Riley Turns 13

 

It is hard to believe we officially have another teenager in the house. Riley turned 13 last month. Riley is such a fun kid, but more about him later. We had a fun evening of celebrating the birthday boy, starting with presents and then a trip to Top Golf. 

 

 

 

We had a fun time at Top Golf, and next headed to Texas Roadhouse for dinner at Riley's request.

   

We finished up the fun day with Riley's traditional giant snickerdoodle! 

 

Riley truly is one of a kind! Here are a few fun things to remember about him at 13. 

 He loves music and wants to play every instrument he can. He got his own drum set for Christmas and saved up his Christmas and birthday money and bought an electric guitar. He still takes piano lessons, and plays percussion in the band at school (which includes drums, marimba and an assortment of other instruments). He also sings in the choir at school and is getting quite good at that too. He seems to think there is a brass instrument in his future! Also, if Riley is supposed to be doing something (homework, chores, going to bed, etc) you can pretty well count on an instrument being played in the front room! 

He started a little band with a couple of his buddies. They are actually quite good, after only a couple of practices. 

He enjoys playing sports. He played football for his school team and just made the tennis team. Baseball is still his favorite. He also enjoys playing basketball in the front yard after school. He is quite good at any sport he tries, but definitely our least competitive child. 

He is a top notch student and doing so well in all advanced classes. 

He is a hoarder. He loves collecting everything! He also loves bins and has an assortment of sizes and shapes in his room, full of his treasures of course! 

He has an independent spirit. He doesn't need to be entertained. That said, his love language is definitely quality time. He loves tagging along for errands and sitting and playing games. 

He looks up to Carter so much.  If Carter does something, Riley wants to do that too.

He is the best big brother to Ella.  They are such good friends and spend a lot of time together.  They also like to bicker!

He has such a tender heart.  He gets his feelings hurt easily and cares what others think.  Middle school hasn't been a walk in the park for him, but we are so proud of him and how well he does in all his activities.

He still loves legos, Rubik's cubes, and fidget type toys.  He enjoys working on projects.

He is such a talented and fun kid.  We love you Ry!

   

 

 

 

Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

 

The weather took a bit of a turn our last couple of days at Disney. We headed out to Magic Kingdom super early, and had to take a ferry across the lake because the monorail wasn't even running yet. It was SO cold. We finally made it in to the park and decided to head strait to Tron, even though they said the ride wouldn't run until actual park opening as opposed to the 30 minute early entry. The lines had been 2-3 hours so we figured it was worth it even if it was kind of a waste of our early entry time. They ended up letting us on well before the park opened, so it was definitely a good decision. This was a favorite ride of the kids. We were able to get on a few of the smaller rides and the Mine Train ride before it got too busy that day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We aren't really a character family, but I was really hoping to run into Pluto. We were excited to find him! 

 

Just for this! 

 

We hit up Splash Mountain, which didn't end up being super busy that day because of the weather. We went again later and could have walked on as many times as we would have liked once it got dark. At that point in the day we were all way too cold to even consider it. 

 

 

 

 

Another one we just had to re-create. 

 

We had to get a picture of Carter by the Fire Station. 

 

We took a short break and rode the monorail around the resort area. 

 

 

This is probably the best picture of the trip. I am so unimpressed and Ray is on his phone looking for lightning lanes. 

 

We tried all day to get on Pirates of the Caribbean (it was closed most of the day) only to finally get on that night and have it break down about 100 meters in. They ended up having to evacuate us off, and go out a side door. I was sad to not really get to ride one of my favorite rides, but it was a memorable adventure.   

 

The firetrucks were even there! 

 

We hit up a few of the Fantasyland rides to end the night. 

 

 

When it was all said and done we went on every ride at Magic Kingdom besides Peter Pan, The Astro Orbiter and the Carousel. We could have easily gotten on a couple of these but everyone was freezing cold and ready to go come about 11 pm. We had left the hotel before 6 am, so I consider that a full and successful day. I was disappointed that my favorite ride, Thunder Mountain Railroad wasn't open. I think the consensus favorite was Tron. Space Mountain was a little disappointing, but also very nostalgic to when I was a little kid and went on it (they have redone the one in California.) The overachiever of the day was The People Mover.

   

 

Our final day we headed to Hollywood Studios, once again for early entry. By this day we had figured out that it was a much better idea to just drive our own car. The other days we had been uber-ing and then taking the shuttle back to the hotel at night. Having to wait 30-60 minutes each night, sometimes in the cold, was not worth it to save $5. Too bad it took us 2 other days to figure that out, but we were happy to drive right up to Hollywood Studios in our own warm car this last day. We had also come a bit more prepared and were all wearing double layers of pants and hoodies in hopes of staying a bit warmer. 

 

 

We headed strait to Tower of Terror, which wasn't open, so we went to Rockin' Rollercoaster instead. Then Tower of Terror opened up and we were able to walk right on. We went on a couple more rides and to the Indiana Jones show, which was cool, despite the big boulder being out of commission due to an incident the day before.

   

 

 

 

 

We hadn't had the best food at Magic Kingdom, so we all decided we would rather leave the park and eat somewhere else. So we headed out in the early afternoon and it was a nice little break for a few hours. We ate at Cheesecake Factory, did a little shopping, and were able to find some gloves and hand warmers to get us through the night. We headed back to the park in the early evening. Went to the Frozen show, and spent the rest of the night going on rides. We were able to get on every ride at the park, and it was the consensus that this park had the best rides and was our favorite park overall. I of course loved Tower of Terror, and the kids loved Rockin' Rollercoaster, Rise of Resistance was really cool and Slinky Dog was the surprise hit, and the last ride we went on for the trip. It was actually the perfect way to end our adventures! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rang in the new year in the main square of the park. What a fun way to welcome in 2026!