around all day.
Rope drop was a chaotic mess.
Just a huge crowd of sweaty people - some masking and some not - all waiting to walk/run to their destination of choice.
Our destination was Seven Dwarves Mine Train.
As soon as the rope was moved by the cast members, people began scrambling to get in line for the ride.
I was worried for all the parents of little kids because the surge was fast and confusing.
It would be very easy to lose a little one in the crush.
The queue of Mine Train fun and interactive.
We had fun playing with the activities.....and used a hefty dose of hand sanitizer afterwards.
All that rush and crush and then a 20-minute wait for 3 MINUTES of ride.
Yes.
3 minutes.
The shortest roller coaster EVER.
Okay.
So I just researched and found out that Big Thunder Mountain lasts about the same amount of time. But it feels longer to me.
Maybe because you spend the entirety of that almost three minutes in motion?
I don't know.
Well, at least we got a nice video of our ride.
We did a few more rides after that.
I'll let you guess which ones.....
Someone was getting hungry....
Luckily, it was time for lunch.
We sat outside and waited for our table to be ready.
I have no idea what they were talking about....
...but, judging by Mikey's facial expression, I'm guessing that Huzbend said something that was not appropriate.
It was so so so so so HOT.
It was wonderful to see ice water waiting at our table.
We sat down to some tasty food at the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen.
We encountered the best falafel we have ever had.
We actually ended up ordering TWO plates.
Katie was so impressed that she even took a picture of the falafel.
After a delicious lunch, we were able to coordinate with Sheila and Chris to ride Space Mountain together.
Poor Huzbend was in a car all by himself and for some reason we didn't get a picture of it.
After Space Mountain, we decided to call it quits.
We said goodbye to Chris, Sheila and Matty (AKA CSM) and headed our separate ways.
We had a few hours to kill before we would all meet up for dinner.
The boys wanted to go back to the resort to hit the pool.
Storm clouds were a-brewing, so the race was on to see if they could outrace the storm to the pool
Katie recommended that we try to get some gluten free beignets.
Kait and I headed off to the buses to make our way to the Port Orleans French Quarter resort.
LOOK AT THESE BEAUTIES.
GLUTEN FREE AND DAIRY FREE!
They were SO GOOD.
We were even able to have chocolate and strawberry dipping sauces to go with them.
We ended up ordering about 6 batches of them. We took some "to go" of course!
You would think that the sugar high from the beignets would have given her some extra pep...but nope.
Katie was exhausted.
The walking, the lack of sleep and the heat/humidity knocked her for a loop.
We decided it would be easiest to catch a bus back to Magic Kingdom and then decide where we were going to go from there.
She fell asleep on me on the bus.
As we arrived back at Magic Kingdom, CSM were heading out to go back to the resort to clean up for dinner.
We shared some of our beignets with Matty.
I think he liked them.
Katie and I decided that there just wasn't enough time to go back to the hotel.
So, we decided to do a little walkabout.
We hopped on the monorail and paid a visit to the Grand Floridian resort.
A little back story to explain this next picture:
Before the vacation, the kids and Huzbend were playing a video game in which the characters could perform different actions, one of which was a "maiden sit".
A "maiden sit" looked like a very prim and proper princess-like sitting position.
Here she is "maiden sitting" in the lobby of the Grand Floridian.
And outside in the courtyard.
And in front of a fancy fountain.
As we walked along the jogging/walking path that connected the Grand Floridian to the Polynesian resort, we met some critters along the away.
There were plenty of little lizards.
We encountered an anhinga (possibly also known as a cormorant) who was diving in Bay Lake.
Katie knew about these birds from her trip to Costa Rica.
He pulled himself onto some rocks to dry himself off.
After a nice 20-minute walk, we arrived at the Polynesian resort.
We were greeted with yet another anhinga.
We also met a very buff rabbit.
Way more muscular than the rabbits in our yard.
Our yard rabbits are soft and squishy looking.
We headed to the lobby to sit and relax a bit before dinner.
It was gloriously air conditioned.
Did I mention how hot and humid it was?
Ew.
Finally, the whole family gathered together for dinner at 'Ohana at the Polynesian.
Huzbend and Mikey hitched a ride to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.
(Turns out it stormed, and they couldn't go swimming)
CSM turned up soon after having forgone a trip back to our resort and instead did some shopping at the Polynesian.
Family photo time!
It was the first time that we had all been together in years.
Here are the boys showing off their "guns".
Before the food was served, we got some warm towelettes to wash our hands off with.
This is a normal thing for restaurants to do.
Of course, they would end up on heads.
Not ones to be left out. the boys also followed suit.
The food was served family style so everyone had something that they could eat, including our resident nut free, gluten free and dairy free people.
Dinner was very filling, and it was fun to catch up.
Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the resort to chill.
We bounced back to the Magic Kingdom.
Our first stop was Pirates.
Well, actually, our first stop were the bathrooms near Pirates.
As we were waiting for those using the facilities to come out, we realized that there were actual bats swarming over our heads.
Ready to pillage and plunder.
We stopped for a quick photo shoot out in front of Pirates and then headed over to the Jungle Cruise.
Because we chose to ride the Jungle Cruise, we were super late trying to find a spot to view the fireworks.
The only view we could manage was a view blocked by trees and this annoying light post.
Ugh.
Oh well.
Gak.
Insert sad face here.
After the "listen to the music and watch the lights behind the trees show", we waited for the crowd to dissipate and moved on to the next ride.
And that ride was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.
I was the lone Ranger this time around.
But that's okay.
I was able to take pictures.
Here are the official Disney World photos from the ride.
These are actually pretty good.
The last ride we did that evening was the Peoplemover.
It was nice to get off of our feet, relax and take in the scenery.
We called it quits after that.
When we got back to the resort, Mikey was able to try the beignets we had saved for him.
They were cold, but they still tasted good.
Instead of more beignets, Katie tucked into some macarons that Grandma had made her for her birthday.
We were up early again the next morning for early entry into Hollywood Studios.
We decided to take the boat over.
Only one Meemaw was bumped in the parking of this scooter.
Sorry Rando Meemaw.
Hey! It's-a me! Mommio!
We weren't the only ones with the idea of rope dropping.
I forgot to mention, it was Katie's birthday!
Grandpa was ready to roll (literally).
Mikey was tired already and the day hadn't even started yet.
Off we go!
We were following Katie's lead since it was her birthday.
First up was Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.
What a great ride! We all loved this one.
Katie's next choice was The Tower of Terror.
Not my favorite, but I rode it for her birthday.
If you look closely, I am the only one in terror.
Keeping on the high energy thrill theme, we hopped into the single rider line at Rock n' Roller Coaster.
And, as luck would have it, it broke down as we were just about to get on.
The wait felt like forever, but it finally started back up again.
The next is a series of photos of us with other people because we were "single riders" and filled in empty seats.
For some reason, I didn't get Sheila's picture.
Chris
Matty
Huzbend
Katie
Moi
And Mikey.
I guess he didn't get the memo.
Katie took a moment and communed with the tiny Florida lizards.
She designated them CUTE.
We had some time to kill before our reservations to ride Rise of the Resistance over in Galaxy's Edge.,...so we had some pictures taken.
Katie lost her eyes along the way.
Glad the photographer asked her to move her hair.
Sheesh.
We had the boys jump in for a photo.
SNACK TIME!
We got some Blue Milk for everyone to try.
What's better than a second breakfast comprised of a Starbucks rice krispie treat and a Blue Milk?
We followed that snack up with more snacks.
Kat Saka's popcorn for Katie and Matty.
Could you think of a better birthday?!?!?!
Meanwhile, Mikey and Huzbend chowed down on a Ronto Wrap (sausage wrap for you non-Star Wars people).
Mikey was in heaven.
Finally, it was our time to ride Rise of the Resistance.
We were ushered aboard Lt. Bek's transport.
Hmmm.
We did not end up at the Resistance beach resort as promised.
Matty is assuring me that he has a "good feeling about this" turn of events.
The First Order Officer lined us up for entry into our holding cells.
Everyone checked to make sure they were on their assigned floor dot.
You don't want to get yelled at.
We were able to escape from Kylo Ren and the First Order.
The ride was amazing, as always.
It was time to stop for lunch.
Our first plan was to eat at Woody's Lunchbox, but it was quite a wait, and it was obnoxiously HOT.
We decided to try to find someplace indoors to eat.
The ABC Commissary was it.
It took darn near FOREVER to get our allergy friendly food.
UGH.
I think the best part of the meal was the air conditioning and cold bottled water.
After lunch, we made a quick stop in Toy Story Land.
I barely beat Huzbend at Toy Story Midway Mania.
He upped his game.
Our last ride before we decided to take a break was
Slinky Dog Dash.
It was a fun roller coaster.
I would say it would be a great first coaster for a little kid.
It was time to head back to the resort and chill (literally) out.
I'm pretty sure that the boys headed to the pool.
After our break, we headed back to the park for dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby.
Katie's choice for dinner.
We waited outside for our table to be called.
There were garden areas out front.
Hollywood Brown Derby is one of our favorite restaurants.
There's always something good for the kids to eat.
Mikey fell in love with the dairy free butter.
He said it was the best "butter" he ever ate.
He had a plate all to himself.
The kids ordered some mocktails.
I think they got Shirley Temples with some glow cubes in them.
Matty got himself a blue glow drink.
OOOOO SHINY!
I'm pretty sure Katie had the filet mignon for her dinner.
During dinner we had booked a return time to ride the Millenium Falcon.
Time was ticking by, and we were getting closer to our return time.
Huzbend and Mikey decided to try to make their way over to ride it before time was up.
The rest of us stayed to watch Katie get her birthday dessert, a Flourless Chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and white chocolate accents.
Believe it or not, I don't think she finished it.
She was too full from dinner and it was SUPER chocolatey.
Of course, when Huzbend left with Mikey he forgot to take his phone.
We couldn't tell him where we were at.
The waiter at the restaurant said that we would not miss our other reservations if we showed the receipt from dinner. The cast members would understand.
We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa - they were going back to the resort - and rushed over to ride the Millenium Falcon cutting it WAY close to our reservation at Oga's Cantina.
We let the kids pilot.
Katie took the right pilot position so she could put us into hyperspace.
It took us a bit longer than we thought to complete our mission.
It was a good thing that Huzbend and Mikey had left early.
They were able to convince the cast member at Oga's to hold our spot.
Phew.
They saved the night.
We enjoyed a galatic beverage....
...while listening to DJ Rex spin his tunes.
PORG!
We shut down the park.
Oh...but that was not all folks!
Katie's birthday celebration would last a bit longer.
EPCOT had extra evening hours, so we headed over there.
We took our first ride on the Skyliner gondola system.
We let Katie decide what we were going to ride.
She picked Spaceship Earth.
The Skyliner dropped us off at the back of the park.
Of course, Spaceship Earth is all the way at the front of the park.
Huzbend decided to save his feet and headed back to the resort.
The rest of us continued on to the FUTURE!
I guess Katie and Chris spend their future on the beach.
We ran over and rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends.
A nice AIR CONDITIONED clam shell ride.
We then hoofed it all the way to the back of the park to ride Ratatouille before park close.
The ride was fantastic.
But I will have to say it was the pits waiting in line.
We had to wait in these tiny hot corridors and everyone STANK.
Like, an entire days' worth of B.O. and butt smell.
Ew.
They really need to do something about the air flow in that line.
We got back to the hotel room super late.
As I went to open the hotel room door, we found that our card would not let us in.
Huzbend had used the internal bolt lock and then fell asleep.
We banged on the door and tried to call his phone.
No luck.
I decided to go down to the front desk to see if they could call the room to wake him up.
The front desk guy told me not to worry, that this happens all the time.
We called the room TWICE and he still didn't wake up.
The front desk guy said there was one more option.
He could go up to the room with us and use his special key to unlock the deadbolt.
But if the swing bar lock was used as well, we would be out of luck or he could call maintenance to open it.
Luckily for us, he was able to get the door open.
Phew.
We thanked him for his help and then slogged exhaustedly into our room to take showers and get to bed.
It was REALLY hard to get outta bed the next day.
We slept in a bit longer than usual.
We headed over to The Animal Kingdom arriving a little before 10:30am.
We had a bit of time to kill before our first ride, so we stopped to eat a quick lunch at the Nomad Lounge.
The food was really good.
Mikey gave a big thumbs up for his sliders.
And then this happened.
Gluten free churros.
Not only was Katie able to have churros, but they were the best damn churros I think we've ever eaten.
They were crispy, light and delectable.
Giant thumbs up from Katie.
Our first ride of the day was Avatar: Flight of Passage.
The scenery of Pandora was really beautiful.
I wish we had more time to wander around or even to see it at night.
Oh well.
The ride itself was great. I really loved it.
Part of the story was you connecting with your Navi avatar before your flight.
The rig we were seated in would vibrate during connection.
Every time it happened; it would tickle Huzbend.
He was all but screaming.
Navi Mikey.
Maiden sitting in the Navi village.
The park had these cute character flotillas sailing in the river all day.
The Tree of Life with no one standing in front if it.
I thought that was weird.
Our plan was to meet with the others to ride Expedition: Everest
As we waited, we caught the beginning of the Kite Tails show.
They were running late and we weren't able to connect, so we jumped onto the ride and moved along with our day.
To escape the heat, we watched the next Lion King show.
Hakuna Matata.
We decided to stop for a frozen treat.
Huzbend and I shared this yumminess.
Mikey chose an Olaf Strawberry Lemonade bar.
And Katie chose a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar.
We hid in the shade to enjoy our treats.
Me again!
There's a record number of pictures of me this time around.
Tree of Life picture.
I took this picture as we entered the line to finally have the kids experience the It's a Bugs Life attraction.
Huzbend has always refused to ride it and they were curious as to why.
Well, now they know.
Lots of bugs.
Big bugs.
Our attempt at a Tree of Life selfie.
We headed back to the resort for a dinner with everyone at the Yachtsman Steakhouse.
Steaks all around!
After dinner, we split up.
Katie headed off to Disney Springs with CSM for some shopping.
She was able to find stuffies of Thor's goats at a store, hence the happy smile.
Meanwhile, the boys went for a swim,
They took advantage of the low water slide waits.
"Did ya get it mom?"
I bid farewell to the boys and headed off on my own adventure.
I mobile ordered a cannoli from the Boardwalk Bakery.
I took a quick walk to pick it up.
Then I parked it on the beach to watch the movie of the night and enjoy my treat.
Squeaken squeak squeak.
Our next park was EPCOT.
I was up bright an early the next day to join the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Rewind coaster.
And I got, like, 9th boarding group!
Our boarding group was called really early, before 10am I think.
CSM decided to sleep in, so it was just us.
I am happy to report that no one got motion sickness.
Katie picked up this cool Loki helmet with one of her gift certificates.
A cast member noticed us taking that photo and asked if he could take a family photo for us.
Super nice!
We visited Nemo & Friends and the Imagination Pavilion while we waited for the Food and Wine Festival booths to open.
As soon as they did, it was eating time!
Katie had made a list of the gluten free/nut free food that she wanted to try at the festival.
It was her goal to check as many off the list as we could.
We started off with a frosty beverage from the Earth Eats booth.
We shared a strawberry freeze with Twinings lemon and ginger tea.
Huzbend ate an Impossible meatball with polenta.
Katie tried some Vietnamese Spicy Beef Pho with mushrooms and Thai basil.
She said it was spicy, but she really liked it.
Meanwhile, Mikey had a Kalua pork slider from the Hawaii booth.
We found a safe plant based dessert for Mikey to try.
It was a guava mousse on a sugar cookie base.
A closeup of the yumminess.
A little before lunch time, we met up with the rest of the crew to ride Guardians again.
After a thrilling roller coaster ride, we decided to go for something a bit tamer.
We rode Soarin' over the World and followed that up with a ride through Living with The Land: Hosted by Loki.
Time to eat more food!
It was super dooper hot on this day.
So hot that it made it hard to want to eat food.
BUT, NO MATTER!
We carried on anyways.
Humidity be damned.
Nothing would stop our quest to eat around the world!
Katie picked up some adobo yuca French fries with garlic-cilantro aioli.
CSM headed back to the hotel to cool down.
We continued our trek around the booths.
Grandma and Grandpa decided to follow along.
First stop was to get Katie a passionfruit cheesecake.
She declared it delicious.
We continued on to the India booth where we picked up some fried paneer, samosas and chicken tikka masala.
Boy was it SPICY! Yikes!
Meanwhile, Katie got some coffee barbequed beef tenderloin with sweet potato and corn mealie pap.
She really like this one.
Huzbend picked up a cold adult beverage from Belgium.
Mikey got a Mongolian beef bao bun from China and some Dole Whip.
Katie picked up one more dish from Spain.
It was a charcuterie board in a cup with meats, cheese and olives.
But it was WAY too spicy for her to eat.
We took a break to use the potty and to refill our water bottles.
Grandpa let Loki park his scooter.
Not long after, Grandma and Grandpa were done and headed back to cool off.
We weren't too far from done ourselves.
We stopped for just a few more snacks.
We were just about melting at this point.
Mikey had some falafel.
I enjoyed some pistachio cake with cinnamon pastry cream and candied walnuts.
We made one more stop in France.
Mikey and I found some shade where he...uh...aired himself out with our portable fan.
Katie got herself some creme brulee.
We took a break and went back to the room to cool off.
We reconvened later in "Japan" for dinner.
We had a great hibachi expereince.
The food was yummy and filling.
Katie tried some sort of nori roll and had shrimp with her dinner.
After dinner, we were perfectly positioned for a great view of the EPCOT Harmonious show.
Grandpa and Grandma headed back to the room.
And you better bet we got a spot right at the railing!
The scenery behind us wasn't too shabby either.
The show as really fun and had great music.
It's even better watching with people you love.
After the show, we all headed back to the resort.
Mikey and Huzbend headed to the room to relax.
CSM, myself and Katie went on a quest to get more gluten free churros.
We headed to the Coronado Resort.
"I will knock that hat right off your head pipsqueak!"
Just kidding.
The churros were disappointing.
Nowhere near as good as the ones at the Nomad Lounge.
It was nice to visit another resort although it took FOEVER for our Uber driver to come and get us.
Katie was able to do a maiden sit on their beautiful fountain.
Phew.
These late nights were catching up to me.
Good thing the next day was a relax and recover day!
We woke up a bit later than usual to go to a buffet breakfast.
OMG - Look at that plate!
I want that RIGHT NOW!
I like to get a plate of savory stuff and then a plate of sweet stuff when we go to buffets.
Why mix when you don't have to?
What better use for "food allergy" marker sticks than sword fighting?
Grandma and Grandpa were heading home this morning.
We stopped to take a few photos before saying goodbye.
We couldn't resist one Charlie's Angels pose.
We made our way to Typhoon Lagoon for a relaxing day at the water park.
Well, I relaxed.
The rest of them swam and did water slides and stuff.
We rented a cabana right next to the wave pool.
There were towels, chairs, free water and it had a roof which meant plenty of shade.
The first thing everyone did was hit the wave pool.
I don't like wave pools.
The waves are scary and there's, uh, way too many people all in one tub if you get my meaning.
Ew.
They were able to convince me to wade in a bit farther, but not much.
The kids and brothers spent most of the day riding slides and wandering around.
I did do the lazy river circuit one time with Sheila.
The best part of the day was lounging in the chair with my comfy towel sipping on a Dole Whip boozy float.
As an added bonus I got a free HeiHei Dole Whip cone just because I was in the right place at the right time. The person in front of me said they didn't order it and the cast member asked if I wanted it.
I shared my Dole Whip bounty with Katie.
The last ride of the day was the Humunga Kowabunga waterslide.
Falling five stories at a 60-degree angle in the dark did not sound like something I wanted to do
The other three did though.
And they all got giant wedgies.
It was time to pack it in to head back for dinner.
Plus, there were some looming scary looking thunderstorms headed our way.
We took bus transportation back to the hotel.
It took FOREVER.
I had to pee so bad that I almost peed my pants waiting for the bus transfer at Disney Springs.
It was a straight-out sprint to the potty when I just couldn't hold it anymore.
It took us 45 minutes to get back to our hotel.
Damn buses.
We were still able to make it to dinner on time.
We ate at the San Angle Inn in the Mexico pavilion in Epcot.
These two were in hysterics sending memes to each other.
The funniest part was that Mikey was using Huzbends phone.
I got myself a fancy bubble drink.
There was smoke in the bubble that came out when I drank it.
CHEERS!
Huzbend's impression of Cat Woman.
A trip to Walt Disney World is not complete unless you ride the Gran Fiesta Tour Boat Ride!
We took our time wandering out of Epcot that evening.
We made a quick stop at the France booth to pick up a creme brulee for Katie to eat for dessert.
The next day, the plan was to head to Epcot for lunch and then over to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
We spied this not-so-little guy on our balcony.
We got a call that morning from Sheila.
Chirs wasn't feeling well and had tested positive for COVID.
They weren't going to join us that day but instead were going to try to head home a day early.
It was so sad and disappointing.
We were SO looking forward to hanging with them at the party that evening.
We had to say goodbye from on the ground while they waved and blew kisses from their balcony.
Sigh.
COVID sucks.
We slowly made our way to EPCOT and decided to drown our sadness in food.
First up was some pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread).
From there we grabbed a sausage sandwich from Ireland for Mikey and a wild mushroom beef filet mignon for Katie from Canada.
I picked up a maple bourbon cheesecake with candied pecans.
We tried a few more things which included some sort of apple drink and an apple crumble tart, I think.
We ate so much festival food it's hard to remember.
I DO remember that we paid a visit to Anna and Elsa in Arendelle.
After Frozen: The Ride, we said goodbye to EPCOT and all of the wonderful food.
We headed over to the Magic Kingdom.
It was hot.
We stopped and got us some Citrus Swirl soft serve.
Citrus Swirl is orange flavored Dole Whip.
Oh boy did it hit the spot.
We were able to get on Splash Mountain right at the hottest part of the day.
I'd like to say it was refreshing, but we really didn't get that wet.
And wouldn't ya know it?
As we stepped out of Splash Mountain, the Festival of Fantasy parade was just getting started.
It wasn't part of the plan at all.
Tee-hee.
We found a great shady spot to watch it from.
I was able to get some great photos.
As the parade passed the crowd cleared.
We headed into the Country Bear Jamboree for a little sit down in the AC.
It felt like we spent each day running from one air-conditioned attraction to the next.
Hi Big Al!
It was time for our dinner at Be Our Guest.
We were seated in the Main dining hall.
The kids got some fancy fruity drinks.
Katie tried potato leek soup and really liked it.
The Beast stopped by for a visit.
I had to take a picture of this.
Mikey ate a SALAD.
We ate a lot.
Mikey was able to get extra bread and asked the server what kind of butter they served since he loved it so much.
She was able to find out - Smart Balance - and now he eats it at home.
Katie dug into her dessert with gusto.
She even got to have "the grey stuff" (kinda like a buttercream frosting crossed witha a mousse).
Mikey was able to have some sorbet with macarons.
As we got out of dinner, it looked like it was going to rain.
It began to sprinkle so we ducked into the Little Mermaid ride.
As we exited the ride, it was downright pouring with full-on thunder and lightning.
There was a crowd at the exit of the ride. Noone wanted to leave and get soaked or struck by lightning.
The cast members let us turn around to ride again if we wanted.
At the end of our second ride, it was STILL pouring.
We had to make our way over to pick up our wristbands for the Halloween party.
We threw on our ponchos.
As soon as the rain slowed a bit, we made our way over to the pickup point.
Our feet were soaked. But the rest of us were dry.
We weren't about to let the rain cancel our fun, so we headed out.
We reused our Gravity Falls costumes for the party.
Off to ride Space Mountain.
For the Halloween party they turned off ALL of the lights in the ride portion (usually they have planets and stars and things swirling around).
It was way scarier with no light at all.
After Space Mountain, we hit up our first Treat Stop located in Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.
We sat to watch the show as they made fun of people getting candy.
They picked on a certain someone we know....
The storm finally cleared out.
It made for a dramatic sky over the castle.
Adventureland was all fogged up for the occasion.
We stopped to take a ride on Pirates.
At this point, Huzbend was not feeling great.
Knowing that Chris had tested positive, he decided to head back to the room early.
We walked with him towards the exit and said goodbye.
We set ourselves up on the curb on Main Street to watch the parade.
The parade was delayed because of the rain.
They were waiting for the pavement to dry so it would be safe for the performers.
It also seemed like another storm might be approaching.
So, we waited. and waited.
We took the opportunity to take off our shoes and try to dry out our socks.
Yay!
The Headless Horseman riding by meant the parade was on its way.
And, yep, another 20 minutes later the parade finally made it to us.
It was nice to just sit and people watch for a while.
Our feets were killing us.
We had a great vantage point for the parade except that some ladies kept bumping into Mikey while shoving their phones next to his head to take pictures.
Rude.
The parade went off without a hitch.
Some of the dancers were not doing their routines because the ground was still a little wet.
It was still a fabulous parade.
As soon as the parade was over, we stepped out into Main Street to make our way forward to the Hub.
The Hallowishes fireworks were up next.
A nice Disney PhotoPass photographer complimented us on our costumes and asked if he could take a picture for us.
Ooooo SPOOKY
The Fireworks show as AH-MAZING!
And we had a great spot.
The castle had different spooky overlays to match the music that was playing.
Here are Dancing Skeletons.
Here's Oogie Boogie and some dice fireworks.
Here's Hades.
We were even close enough to see Jack!
So many good pictures, it was hard to pick just a few to put here.
It truly was beautiful.
After the fireworks, we wandered to find more Treat Stops.
At each stop, the kids picked up tokens that they could trade in for allergy friendly candy.
I just got regular candy.
One of the stops was in the Tiki Room.
At another candy stop, one of the cast members recognized our costumes and tried to stop Katie (dressed as a bad guy) from being able to get candy.
It was hilarious.
Katie gave her a candy to try to make peace.
After the Tiki Room, we road Big Thunder Mountain because it had a really short wait.
We were about to call it a night, so Katie and Mikey stopped to trade in their tokens for candy.
The cast members literally FILLED their bags with allergy safe candy.
Like, LOADS of candy. It was the good stuff too.
The parade had started up again, so we just grabbed a seat. The kids munched on their candy and watched it go by.
We decided to catch the Hocus Pocus Villian Spelltacular stage show at midnight.
We had a great spot right in front of the stage.
I couldn't resist taking a picture of this cute jack o' lantern.
The show was really well done.
The Sanderson Sisters, of Hocus Pocus fame, were creating a spell so they could host the most spectacular villains party in Magic Kingdom history.
There was plenty of singing, dancing and villainy to go around.
Oogie Boogie made an appearance.
The projections on the castle matched the action happening on the stage.
Of course, Maleficent was invited.
You don't NOT invite Maleficent, right?
The Sanderson Sisters were able to have their party and then dashed off into the night.
It was time for everyone else to shuffle their way out of the park.
We were in no hurry, so we sat to wait out the rush of the crowd.
The lines for the buses would be huge anyways.
As tired as their feet were, they still had energy!
This one of my favorite pictures.
A maiden sit in the middle of an empty Main Street.
We rolled out of the park at about 12:45ish.
We made a quick stop for a train station selfie before making our way to the bus back to our resort.
There was still a large line.
We got back super late to the hotel.
In the morning, Huzbend was still not feeling well.
We checked out of our room and headed to the pool area.
Our flight home wasn't until later that afternoon.
We ordered some lunch and the kids tried not to fall asleep in the pool.
As a side note, the lunch we had was yucky.
We really missed the food at EPCOT.
Our fight was delayed due to some awesome thunderstorms.
Finally, we were on our way.
Because of some luck, we were able to get first class seats for the way back to Seattle.
We got full meals to eat on the way home.
As well as ice cream for dessert!
Mikey slept the entire way home, so he missed all the benefits of first class.
Huzbend was still feeling blechy and was getting worse by the second.
It was good we had some extrta space and comfortable seats.
The next morning, we tested Huzbend.
Yep, COVID.
Not shocking.
We had a week and a half to continue with our vacation chill until school started.
Huzbend took a few days off from work to recover from COVID.
Katie opened some birthday presents we had waiting at home for her.
Check out the laundry in the background.
Yikes.
We also paid a visit to the DMV to get her license!
AK!
She was an official driver now.
That same day, she went to an orientation for her first job. She was going to work at a pumpkin farm and would start in September.
Where does the time go?
As a summer last hurrah, we went to the drive-in to watch Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
I had this delicious "Almond Joy" cupcake.
The next day, Katie tested positive for COVID.
We spent the last few days of summer vacation relaxing at home.
Mikey and I did not end up getting COVID. Phew.
Guess the immunity gained from our cases back in May helped.
On the day before school started, we headed out to our favorite local ice cream shop for a treat.
It was a beautiful summer day.
Mikey got to try some non-dairy "Cookie Monster" ice cream.
It's blue colored vanilla ice cream with a whole bunch of different cookie chunks in it - all dairy free and gluten free!
Katie tried a variety of flavors as well, but I can't remember what they were.
Both kids started school on August 31st.
Mikey was part of the 8th grade ambassador team called WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) leaders that helped the incoming 6th graders navigate their first day.
His first day of actual school wasn't until the next day.
Katie began her junior year of high school
Wowzers.
