What does a good weekend look like?

I submit the photo above as evidence of a great weekend at the lease.

Many thanks to Papa for hosting and cousin John for providing the entertainment. Caroline and her parents had a number of ideas and specific plans on what we might do over the weekend. All that worry and preparation was wasted, as the kids pretty much did their own thing!

We arrived 09:37 Saturday. John John the Girly Mon was still asleep and received a full pounce and nag from cousin C. At 09:44 they were on the golf car rolling out for an adventure. We saw them approximately every hour throughout the day for about 15 minutes. They'd get a drink, cool off, tell us about the cool new thing they found, then charge back out-sometimes by foot, sometimes by car. What a treat for the parents and grandparent!

We sent the unutilized cookie dough home with John and made our usual stop at Buccee's for junk food on the way back to Tiki. C was mighty tired and finally gave in after her hot dog and fries.

Check "wildflower trip to deer lease" off the list. Next up, fishing season.

Children's parade

This weekend was our Third Girl Scout Children's parade. We had a couple of snafus throughout the week leading up and we ended up riding on the treasure train with another troop. A pink glorified golf cart that takes tourists around Galveston.

In a feat of efficiency and in trying to keep the girls contained during our 2 hour wait for the parade to start, we held our weekly meeting sitting in the parking lot to determine what we were going to eat at camp this coming week. Then the band parked next to us and my girls were off to do the Cha Cha slide and the chicken dance and to do a bit of exploring.

The crowds were heavy but pretty well behaved. We only had a couple of intersections where people really crowded the float. Parents that think it is ok for a small child to run right up to a moving vehicle boggle me!!

The bead count: I did not make a good count ahead of time this year as we had several last minute donations and random bags placed on board. So here is my estimate: 280 dozen beads, plus 2000 pieces of bubblegum.

Beads!

Caroline and I made a spur of the moment decision to catch a Mardi Gras parade Saturday. Mommy had some fancy glasses for her costume (compliments of Grandma Mary perhaps?) which definitely helped lift our final bead count.

Disney Day 2- Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom opened at 8am that day so we were up, dressed and fed in time to catch the bus from the Caribbean.
As we walked up to AK the Christmas decorations were incredible! A giant tree was out front all decorated in baskets, flowers and animals.
My plan for the day was to race through the park to the back to go on the Safari train first. I think the family thought I was a bit crazy, but it was a blast racing in with everyone else.
We walked right on to the Safari train. This was a great jeep adventure through the African wilderness. The animals were just waking up and out looking for breakfast. C was of course dressed in her camo with a camo bow on her ears. She had her binoculars out the whole time.
When we got off the train we went through the Pangani Forest trail
At the end of the trail was a checkerboard with elephants and giraffes. C and I sat down for a game of African checkers! The villages at AK were so well designed and thought out. All the buildings looked as if they were straight out of an African village (only with cleaner bathrooms and less chickens) or were plucked from the Himalayas.
We took the train out to conservation station before too many people got to the park. The books looked down on this space, but it was perfect for curious Caroline. They had a park ranger with an owl out talking to the kids in the middle of the room. All around were windows giving a glimpse into how the animals were cared for. A food window had examples of food for the kids to look at for different animals. There was even a vet surgery on a snake for everyone to watch. Grandmother willow tree was here and we met Rafiki and Jiminy Cricket.
We followed the trail over to Asia where we passed DiVine a stilt walker that blends in along the path. Incredible! Also along this road C and Daddy drummed a little beat and we saw Flick from A Bug’s life all by himself – no line of kids, just hanging out. Then we went to the greatest bird show ever.
By this time the park was starting to get crowded. So we grabbed some food and hustled over to Finding Nemo the Musical and Camp Mickey Minnie for the Festival of the Lion King. C was not interested in staying for Finding Nemo the Musical since she doesn’t like the movie (I know how crazy is that), but a park employee sitting behind us explained the whole thing to her and Mommy put her foot down (I wanted to see it after all). The puppetry is incredible! Festival of the Lion King was good, but does not compare to the stage musical.
Caroline discovered gift shops today and happily played her way through several while mom tried to put off the start of the souvenir buying.
We had reservations for 5:00 at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so we left Animal Kingdom early and set out. The lodge is incredible with views of the savanna and giraffes right out the windows. C and I had a great time exploring the lobby while we waited for a table. We even let C purchase “Snow the snow leopard webkin” before dinner.
Boma had wonderful African food. It was a buffet with lots of explanations of each dish and its components. C even tried new foods! The desert section had mini tarts and cakes. Since C and I watch Top Chef devotedly and we were on vacation we got one of everything and taste tested them all!
When it was time to leave I realized we did not have a very good plan for getting home. We had to take a bus from AK Lodge back to a park then catch a bus back to our hotel. We waited forever for a bus for Magic Kingdom and eventually found one headed to Epcot. We hopped on and figured since we were already headed there we might as well stay for fireworks. So at 7:30pm we entered Epcot.
One of the first things C found was character spot. Since the fireworks weren’t until 9 we stood in line to meet Donald, Goofy, Pluto and see M and M again. We still had a bit of time so we raced over to Nemo and Friends at the Living Seas. Living Seas was Hunter’s favorite exhibit when he was little and it was a must see on our list. Unfortunately the aquarium has been taken over by Nemo and the ride takes away from the basic aquarium. When you get off the ride you can explore the tanks, but many of these too were devoted to Nemo and his buds with projected fish taking away from the real thing. Having been to lots of aquariums in our lives, this Disney one did not rank very high.
Off to World Showcase for fireworks and popcorn. Caroline was definitely riding her adrenaline wave by now since we had been in the parks since 8 that morning and had very little sleep the night before. Illuminations was a wonderful fireworks display- though I suggest you read up on the backstory before you go so you can follow what is going on. We wanted to beat the crush of people to the busses so we took off 10 minutes before the ending. I carried c facing backwards so she could see the rest. Nice job Mom. We ran from the gates to the busses and C was asleep before we got home.

Disney Vacation- the Back Story

This summer we decided we should do Disney before we lost that magical age. Of course the only time we could fit it into everyone’s schedules was the week of Thanksgiving. So I called up a friend and booked it.
We told Caroline the same way she hears all important news in our family- through shaped pancakes. She guessed her Mickey Mouse ears and we were off to the races. Every day we talked about our plans on the way to school; we created countdown calendars and list of rides. I even made a powerpoint of our decisions to show to Hunter each Sunday so he could be in on the planning fun

Disney Vacation – Day 1 traveling

We left our house at 5:15 am on Tuesday. Caroline slept in her clothes so all we had to add was shoes to get her going. She told us not to wake her until we got to Florida, but she was too excited to go back to sleep and started talking immediately. She told everyone we saw where we were headed. Though I can’t imagine anyone who couldn’t guess it since she was wearing a Mickey and Minnie shirt, a red polka dot skirt, red polka dot leggings and carrying Zazu who was dressed like Cinderella.

In Orlando, Disney snatches your bags for you and sends them straight to your resort. So we hopped in our first of many lines and rode the Magical Express straight to the Caribbean Beach Resort.
The hotel was decorated for Christmas with an island theme and looked wonderful. Our travel agent had sent a gift for Caroline and she tore into it before I could even get a picture. Her very own pink Minnie ears! She immediately put them on (and wore them every day of the trip through rain and shine). Our room faced the courtyard (that we would later find out was full of bunnies- the live kind not animatronic) but our building was on the beach. It was decorated with Nemo spreads and borders. We dropped our gear, grabbed the cameras and headed straight to the Magic Kingdom!

Disney Vacation Day 1- Magic Kingdom

We arrived around 2pm and definitely needed some food- but first we had to stop at First Aid for some Band-Aids. Caroline who lives in Crocs got a blister on each foot from her croc straps. So off to the first aid station and then to Casey’s for hotdogs and fries- and to figure out the Disney dining plan. We grabbed our food and realized people had ammased on Main Street and there was nowhere to eat. So, we grabbed a bit of sidewalk and chowed down while waiting for our first parade. Some very nice neighbors let Caroline join them on the curb and she got her very first taste of Disney Magic. Lots of characters walked the streets and shook hands with the kids as they went past.

When the parade (and lunch) was over we headed straight to Cinderella’s castle. Now I had read every guide book and printed out the touring plans I thought would work best for us, but this afternoon was a free for all since all the guidebooks say you are crazy to go to the park in mid afternoon when the lines are the longest and the kids are the crabbiest.

We went through the castle to Fantasyland. C and I rode Prince Charming’s carousel with no waiting. Our next adventure was right next door at Mickey’s Philharmagic- a 4D movie. We waited about 30 minutes, but Caroline was so enthralled with the hidden Mickey idea (they paint tiny Mickey heads into scenery to entertain you along the way) that she spent the entire time looking at a star mural finding them. I should stop now and tell you that Caroline is not the bravest of kids. She does not like loud noises and she likes to know exactly what is going to happen. She tends to take her glasses off at 3D movies and cover her ears. So, the very first scene of this giant movie is an orchestra of instruments flying through the air- not good for my little jumpy one, but the next one was Ariel and she was reaching out to catch the floating jewels. Afterwards she agreed that the movie was great and she dragged us to the next thing.

Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan were both right there, but had waits over 70 minutes and no fast passes left so we walked over to It’s a Small World. Here the wait was listed as 45 minutes but the line kept moving and there was lots of chatting with other kids to do so it didn’t seem too bad. Caroline was amazed at the dolls and would have rocked the boat with all her wiggling and pointing if it had not been on a track. When we got off she wanted to go again! Her parents were not up for that on this day, but we had plenty of days left.

We carefully went around Dumbo without stopping to ride, wheew. Around the corner was the Mad Hatter’s tea party. This definitely had to be our next stop. A side story:
My dad went to Disneyland with his mom and brother when he was about 4. We have a picture of the three of them in a tea cup. When I went to Disney World with my dad, Mary and Jill in 1988 we took the same picture in the same teacup. So I was determined to ride in the same teacup and take a picture with Caroline.

The Teacups are not a ride for those with a weak stomach, Caroline was trying to spin it as fast as she could and I was making the motions but definitely trying to break the wheel to slow us down!.

One of the things I had read was that you should go on the barnstormer kids roller coaster to bolster your kid’s courage and bravery before heading to the big mountains. So, off to Toon Town we went. The line for the barnstormer was not too bad and t was lined with great Disney imagery. We arrive at the front of the line and Caroline and I are in the first car. I was silently praying that this not ruin my chances of getting her on anything else for the week. So with Caroline as our pilot we were off. Barnstormer is fast and curvy but not very droppy so it is just perfect. As we were going around our second curve- with hands in the air- Caroline screams “ I feel so alive” I was sure I was good on rides from then on!
Mommy then made the mistake of going to Mickey’s house and the Judges tent to meet the big man himself. The line took forever and we were all hungry and tired. Caroline actually sat on the ground and stared off into space while we wound our way through. But at the end we were treated to both Mickey and Minnie. C got their autographs and we got to take pictures. Her face when talking with them is pure joy.

So we gathered up our belongings and took young children by the hand and rode the railroad back to Main Street USA and headed home for the night. She fell asleep in mid sentence as we were planning our next day.