The Waterstraut Waterspout: A Much Needed Disney Day!

Apparently it's been three weeks since I last blogged, and since I just got back from yet another Ohio trip, it's time to get caught up, because I want to be lazy and productive at the same time.

It was about 2 and a half weeks between our Ohio trips (for Peyton and me), so we tried to soak in home as much as possible. One night Hayden, Calib and Asa went out to see the new Avengers movie, so Peyton and I decided we should do something fun too, and we rode our bikes down to get some Chinese food for dinner. It's not too far from here, and despite me being sure it was going to be sunny and 90 degrees every day, that actually hasn't happened yet, so we've been able to enjoy some nice weather longer than usual.

We also decided we should put the fire pit away for the summer. I was afraid even with the cover, the rain might rust it out. So another night we decided to have one last cook out.

And of course, we celebrated Cinco De Mayo taco bar, even though we know Cinco De Mayo isn't really a thing in Mexico. But, I mean, we don't have football, so any excuse for a taco bar is something I can get on board with! Plus, the boys were all over the place that day with library events and volunteering, so it was nice to have it out all day and let people eat when it was convenient to them.

Asa has off on the weekends now, so we're like normal people- and dealing with people/crowds is going to be an adjustment for me. So, we've been easing in (opting not for things like Disney and Busch Gardens and instead Duncheons Nursery and a small pop up market at our Community Center.

Ellie has been knocking over my tub, and I decided I should move it anyway- because my succulents wouldn't need all the summer rain, so I bought some cactus and some more succulents and made a little fairy garden for my front porch instead. Then, I spent some of my money to buy a cute little flamingo made from PVC pipe to put out by my pond.

Luckily, Asa was able to flex his time last week so we could get in a Disney trip. Since we only have weekday select passes, we couldn't go on the weekends even if we wanted to. We're headed there for Calib's birthday, but after that we'll be blacked out, so we can't go all summer. I was pretty bummed about it, since between the dogs, Spring Break and our Ohio trips we barely went went Asa was on his 'layover', so I was happy we were able to go at least once. Since we're not too big of fans of Hollywood Studios these days, and we're going to Magic Kingdom for his birthday- we opted for a day at Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Plus, it's still the Flower and Garden Festival!

Now, we were missing a kid. That's because Peyton didn't really want to go. Since he had just been to Ohio and was about to go back to Ohio, I let it slide (usually I'd make him tag along). But, it also meant we wouldn't have to rush home to let dogs out- so it was sort of a win-win.

Our first stop was the Club Cool, and then we were off to collect our free Flower and Garden Festival magnets.

We also stopped by the Butterfly Garden.

I love how pretty Epcot is with all the flowers and topiaries!

Plus, they have yummy food, so we grabbed ourselves our a wristband gift card for the convenience. Bonus: this years cards were in the shape of sunflowers!

We really wanted to try out the new cheddar cheese soup poutine at the refreshment port. It's basically normal fries with the soup from Canada on top and cheese curds. And it is amazing. This one isn't flower and garden specific, so you can get this one anytime. And you should get it, every time.

Then we had some flower and garden dishes. This was like two weeks ago now, and I'm lazy today, so I'm not looking up what exactly it was- but it was some scallop dish with potatoes and green beans, and it was also yummy. Not a favorite, but worth the try.

We also got some drinks; they have good fruity wine at this festival and a frozen crumble of some sort the boys enjoyed. Plus we got a flatbread with some marmalade on it that was really good.

We had a few other things, that I apparently didn't take a picture of, but I mean, you can't really go wrong with the food at the festival, plus you get to see all the pretty flowers, and there are SO. MANY. FLOWERS.

We also try and always stop by the wall at Epcot with my dad and Calib as a baby on it. I can find it pretty easy, and it was only contracted to be there a certain amount of time (which I believe is up). Since they can move it at anytime, and since we aren't going to be at Epcot until September at least, I wanted to swing by real quick, just in case.

Then we headed over to the Animal Kingdom, which in recent trips has become a favorite.

And while we've been there more this year than on previous passes, I think it had been years since we were there early enough in the day to take the train back to Rafikis Planet Watch (It closes at 5).

It was 4:30 by the time we got out there, and for the most part, it was pretty empty back there.

But, we did get to pet and brush some goats and pigs, which I was pretty happy about.

And we got a lesson on elephant poop, so that was fun.

After we took the train back, the boys were hungry for dinner (and we were all very thirsty-- can you tell, since Asa got us 8 cups of water!) Animal Kingdom has some really good food options, but we always seem to go back to Flame Tree Barbecue.

BUT! I have been hearing about this mini-mango pie at the Yak and Yeti window forever, so we also grabbed that for dessert. Fun fact: they give it to you all sealed up, and kind of frozen, so you can throw it in your backpack and pull it out when you've finished your dinner and it will be perfect. Or, you could throw it in your backpack to take it back home too, I suppose. But, good luck keeping it around that long- this thing is delicious. The four of us devoured it so quickly I forgot to even take a picture of it. If you're not a mango fan, no worries- the mango flavor isn't strong but it makes it almost like a light cheesecake with a graham cracker crumb crust. So good. I think I might grab one if we hit the Animal Kingdom parks 'extra magic hours' on Calib's birthday.

We were tucked away in the back of the Flame Tree seating area when we noticed Baloo and King Louis just hanging out- no line to see them! So, Asa and I jumped on that. I had heard they were leaving the Animal Kingdom all together, so I was surprised to see them.

After that we split up, Hayden and I wandered the park a bit and rode a few rides, while Asa and Calib went off to their fastpasses of Expedition Everest.

We met back up and walked back to the Africa portion of the park stopping to take a few pictures.

We had fastpasses for sunset at Kilimanjaro Safaris, which is like one of the best times to go to see the animals. We saw tons.

Including some wildebeests right next to the lions, so you know...

And then we headed to Pandora for some pineapple lumpia and to finally see Pandora at night.

It was getting dark when we went into the Navi River Journey for our fastpasses (I sadly couldn't nab Flight of Passage), and by the time we were out it was dark and Pandora was all lit up. I love my camera on my phone it takes good pictures, but not at night, so I have nothing to show you just how cool it was. But, if you can go to Pandora at night, do it. The whole place glows and it's amazing.

On the home school font, we've just been plugging away with workbooks, SAT Prep, Code Academy, Duolingo and such. But, I have noticed everyone can use a little work on their public speaking, so each week the boys have been doing speeches (we don't have a podium, so we made one!) Also, I've been having Hayden check his own math by reading it off to the google home. He needs to work on not mumbling and his enunciation, so that's a good way to work on that and do math at the same time!

I did have the best couponing trip in awhile. I managed to get a $50 gas card and all these groceries for $60.99. Not too shabby! It's actually the best I've ever done with a gas card (beating my previous record of $63), so it was worth a mention on the blog post.

I don't know if I've previously mentioned it, but Asa has always said when we bought a house he was going to plant sunflowers outside my window (I always tell him I'd rather him plant me flowers than be me flowers- they'll live longer that way!) Well, when we decided to do the side yard I thought it'd be a great place to plant some sunflowers. So plant them he did.

And recently, my sunflowers had really started taking off. One day they were about as tall as Hayden (which is about as tall as me, in case you're wondering- I am days away from being the shortest person in my family).

Just two days later, my tallest one was past the top of the fence!

I also had some sunflowers coming.

When I left for Ohio I had one that was out.

I also ordered some moss balls on Amazon to try and balance my pond water a little better (it worked- Asa had it tested when I was gone and they said it was nearly perfect). I'm still waiting on my lily pad seeds though.

Speaking of my pond, we had a mass casuality incident when Ellie knocked my turtle fountain and the thing drained down to like an inch deep. I managed to save some guys, but between her knocking my turtle and the rate at which it was leaking, I knew I couldn't keep my turtle as a source of water flow (which was sad, since it's my dad's turtle). I decided a water fall might be a little better. I got one just kind of put it out there, I'm going to try and figure out a way for it to look a little nicer (maybe rocks?) but for now, this works. And my turtle is still there, he's just not spitting water.

In other outdoor news, our pepper plants have been going crazy and keeping us with a nice steady supply.

On the Waterstraut pet front, don't worry, Delano has been located.

And everyone seems to be getting along pretty well. Ellie and Etta are even outside stick chewing buddies (which is fun because I never saw Ellie chew on a stick until she saw Etta doing it).

When I left, you could have Porkchop out with everyone else, but you had to be holding him or, just kind of keeping him away from everyone with at least an arms distance.