Disney, Baseball, Mother's Day, Wisdom Teeth, Golf

The kids are down to their final days of school. The teens have basically stopped going. They have turned in their computers, their teachers have stopped teaching and grades are final. May has turned into a month of testing and once those tests are done, so are the kids. At least for the high school.

Luke has also wrapped his testing. He got perfect scores on the reading and science assessments and only missed math by one question. Tonight is his fifth-grade promotion and tomorrow is fifth-grade day, I am sure I will write more about those later.

 We upgraded our Disney passes so we can now go on the weekends. In honor of Mother’s Day, I dragged everyone to Magic Kingdom on Saturday, May 10^th. We had a really fun visit. The boys, Thomas and I spent some time on Tom Sawyer’s Island. I appreciate the need to make room for new attractions, but I am going to miss the island. It was kind of an oasis away from the busyness of the park. I wouldn’t say we spent a lot of time there, but we always had fun when we went, and it was nice knowing it was there. I remember how much our big kids loved it when they were little.

Maybe our last picture at Fort Langhorn

The double entendre here makes me laugh.

Shooting their shots

Bonus of our twins looking somber like the Haunted Mansion twins.

On Mother’s Day, we planned to go to Busch Gardens, something I have been talking about for years (usually Luke has baseball). We can go to Busch Gardens anytime, but I have noticed that on Mother’s Day, crowds are low and it’s something I have wanted to do. I was pretty excited it was finally happening. Unfortunately, Thomas was sick. I didn’t really want to go without him, so Anna, Kara, Luke and I attempted Epcot. Unfortunately, some rides were down and our plans were thwarted and I was kind of cranky about the whole thing, so we didn’t stay long.

 

Kara got her wisdom teeth out on Thursday, May 15^th. She was much quieter than Anna. The only comment she made was about how quick it was, which is very similar to what she noted when she had her appendix removed. She was a little nauseous on the day of, but her pain level never got too high. She was also swollen right away, which was different from Anna; but her swelling was mostly gone by Monday and she was back to school. Timing was tricky, as she can't play lacrosse for a month. And, both Anna and Kara are going to be counselors-in-training (CIT) this summer at the Elks camp, so we needed to get it done before camp starts to not interfere with fall lacrosse. Fortunately, it is over and it went well.

Right after surgery.

Luke had another baseball tournament. He had his best game ever hitting and went 4-4, including another over-the-fence home run. Unfortunately, his team still lost. Their record this season is an abysmal 4-26. Most of the kids on his team are really good, there are a couple of weak links, but they aren’t really responsible. I am not sure what has made them so bad this year. Many of those games they’ve only lost by a couple of runs, so it’s not like they have been completely overmatched; I’m not saying they should dominate, but they aren’t so bad that you would expect them to lose as often as they do. In my opinion, losing begets losing and they are deep in that cycle (expecting to lose). There is one more tournament left in the season and then hopefully we can have a fresh start in the fall.

 

While Luke was playing his amazing game (and Kara was still recovering from surgery), Anna and I went to Epcot to redo the Mother’s Day fiasco. This time, no rides were down and we had an amazing visit. We rode Soarin’, Living with the Land, and then Guardians—where we got September as our song. We sat in the front row and it was amazing! Then, we walked around the World Showcase and got a couple of snacks and lunch. We did a Twinings tea garden tour in England and Anna bought a little tea box. They were offering free customization, so she had lilacs and her initials painted. I hope it something she keeps for a long time to remember our fun day.

 

Yesterday, Thomas, Anna, Luke and I had a fun night. We got take out from Huey Magoo’s and then went to the Drive Shack. We had a really good time. We played some Bejeweled game, which I dominated (99% luck). Thomas is the only one of us who actually knows how to play golf, but the rest of us did okay. Luke and Anna loved it and both want to go back soon. Jack and Kara were off with friends or I am sure they would have joined.

SeaWorld! Epic! And More

I always have to look at my blog to see what date I last wrote. Then, I have to go and look at my pictures to see what we’ve been up to. If it wasn’t picture-worthy, I have probably forgotten about it.

 Anyway, the Wills left and we were sad, but we consoled ourselves with a fun Friday night at SeaWorld. SeaWorld gives passholders some great benefits. On this particular day, every member got 2 free food samples from their Seven Seas Festival. Plus, they gave us $10/each to spend how we chose. So, the five passholders (not Jack) went and had a fun night. The weather was beautiful! We mostly enjoyed our samples. I got a lobster roll that was amazing. My other sample wasn’t great. Luke spent his money on pizza and redeemed his two samples for a huge cupcake and a giant meatball—he enjoyed both. Anna and Kara got footlong pretzels. I can’t remember everything we got, but it was all pretty good (or great, if we take into account the $0 price). We rode a couple of rides, saw a few of the animals and left when the park closed at 7.

Luke went to a fun birthday at Drive Shack (similar to Top Golf). He had a great time. I have said it once, I’ll say it now, and I am sure I will repeat it—I am very glad that all my kids have good, kind friends. Also, Luke was surprisingly good at golfing. I am not sure if it was beginner’s luck or he has a knack for it. I stayed and practiced my Spanish (I don't know much) with one of the moms, so that was good for me. The birthday family is from Brazil and the desserts were amazing! They brought a traditional Brazilian carrot cake (not at all like American carrot cake) and multiple types of brigadeiros (almost like little balls of fudge). I really hope Luke stays friends with this kid and is invited to his birthday again next year!

 

There was more baseball. They actually won a game! It was a brief respite from their losing streak. Kara went along to a game and took pictures, I shared them in the parent chat and the parents were impressed. She got some great shots.

 

One of Kara's pictures of Luke

Jack had his final band concert. It was really good. They played music from Jurassic Park, a western piece called Kowboys, and one of their MPA pieces. Kara went with me and we both enjoyed it (Luke and Thomas were at baseball).

 

On Friday, May 2, we all skipped work/school and did a preview of Universal’s new park—Epic Universe. We were very, VERY excited about this. The park opened at 11, we got there around 1030 and were ready when they dropped the ropes. We didn’t get to do everything we wanted. Sadly, the new Harry Potter ride was down most of the day and we couldn’t get a virtual queue. And, we waited for the Harry Potter show for 40 minutes and then it was canceled. We saw the How to Train your Dragon show, but it had some technical difficulties. So, the day was not perfect, but it was pretty awesome. We loved all the rides we went on.  For favorites: me and Jack chose Monster's Unchained; Luke, Kara and Anna chose Stardust Racers;  and Thomas picked Hiccup's Wing Gliders. For lands, Anna said Celestial Park; Thomas, Jack and Luke said Nintendo; I said Isle of Berk; and Kara can't choose between Nintendo and Dark Universe. We'll see if any of that changes with time.  

 

The theming of the entire park was amazing and even though we stayed until closing, we didn’t get to explore it all. We all hope that they let us do it as an add-on to our annual passes soon (not likely, but one can dream). We ate at two different restaurants, Moon Pizza and Toadstool’s Café (Nintendo themed). Both were good. In conclusion, everyone agreed that the park is beautiful and well-themed. We were very impressed with everything and can't wait to go back. 

The Monster's Unchained queue was unbelievable. (Kara's picture)

The Nintendo portal was like stepping into a game.

The week following Epic was relatively uneventful. It is now Friday. The older kids had AP tests. So far, they think they are going well. Kara got a 5 on her FAST exam. Luke also had his standardized testing. He got a perfect score on ELA and was one question away on math. His ELA teacher actually called to tell him, which was pretty fun. We planned to go to Magic Kingdom tonight, but the forecast was bad and we don't like getting trapped there. Instead, Jack to Luke to see the Minecraft Movie, which Luke has been asking to see since it came out. It is nice having Jack drive. On their way home, they picked up pizza. Anna, Jack, Thomas and I played the National Parks Game and then Kara and I watched a movie. It was a nice night. And, it was a good call, because it is crazy storming here right now, which is good, because we are in a drought. 

And, to conclude, a couple of other pictures from my phone:

The cranes that live outside our office building had a baby. We watched a hawk swoop in and try and snatch him/her. It was pretty cool to see how the parents protected it by moving it under a bench and standing guard. 

Luke was inducted into his elementary school's honor society.