The Big Freeze

We've had record cold temps for over a week.  A lot of people have lost power, but thankfully we have had power the entire time.  If we had lost power, it could have caused serious damage to our pool with the pipes freezing.  We have friends whose pipes froze and caused serious damage.  Due to our fancy auto shut off kitchen faucet, our cold water to the kitchen sink froze for a short time.  But we were able to thaw it with a space heater, and there appears to be no damage.

The kids have been out of school all week, and I'm having Annabelle work on her shield, which is due in March.  She wasn't happy that I took her picture.

Early on in the snow storm.  The kids wanted to get out there right away after a small dusting.  But more snow was coming.

Annabelle went sledding one day with a few neighbor friends, Bailey Shannon and Audrey Thomason.

Kids with a little more snow on the ground.

Annabelle, Laura Darley, and Audrey making snowmen.  It was so cold that the snow was very powdery.  You couldn't really make a good snowman until the last day, as it was melting.

Adam Thomason, Caden, and Cooper Dow planning their snowball fight.

We love that there are so many school friends in the hood.  Some of the 5th grade boys got together one afternoon for a snowball fight.  Left to right: Adam Thomason, Liam Fesler, Caden, Daniel Crow, Drew Dzina, Shep McFarlane, Cooper Dow, and Andrew Dawson.

Another day the boys played Capture the Flag at the park by our house: Henry Buja, Daniel Crow, Shep McFarlane, Clive Rowland, Drew Dzina, Caden, Andrew Dawson, Cooper Dow, and Liam Fesler.

I don't think the kids will ever have another week off of school for snow.

Walt Disney World: Day Five

 We headed back to Hollywood Studios today.

Laura and Annabelle ready for Toy Story Mania!

Back in line for the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

Our pilots improved a little from Sunday.

The hardest attraction to get into is the Rise of the Resistance.  It's a 20 min experience/ride.  We were lucky to get a chance to ride it both days.  Here's a pic at the start of the experience, getting our mission.

Then we boarded a spacecraft.

Our spacecraft was highjacked, and we were taken captive. 

Then the ride portion is us trying to escape.

Annabelle wanted to ride the Rock 'N Rollercoaster.

One of the experiences you can do in Star Wars Galaxy Edge is to build your own droid.  The kids choosing their parts.

Caden ready to assemble his droid.

The kids getting instructions.

Ready to build!

Droids are complete!

One last pic with Woody!

Walt Disney World: Day Four

 We headed to Epcot today.  Our hotel is walking distance or a short boat ride to both Hollywood Studios and Epcot.  Epcot was having a food festival, but the crowds were still very light.  They also had life size paintings throughout the park that the kids had fun posing in.

The first painting we encountered was a Mermaid Lagoon.

We entered right by the UK, so a quick photo op by the telephone booth.

The kids favorite ride at Epcot is the Test Track.  The experience wasn't quite the same; because of Covid, they removed the part where you designed your own car.  So it was just the ride, which was still fun!  Ready to test our car.

Laura and Caden mid-ride.

Then over to Mission Space.

Laura and Caden on the Seas with Nemo and Friends.

A photo op after Nemo and before we headed to Soarin' Around the World, which is another favorite!

Another painting.

The Frozen ride in Norway was under construction when we last visited.  It had a pretty long line that wrapped all the way into China.  A pic of the kids while we were in line.

Continuing around the World Showcase, we came across this pic in the American Adventure area.  Annabelle is working hard to paddle Washington across the Deleware!