Aunt Pep passed away. She was 91 years old, and lived a remarkable life. Her daughter, Kathy, put together a touching obituary you can read by following that link, but even that doesnt quite capture enough of Aunt Pep’s life. She leaves behind a husband of 70 years, uncle Jim, who is 93 years old.
Who was aunt Pep?
It all started with these 5 brothers; the one on the left is my grandfather as a child, Gordon; his brother, Jim, is pictured on the right in the first picture, and Aunt Pep was Jim’s wife; my dad’s aunt.
All of the families of these 5 boys grew up together in New Jersey, and their bond as cousins was special.
The funeral was held at Johns Island Presbyterian Church, where Aunt Pep volunteered in a number of positions during the 30+ years of her time there. The service was special, and her husband, children, and grandchildren painted a strong image of a life well-lived by an incredibly strong, industrious, loving woman. She was intentional with her time, and loved others well through her service in countless ways, through countless organizations over her years.
The part that stood out to me was how the goodness of a family rises to the top. Sometimes I am not amazing with my choice of words, so bear with me on this one because I want to convey it properly.
There are hiccups in our family. I think there are hiccups in every family. Hiccups like strained relationships, divorce, financial challenges, disease, death, and heartache. The list can go on, but that is not the point. The point is that those things are only in passing, and in the end the strong relationships that honor one another, support one another, and live a life to bless others are the ones that out shine all of the other “hiccups” that inevitably arise. I know I fall short in this area often in a lot of ways.
The stories that were shared about Aunt Pep and Uncle Jim showed how they were a lighthouse to their family over the years: loving their two children well at all points in their lives, and loving and welcoming their grandchildren in the same way, all through college and beyond. Jim, who is the last of the five brothers, became a patriarch of all of the families, and his family was as welcoming to the extended family (all of his brother’s families) as they were to their own. This was something different. This was something special. This is something rare, and something I think all of us can aspire to. Uncle Jim and Aunt Pep set the bar pretty high.
After the service, we went back to the hotel, and hung with the family until almost midnight. I know, its crazy to stay up that late. We told stories. We laughed. We reminisced.
Not all of the pictures are available, but Brenna caught me in this pic, as we were arranging for the family photo. It was in this moment that I missed my cousin Ken- his zingers would have been special during these few minutes while we organized everyone to get the perfect shot of the group.
Lot’s of great pictures were taken by the group, and I wish that I had taken more to share.
I will share this though: here is a picture of my great-great grandfather. He is the one that came over from Scotland many years ago. Also, a picture of me with my uncle Steve- who (in my opinion) is the spitting image of Dickie-Bird Papa (thats my great-grandfather’s name):
It’s hard to do this weekend justice in a blog post. There was so much to share, great conversations. It was fun to connect with Tyler and Ashley and Ellie and Erin. We missed the cousins that couldn’t make it.
The next morning, my dad and I hopped back in the car and did the 5 hour marathon drive back to Greensboro: unfortunately, I didn’t get any pics during his visit on my phone, but it was a pretty great drive. I’m used to driving with a small kid, so it was rather great to drive without having to stop for potty breaks every 40 minutes.
Mercy is four.
Mercy had a birthday party this weekend. Each year on her birthday, I remember the journey it took to meet her. I wrote about it before and you can read about it if you are interested, but the short of it is that she is a special kid we prayed for over many years, and it is special to celebrate this unique, wild girl:
The picture above is great, but she has a lot more spunk than you would think by going off of that image. She is fearless, tough, sad, and happy. She loves her sister. She loves her cousins, and uncles and aunts and grand parents. She loves to read books at night before bed. She dances (like her big sister), sings, smiles, laughs, and is just a wonderful kid.
The princess party was fun- thanks to everyone who was able to make it. The face painter was awesome, so were the try-on princess dresses. The bounce house.
Once again, I didn’t get any good pics of my dad: driving 10 hours in 2 days left me with the jitters, but it was totally worth it. A special time to honor Aunt Pep with the family, special to share some time with my dad, and special to share my world here in Greensboro with him.
“Not much, today we don’t have anything planned until 5pm or so.”
These phrases are rare; not having much to do for a Saturday is about as common as a Dodo bird around here. The weather was perfect, getting a bit cooler, which meant, it was time for the hardest part of my glorious plans to have a green, green lawn for 2025: time to aerate. And this yard has a lot of room for improvement:
The lawn after many dry weeks
To this point, I had already geeked out quite a bit about it. Taylor can tell you, love it or hate it, I tend to obsess over things, and this was another excellent example. I don’t want to just throw some grass seed out there and see what’s gonna happen; this is something I have never done before, so I dug deep into the subject by reading the Turf Files from the NC State website.
The site describes how the state of North Carolina offers free soil testing during the off season, so of course I took advantage of my tax-payer dollars for this very in demand service:
THe analysis makes a recommendation of the type of soil to use based on the N-P-K proportions. In my case, they recommended just the K (potassium). If you want to do the same, here is the link to test your soil.
The Turf-files also go deep into the various types of grass in North Carolina. For a noob such as myself, this was all news: what kind of grass to go with? I always assumed all grass was the same? It is not all the same. In the Piedmont, you can go with some types of warm-climate grasses, or cool season grasses. The NC State Turf Files recommends doing a blend of grass seed, and Kentucy 31 and Tall Fescue seemed like the perfect mix:
After aerating on Saturday with a 300 pound machine (the Home Depot website says 255 pounds, but surely that number isn’t accurate), Sunday was a chance to do the final, fun stuff of the yard: do a couple passes with the potassium rich fertilizer, as recommended from my soil report; Then, since they didn’t have the recommended seed blend, I took the liberty of mixing my own blend of tall fescue and Kentucy 31 bluegrass:
A grass seed blendSpreader for a small yard
A couple of passes of the seed, and at this point, in my amateur confidence with no one around to tell me otherwise, I was doing a great job!
But, not through with it yet: the final part, and most people argue as the most important, you gotta keep that stuff WET. And, since I over engineer everything (See last weeks post about the ring workout setup as an example), I had to do the same here and automate the watering.
This is a whole ecosystem of gardening specialty tools. How much, or how little do you want to spend in order to keep your precious turf wet? For me, the answer was very little. And no thank you, please do not connect my watering system to my internet: I do not need to water my lawn while I am away from the house. Amazon, give me the cheap garden-hose automation tool that can help do a better job of watering the lawn than I ever will; and since no sprinkler can hit the whole lawn with the low-water pressure issue we have in our old house, better make 2 timers, and 2 sprinklers in the front yard:
As of the writing of this post, the first watering is underway! We are off to the races, and lord willing, I’m finally gonna be living where the green grass grows in 8-12 weeks! Please, please don’t jump to 90 degrees in the next few weeks!
Festival
Years ago (maybe 8 or 9?), Greensboro became host to the National Folk Festival. Downtown transformed into an awesome, 10 stage music venue with all the fun things, and porta-potties needed to support such an event. Some time after that, the National part of the festival moved on, and was seamlessly replaced by the North Carolina folk festival. Still, many stages and music over three days in downtown greensboro.
We had poor memories from last year’s festival where the music we heard just wasn’t that good. This year, on Friday night, we met up with our neighbors the McCrackens (our Disney Planner) and Rosie got to spend a lot of the night with some of her besties.
In front of the stagePoor Mercy
This was probably the highlight of the night: Getting to see Elias Alexander, an EDM, Celtic musician (did I get that right?). EDM=”Electronic Dance Music”. What does that mean? It means bagpipes and a Celtic flute with the intense beat of techno. Sounds wild, and it is wild, and it was surprisingly fun:
Dancing with Mercy
This music was so good that it made a man who was wheelchair bound get up and do a jig. This fella pushed his way, with his walker, through the crowd so he could get to the front row and show us how it’s done. How can this not tickle your soul with joy?
Finally, at the end of the night on Saturday, I was able to stay up late enough to go to the 11pm after party at The Flat Iron. My friend Hence went the year before and said it was awesome. Though I could only make it to see 45 minutes of the show, it was awesome and gave me Nashville vibes for this small venue in Greensboro. Totally worth the $15 admission to hear Sam Fribush and Friends do their Organ music jam:
Also, I haven’t been out that late in a while, but you get to see some things at that hour you wouldn’t see normally. Our group spent about an hour sitting behind this fella, who was a couple heartbeats away from his night ending poorly, but everyone who walked past did smile pretty big at the sight:
Foul Ball
Ok, I am running out of time before the kids wake up, but, we went to the final baseball game of the season with some good friends and it was fun. Sorry Andy and Laura, you left before I was able to get a pic, but it was fun hanging with your crowd as well:
Until next year, grasshoppers!Sarah and the girlsMercy never smiles
Have you ever heard of “the ring” workout? “The Ring” doesnt refer to the Japanese horror novel turned into a film; “The Ring” is what they do in men’s gymnastics at the Olympics. There are a lot of different workouts and exercises that can be done with this simple setup, and it works your stabilizer muscles really well. The first time using “rings” to do, let’s say, some push ups- you will find yourself shaking like a leaf. It is pretty intense, and can leave a person wiped out in 10-15 minutes.
PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 29: Brody Malone of Team United States competes on the rings during the Artistic Gymnastics Men’s Team Final on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on July 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Some friends of mine have done this workout for a while and really enjoyed the results, so I got a pair of rings; but, there is nowhere to hang them. We have a kids swings that is about 6′ off the ground, and that worked for just a few of the exercises, but was far from the best setup. If a man wants to get strong in his own yard, it has to be the best setup, right?
If the swing set wasn’t high enough for a proper ring setup, surely a tree branch would do? Also no. There is not a single branch from our 6 gigantic trees with a proper branch to hang something from.
I had to build my own ring setup. This would be easy. This would be fun. Surely my amazing wife would love and support the idea, right? Obviously this is the right thing to do to save money on a gym membership.
The challenge was the support beams needed are too long to fit into the car: 8, 10, or 12 feet long. Usually my mom’s cargo can used to haul paintings would be a good resource, but she was out of town. The next best bet is Robert Core’s 1988 V8 Chevy Custom pickup truck. It’s army green:
And it’s a stick shift. My friend Houston and I used to drive around town and mow yards in this very same truck 25 years ago. And it still runs.
With Taylor’s blessing about a vague, but simple thing I wanted to build, and the truck to go get the 4 x 4s from Lowe’s, I got the saw out, drill, etc. and went to work. The plan changed: instead of dropping the wood beams into the ground as a permanent structure, Taylor’ requested it be above ground. You know, just in case I don’t continue using it for more than 3 months (a very reasonable position to have).
On a daily basis, I work on a computer writing computer code; I am not a “handy” kinda person, but I can get things done. Over-analyzing makes me good at my job, but not-so-great at other things. So, for this simple project of building a pull-up bar, I needed to make sure it wouldn’t fall over in ANY direction. Also, these small, amazing, but curious and troublesome kids would also end up pushing the limits, I wanted to make sure these 4x4s could support it.
And I accidentally went too large by using 12′ poles; however, these can be trimmed back, OR I can drop it into the ground at some point in the future. However, I present to you an over-engineered structure that my supportive, but embarrassed wife, hopes will keep my attention for more than 3 months:
It’s hard to stay healthy. Taylor works. I work. We have to get groceries, but it is hard to go to great lengths to make sure we have super healthy meals. I run a bit, but get bored after reaching a distance of about 10 miles; the gym is expensive, and for some reason I am not motivated to lift weights. I started riding my bike for exercise, and that is fun so far (I am not great at it). If I can do 4 cardio workouts a week, that’s good- at about 20-40 minutes a piece.
Also, this month is Sober-september to take a step in the right direction. Too many IPAs over the summer put me at +7 pounds since June- I am so lucky that my bathroom scale keeps track of that for me.
Wish me luck!
The last bowl.
Part of our wedding registry was at a store called Anthropologie. It is hard to adequately describe the store, I will just fall flat on this, so I will not even try.
However, we got lots of things from there. They are pretty neat, a little more artsy and colorful than what you may get at a boring department store. They fit Taylor’s style pretty well, and she still shops at this store to this day.
We got a set of rice bowls from there; the set had either 4, 6, or 8 bowls, hard to say, but they are the perfect size. Good for ice cream; rice, sides for dinner.
As a side note, we eat at home a lot. And, we never use paper plates (unless feeding a large crowd). So our dinner set gets used pretty often; 5x a week. If you include breakfasts and lunches, maybe much, much more.
We have been married 14 years now. Thats 5130 days, or 732 weeks. If that bowl set was used a conservative, 4x per week- that puts us at 2,928 times that bowl was used.
This week, finally, after putting away another load of clean dishes from the dishwasher, it’s lone matching bowl slipped and broke on the marble (or granite, I am not sure what our counters are made out of) counter. It had a good run. RIP to your brothers and sisters, little bowl.
Maybe I can find some antique versions to replenish the set as some sort of really good, thoughtful husband gift; or maybe it’s just time to get some new bowls.
Tips and tricks are an easy one to understand, but TUNNELS?
Disney offers a few special experiences besides just tickets to the parks, some of them include:
Cake Decorating
Autumn at Walt Disney World
Behind the Seeds, a talk about the plants in the parks
Caring for Giants: a special tour with the animals at Animal Kingdom
DiveQuest: Scuba Diving in the aquarium at Epcot.
A full list of all tours and experiences can be found here. Among all the dozens of offerings, there is one that stands out: the Keys to the Kingdom tour. This is a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at the park and visit some of the off-limits sections (called “backstage” in Disney lingo).
This includes getting the chance to see a part of the tunnels that run underneath the Magic Kingdom. Because I am a software engineer, nerd, and love to know how things work, where do I sign up? Take my money!
They don’t allow cameras on the tour; we still had a few days left on our trip and I didn’t want to get kicked out of the park, so I obliged.
The tour starts on Main Street near the entrance of the park at 9 a.m. There are about 20 people on the tour, and here are a few of the things they shared:
Red concrete. Why is the pavement in Magic Kingdom red? Walt Disney wanted to share the movie experience, so the pavement is meant to be like a red carpet that leads you to the main feature, Cinderella’s castle. As you enter the park, there will always be popcorn beside the entrance, and candy straight ahead, because thats what you do when you go to a show.
Buy the land. How much did Walt buy the land for? He bought the land for about $180/acre. However, a journalist from the Orlando Sentinel got suspicious: Who was buying thousands of acres of Florida Swampland under the name “Real Estate Development Company”? She suspected it was Disney, so she flew out to California and asked Walt Disney: “Are you buying land in Florida?” His response was, “Who would buy land there? It is only swamps, has no interstates, no tourism, and is hot all year.” The journalist thought, “You know a lot for someone who has no interest in the state.” She later published a piece as an opinion stating Disney is buying the land. The price per acre jumped from $180 to about $16,000/acre.
Moving East. Why was Disney World built after Disney Land? After Disney Land was opened, Walt Disney entered 4 attractions for the World Fair. All of his attractions, including an animatronic feature, won out of a total of 5 awards. This showed him that there was demand for his products on the East coast as well, thus began the idea to open another theme park.
The design of Magic Kingdom. What is so special about it? There are several “Lands”, and they are laid out with great attention to detail. It is a hub-and-spoke layout, with the garden and Cinderella’s castle at the center. Walt Disney said that when you hold out a treat for a dog (called a “weinie”), the dog will come towards it. So each “land”, has a tall, visual “weinie” to lead people: Cinderella’s castle, the Astro Orbiter in tomorrow land, the treehouse from Swiss Family Robinson, etc.
The Shrubbery. Plants aren’t cool. Are they? Yes! Walt Disney had a neighbor who had a great yard. So, when Disney Land was opened in California, Walt asked his neighbor if he would do the landscaping. Then, when he added Walt Disney World, he said “Guess what? You get to do landscaping for Disney World Too!”. Also, Walt travelled the world and would bring back plants from exotic places, including smuggling seeds in his socks. Also, as you enter adventure land, there are trees planted specifically to block your view of the castle, to ensure people are experiencing adventure.
What is NOT there. Why is everything…so perfect? Main Street has a ton of buildings and little store fronts. And not a single building has a defect: no peeled pain, not a single light bulb out of place, no gaps in the woodwork. I own a house. It is hard to keep everything in such shape, so I asked the tour guide. Her response? “A team comes in every night to fix things. If any paint needs to be added, or if any guest makes a complaint, they will often fix it immediately.”
What else is missing. Why no bugs…or gators…in Florida? Every year, they release 6 billion ladybugs and dragonflies to help eat mosquitos. Another article I read to confirm says that they spray garlic as a natural repellant, release bats, and have chicken coups to help control the mosquito population. This is all to honor Disney’s wishes to not spray the park with chemicals, and leave as much natural as possible. As for gators, they have a gator-catching team that is on call whenever one is spotted. Everything is fenced off, but sometimes baby alligators can get through.
Backstage passes. What happens backstage? A lot of people work at Disney World. 78,000 among the four parks. At the magic kingdom, they all need normal things: like parking, changing rooms, cafeterias, etc. They need to prepare for the parade, and more for all of the “magic” we experience as guests at the park. On the tour, I saw the Incredibles wearing only half a costume as they got ready for the parade. A golf-cart taking all of the princesses to their parade float. Where they house the floats in the off season. There was a full gym under Cinderella’s castle. And a dance studio for the “cast” to practice. And a gigantic room, like the first floor of our house, where a team does the sewing of all of the costumes people wear all around the park. I’m talking 6-12 princess dresses, every princess, along the walls of this entire room. Any little girl would have died to have played in there.
Tips and Tricks
We did 6 days in the parks. Here are the things that helped us the most:
A stroller. Mercy doesn’t need a stroller in real life. She is tall for her age, and rarely uses it. Disney isn’t real life. We are walking, and it is hot. This saved us a ton of time to rent a stroller down there (no flying with one) to have her be able to rest when she needed, and to haul our ponchos, water bottles, etc. all day long.
External Battery for phones. The Disney App does a lot (more on that later). But, since you are using the app a lot for maps and lines, not to mention taking pictures/videos, and more, the battery can drain pretty quickly. I had an external battery I got from Costco which worked great, and plugged it in at our hotel each night. My phone is an iPhone 13 (almost three years old), and though the phone is great, the battery isn’t amazing anymore, so this was a big help.
Magic bands. I’d file this under a “maybe.” Mine fell off each time I put on my backpack, so I ended up just putting it in my pocket the whole week. Disney also offers the option to use a card instead of a magic band, or the app on your phone itself. They are neat as they light up with different colors on the various rides though.
Lighting Lanes. The lines at the parks weren’t that bad when we visited, so they say. However, if you don’t want to wait 60 minutes for the fun rides, definitely opt for the lightning lane option to cut that wait time to 10-15 minutes.
One person in charge. Taylor became an expert on ALL things Disney before our trip, including the rides and food. This helped as we just relied on her to make the decisions. I didn’t do much research (partially because I like being surprised!), so picking the right rides and places to eat was a lot easier for our group.
Small backpacks. We ordered some small backpacks to haul around all day. The problem with a bigger backpack is, you will fill them if the space is available. These small, light-weight, bags were perfect for sunscreen, the battery charger, extra clothes for the kids, and any knick-knacks we got along the way.
Dining Plan. We had the “quick service” dining plan, which offers a number of meals and snack each day you are at the park. A meal would be something like a burger, fries, and a drink (often times a beer!), and a snack would be ice cream, a pastry, etc. This helped us not think about costs while in the park; also, they were offered really cheap during the “slow” time of the year when we visited.
Water bottles. Florida in August, need I say more? But this is my blog, so of course I will say more. We got hot and sweaty. We walked our butts off every day, especially the first two days. However, time is broken up by stores and attractions that are inside. Disney World does not skimp on the Air Conditioning either, so there is a cadence of cooling off throughout the day. However, everyone needs to drink a lot of water to make it through the day.
Photo passes. This also depends: if you are coming back to the park often, you may not need a photo pass. If this is your one big trip, I recommend it. I realized last week that the pictures I shared were all the pictures I took, and didn’t include any group photos with Taylor parents. That’s because the group pics were all from the photo pass, and on Taylor’s phone. These pics are important, and I am glad we have them. Now, for a brief interruption to share ONLY pictures from our photo passes (also, I made it so you can click and see the full image):
Rosie with the Sword in the stoneRegisters in front of the Tower of TerrorMercy and Rosie with Chip and DaleRegisters in front of EverestWe met a wookieMeeting MickeyLuke with the Sword in the StoneAll of us with Chip and DaleIn front of the Epcot callIn Norway, at EpcotIn front of an X wing fighterIn front of an X wing fighterOn Main StreetSeven Dwarfs Mine TrainTaylor with the sword in the stoneEntering Toy Story LandRegisters in front of EverestGuardians of the Galaxy RideThe whole group at EpcotRegisters in Hollywood StudiosI got to meet Darth Vader!Meeting Fancy NancyMeeting MickeyWe caught a tinkerbellWe caught a tinkerbellOn TRONRosie meeting BellMeeting Fancy NancyIn front of Tower of TerrorMercy meeting VampiricIn front of Toy Story LandMeeting MickeyThunder MountainChip and Dale’s AutographsOn Buzz Lightyearon TronIn front of the CastleI got to meet Darth Vader!THe Registers in front of EverestWe saw a wookie!
Tank tops. If you know me, you know tank-tops have become my thing. It started out with just the crazy/silly/funny tank tops at the pool, but my collection has grown to include more “normal” tanks as well. I say this because I started a few days wearing t-shirts but had to change around lunch because tank-tops really do keep me feeling much cooler in the Florida sun.
Good walking shoes. I took 130,074 steps over a week; that’s an average of 18,582/day; or, 61 miles. Most of them pushing a stroller. Good shoes helped a lot. In fact, bring two pairs in case you run into one of the rainstorms Disney is known for, you won’t have wet shoes the next day.
Staying on property. The transportation to the parks from the properties are amazing. Depending on where you stay, there are buses, trains, boats, or the skyway that run on a regular basis, so your wait time is pretty short. Also, people staying on property get to reserve their rides 7 days before the start of their trip, as opposed to 3 days before the trip when staying off-property.
A rest day. For sure. Little kids absolutely can’t keep up. Grown ups also need a break. So if staying more than 3 days, add a rest day in between.
An incredible app.
Disney World has its own app. In order to build an app, it takes a bunch of systems and makes them all work together using the same interface for the user to interact with it. The systems usually involve creating APIs (Application programming interfaces), and it is very, very difficult to do.
The Disney App takes this to another level by integrating:
Hotel Reservations
Hotel Keys
Disney Photo Passes
Mobile ordering for most restaurants at the parks (Not the fancy restaurants)
A map which can filter to find the nearest characters, bathrooms, restaurants, stores, help, etc.
Wait times for rides
Ride reservations.
Walking directions/navigation on the map.
Bus/boat time arrival tracking.
Any where else, building an app that can do ONE of these features would be a complex system in itself: things in the digital world are always breaking and need time to update and maintain. The complexity of making all of the Disney systems work together in an app like this just blows my mind.
We went to Disney in 2019 for 2 days and got to visit Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Rosie was about to turn 5 at the time, and Taylor’s dad had a work trip at one of the Disney resorts. It was a very short notice, and we were on a tight budget at the time and wouldn’t have been able to afford going to Disney any other way. So we did what any normal person would do: share a single room with your in-laws for a 72 hour visit to the happiest place on earth.
Rosie in 20192019 visitRosie and I in 2019
It was a whirlwind visit. We did all the rides in a short amount of time; except, Taylor was pregnant at the time and didn’t get to ride any of them. You might be thinking, “the math on that doesn’t line up though. Mercy is only 3”. This is correct. Taylor was pregnant, and ended up losing the baby. It was sad- terribly sad. Since that time, Taylor has had dreams about Disney World. It became her “happy place” in ways, and she would explain it as “I have unfinished business there.” That is where this story begins.
The family in front of Cinderellas castle
We wanted to do a big trip to Disney, and this was that. A bit excessive? Possibly. She looked into it all, and there are so, so many things to look into:
Where will we stay?
How long will we go?
Will we fly or drive?
If flying, what is the best deal?
Is it better to stay on property (at a Disney resort) or not?
What is the cheapest time of the year to go?
What food options make the most sense?
How many days will we go to the parks? Will we stay in one park, or have the option to switch parks (Park hopper).
How do we “skip the lines” the smartest way possible?
Can someone help us with all of these things? Because this is a lot to take in.
The answer to that final question, is “yes”. There are people that can help you make sense of all of those things, and they are called “Certified Disney Planners.” . Luckily for us, Rosie’s best friends dad is one (Mark). And he lives 2 blocks away, so that answered that.
The cheapest time of the year to go is August, when it is hot as blazes outside. And they had some deals on packages that included food and stay, and park-hopper tickets are a bit cheaper as well. And the more days you stay, the cheaper the tickets end up being. Also, with the help of Mark, Tay did all of this in her spare time. Is there anything she can’t do?
Lobby of our hotelCafe in our hotelEntry to the Lobby at our hotelBehind the lobby of our hotel
We got to our resort on a Saturday, and as soon as we got there, Mercy hurt her ankle pretty bad by being a normal three year old and playing on a low-rise wall that was about 18” off the ground. “Daddy I can’t run because my foot hurts.” This was Taylor’s worst nightmare. But, by the end of the following day, that pain was gone. Thank God.
We stayed in the French Quarter: Port Orleans. This is a moderate Disney resort, which gave us the chance to stay a little longer.
What did you do while you were there?
It’s not that easy. About a month before our trip Disney overhauled their entire ride system. The way it works is this: a week before the first day of the trip, you can book 1 tier one ride, and 2 tier 2 rides if you are using “lightning lanes.” Then, after you use a lightning lane, you can reserve your next ride. There is a 1-hour window in which to redeem your ride.
As a side note, have you ever gone on Youtube and searched for “Disney World Tips and Tricks”? If not, I encourage you to do so. There is an overwhelming amount of content out there about the parks, and one in particular is called the Disney Food Blog. I suppose it started out just giving tips about the food at Disney, but they make great content with tips and tricks about EVERYTHING related to the parks. I don’t exactly know how many videos she watched, or Disney planning podcasts she listened to before our trip, but it was a few. And she seemed to really enjoy the process. Remember what I said earlier about “redemption”? Maybe that was her motivation? Regardless, it brought her joy in the months leading up to the trip, and our family was grateful for all the work she put in.
Day 1: Magic Kingdom
Our resort has better transportation to the parks than other resorts (thanks Mark!). Luckily, we got on the wrong bus on day one, and instead of heading to the Magic Kingdom, we were headed to Hollywood Studios. No pressure, as this was our first day and we were about to burst at the seams with excitement. After another bus to another resort, then another bus to MK, we got into the park just before 8:30.
Mercy has never ridden on a roller coaster before, so it was hard to tell how this week would go. If she hated them, it could greatly change how our week played out. Starting out with a gentle ride like The Little Mermaid could work our way into it.
First ride: The Little Mermaid
Check: She liked it. Next up, Dumbo.
Another success! Finally, the first REAL ROLLERCOASTER was Goofy’s Barnstormer:
Her response? “I wanna do it again.”
At the end of the day, I had 20,076 steps. We left after riding Barnstormer again at 7:30pm, on the bus by 8. That’s about 12 hours in the park.
Taylor and the girls on Main StreetArriving in our hotel roomThe whole crew in the Magic KingdomIn front of Tron Sign
Day 2: Epcot and Magic Kingdom
Mercy still takes naps, and we had a stroller to allow for it. So, when she was asleep, I made it my mission to find a tank-top to wear at one of the many stores. I failed at the magic Kingdom the day before, and looked in several stores at Epcot during Mercy’s nap time as well. On my 9th store, a little shop in Italy, I finally found it:
Luke in his Lemon Tank
I bought it, and proudly showed Taylor (and her parents). It was a shirt for women. “Where did you buy that? Was it around other women’s clothing?” I wasn’t really sure, but I did go back and get a pic to confirm:
There is a ride called “Mission: Space.” Rosies cousin went to Epcot s few years ago, and said this ride was intense. There are wornings everywhere: “If you don’t like confined spaces or get motion sickness, avoid this ride.” Yada yada yada. This ride has an orange option, and a green option. Green is less intense, so obviously we wanted to do Orange. Rosie was getting really nervous as we got closer to the front, and as you move forward, there is a part where you are in a room with about 20 people and a video is played to set up the scene for the ride. The video ended and it was super quiet, Rosie was nervous, so I said “Rosie did you just fart?” Oh my good ness it was funny. Taylor and I couldn’t stop laughing, but Rosie is 9, and that was pretty embarrassing. Though I was just trying to calm down her tension for the moment, I think I went a bit too far and hurt her feelings. She was fine an hour later, but it was a dad-fail.
Also we did the Character Brunch that day, and all the girls got to meet their favorite princesses:
Rosie and AurororaMercy, Rosie, and TianaTaylor and her Favorite PrincessRosie, Mercy and Arial
We did as many rides as we wanted, and at some point took the bus back to the Magic Kingdom. Taylor wanted to see the fireworks, and we might not have the chance the rest of the week.
On Space Mountain, people are put into the ride, and it goes a few feet and stops in front of the other people waiting in line before launching. During that moment, I waved at the people in line, and yelled “Let’s get weird everybody!” They laughed. Rosie laughed. There was a bit of redemption in that moment. I am an embarrassing dad, but don’t want to go too far.
Space MountainTaylor, Zippy and Rosie on Space MountainIn front of Space Mountain
Taylor wanted to see the fireworks. Years ago, when we went to Disney the first time, Rosie fell asleep on my shoulders during the fireworks. This time was Mercy’s turn: but instead of falling asleep on my shoulders, she fell asleep in the stroller, and was out cold the entire time.
The fireworks are great, and definitely worth sticking around for. We were in line for the bus at 9:20 (really late for us). Luckily, the next day was going to be a bit easier.
Day 3: Hollywood studios
The Star Wars land is here, and that was the part I was most excited about. My whole life, people have referenced the “Luke, I am your father” quote. This would happen at places like summer camp whenever there were ice-breakers for people to meet each other, freshman orientation in college, meeting your classmates in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 12th grade. Basically, everywhere. All the time. It used to be a bit embarrassing, but now was my day to fully embrace it. In fact, Taylor got me a special shirt for the occasion: Meeting Darth Vader.
Meeting Darth Vader
Rosie got to meet Rey: this was who Rosie was for Halloween last year when we were watching the Star Wars movies for the first time; Rey is an awesome character.
On the Star Wars rideZippy and Poppa in front of Storm TroopersRosie on the Millennium FalconThe family in front of the Millennium Falcon
Nothin significant happened this day; but it was great. I did enjoy Hollywood Studios because it had everything closer together; for Epcot, everything is so spread apart, it just took forever to get there. Some people asked about the heat during the day, and by the third day, we were doing much better. It is not like being outside exposed to the heat all day long- there are plenty of breaks where shade is available. Even the lines for the rides have shade and air-conditioned rooms.
Disney Hollywood Studios SignLuke and Rosie at Rockin Roller coasterIn the line for Ratatouille’s adventureThe girls after a long hot dayMickey’s Runaway RailwayHollywood Studios signABC Commissary dinner at HSEntering Hollywood StudiosSci Fi DinerMickey’s Runaway Railway rideHollywood Studios
Day 4: Animal Kingdom/Keys to the kingdom tour.
Taylor and her parents did Animal Kingdom, while I did the “Key’s to the Kingdom” tour. This was a special tour at the Magic Kingdom that takes people around the park, including “backstage” and in the system of tunnels and corridors underground. It was so cool, I think it deserves its own special blog post.
After the tour, I went back to the hotel for a quick nap and shower and then Taylor and I got to do a date night in Epcot. Our reservations for Le Cellier were at 6:30, and the steak for two that they serve is one of the best I’ve ever had. It was $$$, but date night was great while the kids stayed in with Zippy and Papa.
We strolled around the world and had drinks. I had several drinks, and we got to ride a slow ride before heading in for the night.
Rosie, Mercy, and Daisy DuckSisters on a ride at Animal KingdomSisters at Animal KingdomMercy looking at Rhinos
Day 5: Rest Day at the Resort.
The pace for the past 4 days was insane. If staying at Disney for a while with kids, especially little ones, a built-in rest day can help. Our rest day really did help us all re-align.
We did the pool at our place; then took the boat to do the pool at the neighboring property, which was much bigger. Naps, and bus and monorail for dinner at the fancy resort: the Polynesian. Our place did Movies on the lawn at 7:30, so we tuned in to “A Goofy Movie” for a bit before bed.
A bird at the resortRest day at the neighboring resortAt the neighboring resort on rest day
Day 6: Hollywood Studios.
At this point, we were cooked. Sleeping in was great, and we got to sleep in and catch the 9:30 bus to the park.
Did the kids get along?
Every day at about 1 or 2, when Mercy was exhausted from only eating sugar and salt and sweating all day as a 3 year old, she transformed into a little jerk for a short period of time. She would irritate Rosie, Rosie had a lot of patience and tried to get her to stop, but it didn’t work. Then, Mercy would sleep in her stroller, and things would be fine. This would repeat itself for the last hour before bed each night and the bus ride home. Other than that, things were great.
Back to Hollywood: There is so much to look at everywhere, it is awesome This is true for all parks.
One of the biggest rides here is the “Tower of Terror.” Great ride, people love it. People who don’t have a fear of falling love it. I have a fear of falling. Like, I have bad dreams where I am falling. Dropping rides, like Drop Zone at Carowinds in Charlotte gives me nightmares. This ride is an elevator, and instead of dropping riders on time, it drops them four times. I rode this ride with Rosie, and she was concerned why I was so quiet on the ride. The reason is this: I was full of DREAD going on it. For some reason I thought it might alleviate some fear; but it didn’t. In fact, it may have made it worse. I was absolutely terrible. I held the handles as tight as I could so my butt wouldn’t leave the seat. When the ride dropped us and I saw my backpack rise from the floor up to eye-level, I thought to myself “HELL no, this is terrible!”
Everyone else loved it though. We made it back home in bed by 10:22, another late night.
Hollywood Tower of TerrorHollywood Tower of Terror ride
DAY 7: Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
Another late start. Late on purpose. Late because sleep was needed and it was wonderful. This was our last day in the park, Taylor’s birthday, and a chance to hit up any last rides we didn’t get to do.
Taylor heard that a restaurant at Epcot called Space: 220 was awesome, so she got us reservations there for her birthday dinner. Did it stand up? YES! Was it expensive? Also yes.
We did our last few rides, and made it home earlier to do some packing before our flight the next morning.
There may be some duplicates here, but here is a giant gallery of the highlights:
Meeting MickyIn front of Cinderellas CastleRosie and Luke on 7 dwarfs mine trainTaylor and Mercy on 7 dwarfs mine trainLuke and Rosie on TronThe family in front of Cinderellas castleThe whole crew in front of Epcot BallLuke and Rosie on TronLuke and Rosie on Guardians of the GalaxyDisney Springs on Day 1Lobby of our hotelIn front of Tron SignDisney Hollywood Studios SignGetting ready to go to Disney!On the Star Wars rideWorn out each dayThe whole crew in the Magic KingdomLuke and Rosie at Rockin Roller coasterThe Disney World signDate night in front of the Epcot ballRosie, Mercy, and Daisy DuckRosie and Mercy at sci fi dinerRosie and Mercy at sci fi dinerNeat pic at Disney SpringsLego Ana, Elsa and Olaf at Disney SpringsArriving in our hotel roomRosie and Mercy in front of CinderellaTay with Guy’s chickenGuy’s chicken at Disney SpringsIn front of Space MountainBehind the lobby of our hotelBirds at Magic KingdomBus to the resortTaylor and the girls on Main StreetEntry to the Lobby at our hotelRosie and AurororaMorocco, in EpcotRosie, Mercy, and Snow White3d glasses and waiting in lineMercy, Rosie, and TianaLuke in his Lemon TankRosie, Mercy and ArialTaylor and her Favorite PrincessIn the line for Ratatouille’s adventureSoaring Ride signQuick Service Lunch SpotMercy worn outZippy and Poppa in front of Storm TroopersIn front of Space 220The Magic Kingdom at SunsetBefore the fireworks at the Magic KingdomThe Indian Jones spectacularThe girls after a long hot dayFireworks at the Magic KingdomThe family in front of the Millennium FalconMeeting Darth VaderRosie on the Millennium FalconMercy looking at RhinosSisters at Animal KingdomStroller Parking was everywhereDrinks in Star Wars LandSisters on a ride at Animal KingdomMickey’s Runaway RailwayABC Commissary dinner at HSHollywood Studios signIs this the lady’s section?Luke at Epcot on Date nightHollywood Tower of Terror rideLe Cellier for date nightAt the neighboring resort on rest dayIn front of the Epcot ballRest day at the neighboring resortDate night at EpcotThe Epcot signA bird at the resortPirates of the CaribbeanSlinky Dog DashGuardians of the GalaxyGuardians of the GalaxySpace MountainTaylor, Zippy and Rosie on Space MountainTo the monorailThe fam at the resortDinner at Polynesian on Rest DayMovie on the lawn at the hotelMeeting BelleEntering Hollywood StudiosDad and the GirlsMeeting VampirinaMeeting VampirinaSci Fi DinerHollywood StudiosMickey’s Runaway Railway rideMercy worn out each afternoonWith Zippy and Poppa at Hollywood StudiosSlinky Dog Dash with the FamFantasmic at Hollywood StudiosSisters on the People MoverFantasmic Spectacular at Hollywood StudiosWinnie the Pooh RideOn the people moverSpace 220 for Taylors Birthday dinnerWinnie the Pooh RideThe birthday girlSpace 220Space 220Inside space mountainTaylor in Space 220
Tay loves to throw a good party- especially a party with a theme. We missed the chance to throw a few parties this year, but for a while, Taylor has been stewing on this idea. And it came together better than we could have expected.
The podiumThe beveragesFlags of the nationsThe gamesTeam spiritThe dessertsTeam USA!
Rosie was all on board with it too. She is totally like her mom and into a theme party, and helped out my making several decorations, including the ribbons for the ribbon dancing.
Ribbon dancing? Oh yes. But more on that in a second.
We wanted to throw an Olympic party, with some Olympic Games, but which games could we do? Some of the things we tossed around were:
Three legged race: Nah.
Sack race? Nah.
Foot race? Tell me more…
Egg toss? Absolutely
Basketball? Possibly
Human ring toss? Yes!
But we need one more: we have throwing, running, but what is that one more element that could tie everything together?
Rhythmic Gymnastics is the official term. Will Ferrel made this famous in the movie Old School.
But we made it famous in Starmount forest. Tay, this was a brilliant event for the end of the evening. But before we got to ribbon dancing there was:
Egg Toss.
When was the last time you threw an egg?
Foot Race.
A 100-meter-ish kind of race. With a bunch of grown-ass men (and women!) running as fast as they could down our very un-busy street.
And a great slow-motion view of Max crushing the kids competition:
Human Ring Toss
We arent done with those pool noodles yet.
Basketball.
Hey batter batter.
Rhythmic Gymnastics.
I just want to say, there were no nay-sayers in the crowd. When Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker began playing, everyone knew exactly what to do.
We keep good company to have a group of friends, including Margarat’s brother Matt who didn’t know us well, participate in such a silly, silly thing.
In case you didn’t get enough, here is a view from what the Ring camera saw of the madness:
The points were tallied, and Chad Lynam got gold.
The food was fantastic, thank you everyone for contributing. After all of the mayhem, we settled in and got to watch a good amount of the actual opening ceremony in Paris.
Here are some other great pictures from the night:
My good friend Houston got a boat earlier this year. Who is Houston? He is on the blog a few places on here, but we go way back. Though it would be a great blog post, this isn’t the time to go into the details of Houston and I’d friendship.
Coordinating a date to get all three families with small kids together was also a challenge, but we got a date (thanks Tay) to go out on Houston’s shiny green boat. And it was awesome.
The kids just pick up where they left off, and had a lot of fun laughing about peeing in the lake. They are big enough now to do a lot of the “big kid” things, like go on a tube, or try to get on a kid-friendly wake board.
Captain Houston was a great motivator- he had patience to help guide all the little kids so that they could be successful on that wake board.
The most important thing to remember about this day? It was surprisingly normal. Of all the times together, there have been some pretty outlandish moments. But this day on the lake- there were no injuries, not wild tricks, no bizarre jokes, or moments with kids (except one moment).
Thanks Cle for the fun day on the boat- I hope we behaved well enough to be invited back!
Mercy’s first Movie.
Rosie’s first movie was called “The Star”, a Christmas movie about the star over the stable in Jerusalem that the three wise men followed.
On Saturday, we had plans to do the Cardboard Regatta at our pool. What in the world is a cardboard regatta? It is a boat race, and the boat has to follow specific, homemade guidelines and regulations. It ends up being a really good time, but then this happened:
So, the options for the remainder of the night were to go home and do another movie night, where Mercy would likely be all over Taylor’s lap. We could get good takeout food though.
OR, pivot and go to the movies; after all, Rosie did really want to see Inside Out 2. The movie? It will not win an Academy Award for anything, but it was a sweet little movie about a teenage girl and how emotions change through puberty. Yikes, that seems a bit scary to think about…
Captures the personalitiesMercy Wasn’t having it
Green Grass Growing
Here are some pictures of my yard.
It’s not the worst yard on the block, but it might be the second or third worst on the block.
Why is it so ugly?
A couple of years ago my father in law, Ted (who has an amazing yard and garden), helped us in a few ways. Him and his friend did a ton of work, and got some pretty good grass growing in the fall. But, we had our trees trimmed that year as well, and that killed most of the front lawn when the workers had to drag the branches across the new grass.
The back yard fought a valiant fight that year as well, but lost out due to a fungus and dog urine.
Last year, we tried to get our friend’s yard guy to come out and aerate and seed out lawn, but I waited too long in the season to reach out for his help, and his son got married which delayed another few weeks, and the window of opportunity for planting also passed.
This is the year though. Im gonna have a beautiful, lush lawn this year. People way less smart then me do it all the time, right?
I need the right kind of help. Here is the struggle I face: There is plenty of information on the internet about growing grass, and most of those resources go something like this: blah blah blah, fertilize, blah blah look at this map, plant grass, presto!
That’s not how it works. I am in North Carolina, and need to plan for growing there. And not just anywhere in NC: in the Piedmont, which is way different than the coast or the mountains. The people at Lowe’s home improvement- they might help with home improvement, but not lawns.
And then I found this amazing resource, from NC State University:
After reading WAY too much about lawns, I finally have a plan and I can say with confidence, the grass and the soil will be so healthy, the weeds will be crowded out, and the lawn will be amazing next year at this time.
Here is the plan:
Sharpen mower blades. It is best to have sharp blades for the first few mows.
Get soil tested. This is a free service in North Carolina.
Mow the lawn short. This reduces competition for the grass seeds.
Fertilize/lime. Apply based on the results of the soil test.
Aerate. Rent a tool from Home Depot, and go up and down and side-to-side across the yard.
Dethatch. This will help pulverize the cores from Aerating, but you have to wait until the cores are dry first. Also, this helps with grass seed contact with the soil for the new grass.
Seed between 9/1 and 9/15. A combination of Bermudagrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, and tall fescue. Use the appropriate proportions recommended on the link above.
Water. For Prime Day, I took advantage and ensured my watering timers, hoses, and everything else were sufficient.
Straw? I am not sold on whether I need to add straw, but it may help protect the grass by keeping the critters away. Last time birds and squirrels were out there getting a bit of seed.
Keep the leaves off. This is a challenge. Getting the new grass to germinate while also fighting against the many, many trees we have is an uphill battle.
At 9 years old, a kid tries everything. There is no expertise. There is no rationale. A kid just tries whatever new hobby/craft/sport seems interesting. If a kid does field hockey? Sure, why not? Soccer? Yes, please! Theater camp? Sounds great. Art lessons? Absolutely (thanks Cici!). Swim team? Sign me up.
For Rosie, this means that the menu of options includes anything that her friends do, and recently, a good friend of hers got the acting bug. So, a 2.5 week acting camp it is!
A company called stage lights here in town does the production, and this time around they made a play out of the movie Madagascar.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet, it’s a good one. I was very proud to see my daughter as a lemur. And a lioness. And a New Yorker in the zoo. Rosie stole the show.
It was neat to see what the group of kids put together over just two and a half weeks- Rosie often said camp was a bit hard, but she really enjoyed getting out to perform after putting in the work.
There were three performances, and Rosie got a great audience to come check it out. It was a lot of fun to see: the second time around was a bit better when the kids got a little more confident, and I knew what some of the funny parts were.
The hippo singingThe whole castFriday Night fansCentral Park ZooHer biggest FanBestiesEating Seaweed
Minor Leagues
As a youngest child, I feel for Mercy. Rosie has a pretty eventful life. Mercy gets shuttled around from one thing to another to cheer her on. Mercy loves it- but also, this girl doesn’t get as many priorities on the family schedule. It’s easier to plan events and make friends for the first born- a little harder after that. Am I alone in this? Anyways, I digress…
Rosie had three performances. And, one of the kids in the play had a sister in Mercy’s daycare. Stay with me here. So at the last minute, learning it was princess night for our local Greensboro Grasshoppers, I asked the other dad if he had plans, he did not, and it worked. Just two dads. With two girls. On Princess night.
And Mercy was pumped: She got to play with a friend, Andrew and I got beers, and Mercy got to see some more princesses to get her fired up for Disney world in the near future.
Summer Camps
Theater camp was great, but I am not confident Rosie got the acting bug. She had fun, she did well, but I think she is gonna stick with dance as her thing. That’s what being 9 is all about.
At the end of one thing comes another: Back to the same camp she went to last year. The same camp her older cousins got to go to when they were her age. And after saying good bye to swim team this year (they got first in the Open championship, but second in the city meet) with another epic kids party:
Taylor made the long trek to drop off Rosie for the week, in about 94 degree weather.
Rosie and her bunk mateBestiesDrop off momsEvan and Lila
Time to take the 3.5 hour trek to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. This is an optimistic estimate- one that can be done for all of you readers who make “normal” times without children.
Where is Ocean Isle Beach?
Ok ok, I am a nerd and like to talk FACTS and history and stuff. But, I won’t bore you with the details about the island, just this one thing to get an idea of exactly which part of NC we are talking about:
Every year?
Yup. This has been going on for a long bit. I just married into it. And here is a fun flashback down memory lane, for most of the 15 years that I have been a part of it:
For the images above, I made it so you can look at the full-size pic if you click on it.
The Menu
Oh, this is good, and it is unshakable. It is almost unchanged, except when someone gets married and has to start contributing their own part of the week, but is as follows:
Saturday. Lasagna. This is new, and replaced the seafood boil, which was a tall order to pull off on the day we all arrived. It does take quite a bit of prep work.
Sunday. Pulled pork, Mac and cheese.
Monday. Hamburgers and hot dogs; but they are really, really good hot dogs, not your average Oscar Mayer.
Tuesday. Fish Tacos/Shrimp Tacos. This is the one Taylor and I help with. I just warm the corn tortillas, but I am still trying to work my way up the totem pole to contribute my culinary skills.
Wednesday Steak and twice baked potatoes. These are a home run, as always.
Thursday. Pizza. Its easy. And a good pizza joint too.
Friday. Leftovers. We are all exhausted and have to clear out the fridge.
The Beach.
The house is on third street, which means the sand is about 300 yards from the steps of the house. In the olden days (pre-kids), this journey would require:
chairs
Bocce ball
corn hole
sunscreen
towels
coolers, ice and beer
Koozies
Boogie board
Bottled Water
Snacks
A book
Now that we have a Rosie, Mercy, Everly and a Sadie on the scene, there have been a few adjustments:
No time for bocce ball. Gotta keep those kids alive in the ocean all day.
No corn hole either.
Yes, we need booze.
Rosie is big enough for a boogie board, that is fun.
There are never enough snacks.
Books? Yeah right.
Umbrellas. Gotta take skin care serious now. And no one wants to get burned out there all day.
A bucket of kids toys. They love them.
Ted (my father in law) was awesome enough to set up the umbrellas and chairs just about every day, which helped a ton for when the troops made the journey down to the sand every day.
The kids.
My first 5 years, there were no kids. The second 5 years, Rosie was the only kid. The past 5 years, there have been several kids. Ok, that math isn’t exact, but is is a round about idea of things.
They love it. You wanna talk about fun? Talk about a week at the beach with ice cream and your cousin:
Or, a week hanging out with your big sister:
Derek makes some things look easy.
Mercy is getting bigger and was eager to try out anything her big sis does. Rosie got a chance to play with her friend Hadley, and they were on the boogie board for about 3 hours straight. And Mercy wants to do everything her big sister does:
One of the staples has been the July 4th parade each year. It is completely open to anyone, and doesn’t require any pre-registration or work. You just have to show up an hour before the parade starts. Cars go first, and then golf carts. They did away with the throwing out candy, but people still did it.
The parade is always a highlight. This year, Mercy was old enough to stay up and watch the fireworks, which we can see from the house:
No matter what is happening, the kids will have fun, and it really is fun to be a part of:
If the kids are having too much fun, beach patrol will let you know about it, just like they did to the group next to us on the beach who dug a hole too deep. Beach Patrol got out and ensured it wasn’t beyond acceptable depths with his tape measure:
Rosie is 9 years old and it is great to see her old enough to have her own fun. One of the highlights of the week for me was to take a short walk to the pier (1/4 mile). It was at the end of the week, and we just had a good old time talking about rollercoasters. She asked, “if you could design any roller coaster, what would it be like?”. I just thought it was sweet, and we got a good pic of the moment:
The house is full and it is a good old time. There are noisy kids playing games, early in the morning whether you like it or not. They are sweet though, because this phase of life is going to be over soon enough.
In addition to the kids, there are many adults with many different opinions- on just about everything. It isn’t any different than any other family vacation when a bunch of people are living under the same roof. I have learned to get through the week by balancing some introvert time into my day, which means reading a bit in the morning, and playing Zelda on my Nintendo Switch in the afternoon, and it works great. We went to the public library this year before the trip, and I got this one:
Maybe I am getting old if I am interested in history more than many other topics. But, Genghis Khan was a badass, and this book confirmed it.
Since most of you reading this blog were on the trip with me, and I don’t really have any witty insights, here are a bunch of pictures from the week:
The family shot on the beachKenna just looks happyTay and GrandmaRosie and HadleyGood drinksKenna is a great cousinRosie and HadleyCousins before bedtimeThe poolTay looking goodBeautiful sunsetBrother and SisterDerek’s famSadie Kids tableCousinsThe Haney familyMy groupCousinsBig cousin exhaustionDerek is a good uncleMy group on the sandBeach time
A friend recently asked about the blog saying that he enjoyed reading it, and I thought how I enjoy writing blog posts, so I will keep writing from time to time.
For Father’s Day, Taylor planned a daytime adventure for the family and I off to Saxapahaw, North Carolina. If you haven’t heard of it (of course you haven’t heard of it, who in the world is familiar with Saxapahaw?), it’s a 45 minute drive away in some direction that the GPS took us.
Once there, there is a great little mill-type building that has been re-finished into a brewery/event space/coffee house/place for shops.
For a Sunday after church, we went to the brewery. It was a great little spot right on the river. The place was slammed for the occasion, and even though it took a while to get our meal, it was delicious.
We keep telling Mercy she is going to regret it one day when she gets older and there aren’t any pictures of her because she either a) runs away, or b) frowns for a picture.
After lunch, we crossed the bridge to the small state park on the island in the river. It has a few trails that go in different directions. I’m not gonna lie- my “watch out for snakes” alarms were going off in my head. We didn’t see any though.
We got to play around in the river, just like the words of a country song about living in the south. And, the playground was pretty great: shaded, and simple, and it looked almost like Jonah and the whale.
Also for Father’s Day, Taylor got me a shirt for our upcoming trip to Disney World. The back story is, all my life, but especially when I was in middle/high school, when meeting people and introducing myself, people would respond with something like “Luke? Does anyone ever say ‘I am your father’?” in reference to Darth Vader’s famous line in Star Wars.
So, since Star Wars is now a part of Disney World, I am pretty excited to see Darth Vader, and Tay got me this special shirt as part of the occasion:
Summertime
Summer for us is a lot of pool, swim team (also at the pool), and whatever this is:
We had some friends over for a cook out last week, and it was great. It is hot as fire outside, but it didn’t matter much. Between these three families (we miss the fourth family of the group, Hernan and Cathy, as they moved up North to Rhode Island). These kids have known each other since the beginning, so when they get together, they just pick up where they left off, and it is awesome to see.
Mercy and PopsicleWaiting in the line at the poolMercy and her cousin EverlyMercy with AmeliaSlow, tired mornings
One day I was taking Mercy home from school, and she randomly pointed to a street and said “I want to go home that way”, so we took another route home. We weren’t in a rush, and even though I often feel like I am the “no” parent saying no to everything, I said “yes” to Mercy’s little request that day. We ended up at this park near our house and just played under the trees. It just reminds me how beautiful Greensboro really is.
Scrub the deck
Are you a “handy” kind of person? Like, would you consider yourself pretty capable of fixing things around the house when you need to?
I’m not. I’m not really a handy person. I work on a computer all day, and mow the lawn, but I am not really a fixer-upper kind of person.
But, my deck is looking terrible. A few boards are rotting, and it just felt a little embarrassing when people came over.
Deck beforeDeck Before
So, before the dinner party above, and using that as a motivating deadline, I went to town, doing an hour or so of work every day, plus a full day on Wednesday in honor of Juneteenth, and it turned out pretty good.
A few boards had to be replaced. I listened to a book on tape about Elvis Presley and it was kinda nice to get down and dirty and work with my soft office hands to create something that looks pretty good.
