Goodbye, 2020... Hello, 2021!

 For New Year's, we went to Tybee Island with Morgan's family...

It was my first time in Tybee... I really loved it. The island is very beautiful and quiet. The house where we stayed was right across the street from the old lighthouse.

Look how beautiful (and empty) the beach was!

Even though it was cold, Esme had a great time playing on the beach! The older girls even put their feet in the water.

Alice learned how to skateboard!

We had sparklers and firecrackers to ring in the New Year!

We didn't quite make it to midnight, but the girls got to stay up late and have a "champagne" toast with their cousins.

I don't think anyone is sad to say goodbye to 2020. Even though there were many good things, it definitely feels like 2020 was an especially hard and painful year for most, including our family. We are hopeful this new year will bring a vaccine (which means hugs!) and a fresh perspective (deeper appreciation and gratitude). I am so thankful for all of you friends and family who read this blog. We love and miss you all, and we hope to get to see in 2021! 

Merry Christmas!

 Christmas feels like an eternity ago, but I wanted to share some pictures and sweet memories...

Lucy and Alice hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve... they left some milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer!

They were very excited!

Lucy was making some great faces...

We decided to get matching Christmas pajamas again... third year in a row.

Even Morgan and I got to match!

We spent Christmas Eve watching a Christmas movie and wrapping presents.

Christmas morning cinnamon rolls!

The girls opened their stockings while Morgan and I had coffee. After our breakfast of warm, gooey cinnamon rolls, we all gathered around the tree to open presents...

Lots of excitement!

Even Georgia got into the Christmas spirit...

She was thrilled.

We make the girls take turns opening their presents. They each get something to read, something to wear, and something to play with. Alice, who is really into the show Octonauts, got some Octonaut figurines...

And a Gup-A submarine.

Lucy got some Legos...

She has been asking for this particular set for ages.

(Notice Esme with her Anna doll... This is the doll she wanted from Disney World. Her reaction when she opened it was priceless!)

After presents, Morgan built a fire in the fireplace. Then, he and the girls watched Charlie Brown's Christmas.

Christmas Legos!

Around lunchtime, our families arrived for more celebrating! They were kind enough to take pictures of all of us in our matching jammies...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our wacky family!

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty —
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom Angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and Archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But only His Mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am? —
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part, —
Yet what I can I give Him, —
Give my heart.

"In the Bleak Midwinter" by Christina Rosetti 

Disney World 2020 - Part 5

On Friday, we were headed back to the Magic Kingdom for our last day in the parks. Since we had already been to Magic Kingdom earlier in the week, this day was more lowkey and relaxed...

Another day of beautiful weather! We learned that November really is the best time to go to Disney World, but shhh... don't tell anyone!

We rode Splash Mountain first-thing again... Since this ride is about to be closed for a re-theming, the lines were pretty long all day. I can't help thinking this might have been our last time ever riding Splash Mountain! The nostalgic part of me is sad about that, but I am happy with Disney's decision to bring more representation to the parks with a Princess and the Frog ride. I think it will be awesome.

We rode Haunted Mansion next, and I got to see my Great Uncle Bob's "tombstone"... he was one of the Imagineers who worked on this attraction, so it is always cool to find this tribute to him there.

After riding Haunted Mansion, we stopped for lunch at Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square. It's not really a restaurant - it's more of a window - but they have the best battered corndogs and spicy fried chicken and waffle sandwiches. We all loved the food at Sleepy Hollow.

Next, we rode Peter Pan's Flight. This time, we got to go through the standby queue. (The lines were so short the last time we were in Magic Kingdom, that this part of the queue was roped off.) The standby queue takes you through the Darling's house, and into the nursery.

Every so often, Tinker Bell flew around the room and bumped into things, making pictures on the walls go crooked or drawers open and close. It was a really cool detail, and my kids were completely enchanted.

We rode Small World again, and then we headed for Tomorrowland. While Morgan took Lucy on Space Mountain, Alice and I rode the Astro Orbiters, these rockets that take you way up into the air. 

Some of the best views of the Magic Kingdom can be seen from this attraction! I wasn't brave enough to whip out my phone for a photo while we were up in the air, though. I was afraid I would drop it!

After Space Mountain and Astro Orbiters, we enjoyed the classic Carousel of Progress since it had a short line and air conditioning.

On our way to Adventureland, we stopped in the castle hub for some family photos...

The sun was in Lucy's eyes...

This is our friend, Joe, who joined us for a few days of our trip! We were so grateful to have him with us. He even carried Alice on his shoulders when she got tired. 

In Adventureland, we explored the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse...

Beautiful views!

We rode Pirates of the Caribbean next. Then, we headed to Frontier Land to ride Thunder Mountain. On the way, we happened to catch a character parade.

Esme and I stopped for an ice cream break, while the big girls rode Thunder Mountain.

Walking back through the castle hub, we happened to spot some more characters. Rabbit and Eeyore were waving at us from the porch of Crystal Palace.  

We headed to the Emporium on Main Street, so the girls could each pick out a souvenir. We happened to catch another parade while we were on Main Street... 

This was one of my favorite moments of the day. Look at Esme dancing!

Pluto, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Peter Pan and Wendy...

Mickey and Minnie!

After the parade, it looked like it might rain, so we made a beeline for the Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventure Land.

We got there just as it started to rain. The show was full, but thankfully, some folks decided to leave and we got in at the last minute. 

I love the Tiki Room!

After the Enchanted Tiki Room show, we grabbed a quick dinner at Pecos Bill's. This quick service Tex-Mex restaurant was OK... not good, not bad. We had eaten there before. After dinner, we met up with Morgan's cousins who live in Orlando. They joined us for some more rides: Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, and the Barnstormer. Esme and I rode Dumbo for our last ride of the night...

By this time, she was sleepy!

The older girls went with Morgan and his cousins to ride Thunder Mountain again. The ride actually broke down and they were stuck at the top of the mountain and had to be evacuated from the ride. The girls (and Morgan) thought this was pretty cool, as they got a little behind-the-scenes look at the attraction. It was an eventful way to end our trip!

The next morning, we had breakfast at our resort food court (scrambled eggs and Mickey waffles!) before loading in the car and heading home. We were all pretty exhausted but still coming down off the high of an unbelievably fun trip. We already can't wait to go back to Disney World! 

Some notes for next time...

Things I Would Do Differently: We packed SO MUCH into four and a half park days. The kids were troopers, and somehow managed to go park open to park close with no naps (except for Esme, who napped in the stroller). Due to the pandemic, park hours were shortened, so it did not make sense for us to go back to the resort every day for a midday break. We decided that next time, we will plan a slightly longer trip, so that we can take a day off from the parks and just relax at the resort. 

Also, sit-down restaurants with little kids is not really worth the time/money investment, with the exception of character meals. Our dinner at Be Our Guest and our character lunch at Hollywood and Vine were big hits with the kids, but for future trips, we might stick mostly to quick-service meals until the kids are older. 

Things I Would Do Again: Mid-November was a great time to go to Disney World. The weather was sunny and even a little cool! The Christmas decorations were already up in all of the parks, which added so much charm. I would definitely plan another trip for this time of year. 

Another thing we did that worked really well was getting two, connecting hotel rooms. Hotel rooms at Disney World (especially the value resorts) are small, unless you spring for a suite or a villa. Getting two. connecting rooms gave us plenty of space, and we didn't blow our budget. 

Going to Disney World during a pandemic, we had no idea what to expect! Overall, I was really impressed by all of the safety measures that Disney implemented, and we felt very safe the entire time. Our whole family got tested when we got back home, and we were all Covid-free. I am so glad we went through with the trip, and even though it was not the trip we originally planned, it was so much better than we expected in many ways!

Disney World 2020 - Part 4

On Thursday morning, we woke up very early and very excited for our day in Hollywood Studios. We needed to get our boarding pass for the new and uber-popular Star Wars attraction, Rise of the Resistance. I was nervous about this because I had heard that it can be difficult to secure a boarding pass for this ride. At 6:59 a.m., Morgan and I pulled up the Disney World app on our phones (the kids were still fast asleep), so we could hit the "refresh" button at 7 a.m. on the dot. Somehow - thankfully! - we managed to book a boarding group for about midday, which meant that our chances of getting to ride RotR were pretty good. Morgan is a huge Star Wars nerd, so getting to ride this attraction was at the tip top of his list. 

With a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance secured, we woke our snoozing kids and got ready to catch the sky buckets from our resort to Hollywood Studios! I will say that the sky bucket lines for Hollywood Studios were LONG...

Thankfully, we still managed to arrive early!

I LOVED the retro Christmas decorations! Even the music they played fit that retro vibe, jazzy Christmas numbers from the 1940's and 50's. The whole atmosphere really transports you to Golden-Age Hollywood. I was way into it. The last time I visited this park, it was called MGM Studios, so things looked very different. In a good way.

First up, we rode Hollywood Studio's newest attraction, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. This ride, which is inside the Chinese theater, usually has a pretty long wait since it is still such a novelty. But since we got to the park so early, we were able to move through the line quickly. We all adored this ride. It is very cute and actually really fun.

Look whose prints we found in front of the Chinese Theater!

After Runaway Railway, we headed down Sunset Boulevard for Tower of Terror! I had never been on this attraction, which is themed to the Twilight Zone. I have to say: even though I have never liked rides with sudden drops, I loved everything about Tower of Terror. The theming was incredibly detailed, and you really feel like you are a part of the story, which is exactly what a Disney attraction should accomplish. I thought it was perfect.

Lucy and Alice liked it as well, although I think Alice thought it was a little scary. But she still went back for a second ride!

After Tower of Terror, Morgan took the girls on Star Tours. I was not eager to ride another simulator attraction, so I kept Esme company outside. While we were waiting, enjoying a churro, a mini parade of Pixar characters walked and / or drove by. We spotted Woody, Buzz, and Jessie from Toy Story, along with the green army men, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, and Edna Mode. It was super cute, and Esme loved it.

Echo Lake was all decked out for Christmas...

Even Gertie the dinosaur was wearing a Santa hat!

I love Alice's pose in this picture!

For lunch, I had made a reservation for a character meal at Hollywood and Vine. This was one of the few restaurants offering a meal with characters at the time. Because Esme is a huge fan of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto, I knew that we had to do at least one character meal while we were in Disney World.

 Trying to get a picture of my kids is near impossible.

Here we are, doing our best.

Goofy! Look at Esme's sweet wave!

Pluto! 

The characters could not come up to our table or hug the kids, but it was fun to get to see them and interact with them. Esme was beside herself.

She was literally speechless when she saw Mickey Mouse.

So much joy!

Ice cream sundaes!

I have heard that ordinarily, this restaurant is a buffet and not very good. Due to the pandemic, it was a regular sit-down meal instead of a buffet. I thought the food was delicious. I had a Caesar salad for my appetizer. I can't remember what I ate for my entre, but I know I liked it. The kids had ice cream sundaes for dessert, and the grownups had a variety of cream pies - chocolate, banana, and coconut, I believe. 

 After lunch, it was time for us to rush to Galaxy's Edge (Star Wars Land) to ride Rise of the Resistance! 

Galaxy's Edge was so impressive! I really felt like I was in a galaxy far, far away...

This is the marketplace area. We did not have much time to 

 explore, because we needed to board the attraction.

Rise of the Resistance was amazing!!!! I won't even try to describe it because I can't. (Esme was too little to ride it, so I hung out with her while Morgan took the older girls.)

After Rise of the Resistance, we watched the Muppet Vision 3D show, which is one of the things I remember from my childhood. It was just as charming and funny as I remember. Then, we made our way over to Toy Story Land.

This land is also very immersive. The idea is that you "shrink" down to the size of a toy, and everything in this land looks like it was built by a child out of blocks and Tinker Toys.

We immediately hopped in line for Slinky Dog Dash, which is a roller coaster. Lucy and Alice really enjoyed this ride. 

It was getting pretty late by the time we got off Slinky Dog, so we went to restaurant called Baseline Tap House for some beer and a quick bite to eat. We enjoyed this place because of the outdoor seating, and the food, even though it was mostly appetizers, was pretty good as well. We got a cheese and charcuterie board and some soft pretzels. Since we were still full from our big lunch at Hollywood and Vine, this was a perfect light dinner.

For our last ride of the night, we wanted to ride Rockin' Rollercoaster. This attraction has the highest height requirement of any current Disney World attraction, and we were not sure if Lucy would actually be able to ride. Lucy, who is a roller coaster addict, really really wanted to ride this one. We decided to take a risk and hopped in line. When they measured her, we held our breath. They let her on! She was SO excited. This was her first ever upside-down coaster. She got to ride it twice.

Finally, the park was closing, and we had to call it a night. Even though we were exhausted, I think we were all sad to leave Hollywood Studios.

Hollywood Studios Day

New Experiences: Even though I had visited this park back when it was MGM Studios, I had a lot of new experiences! The park has changed so much. We got to visit two brand new lands (Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land), ride brand new attractions (Ride of the Resistance and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway), and eat at new-to-us restaurants (Hollywood and Vine and Baseline Tap House). Basically, the only things we did that were not new to us were Muppet Vision and Star Tours. And everything was new to the girls because they have never visited Hollywood Studios before.

Things we had to skip: Of all the parks we visited, this was the park I felt like I wanted to spend more time in. We did not get to do a LOT of things we wanted to do because there just wasn't enough time. We didn't ride Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run in Galaxy's Edge or Midway Mania in Toy Story Land. 

Woody's Lunchbox, a quick service restaurant that I have always wanted to eat at because the food looks so yummy, was closed while we were there, so we didn't get to try the gourmet Pop Tarts. 

Also, there were not many shows running while we were there because of the pandemic. I used to love the Beauty and the Beast show when I was a kid, and believe it or not, that show is still around! (At least, it was until the pandemic hit.) Even if the shows had been running, I don't think we would have had enough time to see them. There is just so much to do in Hollywood Studios, and one day is not enough time.

Things we wish we'd skipped: We loved everything about this park.

Favorite Treats: There are so many things I wanted to try at this park - the Lunch Box Tarts at Woody's Lunch Box, the Ronto Wrap and Blue Milk in Galaxy's Edge, cocktails at the Brown Derby Lounge, friend chicken and the PBJ milkshakes at 50's Primetime Café... Sadly, the only "treat" I had were some churros from a churro cart. They were good but not memorable.  

Favorite Attraction: Rise of the Resistance is definitely the winner, no contest. But I really enjoyed Tower of Terror as well. Lucy loved Rockin' Rollercoaster, and Alice liked Slinky Dog Dash. Esme's favorite was Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.

Memorable Moment: Letting the kids meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy was pretty special. Esme especially was so excited to see them, and she still talks about it at least once every day. 

Also, while we were on Rise of the Resistance, I did not realize that the Disney World cast members who work on that attraction are actually in character the whole time. While we were waiting to board part of the ride, one of the cast members, who was dressed as an imperial commander, started to interrogate me about the rebellion, and I just lost it. He stayed in character and told me that I would "pay for my insubordination". Lucy thought this was hilarious, but I think Alice was actually worried.