Bar stools

As a continuation to Junk afternoon we have purchased three new (to us) bar stools for the pass through window.The boys think they are great. They swivel all the way around and that is mighty tempting if you are a little WB...we'll see how this goes!!
Cheese!!
PS it is only THREE DAYS until I get my braces off! Three days!!!

Day 5 - Epcot!

We actually didn't plan to go to Epcot at all. After a couple of days of braving the intense crowds at Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom we were both feeling a little done. We figured that we would hit Epcot for a half day and spend the rest of the day by the pool-NOT SO! We had a blast and stayed all day.

We started our day at the park about ten minutes after it opened at 9. We split up and I got two fast passes for Test Track-already the FP time wasn't until 12:40. They stopped giving the FPs out shortly after I'm sure. Dave grabbed 2 FPs for the Mission Space flight simulator.While we were We met back up and went to the Finding Nemo ride (no wait time). This ride is one of few that is Eman friendly. Then we went to the interactive Turtle Talk with Crush. It was supposed to be a 35 minute wait The boys loved it. We thought it was really cool too. The three os us grabbed a snack whill daddy got some FPs for Soarin'. The time was for 5:20!!! It wasn't even 11 am!!!

We hit the Mission Space ride and Monkey and I picked the half throttle option. His little hand still managed to find mine mindway through the ride. This also happened yesterday during the Mickey's PhilharMagic show. I thought he wouldn't want to go again but he was all over doing a return trip with daddy. While mommy n Monkey were inside the ride, Big C and daddy hung out by the big models of the planets. It was too cool !

Big C and I headed off to see if we could find somewhere for lunch. We aimed for the Italian restaurant called Tutto Italia Ristaurante. Wow was it ever delicious!!! Our meal should have cost $125 but it was covered under the Disney dining plan as one of our table service meals. All we had to do was leave the tip. It was fabulous and the boys were really well bahaved.

We toured around the different countries and did the KidsCot activities in Japan, Italy and Canada. It was really quite fun. I do have to wonder what mental midget came up with the awful idea to have the craft centre's sponsored by Sharpie markers. Big C, despite our vigilance, got some on his UPF shirt-arrrgg!!! The crowds were not nearly anything like what we had been seeing at the other parks. It was really very refreshing. We hit a boat ride across the fake lake (I can't find a name for it!).



It was time to go back to the Test Track. Realizing that Big C was on the verge of being tall enough for the 40 inch height rides I decided to experiment with stuffing a half a granola bar under his heels inside his running shoes to get him past the breaking point. We got in line, and he passed the restriction!!! But the ride closed down for an hour due to technical stuff.

So we went into the nearby Innoventions area and Big C pretty much lost it .Did you know that Epcot has an interactive recycling plant? Did you know that it has little garbage trucks that you can zoom around by yourself? Did you know that it has an interactive driving course and an interactive excavator game that little hands can reach? Neither did we, and I think that if it were up to Big C, we'd still be there today!

Test Track was still out of order so Monkey and I went off to do Soarin'. It was really cool. He wasn't at all scared and I managed to keep my hands : ). We finally got a chance to get on Test Track. The granola bar shoes worked wonders and he got past the height restriction by fractions of an inch.

Do I even need to tell you that the boys LOVED the race car ride?!?! I mean really. That is a no brainer. It was really nice to be able to bring Big C rather than him sitting another ride out.
Monkey held on tight for dear life, while daddy just smiled:

We tried to get into the Canadian steak house but it was solidly booked and people rarely cancel since it is so yummy. We scored a spot at the English pub and quite enjoyed ourseleves over fish and steak and green beer (isn't everyone Irish today??). This meal was another $97 (including the beer which the dining plan does not cover). We had an extra table service meal saved up from our arrival day on Friday and this was a great day to have one to spare!

We split up and Dave and Monkey went on Soarin' and big C and I went on test track again with his special granola bar shoes. It was a great way to wrap up a great day at a surprisingly fun park.

A quick swim at the hotel followed by showers and the boys are now in bed. Awake, but in bed.

Junk Afternoon

Mommy and Daddy are going out tonight so it really isn't fair to leave a babysitter in charge of running junk night or it's aftermath. So we are having "junk afternoon" to hope to run off the sugary effects before she gets here!

As a side note, I am wanting to change the furniture arrangement in the great room and have moved stuff around. You can see the new arrangement in these photos. It is a little mis-matched as I am highly visual and needed to put "placeholder furniture" in so that I could see what it would look like. If we like it, we'll buy furniture that actually goes with the decor.

The challenge is that I would like to buy the furniture second hand. This is not very easy to do and still match the existing couch and loveseat. We'll see how my intentions pan out. If you know anyone (locally) selling bar height stools with a leather (read: washable) cushions, I'm all ears!!

Day 4~Magic Kingdom

The time shift is setting in! The boys woke up at 7:40 this morning. By the end of the week we might just be able to stay for the fireworks at 9.

We got to the park and went right to adventureland. Bam, bam, bam we got on three rides back to back. We got on the Pirates of the Caribbean (twice),Aladdin's Magic Carpet and the Jungle Boat tour (stupid!) In the middle we zipped off and got fastpasses for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. The boys loved it all. Daddy and Big C were even able to sneak in a ride on the carousel while mommy n Monkey were taking in the big boy rides.

We zipped over to see if Big C is tall enough to go on Splash Mountain (not quite) and then Monkey and daddy went on Splash Mountain while big c and I took a tour on the steam train. We met back up for lunch at Pecos Bill (yummy) and then split up so big c could nap (we hoped)

Monkey and I did Splash Mountain (twice) and big Thunder Mountain. Then we caught the show at Cinderella's Castle. Monkey loved the show but not the princesses. Sorry Grandma, Snow White got no love from this kid-I even tried pumping her up and everything. We waited around Mickey's Toon Town for a while looking for daddy but he was waiting for us somewhere else, oops! Meanwhile...Daddy and Big C were exploring Goofys Barnstormer and Mickey's PhilharMagic. We eventually met up and headed for the race cars where daddy n Monkey toured together in front of Mommy n Big C. Both children were adamant that their job was to be the driver while the rown-ups were in charge of the 'gas man'. I can see their point as they could easily reach the wheel, but not the pedals. and then a much needed (finally) nap.

We next went to our Character dinner at the Crystal palace with Tigger, Eyore, Pooh and Piglet It was a buffet and was much much better than last nights dinner in Animal Kingdom. The boys liked that the caracters were around and Monkey was equally pleased with the soft serve dispenser : )

We came out and the crowd had largely cleared. We zipped right on to the tea cups (a classic) where mommy and Big C took things slow, but Monkey n daddy went as fast as we possibly could. We finished off the day with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and we did a tour as a family through Mickey's PhilharMagic in 3-D with no line and then we split up. Daddy and Big C lured by the promise of fireworks while Mommy and Monkey lured by the call of their beds. We headed for the bus but stopped on the way to catch the awesome Spectro Magic parade (very cool). Daddy and Big C are still not home yet. I hope they are out having an absolute blast!all Big C could say was 'oooooooh' (I think that he picked that up from the crowds, and it was oh so cute!)

Disney Day 3~Animal Kingdom

What a day!!

We started off early, arriving at the park about 20 minutes after it opened at 9. Dave rushed back to get our fastpasses for the Safari ride. We learned last year that the train ride around the outside of the park SUCKS. So we didn't bother. I found the Minnie ears that I have been looking for:Meanwhile Monkey and I got in line to see the Lion King. The show started off well with Monkey (in his Mickey ears) getting selected to lead something for the whole group. Sadly, after 40 minutes in line, and being 4th in line, the show lasted about 4 minutes then they cancelled it for technical difficulties-booooo!!

Not letting that get us down the boys went outside to see Mickey Mouse. They ended up playing a recycling game and winning a free certificate and pin. With pins come lanyard so they got two blue ones to go with the pins.

Then we went on the safari ride and it was awesome!!! We saw too many animals to name. We grabbed lunch at the flame tree bbq and ate by the water.

Big C was pretty done so we went to Dinoland and he grabbed a nap in his stroller while Monkey and daddy went on the dinoland version of the dumbo ride and then on to a ride called something like Dinosaurs and other scary stuff. Monkey hated it. At the end an enormous dinosaur tries to eat the roller coaster and he was not at all happy about it. Dave lost some flesh off of his thighs and apparently so did the woman next to Monkey on the other side!

We were not sure if he would be up for Everest (and mommy was fine to sit it out after hearing that part of the trip is backwards) but he was up for it and mommy was the first vicctim to go up with him. I have to say that I LOVED it!! Best roller coaster ever! It was the right mix of everything. Monkey wasn't too sure about going again but when we announced that Daddy was going alone Monkey was good enough to keep him company. He loved it!

We enjoyed some fruit popcicles in the glorious sunshine and daddy even ate an ice cream bar shaped like Mickey Mouse's head. Big C had not yet had a chance to ride anything since his nap so we all went on a water floating white water rafting thing. Monkey and daddy got SOAKED but big C and I came out of it okay. We went and saw Tigger, Eyore and Pooh while daddy tried to stand in any wind and sun he could find to dry off.

We watched the parade, which rocks! And the boys loved seeing all of the characters on the floats. There was lots of waving and big C was very excited to see Chip and Dale, our asexual rodent friends. We went for our dinner at Tuckers. It was actually surprisingly mediocre. The staff are indifferent but the food was okay. I can't tell you how excited Dave was to find out from a fellow Liverpool fan that Liverpool beat Man U at Manchester's own stadium yesterday.

We went to see the "It's a Bugs life" 3D show and it was really neat. Smoke and mist (pretend bug spray) come out into the audience while the lights are off (bige will hate this one) and stuff from your seat pokes you. Monkey was terrified but loved it.

After that it was time to catch the bus back to the hotel since animal kingdom closes at 6. We came home and big C was instantly naked and looking for his swim trunks. We all went down to the pool and threw the kids and a beach ball around. Big C got THAT face on and Dave rushed him up to our room for some potty success. Yay!!!

We got cleaned up and then went and let the boys pick out their morning cerial from the cafeteria.