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!