After 15 months of planning anticipation since we booked our vacation, we were so excited to finally embark on our second vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando.
With so much to do and see, we felt like we only scratched the surface with our first visit. And being able to access Disney's free dining plan again while staying at a resort, made it another worth while trip.
This time around we also wanted to spend a day away from the Disney theme parks, and take in Universal Studios. As soon as we booked our trip, we started reading the Harry Potter books with Collin and dad too. Mitchell and I both had read the series a few years ago at the same time and we all agreed that if we are going to spend the time and money to go to Harry Potter world, everyone in the family needed to have read the books. We almost completed them all before the trip (still working on Book 7)
But it was enough for all of us (especially the boys and I) to completely geek out visiting both Hogsmead and Diagon Alley!
Even Chad had to attempt it was incredibly well done and the rides were all some of our favorites.
One of the highlights of our latest Disneyworld vacation was going to the Hoop-Dee-Do Review dinner show.
I had experienced this show over 20 years ago and was so excited we were able to make this work to attend this dinner theater experience at the Ft Wilderness Lodge and Campsites!
It was such a fun atmosphere with great food, lots of audience interaction/participation and we all loved the music an slap stick comedy that went along with our dinner.
One of the best experiences of our whole trip was when Collin was selected to be The Sheriff in their audience participation number. He did great and is still talking about it!
He is such a ham. This experience was right up his alley and his brother was extremely jealous which also added to excitement to take this on.
Afterward the show Collin was presented with a special recognition award and we were also given a pass to have all of the Disney Photo Pass pictures from the event for free. He was very proud. :)
I have had a difficult time with the blogger site lately and while I have tried several times to post about our trip recently, it continues to crash and not save what I have posted. Hopefully I will get more updates on our amazing return to Disneyword as well as our day trip to Universal Studios included on this blog soon.
We are just finishing a 6 day family vacation to Disneyworld and it has been filled with Magic and memories for our family.
Chad hasn't felt well on and off for most of the trip. But he hasn't opted out of any ride, meal or experience in these fun (but also long) park days when most people would have opted to go back/stay in their hotel bed. And he knows my love for lots of pictures ops...and again endures my many requests to stop for a quick photo.
He's truly my Prince Charming....both inside and outside of Disneyworld. 🌹
Another week full of stuff going on for the Bunger's. What kind of stuff you ask?
Concert Stuff: With Collin's 3rd Grade Program!
Each year Collin says he doesn't want a solo or a speaking part so he doesn't try out. I think he does this just to get under his mother's skin. :) The reason I make this guess is because while he says he doesn't want to do this, his performance skills during the concert prove otherwise and are always.......entertaining.
Swimming Stuff: Both boys also had another swim meet on Saturday in Salina! And while Collin still has to work on swimming the correct stroke when he dives in the water (DQ number one during the fly) and clean up his breast stroke kick (DQ number two), he managed to come home with three ribbons overall. He was proud to state that he won all his heats (even in the races he was DQ'd in) and placing overall 2nd in the back stroke, 7th in the freestyle and his relay took 3rd place. Mitchell had an impressive day at this smaller meet placing first over all in the 100 Free and Breast Stroke, 3rd in the 50 Fly, 2nd in the 100 Back and his relay also placing 1st!
Church Stuff: Both boys were acolytes again at church today and also sang in the His Kids Choir.
It is always great to watch them participate in the life of our church
and an added bonus to have the Ammeter Grandparents and Great Grandma
Craney in the congregation this morning to see them as well!
Science Fair Project Stuff:
Mitchell has been working hard on his 6th Grade Science Fair Project! And today he had some extra assistance from his fury on-demand quality control assistant, Wrigley.
CHRISTMAS STUFF:
Christmas stuff? Well before Thanksgiving? YES!!!! I have the best husband ever who put together our tree on his day off Friday so we were able to decorate Friday night. He also put up our outdoor lights Sunday afternoon, taking advantage of the warm temperatures. This isn't his favorite task and doing this all well before Thanksgiving....well, that isn't something he gets excited about either.
But the rest of the house (including the cats) LOVE IT!!! And we love how much he loves us for putting up with us and our desire to have the house decorated before leaving for Disneyworld. (Ok, me mostly because I start the idea and/or don't discourage the boys suggestions to decorate early).
After all, we can still be thankful during this still season of Thanksgiving, even with our tree up and the house decorated for the Christmas season. We are thankful for all the stuff in our lives this past week and are looking forward to the much anticipated fun stuff this coming week. DISNEYWORLD STUFF!!!!! Stay tuned....
Our busy times seem to keep on rolling at our house with three weekends in a row (the third being this Saturday) of swim meets for the boys.
This pas weekend we traveled to Columbia Missouri for the largest swim meet we have participated in yet. The atmosphere and facilities at the University of Missouri were both amazing!
Both boys improved over all this weekend. Collin only had 2 events that he was DQ'd in this week (that darned breast stroke is tricky) and improved his times in the other 4 events he competed in. He is always concerned that he is NOT last in his heat too...which he was pumped did not happen at such a large meet. Mitchell also did well and after a rough first event, he improved his times on all other events over the course of the Saturday and Sunday sessions.
And what made the weekend the most of was getting to hang out with swim friends both during the meet and after exploring Columbia!
Before leaving for the weekend, we also got to watch Mitchell sing in the 6th grade all-district choir. Mitchell was even selected to be a part of a small descant ensemble for one of the pieces! :)
Big swim meets and busy schedules have brought us up to a single digit countdown before we leave for our family vacation to Disneyworld! There is much to do and accomplish before we board the plane to the happiest place on earth, but we are all VERY excited!!!
I think we may have earned the slacker award for least time spent on Halloween costumes this year. But the boys didn't seem to mind!
Early on, Mitchell had said he wasn't going to dress up this year because he felt he was too old and next year he would "age out" of trick or treating any way. (His words and thoughts there!)
But as Halloween got closer, we got invited to trick or treat in Aggieville with a good buddy he met through summer theater. And he thought my suggestion of giving an encore appearance to his costume from The Little Mermaid was a great idea. Score! Collin was thrilled to discover he could fit into both his brother's old ninja AND jango fett costumes and wore one to the event in Aggieville and the other last night. At the last second he decided to modify the ninja costume adding his Kylo Ren Mask. Why not?! No money spent. Kind of thrown together. But they were happy and had a good time, so that is all that matters, right?
Mitchell went trick or treating with his friend from down the street and his parents from his class while we were able to arrange a meet up for Collin to do the same. It seemed like most of the town was on the state streets in Manhattan trick or treating with us...they really go all out in that area!
When we arrived home with Collin, we hit a few more houses in our neighborhood and he cleaned up! The combination of the time of evening and the fact that most houses said they hadn't had many visitors equaled him getting a hand-full of treats at nearly every house.
And I have to admit that this isn't our first time around recycling costumes. But some have been too adorable not make an encore appearance. I think my all time favorites have been Mr. Incredible: worn by Mitchell at least two (maybe even three?) years and Collin wearing it one year. And this adorable chicken costume worn by both boys during their toddler years.
I guess in our family it doesn't have to new and time consuming to memorable. :)
First short course meet of the season! And this one was in town which made for a great venue for Grandma Bunger and grandma grandpa Ammeter to attend!
Both boys did very well and improved any other time is in the events they swim today. We just have to work with Collin to remember what stroke he is supposed to be doing now that he is swimming multiple events in multiple strokes😆
I wasn't able to get as many pictures from either day, since I was a timer for the sessions the boys were swimming, but I had a great view to see even compete. It's awesome to see how much they have ground as
swimmers!
Proud of our boys, and this great group of swimmers! The sweet started our first three weekends in a row of swim meets. Lots of swim caps, goggles, and beachtowels in our weekends before heading to Disney!
