Break free! vacation

My sister decided that once she and her husband were vaccinated, they’d celebrate with a surprise trip. It just so happened that this trip was at a perfect time for our family, so I asked if we could join them for part of it. It was a perfect vacation to celebrate some liberation from the threat of the COVID virus. Vaccines are amazing and I’m so grateful they enabled us to spend some time with some family who we had missed dearly. 

We were off to Orlando to visit Disney World and it was quite a treat. Our flight was early in the morning. 

Arriving in Florida in the afternoon, our kids liked seeing the palm trees and feeling the humidity. 

We did some mini golf and swimming the next day. I have never played a mini golf game with 18 holes. Ian was done by the 6th hole (ha!) but we saw some cool wildlife during our golfing (an egret caught a small frog for breakfast!) and it was such a pleasant setting, green everywhere and lots of stripes from Ian. Seriously, his self-chosen outfit was the best because I knew where he was at all times :). 

We were off to Epcot the next day. Taking the ferry from the hotel was even fun. 

We loved the sights and sounds. And the food! It was the food festival during that time in Epcot, so we tried some cool stuff like fushi (fruit sushi) and boba drinks (I had two of them!). My sister is so fun to vacation with because she finds the stuff I would never think of. 

We enjoyed the aquarium as our cousin, who volunteers at the aquarium at home, shared with us all of his knowledge. 

We enjoyed many rides. My favorite was the huge Epcot ball, Spaceship Earth. It was closed temporarily in the morning and I was totally bummed because I remember riding it with my family when visiting in high school. Later it reopened and, as you can see, I was elated (👇). Gotta take that trip through history, right?


We enjoyed seeing the Trevi Fountain and eating a gelato in “Italy.”

The sunset was beautiful. 

The next day we ventured to Disney Hollywood Studios. We headed straight to Stars Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride. 

It was pretty awesome, even waiting in line. Ian tried pushing every fake button around. Then we got closer to the ride and he tried pushing the actual ride buttons. The “cast members” had to stop him quickly before anything got interrupted. Ha!

We talked with the storm troopers. At one point, Elsie went up to them babbling. They told her “We are the ones who ask the questions around here!” The audience loved watching the interaction. Haha!

We were on our phones at 7am to get in the virtual queue for the Rise of the Resistance ride. We missed it as it filled in less than two seconds. Bummer! But we were vigilant and tried again at 1pm. Due to our fast fingers and determination not to flinch, we got in! It was a thrilling ride. I screamed. I may never live that down as Oliver and Ansel find times to tease me about it all of the time. 

We ate at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo and it was such a cool experience. Is it bad to say that I loved the food at Walt Disney World as much as the fun? 

We enjoyed Toy Story World with Toy Story Mania...

...and Slinky Dog Dash. Jess’s hat flew off during the second round of hills, but he could see where it landed and asked staff to retrieve it. They said they pick up all of that stuff after the park closes and that he should make a claim. It was sent to us via U.S. mail about a week later. Nice. 

We finished off our visit with riding the Tower of Terror. I say“we,” but I actually waited around with Elsie. I would have screamed even more on that ride. It was a exciting way to end another great day at Disney World. 

We were set for home the next day, nice and early once more. The little kids slept most of the flight which made my job very easy. 

We are so grateful we had the opportunity to have such a great trip. Oliver said his favorite part was hanging out with cousins. It’s true, the family interaction that we’ve missed all of these months was the best. 

Always moving

I remember when Elsie was little and I could get 15-20 cute pics as I held her close or put her down in the good light. 

Fast forward several months to now. Getting a pic is no easy feat. This girl wants to be on the move, or grab the camera, or pinch my nose. She’s a blur!

But that smile, that laugh, those 6 (almost 10) teeth! You may not be able to see her clearly, but you can certainly feel the joy she exudes!

Kids!

Here are some tidbits of kid happenings lately. I tell you what, it’s continuously entertaining over here. 

Elsie has a turbo version of her walk. If you say “I’m coming to get you!” or “Let’s change that diaper!” or “What’s in your mouth?” She goes on supa speed and its accompanied by the cutest little laugh. 

Ian is making the neatest and most hilarious four year old observations. One morning we were talking about privileges. Ian turned his head to me and asked with all sincerity, “What are privileges mom? Toots?” 

Ansel came home the other day wondering what energy drinks are. I explained to them that they are high sugar, high electrolyte, caffeine drinks that usually don’t taste all that good. He then explained, “someone at school said that if you mix energy drinks with Mountain Dew, you can live to be 2000 years old.” I asked him what he thought about that, to which he replied, “I know that’s not true. And you’d have to drink a lot of energy drinks.”

Oliver soaks up information like a sponge. Lately, he’s been learning about ancient civilizations in his social studies class and now he’s onto modern wars. We got talking. “Who’s assassination was the impetus for World War I?” I asked, knowing that maybe his name included a Ferdinand(?). Oliver told me the name was Franz Ferndinand. Nice going Ash, you knew that, I thought to myself, and then I asked, “Where was he from? Spain?” He answered, “Are you joking mom? Does Franz sound like a Spanish name? He was from Austria.” Well, I can’t know it all. But, the thing is, Oliver almost does.

It’s constant movement over here. Lots of this and that and the other thing going on. One day Oliver was doing homework, I was reading and watching kiddos. Ansel came home from school and knocked on the locked door.. “I’ll get it!” Ian exclaimed and rushed to unlock the door, swinging it open with great aplomb. Elsie happened to be directly in the path of that swinging door. Bang! It hit the front of her head and then Bang! She fell back and hit the back of her head. A “Goodness gracious!” came out of my mouth as Oliver came from the other room with “what happened?” as Ansel entered with surprise and Ian explained, “I didn’t mean too. I’m sorry!” I grabbed Elsie and she quieted down as we made fun faces at her and rubbed her head and back. Then it was back to normal. Oliver finishing up his work. Ansel gearing up for practice and asking if he can play with a friend beforehand. Ian shoeless and wanting to go ride his bike. Constant movement. Constant movement. Onto the next thing.