8th Grade

Back to school too soon!  This year William is an 8th grader, which means the last year at All Saints and starting to plan for high school.   Before we get there we have a fall full of cross country, volleyball, math competitions, and what I'm guessing is going to be a lot of homework!

Disney Princess Trip

 While William was away on his big adventures, John and I didn't want to sit at home and be lonely!   So we headed to Disney World to join the Koudeles on their Disney Princess Trip.   It was the much anticipated reschedule from summer 2020 for Addie to finally get her turn at Disney.   Aiden had his turn at that age when the boys went for a Halloween trip in October 2017.   It was fun being part of the Princess Crew and seeing our framily.  

I love this picture of Aiden.   I also bet him $20 if he'd wear the helmet throughout the day.   It wasn't very nice of me because it was super hot, but he was game for awhile.  Though he totally bailed when we encountered some Stormtrooper and other Resistance officers!   I gave him his $20 anyway....eventually.

We got tons of Photopass photos since I had already paid for the full year with my annual pass.   Everyone linked in my account can get photos on it, and then I can download all of them.   The Koudeles got there earlier than we did, so I had fun monitoring my Disney Experience App for princess photos like the Elsa one.   That's The One we'd all been waiting to see!

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House and had rooms that were pretty close.  We could see each other from our balconies.   And even more importantly:  we could see giraffe from our balconies!  We came back one night and there were so many animals right outside our doors!  I don't know what tasty treats they had put out for them but it was very exciting to see such a dense group.   

I got this picture I love of the baby gorilla at Animal Kingdom Park...our favorite exhibit!  This must be Ada.  She looks so tiny!  Later out at the Tree of Life, John was happy to be among the 6-footers with curly hair when the macaws came swooping in looking for a place to land.   Spoiler alert:  they didn't touch John!    

On our arrival day at Epcot, we got to ride Guardians of the Galaxy for the first (and second) time!  It is a super fun - and smooth - coaster but something about it makes me dizzy afterwards unlike any other ride.   So I don't think it lands in my top 5 Disney World rides after all.   We had dinner at Teppan Edo, an Aiden pick.  This made me a little sad about not having William along, as it's his favorite, too. 

When everyone else went back to ride more thrill rides, Addie and I hit up the gift shop and then Club Cool where I played the age-old Beverly trick on her.   As she believes Aunt Lisa to be The Disney Expert, she didn't question me for a second.  I only felt a tiny twinge of guilt when she made her sour face!   I'm pretty sure I bought her a donut or ice cream or something as we waited out the rest of our time.  :-)

On our Magic Kingdom Day, we had ressies to have lunch with Cindy!   The rest of the princesses are on hiatus, but we got a family photo with Cinderella at the entrance and then enjoyed our fancy lunch upstairs.  The food was better than I was expecting.   We've had both breakfast (in 2015) and dinner (my 40th birthday) there and they were great.  I just wasn't sure what to expect from the scaled back service at a lunch.  But the waitress seemed to really appreciate that we were food lovers and a bit adventurous, and that we weren't just a table of tired and distracted tourists.  So she gave us lots of feedback on menu choices and even brought me two appetizers when I couldn't decide which one to get.

It was a lot of fun exploring Disney through new eyes!   We're glad at least two of the three of us were available for Addie's rescheduled trip!

William's Big Adventures

For the second year, William was invited by Grandpa Roger to join him on his fishing trip to Lake of the Woods at Ballard's Resort.  It was a great adventure before heading back to school.   This year we had all the grandparents involved in his travel.   First leg of the trip was to fly William on Southwest Airlines for the quick trip from Chicago Midway to Kansas City.  Grandpa Ed was already waiting for him at the gate before the plane took off, and I was pulling into the driveway when I got the text message that he had him.  After two nights in KC visiting Lohrmans (and Coco the dog!), the grandpas met halfway between their cities to do a hand-off.     

In McPherson, William always enjoys some pool at the Veranda Clubhouse.   He did all his usual routines with grandma and grandpa before the guys got on the bus for the LONG trip to Minnesota.  Neither he nor grandpa got the whoppers like the year prior that got him the headliner photo in the 2022 marketing materials, but it was another grand adventure!   And I was very eager to collect him from his Wichita to O'Hare American Airlines flight to end the trip.   He checked off a lot of modes of transportation in just over a week!  

Early morning photo courtesy of William

Cousins Camp

 Last summer, the boys got to vacation and have their pool time in Florida at the beach house we rented.  It was an awfully long drive for two short days at the beach versus how much fun they had playing in the pool.   So this year we were glad to have the pool and just have Jake come stay with us!  Plus then the grandparents could come visit and catch two grandsons for a two-fer.

Pool, fire pit, eating outside, and video games were on tap for the two of them.  Once Grandpa Ed arrived, he schooled all of us in some pool basketball!

The boys and I also did a day trip to Chicago to the Museum of Science and Industry including the Lego bricks exhibit which was really cool.  I fed them well, as well.  Before we left we had brunch at a new Brookdale diner.   And on our way back home we stopped in Oak Brook at The Cheesecake Factory for a massive lunch.   I was then subjected to 20 minutes of toilet humor on the rest of the ride home. 

 

The boys wanted to do the VR which was fine.  I was most excited about the U-Boat tour.  We've done it before but the subject fascinates me and I learn something new every time!