Day 1-Hollywood Studios

We started our Monday with the plan to spend the day at Hollywood Studios. I woke up at 6:50 am to buy Genie+ for the day; this is a "line skipping" feature that Disney now offers for a cost per person. ($15 plus tax) One can select a ride at 7 am and depending on how quickly you click the buttons or what your cell phone signal is you are given a reserved time to experience that ride. We were able to book Slinky Dog Dash for 12:30 pm. 

We left our hotel room around 7:45 or 8 am to get in line for the Skyliner which takes us from our resort directly to the park. Our hotel room was close to the Disney Riveria Hotel and so we got on the Skyliner from that spot and then transferred to the main hub where there was already quite a bit of a line but it moved quickly and we were walking into the park at 8:30 am for early entry. We were all pretty excited so I encouraged the kids to run to Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway for our first ride; we then all found out there is no running at Disney World, as a couple cast members kindly called out to us. 

We all loved this ride! It was so fun and cute. 

We had reservations at Oga's Cantina at 9 am but didn't finish with our first ride until 9:15. I wasn't too worried about our time slot as I had heard as long as you show up they will still let you in. The only issue was in Star Wars land nothing is labeled so we had to keep stopping and asking cast members which way to go to get to Oga's. We finally got there at 9:30 and they sat us at 9:45. 

Oga's Cantina is a bar designed after one of the Star Wars movie. We weren't necessarily feeling like having a drink that early in the morning and told our waitress we really just wanted to look around. Everyone really enjoyed the detail and of course DJ R3X in the corner. 

After Oga's we spent time just walking around enjoying the design and detail that made you feel like you were really in a Star Wars movie. We saw Storm Troopers, Chewbacca and Rei and loved how they all interacted with the audience. Liam had a huge smile on his face the entire time. 

We decided to catch The Muppets 3D Show next. That was a lot of fun and a nice break from the walking we had already done. 

While waiting in line to meet Minnie Mouse the kids ate their PBJ sandwiches and I was able to book our next Genie+ ride, Toy Story Mania for 3 pm. 

We then decided to walk down Sunset Boulevard and see Tower of Terror. 

We headed over to Toy Story Land to get onto Slinky Dog Dash next. Lucy and I rode up front, Caroline and Evan were next and Liam and another kid were in the 3rd car. Slinky Dog is a roller coaster and has a bit more bark to it then other Disney roller coasters. Liam, Caroline and I loved it and Lucy spent most of the time telling me that she didn't like it and wanted it to stop right now. Evan's face in our ride picture doesn't look too thrilled either. It took Lucy some time to recover from Slinky Dog and she still likes to tell us that "its the worse ride ever!" Caroline said it was her favorite ride of the day. 

We then headed to the Frozen Sing Along Show which was a lot of fun. 

We met Olaf, headed back to Star Wars land to walk around. Got on Toy Story Mania ride, had some pop tarts for a snack, saw a Calvacade with Mickey and Minnie Mouse, checked out Lightning McQueens Racing Academy, built Light sabers for the kids, checked out Indiana Jones Stunt show, went on Alien Swirling Saucers Ride and saw Goofy as we were walking to dinner. 

We ate dinner at Prime Time Cafe where we had yummy milkshakes, pot roast, meatloaf and fried chicken. 

We then decided to ride Toy Story Mania again (although Lucy and I had to leave while waiting in line because she needed to use the bathroom). This was deemed another favorite ride of the day by many of us. 

At 8:30 pm we had to make a decision, either get in line for Tower of Terror, Rise of the Resistance or Smuggler's Run. We decided since most people say Rise of the Resistance is the best ride that Disney World has right now we had better do that one. Wait time wasn't too bad but unfortunately the ride broke down while we were in line and we probably waited an hour in total before it got up and running again. They let us on the ride and we probably got through half of it before it broke down again and this time since it was already 10 pm and the park closed at 9 they kicked us off the ride with a lightning lane added to our magic bands to use on Tuesday only. We got back to our hotel around 10:30 that night and everyone was exhausted. We all slept well that night!

*Most of the rides at Hollywood Studios this day had a 60-240 minute wait time. We were only able to book 3 rides with our Genie+ which did not make me very happy. It was very busy. However, I do think we picked the right ride to go on at the end of the night even with it breaking down. Smuggler's Run most likely would have made half our party motion sick, we thought that Liam, maybe Caroline and I would do Tower of Terror but Evan and Lucy were going to take the exit after exploring the lobby. (we had heard that most likely one of the elevators was not working hence the long wait) 

The part of Rise of the Resistance that we did see was pretty amazing. 

Surprises and travel

 One of the kids Christmas presents from us was a trip to Disney World in February. The kids all worked together to open that present on Christmas morning; inside the box was a letter from Mickey Mouse inviting them to come meet all of his friends, a Disney calendar countdown, some fidgets for line waiting, some Mouse ears and some Disney T-shirts. 

We spent the month of January watching Disney movies that we had not seen yet, such as Winnie the Pooh and refreshed ourselves on other movies like Alice in Wonderland and Star Wars, we also watched a few YouTube videos of some of the rides that Disney offers so everyone would have an idea of what lied ahead. We watched some documentaries of how Walt Disney came to be such a success and read a few books about who he was as well. 

Mom poured over all of the Disney blogs and Facebook groups to find out all of the tips of how to make our Disney trip a success. Aunt Ellen and Uncle Blair were also very helpful with any questions that we had since they both have been multiple times. 

Finally our travel day arrived. We packed the suitcases, loaded the car and drove to Chicago-Midway airport for our direct fly to Orlando. 

This was the kids first experience on an airplane (Liam has flown once before but as an infant). Our Southwest flight was fantastic. We had no turbulence, takeoff and landing were very smooth and the kids were thrilled to either watch Aladdin on our travel DVD or play on Liam's Nintendo Switch. 

We arrived in Orlando and used a car service to pick us up and take us to our resort. We stayed the week at Caribbean Beach Resort. We loved the island theming, the kids loved the pool and we used the Disney Skyliner to get to two of the parks. Our room was adequate; we had two queen beds and a 5th sleeper that pulled down and the kids took turns sleeping on that throughout the week. 

We ordered groceries through InstaCart and had them delivered to our resort. We put in our order when we landed in Orlando and by the time we got to the resort they had already been delivered to bell services. This allowed us to pack snacks, water and PBJs in our backpack for each day at the park. 

Everyone was excited to finally be at Disney World; now we just had to get a good nights sleep for the next fun filled day!

Liam at 11 years

 Liam at 11 years old is 4 feet 7 1/2 inches tall and weighs 65 pounds. He is in the fifth grade in Mrs. Pacey's class and really enjoys her teaching style. Liam plays the euphonium in band, taking a bus after school to the junior high and then a bus back home 4 days a week. He also takes piano lessons weekly and it is fun to hear him continue to improve with his music. 

Liam still loves sports with baseball continuing to be the number one thing that he wants to do, watch and talk about. I have tried to encourage him to look into golf or wrestling but he tells me that learning a golf swing will be detrimental to his baseball swing. One would think wrestling would be a natural ability due to the fact that he tries to wrestle his sisters on a daily basis, but again he disagrees. 

Liam goes to bed between 8-8:30 pm and is the first riser, usually waking between 6-6:30 am. He has no trouble going to sleep at night and is usually asleep before his sisters and nothing can wake him. He has had a few sleep overs in the past and really struggles staying awake when his friends are being goofy and talking before bed. 

Liam still enjoys all of his screen time. He plays Fortnite with friends and cousins, Zelda, Minecraft and MarioKart. When he watches TV he will watch Big City Greens, Teen Titans Go and has started to watch some Twilight Zone episodes, Mystery Science Theater or The Mandalorian with Dad and Marvel movies with Mom. 

He still enjoys reading with historical fiction being his favorite. He tends to read before bedtime. Liam does a great job in school. He gets very good grades on his tests and assignments. He has good story formation with his short stories and his teacher has asked him to teach his peers how to divide fractions. 

Liam also still loves puzzles. We all have been working on and off since January on a 2000 piece puzzle which we just completed. In the end, only 13 pieces were missing, considering we have a dog who loves to eat fallen puzzle pieces these are pretty good odds. 

Liam also enjoys playing board games with the family. Throw, throw burrito, Exploding kittens, Clue, Monopoly, Stratego and Chutes and Ladders are some favorites. 

Liam does a pretty good job eating. He has a select few foods that he does not eat like fish or green beans but overall dinner for him is without complaint. 

We have been giving him more responsibilities around the house such as unloading the dishwasher, vacumming, taking the dog out and feeding him in the mornings, walking the dog (only if we are with him), packing his own lunch for school, putting away his own laundry and cleaning the bathroom. He does these things with much complaining but does eventually do them. 

Liam continues to be a rule follower and likes to please the adults in his life by being prepared whether that is with sports, music, school or his parents. He does not like to disappoint others. He also is a very social kid. He has many friends in the neighborhood, at school, at church and his cousins continue to be some of his favorite people. 

He has started to have some mild anxiety. Usually he is over thinking things but it tends to get his stomach in knots. We wanted to make sure it was just anxiety and so we had some blood and lab work done a few months ago. Neither Liam or I were worried about the blood draw as Liam has no issues with getting his vaccines when it is time to do that. However, as we were leaving the lab area and walking out to the waiting area Liam started having cold sweats and felt like he couldn't walk and was going to get sick. After sitting in the waiting area for a good 15-20 minutes he was able to go to the car and now we know that Liam has the same issues as Evan where he can feel light headed after a needle punctures his body. 

We have starting having many conversations about what the next school year will be like and how nervous he is to go to a new school with new people, what if he goes to a place and his stomach feels funny, what techniques to use when you need to calm down and center yourself to help him. This usually does work and he can get out of his head and think clearly. 

Liam continues to amaze us with his sense of humor, his smart thinking and creative strategies to help him with school work and his sports. He is a hard worker with his music as well even if piano is not his favorite hobby.  

Interview with a 11 year old

 What's your favorite color? Blue

Favorite food? Hot dogs
Least favorite food? uncooked green beans
Favorite dessert? Cookies (Snickerdoodle)
Favorite stuffed animal? Brown Bear
Favorite animal? Sharks
What do you like to do the most? play baseball
Favorite thing to do with Dad? practice baseball
Favorite thing to do with Mom? watch Marvel movies
Favorite thing to do with Lucy? jump on the trampoline
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? jump on the trampoline
Favorite TV show? Big City Greens
Favorite Movie? Spiderman: No way home
Favorite thing about school? recess
Favorite place to go locally? White Sox games or to see movies
Favorite place for vacation? Walt Disney World
Favorite book? Harry Potter The Chamber of Secrets or Prisoner of Azkaban
Favorite outfit? Sweatpants and T-shirts with sweatshirts
Favorite video game? Fortnite or Super Smash bros

Favorite board game? Monopoly

What are most excited to do now that you are 11 that you couldn't do when you were 10? being home by myself after school before Dad gets home from work
What are you most scared of? Jr. High
What's the best thing about you? I make people laugh
Who is your best friend? Zach, Sam, Luke, Andrew, Evan, Jonathan
What do you want to be when you grow up? Baseball player

Lucy at 5

 Lucy at the age of 5 years old is 3 feet 7 1/2 inches tall and weighs 37 pounds. Lucy wears all 5T clothes and can even wear her sisters 6T shirts as well. 

We celebrated Lucy's birthday by going to Chuck E Cheese with family. We have not been to this place of business very often,  so I'm not sure how she came to this request on her own but she continued to ask to have her party there so we agreed. It was a great set up and not very many people were there for a Sunday night so the cousins had a great time with all of the games. 

Chuck E Cheese even came out to dance with the birthday girl! And while she was nervous at first, her Aunt Stephanie and Mom helped her overcome her fear of the big rat!

Lucy remains our most social child. She will gladly talk to anyone whether they are just walking by our house or if they are her big sisters or brothers friends she will jump right in, she has never met a stranger. Lucy still loves to make others laugh by telling jokes or just by being really silly. A favorite joke of hers goes something like this: "Why did the cow cross the road? To get run over and dead!"

Lucy continues to love dressing up, she wears fancy dresses, dress up clothes and her new favorite thing to wear around the house is a belly shirt with shorts (unicorn sunshirt that is supposed to go with her swimsuit) despite it being in the single digits outside. Many days she will wear all of these things in one day with numerous outfit changes. 

Lucy still loves to sing, Encanto is her new favorite soundtrack and movie. She also loves to watch TV. She loves to watch Maya, Ever After High, World of Winx, Barbie, Super Hero Girls and The Hollow (Netflix). She also enjoys watching The Mandalorian, Marvel Movies and any Disney movie. Her favorite princesses are still Aurora, Belle and Tiana. With our recent trip to Disney World she has started to enjoy Mickey Mouse shorts as well. She still enjoys Teen Titans Go, Gravity Falls and Big City Greens.

Lucy still enjoys playing with her toys as well. She likes playing with her figurines, Barbies, Magna Tiles, legos and Hot Wheel cars. She can play easily by herself but really enjoys when her siblings and friends play with her as well. 

Lucy still has a hard time falling asleep at night. She keeps toys and books under her pillow but will also try to get up, go downstairs and try to watch TV with Evan and I. She still likes to "read" in her bed as well. We try to put her to bed by 8 and if its the weekend she will sleep until 7:30 am most of the time.

Lucy's favorite foods are still peanut butter and honey sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. She still does not eat a lot during mealtimes which results in her being hungry an hour later. We try to encourage her to eat more bites and she will begrudgingly do so. She really enjoys any type of candy or suckers and would prefer for these to be the main course instead of a healthier option.

She still says things like, "I don't do that very welly." or "berry" for very. 

Lucy started gymnastics for the summer of 2021. And because she dances all the time at home I thought she would enjoy ballet for the Fall semester 2021. She did not love ballet and found it to be very boring. She told me every week how she wanted to go back to gymnastics and wanted to quit ballet. In December, the dance company put on 'The Grinch' dance recital. Lucy was a little mouse with her classmates and performed very well. It was a lot of fun to watch her and I do think she enjoyed the excitement of the recital but she still did not want to continue on with ballet or dance. She is back in gymnastics with Caroline and also does swimming lessons as well. 

We are so blessed to have Lucy in our family! For her imagination, kindness, sweet heart and honesty she is a pretty great little girl! 

Interview with a 5 year old

 What's your favorite color? Light pink

Favorite food? Spaghetti and Mac and cheese
Least favorite food? Chicken
Favorite dessert? Chocolate cake
Favorite stuffed animal? Blue teddy bear
Favorite animal? Baby Pandas
What do you like to do the most? Watch TV
Favorite thing to do with Dad? Playing crab where he takes the tongs and gets my toes
Favorite thing to do with Mom? Going to the store to buy stuffed animals for me
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? playing Barbies
Favorite thing to do with Liam? playing cars and Legos
Favorite TV show? Maya and the Three on Netflix
Favorite Movie? Aladdin
Favorite thing about school? Coloring
Favorite place to go locally? Children's museum
Favorite place for vacation? "the place where the house is logs and there is dead animals on the wall" (Colorado)
Favorite book? I like to look at chapter books
Favorite outfit? Snowman Christmas shirt
Favorite game? Shadows and Candy Land

What are most excited to do now that you are 5 that you couldn't do when you were 4? eat some gum
What are you most scared of? scary dreams
What's the best thing about you? "that I am special because Jesus sent me to you Mom"
Who is your best friend? Anna and Adrian
What do you want to be when you grow up? a doctor, a teenager and a teacher

From this sweet baby to this big 5 year old!

First day of school

 I might as well keep updating since I'm so far behind. 

First day of school brought much excitement and some nervousness depending on the kid. While there were some tears at the beginning of the day (Liam, I'm looking at you); the end of the day was all smiles!

Liam's 5th grade teacher is Mrs. Pacey. 

Caroline's second grade teacher is Mrs. Moore. 

Lucy is still with Mrs. McCoy for her last year of preschool. 

We are just thrilled that they are back for in person learning and will hopefully have a normal school year. There may still be masks and some social distancing but they are in the building and we are so thankful.