Disney Day 2: Magic Kingdom..and Tucker’s birthday too!

We were up bright and early,

Taking full advantage of the early rope drop 

For those in Disney hotels.

 We were less than thrilled for matching t-shirts

But more than thrilled to see Disney had all the magic we remembered.

We headed straight for Space Mountain—

What an epic start to the week!—

But, alas, it was down.

So we settled for a walk-on at Buzz Lightyear

Always a good time

We kept the low-crowd vibes going

And headed to the Speedway.

It was under refurbishment last time

So we were excited to try something new!

Even more fun—

Mom told our ride attendant that she expected a song

For Tucker’s birthday.

He didn’t just sing—

He stopped the whole ride

And made the ENTIRE CROWD sing!

Drive on, Birthday Boy!

Beck was Dad’s chauffeur—

And looks like he had a lot to say

The cars were a bit slow,

But it was a fine ride.

Then it was time to meet up with everyone else

For our first Lightning Lane—

It’s A Small World.

There was a lot of groaning at first,

But eventually we all got in the spirit of the ridiculously cheesy ride.

When in Disney, right?

Then we scooted to the carousel 

And over to Mickey’s PhilharMagic 

for our first 4D show of the week

We split up for a bit—

Cooper and Thea had a lot of princesses to meet

And we had a lot of ghosts to meet

Gotta love the goofy Memory Maker pics

We rode the train

Then Barnstormer and Dumbo

Because everyone loves Dumbo!

Our lunch of lobster rolls wasn’t quite enough

So we stopped for some ice cream.

Do you know what happens when it’s your birthday in Disney?

You get FREE ice cream!

Then it was off to Space Mountain

(We are REALLY loving our Lightning Lanes)

The pictures were rather funny:

Mom as she tries to not jar her hurt back

An always slightly unimpressed looking Cooper

Tucker taking the rider-swap option with Aunt Mandy

We all enjoyed it so much,

We convince Pappo and Mema to go

It made Mema’s neck hurt.

Maybe just one ride there.

We paused for a breather…

The Brain Trust in full effect

Before heading to the Mine Train.

The best picture…

Check out Thea

It was a fine ride,

But we weren’t sure why it was as popular as it was.

Thea was definitely not a fan.

This was the beginning of her 3 questions about every ride:

Are there big hills?

Is it dark?

Will I get wet?

It became the mantra of the week.

She and Mandy headed off to meet a few more princesses

While the rest of us hit up a few more rides.

We tried to get on Winnie the Pooh

(It had a fun line)

But its line took forever

And we didn’t want to be late to our first dinner!

A quick selfie as we pass by the castle…

Ok, maybe a good family picture too

And then we were off to Skipper’s Canteen, 

Which was a delightful restaurant that came highly recommended!

They even got Tucker a birthday cake

The evening was so lovely

As was the scenery,

So we had to stop for one more family picture

Before hitting up

One of the most popular rides in Magic Kingdom…

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

It’s a remodel of Splash Mountain

Which we thought was just ok last time…

So let’s see what Tiana’s got

We thought it was AWESOME

And kept the song “Goin’ down the Bayou”

In our heads for hours

Thea…

(Back row)

Not so much

Sorry, Girl.

You got a little (tiny!) bit wet.

We had just enough time for one more swing

Around the Speedway

Before Mom’s favorite part:

the Happily Ever After fireworks show

In Thea’s words,

“The castle is MAGICAL!”

Yes

Yes, it was

Tinker-bell flew over the crowd

And the finale erupted

Magical.

There really is something about this place.

One more picture for the road

And they we headed out.

But then we saw another photographer

And needed one last picture:

They can put “magic” in your pictures—

We just thought it was hilariously dumb.

Love Tucker’s face.

Not a bad 10th birthday, huh?

Even our room attendants thought of him!

Sleep fast, everyone!

We’ve got Epcot tomorrow…

Disney Day 1: Free water park? Yes, please!

We got in late last night and

Stayed in a hotel next to the airport,

Just biding our time until morning…

Because Disney has a deal going

Where you can go to their waterpark FOR FREE

On the day you check in!

Count us in!

So this morning, a lovely lady named Yesenia

Picked us up and drove us to the parks

(Coolest part—she took our bags to Bay Lake Tower for us!)

We rode lots of water slides

(Although Mom had to skip one of the coolest, fastest ones

Since she threw out her back yesterday)

And checked out the wave pool.

But our favorite feature was the super long lazy river.

There weren’t just tubes in the river—

This is Disney.

There were inflatable animals!!!

Here’s the parrot crew

And the flamingo twins

We became obsessed with getting one of each—

We may have spent over an hour, floating, scheming,

And negotiating

AND WE DID IT!

A parrot (or 2),

A flamingo,

A dragon,

A rubber duck,

And a wreathe!

We didn’t ride the chair lift

(Which would have been pretty cool),

But we did everything else Blizzard Beach had to offer!

Check this one off the list!

Time to get to our hotel—

Mema, Pappo, and the Klusmeyers have arrived!

We unpacked,

Grabbed our drink mugs,

And hit the monorail for dinner!

After stuffing ourselves at the Floridian,

We strolled down the beach

To the Polynesian.

Pappo was so happy to be with The Hooter,

He asked for a picture.

Disney will do that to you.

Check out our hotel across the bay!

Guess what else is in the bay?

The Electric Water Parade.

This became a staple of our week.

Who doesn’t love 1970’s technology

With electronic music?

Clearly we do!

We caught the Magic Kingdom fireworks

On our monorail ride home

And had to stop for a little shopping

And an AWESOME use of our snack credit

Before hitting the hay…

See you tomorrow, Space Mountain!

 

Leavin’ on a jet plane!

The latest Spring Break ever is finally here…

Disney, here we come!

 

Career Day Take 2

Mom had so much fun at Career Day last year 

She came back for another round this year.

This time,

The teachers captured lots of pictures of her in action

Out of the 40 or so kids she talked to today,

Do you think she inspired any of them to go into medicine?

Here’s hoping!

 

Happy 15th Weston!

With all the robotics this weekend,

We had to delay the party a bit.

But in true Weston form,

He had a list of favorite foods for Dad to make

And knew just what he wanted for his cake.

He’s a decisive guy

And a bit of a foodie.

So after seared ribeyes and wedge salads,

We had to finish it off with Costco chocolate cake

Wonder what he wished for?

Was it a 3D printer to share with the other spring-birthday brothers?

I see a lot of plastic in our future…

Happy 15th Wes!

 

Back in their flags

Spring flag football kicked off this weekend!

Kind of a strange season—

Both Beck and Tuck are on new teams

Since Beckett played tackle in the fall

And Tucker’s team doesn’t play spring ball.

Even so,

It was fun to be back on the field!

Beck had some nice moves

And Tucker got to put his speed to good use

Nice to see Cheat Code in action again!

Here’s to a good season!

Broncobots’ Quest for Worlds

The Broncobots, after going to Worlds a few years in a row,

Were REALLY disappointed not to qualify last year.

They chose 2 competitions this year

And put in a LOT of work on the robot.

The lost the first competition

Leaving it all on this one—GKC.

And THIS is their weekend!

They were undefeated in the qualifying rounds,

Landing as the number 1 seed,

Making them the number 1 alliance.

They blew everyone out of the water

In the elimination rounds.

So it all comes down to this…

the FINALS!

Weston is in his element on Drive Team,

Helping set up the driver

And then moving over to his spot as the Human Player

Jackson is in his element too,

Giving Impact his all

And then taking over the media

Let’s GOOOOO!

And go they did…

They won the first round by about 60 points,

But the other team was down one robot.

The second round?

See for yourself:

That’s a LOT of coral

And a lot of hanging robots

RED ALLIANCE WINS!

Check that—

they DOMINATED!

With a new HIGH SCORE

Which means…

HELLO, WORLDS!

But guess what?

Then they won

Innovation in Engineering

Which ALSO qualifies them for WORLDS!

That’s right—

It’s a DOUBLE qualification!

Add on Jackson’s Dean’s List win from the last competition—

That’s a TRIPLE for Jackson!

See you in Houston!

Tucker’s Birthday Fun

The theme of birthday gifts this year

Is experiences

And what better experience for our basketball loving Tuck

Than a Harlem Globetrotters game?

We had really good seats!

Tucker got to bring a friend—

a fellow basketball lover, Noah, came along.

The show/game was really fun…

So fun, they needed autographs from all the players

Speedy was a favorite;

Thunder too.

Definitely a memorable afternoon!