WDW May 2026

We had a great weekend trip to WDW to celebrate C's birthday! We flew down on JetBlue on Friday night and flew home on Sunday night on Southwest, and we stayed at the WDW Dolphin. This was our first time staying there, because, despite having the words "Walt Disney World" in their names, both the WDW Swan and the WDW Dolphin are actually Marriott hotels. As such, we've never considered them Disney resorts and didn't include them on our checklist of stays at every single WDW resort. However, we have some hotel benefits on a couple of our credit cards, so we decided to use them for a few of our WDW trips (this one and two other trips later this year).

The Dolphin is a beautiful hotel, but it doesn't feel like a Disney resort to us. It just feels like a very nice Marriott hotel with a conference center. One of our two trips later in the year will be a stay at the Swan, and I'm predicting we'll feel the same way - beautiful, but missing that Disney magic. I guess we'll see! The location, though, is incredible...a super easy walk to both Epcot and DHS, as well as access to the skyliner! So we certainly don't regret staying there, but after the two upcoming trips that are already planned and paid for (thank you, credit card benefits!), we probably won't stay at Swan or Dolphin again when there are so many Disney resorts to choose from!

the moon looked super cool as we
were landing in Orlando!

our room was nice, but most definitely
lacked any Disney theming

we did have a pretty nice view
of Boardwalk from our room

we had a late dinner at The Fountain,
which is a restaurant in the Dolphin

on Saturday morning, we met up with my beloved former fifth grade
student who happened to be at WDW, too...not only did I get to
hug her AND her mom, but I got to meet her daughter and
I am just so incredibly proud of her

the 101 Dalmatians bus
is super adorable!

can't wait for the Muppets coaster!

our favorite place!

went to Via Napoli
for C's birthday lunch!

ended the trip with a PB&J croissant

Happy Birthday
to my favorite person ever!

Happy Tails to you!

Life Lately April 2026

April is always a bit of a frantic month because everything at school is all about the impending state tests - teachers finishing up instruction, reviewing all of the learning from the entire year, and managing the exhaustion and stress that is heightened during testing season. While I don't know anyone who would claim to love the state tests, their existence does mean that we are inching toward the end of the school year and summer break!

don't ask me how to find this feature because
it was just something that popped up on IG one day when
I was posting a pic of Avalanche, but as I tried out some
of the different effects, one of them created this and
I love it so much!

Probably the most important thing that happened in April was the wildly successful mission of Artemis II. Friends already know how much my family loves space...between C, my mom, B1, B2, and my niece, we have attended Space Camp programs a total of 18 times. So when I say my family loves space, I mean we REALLY love space.

C and I watched the Artemis II launch on his iPad while we were on our spring break cruise and we watched the landing on my phone while we were on our flight to Salt Lake City! It was so wonderful to follow the mission, admire the amazing photographs the astronauts were able to capture, and hear them speak about their experience after their return to Earth!

my mom and I had matching bracelets
engraved with the title of our song...
particularly appropriate for the
Artemis II mission

#proudpublicschoolteacher

After returning home from our spring break cruise, every weekend in April was busy. We went to Salt Lake City for a hockey game, to El Salvador to add to our country count, and to New Jersey to visit my YaYa. It felt like I spent the entire month in a sleep deficit, but I have zero complaints! Family and travel are always worth losing sleep!

we absolutely adore him!!!

Per usual, I'll end with my collection of Avalanche from this month!

my new car decal!

Happy Tails to you!