We had one day between Hayden's birthday, and Asa's graduation- so we decided we'd all go to Epcot. Now, the Disney transportation at the Treehouses isn't ideal, so really you only want to stay there if you have your own transportation. Luckily, we had our very own bus- even if some people thought our bus driver was a poor parker (I contend she was just a little on the line, and the note was a little excessive- but we all know Disney guests can be a little entitled and rude at times- you know, those 'it's MY vacation' people). Anyway, the van was great for all of us to pile in and head to Epcot.
Our first stop was to show the etching of my dad and Calib on the Legacy Wall.
We also had to pair off into buddies- when you have 12 (and later 13) people, you have to try and keep track of everyone. Calib got Garrett as a buddy, and only lost him once- so not too shabby. Gwen later assigned us all numbers and had us count off every time we were leaving somewhere.
Gwen and Cort were in charge of getting all of our Fastpasses (with three different accounts) to match up, and they did a great job- even nabbing us one for Test Track. We did note every time we got to the front of the line and announced there were 12 (or 13) of us, we had to wait a minute. We were cast member's nightmares.
Of course we made it over to Club Cool for grandma's favorite thing in Epcot- free Coke. We even got Uncle Emmett to try the worst one- Beverly.
Cort and Holly were also able to sweet talk the Disney Vacation Club lounge into letting all of us up there for more drinks.
And while Asa and I had already checked off some Epcot rides we got a few more.
Living with the Land (which we didn't take a picture at- but we have witnesses!)
And we did the French version of Spaceship Earth.
We took a break from Epcot mid-day and headed back to the treehouse for some lunch.
And then we took the van up to the pool. Garrett was most excited to have a whole row of seats to himself.
We had lovely weather on Friday for an afternoon at the main pool at Saratoga Springs. While the treehouses have their own pool, there's no waterslide or anything- so if you want the big pool, you have to either take a long walk, get on the internal Saratoga bus- or drive yourself.
Cort really started to show his age- he's now taken to napping by the pool.
We did add one to our 12 that afternoon as my cousin Bridgette arrived. Aunt Pat and Uncle Emmett went to pick her up from the airport- and we were super excited to have her. She just happened to be on the east coast (she also lives in Seattle) for work, and decided to come down to visit with everyone on her way home.
We spent the afternoon at the pool, and the hot tub- and the kids played some games.
Then we headed back to the treehouses to change, and back over to spend the evening at Epcot, which was celebrating the Festival of the Arts with a few added food booths (and another festival checked off the list!)
We nabbed a second set of Fastpasses thanks to Gwen- we got Nemo, and shoved as many of us into Bruce's mouth as humanly possible.
And we also got Soarin- so that was another item checked off our list.
We also went on the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring Three Caballeros, the ride in the Mexico pavilion, for another ride off the list.
Holly wore her Frozen leggings, and wanted to get a picture taken with Elsa (she's usually here in the summer when it's way too hot to wear those leggings!)
So we all got our picture taken with both Anna & Elsa- and even though it isn't just me and Asa, I think this counts as a picture of the 'Meet Anna & Elsa at the Royal Sommerhus' to check off our list.
We nabbed a picnic table in the Germany pavillon along the water for dinner- and then we all set off in different directions and bought various food to share. It worked out really well- between pavillion food and festival of the arts food, nobody went hungry.
We haven't stayed at Epcot long enough to see Illuminations in YEARS, but it is Garrett's favorite- and it is going away this summer. Plus, there was another item off our list. That brings us to a total of 14 (plus two languages on Spaceship Earth) out of 71. Epcot is our least-blacked-out park though, so we have plenty of time to tackle that list.
Saturday morning was Asa's graduation- and we sort of overslept. I asked Asa the night before if he wanted me to set my alarm too, just in case and he said 'well, if we oversleep- someone will wake us up'. And, I guess to his credit, he was correct.
WGU holds two graduations a year- one at Disney in February and one in Utah in like August. Obviously, Asa would opt for the Disney one. Technically he hasn't finished his last class yet (he has until the end of March), but he applied to be able to walk anyway, and since he's *right there* they, of course, let him walk early.
we decided we would take the van over, and the Uncle Emmett could bring his rental car over later with some of the kids and Holly, so Garrett especailly didn't have to sit there for hours BEFORE he had to sit there for graduation. It actually worked out really well, because they were directing people to park at the Typhoon Lagoon parking lot and get bussed over to graduation at Coronado Springs. The first group of people (us rebel van people) parked at Coronado Springs, and the second set took the bus. That meant at the end of graduation we could all pile in the van instead of having to wait in a bus line.
Cort, Aunt Patti, Bridgette, my mom, and me all came over early with Asa as part of the seat saving crew. Peyton also drew the short straw of all the kids (for room in the rental car- one kid had to come early).
And eventually the rest of the crew showed up. We also knew they were directing traffic to Typhoon Lagoon- so I texted Holly to let her know, so she didn't have to come all the way over to the ballroom at Coronado Springs, just to get sent back to Typhoon Lagoon (which was like a minute from the treehouse).
Lucky for us, this time they did the Masters and Bachelors degrees in separate ceremonies, so we didn't have to wait all that long for Asa to be announced.
Notice that kid looking back, it's because we made a scene when Asa was announced. Gwen even stood on her seat. Aunt Bonnie and Aunt Dawn were watching from Toledo, and said they could hear us on the livestream.
Aunt Patti also gave Asa a picture of grandma from his bachelors graduation to carry with him.
Asa was announced pretty early among the 600 plus graduates though, so then we had some serious time to kill. Garrett kept busy on his ipad though, and Calib helped keep him entertained.
After graduation we went out to the same lagoon where we took his graduation pictures three years ago for his bachelors.
And of course there was the obligatory pictures, and Cort finding some good light and a place to set his camera on a timer.
And a grandma with her grandkids picture for good measure.
And of course the obligatory self taken picture (but look how cute it is!)
And to round it all out, one dip kiss picture.
We took a few more when we got back to the treehouses (can you tell I enjoy taking pictures of Cort trying to get his camera in the perfect spot for a self timer?)
After all the morning festivities, it was time for some lunch. I'm not sure how many bowls were in the treehouses, but some of the kids (at the direction of Asa) decided it would be fun to have their Mac N Cheese in mugs. They called in Mug N Cheese, and were quite proud of themselves.
After lunch mom took the van to drive the Hannifins over to get there car, so they could go back over to their hotel to change for another afternoon at the pool. The rest of us, being the impatient people we are, took the internal bus down to the pool.
Saratoga has a couple of pools. Usually the bigger resorts have one main pool (with a waterslide and a hot tub) and then some quiet pools (just a pool- no cool features). But Saratoga has TWO pools with waterslides. Naturally, the kids wanted to visit the other one. Once we got over there, though, they were a little disappointed in the size, so they decided just to do the slide a few times and go back to the bigger pool we had been at the day before (take note of Cort up there on the bridge- we both said if we were switching pools we didn't want to get in this one, then walk over to the other one while we were all wet).
As you can see the weather was less than ideal. Eventually we got sprinkled on, but the whole day at one point was predicted to be a washout, so we were happy for any time we got, even if it was a lot colder than the day before (and not ideal temperatures for these Floridians to go swimming).
I also bribed Peyton to come down to the pool with a promise of a pool bar drink.
Holly, meanwhile, came prepared with Margarita in her water bottle to split with the rest of us.
And once again, Cort was old and fell asleep at the pool.
We swam for a little, but it was much colder. That just means we were like the only people there, so we took part in some of the pool games including Goofy Bingo (Cort was the winner!)
But being the winner, we still made him the towel boy. There were a lot of towels for 13 people on a cold day at the pool. We really piled on.
And Holly directed him to the towel return.
Saratoga pool is super fun though, I enjoyed it.
Mom and I got back in the van with all the kids to head back to the treehouse. Cort, Holly, and Asa decided they wanted to make the 15 minute walk back.
We warmed up at the treehouses with some coffee and some games.
Cort and Uncle Emmett manned the grill for dinner.
While everyone else surprised Asa by decorating the treehouse for him.
The siblings/cousins sat outside for dinner- it was reminiscent of a holiday 'kids table', and we had cheesecake for dessert.
But what's a cookout without smores? So we had some of those too.
After all that it was time for presents. I gave Asa the 'Around the World Cookbook' I made from the country project- and all the means that earned four or five spoons up. I worked on this for months. We had a deal when he did school work, I would tell him 'I'll do something I don't want to do, if you do something you don't want to do.' His something was always studying. My something was the cookbook, or the laundry, or cooking dinner, or doing the dishes.
That evening we walked down to the boat dock to take the boat over to Disney Springs.
The light went out on the boat as soon as I snapped this picture (but it's still cute).
We headed over to the hanger bar for drinks. On a Saturday night there wasn't a table that could hold all of us.
So we split up- and somehow the kids all ended up at table by themselves, in a bar, on Saturday night. Don't worry- it's Disney this sort of thing is not frowned upon.
After dinner we went nosing around stores (heads up- there's new displays at the Lego Store!)
We ended up at the wrong dock to head back to the treehouses, but they sent a boat for us anyway, since there were so many of us. Basically we ended up with our own private boat back to the treehouse.
And then there were more snacks and hanging out.
The boys nabbed the bunk bed room for our last night there- Cort's family doubled up on the couch and the other bedroom as not to disturb anyone that morning (and to try and get a good night sleep). They had to be up super early to fly back on Sunday because Cort and Holly had concert tickets they had gotten months ago for Sunday night. It was super cool of them to squeeze us in for the weekend, though. Gwen missed school, which she HATES, and Garrett missed his mother/son dance just to be there. Mom took them to the airport to save them a little time- so they didn't have to take the magical express.
We packed up the next morning. Last time we stayed at Disney in November for mom's conference, I lost Calib's wallet. Well, sort of. Calib's wallet went missing. We looked everywhere. Never found it, replaced almost everything in it. Then, when I went to pack up for this trip I opened our suitcase, and wouldn't you know it- his wallet fell out. I must have put it in there. Opsie. Anyway, I was packing up and had everyone take photographic evidence of me putting the wallet in his backpack this time.
I did have mom make a stop on the way out to go up to see if I could get a magnet for our stay. I don't usually get Disney one's unless it is a special occasion. I was excited to find a Saratoga Springs specific one.
Then we piled back in the van for the trip home. I let Hayden have the front again, because I'm nice like that.
We had to swing by the kennel to pick up Etta, who was more than a little excited to see us. She still doesn't come out for playtime while she's there, and she goes on a hunger strikes. BUT she did eat a little the last day she was there, and she did eat the ice cream treat she got everyday.
When we got home, Asa had one last gift waiting from him from Jake. When we was here a couple of weeks ago, he complained we didn't have a toaster oven and told us we NEEDED one. I've never had one, so I didn't see the appeal. But, I have to admit. It's pretty awesome. It gets used at least once a day around here. Thanks, Jake! It was very thoughtful of you- plus now you'll have a toaster oven to use when you come to visit!
Cort's family was home by the time we were- but we got a couple of bonus days with the Hannifins before they headed home.
Next Up: The beach, the fair, and back down to five!
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