Disney World's Magic Kingdom

 Our second day had us journeying to Disney World to spend the day at Magic Kingdom.  A month before I woke up early to schedule our Fast Passes being able to find slots for two ride on our to-do-list; Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain.  At some point in the day, Thunder Mountain broke down making us have to give up those Fast Passes for another ride.  Embracing technology allowed us to monitor on the ride app if and when the ride became up and running.  Shortly after lunch it was so off to stand in line I went while John rode the carousel with the kids.  By the time they arrived the wait had gone from 35 minutes to 105 minutes!  While doing this, my good friend and her family were waiting in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a total of 3.5 hours before they got on!  At the end of the day we did everything we came to do plus some.  Of course there were some rides we didn't even talk about doing and so a return trip is likely in our future but not for several years.

 An oldie but goodie... The Jungle Cruise.

 Taking a break from walking had us stop and enjoy The Tiki Room.  Victoria likes the female birds while Micah enjoyed the chanting totem poles.

 The Haunted Mansion was the first ride for which we had to stand in line.  Regardless we arrived during a fluke as the wait for us was the same as the Fast Pass holders... 10 minutes.  John had to keep repeating to Micah that the ghosts were nothing more than projectors.  That made two of them scared with one (Victoria) loving our hitch-hiker ghost at the end.

 Another set of twins!

 For lunch we dined at Cinderell's castle.  Seeing all the princesses great the tables was a delight for Victoria.  Izzy, who at times tries to seem older and not interested, just couldn't hold back either by the time the princesses arrived to our table.  Micah tolerated them better than I thought and didn't mind being in the pictures as long as he could wear his hat.

 Dessert for the kids was design your own cupcakes.  Great idea for entertainment.

 John was not entirely expecting the level of food for adults making for everyone giving this experience two thumbs up.  John's selection - beef tenderloin and buttered shrimp.  We both enjoyed our lunch and dessert selections.

 My dessert selection.... Jaq & Gus - amaretto cheesecake with almond crust and macerated peaches.  So delectable....

 One of our tradition is to bring home a set of Mickey's ears with their names embroidered on the back.  We were displeased with the choices of ears this time around.  It was hard for me to know if that was due to the fact that the demand for ears has declined or we were there at the wrong time.  After talking to a shop worker were learned that the ears change depending on the season or events.  We were in-between the choices.  Thus we opted for something a bit out of the box.  John pointed out that this made our trip here unique for our ear collection despite note getting our name embroidered on them.  Each demonstrated everyone's personality to a T.  Micah received more comments from Disney staff and was called "dapper" on more than one occasion.  This may be a look for him.

 Splash Mountain was where we learned of Micah's new dislike of flume rides after his experience from Sea World.  As he didn't get too wet on this ride, he's rethinking his dislike.

 We are done!  Before heading back to the hotel for a much needed nap, Mickey treats were in order.

 That evening we ate at Chef Mickey's to meet a few characters before heading back to Magic Kingdom for night rides.  We wanted to see the Main Street Electrical Parade but this was disbanded recently.  Instead Disney has an Electric Water Pageant.  This plus utter exhaustion for the twins prompted them to head back to the hotel for a much needed good nights sleep.  Izzy and I met up with my good friend, Jess, and her daughter, Quinn, for a bit of fun before the park closed.

 Quinn and Izzy were like long lost twins in so many areas.  I know Izzy was so looking forward to hanging out with Quinn.  We had one hour before the park closed and were able to pack in 3 rides; Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain.  Hard to believe we got through those lines in one hour.  I guess putting rides that have longer lines during the day to right before the park closes is one way to do it.

 The following day the kids hung out by the pool before heading off to our next adventure.  They are definitely my kids as all they wanted to do is swim.  Oma & Opa, does that sound familiar.... I don't care where we stay as long as it has a pool!

Sea World

 February School Vacation week had us head to Florida for a jam packed week.  After flying in the night before at midnight to avoid unpredictable weather cancelations, we headed to Sea World.  This was a great place spend a relaxing day strolling around without surprisingly long waiting lines given our late morning arrival after sleeping in.

 Journey to Atlantis was everyone's favorite save for Micah.  I was a bit surprised by the intensity of this flume ride.  Micah and I sat in the front and ended up soaking wet.  We dried off effortlessly given the delightful 80 degree day.  But the ride soured Micah on flume rides which we learned later in the week.

 Antarctica, Empire of the Penguins received many ohs and ahs from the girls. I think I heard Victoria say "their so cute" over and over again.  Our time there was short as we all felt as if we were actually in Antarctica and desperately wanted to go back to Florida weather.

 Carousels are one of Victoria's favorite rides no matter where we go.  Whether big or small, she loves them all.

 My favorite part of Sea World was their shows.  Giggles were abundant at Sea Lion High.  Before the show, the mime kept everyone entertained while awaiting the show to begin.  To our delight, the mime was even in the show.  The show centered on Seamore and Clyde getting their diplomas with a bit of mayhem from a fellow class mate. 

 Lunch time for Seamore and Clyde.

 A key player was the otter who stole the answer key for the final exam.

 The ultimate show was One Ocean showcasing the Orcas.  I still get shivers when I look at these pictures.  They are simply majestic.  I'm grateful that the Orcas are still part of SeaWorld so my children have a chance to see them.  This is the closest any of us will come to them.  No more Orcas will be added to Sea World so it is only a matter of time before this will be a memory.

 Because we arrived only minutes before the show, the only seats available were those in the splash section or high up.  We elected to sit in the splash section.  To showcase the strength of these animals, the trainers asked them to jump and splash us.  As soon as they began, the boys (Micah & John) went running for cover.  Ironically Victoria didn't blink and eye and sat there bouncing up and down excited to have the Orcas bring on the water.  Once Izzy saw Victoria wasn't moving, she was more inclined to stay put and even moved up two rows.

 When the show was over, one of the trainer brought his toddler son down to see the Orcas.  The Orcas keep swimming in the area close to them.  The kids hovered in that area to watch them a bit closer.

 For lunch we ate at the Sharks Underwater Grill.  On our way there we encountered the barracudas.  Always fun given our last names.

What a way to start off our school vacation week.  Shamu even came home with us.  Oh the looks we received everywhere we went including the flight home.

Jay Peak, VT

Spending a weekend at Jay Peak is becoming a tradition for us.  When the winter set in, the kids started asking if we were going to Jay Peak again this year.  This year we headed out early to beat the rush hour traffic making our drive 2 hours less! 

 While Micah & Victoria attended ski school, Izzy attended John school.  John was on the ski team in college.  This added to his teaching abilities makes him a patient ski instructor which is what Izzy needed.  The first half hour was typical anxious Izzy including a few tears... "I'm not good at this", "Why am I doing this", "You're better than I am", etc...  John took her to an open, flat area to work on her skills.  In the midst of her lesson, she then announced "Wanna race to the bottom?" with John then taking off after her.  The rest of the time John and Izzy enjoyed green and blue courses.  They even "got lost" at one point.  At the end of the day Izzy had a blast and is ready to do it over again.

 Victoria's main enjoyment with skiing is being called my Snow Bunny.  Regardless, she does pretty good but is certainly not a daring skier.

 Micah did well enough this year to be solo with his own instructor.  He'll be on the regular slopes before Victoria.

 While Micah and Victoria were at Ski School, I attended Snow Boarding School.  There were a total of 7 adults including me.  I even road the magic carpet up with Micah once.  So fun and humbling to be in the same area as kids.  They are fearless learners while adults are timid.  That shows in how quickly they can attains skinning/snowboarding skills.  I very much enjoyed snow boarding and would do it again.  It was much kinder on my knee than skiing and more protective being on the board together with me other knee.

The highlight at Jay Peak continues to be their phenomenal water park.  We are going to try and convince Oma to join us a some point as the lazy river here is amazing.  I don't think we would be able to get her out of the river at the end of the day! 

 Micah's favorite again this year was the Flow Rider.  The instructor was assertively encouraging which was helpful for everyone.

 He even went out with Izzy to help her learn how the kneel on the board.

Izzy was daring and did La Chute (red slide) with John.  La Chute stands 65' in the air, drops you with speeds reaching 45 miles/hour and a full 360 degree rotation.  All this in 6 seconds.  She was quick in saying she wasn't going to do this again in the near future.

Another year wrapped up at Jay Peak!





Happy Valentine's Day

 It was requested by school that Valentine's not be candy or food.  To the drawing board we went this past weekend to come up with non-edible Valentine's.  The girls decided to make their own crayons.  What an adventure this turned out to be.  Nearly 200 crayons required unwrapping and broken into smaller pieces.  We then filled hear shaped silicon molds and melted them in the oven.  This process was repeated until we have ~50 heart crayons.  In addition they made smaller crown and heart crayons to add to the bigger ones.

 So many colors!

 While the girls and I were busy making crayons, John and Micah created his Matchbox car Valentine's.  In the lot was one motorcycle which he coveted hoping he had extras left over to keep for himself.

 Our finished crayons.  I loved so many of the color combinations the girls came up with.

 Making Valentine's can be exhausting.  We needed a break!

 This was Micah's favorite crayon as it reminded him of camouflage.

 School Valentine's are completed!  We then discovered that several students in each class ignored the no food/treat request and handed out candy.  Nice to see some things never change.

 We the finished celebrating with a Valentine themed dinner thanks to John's creative side.  The finishing piece was individual cake pops.  Yummy!

Halfway Day

 Another fun school milestone is halfway day.  This is the halfway point of the school year.  Kids are encouraged to dress representing the theme "halfway".  In order to do so, they pay a fee; 50 cents which is then donated to the local "halfway house".  The kids enjoy watching their halfway day outfits come to life.  The finishing touches include different shoes and colored hair.