In January and February Mac played basketball for the YMCA/First Baptist Church. His best buds Jack P and Owen were on his team, along with some new friends, but the best part of the Hornet’s basketball team for Mac was the coach – DADDY! I’m not sure who had more fun during the Hornets undefeated season, but I do know that basketball will definitely be on the list of things to do again in 2016!
I keep a running list of funny things the kids say or do that I want to remember and then periodically I post on the blog so I will always have them.
Coe: Quinn pushed me down
Me: I hope you didn't push him back
Coe: Well I did
Me: Oh no that's not nice. Why did you do that
Coe: My dad said too. If someone pushes you you push them back #parentingfail, #daddyisintrouble
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At our parent teacher conference for Mac, Mrs. Leibig was saying how the kids have a really hard time with fact vs opinion Qs. I noticed Mac had missed a lot of these type Qs on the work he brought home, so at dinner that night I asked him about facts vs opinions. He quickly told me the difference - one you can prove and one you can’t. I then gave him some examples and asked if it was fact vs opinion
Me: dad has brown hair
Mac: fact
Me: dad is the best dad in the world
Mac (chuckling): opinion
Me: mac is the best basketball player on his team
Mac: fact
Me: (quizzical look)
Mac: seriously it's a fact b/c you can prove I'm the best
Still working on this concept, but obviously we have confidence mastered
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Mac: I hope Mrs lacy has a girl
Me: why?
Mac: So coe can marry Frances, and I can marry the new one, and Coe and I won't have to fight.
#layingclaimtothePhillipsgirl(s) #thenewone
When we woke up on Day 4, we were short 3 family members. Finley and crew had an early flight home that morning. I thought I had told the boys this the day before, but they both acted completely shocked that Finley had left the trip early. Despite their obvious disappointment, they quickly got ready to head to Hollywood Studios. For once I thought we were on time according to our schedule. Daddy rushed the boys to the back of the park to get in line for a spot to battle Darth Vader while Yaya and I waited in line to have all our bags checked by security. Despite getting to the park pretty much on time, Mac and Coe barely got a spot to battle the dark side. Matter of fact they got the 2nd to last session of the day – 7pm – it was not my plan to be at HS at 7pm when we had reservations at the hotel for dinner at 6:30! Further the rain was supposed to roll in around noon, and the Disney staff had already confirmed that even a light sprinkle would cancel the battle. We were assured that they would do their best to create “an alternate experience” but everything I read online made that sound pretty lame. Couldn’t do much about it at the time, so I moved the dinner reservations to later in the evening and we started checking off the items on our HS must see list. Since we had been to HS a year earlier, we were able to hit the highlights and skip the stuff that we knew wasn’t worth doing again. Eventually the rain started and Coe was on the verge of exhaustion so we headed to the hotel to rest with a plan of coming back to the park for the nighttime battle with the Dark Side!
*The boys got to pick one souvenir at the Star Wars store. Its easy to figure out what they picked as the items are in every picture thereafter!
The rain came as we were leaving the park…and it never left. I kept watching the forecast and it showed more and more rain. The boys were so disappointed when I told them the battle with Darth Vader was cancelled. I didn’t mention the “alternate experience” as it just didn’t sound like anything fun, and I was concerned it would make the whole thing even more disappointing.
After staring at two very sad faces, I talked to Albi and we came up with a plan. With raincoats on bodies and the rain shield on the stroller, Albi and I grabbed the boys and headed back to MK to ride all the roller coasters in the rain! {Yaya decided she would just meet us at dinner} Mac and Coe were ecstatic to go on this rain soaked adventure, and we ended up making some of our best memories over the next 3 hours. We rode Thunder Mountain several times, finally got on the Mine Train again (it was shut down when we first got to the park), battled it out on Toy Story , and basically just ran around in the rain with minimal crowds.
We met Yaya a few hours later for dinner at the hotel. I don’t know if I was exhaustion {plus being wet and cold}, but dinner was really delicious – sushi, noodle bowls, and great wine! We all crawled in bed that night knowing the trip had come to a successful end. We didn’t do everything according to plan, but we had a blast and made memories that will last a lifetime. Three little kids “dreams came true”, and I’d say the adults had almost as fun watching it all happen.
After the safari we rushed to the Lion King show but ended up missing our fast pass. We grabbed lunch nearby and waited in line for the next LK show. It was well worth the wait and the kids were mesmerized the whole time – especially Fin Fin! After ice cream and playtime in the dino park, Coe and Finley were ready for a nap, but not before everyone picked out a souvenir. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of all their animals, but then again after the length of time it took Coe to pick his out, Finley was in no mood for a picture! Mac got Petter a baby leopard and named her Amber {she has amber eyes}. Coe got a baby snow leopard – Suma {which was then changed to Zuma and now Zoomer}, and Finley got a stuffed Nemo.
Mac was determined he could not leave without finding all the animals in his Wilderness book {remember the badges I mentioned in the last post}, so Yaya and I decided to stay at the park with Mac and complete this mission while everyone else went to the hotel to rest. We walked all over the park to find these animals and eventually took a short trian ride to Rafiki’s Island to fine the last few. I didn’t even know that area of the park existed. It ended up being very cool, and Mac had a great time learning about the animals , going to the petting zoo, and earning a lot more badges. We will definitely spend some time exploring the Island next time we visit Animal Kingdom.
***Note to anyone else going, you can watch the vets treat and examine the animals from about 9-12 on Rafiki Island so go early. We were there late in the afternoon and missed that part which I know Mac would have loved. There is always next time!
Speaking of next time, at the end of the day Mac and I waited in line for 40min to ride Mt. Everest which is the new big roller coaster at Animal Kingdom. When we were about 20 people from the front of the line, the roller coaster broke, and they sent everyone away. UGH! Again, there is always next time!
Yaya, Mac and I met back up with the rest of the family at Epcot for dinner in Mexico. I was looking forward to some salsa, cheese dip and a margarita, and I have to say they all disappointed. We finally got out of dinner and rushed to Nemo’s Seas before Epcot closed for the night. We didn’t get to spend nearly as much time at Epcot as we would have liked and given one more day in Orlando we definitely would’ve gone back. Mac is getting old enough to appreciate some of what Epcot has to offer and by our next trip I think we will devote at least half a day to explore this park more.
Everyone crashed to sleep when we got home, but Mac was the first one out. It had been a very long and definitely fun filled day for him, Petter and baby Amber!
