Good morning and Happy Easter! It’s a gorgeous, sunny Sunday morning here in Pennsylvania, and even though it’s chilly, it feels good to be home. I’m sitting here listening to a portion of Handel’s Messiah while I sip my morning coffee.

I wasn’t sure if I’d be up to writing a Coffee Talk this morning, but I have a few minutes here before I need to get ready for church so I thought I’d fill you all in on our week. For anyone just tuning in, Paul and I went to Florida because our daughter was down there on a high school band trip, and we wanted to see her perform. It’s a trip her school does every four years, so all the kids in the marching band get at least one opportunity to go during their high school career.

They always perform at Magic Kingdom, marching through the park just ahead of the 3:00 PM parade, and this year the jazz band had the opportunity to perform a 30-minute program on the Lagoon Stage at Universal Studios. Our daughter is in both marching band and jazz band, so she got to participate in both.

Because she plays one of the mallet instruments in the Pit (the section of the marching band that remains stationary in the front), she couldn’t play in the Magic Kingdom parade, so she helped hold the school banner. That was pretty cool because it put her right up front.

Paul and I actually caught them three times during their performance at Magic Kingdom because we positioned ourselves at the beginning of the parade route, and as soon as they were past us, we ran through the park and caught them coming down Main Street.

Then Paul was like, I bet we can catch them again at the end! And we both took off running one more time. We made it to the front of the park just as they were coming around the circle by the entrance, and we cheered for them again as they headed out.

It was so fun, but man, we were hot and tired after that! We debated heading back to our hotel pool for the rest of the day, but we had Park Hopper passes, so we rallied and got on the monorail and went over to Epcot for dinner. The Flower & Garden Show is going on right now, so that was really pretty, and we had dinner in “France” — which may be the closest we ever get to reclaiming our lost Paris trip… yet another casualty of Covid.

That was the only day we spent at the parks, as we aren’t big amusement park fans… or big Disney fans, for that matter. But we wanted to see our daughter play, so we figured we might as well make the most of our park tickets.

The next day, she played the vibes with the jazz band at Universal Studios, and that was a blast. Paul and I agreed that was the best part of the week because we were able to sit in one spot and enjoy a show.

Since the Lagoon Stage is at Citywalk, which does not require a park ticket, we didn’t purchase any. We just got a drink and sat by the lagoon for a while until the kids finished changing and loading up the truck. We saw our daughter one last time, and then we headed back to our hotel to enjoy the pool for the rest of the day.

We stayed at the J.W. Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek, for those asking. It was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to do Disney/Universal without staying on one of the park-owned properties. We’ve stayed on Disney property many times, and it’s definitely convenient, but all-consuming.

I really enjoyed getting away from the hubbub of it all, and the service at the Marriott was impeccable. It’s also quite a large property, with a kid pool and an adult pool, and some really nice dining options. They offer shuttle service to and from the parks, so we did a mix of the shuttle and Uber, depending on how it fit into our schedule.

Although it was a great trip, it’s always good to be home, and I missed my big kids while we were away. They were invited, but decided not to come down.

We’re taking it easy today, just having a quiet Easter celebration here at home after church. I was hoping it would be nice enough to sit out by the pool, but it’s pretty chilly. Still, with the sun shining, it should be a nice afternoon for throwing some meat on the grill.

I’ll be getting back to my regular posting schedule this week, and I’ve got some fun things planned! It was weird not to post every day, but I just couldn’t keep up, and I knew you all would understand.

Happy Easter to all who are celebrating today!

“In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’“ Revelation 5:12