Disney World 2014

We're off to Disney World once again! It's been a very long year and 8 months since our last trip, and we've been counting down since we booked this vacation in early spring! Asa had only just turned a year old the last time we were here, so now that he's 2-and-three-quarters, he has a much greater appreciation of everything.

Sherlock lives here

We solved a mystery today.

Tennis, t-shirts, and tenacious toddlers

It's been a big day around here for several reasons, and let me tell you why.

Okay, first off, Asher started back up with tennis lessons. This is a big deal because I've been having a really hard time finding a tennis program for him here. He started tennis lessons at age three when we still lived in Bermuda, and continued on until we left the island. Since then, I've been searching for a program for him (i.e. not 45 minutes away, not a million dollars, not at 9:00 at night, etc.)

Here's my tennis star at three years old:

And here he is now:

Suck it up, Princess

I titled this post after a fantastic tshirt I saw someone wearing during the Disney Princess Half Marathon. It was around Mile 6 or so, and I came upon her with those words printed on the back of her shirt: "Suck it up, Princess."

It was just the motivation I needed during that mid-race slump I felt myself falling into. So, I sucked it up and finished.

Running like a princess

Recently I read about a race. Not just any race. I'm talkin', like, the best race I can imagine.

It's the Disney Princess Half-Marathon.

We booked Disney... again!

If someone were to ask me about the benefits of homeschool, I'd tell them there were lots of good ones: there's the one-on-one attention, the ability to progress at each child's individual pace, knowing exactly what my child is exposed to, etc. Obviously in our family the benefits outweigh any disadvantages.

Which brings me to perhaps the most shallow of all "benefits" of homeschool: the flexibility to travel at any time of year, without having to plan around school breaks or pull the child out of school for vacation, resulting in missed classes during that time. With homeschool I can simply tailor our schedule around our family's plans.

Which brings me to the title of this post.

Anyone who knows us knows we are complete Disney World fanatics. We would prefer a trip to Disney World over any other destination. This doesn't come without criticism from those who feel we should spend our youth traveling the "real" world and not just Epcot's version. Still, Disney World is a guaranteed great vacation for us, which is what continuously draws us back over and over again. We honeymooned there and have returned every year (sometimes twice a year) since. Asher is 4 years old and has been to Disney World 3 times already. And now we're going back to celebrate his 5th birthday.

Asher's birthday is September 12, and in lieu of a party, we're going to Disney World. He doesn't know yet.

This is a great time to visit Disney because it's after Labor Day, when most kids go back to school. Usually the attendance is very low, and it's considered Value Season, which makes it cheaper. The weather is still warm but not as hot as summer. It's perfect. And because we homeschool, we can go at this time without Asher missing any school. Instead, we'll begin Kindergarten in August so that when we take an 8-day break in Orlando, Asher won't fall behind.

So there you go - a very shallow but wonderful benefit of homeschool!