Valentine's Day!

 Valentine's Day is often not a one day affair in our household, and this year was the same.  Sadly, because of Covid, Teresa did not get to have a traditional party at school.  Handing out valentine's was banned to slow the spread of germs from house to house.  She was pretty sad about that, but her day turned out fun.  She got a Valentine cookie from the school and got to watch a movie and play some Kahoots.  Middle Schoolers don't do the valentines so Timothy did not miss out this year.

On Saturday, Troy and I had our "date night" valentine dinner.  We had planned on take out from L. May, but when we called at 2pm they were booked for take out orders.  We switched plans and ordered take out from Ados an Eastern European restaurant.  The food was excellent and we are glad we tried out this new place! We exchanged gifts and enjoyed our candle light dinner.  The kids like date night as they get to watch cartoons and eat downstairs.

On Sunday, we gave the kids their valentine's and small gifts.  This year they got chocolates and new pajamas.  We ended up doing a trivia kahoot with my family in the late afternoon.  It was for valentine's day, rather to celebrate birthdays, but the day and time just worked out.  It was fun to see everyone.

For dinner, we did a Valentine Mystery dinner.  You pick different items with valentine descriptions for each course and don't know what you will get.  It was fun!  The only picture I have of all the weekend events was right before the dinner!

Disney Part 2!

 Our fourth day was at Animal Kingdom which is a favorite park of the family.  We usually head to the Pandora area first and hit the Avatar ride.  This was my first time riding this particular ride.  It is a little like Soarin', but more intense.  I did have to close my eyes for a portion of it.  I also passed on a second ride later in the afternoon.  I do like the Na'vi River ride which we did next.  I like those boat rides!!

This is a picture of the Pandora area.

This was the only family picture of the four of us that was not some sort of selfie.  A gentleman offered to take it and asked to take one of his family.  Not a bad shot!

One of Teresa's favorite parts of the the animal kingdom is the Safari.  We rode it twice in a row and saw some different animals.  We got some good views of the lions, and giraffes and cheetahs.  Timothy enjoyed the ride too.

Something new we discovered this trip was the Conservation Station and the petting zoo.  There were goats and sheep and an alpaca and a donkey.  The kids enjoyed petting the sheep and goats.  We walked on a few of the trails to see the gorillas and tigers.  And eventually found a table to have lunch.

After lunch we went to the Dinoland and were disappointed to find the dino-coaster Primawhirl was no longer in operation.  We did ride the Triceratops spin, however.  Our next big debate was to ride Everest or not.  We were all a bit reluctant except maybe Troy.  We finally decided to go for it and give the 4 minute ride a try.  Troy, and Timothy liked it, Teresa thought it was okay and I was happy to never go again!  Troy and Timothy went again. We went to the bird show, had snack and did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel.  Troy's happy find was big chocolate covered mickey cookies. Yum!

Day five was back at the Magic Kingdom.  We were up early waiting for the shuttle.  This is the day I think I forgot the charging cords for the porta charger.  Troy had to run and get them at Timothy's insistence.  We did not miss the shuttle.

 Today's first ride was 7 Dwarves mine train since the wit always gets so long.  This was similar to Big Thunder and I handles it pretty well.  Everyone else loved it too.  Big Thunder was of course the second ride, and the third as the line was short.

I am pretty sure Timothy would have taken us straight to Space Mountain next, but I chose something mellower...It's a Small World!  It is sort of a classic one you can't miss.  We also did Peter Pan and Haunted Mansion.

Timothy did get both Teresa and I to ride Space Mountain.  Neither of us were impressed.  I thought it was super jerky.  While the boys rode a second time, Teresa and I looked around the shop. I liked the hat that said I Conquered the People Mover! (Sadly it was closed on this trip.)

After lunch we did the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the Little Mermaid ride and of course some snack time...Frozen Lemonade...the pink variety this time.  I tried to get people to try Dole Whip, but with no luck.

We did a little shopping on the way out...Teresa bought a lanyard for a friend and Troy bought a t-shirt.

I feel the need to show a picture of the great egret.  They were all over Disney and the kids liked them.  Timothy named one John.  The first trip they were into ducks, this trip it was egrets!

On to the final day at the parks.  The kids chose Animal Kingdom.  Troy was hoping for more Hollywood and Star Wars, but the kids won!

A lovely picture with the tree of life in the background.  Timothy is sporting his Yoda mask.

We did a very similar sequence as the first day.  First to the Pandora area for Avatar and the River ride.  This time Timothy felt a little queasy on the Avatar ride.  I fed him peppermint and pretzels and that helped.  After the boat ride we did the safari ride.

Then it was back to the Conservation station to see the goats and sheep.  We also discovered that there were some bugs and reptiles in the building.  This time we went in to see all of that.  There is so much to discover.

We had to ride the Triceratops again.  The kids tend to like to ride these slow rides together, so Troy and I get a "date" behind them!  Soon enough it was time for a lunch break.  This brings us to the second sort of nice family photo of the trip.  Also we are all sporting some Disney shirts.  Not matching, but reflecting our own interests!

Although a little nervous still, Timothy really wanted to ride Everest again.  Teresa and I decided to hold off.  Well, Timothy loved it and he and Troy ended up going 4 times in a row because the line was so short.  After 4 times, Troy was done.  After 4 rides Teresa wanted her pick of rides, so we went to the safari again.

Troy is always tempted by the Starbucks at Disney and likes a picture taken, but he never gets any.  It is not much fun to walk around Disney holding onto coffee!  We eventually made our way back to the hotel which is bittersweet since we were leaving our last park.

Dinner time was still fun.  I picked up a Mickey pretzels to have for my dinner.  And to celebrate a wonderful week, we shared some Mickey cupcakes.

I wanted to include a fun shot that was a part of our stay.  The big rubik cubes were the stairways up to our room.  At night they lit up and looked pretty neat.

We were up early on Saturday to go to the airport.  Our Magic Express left at 7 am.  It was sad to go home, but we are so thankful for the wonderful week we had and all the memories.