Lazy Day (Day 6)

On our last full day in Orlando, we decided to play at the resort pool during the day, and then go to Magic Kingdom in the evening to revisit our favorite rides and watch the fireworks.  

It was a good plan.  

First we had a LOVELY day at the pool.  The kids swam.  I swam, sunbathed, read a book, and chatted with Sarah.  (All ingredients for a perfect day for me.)

Miss Lily Juniper

Madeline and Emma....Emma learned to swim this day!

The adorable Charlotte

All the crazy girls

Amelia Bedelia

And then we went back to the park for one last night of fun.

First stop was Adventure Land for one more pineapple float.  Soooo good.  Dole Pineapple icecream over pineapple juice.  I've dreamed about these more than once since returning.  Unfortunately, not all dreams do come true.  Target does not serve these when you walk in the door.  Yet.

Kolby and Bizarro Kolby (aka Milo)

Stephen Jack sharing his glow bracelets

Four very tired and sun-kissed girls.

Sea World (Day 5)

We loved Sea World.  

I could post hours of video of Sea World, because I filmed quite a bit of it.  But I'll spare you all but my favorite moments.

We started out petting and feeding the sea rays, then moved on to feeding the dolphins.  I have adored dolphins for as long as I can remember, so this was just heaven for me.  What amazing creatures.  

Madeline named every moving thing we saw on this trip.  We eventually told her that the workers at Sea World get REALLY mad at little kids who name their animals.  (She only bought it for a second.)

(I had more than a few pangs of sadness about them living in captivity for our entertainment--something Madeline experienced when she first saw Shamu in his non-ocean-like habitat.  Good thing we haven't shown her "Free Willy" yet.)

We watched a few different shows--the dolphin, bird, and whale show,  the sea lion show, and Shamu, of course.  

One important lesson we learned:  when they say "soak zone," 

... they mean SOAK zone.

We did not have one single dry spot on us when Shamu was done with us.  Luckily we put all of our cameras and phones in a Ziploc before he got us.

We ate lunch in the Shark Grill, next to a huge floor-to-ceiling aquarium with sharks swimming by.  Not sure if the sharks or the air conditioning were my favorite part of the meal.  

None of the girls met the 54" height requirement for the two fantastic roller coasters that had been calling to us all week when we drove by, but Kolby and Jeff did ride one of them right before they shut it down due to a thunderstorm rolling in at the end of the day.   The puny Shamu roller coaster was  a bit of let-down after the girls had been eyeing those big coasters.  (That's one thing Disney has done right--fewer height restrictions.)  But the dolphins and whales made up for it, and Sea World was definitely one of our favorite days.

Stilettos

Today was Granny Goose's funeral. I loved hearing all the fun memories of her. One that was mentioned several times was the big key ring she wore over her wrist that alerted all to her arrival, and the stilettos she wore until just a few years ago.  

Madeline, walkin' in Goose's shoes. 

Kolby needed a little help pinning on his flower, so Maddie took care of him.

Granny Goose

We're back from New York, but not unpacking yet.  Granny Goose passed away on Friday, so we are now heading to Utah.  I'm so glad we got to spend time with her when we were there last month.  Love you Goosey!   We miss you already.

Epcot (Day 4)

So we went up in the big ball.   (There's a time travel ride inside.)

We waited in a long line to get our pictures taken with the characters--the only time we waited for characters on the whole trip.   Amelia wanted the pictures and autographs, so she was willing to knock this out all at once, but on one condition.  She insisted she was only waiting in that line if Kolby promised not to do anything fun without her.  She kept checking to make sure he didn't leave the park bench he was sitting on.

We walked thru the world.  We ate lunch in Germany at a "real" restaurant, rather than counter service.  Totally worth it for the extended air conditioning and entertainment.  It was a buffet.   Another buffet!  Florida just keeps getting better and better!  Amelia is keeping count.  She has now been to FOUR buffets in her life!  And it was actually pretty good. 

We stumbled upon Snow White in France.
This is where all our money went.  We probably spent as much at the frozen treat cart as we did on park tickets.  But completely necessary to survive 8 hours in 95 degree heat every day.

Amelia spent some money of her own.   The girls had each saved up $25 to spend, and we told them we would buy them both a set of ears.  So she picked out her ears, and bought a $9 Princess coloring set, and decided she'd save the rest of her money for Target at home.

I think the highlight of the day was the Soarin' ride, a ride that simulates hang-gliding through the world.  I chickened out at the very end when I saw the big "Persons susceptible to motion sickness should NOT ride this ride."  I didn't have that much faith in my Wonder Woman sea bands.  It is my one regret.  They absolutely LOVED this ride.  (Not us in the photo below.  Especially not me.) 

Animal Kingdom (Day 3)

This was definitely our favorite Disney park.   It is like being on an incredible Safari, with rollercoasters in the backyard.  We were told to visit the animals first while they are active, so when we got there in the morning we strolled thru the park at a leisurely pace, looking at all the animals in their gorgeous habitats.  

We got our fast passes for the jeep safari ride, and then walked thru the gorilla habitat.  

Usually when we see gorillas or other apes in captivity, they are eating their poo.  (Did I ever tell ya'll about the time we witnessed this at the Seattle zoo and Amelia said, "Uh, mom?  I don't think that's a banana.")

Well this gorilla habitat was AMAZING, and there were no poop eating gorillas to be found.  We could have stood there all day watching the silver backed gorillas lumbering through the vegetation and climbing the rocky banks of their river.  They were just so regal.  This might be my favorite part of the day:

Then we went on our Kilimanjaro Safari.  Maybe this was my favorite part of the day.  It was like we were driving through Africa.  
The trees and grasses looked authentic, and the animals were not in cages.  They were just roaming happily through the savannah, unaware that the were living in a faux savannah.   The funniest part of the ride, was that we were supposedly chasing down poachers--and it took until the end of the ride for Kolby to realize there weren't really animal poachers in Disney World.  

After seeing all the animals, and eating several popsicles, we headed over to the area with the rides.  And there we experienced The Best Roller Coaster Ever:  Expedition Everest.   We figured the girls were roller coaster pros at this point, so Kolby and I rode together, with the kids in back.  Very quickly we questioned that decision.  


Kolby and I were laughing hysterically through the whole ride--mostly because it was laugh or cry.  It was TERRIFYING.  The whole time I was worried about my delicate little daughters behind me.  I shouldn't have.  Immediately upon exiting the ride, they wanted to get back on.  And they rode it a few more times throughout the day.  (If you are a roller coaster junkie, check it out here.  What you can't see is that every time the roller coaster stops, the track changes so you have no idea what is coming next.)

The other favorite ride of the day was Dinosaur.  I was disappointed that Magic Kingdom didn't have the Indiana Jones ride that Disneyland has, but the Dinosaur ride at AK was very similar--basically Jurassic Park.  A roller coaster with big scary dinosaurs.  And there was absolutely no line for that ride, so they rode it over and over again.  

You notice I said "they" many times during this account of our day?  I tried to give the otoliths in my vestibule a chance to calm down.   (I was motion sick.)  So I rode Everest once, and the Dinosaur ride once, and pretty much held down various park benches for the rest of the day.  And I didn't mind at all.

Mission Space (Day Two)

On the flight to Orlando, I overheard a man with Swine Flu, in between nasty particle-spraying coughing fits, mention that there was going to be a Space Shuttle launch while we were there. For this bit of information I almost forgave him for spreading his pig germs.

So the second day we skipped the parks and went to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch! Space shuttle launches were such huge events when I was a kid. I was just a little older than Madeline when the Challenger disaster occurred, and I remember the details of that day like I remember the details of 9/11, so I got very emotional watching the the Atlantis launch with my little girls. It was really incredible to see in person.

Afterwards we ate astronaut icecream and read up on this space shuttle mission. A few interesting facts:

• The pilot is from Seattle
• They will be up in space for 11 days  (home by now)
• This was the 125th space shuttle mission
• This was the last spacewalk to work on the Hubble Telescope (see pics of newly discovered galaxies taken by Hubble here).

I am amazed that this is what someone does when he/she goes to work:  "Bye, honey!  I'm off to fix that damn telescope again."

After watching the launch, we ended up at Whistler Junction buffet and grill. Yes, you read that right. Buffets go completely against my dining beliefs--when I pay to dine out, I am paying for someone to serve me my food, not for me to serve myself.  Dining choices were limited in Titusville. Even for roadside buffet standards, this was pretty terrible. However, the kids were in heaven. In fact, when Emma came back to the table with a big chocolate sundae after eating hot dogs and mac n' cheese, she declared, "Florida is AWESOME!"

And then we drove home. It took about 75 minutes to get to Titusville. It took 4 hours to get home in the worst traffic I've ever sat in. Miserable. But watching 7 astronauts get launched into "outer space" was worth the traffic and the buffet.