Thus far, April has been a roller coaster of emotions. Scott's soccer tournament in Orlando was not too hot and mostly fun, as everyone enjoyed the nice hotel and time with friends. Marcus & I even saw Artemis II launch from our room window! Those who went though know that a very low point was a game with another team that played ugly and threatened one of our players based on his race. It was really hard to see how the increase in racial attacks in the U.S. are affecting children's lives, even as they are just trying to play the sport they love. But our parents were proud of how everyone on our team stood up non-violently to the aggressors and how our club's leadership followed up on the incident with the other club and the tournament director.

After the soccer tournament, we headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge with dear friends the Tejada's and the Moore's. Thanks to the Moore's Disney Club membership, the rooms were much less expensive than normal. We had a wonderful time hanging out, celebrating Scott's 15th birthday, and watching zebra, giraffe, ostriches, and more, right outside our window! The other families + Scott also tackled two Universal Parks in one day during spring break while Marcus and I enjoyed the resort's pool. The next day I joined the group at  Disney's Blizzard Bay water park, where the kids braved a water slide where you can reach a speed of 60mph!

Unfortunately, while we were at the lodge, we heard that Marcus' mom was back in the hospital, again for loss of speech. Since my last update here, a liver biopsy revealed that she doesn't have lung cancer, but suspected colon cancer. So, after addressing her speech issue this time, they kept her in the hospital for a colonoscopy and it was confirmed that she does have colon cancer. She has declined chemotherapy, but will get radiation for the tumors in her brain to help her retain her speech and mobility. She has meetings with the doctors next week about next steps for radiation. Marcus decided not to tell his parents about his own radiation treatments (for the cancer cells in his sternum), which he started this week.