Day at Magic Kingdom

We were up early on Saturday, May 9th.  Magic Kingdom opened earlier at 8am on a Saturday, so we wanted to be there right as it opened, which we did.  We were up at 6am to get dressed and eat breakfast, the called a Lyft to take us over to the park (about 30 minutes away).  

Entering Magic Kingdom parking lot from our Lyft.  Then taking the Monorail over to the park.

We made it!  Bubbles as we walk down Main Street and getting a picture in front of the castle.  

We went left in the park first, as it doesn't open for Early Entry, so we were hoping it would be less busy, which it was.  We walked straight onto our first ride, Pirates of the Caribbean.  I had booked our Lightning Lanes 3 days before, so we had a plan to maximize our time.

On the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, all by ourselves.

The umbrella we hid under last October when it down-poured on us.

Riding Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride next at 8:30am.  We used a Lightning Lane for this one just to "tap" in, so we could then "tap" into another Lightning Lane for later.

Then we walked right onto Jungle Cruise.

Then we walked right onto Tiana's!

Then we waited in line for the new Big Thunder Mountain.  It has been closed for 2 years, getting refurbished.  We were all so excited to go on it again.  Hudson was tall enough now to go on it, too!

Parade!  Front row!

Fun pictures on our way to the Haunted Mansion.  

Diane by "Aunt Florence!" (Her first name is Florence, but she goes by Diane).

Haunted Mansion pics.

Unfortunately, the ride shut down for like 15-20 minutes, so we were stuck in one spot w/ the same things going over and over again.  Thankfully, it started moving again, and we were out.  We then went back to Tiana's Place since we had it on a Lightning Lane pass, and we all love that ride!

Tiana's the 1st time, then the 2nd time.

We got wet, especially the boys.  We had officially completed the left side of the park, so it was now time for lunch!  Pretty flowers in the park.  Then all of us squished into the People Mover.  Silly Carter.

Nyles pushing his brothers in the double stroller.  Then to Monster's Laugh Floor.  Ironically, they spotlighted everyone in our group, and Nyles got to talk to them.  It was super funny!

Steve entered this joke, and it was read to the group, his favorite dad joke:

We then did Space Mountain. It was Hudson's first time, as he was finally tall enough to go on it!  

He absolutely loved it!

We also tried the NEW Buzz Lightyear game/ride.  I booked a Lightning Lane for that in our initial choice 3 days before.  It was also refurbished and just reopened.  It is a lot more fun than the old one in that you can move the guns more to shoot, and the color matches your gun so you can tell you actually shot the target.

Diane and Hudson, and Carter and Nyles.

Hudson and Carter got to get a picture w/ Dale as he was randomly walking through the park.  

He was so nice to stop by us and give the boys a hug :)

Teacups!  Steve and I sat that one out.

Hudson was eating a snack while we filled up water bottles, but fell asleep in the stroller :)  

We then stood in line for 7 Dwarfs.  Steve held Hudson for a while.

We saw a lizard and a squirrel while we were going through the line.  

They do have some interactive things while you go through the line, though.

More fun while we went through the line.

Carter and Hudson playing a game in line.

Crazy enough, we were just rounding the corner and going up the steep hill when the ride stopped!  We thought they were going to get it going again like they did at Haunted Mansion, but nope, they had to evacuate us completely.  They had to unlock every seat and helped us get off the ride.

Stuck on the ride, waiting for the cast member to come save us :)

Getting off the ride.  The ride stuck on the hill, empty, after we got off.  For the inconvenience, they basically gave us another Lightning Lane we could use on almost any ride.  

Nyles in front of Gaston's Tavern.  We took a bathroom break by it.  We had never been to this part of the park.  It was nice and quieter.  Then we tried the Little Mermaid ride for the first time.  Ironically is stopped for like 2 minutes, then started up again.  We were on a roll w/ rides stopping ;)

More of the Little Mermaid.  King Triton.

7 Dwarfs was still shut down for a bit, so the boys decided to go back to Space Mountain, while the girls went back to Buzz Lightyear (they are pretty close to each other, which was nice).

Cute Hudson just enjoying the ride the 2nd time!  Carter loving it too!

Diane and I doing Buzz Lightyear for the 2nd time.  New highs for both of us!

Buzz Lightyear fun.

Diane and I at Buzz Lightyear.  Walking past the castle, people getting ready for fireworks.

We then did Pirates of the Caribbean one more time w/ a Lightning Lane, then we made our way out.  They had a glow-in-the-dark parade happening as we were working on exiting.

Pirates was our very first ride of the day, then our very last ride of the day.

Silly boys as we waited for our Lyft ride back to the hotel.  

We decided to have him drop us off at Denny's directly, so we didn't have to walk more haha.  

We then walked back to the hotel.  After a quick shower, we all fell quickly asleep.

We had a super fun, long day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.  It was our 4th time there, but our first on a Saturday.  I was a little worried about it being super busy, but ironically, it wasn't too bad, and we actually had our most productive day there ever!  We started right at 8am and went until about 9pm.  We were able to hit up a few rides twice and used the Lightning Lanes as we went, very efficiently.  We also didn't backtrack much and were able to do sections at a time instead of going back and forth all day.  We're very grateful for people who share "tricks" on how to make your day more productive, as it seems to have worked!  We were super exhausted by the end, but we all had a great time.  The food at Denny's was actually really good and hit the spot!  We were excited for the next day to board the ship!

Leaving to Orlando

I took work off on Thursday, May 7th, so we could pack.  Then on Friday, May 8th, we left on our trip to Orlando.  Our neighbor Karolen came with us, then drove our car home and put it away.  Chandler dropped Diane off as Dave had surgery earlier and was still recovering.

At the airport, ready to go!

Getting on our first flight.  We grabbed some pizza for a late lunch before our next flight during our layover in Austin, then we were off again.

We then took the hotel shuttle over to our hotel close to the airport.  

Then we walked over to Denny's for a late dinner.

Carter's pretty picture at Denny's.  Cool picture of Walt Disney in our hotel (made from keyboard letters).  Coming out of Denny's happy :)  The food was actually REALLY good!

After we got back to the hotel, we got ready for bed and went to sleep.  We were going to have an early morning to get over to Magic Kingdom.

First Week of May

Here are some highlights of the week leading up to when we left on our cruise. 

We had a hurt deer in our front yard one morning.  Steve called around to different people/organizations, and someone finally came out to look at it from DWS.  They then they said to call animal control.  They ended up scaring it off, and it went to another neighbor's yard down the street down.

A hurt deer in our front yard.  

Steve letting the kids climb into the shopping cart at Sam's Club.  Nyles reused the poster he had from last year to run again for student council.  We just took a new picture, reglued it on, and colored the letters again.  Nyles said many of the kids remembered his "Wanted poster" so we figured why not use it again?  Done and done! 

Our cruise daily countdown.  Cute Hudson and Tate walking over to our house (I'm looking out our bedroom front window as I work upstairs).

On Tuesday, it was Cinco de Mayo.  Steve was at our house w/ YM's again, so Hudson and I went over to the park.  They had a mariachi band playing, which was fun.  Hudson also got his face painted.

The band playing.

Hudson practicing at T-ball on Wednesday.

Beautiful irises all around the yard.

Nyles final band concert Thursday night.  They did awesome!  

Hudson for crazy hat day.  The hair was extra, but went w/ the hat ie Jack Sparrow ;)

Nyles and the band playing the theme song from How to Train Your Dragon.

Great quotes:

Last Week of April, start of May

Here are some updates from the last week of April.

Nyles accidentally burned a pizza in the air fryer.  It got cold enough we had ice on the water table.  Steve, Nyles, Carter and Rob went and watched a movie Tuesday night called, "Project Hail Mary."  Steve and I watched it a couple weeks before to make sure it was good for the boys to watch, which it was.  They $5 Tuesdays.

Steve took Hudson to the Clark Planetarium downtown at the Gateway w/ his class on Wednesday.  

They've been learning about outer space, our solar system, and planets.

They got to watch a movie about space as well at the Planetarium.  Cute Hudson.

Hudson's t-ball team had some practice hitting the ball and catching.

Nyles and the cast for the play Beauty and the Beast had a party to celebrate their accomplishment of finishing the play.  This is a picture of all the kids who participated in the play.

Cute Hudson.  Steve took him down to Thanksgiving Point at the Farm Park.  

Steve helped Rob's brother cut down a tree in their front yard, as it was rotting.  

Saturday, Steve took the boys to Lagoon while I stayed home and cleaned.

Cute Hudson w/ his solar system he made in preschool.  

Later at Jeff/Kim's house for family dinner, playing w/ the Wolverine claws.

Great quotes:

4th Week of April

We had a little busier week this week, especially Nyles.  He had play practice on Monday and Tuesday nights, after school, until 6pm.  Then he had his official play performances Thursday and Friday night, along w/ 2 times at 1pm and 4 pm on Saturday.  

 Monday evening, Steve and I went over to the Aquarium for a little bit to walk around and see the animals.  Thankfully most of the animals were out and active. 

Having fun at the Aquarium.

I worked in the office the whole week.  My boss came in from Texas on Monday evening.  Then on Tuesday night, we went out to dinner as a team to celebrate the retirement of our coworker.  His official last day of work will be May 1st.  We're excited for his next chapter in life, but will miss having him on our team.  Steve had YM's on Tuesday night.  They were playing street hockey at the church.  Since I was gone all day, Carter and Hudson went with him to the activity.  

Wednesday evening, Hudson started another round of T-ball.

We had some ducks hanging out on our front yard.  Hudson also found a ladybug.  

I went to the Draper Temple and did initiatories.

On Friday, Hudson got to go meet the Kindergarten teacher's at Altara Elementary.  

He was pretty excited to go, and also be at Carter's school!

 Hudson is ready for Kindergarten!  The Mammoth Hockey Team is in the playoffs.  They released the Zammoth out front the Delta Center on Friday, which I saw going to and from work. 

Friday morning, Nyles went and competed at the State competition for his project, "The 18 day miracle," about the first heart transplant.  They all did awesome, but unfortunately, no one advanced on to nationals.  We're proud of Nyles' hard work and getting this far, all on his own.

Lincoln Herd and Nyles worked together on their project.  Other students who competed from his class.  Nyles trying to rock climb in his suit ;)

Friday evening, we went and watched Nyles perform in his school play "Beauty and the Beast."  

He was Maurice, Belle's dad.  He did awesome, as did the whole crew!

Nyles playing Maurice in the play "Beauty and Beast."

Dave, Joann, Diane, and Rob also came to support him.  Great job Nyles!!!

Rose also came down Saturday, for the 1pm showing, so I hurried over and watched it w/ her.  

Nyles did an awesome job again!

Rose and I went back to where the cast was taking a break after the performance, and surprised Nyles.  Needless to say, he was completely surprised to see us there!  We appreciate everyone's love and support for Nyles!

After their last performance at 4pm, Steve picked him up and took Nyles to Chick-fil-A for dinner.  Most of the cast was there.  Apparently, it's a tradition after the play is over.

On Sunday, I went to a ward conference at 9am, then came over to our ward afterwards.  Steve had arranged our Stake Patriarch (who is in our ward), to speak about Patriarchal Blessings to the youth (both young women and men).  I listened in on the lesson, which was great.  We've been talking to Nyles about getting his, so we'll see when he feels ready.

That afternoon, we made baked chicken and veggies for dinner and went over to Dave/Joann's place.  I also made homemade bread, sourdough, and some cinnamon bread on Saturday, which we brought.  Dave picked up Carl (Joann's dad), to join us as well.  We played one round of Sleeping Queens before heading home. 

Diane's house has a roof now!  Steve and the boys being silly.  Carter drew Luniere from "Beauty and the Beast."  Nyles had them watch the original cartoon after church.

Great quotes:

3rd Week of April

We were all pretty much sick this past week (minus Nyles as he was sick the week before), so not much to report.  Carter had a cough the week before and it lingered into this week.  Steve was sick the weekend before also and went in on Monday and tested positive for Influenza B.  Hudson then tested positive on Wednesday, and I tested positive on Thursday.  Thankfully, I was working from home that week, so I was able to sleep in a little.  I even took a nap Thursday afternoon, as I was up the night before w/ a fever and chills.  Steve, Hudson and I were all put on Tamiflu, which we think helped to lessen our symptoms and shorten the duration of the flu.  I had late nights both Tuesday and Friday, which I managed through w/ cough drops and pain meds for my sore throat.  Thankfully Steve was able to get the boys to school, then came home and rested himself.  Here are some highlights. 

Nyles has been staying basically every night after school, getting ready for their school play.  They performed during school hours to a few elementary schools.  Next week is their official performances!  He's playing Maurice (Belle's dad) in Beauty and the Beast.  

Tuesday night Steve took the boys and the YM to watch the Mario movie.  Steve wore a mask.

I had energy until Thursday morning, then I was drained the rest of the week.  I did go on a few walks earlier in the week and got to enjoy the sunshine and pretty flowers around.  We have our first Irises in bloom now as well in the back yard.

Hudson w/ Steve and I at the Instacare Thursday morning, just playing w/ his snakes in the table :)  It snowed on Thursday as well, though it didn't really stick.

Steve and the boys were feeling better on Saturday, so they went to Lagoon for a few hours, while I stayed home and re-organized a few closets.

Nyles was on the honor roll again for this past quarter, way to go!

I stayed home from church on Sunday as well, resting.  My cute boys walking home after church.

Great quotes/scriptures: