Life continues apace, and so do the major milestones! We celebrated Danny’s Confirmation in a lovely evening mass. Luis Franco was his sponsor (Danny actually picked up the phone to call and ask him!), and we were fortunate to have Grammy and Grampy join us for the occasion as well.
Not pictured: the feast of ribs and cornbread we enjoyed the following evening, when we had more time. It was a lovely weekend, and another opportunity to give thanks for our many blessings.
As one last hurrah before Laura and Meghan’s spring break schedules diverged, we opted to go bigger: A few days in Sarasota, and a few days in Disney. I’m happy to say it did not disappoint!
First things first, we had to log in and make sure Laura was, indeed, accepted to Marist. A resounding yes!
We then grabbed Meghan and hit the road…for a very long time, as everyone else seemed to be headed that way as well. But eventually we passed the gate into Stoneybrook and began a fabulous week of fun in the sun.
We kicked off the break very similarly to last year, with mass, brunch and swimming on Sunday, and a repeat visit to the tea house the girls so enjoyed on Monday.
Tuesday morning we left bright and early for the Happiest Place on Earth. We went straight to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we left our bags and the van and hopped the shuttle to the Magic Kingdom.
The weather was definitely warmer than I would have preferred, but the advantage to staying on property is that we could hop a shuttle back to the hotel for some R&R in the room or by the pool, and then head back in the evening. Which is exactly what we did.
We had Genie Pass reservations for rides like the Seven Dwarf Mine Train, and in between made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean…where we had *quite* the adventure when the ride stopped for 50 minutes. We wound up having to make emergency exits from our boats, and getting escorted behind the scenes and out the back of the building. We were also given a freebie reservation to be used any time of day on a variety of rides.
Our hotel had pretty fabulous views of animals, like giraffes, and zebras, which we enjoyed every time we looked out of our window!
I think that first evening might have been my favorite chunk of time at Disney. We had dinner at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, which is in the heart of Main Street and modeled after Lady & the Tramp. All three of us ordered the spaghetti and meatballs, which were way more delicious than I expected them to be.
When night falls, that’s really when the magic comes alive as the parks light up. We enjoyed a round of Buzz Lightyear, then made our way to Space Mountain for a rousing ride that had both girls smitten and ready for an immediate repeat…except that we were once again stopped! At least we made it all the way through the ride, but we did have to make another unusual exit!
We then decided to give the high-flying rockets a ride, which was absolutely gorgeous at night. The fireworks got going just as we finished, and we watched for a while before making our way to end the evening on Thunder Mountain with our freebie passes. That also afforded some lovely views of the Magic Kingdom. We capped off the evening with churros, and left as the park was closing.
The next day we enjoyed a leisurely morning and hotel breakfast before we headed to Epcot, and it was so fun to see the girls’ reaction to Soarin’ - a ride somewhat difficult to explain, so I didn’t try very hard. “This is blowing my mind!” was Meghan’s repeated refrain.
Epcot felt even more hot than MK, so we headed back to the hotel and took advantage of the phone app to order some lunch to eat in our room while we relaxed for a while. We made another visit to the pool, and then it was time to return to Epcot for the girls’ ride on Guardians of the Galaxy (I opted to sit this one out). They LOVED it, which was a relief because many people exited that ride somewhat terrified! From there it was time to head to Germany for our dinner reservation. I figured it would be a good choice because my research indicated that they served schnitzel. The buffet meal offered all kinds of great German fare, and we also enjoyed the live entertainment! I was so pleased to see the girls enjoying the band, clapping along. We all agreed it was just the right amount of volume and length of performance - i.e. not too long!
After dinner we shopped, specifically searching for Ratatouille ears, which it turns out are only available in Epcot’s France. Many of the rides in Epcot still had crazy long lines, but we did manage to ride Soarin’ one more time before watching the fireworks and heading back to the hotel.
For our third and final Disney day, which wasn’t really a full day because we needed to drive back to Sarasota, we returned to the Magic Kingdom. The girls twinned in the matching shirts they grabbed the day before, along with the Ratatouille Ears. Space Mountain was a priority, as was getting a complete ride on Pirates of the Caribbean. I also made them ride Dumbo, which was a throwback to my favorite ride as a child! And you can’t skip the carousel!
The crowds were huge, and the weather was warm, so we killed some time on the Carousel of Progress (quite vintage, shall we say), rode Thunder Mountain one final time, and then decided it was time to head back to Sarasota. As Meghan said while we walked back to the shuttle one final time, “That was SO FUN…but I’m ready to leave.”
Our final day we hit Siesta Key in the late morning, with prime access thanks to Donna’s friend who lives on the island. The girls and I are all like-minded in that 90 minutes at the beach is plenty. The water was great and we enjoyed our time, but we were more than happy to get some lunch back at the condo.
We finished with dinner at Phillippi Creek, where we lucked out and were seated right away! It was a gorgeous evening to dine al fresco, and felt like a fitting end to another special week.
Danny rolled into his second year as a Marist Varsity soccer player with high hopes and a new head coach. This coach sees him in a different position from what he typically plays for his club team, so there was a learning curve involved. But once again, he learned a lot and made new friends, too.
Many of his usual crew of Boyz joined him on the roster this year, and they fondly dubbed themselves Bench FC. They may not have gotten the playing time they would have liked, but memories were made - and the future looks bright for the next two years of Marist Boys Soccer!
