Tales From My House: Last Week of Summer Break

We always try and do something fun the week before the school year begins. In Maryland, we would let the kids choose one activity each. Generally, small things, like a trip to Bruster's or the Marine Museum. This year, Thomas and I decided on a fun week of surprises. But, we still had to work and there was a lot going on, which meant we had to scuttle a couple of activities. Monday, we went to the library and Sweet Tomatoes.

Tuesday was Jack and Anna's back to school night. We picked everyone up from camp and went to the middle school. It was a zoo! I was not prepared for the crowds. Jack was placed in all advanced classes. However, reviewing a Powerpoint for incoming students, it looks like the advanced classes are more average. In other words, if you get a passing score on the FCAT, you go into "advanced." If you fail the FCAT, you are in "average." There are no remedial classes. Anna was in advanced language arts, but average everything else. The Powerpoint also said if you get a 3, 4 or 5 in language arts on the FCAT, you should have advanced English, Science, and History. Obviously, our kids didn't take the FCAT, but they took the PARCC, which according to Google, is somewhat analogous. And, Anna got a 5 in Language Arts--the highest possible score. She is also a mostly A student, with a couple of Bs. Her math was a 4. So, her schedule didn't seem right. I e-mailed the counselor who said she would change her schedule--if there was room, but I have not heard anything back. It's not the end of the world, but it is annoying.

So, Tuesday we all went to the 6th grade back-to-school night and then out to dinner again. We also went to Jeremiah's, which is a delicious Italian Ice place. Wednesday was a movie/popcorn night at home. We watched Hercules. We were going to swim, but it was lightening.

Thursday, was Luke and Kara's meet the teacher. They both seemed very nice. But, again, I found myself missing Maryland. Luke was going to be with Ms. Thanhauser (Jack's amazing K teacher) and my friend Amanda. Kara would be in her final year at a school she'd attended since pre-K. After 6 years, we knew the routine and most of the teachers/staff. Now. we are starting over. So, even though I know it is a great school, it just didn't feel like our school. Fortunately, Kara's teacher is new this year, so at least the teacher won't know everyone but her. Which, is also true of Luke, since he is beginning Kindergarten.

Thursday, after dinner, we went to Hollywood Studios. We had fast passes for Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. After we did those, we went to the Launch Bay and looked at Star Wars stuff, then we decided to see what the wait was for Slinky Dog. It was down to 55 minutes (it had been 120 when we did Toy Story Mania). We decided to wait. We used their play app on my phone and did games in line and it went by quickly. By now it was dark, which made the ride amazing. I highly, highly recommend riding it in the dark. The lights are what truly make the ride. When we got off, it was about 9:15. Perfect timing to watch the Star Wars fireworks show--which we did. It was a very fun night. And, probably my favorite way to do the theme parks. We ate an early dinner, which meant we didn't spend any money at the park. And, because it was later in the day it wasn't so hot.

This picture doesn't do justice to how fun the lights are on Slinky Dog

Friday, we were going to go to a baseball game. But, it was really hot and the weather was again looking bad. So, we decided to stay in and have a second movie night. Plus, we had a big day planned for Saturday--rope drop at Magic Kingdom. For everyone's birthday, they get to dictate one day at the theme parks. This one was Thomas' belated day. We wanted to rope drop and ride Seven Dwarf's Mine Train. We pulled into the parking lot at 8am and were at the rope at 8:30. It was actually easier and more orderly than I anticipated. The ropes dropped at 9 and we got to the ride shortly thereafter. By 9:15, we were right at the front. Then, the ride broke down. Around 9:30, they gave us all return fast passes and kicked everyone out of line. We wanted to stick close by, so we did Winnie the Pooh and the Tomorrowland Speedway. But, it was still closed. We did our first Fast Pass--Pirates of the Caribbean (Thomas' favorite ride). And, in line we saw the Utzingers (well, two of them). We knew them when they lived in Maryland. There are tens of thousands of people in the park on any given day, so what are the odds that someone we know and haven't seen in years would be in line directly behind us???? It was fun!

Luke loved this ride!

Thomas giving Anna a hard time (Kara and Jack were in front of me, so no pictures of them)

We had lunch and saw that Seven Dwarfs was open again. We did our next fastpass--Big Thunder and then went back to the Mine Train. We used our Fast Pass, waited about 10 minutes and it broke down. Again. We killed some time in Tomorrowland and did two more of Thomas' favorites--the People Mover and Carousel of Progress. Mine Train remained closed. So, we walked back to our last fastpass which was Splash Mountain. Then, we explored Tom Sawyer's Island for a bit. It was really neat, but too hot. We went back and saw Mine Train was reopened. Third time was the charm! It was fun, but not worth a long wait. It is a very short ride. We did a few more favorites, had some Dole Whips and left the park for dinner. We went to Chick-Fil-A, then went to Hollywood Studios. We wanted to do Slinky Dog again, now that we knew the routine. We rode Star Tours, saw the Little Mermaid Show, then did Alien Saucers and Slinky Dog. We finished up at closing. We did open to close, tried 6 new things and walked over 10 miles!

Some more of my favorite photos from the day: