Florida February: February 22, 2020

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Even though our bedroom has a part of the window that doesn't have any blinds, we still slept perfectly well. Robby likes for bedrooms to be super dark and this one sure wasn't. It didn't change anything at all though. 

Well, I guess when Robby did get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night last night, I did know that it wasn't actually the middle of the night and actually morning time. We still managed to sleep until 8 or even a bit afterwards.

We let the kids sleep in a little bit today and didn't leave on our adventure until 10:30. We parked at Epcot and rode the monorail to Ticket and Transportation Center. From there we walked to the Polynesian. 

Of course when we were at the Polynesian we needed some Dole Whip. Before the Dole Whip, we actually needed another little snack-we tried the BBQ nachos from there along with a pineapple pizza plus kid's chicken meal. We devoured all of that food-Robby and I have decided that we could come to Disney and just eat at every place. All of the resorts have such different food-we really haven't had anything bad yet. (Now we have had things we wouldn't necessarily order again-like the turkey leg.)

The weather was much warmer today than yesterday. It was still pretty chilly though. As we ate our first snack we were sitting in the sun, and it was almost warm. We changed spots for our second snack and the sun went behind some clouds so it wasn't as warm. That didn't matter though because we scarfed down 4 Dole Whips in seconds. 

I do believe that this stop was Pops' favorite stop of the day. We then rode the monorail around the loop before changing to get on the next monorail for  a ride back to Epcot. We then walked to our car and headed back to the house.

Reagan, Graham, Keaton, Robby and I went to the airport to collect Grannymom and Grandpa. They had two good flights and arrived a few minutes early. We were afraid that they were going to be looking for us. We did make it in time to meet them on the escalator. Graham was so excited to see them coming!

We found Robby who was circling and jumped in the van. They didn't have to get any luggage, because their luggage was already delivered to the house by Nonna and Pops. Everyone that was left here was in the front yard to welcome Grannymom and Grandpa to Florida. The house is full now of grandparents and all of the kids couldn't be happier.

Our first adventure with everyone was to the crazy Walmart. It did not disappoint-we lost Nonna at one point and briefly lost Grandpa. There were so many people at that Walmart that it is almost like a party. It is kind of an introductory stop before going to Disney.

Once we had our goods-bottled water, more Pop Tarts, orange juice, a cake mix and a few other things, we headed back to the house to unload the groceries and pick up Reagan, Anderson and Whitman who skipped the Walmart trip.

We ate supper at Panda Express. I enjoyed it more tonight than I did the last time that we ate there. I do believe that there is one at home, and we will probably frequent it more often now that we know how yummy it is. 

Tonight we parked at Hollywood and rode the Skyliners to Epcot. It takes 2 different Skyliners to get to Epcot so everyone switched up cars a few times. At least once I was on my Skyliner wondering if Whitman made it onto a car. He did-or at least he made it to Ecpot the same time that we did.

Originally, we had planned on walking some of the Boardwalk tonight, but the chilly weather prevented that. Instead we just hopped on the next Skyliners and headed back to Hollywood.  As we were on the Skyliners, we were able to see fireworks from Magic and Hollywood.

Back at the house, Grannymom made a dessert with the help of Keaton, Campbell, Graham and Pops for tomorrow's dessert. It is actually baking right now so hopefully there weren't too many cooks in the kitchen!

Florida February: February 21, 2020

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We had plans to go to Hollywood this morning, but after thinking about the crowds we just opted for a slow morning at the house. Maybe we are losing some of our spunk, but I do think that we made the right choice.

The kids did some school while Robby and I cleaned this place up. We swept, we scrubbed, we washed-the place looked pretty good when Nonna and Pops arrived later in the day. A bit before lunch, we had all the cleaning that we could take and headed out for an afternoon of fun. 

We went to Epcot for a quick little bit. We didn't have Fast Passes when we arrived, but Robby snagged us 3 pretty quickly. Our first stop was the popcorn stand. It has been on my list to eat popcorn from this one stand because they have 3 different types. We tried them all and here is the run down:

Cheddar Cheese-liked by all Dennies

Buffalo Blue Cheese-couldn't eat a whole container of it, but Robby and I liked it.

Sour Cream and Chive-liked by most Dennies

Overall, the kids still prefer the buttered popcorn, but these were the only ones that I like. Our 2 dollar refill of popcorn is gone in about 34 seconds. Seriously, it doesn't take us long at all to finish off a bucket.

We rode Figment and Living with the Land. One of the kids said that they were about done with The Land ride. I agree since you can only do that one so many times. Now, I have also decided that I would like to work in that area of Epcot-maybe I could learn to grow something. I would love to have an arch full of tomatoes like you see on that ride.

It was time for a snack so we split a cheesecake, cookie and a moose for Reagan. The cheesecake we split gave us the idea for tonight's supper-The Cheesecake Factory. After eating our snack, we rode Nemo before heading back to the car.

The weather is crazy here today-it is cold, cold and windy. Tomorrow should be 15 degrees warmer and sunny so hopefully it will be more tolerable. It was like being out in a snow storm-amazing how 50 can feel so cold. 

After our chilly walk back to the car, we headed to the house. We had a few more things to pick up. We watched Nonna and Pops get closer and closer until the kids could stay inside no longer. They all ran out to be the greeting committee.  

Everyone was so glad to see them. I think that my kiddos have missed all of their grandparents. They unloaded all of their things. They even had Grannymom and Grandpa's suitcases which had Disney Pins in them.

Most of the kids have run out of Disney pins to trade, so another shipment was sent to Grannymom's house. Robby couldn't ship them here since these houses don't get U.S. mail. The kids happily divided them up and are ready to trade the next opportunity that they get.

We drove to The Cheesecake Factory for supper. There was a super long line and since there were 10 of us, we knew that the wait would be long. So after checking in, we headed back to the Disney outlet. We found a few more things to buy-ears and a shirt for Campbell, ears and a Jacket for Keaton, an ugly monkey that Whitman fell in love with last time, Funko pops for Graham, a phone case for me, but nothing for Robby, Reagan and Anderson. Reagan doesn't like to spend money and Anderson can't find anything that he likes.

When we went back to the restaurant, we hoped that we were close, but nope! We waited another hour before our name was finally called...to sit outside! It was heated and covered and fairly warm. The heaters were going strong but the kids did have to rotate so the kids on the end didn't get too cold. It wasn't that bad, but since Graham didn't wear pants, he stayed a bit chilly. My top half stayed warm, but my bottom half below the table stayed a bit cool.

Our food was all delicious even though it was 10 when we were eating. Robby and I split a huge burrito and all the kids got what they wanted-Keaton, Whitman and Graham had cheese pizza, Anderson had a mac and cheese burger, Reagan had pasta and Campbell had a chicken breast. The food was all delicious, but not nearly as delicious as the cheesecake.

After eating, we went back to the house-it was nearly 11:30 when the kids finally went to bed. Tonight we all have new beds-Whitman is in the floor of his room with Anderson in Whitman's old bed. Whitman was thrilled with this-sleeping between beds is his favorite and to have both brothers back in the room to protect him made him super happy. Reagan is in Keaton's bed and Keaton is on the air mattress. Robby and I have moved rooms too-we had been in the huge king sized bed and now will be in a full. I wasn't crazy at all about the king bed-we will see if I like the full though. It might be a little too much closeness!

Florida February: February 20, 2020

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We took it easy this morning. Taking it easy did include a full day of school for everyone, dishes, laundry, a hair cut for Graham (don't worry-he is still growing it out, we just had it cleaned up by a professional) along with room swapping. It was a pretty busy morning. 

Today was actually our 13th day of school. Doesn't look like we will make that 20 days which was my goal, but 13 is super good. I was just looking at school for next year already-it is time to sign up for a co-op for Reagan along with buying some curriculum on line. It will get real next year-high school!

Since Graham has been growing his hair out, we knew that we needed to have a little trim to clean things up. Robby ran him down the road for a quick hair cut this morning. They also stopped to clean up the car along with a trip to Aldi-our new favorite grocery store.

Now I should have been a bit more productive this afternoon, but I took a nap. It was just about 20 minutes because there were resorts to explore. Our stops today included All Star Movies, Music and Sports. Even though these resorts are very themed, they would not be my first choice to stay at on Disney property.

However, we sure did greatly enjoy a dessert at one of these places. Robby bought us a cupcake that look like the Cinderella mouse named Gus, a ball of cookie dough and a strawberry cheesecake. They were delicious, and I might even stay at that resort just for the desserts. Robby and I are planning on visiting Disney without kids in May, and we can not wait to only have to split our desserts 2 ways and not 8 different ways.

When our resort exploring was over, we headed to Magic Kingdom. This is our favorite park, but it is our least favorite to get to. It just takes work to get over there-park, tram or walk, security and ferry or monorail before you even get to the gates. It is a lot of work but pretty worth it.

We were pretty surprised to see the huge crowds there tonight. Now, it is marathon weekend here so we have expected them, but just hoped that they hadn't arrived yet. The fast pass lines were crazy to get on the rides. We had one for Space and Buzz, but they were way too long...

...so we walked across the park to get ourselves a turkey leg. Well, the turkey leg was really just for Graham. He had been wanting one really bad so tonight was his night. Keaton also wanted a Mickey shaped pretzel so we had one of those too along with our Lunchables.

We did decide that the turkey leg was overrated. It was decent and was sure a lot of meat. Now the Mickey pretzel wasn't all that great either. Now, the cheese filled pretzel that Robby got the other day was definitely one that we will get again!

After our snacky supper, we went to ride Space Mountain. Again, I am done with that ride. I promise you that one day a car is going to go off of the tracks-and I will know exactly at what point it happened! Then we rode Buzz-we are learning where the big point targets are so our scores are slowly improving.

Then it was a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit-the kids love riding those cars around the track. Whitman thinks he is something else driving as he bounces from side of side of the track. Tonight during our drive, we were also able to enjoy the fireworks show. Pretty neat driving the cars at that time!

Then we hurried across the park for the last ride of the night on Big Thunder. It is one of my favorites at Magic-we spend a lot of time in Tomorroland so I enjoy the walk to Big Thunder. After it was over, we went and hung out in front of the castle for a few minutes.

I had been hearing about the "kiss goodnight" and wanted to see it. About 30 minutes after the park closes, the castle twinkles and the announcer thanks you for coming. It is a neat little 2 minute show to see and is just pretty magical.

We rode the buses back to the parking lot. It didn't take us long to get to our car-but it still takes about 45 minutes to get from the castle back to the house. The kids had some snacks before heading to bed. Anderson and Whitman are getting over colds and Graham is getting one, so I did quite a bit of medicine passing out before it was actually bedtime!

Florida February: February 19, 2020

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I am getting a bit depressed down in Florida. We have had loads of fun and still have a good little bit left, but the clock on our adventure is ticking away. Robby even said that maybe we should pack up a few things which just makes me super sad.

I'll be okay though since returning to a normal schedule won't be all that bad. I do love the spontaneity of this living down here, but a schedule is nice. And I do plan on getting rid of a few hundred things at the house-wouldn't it be nice to be able to live like you are always on vacation. I am not sure exactly what the entails, but it is a nice idea.

Anyway, back to today. Graham was the first one awake and had finished his school and was just waiting on my when I stumbled out of bed. Anderson was also awake and started on his school fairly soon.

Whitman came out of his room and asked to work with me first. I jumped on that and said certainly. He usually acts as if he has never heard of the idea of doing school in the morning and heads straight to his ipad. Later, he even asked if we could work together twice so he wouldn't have to do it tomorrow. I did the obvious and felt his forehead. He didn't have fever so I don't know what got into the boy. He was even finished with his school at the same time as Keaton.

By 11:30, everyone was finished and we were able to do our reading. I baked some taquitos for our lunch-most folks had those, but they also worked on cleaning out the fridge by eating a few things from there. About 1, I headed outside with Keaton, Campbell, Graham and Whitman for a walk.

Near the pool, this neighborhood has a nature trail. We took off headed that way not knowing anything about this trail at all. Keaton and Campbell were dead set on pushing the stroller that was here at the house. Whitman didn't complain and rode most of the time. I did make it clear that I was not going to push it at all-though I did use it to store some water bottles.

It was pretty warm today so as we walked down there, I wondered if I was going to need to have Robby come and pick us up. I knew that he was on a phone call, so then I debated if Reagan would be able to come and get us in the van. Surely, Anderson could help her navigate.

Thankfully, the walk wasn't that bad, and we explored every branch of the little trail. We did take advantage of each bench to rest and drink our water or even eat a few Skittles. Now, the highlight for the kids was climbing up a low tree branch for a picture. I sure didn't think I was going to get them all up there. First, Graham crawled on the stroller and then stepped in my clasped hands. I was able to hoist Whitman and Keaton up. By the time they were all up there, Campbell just had one little spot to shimmy up into. Once they were all up there, I did snap a few pictures!

Back at the house, they were all happy to be able to jump in the pool. I guess that water wasn't too hot today because they stayed in the pool until we made everyone get out to leave. Graham did say that he would happily move to Florida if we could have a pool. Now, I would never want a pool at home, but the ones here are so small that I could even imagine having one....I wouldn't probably ever use it, but it would still be nice to have.

Today's adventure took us to Animal Kingdom first. There are 31 Wilderness Explorer badges-little stickers that you earn after stopping at a station and learning about something for a bit. The kids now have only 5 more to earn to complete their books.

We were able to earn around 10 or even a few more today. We walked through some animal trails and saw some different animals. Robby and I always notice the theme-ing of the parks-it is so intricate. After we had completed our badges for the day, we stopped to see the Lion King show one more time.

Honestly, this was the first time that I have ever stayed awake through the entire show. I usually have a kid in my lap and can rest my head and eyes during the show. Today, even though Whitman was in my lap, I stayed awake. I do think that I am more awake during the evening time so that helped quite a bit.

After the show, we hightailed it out of Animal Kingdom and hurried to Hollywood Studios. We didn't have a ton of time there, but the Toy Story ride was just 20 minutes so we went there for a quick spin. Then we headed towards Fantasmic. This had been on our list for a while since we had not seen the show in many, many years.

The kids were all in awe of the massive amount of people that were seated in the theater. It was pretty amazing and the crowds were pretty happy doing the wave while waiting on the show. Once the show was started, I was quickly reminded of how impressive the show is.

What was also impressive was the walk out of the theater-we just kept walking and walking and walking and ended up pretty much where we started. How Disney can move thousands of people is so amazing to me. It didn't take us long at all to get to our car.

We drove straight home so everyone could have showers before bed. Whitman is sleeping in Keaton's bed right now-Robby said that when he went to tuck everyone in, Reagan was also in that bed. Crazy kids!

Florida February: February 18, 2020

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The original pan had been to wake up early this morning and go to Hollywood Studios at 7:30. Around 7, people started coming to our room asking if we were indeed leaving. We had pretty much decided to stay home the night before when we came home and both big boys were sound asleep.

Since everyone but Reagan was awake already, we did decide that we might as well go to Hollywood for a little bit. We knew that we wouldn’t be there in time to ride a rope drop ride, but we would still be able to use our Fast Pass. 

Robby gave people the option of stay home-well, everyone but Whitman. We didn’t let him choose since he would always pick staying home. Anderson said that he might go, and Reagan said no. However, when it was time to leave everyone, even Reagan, climbed in the car. I’m glad that my people still enjoy a quick outing the parks.

We had a Fast Pass for my favorite ride, Tower of Terror. We were shocked as we entered the park at the crowds. We didn’t have bags so I didn’t really notice the security lines. However, I had never seen so many people in line for tickets. The lines for the gates were crazy long though we can navigate those pretty quickly. Also the lines for coffee and doughnuts were insane. We would never be able to say that there aren’t many folks at Disney in February. It seems to be a pretty full month.

After we rode Tower of Terror, we went over to watch a short clip of the new cartoon Onward. Before the clip, Whitman wasn’t sure if he wanted to watch that movie or Scooby Doo. By the end, he knew that he wanted to watch Scooby and not Onward. Keaton, on the other hand, wants to use her movie gift card to watch Onward.

We then left the parks, and even had trouble finding our van in the parking lot. This was the first time that we had done this. As we even walked a way from our spot earlier, Robby had said that he didn’t take a picture. Maybe we will be a bit more vigilant with that from now on. We were just two or three rows off and found it without a problem.

Back at the house, there was school to be done along with laundry and lots of sweeping. There just isn’t that much downtime here in Florida. We are busy all of the time it seems. Today there wasn’t even time for swimming or the nature walk that I want to go on nearby our house. 

Around 3, we put on our red and headed to cheer on the Hogs. It was about a 2 hour drive with only one stop for a bathroom. I drove most of the way eating my peanut butter m&ms-they are my driving candy now. Robby had his box of lemonheads ready but didn’t get into them.

So the part of tonight that we will always remember was supper. We went into Steak n Shake to grab a bite of food. Robby forgot and thought that we ordered at the counter and was surprised when they sat us down to order. This would have  been fine, but we were a bit short on time. After waiting a few minutes and not getting our waters, and then when the lady said that they couldn’t substitute shake flavors, Robby decided that we better just skip supper. So we all traipsed out of the restaurant. The kids all understood that we just didn’t think we had enough time-well, everyone but Whitman who just kept asking, “so we aren’t going to eat?” and Campbell who desperately wanted a shake.

Arbys was right across the street so we ordered food from there. It didn’t take anytime at all, and we gobbled down our food on the way to the basketball game. We searched a bit of parking and eventually had to pay. That was fine though since 20 bucks is better than a ticket.

We then walked to the stadium and found our seats. We were a bit higher than I expected, but a bit lower than we have always been in Fayetteville. The light show at the beginning of the game was pretty amazing-like the lights shining on the castle. There weren’t many Hog fans there-maybe 20 and that is counting the 8 of us.

I guess you can count all 8 of us. At one point, Whitman did cover his shirt and start shouting “Go Gators” with the rest of the crowd. The game wasn’t that great for us Hog fans. It actually got quite ugly at a point. Then we moved closer and almost came back a few times. The game was still a fun, new adventure, but the shakes that Robby promised us at the end did make for a sweet ending.

We went to another Shake N Steak on the way back to the house. Keaton was pretty concerned that we were at the same one as before. I guess she didn’t want them to remember us as the people that walked out. We used the restroom and left with shakes and waters for everyone. 

The shakes made the drive home seem shorter. Robby and I quickly drank ours-then finished Reagan’s when she passed hers up, then Campbell’s, then Anderson’s and finally Graham’s shake. I am not sure what is wrong with these kids not being able to drink all of their shakes. We didn’t even buy them big ones. Keaton and Whitman opted for a can of coke instead of a shake so they were able to finish theirs no problem.

There was hardly anyone at all on the road so we sailed on back to the house. We made it in by 11:30, and the kids were shortly in bed. I pulled out school for tomorrow and will crawl in bed soon!

Florida February: February 17, 2020

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Our day began and ended with things flying through the sky-this morning it was a rocket and this evening it was Tinkerbelle. We had to all start stirring around 6:15 this morning. We had hoped to leave before 7, but left a few minutes afterwards.

We had planned on going to Kennedy Space Center today for a few days now. I had even called to get the homeschool rate saving us $195. Now, if we saved that much, just know that I fully expected one of my kids to be on the rocket for what we did pay. Seriously, the savings made it completely worth it today.

This weekend, we heard that the rocket that was to be launched was delayed for today. We were pretty excited about this possibility, but didn't want to get too excited. It took us about an hour to get there and arrived around 8:10 though we weren't the first folks there at all. They had opened early due to the launch.  

We picked up our tickets and followed the crowd. At Disney, we laugh all the time at people who have no idea what they are doing or where they are going-that was us today. Before we knew it, we were on a bus headed to the rocket launch viewing site. That was all that we knew. We did later figure out that this was part of the bus tour-often the line for the busses is an hour but today they had them streaming in picking up people.

We must have been one of the last busses to the viewing site. They had at least 5 sets of bleachers set up and most were full. We opted to walk through the building there while we waited almost an hour for the Space X Falcon 9 to launch. They are sending up batches of sattellites into space all for high speed interner. 

We sat down in time for the final countdown. We heard the rumble and quickly realized that what we were looking at (we didn't really know where to look since we were still 10 miles away) was behind some trees. We slid over and were able to see the rocket launch. Overall, it was impressive-just a huge ball of fire blazing across the sky. 

I had expected the sound to be much louder. We did learn that if you are within 800 feet of the blast, you would die due to the loud noise. Also we had been watching a alligator in the water. Right after the blast, he stuck his head straight out of the water. Later we learned that animals in the water hear those vibrations and get a bit upset as well.

As soon as that rocket launched, we hightailed it to the video in that building. We watched it and bussed back to the main visitor center. You could compare the place to Disney-music, lots of lines, lots of gift shops, lots of food places. We did really enjoy it. 

Our first stop there was waiting in a pretty long line for an imax. The Imax was good-though practically every movie and film we saw didn't have chairs to sit in. Seriously, a few benches would go a long way. Then we walked through the astronaut hall of fame. 

By this time, it was nearing lunch so we sat down to eat our Lunachables. Last minute, we thought to look and make sure that we could bring food in. We could and that saved us a budle of money and time-the lines were super long.

The next building was all about Atlantis and the space shuttles. There was a few films-all extremely high quality. This was probably Whitman's favorite-they had tunnels to crawl through along with a pretty steep slide. And at the end of the buildng, there was a spack shuttle simulator. At the beginning of the simulator, they had the best film ever explaining exactly what would happen when a shuttle launched. 

My Graham and Anderson soak all of this information in. They were definitely the most interested today in everything. We hated that the imax was closed for renovations today, but the play area was a favorite for the littles. They played while I shopped. I was hoping to buy some space ice cream. but they only had freeze dried strawberries and apples-who wants to eat fruit?

It was nearing 3 and we had had finished the Kennedy Space Center. So we left and headed for Scoops ice cream which was nearby. For 23 dollars, Robby bought 22 scoops of ice cream. Everyone was able to get exactly what they wanted and most everyone had leftovers that Robby, Graham and I finished up. Now if we had bought those scoops of ice cream at Disney, it would have cost at least 75 dollars. 

We had to fight a bit of 5'o'clock traffic to get back to the house. Robby let those who wanted to stay at the house. Reagan, Anderson, Graham and Whitman all opted to stay. They folded laundry and made their suppe while we were gone. Campbell and Keaton don't pass up a party, and I think they enjoyed tonight. I sure did.

Magic Kingdom was pretty crazy especially since they were having an after hours party. Our first stop was the Barnstormer roller coaster followed by a snack. The snack had been on my list-a waffle and chicken sandwich. It was delicious, and I marked it off this list and put it back on the May list. 

After we ate, we were right be the perfect spot to stand and watch the fireworks. We were to the side of the castle but could see really well. What I was waiting for was to see Tinkerbelle, and we were able to see her fly down tonight. That was super fun.

Then we all rode the Magic Carpets. The girls rode it twice before we walked to Buzz to use our last Fast Pass of the day. When we finsihed the ride, the park was closed for us, but we didn't have any plans of leaving. We made the loop and then hung out at the train station platform watching people walk down Main Street. We waited for a long while gazing at the people leaving.

When we finally did decide to leave, we opted to take a bus back to the Transportation and Ticket Center. The monorail line was crazy, the boat line was full and the busses were empty. It was just us and about 5 other folks on the bus. We were soon back and walking to our car. 

Back at the house, Anderson and Graham were already sound asleep. Whitman looked like he should have been asleep when we put him in bed. I am afraid that he is getting another cold! Reagan was still going strong, but everyone quickly went to bed. 

Florida February: February 16, 2020

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We had made it 20 days with going to one of the parks each day. Today, however, was our first day to not even make it to a park. We were still incredibly busy and super close to the parks, but never did scan in. This is how our day played out:

We did wake up early to eat our leftover donuts, and more importantly get ourselves to church. The kids said today that if they knew we were going to go to church each Sunday, they would have brought more church clothes. I agreed, but today I was able to find another Sunday shirt that I had packed. 

We normally don't go to church while we are out of town, so we had no way to no that we would go every Sunday. I guess we were just a bit surprised at how much we would like the church down here. Now today, they did have a special guests quartet so that meant no choir and the fog machine was back. Hopefully, next week things will be back to normal during their early, old folk service.

After church, we came back to the house. Robby took the little 3 swimming while I folded laundry, pulled out school for the next day we do school (not sure when that might be), and browned 3 pounds of hamburger meat. When the swimmers came home, we started to work on our lunch-tacos. We had intended to make hamburger helper but didn't have any milk.

When lunch was over, Robby went to work on making some rice krispy treats while I cleaned up the kitchen. Keaton helped him-she usually makes sure that she gets to help with the rice krispy treat making. Then it was time for our Sunday afternoon nap-I am not sure why people think they must do athletic activity in the house only during times that I am laying down or why everyone comes to me or texts me to ask for a snack when I close my eyes, but it always happens.

We did however get a pretty good nap and by 3:30 we were leaving for the evening. Tomorrow is a super early morning so our plan was to ge back home and to bed early-that didn't really happen. Our first stop was Coranado Springs Resort. We drove there and then walked around the hotel. It was a neat place to see and incredibly huge.

From there, we parked at Hollywood Studios since we intended to come back and close it up. We never made it back to the park though. Our original plan was to walk to the Swan and Dolphin to see them. Robby suggested that we just hop on the first bus that pulled in-I agreed since that sounded like a fun adventure. I am not too sure if we would have really done this or not, but since the first bus was the Saratoga Springs which we wanted to see, we did. 

Soon we were walking around that resort. Each of these resorts are themed incredibly and each one is so different from the next. There quick service section had pizzas so we bought 2 little ones to split as a mini supper. It was a good stop while we tried to figure out what the weather was going to do. It was spitting rain, but not raining hard.

From Saratoga, we decided to take the boat to Disney Springs. We had toyed with walking, but the rain scared us. As we were going there, the boat man said that a lightening storm was coming so this would be the last boat service for a while. He probably thought that we were crazy when we said that was fine, we were just out playing. 

We walked around Disney Springs. Reagan has thought about getting a sweatshirt but can't seem to find one that she wants. Graham found a snack that he wanted so even though it was raining, Campbell and he waited in line for his pretzel bites. The rest of us tried to stay dry in a store. 

By the time he had his snack, the rain had stopped, and we went to catch a bus back towards our car. We decided to board the bus for the Swan and Dolphin hotel. We did get on that bus after a bit of waiting-we got on that bus with probably 50 other folks. This was just a good reminder that I always want to have my car at Disney, or anywhere for that matter.

It took us a while to make it the the Dolphin or maybe it just seemed like a while-it was standing room only and I was struggling to keep myself from bumping into someone and hold on to Whitman who wasn't holding on. We finally made it there and enjoyed seeing the Dolphin.

It is just a big hotel, but it is still something to see. It was just a short walk to the Swan so we also explored that one as well. From there, we were able to walk back to Hollywood Studios to get to the car. We certainly made a day of it. We have 5 different resorts to see in the next few days and will have made it to all the Disney resorts. My total list is just 31 items left-I think we can accoplish it!

When we made it home, the kids had a snack and then it was bedtime for the crew. The plan right now is to leave this place before 6 in the morning-yikes!