Disney World -- Day 5 -- Sea World

I did not anticipate Sea World to be so high on my list of amazing experiences this week.  We have seen our share of dolphin shows and I was blown away by the caliber and quality of sea world!!!!  

We started with the dolphin show which was actually a musical theater with dolphins, humans, vultures and parrots!  It was edge of you seat exciting!!  I truly loved it!

Next we headed to the walrus show which was also great but more silly than amazing.  Much of the humor was above Noah's head so he didn't get it.  I had never seen such a huge walrus!!

Next came the killer whales.  Just the tank alone was HUGE.  We sat in the splash zones but somehow we didn't get too wet!!!  These whales were amazing!!!

We spent some time looking at manatees, birds, baby dolphins and many more things.  However, by this point we were sooo tired!!!  So, we headed home for a pool day in the afternoon.

More comics with the gloves!

After the pool we all gathered at a restaurant in our resort right on the water.  We could see the fountain show in the bay where we were staying and each night we could see the Epcot fireworks.  It was a very relaxing and nice resort!!!

Disney World -- Day 4 -- Epcot

We spent Wednesday at Epcot.  Every day I thought we might get done early but we never did!!

It was a bit rainy this day and so we ducked inside buildings a few times, but overall it worked out just fine!

The highlight of the day was certainly our wonderful lunch at the German Biergarten.  I chose it because I love Germany and I had no idea how amazing and popular it was.  The food was unbelievable and then the show that they put on was spectacular.  The kids danced their hearts out and laughed forever.  Paul was in heaven with the 1L beers and we all relaxed for several hours over lunch.

We were lucky to catch a bunch of characters after lunch and we enjoyed our photos with them.  We also learned this trip that you can tell Chip and Dale apart by their noses!  Chip (like chocolate chip cookie) has a brown nose and Dale has a red nose!

Noah was not familiar with Mary Poppins but we stumbled into her in Great Britain.  She was so sweet to Noah and took his hand and kissed him and in a great british accent exclaimed that he was such a handsome prince.  Noah was quite taken with her!  When he had to do his journal for school he remembered her compliment and was sure to share it with everyone!!!

 Another great feature of Epcot was something called KidCot.  At each country the children could get a stamp on a Duffy bear and the staff would write them a note in their native language.  Noah remembered Konichwa from the Wiggles and said that the woman in Japan.  She LOVED it and wrote him all kids of cool words in japanese.

Here the kids are on a bridge in Italy.

We enjoyed other rides in Epcot-- especially Soarin and the test track ride.  Maeve was melting from days of no naps and so she and I headed home to relax.  Paul took Noah to the rest of the countries and got all of his stamps.

Disney World -- Day 3- Animal Kingdom

It's no surprise that Animal Kingdom was our favorite.. we anticipated that.  

The Baobab tree was magnificent when you walk in to the park.  It was gigantic! And it was covered in beautiful carvings of hundreds of different animals.  We spent a lot of time just trying to name all of the animals we saw.  

As soon as we got there we headed to the Animal Safari which did not disappoint.  We  loved seeing the animals close up.  Noah loved the storyline and believed we were being chased by the animals and that we were racing the poachers to save the animals.  

We walked through the rest of the animals on display and spent a lot of time watching the gorillas.  We loved the birds and small animals as well. 

On the way out of the Safari area we stopped for a drink and Noah and I got caught up in an African street dance.  We had sooo much fun!!!

Noah was big enough to go on the roller coasters and so we headed to Mt. Everest coaster.  The storyline was about a Yeti who ran wild in the mountains.  As we went through the ride the Yeti appeared and broke the roller coaster track and we had to go backwards the way we came.  After we exited the ride Noah ran up to the staff person and exclaimed that the track was broken by the Yeti and he needed to go fix it quickly so that no one got hurt!!  The staff took him very seriously and promised to remedy it immediately.

Next we headed to Dino Land where Maeve could finally run and play in the Bones playground.  We went on a few kiddie rides and then to the Dinosaur Expedition.  We were warned this was scary but Noah wanted to go.  What it really was was terrible!!!  Giant fake dinosaurs roaring incredibly loud and a terrible safari car that was jerking all around.  Noah left crying and we all felt that we wasted our time.  Maeve played outside and she probably had a better time!

We decided to head to the Lion King show before we left and Maeve fell asleep on the way.  Nana sat outside with her in the stroller while we watched the show.  It was really wonderful... however, much of the Disney "magic" was lost on my children because they refuse to watch Disney movies (because of the scary parts) and they don't see a ton of Disney tv at our house.  Noah had never seen the Lion King before this show and didn't know the characters or story but it was wonderful anyway!

 Of course we collected lots more autographs.

And as we headed out we took a family shot in front of the magnificent tree.

And had our daily Mickey ice cream!

We picked up some Mickey gloves at AK and Paul had a blast with them all week.  Noah and Paul tried to do everything with them, which wasn't so easy!!!

My little cutie on the balcony before bed...  Another wonderful day!!!

Disney World -- Day 2 Magic Kingdom

The first day at Disney was in the Magic Kingdom.

We got off to a rough start with many rides closed and a very scary Snow White ride.  After a few rounds of It's a Small World, Maeve finally started perking up.   We all really enjoyed the 3D mickey animation movie and Noah LOVED getting wet from Donald Duck.

We had originally planned to go back for afternoon naps but when 1pm hit we had to make a choice... tough it out or head home... we pushed through.  Maeve slept in the stroller and she did okay...

So, after a show and some parades we headed to Frontierland.  Noah met Peter Pan and we climbed the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.  We played in Tom Sawyer's playground and we went on the Jungle Boat Cruise (which we all loved!).  The kids loved the Tiki Room and Aladin's carpets as well.

We had 6pm reservations to eat with Winnie the Pooh so we had to figure out how to waste quite a bit of time.  We hit up the tea cups and enjoyed some Mickey Mouse Ice Cream while we waited.  

When we hit the Crystal Palace Maeve was still completely zonked out.  Noah however, continued with his theme of totally entranced... he LOVED it.  He waited so anxiously for each character and just beamed when he saw them.  All week he collected autographs excitedly and traded pins with staff people wherever he went.

Maeve finally woke up and tried to rally but she was exhausted and out of sorts with large creatures in her face... We let her eat cookies for dinner!

When we headed out to get the bus home at a very late hour the castle was all lit up (still decorated for Christmas) and it was very very beautiful!!!

Each night when we got back to our hotel there was a special gift left from Mickey and Minnie.  Noah and Maeve searched for these presents and were so excited to find them each night!

Bumps and Bruises

Noah goes to school at 12:30.  At 12:35 the phone rang.  It was the school nurse.  Noah walked into a pole on his way in the door to school and had a huge bump on his forehead.

Was I that awful to laugh out loud?

Two weeks ago he was playing hide and go seek in the house.  He hid under a window and when he was coming out he stood up right into the corner of the molding.  Giant goose egg on his head.

Two days later he was running towards my bedroom and Maeve was exiting my bedroom.  Somehow he hit his eyeball on her head.  Giant goose egg under his left eye and a HUGE black and blue mark.

The next day he had his first day at Karate.  He loved it.  He was even awarded a medal for his attentiveness and behavior. He paraded the medal around like he was Rocky.  After school he took it outside to show our neighbor and he hit himself in the forehead when he was swinging it.  Giant gash in his head.

Ahhh... so I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help buy laugh that he walked into a lamp post.

He takes after his mother.

Winter Playgrounds

This is the mildest winter I can remember.  Never before do I recall going outside almost every day in February!  It was so warm the other day we made time for three different playgrounds.  There are tons of amazing playgrounds here.  We loved this spider web!

S

Shoes

It is no secret that Maeve has a shoe obsession.  She changes her shoes about 20 times a day.  She is always in my closet trying to wear the highest heels I have.  I was wearing these boots to Paul's Christmas party and she pointed at me and said "I want those!"  Well, the next day she found them!  Gives new meaning to thigh high boots!

Thanks from afar!

Some attempts at showing Afi and Amma how much we love our Icelandic coats!!!