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Sangria University

Glen and Evelyn flew down from New York for a week in January so we headed up to Coronado Springs to attend Sangria University with them. We sampled four Sangrias and made one of our own before heading to Rock 'N Brews for lunch. The next day we attended a Rolling Stones tribute concert with them.

Theta Parents Weekend

Rebecca had been driving Janie's car since J. R. found a problem with the air cleaner when she had visited at Christmas, so after making the repair, we needed to drive to Tuscaloosa to swap vehicles. Kappa Alpha Theta's Parents Weekend was a good opportunity so we drove the Highlander to Alabama and met Becca for pizza before a parents' social at the house on Friday night. Saturday's Crawfish for CASA was a major disappointment as the vendor was late and they ran out of plates very quickly so J. R. ended up with only three crawfish. We tried to go get seafood at Pappadeaux but after waiting an hour at a half-empty restaurant, we left for Changs. There J. R. was denied even having sushi as they had run out of the spicy tuna roll. Sunday we met Becca for bagels at the house and then took her downtown for donuts before we made the drive back to Orlando.

Gale's Visit

Janie's mom flew in from Las Vegas for her first visit to our new home. We spent some time at Disney Springs, had pizza at Giordano's and went to Ormond Beach to visit with her cousin Pat and his wife Muffin.

Moulin Rouge

For Janie's birthday, we headed to downtown Orlando for drinks and dinner at Boheme and then a production of Moulin Rouge at the Dr. Phillips Center.

Prince Tribute

The Solivita Social Club brought in a Prince tribute band to the ballroom in March. They were very talented and much better than the Stones tribute we had seen in January.

Spring Break

Becca drove down from Tuscaloosa for Spring Break and Alex and Bethany made the long drive from Houston. Thomas was tied up with work and could not come down but we had a majority of the family in Orlando. The kids all arrived before we made it back from our cruise and they enjoyed a day at Disney Springs before Alex and Bethany went to meet some cruise friends from the Disney Wish. We toured Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, with Alex and Bethany getting their first rides on Tron thanks to Becca's nimble fingers with the virtual queue. We spent most of the day at MK including lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern.

Eggs

With the ride lines getting long (40 minutes for Dumbo or Ariel), we hopped on the monorail for a round trip with stops at the Contemporary for shopping and the Grand Floridian to see the decorated Easter eggs. We said goodbye to Alex and Bethany at the TTC and they closed down the park together.

Epcot

After relaxing at home on Wednesday and some pool time, we went to Epcot on Thursday for some rides, including Guardians, and then "Drinking Around the World". Alex, Bethany and Rebecca closed down the park.

Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue

On our last day with the family, we went to Disney Springs to have some drinks at Jock Lindsey's (and Splitsville) and do some browsing. Then it was off to Fort Wilderness and the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue, which we had not seen in ages. We thought it would be cheesy, and it was, but it was great fun and the food was excellent. It was the perfect ending to the week before everyone had to get in their cars and drive home on Saturday.

Wekiwa Springs

Looking for some outdoors activity, we drove up to Wekiwa Springs in Apopka. We were surprised at the line to get in and saw as we were leaving they had closed the park due to capacity. Most of the parkgoers were swimming in the springs or lounging nearby as the trails were uncrowded. We did the five mile loop, including a character stop with some deer, then headed off to lunch.

Universal Mardi Gras

Even though it was well past Mardi Gras, Universal was still celebrating in April and J. R. had secured a float rider place. We had lunch at Confisco's for the first time in ages, since Thomas was a small boy and had ketchup dropped on him by a waiter, which scored him a free dinosaur shirt. We rode a few rides like MIB, Gringotts and Mummy before checking in for our spot on the King and Queen float and throwing beads to the crowd.

Epcot

In between Becca's graduation and our trip to Greece, we stopped by Epcot for a ride on Guardians of the Galaxy and to pick up our Stitch AP magnets. After a few rides, we went to Teppan Edo for hibachi for lunch.

Space 220

We made a reservation to try the Space 220 restaurant at Epcot. We went over early and rode Test Track one more time before it closed for renovation. We also rode the Living Seas and Figment and spent some time in the UK and France and then a ride through Spaceship Earth. The slow-moving ride led to us having to move quickly to get to Space 220. We checked in outside and were sent inside where we got our boarding card and then were taken to the 'space elevator'. The effect was cool and soon we were in the restaurant and seated by the window, although not by Earth. We were disappointed the use of a space elevator meant the station was tethered to Earth and therefore did not rotate so the scenes did not change. This could have easily been fixed by having the restaurant being rotated around the fixed point of the elevator. The food was okay but nothing special and way overpriced. The dessert that was billed as a cheesecake was a mushy mousse. All in all it was a one and done for us.

Fourth of July

For Independence Day this year, we went to Top Golf in the morning to hit some balls around and then stopped at a new restaurant on International Drive called Chuck Lager America's Tavern. The food was very good and they had some innovative drinks. Then we came home and hung out before going to see the fireworks at Solivita.

Caring for Giants

We went to Animal Kingdom to take part in Disney's "Caring for Giants" tour. The ladies made a few runs through Expedition Everest on arrival and then we checked out the shops before our tour. They took us in a van out to a special viewing area where we could see the elephants more closely than on the regular safari and we were treated to the newest baby elephant running out to meet her mother. The tour was shorter than expected but we did get some good time learning how the elephants are cared for. We rode the safari ride afterward and then went to Animal Kingdom Lodge for lunch at Sanaa and their great bread service and butter chicken.

Ormond by the Sea

We made a two-day trip over to Ormond to see Pat and Muffin at their condo. The first two days were a bit of a washout but we did get some time to sit by the pool and we had lovely conversation and a great home-cooked meal from Muffin.

Disney World

With Rebecca heading off the Boston soon, we made a few trips to Disney World. Janie and Becca went to the H20 Glow Party at Typhoon Lagoon and made a Magic Kingdom trip to ride Tron and we capped off the summer with a quick walk through Magic Kingdom to see the Halloween decorations in August and drinks and dinner at Steakhouse 71.

Pub Crawl

We were finally in town for the annual Solivita Pub Crawl so we put on our bright orange shirts and met in the ballroom to travel around the Village Center, having small bites and drinks at various stops set up along the way.

Magic Kingdom

We had not been to Disney in a little while so we rope dropped Magic Kingdom to see the Christmas decorations. The lines were light in the morning so we rode Jingle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder before waiting in a 70 minute line for Tron. We had another wonderful lunch at Liberty Tree before heading home for the day.

Thanksgiving

For the first time ever, we did not have any of the kids home for Thanksgiving so we decided to do something different this year. We made our traditional sausage cheese balls and watched the parade before heading to Four Flamingos for a Thanksgiving buffet. The food was incredible with a wide variety of both Thanksgiving foods as well as other favorites.

Epcot

We made reservations to see the Candlelight Processional with a late lunch at Garden Grill. We rode Soarin' with the newly straightened Eiffel Tower before our character dining and then did Living with the Land Glimmering Greenhouses. We stopped at Yacht Club for a drink and to see the gingerbread houses before walking around World Showcase and seeing the Candlelight Processional with Chrissy Metz as narrator.

Universal

When Rebecca returned from Boston, we were blacked out on our passes at Disney so we headed to Universal. We started with a little shopping and then lunch at Cowfish. After a trip through Spiderman, the ladies headed to Velocicoaster before we walked over to Universal Studios. We rode Minions and saw the Macy's parade before Mummy and MiB.