Lions and Bear and Mermaids, OH MY!

Day 13 – Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

After our 12 hour day we decided to take it easy the next.  So when the kids got up we headed straight for the pool!  We swam and swam until 11:00 when the kids were thoroughly exhausted and ready for a nap.  You’d be surprised how quickly kids can fall asleep with all this excitement!  They would have slept all day, but we had big plans!  Animal Kingdom was calling!

That day we saw went on a safari and saw the most spectacular Lion King show with fire dancers, monkey gymnasts and flying lady birds!  It was incredible!!  And the highlight of the show for us was the star of the show coming into the audience to tell us she was “just in love!” with Corinna!  She even sent Timone over to see her and Silas and Sadie got a chance to hug him and give him a high five before finishing out the show!

We grabbed some PB&J in the park and headed over to the Magic Kingdom.  We decided to take the ferry over and the kids enjoyed every second on the top of the ferry boat watching the sunset while I tried to tell a cute little first time grandma from the Phillipines about all the developmental milestones she would see during her 3 month stay with her new grandson!  So many questions and such a language barrier, but we had a wonderful conversation and a great connection!

We had an awesome night running from ride to ride, playing yet another role in the Beauty and the Beast experience where Sadie was chosen once again to be Chip, Silas played the Dancing Dinnerware and Daddy even got to be a Suit of Arm!  

We had a bunch of highlights from today!  J.L. got to ride Mt. Everest, which was being built last time we were in the park almost 8 years ago.  Sadie got to meet the REAL Ariel from "The Little Mermaid".  For those of you who know Sadie, you know what a BIG deal this was!!  She climbed right up next to her, crossed her legs like fins and put her hands on her knees, just like Ariel does!  It was hysterical!  We closed out the park by riding Dumbo at 11 pm and walking out watching the night parade!  It was....magical  :-)

But one of our favorite memories comes each night well after leaving Disney.  Before the trip, Corinna would  fall asleep being rocked by me or held and bounced on J.L.'s shoulder.  Now she squirms and fusses and pushes out.  At first we could not for the life of us figure out why.  But one night J.L. put her down on the bed with the kids to see if she would rest there.  She immediately crawled right up between the two big kids, laid her head down, lifted it up to the right to see Silas, left to see Sadie and was asleep in an instant.  She LOVES her big brother and sister!  

Castles!

Day 12 – Magic Kingdom and EPCOT

 We woke up bright and early, donned our Mickey outfits and headed to Disney!   J.L. headed out to the parking lot and noted that he felt silly dressed that way outside of the park, but inside Mickey can make grown men wear clothing normally reserved for children and feel pretty okay about it!  We decided to beat the system and park at EPCOT, then ride the monorail over to Magic Kingdom in an effort to save time.  70 minutes later we decided that was a rather foolish idea!

On the way into the park we stopped to instruct other mothers on the art of making Mickey t-shirts inexpensively (we didn’t volunteer the info, they asked!) and then went in to have our picture taken in front of the castle!

 We rode ride after ride before heading in to Belle’s castle!  Who knew we would end up walking through an enchanted mirror, meeting the real Belle, and even getting to play a part in the show!  Silas was Maurice’s horse, Phillipe, and Sadie played Chip, chosen based on her incredible hopping skills!

 After waiting for the “Dream Come True” parade and having it rained out, we decided to call it a day and head back to the resort.  But, after monorailing back to our car at EPCOT and standing under cover during another pretty intense rain storm, we looked at each other and decided there was too much Disney left to do to give up then!  So, we covered the kids and stroller with a poncho and ran into EPCOT, staying until 8 o’clock that night!

The kids had a blast doing all the indoor things we probably would not have experienced had it not rained.  We hit up Innoventions and drove futuristic cars, saved money in a talking piggy bank, drank coke from countries around the world and so much more!  But the most exciting part of the day was when we happened upon an attraction exclusive to Disney credit card holders.  And since we (of course!) have the Disney credit card, we got to go behind the black curtains to have our picture taken with the mystery Disney

 characters and get a free picture to take home! 

At 8 in the morning we never would have guessed that we would be staying until 8:30 at night!  In fact, when we were making the long trek to our car, J.L. mentioned that the fireworks were starting in just 30 minutes and it felt a little like a failure to not stay and watch them!  

Vader!

Days 9&10- EPCOT and Hollywood Studios

On day 9 we got to go to EPCOT and had an absolute blast!  Silas loved Soarin’ and was so very excited he wanted to ride again immediately!  Sadie loved the Nemo ride and we all enjoyed visiting the different countries. 

 As we mentioned before, we have been handing out suckers along the way to people we encounter.  On the sucker is a tag that says, “Our family is on a 3 week family road trip.  We have been greatly blessed and hope to bless you in some small way today.  ‘Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  We love because He first loved us.’”  For us as parents, we have been so proud of our kids as they become conscientious of the little things people do every single day to bless us.  It is great to watch Silas and Sadie have encounters with complete strangers and then turn around and come running for the sucker stash!  Sadie always whispers to us and then hides the sucker behind her back until she gets someone’s attention, and then pulls the sucker out as if it is the greatest surprise in the world!  It is so easy to become fixated on all that is wrong in our daily lives, but when we create a culture of awareness it is amazing all the things around us we would often miss.  Yesterday at EPCOT Sadie handed out a sucker to a grandma who rubbed her leg as she was trying to fall asleep on a bench and Silas to the Disney worker who told us the best place to stand to see the night light show.

 We had a blast, but also came to quite a realization early on in our trip.  If you, like us, have wondered if there could ever be too much Disney, let us assure you….there can be.  After spending the best day at EPCOT, we decided to head over on the monorail to Magic Kingdom (at 10 pm) to see the “Wishes” fireworks.  We missed most of the fireworks while using the bathroom instead, almost missed the monorail and spent the entire ferry ride around the 7 seas lagoon listening to Sadie sob, “But I’M not big.  How come I’m not big and everyone ELSE is big?  You and Daddy and Silas are big and just me and Corinna are little.  Why would God DO that?” It was not a magical way to end the day.  J.L. assures me that it has less to do with Disney and more to do with Sadie being a girl.

Wednesday and today we hit up Hollywood Studios, also known as the hottest place on earth!  We have seen more stunt shows and movie scenes than we ever thought possible, but our favorite came this afternoon.  For those of you who have had a single conversation with Silas in the last 7 months, you will understand the significance of the next story.  At 8 o’clock this morning we were busting it through the park to the Jedi Training signups at ABC Studios.  Silas made it in to one of the training academies and got to fight “real live Vador”.  It was slightly terrifying, but he rose to the occasion and defeated the dark side!  He actually got to go up on stage and, after being outfitted with robe and light saber, got to fight, man to man.  If the age limit was not 4-12, Sadie and J.L. would have been up there, too!

Sadie ended the day watching Belle in the “Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage” show.  It was magical for her!  And the biggest highlight was that Corinna learned to clap during the “Indiana Jones” show.  She LOVES it!  Whenever the audience applauds, she reaches out and as far as she can and brings her hands together over and over and over again!  It is so much fun to watch and she is just too proud of herself! 

Tonight we went back to the resort, made some Mexican with the limes we picked in Uncle Dog’s back yard and had hot fudge brownie sundaes!