Disney Magic

Disney was a dream. A little melty, but a dream. I loved it right down to running through the rain wearing child sized ponchos. I now know terms like "rope drop". Here is my ranking of the parks and attractions...

1st: Epcot- It was just chiller than all the others and I like feeling like I am in a different place. Silas loved China and Guardians of the Galaxy was his favorite ride from the whole trip. Rory and I loved Soarin' where you feel like you are paragliding over the Great Wall, Niagara Falls, the Pyramids, and such. We also give the aquarium and Turtle Talk with Crush a thumbs up.

 

 

2nd: Hollywood Studios- The Star Wars stuff was amazing and Rise of the Resistance is the best ride I have ever been on. Tower of Terror was terrifying, but good. The boys loved making their own light sabers (not the super expensive ones) and now we have 3 yellows at my house because heaven forbid anyone go for variety.

 

3rd: Magic Kingdom- I love all the nostalgic feeling rides and we met Peter Pan, so... trip made. (For me at least. Silas is past his passion and was thoroughly embarrassed.) I also loved Jungle Cruise and Rory loved driving (poorly) his own car on the speedway.

 

  

4th: Animal Kingdom- Last, but still good. We liked the Avatar ride, the safari, and the bird show.

Animal Kingdom was actually our first day and when I texted Daron this picture his response was, "One day in and he already has a terrible stuffed animal." I was a little nervous with him picking his souvenir so early but the loved continued all week. His name is Snow. I don't even know who he is. I think a mascot of the Everest ride that Rory didn't even go on.

 

 We stayed at Fort Wilderness and went to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue one night. It had a Kristen Wiig 2.0 in the cast, so of course I loved it. Also, randomly bumped into Anne and Libbi there. Daron said it would have been more fitting to see them on It's a Small World. We also had breakfast with Mickey and friends which Silas was surprisingly into. I might pass on Disney Springs but the T-Rex café was fun. Gosh, I love anything themy. I honestly don't know how people do it without Conn as their guide and without lightening lane passes. Best Disney crew ever! Thanks, Auntie Conn! 

June

Silas went to 2 different baseball camps the first few weeks of June. He has improved so much I think fall ball will be a blast. Rory went to Spring Valley VBS and had an excellent teacher.  Next was sleep away camp for Silas. Daron and I hated it. Every evening they would post pictures from the day and we would pour over them trying to get a glimpse of our baby. He never looked particularly like he was having any fun. Picking him up was a bit like Christmas. He looked exhausted and said goodbye to no one, but when asked gave the week a 10 out of 10. Then he said he was iffy about ever going back. At least we all survived. Rory had Mom Camp while brother was gone. We made a birdhouse, took nature pics, went to the splash pad, and rode a pony. This is my namesake chicken, Jessica.

 

Reunited!

Neptune Island

Happy 5th Rory!

On his actual birthday he enjoyed errands to Lowes and Home Depot. He also selected to buy a terrible Joker van from Kohls. Then we went swimming. 

 

His party on Friday was plagued by several factors...

• Covid knocked out guests.
• It was 100 degrees.
• The power went out.
• No one but Rory likes to dance.

As a result however, we have a very clean and newly painted garage and a celebrated five year-old.

The power of a microphone is pretty fun.

Rory took this picture of his guests with his new camera.

May

All of my siblings are college graduates! Go Trenton! Back to the alma mater for the ceremony and celebration! It's terrifying to watch people you remember being born turn into adults. Life is very much running in the one direction. The trip also included seeing Trevor's teaching/living world and sand volleyball skills, some disc golf, a comical hunt for our air B&B, Shelly time, a last trip to Strafford before my parents close on the house, and a visit with my Grandma. 

I always waste the cusp of exciting things feeling melancholy. Sometimes I hate change even when it means summer break. Coworkers are dropping like flies and it seems like in schools everything is a little worse than it used to be. I felt so removed from Silas's experience this year. He had a teacher swap and #2 might have been great but we would never know because there was zero communication and I didn't want to press from fear we would be on to teacher #3. I decided to take Silas and Rory to my homeschool next year. I really like the group of kids I taught that will be in Silas's cohort. Whether it is a better experience or not, I know I will at least feel more connected! In other change news, we had to say goodbye to Ms. April and Living Springs. There were tears from both of us. None from Silas. (Boys.) There is nothing worth more than someone loving your kid. Daron is not sad to be done with daycare payments.  Rory also seemed completely unphased to say bye to any of his people and I think he had the best year of anyone.

 

These school pictures are not really new, but I am putting them here for documentation.