The Parrillo Family

Recently, I shared some photos of our Spring Break trip to Walt Disney World .  In that post, I said that we spent *most* of our trip there.  Shhhsh...don't tell Mickey, but....we cheated on him.  We took our Harry Potter-loving daughter (Eloise) and the two emerging Potterheads (SD and Beef) and spent a couple of days in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.   We ate chocolate frogs, bought robes, used our wands, went through the train platform, were all STARTLED by the fire-breathing dragon and even snuck in a little side trip to Jurassic Park.  Here's Eloise getting startled by the dragon: And here's the kids heading off to the Hogwarts Express:

If you, dear reader, know one thing about our family travel you likely know that we do enjoy a good Disney Parks trip.  And, thanks to COVID, we haven't been able to - nor really wanted to - go since the summer of 2019.  But, this year, we had had enough and decided to spend our Spring Break (well...part of our Spring Break) down at the Vacation Kingdom in Orlando Florida.   We did all four parks.  Did all the stuff we love.  And, wore masks for a lot of it.  But, it was still Disney. And still magic.  (for us). The kids at the Magic Kingdom.

We visited a galaxy far, far away at Disneyland and took in the land of Batuu.  It is pretty incredible.  We went with the Foxes and Granddad and the kids promptly flew the Millenium Falcon right into the ground.  Blue milk was had by all, but not a stop into the Cantina due to the crowds.  Was a treat to experience this place as a family and with Granddad - a big Star Wars fan! Our family history with Star Wars at Disney parks goes back to this post from 2016 when the girls dressed up like Rey at Hollywood Studios .  

We were lucky to spend the first week of the new year doing new things at Aulani.  We snorkeled in the ocean (some of us), snorkeled in a pool, rode the lazy river and watch a luau.  Memories for a lifetime.  

Welp...we finally did it.  Nat and I went on a vacation to Walt Disney World (gasp!) without our kids!  Yep.  And...we had an amazing time.  We were there to run the 2017 Wine and Dine Half Marathon which was a makeup for the canceled Half Marathon in January of this year.  You can see how Nat ran a 'bandit' half to make up for it at the Polynesian here in a post from earlier this year .  Nat ran a half marathon in Oak Brook back in 2013 that you can read about here . This race, however, was something that we decided to do together.  That meant training together (when we could) and running together, despite my speed being a lot slower than Natalie's!  Even though she was literally running circles around me during the race, she stuck with me and we finished together.  Our time wasn't record-setting, but that wasn't because we were just slow.  We also spent some time enjoying the festivities.  Here we are on the Tower of Te...

The girls both had a few days off from school around Columbus Day so we had planned to take them down to our favorite place: Walt Disney World for a quick Halloween-oriented trip.  We've been there just a few times, so we are able to take the pace slow and try things that we've never tried before. I know the kids have fun, but I think that *I* have the most fun! Check out all three of them in Disney Halloween gear posing in front of the Castle.  Eloise is *really* into Dab'ing these days. This was also a big trip for SD.  She was able to - on her own - shoot the gun on the Buzz Lightyear ride...scoring 13,200!  Big girl!  She was so proud. We also were able to partake in a new experience that included some great seats for the projection show on the castle and fireworks.  They also treated us to an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet.  SD was in heaven.   And her big sister Eloise thought she was VERY fancy with the sparkling c...

We made a last-minute decision to head down to our favorite place Walt Disney World last weekend.  And we had so much fun!  And met lots of characters. The kids met Peter Pan.  And he was as good as you'd imagine.  He spent lots of time with all three kids. The girls met Cruella DeVille, but Frankie was too scared to go see her! And while Nat and the girls were riding Soarin' at Epcot, Frankie and I went to meet Baymax.  He was awfully cool. We found time to check out the newly-opened Pandora at Animal Kingdom.  We were all in awe.   And Eloise posed in front of the now-famous "Mossy wall". We also tried the new "MinnieVan" service.  Disney's version of Uber.  The vehicles are adorable.  And a trip wouldn't be complete without Mickey bars, right? We rode plenty of rides.  Check out Nat and Eloise in the back row of Splash Mountain. Dole wh...