Disney, Part One

Carson went to Disney World for the first time! 

Our sister-in-law was given a free stay in a Disney resort and there was enough room for nine people. Their family plus us two? Nine people. 

So we got time off work (me - summer classes conveniently began for Carson the day after our return), bought Florida-resident Disney passes (serious bonus to living here), and headed down. Disney World is just under four hours away for us which is such an easy drive. If only those tickets were a little more affordable we might become seasonal ticket holders and go down more often... 

We got there and went under the magical arch and were there! Only we could not find Trent and Erin ANYWHERE. With five children, we assumed they'd be recognizable eating lunch by the pool. Nope. Only when we got on the phone and began discussing landmarks did we discover that we'd been told the wrong resort! After that was sorted out, we quickly found them poolside.

Our room wasn't ready, so Carson swam with the kids and Trent and Erin switched off being with me and the two littlest, who had to take naps. Napping at a crowded pool in the sunshine? I'm impressed with these two.

At about 3, we got to head to our villa. We were fine, but after 17 hours of driving from Pennsylvania (and no sleep), Trent and Erin were ready for rest. 

We got settled in. The girls quickly found the resort pads of paper and began drawing self portraits and pictures of us, and enjoying the balcony on our second-story room. 

After some showers, Erin and I walked to Downtown Disney with three of the girls while the others napped. Brooklyn fell asleep in the stroller on the way there but quickly awakened when we arrived at the Lego store.

The men and the other two girls caught up with us and the girls all enjoyed a Mickey ice cream. 

Everyone crashed that night. I think it was before 10 and we were all asleep. 

Laela came in our room at 4am and asked to sleep with us - a new experience for sure. I didn't know what was going on as currently only my alarm and Carson's sleep-talking wake me up. 

Kiki helped me get ready for the Magic Kingdom the next morning. 

Our bus arrived and we piled inside, all excited. 

Erin made the girls these cute ears after their favorite characters, all with details. She should sell them! 

We'd planned to leave the room at 7:45 to get there in time to watch the opening show and get ticket stuff squared away and we did it! On the dot. 

So here's the opening show. They've added more of the recent characters but everything else is just as it was on the Disney sing along video Grandmama  had growing up! 

We raced to get in line to meet Anna and Elsa, but even three minutes after the park opened, the wait was 90 minutes. So Carson and I decided to quickly ride some things with short lines while the girls waited to see princesses (they ended up seeing Cinderella and Rapunzel instead bexause it had a shorter wait).

We did It's a Small World (one of my favs - Carson loved it too!), the teacups, which he really enjoyed making it go fast (Alice in Wonderland and the White Rabbit were in the cup next to ours, randomly), and the Tomorrowland Speedway, which I thought was boring and during which Carson realized driving in a straight line isn't his thing. 

We hit Space Mountain quickly too and by that time the girls were on to new things. We got in line with them to meet Ariel, who was actually very funny. 

We ate our packed sandwiches at a picnic table, famished at 11am. Next, Laela decided to ride Splash Mountain with us, but she called it "The Big Drop". 

The wait said 70 minutes (and since we were there we didn't want to let her down so we stayed) but it was more like 35. 

We sat in the back and I'm pretty sure we squished poor Laela. She couldn't really see anything but was THRILLED the whole time. We were impressed.

And then she realized that we were alone with her and had no kids of our own so she worked the system and got an ice cream and asked for her picture to be taken next to this guy. Way to go, girl.

While we were in line, the little girls and Kennedy were riding things in Fantasyland. When we met up again, Princess Tiana (Laela's favorite) was about to come out so we waited in line. In the mean time, all the little girls fell asleep. Kennedy was so sweet and supportive of Laela's excitement. It was cute to watch her be a cheerleader for her sister, and stand back to let her have the moment.

I almost teared up at how sweet this was.  Laela was in awe and the princess couldn't have been kinder. 

After everyone woke up, we went to ride Pirates of the Carribean. Trent and Kennedy backed out so it was just the three of us again. 

Carson and I rode a few more rides we had on FastPass and found ourselves exhausted, sitting on a curb in Frontierland wondering how we would make it until the fireworks. Apparently we weren't alone in this, and we headed back to the resort for rest. It also saved money on dinner, which was a nice perk. 

RyRy talked my ear off the whole way there, mostly commenting on why uncle Carson was doing this or that. 

Fed and rested, we went back in time to ride the one thing we all had a pass for - the Peter Pan ride. Someone snapped a family picture on our way back into the park. 

We loved the Peter Pan ride - exceeded expectations. Next, we did the carousel. Laela named her horse "Sugar Bear". 

Carson and I had a pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride so we went to do that while everyone else watched the Electric Parade. We couldn't find them when we got out and were so tired that we decided to maybe start heading back. Look at all these people! 

Tomorrowland

A photo pass guy took this with our big camera, which I hadn't used until this picture. 

In our last few minutes in the park, we browsed the shops on Main Street USA.

And got to see the fireworks after all as we walked to our bus!

We were the only ones in line. It turned out that Trent and Erin were one bus ahead of that but we didn't realize we were so close - we thought they were staying! They'd arrived two minutes before we got there and the girls all had jumped in bed immediately and were snoozing away. 

Exhausted, we jumped into bed, ready for our very first trip to Epcot the next day! 

Mother's Day Thoughts

Yesterday, I was sitting with my little niece on my lap and she said "It's Mother's Day, Aunt Lindsay! Are you a mom?" And I said no, starting to feel a little sorry for myself. Then she followed it up with, "If you're not a mom, are you a honey?" I have no idea what that means, but I found it funny and it kept my mind off the train it was going down when she asked the initial question.

I'm not a mom, in the strictest sense of the word, and I want to be, so days like Mother's Day are hard. Not sit-by-myself-in-a-dark-room hard, but difficult nonetheless.

Before I create a rabbit trail, I just want to say that the reason why I'm writing this post is because I wanted to tell you how I was encouraged on Mother's Day.

My phone buzzed several times during the day, receiving messages from various people who just texted to say that they were thinking of me. I wasn't expecting anything like that, and was actually doing okay emotionally, but each and every text was so meaningful. Friends wished me a Happy Mother's Day, told me they were praying for me, and that I was on their mind. I didn't need it, but I soaked it up.

God's blessed us with amazing friends and family in all the places we've lived and I'm incredibly grateful for all the sweet people who went out of their way to just send a simple message. It really meant the world.

Dear friends who have prayed for us and loved us in this long season of waiting and wondering - thank you.
Thank you for your tears, your hugs, your emails, your Facebook messages, your brownies and your cards. I am so thankful for you, and I can't really express how much your love means to me. It's been quiet, it hasn't been every day, but every once in awhile, like yesterday, I'm reminded that I haven't been forgotten. And that means so much.
It's strange to be the "friend-without-kids" and I find myself often unsteady with where I am in life, having deep inner struggles that I can't verbalize. It's been weird, but thank you for being there.
I am hopeful that this season will not last forever, but even if it does, I want to remember the goodness in what often seems so dark and painful. I want to remember that there were people whose tiniest text encouraged me. I want to remember that people prayed with me and for me. I want to look back on this time and not see it as a pit of despair but as a time where God was working, blessing, loving. I know He is, and I see it in you guys. Your actions might seem very insignificant to you, but thank you for making them anyway, because they are meaningful and full of the gospel and encourage me in the Lord. You encourage me to press on to know the Lord and to be hopeful and prayerful and faithful as I wait.

Thank you.

Seminoles > Buckeyes

I've said it before, and I'm going to keep saying it: having friends and family visit? One of my favorite things. We've been fortunate to have lots of people stop by over weekends since we've moved to Florida, and I'm thinking that has something to do with the weather, the fact that it's Florida, and the fact that it's generally not THAT far away from where I grew up. 

In other cases, it's fortunate because it happens to be a place people were going anyway, like when Zack and Erica stopped by a few weeks ago on their way to Destin. That happened again most recently when Claire visited. Even though she's from Cleveland, she has a cousin who graduated from Florida State this year, which is still such a small world thing, but very convenient for the Bays. She came a day and a half early to spend time with Carson and I and I'm not complaining. Pretty nice for us. We've told her that she needs to be a good cousin and come at least twice a year. 

I met Claire at the airport with a chalkboard sign. We'd intended to do this for Deanna too, but her flight came earlier than scheduled and we weren't there yet. I left nice and early for Claire's flight... which was delayed, so I had to sit around with this huge sign in the airport. 

Our first stop was Hobby Lobby because Claire was my craft buddy in Cleveland and we needed to reprise that (we made skirts here and mugs here). After that, we stopped by Florida State to get Carson, and ended up walking the whole campus. Here, Carson is showing off his favorite spot in the Classics library. 

The whole campus smelled amazing. There's honeysuckle everywhere in Tallahassee which makes my eyes itch, but smells marvelous. We had Carson take a picture of us in front of it (I had to crop his finger out). 

This was the day before graduation, so there was a line formed at the Westcott Fountain of seniors taking pictures in caps and gowns, dressed to the nines and often holding bottles of champagne. In the weeks leading up to graduation, we'd seen a few people taking pictures here and there but I'm pretty sure almost every graduating senior got a full on photo shoot this weekend. Every time we came by here over the weekend, this line was there, often much longer than it was in this picture. The campus usually boasts students in athletic clothing, but this weekend, they were photo-ready, all over the place. Funnily enough, we walked past one girl taking pictures (not an obnoxious photo shoot like some of them were) and Claire realized it was her cousin! 

For dinner that night we went to Moe's. Because of all the people in town over the weekend, something on our side of town was key, and that was it. And it was good. 

We worked on our project: a pretty simple canvas. We have a Pinterest board with ideas for things we can make together, but were apparently super ambitious when we pinned to it, because there was a lot of furniture construction. So we stuck with a much simpler, easier to carry on a plane project.

The next morning, we went to the beach! We stopped at the World's Smallest Police Station on the way. I recently read about this online and it was on the side of the road we traveled to the beach, so it was an easy destination. 

Nobody really got burned at the beach, despite the sun being hot and the humidity quite low. It was a beautiful day, and after laying out in the sunshine, we took a walk down the sand.

Carson threw a starfish at us. 

This was pretty gross in a souvenir shop. 

Claire had to go be with her family on Friday night and Saturday, so Carson and I just hung out. We watched Netflix on Friday night (nothing new) but decided to seize the day on Saturday. For the first time since we've been here, we had a picnic in a new-to-us park that's super close to our house and as you can see, quite unpopulated. It was such a lovely weekend and I'm really glad we didn't stay inside. After this, we went grocery shopping and then came home and watched three movies in a row. 

Claire rejoined us on Sunday morning before church. After the service, we walked around in Cascades Park, enjoying yet another gorgeous, low-humidity day. 

We made a Starbucks Frappy Hour stop on the way to the airport and said our goodbyes to Claire. We wish the weekend could have been longer! Can't wait for next time! 

Responsibility, Schmonsibility

The last week before finals was upon us, and it was going to be a little busier than most weeks have been. Carson planned to stay later every night to finish grading, studying and writing. He had follow-up meetings and end-of-semester stuff. He teaches a Monday-Wednesday-Friday class and decided that Wednesday would be the last meeting, a decision I'm certain was appreciated by everyone (chiefly by him). So after the class, I picked him up, as I often do when I get out of work. It was only 11am and a beautiful day, and I realized that I'd really like to have the car so I could drive to a park and enjoy the sunshine (it had been raining most of the week - April showers and all that).

As luck would have it, Carson had to meet a professor at a coffee shop near a park, so I went with him and he dropped me off at this random park. I did enjoy my walk in the sunshine (for two hours, which I was not anticipating), calling people to catch up with them and enjoying sun. I met Carson outside the coffee shop and he immediately said "Let's go to the beach!" which is not a rare suggestion on the weekend but certainly is during the week because he's so disciplined.  So... we went to the beach on a weekday. Monumental enough to write a blog post about? Well yeah, apparently. We didn't stay for too long because I had to work early and Carson had to get back to responsibility, but it was great to take a little break before the big semester finish. And now, the first year of PhD is over... only four to go!

Do you see Carson in this one?