College, Birthday, & Cowboy

While the boys and I were on our spring break trip, Andy and Bella did SIX college visits! Here are a few pics from some of them. 

We celebrated Andy’s 43rd birthday!

Curtis found a hat that he wore around the house for a few days.

We are now in the home stretch of the school year. Seven more weeks until summer vacation! 

Spring Break Trip: Disney!

Everyone was really excited for the Disney portion of our trip. We spent the first day at Hollywood Studios. Here is our crew in line for the Tower of Terror. I think we went on this 3-4 times! 

The lines were VERY long. This ride was essentially a carnival-style ride and still had a 45-minute wait. 

The Star Wars area looked pretty realistic. 

Waiting in line for the Millennium Falcon ride. This wait time was 105 minutes!

I needed some proof that I was on this trip. 

After riding the Tower of Terror a couple times, we decided to ride the Millennium Falcon again because the line was “only” 65 minutes. That 65-minutes wait time was NOT accurate. It was more like 90 minutes. AND, just as we were about to get on the ride, everything went absolutely silent. The ride broke down and we were ushered right out. We were all so upset to have wasted so much time only for the ride to break down right when we were about to get on. Definitely a bummer. 

We were starting to run behind because the line ended up being longer than we budgeted. We still needed to eat dinner and the Fantasmic show was about to start. We quickly ordered some burgers and fries, carried them into the outdoor theater and the show started literally 10 seconds after we sat down! I was so relieved we weren’t going to miss it. This was my FAVORITE show from when our family visited in 2015 and the thing I was looking forward to all day. It did not disappoint! Pictures never capture the awesome-ness of something like this. 

The next day, we visited the Magic Kingdom. The castle is still decorated for the 50th anniversary celebration.

The first ride we went on was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We waited about an hour for this one. 

And the ride got stuck while we were going up a hill. 

Good opportunity to pull out my camera. 

Waiting in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Another hour. 

A treat with lunch.

Space Mountain had broken down earlier in the day, but it was back up and running. After waiting in line for about 10-15 minutes, it broke down again. We were disappointed, but incredibly grateful that we didn’t lose as much time as we did the previous day. It was up and running again later in the day, but the wait was about 2 hours and we just didn’t have time for it. 

Every few hours, our groups needed to check in with our band director so he could be sure everyone was still doing ok. This was one of our check-in spots.

Can’t go to Disney and not get a Dole Whip!

While waiting for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, we spotted a squirrel. The line was two hours long. We must have been incredibly bored to have found a squirrel so entertaining. 

This ride also got stuck while we were on it. I have never experienced so many ride problems like I did these two days. 

I don’t know how I let them talk me into riding the Teacups. This is the very worst ride ever created and feels more like a form of torture. 

After dinner, some of the kids wanted to go on another ride and one wanted to do some shopping, so we divided. All of the kids went with the other parent to Tomorrow Land while I took one kid shopping. The two of us ended up watching the fireworks together at the end of the night. Disney fireworks are my favorite and I was so excited to see them!

My feet were SO sore by the end of the day. Disney is fun, but this girl was tired! The next morning, we packed up and drove to Knoxville, TN. Our drive was supposed to be about 10 hours, but we hit major traffic around Atlanta that added 3 hours to our trip. After Disney, our feet were sore. After that bus ride, our butts were! The hotel was super accommodating and had our dinner waiting for us. They also kept the pool open late since we didn’t roll in until about 10pm. The next morning, we were back on the bus and were back in Hope by early afternoon. I took a two-hour nap when I got home and still feel asleep at my normal time that night. It was back to work on Monday and I realized that my work week would actually feel a bit more relaxing than this vacation. We packed a LOT into one week and I am so grateful for this special time with the boys and all the fun memories we made together. 

Spring Break: Atlanta

Our first stop in Atlanta was the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park. 

This is the Eternal Flame across from his grave site. 

This is the church where he served as co-pastor.

MLK Jr.’s birth home.

“We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

We were supposed to attend a music masterclass, but it got canceled. Plan B was touring the Coca Cola Museum. This place was packed! Who knew a soda museum would be so popular? 

The highlight of this museum was the tasting room. So many flavors! 

One flavor I will never forget was the Sour Plum Fanta from China. It tasted like BBQ flavored soda. So gross! 

Dinner that night was, by far, the best meal of our trip. We ate southern comfort food at Mary Mac’s Tea Room. 

The next morning, we visited the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and enjoyed a chamber performance. 

We also got to tour the facility, including the room where they store their 20+ Grammys! This will be the only time I hold one of these. 

After this, we were back on the bus and Orlando bound!