Long time no see

Almost a year has come and gone since my last posts, which were all about Walt Disney World, and ironically here we are less than a month away from our next Disney vacation. I've always said I would never go to WDW for Spring Break so of course that is exactly what we are doing. It's going to be fine. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself. Here is a quick rundown of our trip: 8 days, 7 park days, staying at Pop Century again, quick service meal plan, a few fun extras (Early Morning Magic at Hollywood Studios, Storybook Dining at Wilderness Lodge), and to ensure our car doesn't break down, leaving us stranded like last time, we are not driving all the way to Florida (take that, Universe!). Since the flights out of Nashville cost more than we were willing to pay, we decided to drive to Atlanta and fly down from there. If we were to have any issues, we would only be about 4 hours from home once we land back in Atlanta. I did get a new car in October* so really we could have driven with less trepidation but Lilly gets carsick and I have a bad leg so this plan makes sense for us.

*Someone rear-ended me which ended up totaling my car. We replaced my 2005 Toyota Camry with a 2019 GMC Acadia, which I love, but isn't cheap. Thanks to my parents generosity, we haven't had a car payment in years. So needless to say, this purchase is throwing a kink in our finances. But I am working full-time again* so if there had to be an accident and that accident had to total my car, the timing couldn't have been better.

*After a year working before-care at the girl's school five mornings a week, followed by working at the day school at my church Monday-Thursday, I decided/knew without a shadow of a doubt that that life was not for me. I am still working before-care but at our new school (we were rezoned to a newly built K-8th a few miles from the house), mostly out of convenience, but where I am also a Special Ed Teacher Assistant. This job is probably also not the life for me but... car payment. And I get to take both girls to school and I get to see Lilly multiple times a day, including lunchtime. There's a lot of good in the situation. (Which is something I have to keep reminding myself.)

Ellen is missing her friends that went on to Heritage Middle but I think it all worked out for the best. She is in the orchestra at Thompson's Station Middle. Didn't see that one coming. Pro tip: people who play the viola are very offended if you mistake their instrument for a violin. Or at least this offends one person I know who plays the viola. :)

Lilly is enjoying 1st grade. Her transition from HES to TSES has been very smooth. And we love Mrs. Carpenter!

Both Ellen and Lilly are active in their respective youth groups at church. It keeps them busy, Ellen especially, but in the very best way. On that note, Lads to Leaders practices are in full swing. Phillip is helping coach Lilly's puppet team again this year. In case you were wondering, he's still the best. :)

There is so much more that could be said, like Ellen has braces and Lilly wears glasses and I am listening to the Anne of Green Gables series to preserve some of my sanity, but it is past my bedtime so those things will have to keep for another time.

Disney World 2018: Part 10 (One Shining Moment Edition)

Takeaways, for lack of a better term:

• I personally felt more organized than I have on our past trips. I remembered the pop-up hampers (#lifesaver). However, we never bring enough snacks!
• Thanks to podcasts, YouTube and various Disney websites, etc., we were well prepared. As I was researching, I wrote down everything we wanted to do/experience/eat, park by park. 
• Enjoyed staying in an updated room at Pop Century. We are thinking about renting DVC points next time we go.
• The dining plan worked well for us. Phillip is a big fan of the dining plan but I think we could eat cheaper paying out of pocket. (Somewhat related: The girls ate their fair share of Mickey waffles again this year, especially Lilly. This may have been the year of the hamburger for Ellen.)
• Never say never, but I don't think we will be driving to Orlando anytime soon. I think we will stick to flying.

Highlights:

• Spending the night at a resort where we had not previously stayed (Art of Animation). There are only a few resorts we can comfortably afford, but I would love to stay at as many different properties as we can.
• Lilly would ask if we were going to a different "city" the next day :)
• Ellen keeping track of our snacks and meals like a boss.
• Lilly being chosen to participate at Festival of the Lion King.
• Bubble wand + Lilly = pure joy. 
• Ellen losing her tooth at Disney World :) She never put it under her pillow so the tooth fairy didn't come. (sad face)
• We now have all but one of the first 60 Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards. We actually had all of them at one point but unknowingly traded the card we needed. #disneyfail
• One of the cast members at Haunted Mansion stared at Lilly in that creepy way that they do, which really spooked her. Then we saw that same girl a little later and she did it again. It was so funny. 
• Enjoyed sampling poutine (Canada), kakigori (Japan) and a few other snacks we had been wanting to try.
• Pandora was awesome, even in the rain.
• Flight of Passage was an amazing ride. So proud of Ellen for giving this one a chance.
• Lilly playing the Beast at Enchanted Tales with Belle (this really was magical).
• Finding hidden Mickey's. We discovered there are two kinds of hidden Mickey's: real/intentional hidden Mickey's and Lilly's "hidden Mickey's" :)
• Lilly dancing with a Country Bear. She sure loves those bears!
• Goofing around with Ellen while we waited on Phillip and Lilly to ride various rides.

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As previously mentioned (see Hollywood Studios post), Lilly was traumatized by Tower of Terror. So much so that when asked in Sunday School to draw a picture of something she was afraid of, she chose to draw herself on Tower of Terror. She colored over the verse (inside the flower) but it says The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. 

I absolutely love this.

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Overall, we had a great time at Disney World. And it only took 10 posts to cover all the action. :)

Disney World 2018: Part 9 (All dressed up with nowhere to go)

Saturday was supposed to be our departure day.

Yep, car trouble. 

I have a great idea for a new button: Disney World has a Car Care Center. Ask me how I know.

It was just a stressful day but being stuck at Disney World isn't so bad, right? The hardest part was not knowing if we were going to be able to leave on Saturday as planned (and if we couldn't, how were we going to get all of our stuff - it was all on the car). We hoped the mechanic would be able to get the car in gear and we could get on the road. We weren't in a hurry to get home but we eventually needed to get there. And while all of that was going on, Phillip was working with the fine folks at Pop Century to put a hold on a room just in case we needed to stay another night (this took a lot longer than I thought it would).

Shout out to Phillip for handling the car situation and the room situation. It was an all day process. And to make matters worse, he was dealing with tooth pain. Like major tooth pain. He was popping ibuprofen like it was candy. But he powered through and I could not be more thankful.

Silver lining, everyone was super nice. The people at the Car Care Center, the rental company (they gave us an awesome deal), the taxi driver, the people at Pop Century... they were all sympathetic, helpful and easy to work with (exactly what you would hope for in this type of situation).

Another silver lining, we have a Disney Visa credit card and less than two weeks before our trip, I redeemed $300 worth of points (which I didn't think we would need, so almost didn't do). We were able to pay for our room and meals with that rewards card (we had 2 meals and 6 snacks left on our meal plan that we were able to use on Saturday so that helped too).

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While Phillip was dealing with the car, the girls and I walked over to Art of Animation to pick up a paintbrush pen that Ellen wanted to purchase. #priorities

Construction is underway for the new gondola system they are putting in.

After our walk, I took the girls swimming. 

It was pretty clear we needed to get professional car help at this point. 

Good thing our car broke down because if not, I wouldn't have pictures of a refurbished room at Pop Century to share. Ha!

Granted, this is not the actual room we stayed in all week, but it's very similar.

I was very impressed with the bathroom.

Bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash were very conveniently mounted on the shower wall. (Phillip doesn't like the smell of the Disney products so he used the toiletries that we had brought instead. #diva)

Lots of storage options

Big TV

If you need two beds like we do, you simply move the chairs and pull down the Murphy bed. The table collapses becoming part of the base.

With pillows

Comfortable queen size beds

If I had known we would be staying an extra night, we probably would have spent more time at Epcot on Friday. But I like Disney Springs, so no real complaint here.

I really enjoyed our meal at D-Luxe Burger. Highly recommend. 

We grabbed a cupcake at Sprinkles after dinner and then went to see Solo. Were we crazy to think Lilly would like it? Or at least sit through it? She and I ended up leaving. We stopped in DisneyStyle on our way to the bus. Loved it. I'll take one of everything.

What might have been...

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Sunday, May 27th

Our official departure day.

We came to Orlando in a 2010 Nissan Murano and left in a 2018 Nissan Rogue. It was a brand new car which was nice, but it was a tight fit. The girls were especially cramped.

Phillip is not a fan of the Cracker Barrel but that is where we ended up stopping for lunch. (We had Panera for dinner. Another restaurant Phillip doesn't care for but I had a gift card so he took one for the team.)

Long trip but we made it home safely.

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Fast forward about a week. Phillip and our good friend Thomas left here at 3:00 in the morning on Saturday, June 2nd. They drove to Orlando in another rental (we did not get a good deal this time). They got our car ($$$), turned in the rental and drove back to Thompsons Station. They got home a little after 1:00 a.m. Crazy. They had plans to stop and spend the night on their way back, but they decided to keep on driving. 

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Next Up: One last Disney post