Animal Kingdom

Despite surviving the crowds of Magic Kingdom and a late night bedtime, I still approached day 2 with caution.  I lightened the snack load in the backpack (who were we kidding the kids were going to talk me into the quick and easy ice cream treats?) and added sunscreen and some water bottles, and we headed in to our second Disney park, Animal Kingdom.  From the second we entered the park the experience was different... shade and wide open space and a feeling that my children could run far ahead of me without me losing them.  We were greeted by a walking tree (a woman on stilts painted in green) and wound our way through a few animal exhibits before the Tree of Life appeared before us and we entered our first show.. The Bug's Life view of life from a bug's POV.  The dark, spooky theater with a 3D movie that had bees buzzing us and other insects poking us and squirming around beneath our seats got the kids excited for the adventures that were ahead of us.  Nemo's musical puppet show and Simba's theater in the round and a relaxing Safari mid day in which Sammy dozed a little on my lap.  Following the long day at Magic Kingdom, it was no surprise that the kids started to crash in the early afternoon, but a frozen coke and some exciting dancing in the streets and they were ready for the fun of Dinoland including arcade games and face painting.  The highlight of the day was the way Eva wanted to dance for hours with the Jamaican street band.  Is it any wonder she didn't make it back to the park entrance without collapsing in her stroller?  We will definitely go back to Animal Kingdom.

Disney

I'm so behind in getting pictures up, but even without the pictures I'll never forget how it felt to walk along Main Street with TT and the kids, Cinderella's castle in view and It's A Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean and The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House waiting for us.  The crowds were tremendous, and we had a scary moment early on when Sam got lost (and showed a shop manager the phone number I'd written on the top of his leg in sharpie), but with so much magic and wonder and excitement all around, it would be hard not to love a day at Disney with my kids.  When we sat down on the It's A Small World boat for our first ride and Sam snuggled in under TT's arm and the little children's voices starting singing, I got tears in my eyes.  THIS was the moment I had wanted, TT and her grandchildren and the ride that started it all for our family back nearly four decades ago.  We spent a lot more money than I expected (when it's hot and crowded and you just want a break from the noise, kids can easily convince you that a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar or a $6 hot dog would be way better options than the snacks you've been lugging around in your backpack) and we stayed way beyond the time I thought we would, but we rode over 10 rides, ending with a dark and spooky Pirates of The Caribbean that the kids didn't quite understand (why are they acting silly?  what is rum?).  And when we returned to the park entrance at close to 9pm, Sam decided the one toy he wanted to purchase was the Mickey Mouse Wizard Hat he had picked out when we first walked in that morning.

 Sam's Wizard Hat

 It's a Small World

  It's a Small World

  It's a Small World

 Rope Bridge

 Fantasyland Carousel

 Flying Magic Carpet Ride

 Jungle Cruise

 Selfie on Madhatter's Tea Party Ride

 Riverboat Cruise

 Riverboat Cruise

 Riverboat Cruise

 Sam studies the water lifting operation in the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House

 Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

One last look at Cinderella's Castle as we leave the Magic Kingdom

Beachin' It

It is not possible to contain everything about our Florida trip in to one post, so we're going to have to do this in stages... starting with the day we headed to Nokomis Beach.  Before Sam and Eva entered my life beaches used to mean hot sun and cool drinks and laying on a clean, sand-free towel for long stretches of time that were broken up with a quick dip in the water to cool off.  Now beach trips are filled with running and shell collecting and lots and lots of sand.  Sarah came along and helped with kid watching and kid burying, and TT walked the sand to look for shark's teeth and interesting shells while the kids ran circles in and out of the water.  Eva is a master shark tooth hunter already, and sam still loves to run as far away from me as he can, and all three of us love the space and the wind in our hair and the time spent with family.  We oohed and ahhed over shells and coral and feathers, and we all laughed when Eva insisted that her sand mermaid have boobies and a long tail, and we only finally trekked back to the car when we started to get hungry.  Beach time has changed for sure, but it's never been so fun and magical, and as I told TT when the kids were ready to leave, I could spend all day there. 

 

Best Grandma in The Whole World

 

In the car on the way there, Eva and Sam talked about all the things they wanted to do at TT's... pick raspberries and go to the wildlife sanctuary and ride rides at Bay Beach and come out of the butt at the children's museum.  Eva hardly remembers TTs real house since we haven't been there since October of last year, but she remembers some of the adventures and the Barbie house that we set up in the basement.  And within minutes of arriving they were digging through the toy box filled with matchbox cars and lego and piling blankets and pillows in the living room and dancing around with Grandpa Jim's hats and searching the house for loose change.  We tackled the gardens and spent a fabulous afternoon at the aquatic center and rode ponies and braved the Zippin Pippin (which Sam says he doesn't need to do again any time soon) and enjoyed a great deal of relaxing quality time with "the best grandma in the whole world."  In the car on the way home they wanted to know if they could go back tomorrow.  We all wish we could.

 

Pit Stop 

 

 Sam uses Jimmy Joe's hat to imitate Pharrel Williams

 

 "Take a picture of us Mom.  We're snuggling."

 

 Aquatic Center

 

 Fearless

 

 Again.  Again.  Again.

 

 Never enough slushies or snowcones

 

 Eva helps with some garden shopping

 

 Eva can't get enough of the ponies, especially her friend Willie.

 

 One ride is enough for Sam.

 

 Family train ride

 

 Family helicopter ride

 

 Sam braves the Zippin Pippin

(AFTER the ride friends told us we should have

rode in the front so we didn't go airborne on the steep drops. 

Sam is in no hurry to try it again.  And neither am I.)

 

Can we get another one? Please!!!!!  Pretty please.