Entry for July 27, 2006
I was wolken up this morning by Caleb rushing into the bedroom, breathless... "Mom! There's a frog in our house!"
These are boys that catch frogs at their grandparents house! So, I got up, to find this hopping little frog (actually medium sized) jumping all over the living room. I caught it, because they told me "It's too slimy looking". I let it go outside, and then all three boys go outside to catch the frog repeatedly.
Yesterday was an eventful day. We went to the mall, so the kids could spend quarters, left over from vacation, at our over priced arcade. We also worked in school shopping and shoe shopping. Fun for the kids, since they just get piles of goods.
We had make your own pizzas for dinner. I just have to suck up the mess it makes, and let them have fun.
Then, after dinner, we had a May Family Video Game Tournament. There were prizes, 1st through 5th place.
The order of your ranking determined when you got to choose your candy. We each took turns picking a video game, we played it, and then got ranked on how well we did.
Five games. Jared was the outright winner. He went with the Grandma's Cookies. Caleb came in second and he snatched up the Whatchamacallit very quickly. He whined during the last hour of the game about how much he wanted that whatchamacallit, and he really felt his dad was going to take it. Right before we claimed our prizes, Alex started fighting back the tears, because he really, really, really wanted the rice krispies treat. Well, when I bought these prices, that is what I wanted too, so, I actually bought an extra one for myself to eat later. So, I went with the Take 5. Alex the Rice Krispy, and Jonas got the Mini Oreos, which he wanted all along too. So, everyone was happy.
As I'm taking the photos, Jared wants to know.. "for your blog".. Well of course!
Print This Post
Day Five
I hope my memory still serves me.
All day, Epcot.
At Epcot, they have this great ride, called Soarin', where it feels like you are hang gliding over the state of California. You can feel the wind, smell the orange groves, and more. It is a wonderful ride. We started off our morning by riding this ride, and an additional ride, called "Living with the Land". It is an educational ride (Epcot is very educational), that teaches us that we need to take care of the land we live on, and come up with more innovative ways to grow crops, because the methods that were used by past generations are not going to continue to work, and are not as kind to the land. This ride also took us through a greenhouse where they grow pumpkins shaped like Mickey's head, and where they have come up with ways to grow plants without using soil, and minimal water. I, naturally, found all of this fasinating. It is things I have been learning about for years, things I plan on teaching other people when I go out and start working, and I think it's great, that Disney is attempting to plant this seed of thought into the minds of unsuspecting tourists.
Here's Alex waiting for Soarin'. We didn't have a fast pass, it was a long, boring line.
After these two rides, Jared and Caleb headed over to ride Mission Space, which is a simulator that makes you feel like you're going into outer space. They have two options for this ride, the original version, and the "tame" version. My boys went for the original of course, where it spins you around so fast, your face gets smooshed back on your seat.
In the meantime, Jonas and Alex played in fountains.
Then, we went over to Innoventions. Which is like a hands on science center for kids. Here, the kids played a game called "toon tag". I'm not sure the educational value of it, but they loved it.
After this, we sampled sodas from around the world. They had all you could drink, help your self sodas. Personally, I prefered a nice diet coke, but the kids had a blast in this area. It was called Club Cool. Sponsored by Coke.
We then got a fast pass for Test Track, which is a ride where you are the crash test dummy in a car being tested by GM. We rode Ellen's Energy Adventure while waiting. (We did something else too, but, for the life of me, I forgot what it was). This ride starred Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye the science guy. I really like these two people, and enjoyed the ride. Test track had us with two nervous boys, but, in the end, everyone enjoyed it, and I took a photo of the monitor to prove it. The prints were $20 each. That's a lot!
We headed over to the world showcase at this point. This area represents 11 different countries, filled with authentic foods and gifts from each country. Also, the employees working in each country area actually from the country they are representing, over here for a year or so.
We were hungry, so we started off in Norway for lunch. It was a pastry kind of lunch. We each got something different, and split them five ways.
After this we only had time for a visit to Mexico. We rode the ride that went through Mexican history, and the kids stopped off at a Kidcot Fun Stop, where they decorated a mask to take to each country and add a charm too. (We finished this project on our last day).
Can you tell they're getting sick of posing for photographs?
We had dinner at a resturant called the Coral Reef, where we ate next to a giant aquarium filled with sharks, sea turtles, and many other fish. Jonas sat down that night, looked at the fish, looked at his menu, and then got real sad, and said "I don't want to eat my friends!" So, he ordered macaroni and cheese, that no one had to die for.
After dinner we headed back over to the World Showcase. Caleb got to admire an outdoor model train display, that we had spotted the night before.
Jared was continuing his beer tour, and we were just admiring the sights at this point, taking it easy. An hour before the fireworks show, we claimed a bench, and Jared claimed a couple of beers from Germany.
I tried to prevent the desire to want all of the colorful lightup toys, by bringing some glow braclets from dollar tree. However, why would you want a crummy light up braclet, when there are spinning fun toys? I wanted this toy, called a "String Thing". It bounces off of your hand, it's cool. Fun to play with.
We got to watch Illuminations this evening. A fireworks show.
There were several tour groups all through disney world. The leader carries a flag, and then hundreds of people (teenagers usuallY) wearing matching shirts would follow behind the the person with a flag. So, after the show, Caleb held up one finger, and shouted "Follow me, to the trains". He was our tour guide. I missed that photo oportunity, but had him do it again, he chose to use a braclet this time, and Alex copied the action.
This concluded our night at Epcot. It was only 11pm when we got back the hotel, so Caleb, Alex and I went swimming in the hotel pool. Jonas and Jared also went swimming, but somehow we never found each other.
EDIT: Jared is absolutely right! We rode Spaceship Earth between Ellen's Energy Adventure, and Test Track. How could I forget? That's the giant golf ball. I think Jared and I were the only ones that enjoyed it, but I absolutely LOVED this ride. If we would of prepared Caleb and Alex (mostly Caleb) for what it was all about, he would of enjoyed it too. It is looking at the history and future of communication. A GREAT ride.
Print This Post
Entry for July 24, 2006
So, let me tell you about my trip to Walmart.
I had to get the oil changed, but also had a dead battery from our other "new" car, that eats batteries. So, I explained, that while they were changing the oil, could they please charge the battery.
The battery is one month old, the date is stamped on it, and it says WALMART on the side. Obviously I bought it from them.
I went to pick up the van, and asked if they charged the battery, I was told it was dead. I asked .. did you switch it out for a new one? She said no... they didn't know what I wanted to do with it. (Ummmm, I"ll take the new FREE replacement please!). SO, I had to walk to the van, grab the heavy battery, carry it back. They marked "Bad" in blue. So, they didn't have to test it, I just had to hold it, in line, waiting for the girl to come back and give me my new battery. I then had to carry the new battery back to the minivan. Not one nice walmart "man" offered to help!
It turns out... that blue "bad" was wet paint. Now on my shirt. That extra time it took to get the battery swapped out... Aldi closed. I am totally out of groceries.
Now, I have blue paint on my "Mom is the boss" shirt, and the grocery store is closed. Why, if I am the boss, am I having this kind of headache?!?
Print This Post
Entry for July 23, 2006
The boys and I took a nice trip to my parents house today. We needed to pick up one of our dogs, and a tent, and a million other things that we left there when we hurried off to vacation last time we were there.
We picked up some KFC, to help out with lunch. Mostly it's me that just LOVES KFC. But, it was appreciated, none the less, even if I bought it out of selfish intentions.
I put together a dvd of photos and music from our Disney World trip for the grandparents to enjoy. The kids provided commentary. Next time I need to figure out how to get the commentary built right into the dvd. Now, that would be impressive.
We decided to go out to eat with my parents, but my dad did not tell me where we were going. I was to follow him. He didn't turn onto I-35, and drove right towards Lathrop. We drove through Lathrop, through Plattsburg (I always loved the houses there), and on and on. Here I was, following behind, with no clue where we were going. We ended up at Hometown Buffet. It turns out they don't like driving on the interstate. I told my dad that's the last time I will follow him without asking where's he's going.
He also insisted on showing me how to get back to the highway I needed. I assured him, that I knew right where I was, and even told him verbally how to do it. But, the man needs to make sure his little girl is ok, and knows the way home. I humored him, and followed behind him, not speeding the entire time.
Print This Post
Entry for July 19, 2006
On our last day of vacation, we used our remaining snack credits (from our prepaid meal plan) and got 5 mickey mouse rice krispy treats. Jonas likes them without chocolate ears, I prefer the chocolate ears. We're down to only one left, and we're giving it to the kid that fed our cats, if he ever comes to collect his money. I might just eat it, if he doesn't hurry up. (They won't last forever you know)
Pardon the mess of our house. I caught the cold Caleb had, and I haven't had the energy to clean. So, we have ussual mess, along with left over vacation mess (I still haven't entirely unpacked). Plus, Alex and Jonas are feeling fine (good), and they are making huge messes to celebrate. Anyway, here they are, playing Dance Dance Revolution. Wearing their Mickey Ears (not Monkey Ears). If you come buy the house, feel free to challenge them to a game. Alex has never ending energy when playing, and dances between moves, before it starts, and does fancy ending moves. He just keeps going and going, like the energizer bunny
Today we made donuts, and the kids got to decorate them. They found that to be a fun activity.
Now, I'm pretty much wiped out though, so the kids get yet another day of movies and video games, because that is easiest on me. Perhaps I can convince them to clean. I just have to think of some way to make it fun!
Print This Post
Day Four
I appologize to all that are sick of reading about the vacation.
I take all of my blog entries, copy and paste them into Word (so they're in the opposite order) and print them off. Then, each page goes into a nice plastic protective sleeve. Years from now, one of the kids, or grandkids, or someone will appreciate reading about our fasinating lives.
Onto day Four.
We determined, that we got grumpy quickly the day before, when aimed to do the extra magic hours in the morning. We were just too tired. So, we redid our plans. Epcot had the magic hours this day, which adds to the crowd levels. So, we decided to sleep in (until 8), and head to Animal Kingdom, because we didn't get a chance to do Expedition Everest for Caleb. After lunch, we headed on to Epcot, then we capped our night off with Magic Kingdom.
Most mornings, I got up early, and walked to the hotel restaurant (pic 1). It was only about five minutes away from our building (pic 2). I stood in the same spot to take both of these photos, just rotating, that gives you and idea of the walk time. I would pick up some breakfasts and bring them back to the room. Today, Jonas requested a Mickey Waffle.
We rushed over to Expedition Everest and grabbed some fast passes. We then went to ride Kali River Rapids. Today, Jonas measured up to be the correct height, and didn't need the "lucky seat". I guess those Mickey Waffles make a kid grow an inch. Either that, or he was so exhausted the day before and couldn't stand up straight. Jonas just loved this ride.
We got to ride twice, because the first time, we had no line, and walked straight on. The second time was only about a 10 minute weight, but still good. I was brave enough to dig out my camera to take a photo the second time.
Since the only thing we had to do was Expedition Everest, we were not rushing around this morning. We got to take the time to wait in line to see Flick.
We also got in line for Dinosaur, which is a ride were you climb into a "time transporter" and try to catch a dinosaur, quickly, before metors wipe you out, along with the entire dinosaur population. There were technical difficulties while we were in line though, so, it shut down. We headed back over to Hester and Chester's Dino-rama so that Alex and Caleb could ride primeval whirl again. Jared joined them, and Jonas and I headed over to a playground called The Boneyard. He loved it. He got to just run run run, go down slides, climb on things. It was good for Jonas. It was poorly designed though, because 95% of the time, I had no clue where he was.
I believe it was after this, that we learned that Dinosaur was open again. We all rode, and everyone really enjoyed it. Alex was hesitant to ride it, but declared it was "awesome" when we were done. I even splurged, and bought the $20 photo. It's the first time we've all ridden a ride together where we get a photo! I'll make it bigger, since it's worth so much.
At last it was time for Expedition Everest. A nice relaxing train ride through the mountains, until you discover that a giant yeti has eaten the train track, and it then whips you backwards, in the dark, where you are chased by the yeti, then you go forward, more dark, where the yeti actually reaches out to grab you! Caleb got to ride it twice, once with each parent, while the other two kids waited patiently.
Well, we finished up Animal Kingdom. We headed back to the resort for some lunch, and all I could drink soda, then hopped on a shuttle to Epcot.
The kids were a bit tired.
Epcot had a very 80's feel to it. It was finished in 1982, I think. I went to Disney World in '82, and I remember the half finished giant ball. All of the colors were from the 80's, building designs were very eighties. It is suppose to be a futuristic area, and it was very 80's. Anyway, we got to do Turtle Talk with Crush, which was a cool show, it was a cartoon, but interactive. It was fun. We only had to wait about 20 minutes, so not bad.
If you look closely, you might find Caleb's mickey ears in that photo. Perhaps you need to look at a larger copy though. He's there, along with his brothers.
We were still taking it pretty easy that day, testing out benches, and Jared started his World Beer Tour. He started in the UK. Most of the countries had little shops right on the sidewalk, no need to go into a resturant to get the drink. Very handy.
We had reservations for a restaurant called Garden Grill. They grow most of their vegetables right there on sight, fresh, yummy vegetables. Some of them are even shaped like Mickey. (Cucumbers and pumpkins are all that pop into my head now) It was a dinner with Chip, Dale and friends. But, they had a problem, and had to close down the resturant. They did have the characters available for people that had reservations, but since we had already seen everyone, we skipped that part. The restaruant pulled some strings and got us reservations at a place called Alphredo's. (It actually has a longer, more italian name). It was created by the great grandchildren (I think) of the man who invented Alphredo sauce. So, it was the original recipe.
We missed the fireworks at Epcot, because of our late dinner. But we were planning on coming back the next day anyway, so, no big deal.
We decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom at this point. We had the opportunity to stay until 2am riding rides there. We stayed until about 1:30. Here we are at 11pm, we just made it through the bag check, the ticket gate, gotten our wrist bands that stated we were resort guests, and were ready to go have some fun.
We got to watch a parade, Spectromagic, which was all lit up.
We then got to ride Pirates of the Caribean, (can't spell that for some reason). We also got to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets.
We also did it's a small world for the first time. Jonas LOVED it. Caleb HATED it.
I tried to explain the significance of it to Caleb, how it was one of the rides that Walt Disney designed, and how wonderfully detailed all of the different areas are, and how the ride is about people getting along, how we are all the same, no matter where we are from, and that Walt Disney wanted to teach us that. But, he still found it boring.
We were starting to get a bit tired by this point, and the five of us couldn't agree on another ride, so we headed on back to the hotel, so we could get some sleep and get up nice and early for a full day at Epcot the next day.
Print This Post
Day Three
Day three of our vacation. We went to Animal Kingdom this day.
A bit about Animal Kingdom, I read that when they were developing the idea for Animal Kingdom, they tested the temperatures of land in various locations, and found a spot where it was 5 - 10 degrees warmer than in surrounding areas. They decided to build there, to make the animals more comfortable. So, in an already hot and humid climate, we went to visit an even hotter area.
The vegetation also adds to the humity level, and the sidewalks are not as wide as in other places. Don't get me wrong, lovely area. Just hot. It also didn't rain the day we visited Animal Kingdom. But, we were drinking lots of water, and cooling off with misting fans, so we did ok.
We attempted to utilize the extra magic hours, and arrive at the park before the general public. It was difficult getting five sleepy people up out of bed though, so we didn't do well in that area. We then rushed across the park so we could do Kilimanjaro Safaris. This is a safari ride through the African savana. We saw many, many animals. The first thing we saw, we were told just lays around, and is hard to spot. At that point, about three of them rushed in front of the truck, and almost ran right into us.
I took better quality photos of other animals, but have yet to get them onto flickr. The kids enjoyed this ride though. (as did the adults).
Caleb wore those Mickey Ears everywhere. He got his name put on them later, but 95% of the photos were without his name. That was money well spent.
We did some walking trails were we got to look at many different types of animals. Caleb was bored out of his mind during this portion of our trip. But, Alex just loved it. He's always been an animal lover. We decided to splurge and get some snacks today. Today was the first day I decided not to carry wipes with me to clean up (I didn't use them the two days previous), and today was a messy snack day.
The snack cheered everyone back up (mainly Caleb). Jonas crawled around on the ground with birds during this rest period too. We had to take a train to get to this particular area of Animal Kingdom. We decided to hop back on the train, and move on to do some fun rides that Caleb would enjoy.
One of the areas within Animal Kingdom was called Chester and Hester's Dino-rama. Alex announced months ago he wanted to go here. He had read a kids travel guide, and was sold on it. It was set? up to be like a carnival, with carnival games, carnival rides, and it was all on an old beat up parking lot, with faded lines. There was a beat up road going around this area. It was very nicely detailed. I read a lot of critisim about this area, before going, but I really liked the detail put into it. Alex, Caleb and I rode Primevil Whirl. It is a spinning type rollercoaster. Jared rode it later, but didn't like it as much as everyone else.
Jonas was starting to wear out. Day three, lots of walking, hot.
He really did quite well, very little complaining. I discovered sores on his feet AFTER we got home. He never once complained about them. He's a tough little fellow.
We headed inside the tree of life, which is the large tree in the middle of the park, for a 3D movie, called "It's Tough to be a Bug". It was a bit creepy. Bugs flying at you, stink bugs being stinky, seats poking you to simulate a hornet sting, seat bottoms simmulating bugs running around. But, funny too.
We had lunch at a restaurant called Pizzafari. How could we pass on it?
While eating lunch, we were discussing what else we wanted to do that day, when we discovered that a show, The Festival of the Lion King, was starting shortly, and we were very close by. So, we rushed out the resturant, fought the crowds, and made it in time. It was a very cool show. It was filled with african tribal dancing, trampoline tricks, singing, audience participation, spinning fire, and more. Fun fun fun. We sat in the elephant section, and got to make elephant noises. Alex is ready to try some of the tricks they did on the trampoline. This is the same kid that broke the shower curtain rod after watching the movie Tarzan, because he was swinging on it. After watching The Jungle Book, he was standing on a small (but tall) stool. He imitates everything.
We attempted to get fast passes for Expedition Everest, because? it was one of Caleb's two picks for the day (everyone got to pick two things each day, everything else was just a bonus). But, they were already gone, and the stand by line was 1 1/2 hours. So, we promised him we would return the next day. We did find some statues of Daisy Duck, and the Duck nephews. Donald is one of Jonas' favorites, so he enjoyed that.
We also rode Kali River Rapids, which is lsimilar to?Fury of the Nile (but better). Jonas just LOVED this ride. He got a wrist band that entitled him to a "captain's" seat, which just had an extra saftey bar. He refered to it as his lucky seat, and told us that he got extra wet, because he was in the lucky seat. We found a fountain outside of the exit, that Alex and Jonas played in. They were already soaked from the ride, but still wanted to play in more water.
Caleb opted not to get wetter. He was in charge of Pal Mickey, and Mickey doesn't like water. Pal Mickey was our interactive tour guide. He tells you about the areas you are walking through, short ride lines, character meeting opportunities, ect. He also tells you he doesn' t like water, and he's scared of certain rides. Caleb really liked Pal Mickey.
We found the best pin trader in all of Disney World this day. Caleb and Alex always seemed to want the same pin on the cast members' lanyards. Well, when this happened with this guy, he asked what they were looking for, they told him, and he proceeded to pull out his backpack, sit down on the ground, and dump about about 50 pins for them to look through. The rule of pin trading state that each cast member HAS to trade once with you. You can't give them a pin they already have, and you have to give them a disney pin. This guy let the boys trade as much as they want. Alex ended up with two super cool pins, one was a light up stitch pin. Before the guy pulled it out, he told us, he promised that Alex would take it. (He had more in his bag, that we didn't see, this was amongst them). And Alex got a slink pin, from toy story, the slinky dog. Well, the middle of this pin is a slinky. He never would trade it to me. I think this guy's name was Jon, and I believe he grew up in Kansas (we met a lot of people, the stories ran together). Nice, nice man.
The kids got to meet King Louie and Baloo. Baloo stole Caleb's Mickey Ears and gave them to King Louie, but Caleb promptly claimed them right back.
We then took a Monorail over to the Contemporary Resort, where we ate at Chef Mickey's for dinner. Mickey comes through the room, and everyone twirls their napkins in the air. It was a high energy place. We met Chip, Dale, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald Duck. Caleb told Donald Duck that Mickey was his favorite character, and Donald SHOVED him out of the picture. Full force shove. Caleb was eventually let in on a photo though. Very funny duck.
So, at this point, it is about 9:30 pm, we are on a ferry ride back over to the Magic Kingdom. Jared tells the boys he will take them to see fireworks at the Magic Kingdom, but Alex insists he is just too tired. So, Alex, Jonas and I head back to the room to sleep, while Caleb and Jared go enjoy the fireworks, and then fit in some roller coasters.
Print This Post
Entry for July 15, 2006
So, a bit of a break from telling about vacation. I've been putting photos into sets on flickr, sorted by day. I will work on writing about it later.
Caleb is sick. He had a fever of 103.4 yesterday. The day before he was very tired, but it was our last day in Disney World. So, we told him to just keep on going. He had stayed up until 1am doing thrill rides the night before, and we assumed he was just very sleepy. Perhaps he was ill that day too. He was tested for strep throat today, and we didn't hear back from the doctor, so, I'm going to assume it was ok. He did perk up in the doctor's office today, when the peditatrition he visited (different from our normal one) discussed the Rock n' Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror with him. So, for today, he's resting on the couch.
We still have one more dog to pick up, Ladybug is running on my parents farm. We have to wait until Caleb is up for another trip. Hopefully soon.
My house is SLOWLY getting back to normal. It is a mess. I don't have the energy to clean, and the kids aren't picking up after themselves. I'm down to just one suitcase left to unpack though and only about 4 more loads of laundry. I'm getting there.
I'm on eating out withdrawal. Our vacation had built in meals. We got an appitizer, entree and dessert with every meal (prepaid, so we had a TON of food). Now, I'm stuck cooking again. I sure wish Planet Hollywood would deliver some potato skins and texas tostadas to me!
Alex got a diabolo for one of his sovineers. He doesn't seem to agree that it is an outdoor toy, so, I have a plastic thing flying through the air constantly. (good google videos available showing tricks, I haven't shown them to Alex yet)
Print This Post
Day Two
Alright, I'm ready to write about day two. But, first I had to find another nice photo that has nothing to do with Disney World.
On day two we headed to MGM Disney Studios. I was very surprised at what a great park this was. It was ranked right up there on my list of favorites.
We got to go there early, because we were staying at a Disney resort. The park opened at 8 for us, 9 for regular people, we got there around 8:30, and took a counter clockwise path. It worked out nicely for us.
We were about five minutes away from the bus stop. Here, we're waiting.
I wanted the family to stop in front of everything, turn around, and smile for a photo. They didn't always want to do this.
Caleb and Alex were pretty excited to get to do Star Tours, and very happy to pose in front of the emperial walker. They even pretended to shot it. It shoots back. Jonas sat this one out. I was a bit grumpy about this, and explained to Jonas, this would be the last thing he sits out that isn't scary.
The boys and Jared got REALLY into pin trading. Here they are, trading away. Caleb asked to stop by every cast member that had on a lanyard. Here are a couple of people they traded with.
One of the best things we did, in my opion, is Muppet Vision 3D. Funny, funny show. Great effects. You felt like you were right there in the actual muppet theatre. I just loved it. Here's the fountain out front. (We had to walk around the entire building, just to get this photo).
Studios had a lot of neat movie effects, scenery, and such. Here's a nice brotherly love pose in front of the "big city".
We got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. We were told that Dash is just too fast to stand still and sign autographs. This was one of the few lines we waited in for autographs. Most of our character interaction was at character dinners. Caleb didn't really like this decision, but, it got us more rides and shows.
We went to a lot of shows in this park. Shows about how animation works, and how the cartoons evolve. Shows about Walt Disney. We also saw a car stunt show, called Lights Motor Action. It explained how shots are set up, performed, and then edited. Very cool. Alex said it was "awesome." (he said that a lot on this trip). Here he is after that show.
We got to play in the arcade at Toy Story's Pizza Planet. The line was too long to eat there, but they had a lot of claw machines there. Jared won a Jiminey Cricket for Caleb in one of these machines.
We went back to the hotel to eat lunch. Jared and I got free sodas there, so we shared some adult meals, got the kids the sodas that came with those meals, Jared and I got our "free" sodas (we had to buy a $12 mug to get this option), and regroup to head back to the park. No naps, no swimming, just food, and rush off to the park. We also picked up some lanyards for the kids to put their pins on.
Housekeeping (known as "mousekeeping") arranged our stuffed animals every day. Some days they were looking out the window when we got home, and some days they were propped up on pillows with the lights on, so they wouldn't get scared in the dark.
It was pouring down rain as we were getting ready to leave for the park. The boys got on ponchos, but only Jonas kept his on.
We got fast passes for Rock 'n' Rollar Coaster and Tower of Terror. Only Caleb wanted to ride it, so Jonas and Alex waited outside with a parent, while Caleb got to ride twice, once with each parent. Here's Jonas waiting, with a hand in the trash (not Push), and Alex booing the Tower of Terror, because he's sick of waiting. Also, the boys posing in front of the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. That was a great roller coaster, by the way. Wonderful.
Before we left for vacation, the boys watched Fantasia with my mom. She loves this movie. So, we stopped here to pose for a photo for Grandma.
Three of our family members were happy to stop and pose for the manditory photo in front of the big hat.
We ate dinner this night at the Si-Fi Drive In, where we got to sit in cars, and watch old movies. We were transported to the 1950's in California to a Drive in movie theatre where we watched old movies. The onion rings were very, very yummy. The boys were the drivers. We had some "hitch hikers" in the back seat. Jonas wanted to sit next to mom.
That night we got to watch Fantasmic. It was a wonderful show where Mickey dreams that he has to battle all of the villans. There were fireworks, fire on water, many special effects with images on a wall of water, boats with characters and more. Jonas fell asleep during this show.
That's it for day two. We made it back to the hotel around 11 ish. Everyone passed out pretty quickly.
Print This Post
Day One
Here we go, ready for a super long blog entry? I'm blaming Jamie, who said she wanted a long report. This will also test if there is a limit for number of photos I can attach to a blog! How exciting.
I'm also playing with the idea of creating a poll at the end of my entry, to test you, and make sure you read everything!
We had a wonderful visit with Jamie's family before traveling to Disney World. I have several shots from this visit, because I'm a bit camera crazy, but, we'll start with one of the nine year olds.
We're OFF....
We got up at 3 am, tip toed out of the house (not our house, my parent's house, which my cousin and her family was sleep that night). We arrived at the airport early, and relaxed. The kids loved the airplane.
We had a connecting flight in Wisconson, and had to run to meet the next plane, but it all worked out, and it was fun to pretend we were on the Amazing Race, and had to sprint so we wouldn't get left behind!
Jonas managed to sleep a bit on the second flight.
Disney picked us up at the airport, and even collected our luggage for us. It was a nice concept, but, it involved confusing areas, and lines. We barely missed the bus, and had to wait for the next one. They were friendly, but we were told, jokingly, that it would be the shortest line we would wait in all vacation. We didn't find much humor in that, since we had been up for about 6 hours, were exhausted already, and still planned on heading over to the Magic Kingdom after we checked in to start having a fun, fun, fun (exhausting) vacation. The bus did arrive though, and we rode in comfort to our hotel.
While the adults checked in, the kids get to watch Disney movies.
We then hopped on a shuttle to visit the Magic Kingdom. It was now about 2pm, EST, we had been up since 3am CST, we're tired, but, hey, it's vacation!
We arrived, rode a few rides (You can go to flickr to view more photos, I won't bore you THAT much here), Alex posed for the mandatory photo in front of the castle.
We saw Push, the talking trash can. Seeing him on day one, caused the kids to want to touch every trashcan they saw for the rest of our visit. Push is a funny trash can, you can't see any eyes, you can push the door open, and look inside, BUT, Push talks to you, and asks for your name, comments on what you're wearing, ect. Good Disney Magic right there.
We had dinner that night at the Liberty Tree Tavern. It was a patriot restaurant, with a thanksgiving style dinner, they bring large platters and bowls of food to the table, "family style" and just keep refilling them. It's like a buffet right at your table. It also was a character dinner, so we saw Pluto
Dale
Minnie
Goofy (Caleb just told him, that Mickey was his favorite character)
And we saw Chip, but, there aren't any great photos of Chip. Oh well, I got some from a different meal though so, don't panic, you'll see Chip later.
It rains daily at Walt Disney World. A downpour. Most of the rides keep on going. We managed to see Country Bears Jamboree while it was pouring, an indoor show. Very funny. By this time it was late, around 8 or so, we're a sleepy, tired family. So, we head back to the hotel to find that all of our luggage was delivered to our room, and waiting for us. Our room was nice, we bought two $12 mugs that entited us to free refills of hot and cold drinks for our stay, we shopped at the gift shop (huge hotel gift shop). Caleb needed Mickey Ears. We ended up getting to bed around 11pm that night. Little did I know, that would be early, compared to other nights.
Print This Post