Vacation Part 1: WDW

I can't believe we've already been back for a week from this year's big adventure: a land/sea trip to Disney World and a Disney Cruise in the Bahamas.

We had a great time revisiting some of our favorite rides, shows, and restaurants at Disney World. It was also fun to explore the new things there since our last trip together, like the land of Pandora at Animal Kingdom as well as the evening events at that park.

Since we also had the cruise on this trip, we spent less time at WDW than we did two years ago, so we were pretty determined to make every day count. Our only complaint, I think, was the rain. This was by far the most rainy weather we've had on a trip together, but we were ready, and we just went ahead and stuck to our plans while wearing ponchos. The silver lining, of course, was that lots of people didn't do that, so the parks were definitely less crowded during/after the rain.

I've written in detail about some of our previous trips, but I think here I'll let the photos/captions speak for themselves (in chronological order, from my camera, then Mark's phone):

on the Magical Express bus ride

Magic Kingdom!

lunch at Sleepy Hollow: chicken & waffle sandwich

we love Splash Mountain!

town crier for the new Muppets American history show

Muppets in Liberty Square

the Festival of Fantasy parade

dinner at Narcoossee's, one of our favorite places

best cheesecake ever!
(see, we didn't even split--had to have our own)

Magic Kingdom has a new nighttime show lineup...
it was cool, but we preferred the old one, with Wishes.

our newly renovated room at Pop Century

Day 2: Epcot in the morning

yay Figment!

so beautiful during the Flower and Garden Festival

Mark's favorite: shrimp & grits

back to Pop Century for a break

we love these giant cookie ice cream sandwiches
(this is at Animal Kingdom)

We didn't take many pictures when it was raining,
but here we are in our ponchos, which we used every day!

turns out the rain doesn't bother the animals at all--we had a great safari

this is Animal Kingdom's 20th anniversary year
(also, it is Epcot's 35th, but they weren't
making nearly such a big deal out of that--
we didn't notice till our last night there!)

trying Animal Kingdom's new signature dining: Tiffins

Pandora was spectacular!

Rivers of Light, Animal Kingdom's new nighttime show

Day 3: back at Magic Kingdom

a happy anniversary treat at Skipper Canteen

back to Epcot; this one's taken from the Monorail

a very cool new display in the Mexico pavilion,
inspired by the movie Coco (which we just saw before the trip,
then again on the cruise--it's fantastic)

Ana and Elsa topiaries in the recently remodeled Norway pavilion

back to Animal Kingdom for a lovely morning

I love the tree of life--it's always fun to get an up-close look

the new Up-themed bird show at AK

we tried the new quick service place in Pandora for lunch--very tasty!

on the bus

one of our favorite shows with one of our favorite snacks

later, dinner at Sci Fi Dine In Theater

We tried to catch Festival of Fantasy on our last afternoon,
but they ran it early because of the incoming rain!
I saw most of it while I was in line, from inside the ice cream parlor;
Mark had a better view outside. 

dinner from Casey's Corner

on our last day, we decided to go back to Animal Kingdom
to catch the evening entertainment a second time.
Naturally, I squeezed in another safari (love these!)

another snack favorite: cinnamon glazed pecans

last morning at the Magic Kingdom

the new-to-us castle show

Goodbye, Pop Century! Here we come, Disney Dream!

Ok, now for another point of view, from Mark's phone. :-)

inside Tiffins (AK)

delicious octopus appetizer

Animal Kingdom looks great at night!

keeping up our tradition: a selfie on It's a Small World, for Pop-Pop

our appetizer at Skipper Canteen
(we liked the previous version of this dish better)

our entree was tasty!

the garden railroad in Germany

lions were more active than we've ever seen them!

this tiger was also on the move

another favorite show--Finding Nemo the musical

and Beauty and the Beast again

our view from Sci-Fi

Fantasmic! such a great show!

Tower of Terror was probably our favorite ride this year

more pics of the Festival of Fantasy Parade

TESOL 2018: Chicago

Last week, I was in Chicago for TESOL's annual international convention. A year ago, I was there with a group of teachers from Pakistan, and we thought we might have a similar grant this time, but it didn't pan out. I submitted a couple proposals to present, neither of which was accepted, so that meant that I was just there to attend. In some ways, that was nice--I didn't have any obligations other than to go to sessions and make the most of the opportunity to connect with people (well, and also to keep on top of my work email...). By far, the personal connections were the highlight this year. Not only did several of my current colleagues attend, but a few former BGSU faculty who have since moved on were there. It felt like a mini-reunion! Not only that, but a handful of my current TESOL methods students came, so it was fun to run into them around the conference and see what their first time attendee experience was like. I didn't do too much exploring of the city, but there were some nice views of Lake Michigan from the convention center, and our hotel was in the theater district, so I experienced some of Michigan Avenue on the shuttle rides back and forth. Mark and I should definitely go back together sometime to tour the city. Here are some pics:

With current and past BG collagues after dinner
at a fancy food court near our hotel.

More catching up with friends in our hotel lobby.

The ceiling in the hotel lobby!

Another lobby view.

Just inside the main hotel entrance.

At the convention center.

We stopped for a photo on the riverfront on our way to dinner.

 

We had to get some deep dish pizza!

Back to the hotel.

Current BGSU colleagues.

I loved this succulent garden in the hotel adjacent to the convention center.

At the "Taste of Chicago" event with
the dinosaur mascot of the company sponsor.

And also with two of my current students. :-)

Took a quick walk past "the bean"
on our last morning.

Panoramic view from the convention center.

with Kimberly and some BGSU students