Disney

For the first time ever (since we've become real grownups) we took a spring break vacation. We've mostly skied during our spring break in the past, which if you know us isn't any different than a regular winter weekend around here.  This year we went all out with a blockbuster Disney World/Disney Cruise vaca.

(A warning - tainted by the insanely overpriced airfare to Florida, I didn't start out with the best attitude on this vacation. I managed to overcome.)

Being from a state prone to blizzards in March, we left Denver a couple night prior to our ship departure to give a little wiggle room in case we got stuck somewhere. The weather was gorgeous all the way around so after a late Friday night arrival in Orlando we hit the Disney parks on Saturday. We all have fond memories of Disney World just a couple years ago, so our target this trip was Epcot. The day was hot, steamy, and windless but we managed to have a good time. (Even locals were griping about the insane humidity that day, we desert folk were a sticky mess).

Being good parents we previewed the schedule of character meet and greets and were surprised when FFM announced he wasn't really interested in meeting any of the characters. Except Mary Poppins would be nice to meet, maybe we could find Mary Poppins. And we did! With her dancing penguin pal.

We spent the morning on the "countries" side of Epcot, and the afternoon riding rides and doing experiences in the front. 

 One thing we learned from our previous Disney trip, meal reservations are a good idea. A real meal can increase child stamina by at least 3000%. We opted for a late lunch in Italy, and were pleased to be seating right across from the flaming giant pizza ovens. Super cool. We're not sure our back yard is big enough, but if we ever manage to squeeze in a wood fired pizza oven it'll be in the shape of a giant's mouth for sure.

After a fun filled, meltdown free and sunburn free day at the park we crashed back at our hotel. The next morning the buses for the ship arrived and we were on our way!

Here's the thing, we're really bad about stopping to take pictures of the fun things we do, so for an entire week of swimming, water slides, beaches, snorkeling, eating, making new friends, quiet reading time, loud party time, shows, more eating, even more water slides we have a grand total of about a dozen pictures. Here are our favorites!

Swimming at the beach in Cozumel

Giant inflatable ocean toy thingy that was fun but caused many injuries.

Tendering from our ship (background) in Grand Cayman.

FFM first ever real snorkel trip! We snorkeled a ship wreck and Cheeseburger Reef. 

 Grand Cayman was by far and away our favorite stop. The weather, ocean, lunch, all perfect. We headed out for a day of snorkeling with a great guide. FFM has been begging to snorkel for years now, and tried a couple years ago when we were on the Gulf side of Florida, an area known for gorgeous beaches and murky water. This was picture perfect, and after the initial hyperventilating he took to it like a kid with salt water in his veins. Our first stop was a shallow reef, so far from the 80,000' drop off (seriously?) that I wasn't worried about anyone having a drop off panic attack. We were warned that there were BIG fish that would be swimming around all the little fish, but they were game fish, NOT SHARKS.

The second stop was a modern (70 years old) ship wreck. A ship carrying a load of rice started leaking when it was almost at the dock.  Before long the ship was underwater and splitting at the seams as the rice expanded. The ship was declared a total loss, and just sat there for decades. Recently the Royal Navy agreed to dynamite it so it wouldn't be sticking out of the water anymore. It makes a great dive site for beginners as there aren't very many bits sticking up. FFM figured out pretty fast that he could dive down for a closer look. He reported to Travis that it was much better to dive down than stay at the top and Dad should just spit his snorkel out and get down close to the fish/wreck.

Salt water in his veins

 Our last stop was the famous Disney Island, Castaway Cay. We had clear skies but rough seas most of the trip and this day they were the worst. We woke up and the ship hadn't docked yet, never a good sign. It took four attempts and was well after lunch before we could finally get on to the island, at which point all excursions had been cancelled so everyone was funneled to the beach. Luckily it's a huge beach so we didn't feel too crowded. We were sad to miss out on another snorkel adventure plus our afternoon with sting rays, but the water was so murky from the swells that it wasn't good viewing anyway.

While we were all rested and relaxed at the end of our trip, we decided we're pretty much done with Disney for now. FFM is already planning an all snorkeling vacation and a cruise that doesn't revolve around characters dancing around a ship.

Love Letters Lost and Found

While my grandpa was fighting at the Battle of the Bulge 70 years ago, he wrote love letters to a young woman. After he returned home safely he married this young woman and they raised a family. They were happily married for 63 years before my grandma passed away in 2010 shortly after we returned to the US.

Growing up I knew that both my grandpas had been involved in World War II, but neither ever talked about it, even to indulge their grandkids. In the late 1990's that changed and my grandparents started to share their story with students and teachers. The volunteered their time and told what it was like on both sides of the Atlantic during the war, sharing photos and letters. My organized grandma collected highlights of all this information and compiled binders of history for each and every one of us in the family.

View image | gettyimages.com

Just before Valentine's Day this year, nearly 5 years after my grandma passed away, a local news station ran a story about a lost WWII love letter. The next day the story was picked up by national and international news outlets and most recently the TV show Inside Edition ran an expanded piece. Special thanks to Ilene who returned a valuable piece of history to our family.

2:39 PM EST, February 25, 2015 This mystery began as a woman bought a second-hand record, and found the surprise of her life inside: a 70-year-old letter, tucked in the sleeve!

 Ilene Ortiz told INSIDE EDITION, "I took it out and looked at it, and said 'Oh my God, this is a letter from 1945!'" A love letter, to be exact, and it broke Ilene Ortiz's heart. "I get emotional because it's a love letter! And someone should have it. It's not mine, someone else should get it. So I'm going to try to find him."

 Sure enough, she found the man who wrote the letter, and wait until you hear his story. He's a decorated World War ll veteran named Bill Moore, and he wrote this letter to his future wife 70 years ago, during the historic Battle of the Bulge. Bill's daughter, Melinda told INSIDE EDITION, "He was out there by himself all day in the cold and the dark and the snow, pretty lonely and miserable, and thinking of mom."

 When Bill mailed the letter to his beloved, he really didn't know if he'd ever be coming home. He explained, "You always have that thing in the back of your mind, I might never see her again!" As Bill read those words he wrote so long ago, he broke down crying. He read the letter to INSIDE EDITION, saying: "You have no conception of the depth of my love for you. I'm really the luckiest guy in the world, you know, and you are the reason, Bernadean..."

 Fate was on Bill's side. He survived the war and came home to marry Bernadean Gibson and have three children. They were happily married for 63 years until Bernadean's death in 2010. But whatever happened to that love letter? Well, that record containing the letter once belonged to Bernadean, and she apparently kept it there for safekeeping! The letter is precious to Bill's daughters as well. Melinda told INSIDE EDITION, "I was amazed by the emotional depth of it. Just to realize what my parents had."

 Sure, the pages have yellowed and the ink has faded, but Bill's love for Bernadean has not dimmed since he was a brave young soldier, dreaming of the girl he left behind. Bill read, "I love you. I guess I always will."
"

And Finally Some Snow

The first two weeks of February brought the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships to Beaver Creek. It's a bit like a mini-Olympics for skiers, and all the big names in skiing are there. We watched the races a bit but ended up reveling in the totally empty mountain and had a great day of skiing. We're lucky in that several of the big name skiers train at Vail and Beaver Creek and it's not uncommon to share a lift or a run with someone such as Mikaela Shiffrin. Here's a view of all the race courses in the background of our very colorful skier.

 For Travis' big birthday he requested a ski trip here in Colorado to a ski area we don't normally go to. We narrowed it down to Crested Butte and Monarch and the timing of when we could go landed us at Monarch. We stayed at a hot springs resort nearby and enjoyed soaking in the warm river and pools after a day of better than expected skiing. We also stumbled onto a monthly art walk in Salida and spent most of a day in and out of galleries chatting with artists. All in all a pretty great long weekend.

We also got a decent sized storm here in Denver. Totals across the city varied widely, we ended up with a little less than 8" all of which landed over the weekend. Weekend snow means great sledding opportunities and when F and Emma discovered that their "secret" sledding hill was full of most of the neighborhood kids they were thrilled for the giant play date. Getting to each other was a bit tricky, Emma's gate was frozen shut (see the purple coated youngster in the background working the gate) and our gate was stuck shut by the weight of the snow on the opening side. The two intrepid pals were getting to each other one way or the other... Luckily Dad stepped in and manhandled our gate open and Emma bravely clambered over her fence (which is a little shorter than ours) and the two met in the middle for a day of snow play.

 Unrelated to snow, FFM presented several weeks worth of research and writing in the annual 2nd grade country night. He picked Ireland (yes, Australia was a close second) and filled an entire book with facts and details about the land of his birth. It was a great night seeing all the different books from all the countries and tasting foods from all over the world. F's other bestie, also named Emma, dressed in her native Ethiopian garb and made a lovely pancake similar to a French crepe.

Big Winner

FFM was selected to participate in our school district's annual art show. He was one of several kids from our school, and his piece was a chalk sunflower. The art show includes students from all grades in the district, from pre-K to seniors in high school. They are judged in groups, elementary, middle, and high school. Our little guy took second place overall for the elementary group (about 50 kids overall), and his art will be on display for another upcoming show at our local community college. His art teacher is over the moon, as is FFM.

His piece got a little damaged somewhere between school and the competition. He was a little concerned about that but realized the judges must have understood the wrinkles came from transport. Happy little guy, he was super surprised!

My True Love Gave to Me

This year for Christmas we were blessed with illness! Travis took enough days off that he could spend the entire winter school break with us and all in all we got ONE day of skiing together as a family.

The first weekend of the break Travis was sick with Norovirus, a killer stomach bug. He kindly passed it on to me and I started to come out of it Christmas Day. Meanwhile Travis caught a sore throat/cold that mostly made him tired. Christmas Day went pretty well, then FFM caught the stomach bug and the remainder of our family guests skedaddled before it could strike. After scouring the Vail Valley for Pedialyte Pops FFM consumed half a box and felt better.

Week 2 we had a couple of days of everyone being mostly healthy and we managed a day out on the hill.  Tuesday of the second week Travis woke up with a sore elbow. He had me take a look at it to see if he'd banged it and bruised it, but what I saw was a giant, puffy, angry red welt. Quick trip to Urgent Care and he was armed with two kinds of antibiotics and pain killers for a staph/strep bacterial infection in his elbow. By the weekend my foot ached from doing an extremely cold NYE night time ski down with FFM, but luckily FFM had ski team on Sunday so he was able to get out on the mountain again.

We all were feeling mostly well on Christmas Day and had a wonderful and leisurly day with family. We must have been good kids this year as our wish lists were well represented and we'll have sugary treats for weeks to come.