Woodworking Adventures

While Mom and Dad were at Disney World, William enjoyed the weekend staying with family friends, Van and Lori, our former next door neighbors.   Not only did he get his puppy fix with Rosie-time, but he spent the better part of the weekend learning how to use Van's lathe and making us this beautiful bowl!   We are so grateful he had this experience!

Florida Sunshine Escape

John and I celebrated 25 years together this month.    We were due for an adults only getaway, so of course we picked Disney World!   Ok...maybe not the most obvious choice for most couples.   But we stayed at the Yacht Club Resort and enjoyed much more time at Epcot than we do on a typical family vacation.

Friday:

We arrived late afternoon to beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. Honestly, my weekend was made right there!  Our evening was spent doing a full lap of World Showcase to check out all the Festival of the Arts booths - both food/drink as well as art!  William and I had been here one time before during the festival, but it was John's first visit.  

The evening concluded with a lovely anniversary dinner on the Boardwalk at Trattoria al Forno.  The meal was almost a disappointment when our "Valentine's Special" steak came out inedible.  But we pointed it out to the waiter and the chef made it right.   

Saturday:

Thanks to our decision to sleep in after that carb loaded late night dinner, we arrived at Magic Kingdom mid-morning and our plan to not right many rides was realized.   There really isn't any good way to tour when you don't arrive early!   We rode our favorite Space Mountain, took a lap on the People Mover to see the Tron construction, ate some snacks, did some shopping, rode Splash Mountain, and then headed back to the hotel for the pool.

Yacht & Beach Club have the best pool on property.  It's a veritable water park.   It was 80 and sunny on a Saturday in February, and the Boardwalk pool was closed so those guests also had access.   The result was a crowded pool!  But honestly, I had planned on just using the "quiet pool" on the other side of the resort, so we grabbed our drinks and late lunch at the pool bar and took them over there.   I loved just kicking around in the warm water and reminiscing about springtime when we can open our pool

Our evening was a late dinner reservation at Raglan Road where we enjoyed fish and chips and closed down the place.  We had a great seat to watch and listen to the entertainment.    It was a really high energy place - even at 10 p.m. when we were seated for our dinner!

Sunday:

We closed out the trip with a lap through Hollywood Studios for lunch (couldn't miss the Brown Derby Cobb Salad) and then an afternoon at our favorite park, Animal Kingdom.  There's nothing better than walking around the park with a Mo'ara margarita (Lisa) and Old Elephant Foot IPA (John) to watch all the animals and events.   Our safari started a little slow, as it appeared to be cleaning time in several sections, so the animals were offstage.   But the lions were awake and interacting with one another, which was a real treat!   Then we spent a lot of time watching the gorillas (including a baby and a toddler) on the Gorilla Falls Trail.   We ended the evening with a lovely dinner at Tiffin's before leaving for a horrendous delay at the airport.    It wasn't horrible, but no one wants to spend 8 p.m. - midnight on Super Bowl Sunday sitting at the airport waiting on a delayed flight to get you home at 3 a.m.  

Snow, Snow and More Snow

I don't have much to say about this besides documenting that it snowed SO MUCH this winter!   It was absolutely beautiful in our yard.   And thankfully I didn't have to commute if I didn't need/want to thanks to hybrid work.  And for the really bad days, All Saints cancelled school.  And they don't do remote learning.  It's just a fun snow day for the kids.   

These pictures all posted in opposite order but the point is...SNOW!

February 6:  William and John McNulty had fun sledding at Rotary Hill and fort building along our driveway

February 2 and 3:  the animal tracks across the front porch and William earning his shoveling stripes

January 29:  sunrise over the backyard as viewed from the master bath

January 27:   Christmas decorations and our owl friend in his perch.   That's him on the branch jutting left toward the house, roughly even with the bottom of the light that is under the peak of the roof line.

January 24:  Daytime snow pictures

January 23:  fresh coyote tracks as viewed from William's bedroom window.

January 22:  the owl cleaning its feet/claws after a tasty snack.  We are standing in our garage to watch this 

January 15:  Rosie was here for a sleepover and loved playing fetch in the snow!   We played for 3 minutes at a time so neither of us would freeze!  

January 9:  Our driveway doubling as an ice rink:

January 7:  it was cold.  We stayed inside and watched movies!

January 5:  school day, but snowy, but fun because Rosie arrived.

January 1 and 2:  Starting the new year with new snow.   I took a lot of pictures because I had no idea that there would be snow to photograph nearly every day for the next 7 weeks!