Volleyball Tournament

Lorelei's volleyball tournament was last Saturday. As head coach of her season this time, I decided to approach the first game of the tournament differently. I started all of our best servers immediately. This approach worked for the first game and the Sea Turtles completely dominated. One set was at 25-3.

However, we were eliminated in the second game. BUT, that team went out to win the whole tournament so we were beat by the best  !! And, the girls really held their own and played strong during that game. 

Cross Country

Lorelei is participating in Cross Country via the YMCA. She has practices on Wednesday nights and two meets this season. Here are some pics and videos from the first meet where her, her teammates, and several other kids from local YMCA's all ran a 3K (1.8 miles). And, this was also all done after a volleyball doubleheader !!

Hollow at Phantom Lake

Lorelei and Mama Jamie finally got to go to The Hollow at Phantom Lake. It is an amazing half hour or so, circle loop with over 2,000 carved jack-o-lanterns. Such a neat experience !!!

September !!!

September has been a good month for Lorelei. School began, along with volleyball, and cross country. She had school pictures, a field trip, and we even walked in the Homecoming Parade.

4th Grade !!!

Can not BELIEVE that Lorelei is in the 4th Grade !! It seems like just yesterday we were taking her for 4K and now she is in her last year of elementary school !!

Disney AND Universal Studios

During the last week of summer vacation we drove down to Orlando (again) for Disney (again), but, this year we also went for the first time to Universal Studios. We had a few hiccups with the weather, and, it was either rainy or really hot which made it uncomfortable. 

5am 

One of our first pitstops at an Indiana Welcome Center.

Our first hotel had a great indoor/outdoor pool.

We went to a Titanic exhibit on Lorelei's birthday. It was VERY interesting and we were all engaged during the 90+ minute tour. We were all given characters that were on the Titanic. Lorelei was the richest lady on the boat. Daddy Aaron was Mr. Ismay who designed/created the Titanic. Mama Jamie died. :(

Heart of the Ocean souvenir.

Replica of the richest lady on the boat's room.

Our great tour guide.

Icebergs are cold !!

Disney Hollywood Studios day got us on ALL of our favorite rides again. Some WAY more than once!

On Tuesday, we transferred to the GORGEOUS Royal Pacific Hotel.

This shower was amazing !! 

Tuesday night was our Disney Boo Bash party where they kick out all the 'regular' guests and you had to have a special wristband to attend the party. There was trick or treating and unlimited popcorn, soda, water, and ice cream sandwiches/bars.

Smiling !!

Rain...err...I mean BIG storms came thru and it got bad.

We tried to make the most of it and be positive. But, it was miserable. We heard from another party-goer that Disney was considering it a rain out and was giving everybody a comped ticket. So, that, was nice.

The next day was a rest day. We literally stayed in our pajamas all day and ordered pizza.

Universal Day !!!

Simpsons World!

Back to the Future DeLorean

Jaws !!!

Hogwart's Castle

Turkey Leg !!

Butter Beer (it's just a caramel-flavored soda).

This is where Lorelei spent most of her time, the Jurassic Park Discovery Center, where she helped crack many dinosaur eggs.

The rides that the Aaron and Lorelei did were incredible. Mama Jamie was quite happy with her feet on the ground. A brand new roller coaster had just opened a couple months ago. Here is the description from Wikipedia: 

VelociCoaster (marketed as Jurassic World VelociCoaster) is a launched roller coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. Manufactured by Intamin and themed to the Jurassic World film franchise, the ride officially opened on June 10, 2021. It is located in the Islands of Adventure's Jurassic Park area, occupying the site of the former Triceratops Encounter attraction. VelociCoaster features two high-speed launches powered by linear synchronous motors, a signature 155-foot-tall (47 m) top hat, four inversions, and a maximum speed of 70 mph (110 km/h).^[2][3][4]

We had a year to use the free ticket Disney gave us, but, we decided it would be best to use it while we were already down there. So, we decided to push back driving home and go to Animal Kingdom. 

The safari was great as it was morning and the animals were very active.

We always do.