Labor Day Weekend & Our First FL Hurricane (or lack thereof)

Labor Day weekend found us with hurricane Dorian bearing down on Florida. We stocked up on water and canned goods and braced ourselves for impact. We started this prep on Wednesday for a storm that was supposed to hit on Sunday. We had plans to go to Maggie's house for dinner on Saturday, but we were worried about getting caught up with people from the coast evacuating, so Friday morning we made the decision to postpone.

But, by Friday night the storm had slowed down and it looked it was going to turn away from Florida. So on Saturday, we decided to get up early and go to Galaxy's Edge. The opening took place on Thursday. So, Saturday was the first weekend day. It opened at 6 and we got there around 7. There were no waits for any of the other rides, so we did those first. We walked on Slinky Dog--twice! Then, we walked on the Alien Saucers and Toy Story Mania and got our picture taken. Usually, there are long lines for all those things. From there, Thomas, Jack and Anna rode Rock-n-Roller Coaster. I don't really like that ride, so I was happy to stay with Luke and Kara. Our last ride before Galaxy's Edge was the Tower of Terror. Luke and Kara didn't want to ride, so we did a child swap which meant Jack and Anna got to ride twice. That is one of my favorite rides in all of Disney!

Can you find me, Jack and Anna?

Shouldn't be as challenging to find our family in this photo :)

The photographers were just standing around (usually, there's a line) so we figured why not

We didn't wait for any ride! Lots of people had left town in anticipation of Dorian, and others probably stayed away based on the forecast. But, it was just a regular Florida day. Galaxy's Edge was crowded, but not too awful. The wait for the Millenium Falcon said 70 minutes, which didn't seem bad (on opening day I believe it was 5 hours). So, we got in line. It ended up taking less than an hour and the line was pretty cool. We all really liked the ride and look forward to trying it again.

The line queue under the Millenium Falcon

This animatronic is the best one I've ever seen. Very lifelike.

Waiting for our turn to pilot the Falcon.

We finished exploring around 11 and went to lunch, then headed home. I had thought we might do more parks, but people were cranky (likely from the 6am wake-up call). So, we just called it a day. Our contractor was supposed to come and finish the kitchen, but he once again let us down. So, we went home and swam and I drafted a letter giving him 10 days to complete our two week project that began on July 8th.

Sunday, the forecast still looked nice, so we went to Aquatica. We rode some new water slides and had a great time. They had a promotion that gave us a free lunch with our passes, so that was nice. We stayed for a few hours, got the free lunch and then went home to rest. That night, we went to Epcot to see Sawyer Brown and the night time show, Illuminations. Illuminations has been running for 20 years and none of us had ever seen it. The last show is on September 30th, so I wanted to make sure we saw it before it is gone forever. It took us longer than I thought it would to get to the concert, so we missed the first few minutes. But, it was still super fun! They are great performers and we all really liked it. Then, we walked around the world showcase a bit. We rode the boat ride in Mexico and explored the shops in Germany and Norway. The kids were surprised by how much they liked the world showcase. They are anxious to go back when we have more time. The food lines for the Food and Wine Festival were really long, but we will try and go back and let them try some of the offerings.

Sawyer Brown concert!

Waiting for fireworks to start.

Monday we didn't do anything except swim. Work and school were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday, although Thomas and I still had to telework. Unfortunately, Luke woke up not feeling well on Wednesday. His pediatrician was closed due to the "storm". Which, never amounted to anything in our area. Unfortunately, that was not the fate of the people in Bahamas, who got pummeled for 38 hours by a category 4/5 hurricane. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. I am thankful it did not hit us, and I feel terrible for them.

I took Luke to a CVS minute clinic. His strep throat was back. He had just finished up the 10 days of amoxicillin on Monday, so it is disheartening to have it return. We had done all the right things, changed his toothbrush, washed his sheets, etc. So, I am not sure why it came back. They gave him a different antibiotic, so hopefully that takes care of it this time. Later, I brought the girls to the Character Warehouse, which is the Disney merchandise clearance store. We tried going once before and it was a nightmare! Lots of people grabbing everything they could reach, likely to resell because the prices are so good. That day, we walked in and basically walked back out as we could hardly move and the line stretched through the store. But, today, we actually got to look around. They had $5 Disney ears, which are $29 at the park, so I let the girls pick one and we got some light-up Animal Kingdom wands for .99 cents each.

In Maryland, school didn't start until after Labor Day, so the past couple of years we have done a family vacation the last week of August. It has been fun (and sad) looking at my Timehop. Last year, we had our awesome New England trip. Two years ago we were in Philadelphia. Three years ago we had a Williamsburg trip over labor day weekend and 4 years ago, Thomas and I were on our solo cruise. I am glad that we were able to do some fun stuff this weekend, even if we didn't travel anywhere. We are all still adjusting to Florida, and honestly, it has been harder than I expected. I like being near my family, but I really miss our Maryland friends and all of the fun things we did there. Obviously, I love the theme parks, but I miss the mild weather and historical sites. I am hoping I will be thankful when winter comes. These feelings have made me frustrated with myself. When we lived in Maryland, I wanted to be somewhere else. Now, I am finally near my family, but I am not 100% happy here either. The only logical solution is to hit the lottery and live part time in both places. Perhaps one of these days I will buy a ticket, until then I will work on being thankful for what we have here, which is a lot.