Disney World 2022 - Day 4
The next day in Disney, we headed to Hollywood Studios. We got there right around the time they opened the gates and were able to ride Toy Story Mania without much wait at all. As the day went on, that line grew like crazy so we were thankful we finally got to ride it. The rest of the day was spent enjoying character meet and greets, our Disney Junior Play-n-Dine meal with Doc, Vampirna, Goofy and Fancy Nancy, the Disney Junior dance party, the Frozen Sing-a-Long show (always a huge favorite), Mickey shaped pretzels (everything’s better when it’s shaped like Mickey) and exploring Galaxy’s Edge (DJ’s favorite place in all of Disney). Since this park doesn’t have as many rides that the girls could ride, we were able to end the day with some time in Disney Springs to do some shopping and get Dole Whip. It was another great day in this happy place!
The Disney Junior Meet and Greets were the only ones with Photopass Photographers. They were able to get some better shots of Zoe when she met some of her favorite characters since she was looking at them instead of me. Zoe was in Disney Junior Heaven!
Disney World 2022 - Day 3
We spent our next day in Disney World at Animal Kingdom. We enjoyed the day seeing all the animals around the park, riding the rides (especially the safari), learning to draw Donal Duck, collecting Wilderness Explorer badges, watching the Kite Tails show, looking for the character flotillas on the river and eating dinner at the Tusker House Restaurant with Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy (our favorite character meal ever). DJ especially enjoyed exploring Pandora.
And of course, we took advantage of the photopass photographers here as well.
Disney World 2022 - Day 2
Our 2nd day in Disney was filled with all the 50th Celebrations at Magic Kingdom. We arrived just in time for the Welcome Show at the castle and got to see Mickey, Minnie and friends in their 50th outfits in front of the beautiful castle. The day was full of rides, character sightings, cavalcades, the parade, the castle show and Dole Whip. This year Zoe was tall enough to ride more rides and she was all about the rides this day and did not want to waste time waiting in line to see the princesses. Both girls loved the Tomorrowland Speedway and DJ and I are both NOT ready for them to drive real cars, ha. Dumbo was a huge favorite for Zoe and both girls loved the indoor play area in the line for Dumbo. It was a big year for Zoe because she was finally tall enough to ride a roller coaster. She got to ride the Barnstormer and we learned very quickly that Zoe does NOT like roller coasters. Ava got to see Chip and Dale, some of her favorite characters. Zoe got to meet her beloved Eeyore and wave to him. Due to COVID, the Festival of Fantasy parade was cancelled for a while, with smaller cavalcades taking its place. Well, right before we went, they brought the parade back but also kept the cavalcades. It was so great to be able to see the iconic parade and enjoy the smaller mini parades, especially the new Adventure Friends Cavalcade that featured Moana. We had a wonderful day in the Most Magical Place on Earth!
This was my first time going to Disney World without my real camera. It was nice to just use my phone for pictures but I also made sure we got some good pictures with the Photopass photographers. Thankfully the girls obliged my request for multiple photo stops (without too much complaining). I love having these family portraits from our magical vacation!
Disney World 2022 - Day 1
We pulled off a huge surprise again for the girls for spring break. We were sure Ava overheard some conversations but she actually seemed truly surprised. When they woke up the first morning of Spring Break, they came downstairs to find Minnie ears and Disney gift cards at their breakfast spots and surprised them with the news that we were headed to Disney World. They were both super excited…as were we. This was a trip we’ve been wanting to take for such a long time but were waiting until things got back to more normal (the thought of wearing a mask in FL heat all day seemed miserable). We kept watching things and were very hopeful that by spring break this year, things would be better. Thankfully, right before we left they dropped the mask mandate except for on transportation. They also changed the rules for character dining to allow you to stand up when the characters came by your table (still no hugs but much better than it had been. Hugs are back now so we just need to go again, ha). And best of all, we were able to go during the 50th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom. It was amazing to be able to see all the celebration in person (especially the beautiful castle updates).
Friday morning, we packed up the car, dropped Winnie off with my mom and then drove to my Aunt Emily’s house in Daytona. We are so thankful for Aunt Emily letting us crash for the night so that we could get an extra day in the parks. It was fun for the girls to get to spend some time with Aunt Emily since we don’t get to see her often and they loved visiting with her and her cute dog, Sadie.
Saturday morning, we said goodbye to Aunt Emily and then headed straight to Epcot. We were there during the Flower and Garden Festival and it was fun trying to find all the topiaries as well as all the different character sightings around the World Showcase. Since character hugs were not back yet, the characters would pop up in random places and you could interact with them and take pictures from a distance. I think my favorite character sighting was Pooh because he was trying to catch butterflies and he really interacted with Zoe. We did get to do a meet and greet with Anna and Elsa in their Sommerhaus, but it was still from a distance. Also, as part of the 50th, there were the Fab 50 statues all over the 4 parks. I had a list of where to find them and it was fun to try to check them all off.
We took a short break in the middle of the day to go check into our hotel room and then headed back to Epcot for supper and more rides, like the Living with the Land. This was a new ride to us and it was so cool to see the gardens where they grow so much of the produce and flowers that are used all over the parks. When we headed back to the hotel for good that night, we found that housekeeping had arranged the girls’ blankets and stuffed animals on the bed. Then we got to watch the Epcot fireworks from our room. It was a great end to the first day.
School Dress Up Days 2022
Ava had a couple different dress up days early in the spring semester (and thanks to her teacher, I was able to get pictures from both days). The first one was the annual Book Character day. This year, Ava decided to dress up like one of the characters in her favorite book series, Star Friends. She even carried her little fox with her.
The second dress up day was a big event that 4th grade does every year (except the past 2 because of COVID). The whole grade was so excited they could actually have Oregon Trail Day this year. They all dressed up like pioneers and learned about life on the Oregon Trail. Ava had a blast with her friends at this fun day.
The Wetzels in Asheville
We were able to enjoy a couple days in Asheville with DJ’s family. We spent a day at Biltmore and a day at the Western NC Nature Preserve. The kids had a blast exploring Biltmore (especially the playground) and the Nature Center (and especially the playground beside it). It was a really fun time together as a family.
Basketball 2022
Ava not only tried dance for the first time this year, she also tried her very first team sport, basketball. Our pastor’s wife, Allison, was coaching the 7-9 year old girls team for a different church and asked us if Ava would like to play. Ava said she would like to give it a try. Little did we know, we were starting her out on the best team in the league. They finished their undefeated season by winning the championship game! They even had some shut out games. Ava had a great time playing for Allison, she was an amazing coach! She made some sweet friends on the team and we were so proud of her for getting out of her comfort zone and doing something like basketball for the first time. She even scored a basket in the last 2 games she played, even making a free throw in the championship. She had quite the cheering section in the championship game because Nana, Papa, Grammie, Uncle Eric and Piper were all there to cheer her on. We are not sure if she’ll stick with basketball but she had fun on her very first sports team.
Lucy
Exactly one week after we lost Kate, we had to say goodbye to our precious golden, Lucy. This loss came as a complete shock to us. Sunday morning before we left for church, Lucy fell going down the steps in the garage. That evening we noticed her breathing seemed off and knew we’d need to take her into the vet the next day. When we woke up Monday morning, Lucy’s breathing was very shallow. As we were doing things to get ready, DJ went to check on Lucy and got a huge shock that she had passed away. It was such a shock and we all hated that we did not realize what was going on or we would have been surrounding her with love. But she died peacefully at home and we are thankful we did not have to make any hard decisions. She and Kate are buried side by side in our back yard. Lucy (aka Lucy Goose, Goose or Luce) was the best dog. We could not have asked for a better first dog. She was a therapy dog for the girls when they were scared to sleep alone and she knew just how to comfort them. She loved us as much as we loved her and we all miss her every day.
Kate
Unfortunately, our snow days were also filled with a lot of sadness. The Friday before the snow hit, Kate was acting very strange. She was extremely lethargic and she started eating her cat litter. We knew something was up. Our vet was completely booked that day, as were all other vets we tried calling. So that evening, I took Kate to the emergency vet hospital. We waited a long time to be seen and then I had to leave her there for them to actually check her out, which was so hard to do because I knew something was really wrong with my kitty. We got a call in the middle of the night from the vet saying she was 99% sure Kate had very advanced cancer. She had never seen levels as high as she saw in Kate’s blood. We were left with some decisions to make about what to do next but ultimately decided to bring Kate home after she got some fluids, steroids and an appetite stimulant. We knew she probably didn’t have much time left and we just wanted her home. With the impending snow storm, we realized there was a good possibility we wouldn’t be able to take her to our vet but we wanted to be with her. That Monday, she passed away at home. She was 13 years old and was apparently stronger than we even realized because she hid her illness until there was no way she could hide it anymore. I’ll be honest, she wasn’t a very nice cat but we still loved her. She was our first baby and she spent many hours with me curled up in my lap while I worked from home. We all miss Baby Kate, the Duchess of Fieldgate (as DJ and I called her) very much!
The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyways
When you have epic snow (for SC) and you have an Elsa dress….
