Disney Jan-Feb 2022

 

Disney!!! We planned a quick Disney trip to take advantage of super-cheap airfare and wanted to be able to take Heidi before she starts high school! These pictures might get out of order a little because they are from Chris, Heidi, and myself - but it should be ok! 

The weather was interesting at Disney! The week started off with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s! It was COLD! We had some good winter gear and managed but it was funny to be in Florida and have falling iguana warnings on our phone!

Also, the trip started out ROUGH... first, it was little things, we normally have no issues with getting our plane seats together, but the flight was oversold and we were all in different rows. Heidi and I sat separately and Chris was able to convince a very nice gentleman to switch with him so he could sit with Lucy. Then it took an hour and 15 minutes to get out luggage! So hard just to sit there when we were planning on going to a park! We landed at like 8 in the morning and it is always hard to waste time in Florida. We finally received our luggage and were on our way. We were starving and grabbed some breakfast before stopping at the hotel to grab Chris' scooter. Chris is still dealing with a torn Achilles tendon and we knew he would not be able to walk all those steps. Plus, it could act as our bag carrier! Well, slight hiccup as the scooter place never delivered his scooter - a couple of long phone calls they were going to deliver it later in the morning. We decided we didn't want to wait and head into Magic Kingdom. By this time it was 10:30/11:00 and we all wanted our vacation to start!

Well...then the worse of it happened... on our way to Magic Kingdom, about a mile to go, a car pulled out of the Riverside resort in front of us - we slammed on our brakes, but then instead of speeding up out of the way - the driver stopped. He just stopped in the middle of our lane. There was nothing we could do. We ran into his side and then we got smacked from behind by another driver trying to stop as well. The air bags did not go off, so Chris did a good job and tried to stop as much as we could, but our car was leaking all sorts of stuff and was done for. The Disney road people were nice and we all had to fill out reports and figure it out. The girls were really scared and Lucy honestly did have a panic attack. Not the way we wanted to start.

We had to get on the phone with our Enterprise rental roadside assistance and it was a nightmare. The gentleman could not understand we were in Disney and he was confused and tried to send a replacement car to Dayton, Ohio, then Daytona Beach, and lord knows where else. I think back to the confusion and we really should have handled it on our own. We were so close to the Disney Car Care Center, we could have just driven there carefully and got a new one right away - oh well - lesson learned. Instead, we embarked into a 6-hour cluster of confusion, phone calls...so many phone calls, waiting, more waiting, and just being over it. They sent a not big enough Uber to get us, we had to get another Uber/Lyft, etc. Long long story short, we canceled our park reservation and headed back to the hotel to hopefully get a new car delivered. Well in the confusion - not only did Enterprise send 3 different tow trucks to get the car, but one had a new car at the airport for us and two others came to our hotel too late, and after we already got a new rental to give us one. By 3pm, we were all over it, National car rental stepped in and we took an Uber to the Disney Car Care center and they got us handled within 10 minutes. Luckily our hotel had some sympathy and got us checked in super early and shuttled us to our villa and were really nice and helpful!

We made our way to Disney Springs and really all relaxed at that point. That first Mickey Pretzel hit hard and was the best thing ever. We ended up having a wonderful dinner with some surprises - like free drinks and free dessert from sympathetic other patrons! The girls had cried too much that day and I was close to tears so many times - we were tired, beat up, and needed a reset button!

Here are some pictures out of order!

Lucy's new favorite slushy was a special 50th anniversary one at Magic Kingdom! She was in heaven!

Another special drink that Chris loved!

Heidi and I walking to Space Mountain, we caught Buzz right when he came out. I had him all to myself for 2 minutes before people realized he was out! It was a nice magical moment. 

You ask Heidi to take pictures - this is what you get!

We didn't buy the photo pass this time and I'm glad we didn't. Not as many photographers out in the parks.

Heidi's first ride on the Rock-N-Roller coaster at Hollywood Studios. She was HOOKED!

The crowds were at Disney for sure but that castle is sure pretty!

Proof they can get along!

Disney has added lights and several shows to the Epcot ball (Spaceship Earth) and they are wonderful! The pictures do not give it justice for how impressive it is in person!

Epcot had the Festival of the Arts and all the food was really pretty and artsy!

Okay, maybe Heidi sometimes got a little annoyed with Lucy!

We were able to ride the new Ratatouille Remy ride and it is really fun and cute!

We had to pivot our plans a little with the accident but managed to eat breakfast at a new restaurant at the Contemporary resort - it was SO good and my favorite breakfast place to date! Lucy had her Mickey Waffles of course, which is her must-do!

Another must-do is the Wookie Cookie for Chris!

Fun details from the roller coaster queue - like putting our names up in the posters!

We were able to snag a last-minute Olga's Cantina reservation for some delicious drinks and snacks!

Lucy wore a newer Olaf shirt from his new Disney + series - the Olaf was so awesome - he recognized the shirt and was jumping for joy. It was a really fantastic character interaction for sure!

Another last-minute change was we got to eat at Sci-Fi in the cars again. It is a simple burger place but consistent and good!

Lucy was excited to see a mini parade!

Snacks! So Many Snacks!

My Buzz Selfie

Masks weren't that bad, honestly, it was just chilly enough, you needed them for warmth. I only had one instance of overheating when we were shopping and the store AC was out. I got dizzy and had to sit down but besides that, it was easy!

So cool at night!

I think the girls liked the scooter more than daddy - they LOVED driving it!

Disney is just so pretty at night!

35-degree weather at this point...

We did a fireworks package to have drinks, dinner, and prime seats to watch the show. Besides being cold, it was perfect!

We didn't buy this piece as it was already sold and very expensive, but we DID buy some art! It is being shipped to us. We bought a mickey and a muppet piece! I can't wait for them to arrive! The artist signed our muppet piece for us!

One change from COVID I like is there are just way more random characters in the park. It makes it so much easier to see them and do a quick photo!

The food really was delicious! We got all of this again it was so good!

Pooh!

That Mickey pretzel can hit so good!

Us recovering from the accident and crappy day with some really delicious cakes!

Love that ball!

The scooter that we learned to love and appreciate!

This was us waiting for our replacement car that never came - well technically it did a few hours later but we had already solved it ourselves!

Remy's ride!

Random pic of our car...

After the accident...

But things got brighter! Ready to ride the roller coaster!

Lucy and I driving the Millennium Falcon... we sucked... but it was fun!

Heidi was all ready to go fetch the scooter...

Me in my amazing potato head sweatshirt and after consuming 3 martinis at our fantastic lunch!

Free dessert someone gave us!

Whew - I think that is it... We will always have a great time at Disney and we rolled with the punches for sure! There is no such thing as a slow time at Disney any more - the crowds are back, but we know how to navigate them. Until next time...

A Puppy Birthday & New Couch

 

We actually have a picture of Heidi! She had picture day at volleyball and received their official uniforms. We are very excited for their tournaments to begin!

Lucy B and Heidi are looking WAY too old!

The packing has begun! This week we will prep everything for our vacation and we are very excited to go!

It has kept on snowing here... we have a lot of snow, but the roads aren't bad, so I actually don't mind. The boys are having fun in the snow!

Lucy had cheer and the girls are too cute - I can get them to stand still but they have a lot of energy!

We have a new couch! We replaced my chair first to try it out. We are IN LOVE with it! I already measured and figured out what we should get for the other couch of course! It is very comfortable, you can rearrange it as needed and everything is washable. All three of us girls share it with no problem. I also caught Chris hanging out on it as well. We are waiting for the big sale prior to purchasing but hopefully, that happens sooner than later.

You do assemble the couch yourself, which took some effort, but in the end - it was worth it! 

And Rizzo is 1! He is still tiny and very spunky but a great dog. It will be interesting to see how he calms down a little (they all do) and maybe he will grow - but I have a feeling he will forever be tiny!

Lastly, Heidi got a lesson on how to snow blow a driveway. Our neighbors were out of town and we cleared their driveway for them. Lucy of course got to play in the snow instead!

Snow...

Well... The COVID portion is done for now for us - we have all recovered... BUT I managed to get a sinus infection shortly after COVID... I now have antibiotics and nasal sprays and hope to recover quickly. The doctor even laughed, the last medicine on record was from 2017 - it has been a while!

We ran errands this weekend before the snow came and then we were bums... I did not take any pictures as I don't feel well... but we didn't do anything either. It was a MISSION to find tennis shoes in the girl's sizes at stores - we finally found Lucy's randomly at Kohl's after striking out at places like Dicks and DSW... Heidi we couldn't find anything and ended up ordering them! The stores had no inventory and it was very frustrating...plus, I'm not going to buy $200 special Nike shoes for her to run in and wear to Disney (don't worry - Heidi didn't want them) but those were the only ones in her size!

Lucy enjoying her day off of school on MLK day. I had the day off too which was appreciated since I am still sick. 

It snowed... there are drifts of over 2 feet of snow... 

Rizzo wasn't so sure and the wind would blow and almost take him out!

He turns one this week! He is still tiny and we call him our forever puppy!

We are just 10 days away from our vacation - need to pack, get better, and survive the snow!

 

COVID

We made it almost 2 years avoiding COVID - but it got us! Chris started showing signs first and he thought it was just a sinus infection... well to be safe, he took tests which all came back negative until Monday night - it was finally positive. It wasn't positive until well into day two of symptoms! We isolated as we could but it was too little too late...

I would take steps every morning and see if anyone even had a sniffle or a tickle in their throat and always nothing. When the symptoms came on - they came on suddenly and quickly. Lucy in the middle of the night and myself - randomly between meetings. Heidi lasted the longest without showing any signs, I really thought she would avoid it because she naturally isolates being a teenager - nope - it finally got her Friday. 

We are all home and doing better. It comes in waves. You can feel pretty darn good and a half-hour later - have the chills and be down for the count. Lucy can technically go back to school tomorrow, but we have tests ready to give tonight to see if that can even happen. Heidi can't go until Wednesday, which I'm guessing I won't send them back until they can go together. 

Lots of movies have been watched, legos and naps. I am happy that if we were going to get it, it is now versus closer to vacation. Fingers crossed this week goes well and we can get back to normal!