Wills & Friendship Pity Party

The Wills spent their Spring Break in Orlando and we were super excited to spend lots of time with them. They arrived on Monday and came over for dinner Monday night and we caught up on all the Maryland news. Tuesday, they were at Aquatica and Luke and Anna skipped school to spend the day with them. Kara’s lacrosse districts were Tuesday night and Jack is missing a lot of school lately for band and track, so unfortunately, they had to pass. But, Luke and Anna had a great time. The wait times were manageable and of course, the company was fantastic. In fact, they had so much fun, that they decided to do a repeat on Wednesday (sans Anna, missing two days of high school is not as easy as two days of elementary).

 Tuesday, after Kara’s lacrosse game, Luke left with the Wills and spent the night in their vacation rental. Then, they were back at Aquatica on Wednesday. By all accounts, they had another fantastic day. The Wills brought Luke home and stopped to pick up pizza on the way. So, we got to enjoy dinner with them three nights in a row.

 

Thursday and Friday they had alternate plans (including a day at Discovery Cove, which sounded amazing). But, we met up again on Saturday and spent the day at the Orlando Wetlands and Fort Christmas. At the Wetlands, we walked for 4.5 miles and saw 35 alligators, tons of turtles, fish and birds, a brown snake, 3 baby racoons with their mama, and a baby sandhill crane with its parents. Then, we had a picnic at Fort Christmas and the kids played various tennis games and basketball. Luke crowned himself king of tennis knockout--thoroughly annoying the other kids. The girls practiced lacrosse and Jack and Ben toured the Fort. Thomas and I mostly visited with Kayce and Trevor, although we did do a little tennis.

Kara's taking a picture of those two gators.

These kids have known each other a long time.

We took a rest break for a couple of hours and then met back at our house, where the boys had a nerf battle. Then, we all went to dinner at Tijuana Flats.

 

Easter Sunday, they came over in the morning and the kids did a little egg hunt. Over the course of the day, the boys played video games, chess, wiffle ball and swam. The girls went to the neighborhood tennis court. The adults cooked and we all enjoyed a low-key Easter lunch. After lunch, the adults played an escape room type game. That lead to us deciding to do a real escape room. We booked a spot and headed out. We successfully escaped the haunted house with 15 minutes to spare! I don’t love escape rooms, but it was fun. We then returned to the house for a dinner of leftovers. The Wills headed out around 7 and were all sad to see them go.

 

We first vacationed together back in 2017 with a long weekend in West Virginia. Since then, we have done a cruise, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida (twice). Our boys get along like family and pick up like no time has passed. Kolten was just 18-months old when we first met and Luke and Ben weren’t even born!

Throwback to our first trip in 2017.

It is fun to have people in our life that we have known for awhile. It makes me a little sad that we left Maryland. We had more close family friends there and kids that our kids could say they grew up with. I think part of it is stage of life. I was a mostly stay-at-home mom, with more time to devote to fostering friendships. And, we moved into a small neighborhood that was just being built, so the families all moved in at the same time with similarly aged kids. We did lots of stuff together, both with our families and without. We also had friendships with members of the church we attended, some of which persevered even after we stopped attending. I still miss Alecia and think of her as one of my closest friends. And, there are a couple of others that I think I would occasionally hang out with if we still lived in Maryland (or at least I would want to). I also had work friends and our trusty nanny, Summer. Lately, I have tried to find a friend who might enjoy Halloween Horror Nights with me, so I don’t have to rely solely on Kara, but it hasn’t happened yet. So, basically, I (to make this all about me) had three friend groups in Maryland: neighborhood, church, work. Here, I have 3 friends (not counting family). I am sure I could try harder, but we are busy and I am older and more tired, so I just accept it for what it is and try to remain grateful for the friends I do have. Anyway, this took quite an awkward turn. So, I will just reiterate that we had a fun week with the Wills and I am thankful for friendships! Also, this is inspired me to tell one of the three that I haven't talked to in a while that we needed to catch up, so we are meeting for a walk in a little bit. :)

To conclude, some of Kara's photos from our day at the Wetlands:

Baby crane!

Opposite of cute and fluffy.

I love how camouflaged this gator is.

I think this one is peaceful.

This and That

 Highlights from the last few weeks:

Luke had a baseball tournament in Plant City on March 29/30. Plant City is very close to my dad, so on Saturday, I dropped off Luke, Kara and Thomas and visited with my dad. After baseball, we went to Twistee Treat; it was a good day. Sunday, Anna decided to come. On the way, we saw a billboard for “Parksdale Farms”  a fun looking strawberry-centered farmer’s market type roadside attraction (obviously, I’m not quite sure how to describe it). Mapquest revealed it was only 10 minutes from the field, so we dropped off the boys and headed over. We had strawberry shortcake, which was good, but not as good as it looked. We enjoyed the visit though. It was neat place, with lots of strawberry treats, plants, produce, garden flags, etc. If Luke plays in Plant City again during strawberry season, I would definitely go back; next time we are trying the strawberry milkshake. Our plan was to be back in time for the start of the game, but they started early. We got back just as Luke was up-to-bat. And, as we were walking to the stands, we saw a ball come over the fence. It was Luke! He hit his first over the fence homerun!  I was sad to miss it, but Thomas was recording, so we have the video. He was crowned the “Home Run King” for the day.

The regular season for lacrosse ended. The girls finished 13-1! It was the school’s best record for girl’s lacrosse. Unfortunately, they lost the district championships. The final score was 17-10, but it was a lot closer than the score board reflected, at least until the 4^th quarter. Marta, Elizabeth, Travis and the Wills all came to the game and Kara enjoyed having everyone there. More about the Wills visit in another blog.

Track is also winding down. Their last meet is April 18^th. Jack did well but hasn’t quite met his goal of running the mile in under 5 minutes yet. He’s got one more try!

On April 4^th, we had a fun evening at Animal Kingdom. We got there around 4 and the park closed at 7. We rode Dinosaur and Everest twice. Did the Safari, had dinner, and rode Flight of Passage. It was the shortest wait times we’ve seen in a long time. I think we happened to hit a small lull between Spring Break crowds. The weather was nice and it was a super fun night. We even stopped for ice cream on the way home.

We are so sad that Dinosaur is closing!

Luke had another baseball tournament last weekend. It was up near Daytona Beach and everyone went, which is very unusual. We stopped at Buc-cees, which may have helped entice some of the Wilsons. Kara has been working on her photography and got some really good pictures. Unfortunately, the team lost. They are still in a terrible losing streak. I think some of the kids are starting to feel pretty frustrated. I try to keep the bigger perspective in mind, but I am tired of 1-game Sundays. These are long drives for just one game (it is single elimination on Sundays).

One of Kara's cool shots (Luke pitching)

Cruise Conclusion

Wednesday was a sea day. Thomas, Anna and I went to Johnny Rockets, the others went to the buffet. Anna and I tried to do trivia, but the room was completely full. That’s one thing I’ll say about this ship-- the spaces seem to fill quickly and there are lots of lines. So we went to the trivia that started a half-hour later and got a seat. Marta joined us. It was movie quotes and we did okay. Thomas and Luke played chess in Central Park. Anna, Marta, Kara, and I played Uno, also in Central Park. Anna and Kara got specialty drinks from the Pesky Parrot, a fun little island themed bar, complete with a talking parrot. 

I got a picture of the parrot, but not the cute area

Thomas and I had a specialty lunch at Giovanni's, the Italian restaurant which was good. 

Then we came back to the room and I finished a book I was reading. The kids did various things, including rock climbing and Johnny Rockets milkshakes. Anna, Thomas and I went down the Abyss again (20 minute wait). Dinner was good. It was formal night. 

Everyone wanted a picture with Luke, since he put on a jacket. The most dressy he's gotten.

Such handsome fellas!

After dinner, we walked around a bit and then Thomas and I saw an adults only comedy show, featuring two comedians. Unfortunately, we did not think either was funny. 

A few other pictures from the night:

Beautiful sunset

Beautiful Anna in the beautiful sunset

On our after dinner walk, we paused at this cool wall-o-windows.

Our last day on board was Perfect Day at Coco Cay. I love, love, LOVE CocoCay! 

Traditional photo from the top of the ship. 

We had breakfast in the Wind Jammer and were off the ship around 9. Everyone except Anna snorkeled. We saw some really cool fish and it was super fun. The water was pretty cold, but it was manageable. We had lunch at the buffet and then Thomas, Kara, and Jack went back to the ship. 

Luke played on the play structures for a while, Anna and I sat in Captain Jack's, listened to a guitarist and had a Coco Loco, non-alcoholic, of course; I'm sure it goes without saying, but no children (or adults consumed alcohol.  After that, we went back on the ship. We rested for a bit and then did some fun afternoon activities. Some of us did the Abyss (twice for me and Thomas), played mini golf, rock climbed (Luke and Jack) etc. We had a snack at El Loco Fresh, Anna and I shared a milkshake from Johnny Rockets, Thomas played arcade games, the girls met up with Marta and Frank in the diamond lounge, and soon enough it was dinner time. 

After dinner, everyone except the girls went to both the ice skating show and then a new (to cruise ships) show--Name that Tune. It was really good. They had live musicians, singers, and a DJ. If I understood correctly, it was the first time they'd ever done it and we all really enjoyed it, although our favorite contestant did not win. 

It was a very, very fun day. Two more bonus pictures:

It was a very quick cruise. Four nights on a smaller ship feels relaxing and like a decent amount of time. Four nights on the big ships feels quick and a bit more rushed. But, we still had a great time and were sad to see it come to an end.