Disney Family Day #3 - The Little Mermaid

Our third DFD was a party under the sea with The Little Mermaid!

Of course what Little Mermaid party would be complete without swimming (and, as the case may be, an "Ariel Fountain Slide")? We played outside in the water until the rain started up, then moved the party inside for a Little Mermaid dance party! :)

There were of course the now-obligatory coloring pages, and a viewing party of The Little Mermaid.

Ursula Dogs, seashell pasta, star(fish) fruit and other ocean-themed goodies finished out the evening...

... and I'm happy to report that Emmersyn and Hartley love my second favorite princess movie just as much as I do!

Next: Disney Family Day #4 - The Three Caballeros

Disney Family Day #2 - Alice in Wonderland

Read up on DFD's, because right now (and always) it seems we're late for a very important date!

Disney Family Day #2 was an "Alice party", which thrilled the girls to no end. They love Alice, despite having never seen the movie, Alice in Wonderland. (Or, rather, SINCE they'd never seen it? Your call, but I think that might be a good guess.)

Trippy as it is, it's a classic and one I was determined to stay awake through and love. And I'll be honest, it's cute. Way cuter than I'd ever given it credit for, mostly because I couldn't relate having never taken acid and because the "plot" (is there one?) always put me to sleep. Watching it in several chunks with 2-year-olds proved to be the key, so as not to require too long an attention span. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

First, and not for lack of creativity (though that may be true) but because Hartley and Emmersyn can't get enough, we started once again with coloring pages. I venture to guess this will be a recurring theme, at least at some point during each of our future "parties". The focus for this particular day, though, was the White Rabbit (who-didn't-stay-white-for-long-because-that-would-defeat-the-purpose-of-coloring).

There was also to be a fun, toddler-friendly card game, a climb through a rabbit hole/tugley forest course, etc but - because of scheduling issues and lack of motivation - these didn't happen. The girls didn't know any better, and won't until they're old enough to read this. If I ever get it printed.

Dinner was a "tea party" of sorts, minus the tea, the teacups, the tea pots... um, where was I? Oh, yes. Dinner was even less themed than the previous, so perhaps I should have spread them out rather than scheduling them on back-to-back weeks? I swear some of these things will be more worth your time! ;)

The movie, which we watched in part on Friday evening and finished up over the course of Saturday and Sunday, entertained all of us even more than expected. Over all, I count the day a success. I think Emmersyn and Hartley would agree, if only because of the Unbirthday Cake.

Next: Disney Family Day #3 - The Little Mermaid

Disney Famiy Day #1 - Pooh Party

We go to Disney World in just under three months. Not that anyone is counting.

Because of this, and because Zach is now home every weekend, and (mostly) because we're giant nerds, we've started weekly "Disney Family Days". Zach had wanted to start watching some of the feature films we love with Emmersyn and Hartley, so he thought what better way than to pick one each week and watch it, either in part until we were finished or in whole on a "special" day where the girls got to watch extra TV? ;)

I took it ten steps farther with the help of some equally crazy friends, and Disney Family Days were born. Or, if you're 2-years-old and need things simplified a bit, "[Fill-in-a-Character/Movie] Parties" were born.
one step

First up was a "Pooh Party"!

The girls wanted "to cheese" (you can figure it out) with the books they helped to set up, so I thought it a good time to take a few pictures. Hartley was very cooperative

but Emmersyn had her own ideas. (When doesn't she?) She insisted on "cheesing" elsewhere.

When the "party" started, we read a Pooh story ...

... went on a Heffalump hunt ...

... and played Pin the Balloons on Pooh.

Then we watched The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (where again Miss Emmersyn had to do her own thing)

and the girls colored pictures of the Hundred-Acre Woods gang while I finished dinner.

A dinner which, of course, was Pooh-themed. Sort of. Give a girl a break, we're still on a tight budget around here. ;)

Stay tuned for future DFDs! (And yes, I just abbreviated that. Call me an even bigger dork, I can handle it.)

Next: Disney Family Day #2 - Alice in Wonderland

March 8th, 2010 - Hilton Head Day 3

The girls cried out a few times, which meant little sleep for Ayden. It wasn't much different than at home (and they never needed any intervention), but because they were so far from us and ill, I had to go see what was going on each time. By 7, we were all up for the day, showered and ready to pack up.

The original plan, in order to maximize our vacation time (and points value at HHI) and to drive through the night again, was to leave after dinner. Because of the illness, we decided we'd probably leave a little earlier just because the logistics of being out all day (without a "home base" after checking out of the hotel) would be a bit harder than usual. When we remembered about that stupid I-40 rockslide (and learned our trip home would be much longer than anticipated), we realized we'd have to leave even earlier than planned.

We thought the girls would LOVE "swimming" in the jacuzzi tub (sans jets, of course!), but for whatever reason (illness? neuroses? a combination thereof?) Hartley had an absolute meltdown, and it was all we could do to even get her clean. Emmersyn played for a while while I got everything packed, and we were out of the room around 10:45.

We spent some time letting the girls wander, play in the hammock, and burn a bit of energy before Tide Me Over opened for lunch. We were bound and determined to eat there, and are... somewhat glad we did. It was pretty good, though not worth the anticipation! :)

After lunch we drove to Sea Pines to walk around the shops and piers at Harbour Town, and even caught a glimpse of dolphins and "the world's most photographed lighthouse" (which is always so lame to me, sorry Hilton Head loyalists). Mostly, we were there to play a bit. After the girls took a brief nap, we let them play on the playground which they loved, other than the "beach" play surface. :)

Just before 2, we decided not to prolong the agony any longer. We started on our journey home, one that would be horrible. By 4:30am Tuesday when we finally rolled into our garage, 2 extremely sick girls and 2 adults that weren't feeling so hot either were honestly thrilled to be home. Even in those moments we knew that the vacation was fantastic overall, but it was very much over and we were ready to settle back into a routine.

Of course, despite the fact that it took longer than usual to do just that (given illness and job-hunt drama), it HAS been nearly three weeks, you know.

Which means we're ready to go back. ;)

Next: Disney Family Day #1 - Pooh Party

March 7th, 2010 - Hilton Head Day 2

What an awesome night we had. The girls went down so easily and didn't make so much as a peep all night. I had requested a 6:00 wakeup call so I could get to the store before everyone woke up (and, admittedly, to hear what the wakeup call might be (given that on Disney properties they are generally something unique)), and holy cow was it irritating. Give me Stitch urging me to wake up any day, over whatever they call this lady screeching in my ear. But now I know ;)

I got ready for the day and made a quick run to the nearby Piggly Wiggly for some groceries, and the girls were up by around 7:00. Poor Hartley was still sick as snot, and couldn't even keep her Zofran down at first, so it was a bit of a long morning. Eventually we got her vomiting under control though, so we were off to explore the grounds. In the light, the place was even cuter! We also noticed the aforementioned luggage carts and other Disney details --

We picked up a pin at the Broad Creek Mercantile, spent some time on the fishing pier (and checking out the gazillion oysters on either side!), and made our way to community hall.

At 10:30 there was a toddler activity called "Shadow's Toy Box" that we were excited to check out. (Shadow, FYI, is sort of the "mascot" of the resort, a Golden Retriever that lived on the property before it was built up).

For 30 minutes, there were coloring stations, puzzles, games, and more Mr. Potato Head pieces than you can imagine! :) Emmersyn had a great time playing the whole time, but poor Hartley slept through the majority of it, waking up only for a few minutes at the end.

After this, it was already time for lunch. We headed back to the room for pizza and a nap. Oh yes, and some laundry! Fun! Despite sleeping most of the morning, Hartley opted for an early nap instead of lunch. The rest of us enjoyed pizza in the breakfast nook and watched the Resort channel that even had a special slideshow announcing guests' celebrations - birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc. This place is freakin' adorable.

At about 2:30, the girls (and I!) woke up from our nap and got ready to head to the beach. mentioned that Disney's Hilton Head Resort was located in an awesome, secluded part of the island called Shelter Cove. The private beach house is located just a minute away, and has everything you'd need to spend an entire day at the beach - restaurants, a refillable mug station, a pool, a den (with big-screen TV), an arcade and more! We were a little skeptical, but quickly came to LOVE the "best of both worlds" set-up of the resort and beach house.

Zach and I were excited to take Emmersyn and Hartley to the ocean for the first time(!), even though it was obviously going to be too cold to spend much time there. Their reactions were absolutely priceless! Neither girl was crazy about the feel of sand beneath their toes, and Emmersyn spent the first several minutes telling me (somewhat frantically) that she had "beach in [her] shoes!". :)

We tried to dip our toes in the ocean too, without much luck. The tide was going out, so we kept trying unsuccessfully to predict where the water would wash up, missing it every time. Until we didn't. It got Emmersyn and I good - coming up past Emmersyn's knees! Oops :) We spent the rest of the time there (just about an hour) walking around looking at (and some of us trying to eat) shells, digging in the sand, building "castles" (one-year-olds are easily pleased!), and watching the birds and dogs going by.

When we were finished at the beach we came back to a car that was COMPLETELY covered in bird poop. Aack! We made a quick run through a carwash and headed back to the resort to eat at the counter service restaurant, Tide Me Over. Unfortunately, we hadn't noticed the posted hours and got there too late. Back out we went, to practically the same lot as the carwash :) to Fuddruckers. Ahh, Fuddruckers, how we miss you!

The early evening was spent grabbing some cookies and cider and saying hello to the staff at the front desk, exploring Big Murggie's Den and the Live Oak Lodge building, and daydreaming about our extended stay here "someday", until it was time for... the Campfire! The resort offers campfires 2-3 nights per week, and we were thrilled to be there on one of the nights it was taking place. We weren't sure what to expect, but really had a great time. In addition to S'mores (always good), two energetic Cast Members got the entire group (about 30 people) involved in classic campfire songs, corny movements and all! My sick little Hartley girl was not really into it, but enjoyed watching while half asleep on my lap. Emmersyn, on the other hand, was hamming it up and having a blast.

What a fun day! Around 8:00, the girls were tucked in bed and Zach and I settled in to watch the Oscars and finish laundry and packing for our journey home.

Next: March 8th, 2010 - Hilton Head Day 3

Off to Hilton Head - March 6th, 2010

We woke up just after 7am (after just a little bit of sleep courtesy of the mega-dose of Zofran Hartley got before leaving the hospital), and started/continued packing. Of course, in between packing was also what amounted to about 2 hours of phone calls trying to figure out where to fill a prescription, since our insurance coverage is actually based in the Health Alliance and not a middle-man, so we are only allowed filling at Kroger... of which there were none, so I had to try and get in touch with authorizations, Kroger corporate office (to see about one of their "family of stores"), etc. All on a Saturday. You can probably guess how well that went.

By about 10:30, Zach was loading the car carrier and the girls and I were picking up a few last minute snacks (fantastic candies and fudge, by the way, right in our hotel!). Hartley was sleeping, and so far nobody else was sick - so the morning had gone fairly smoothly (other than the prescription ordeal). We ultimately added a bit more complication when we opted to have another script written for the liquid since we'd be paying out of pocket, and so that was sort of a mess. Then you read about the wait at Walgreen's, which would just be the beginning of a fabulous journey from WDW to Hilton Head (note sarcasm). Since I have already written about that crap (puke, traffic, morons, etc) I will just remind you of it and move right along as planned after showing you the one cute picture we have from the drive.

Of course as we were pulling out of the Lake Buena Vista area after a freezing (but still wonderful) week, the temperature was a sunny 70 degrees well before noon, with a high of 75 and a perfect 0-10 mph breeze every now and then. Ah, well. It could have been blistering heat and disgusting humidity, so we just laughed and continued on our journey. The only regret was that because of the weather, we didn't get to spend much time on the beach, at the various pools, and utilizing other wonderful things the Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Tower had to offer. I suppose that means we'll just have to go back, right? I thought so, too.

* * * And now, please excuse the extreme time lapse as we skip over the crappity crap that happened the rest of this day, and I show you just how magical it ended. I told you I only wanted to rehash the lows once! ;) * * *

When we decided to book a few nights at the Hilton Head DVC resort, it was for several reasons. We had always wanted to try it, and figured we might as well on the way home. After all, it would be the absolute first and last time we'd be driving to WDW and able to make the detour. Also, we have no immediate plans to go back to Walt Disney World. I mean, I'm sure we will (hopefully within the next 8 months or so), because we were supposed to last year for the holidays and didn't. But since I can't plan it, I can pretend it doesn't exist and we can milk our "last" for a while, right? ;) Seriously though, there's this whole DVC point borrowing/banking thing that I'm not about to explain, and we just felt like using up our points for the time being. Besides, we wanted this portion to be ultra relaxing before re-entering the real world, so we splurged and got a 1BR unit instead of a studio. That was going to be nice, though - as we found in Gatlinburg - still not ideal. If the girls slept in the bedroom, we'd still have a bit of trouble sleeping right next to them. If they slept in the living space, we'd have to lock ourselves in one bedroom the rest of the evening. Again, this sounded totally fine to us... but boy, a 2-bedroom unit would have been awesome...
one of the only times

And a 2-bedroom we got! When we checked in, the Cast Member told us we had been upgraded to a 2BR unit in a perfect location. After the long day we had had, this small bit of news was phenomenal. I can't even described to you how it felt to have one thing go so well, after a stressful 36 hours and debating whether or not to even go through with the Hilton Head plans. And this was all before we got in the unit. We just knew we desperately needed the space and ability to relax.

When we got inside, we were even more impressed. When Zach and I were first married, we had a really good sized apartment for two college students - something like 1100sq ft, and very open. Of course now it seems so small to us (and it was actually kind of a dump, whatever the size), but we knew it was something to be thankful for. And this unit? 1300 square feet of a much more modern, well-thought out floor plan. The girls room had a full bath, a mudroom, 2 queen size beds, a TV and lots of furniture, and a freaking Checkers table. Our room was even larger, with a bathroom that dwarfs my current master bath (a decent size), made up of three separate rooms. Literally. The common area was comfortable and well-appointed, the balcony (with access off the living room and our bedroom) was humongous, and the location seriously couldn't have been beat. A two-minute walk to the pool and community hall, 1-minute walk to our car, 3-minutes to the pier, and with the most romantic, secluded, relaxing wooded lot. And hammock. And adirondack chairs with a grill. It would be just what we needed for Zach and I to relax and spend time together, with plenty of space for two toddlers. We'll DEFINITELY be back, preferably in the same building. Heck, we (I) have already planned out our next trip (minus an actual travel date), down to groceries we'll need for home-cooked meals and cookouts! ;)

The decor was perfect, too. Inspired by the low-country and very outdoorsy, not at all tacky. Just very cozy. There were subtle Disney touches (W.D. initials carved in the mud room bench, along with a heart proclaiming Mickey's love for his sweetheart Minnie), but nothing overwhelming even for a non-Disney person. True to Disney form though, they take care of their guests. Full-size cribs and high-chairs are available so you don't have to lug your own (at no charge), Cast Members are held to the same high-standards that impress everyone upon their first visit to Walt Disney World, and all the accouterments you'd need in your home-away-from-home are right at your fingertips. I could not wait to explore more, and now can't wait to tell you more about what we hope will be our next DVC "home".

I promise we'll be right back to our trip tomorrow, but seriously this is what it looked like for this particular evening:

• check in
• unload the car with 9032843 trips because it was too dark to notice the luggage carts (which were freaking adorable, by the way. just wait and see!)
• do lots of laundry
• clean up puke
• sit down and do as little as possible, exhausted, until crashing in bed

Seriously, more to come, that's actually of interest. ;)

Next: March 7th, 2010 - Hilton Head Day 2

March 5th, 2010 - WDW Day 7

As mentioned, I "slept" on a 4.5-foot loveseat all night to try and avoid full-blown nightmares (by comforting Emmersyn before she could (quickly) escalate). It worked for the rest of the family, anyway! Up and at 'em early as usual and off to the Magic Kingdom for our last Annual Pass day. Boo!

On our walk from BLT to the MK, we randomly ran into our friends Chuck & Vicki, who were heading to the hotel for a DVC function. It was so wonderful to catch up for a few minutes, even if in the last place we would have expected to see them! :-P

This particular day, our family made it to the park in plenty of time for the Welcome Show, which got the day off to a great start. I LOVE this show, and watching my girls love it makes my heart sing.

We entered the park without a real plan (what!?) and just took our time heading to Tomorrowland so Zach could ride Space Mountain. While he was getting a fastpass, the girls and I picked up a new favorite snack we had discovered on the previous trip, the Sweet Cream Cheese pretzel from the Lunching Pad.

From here, we parked the stroller in Fantasyland and rode a few things there (Snow White's Scary Adventures, Peter Pan's Flight, and - of course - "it's a small world"). The girls loved walking around Liberty Square next, including playing with the mini-sized stocks that I had never noticed! :)

Next we cut through to Pirates of the Caribbean because we hadn't ridden in a while, and somehow it was already nearing lunchtime!

As I have probably mentioned, one of our favorite dining spots in the Magic Kingdom is Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. The food is great (though I very much missed the glazed carrots I've had there for years, over the flavorless green beans I got this time!), and we all just adore Sonny Eclipse! :)

We enjoyed lunch, then put the girls down for a nap. They fell asleep in less than 10 minutes, and I sat and chatted with a DVC rep while Zach rode Space Mountain. In the sun (and a light jacket), the day was absolutely GORGEOUS for the first time this trip. Even when Zach returned, we didn't really feel like going anywhere. Instead, we just sat on a bench in the Magic Kingdom soaking up the sun and chatting. After a little while, the love of my life and I moved over to Adventureland for one more Dole Whip, and found a new bench to sit on and chat while our beautiful girls slept. In the sun. In the Magic Kingdom. Seriously, couldn't have been happier.

Eventually, we left the park for the afternoon. We were hoping to catch a few quick (read: 150mph) laps around a banked track at the Richard Petty Driving Experience - highest value free Annual Pass perk I recall in, well, ever ($110 each, give or take a few bucks). Both of us pretty much can't stand NASCAR but can't say no to thrills, so we were totally in! The experience was a little less thrilling than I expected, but definitely worth the price of admission. Ours, anyway. Besides, the girls ran around outside on a beautiful, sunny afternoon watching cars zoom by, the driver and crew were very cool, and everyone had a good time.

When we finally made it back to the hotel, we decided we should probably swim now if we were going to. The original plan was Saturday morning since we had no park tickets anyway, but since the weather was even remotely close to being warm enough (only with heated pools, mind you!), we didn't want to take a chance. Good thing, too, given what our night would look like. If we were about 9 years old, it would have been fine weather for a swim. The water was warm (as it always is at WDW), and we could have swam enough and stayed low enough to stay warm. Since our girls are great "swimmers" but still just 1, we weren't as lucky. The air was NOT heated, though I think maybe Disney should work on that. We lasted about 15 minutes, but scored two cute rubber duckies out of it! The girls did great again, while they lasted. :)

The change of plans allowed for some nice downtime in the room, and around 4pm we headed back to the Magic Kingdom one last time. We shopped some, saw the Country Bear Jamboree (which the girls enjoyed a lot), and ate at Liberty Tree Tavern. For the record, this used to be one of our favorite restaurants. Even without characters, I thought it would be. In fact, since we had done a few great character meals this trip, I was actually looking forward to the meal sans characters even more. I was sorely disappointed. While I remember this being great comfort food (and really have had VERY few bad food experiences at WDW), none of it was very good. Add to that the fact that Hartley was a DISASTER, freaking out (so. freaking. loudly) when we'd try to offer her anything (from the menu that included only her favorite foods, mind you). Loud. Screaming. Practically tipping her chair over. And after a good nap! Perhaps this should have been a clue she wasn't feeling well, but let's be honest. It's Hartley. She is sweet as can be, until she's tired and/or overstimulated. This wasn't terribly out of the ordinary, though perhaps a little larger than life.

The wait staff was GREAT in helping us calm her down quickly (with a "Tinkerbell Intervention" - so wonderful!), and we enjoyed the rest of our meal in peace. Eventually, she even agreed to try some of the food. And ended up eating nearly half of the [family-sized serving] bowl of Mac & Cheese.

After an evening like that, we decided it would just be best to say goodbye to the park for the night. Well, and for the trip. Back at the hotel, everyone was in much higher spirits! Zach and the girls were going to play for a while and then hit the sack, and I ran to Downtown Disney to try and pick up a few more things we had yet to find. My biggest reason for going out was actually to keep myself awake until the Electrical Water Pageant passed by around 10pm. Sadly, I'm too old to stay out that late when it's freezing ;) Instead I checked out the view from the Top of the World Lounge (how I regret not having caught Wishes from up here at least once!) and headed back down to the room for an earlier-than-planned night. Or so I thought...

When I got back to the room, Hartley and Zach were up. Apparently she had JUST (as I was walking in) puked. No crying, no acting odd before, just puked in her sleep. Random GI bug? Too much Mac & Cheese? Or, however unlikely, something related to her bonking her head on the wooden couch arm earlier in the evening? The "injury" was not even noteworthy - from the bed over to the couch, about 1.5 feet. NOTHING a toddler head isn't made to handle. But then the vomiting continued. Five separate times in an hour, 7 times in 90 minutes. Increasing, not decreasing, in frequency. She was otherwise acting fine, which truthfully was more concerning. She didn't even appear to have any nausea, as she'd just be half asleep (or eventually awake, as she kept getting interrupted by her own illness) and barf. Violently. No matter what the events of the evening would have looked like, this was concerning and something we wanted checked out.

You have to realize that we put ourselves in weird predicaments as healthcare professionals. We so don't freak out easily, which is nice. We would probably rock in a trauma (and of course freak out after, hopefully we'll never have to know). But this in between stuff is so frustrating. Instead of worrying easily, we sometimes tend to assume things can't be as bad as they seem. This was bad, but SO frustrating because it just didn't make sense. Still, we love our children and aren't stupid - so we called to get information about emergency rooms.

I have known several people who have visited Celebration Hospital (practically on WDW property), and have raved about it. It's a community hospital and not a pediatric hospital, but let's be honest - they see their fair share of kids in a given year! Still, if she needed a scan, they'd ship her to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital (in Orlando, about 40 minutes away) anyway... so what to do, what to do? Obviously only one of us would be going, the other staying with Emmersyn. This was a logistical nightmare, since Hartley wouldn't stop vomiting. But we know the difference in pediatric care among various types of hospitals (and were growing increasingly concerned as things got worse), so the decision was made for Zach to take her to Orlando.

At the hospital, the resident and attending obviously had a nice rapport with Zach, which was helpful I'm sure. They both agreed that they would have brought Hartley in, however unlikely any injury would be, just because of the nature, onset, and frequency of the vomiting. Long story (slightly) shorter, when Zofran helped her keep Pedialyte down, they were comfortable just monitoring her for another hour or so without doing a CT scan. If the Zofran hadn't helped completely, it would have likely been something more serious. Since it did, they sent Zach out with obvious instructions on what to watch for, and everyone parted ways equally baffled as to what in the world she was dealing with. It ultimately didn't matter though, so long as it wasn't more threatening! ;)

They got home around 4:15am, so you know that 3/4 of our family didn't sleep much that night. Ironically, of course, Emmersyn had THE quietest night she had had in months, including at home. We would have all been able to sleep as soundly as ever. Go figure!

Oh - and after the weirdest conversation ever with a Cast Member at about 2:30am (who I think really might have had special needs? at least one can hope), I had received a late check-out of 1pm. I wasn't sure we'd need it, but didn't want to be rushing to pack and leave by 10am with no sleep and potentially 1 or 2 violently ill children.

I'll say one thing anyway, the idea of "vacation ending" was a little less nostalgic and a little more matter-of-fact. At that point (and the next day or so), our focus was just on doing whatever needed done to get where we needed to go. Far from a magical departure.... good thing our vacation was so wonderful overall, up to that point!

Next: March 6th, 2010 - Off to Hilton Head





March 4th, 2010 - WDW Day 6

We all had a rough night (including Emmersyn in our bed with what we can only presume were nightmares), so we didn't set an alarm. Not that we had needed one most days anyway, but we were hoping to sleep until at least 7. That was about as late as we got.

The high was only going to be 57, and with continued winds of 10-20mph steadily throughout the day. Again. (Seriously, we're thinking at this point, we can't catch a break with the weather! This trip we're 25 degrees BELOW average. Still, we'll take this over the heat any day!) We knew it was finally time to venture off property (duh duh duh (I know only, like, one of you will understand this sentiment!) because we HAD to get long-sleeve shirts for the girls, and hopefully some tights. While it was disappointing enough that they hadn't been able to wear any of the shorts and skirts I had brought (bought for the trip), I had had enough of jeans and the same jackets in every. single. picture. At least during the warmest part of the day, perhaps layers would work instead. :)

Of course, I forgot that it was allegedly spring in Florida. The lady at the store thought it was funny that I was looking for long sleeves and tights at this time of year. Oh yes, I forgot that you only need coats one week out of the year many years. Thankfully our girls are still such peanuts (relatively speaking) and the 9-12 month basic Carters onesies (pack of 5 for $9) were plenty large even without anything to extend them, and we were at least partially in business. We still made it to Animal Kingdom by 9:05, too, which was pretty awesome.

Because no time of day is too early for some of the treats at WDW (as you've seen), our first stop was the Jalapeno-Cheddar Pretzel stand. Then we went through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail with the girls, who were too crabby to so much as try and participate.

We calmed them down by riding the choo choo (to Rafiki's Planet Watch). They were thrilled to run around once we got there, and we were thrilled to (ultimately) be in a heated building.

We said hello to Jiminy Cricket (love him... and so does Hartley!) and Rafiki, and then it was time to hit the Affection Section (petting zoo). In a reversal of roles, Hartley was confident and thrilled with the animals, and Emmeryn was a bit more apprehensive. I should say a reversal of roles on this trip (with regards to apprehension)... I suppose it's always been true that Hartley was more the animal lover.

After we made it back to Africa, we grabbed some lunch for the girls (we were holding out for something better) and started out to the car, saying goodbye to Animal Kingdom for some yet-to-be-determined length of time. (Still yet to be determined, even today! Boo!) Next stop for the day was Epcot. We put the girls down for a nap and strolled around. We grabbed fish & chips in the UK, and went back to one of my favorite spots - especially when it's crowded. If you don't know it already, there's this great little garden and hedge maze in the back of the UK pavilion. At times, a super fun Beatles cover band called British Invasion plays, and it's a blast. But when they're aren't there, it is one of the most relaxing places to sit and enjoy the day. Even the cold day. Especially with Harry Ramsden fish & chips.

Hartley was awake (but content), Emmersyn was sleeping... so we decided to walk around a bit more. It seemed the perfect time to try out the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure attraction that had been introduced only a year or so earlier. While it probably would have been a bit cooler for the 12-year-old set, it was a fun diversion and something new. And hey, we saved the world from Senor Senor, Sr and his procrastinator ray. Hmm... maybe a good thing I never watched Kim Possible? :)

When Emmersyn woke up (after just 30 minutes or so), both girls were fairly crabby. We decided to try a change of scenery, so we headed over to the playground for a little while...

... until it was time for the Chase Meet & Greet. Of course, when Hartley and Emmersyn were only excited to see Mickey, this is the first time (in YEARS) that he wasn't one of the "secret" characters there. *sigh* At this point Hartley was utterly hysterical, so we knew she just had to sleep for more than zero minutes. Period. Zach pushed her around for a loooong time, as she was having a meltdown that almost certainly was going to end with vomiting, she was so worked up. Since Emmersyn had "slept" already, she wasn't having another nap. I decided to take her to another Weevos play set. This one (in future world) was only the smaller portion (intended for children under 5) and parents don't know how to (or don't care to) control their children, so it was somewhat frustrating as my almost-2-year-old daughter was nearly trampled by 7 and 8 year olds running amuk, but whatever. She was content for about 20 minutes (at which point I was less than content with other families!), and then Zach and I switched. He took her to the butterfly house while I sat with Hartley, who had finally fallen asleep. After she had been sleeping soundly for about 15 or 20 minutes, we felt like we could walk around again and let Emmersyn play elsewhere.

We were wrong. As soon as we tried to move Hartley, she was awake. I hurried to a quieter area to try to get her back to sleep, but with no luck. Well, we thought, here's hoping a catnap gets us through the evening!

Since we had two awake children who were beginning to wreak havoc on the Mouse Gears store :) -

we headed over to Nemo and played in the Seas pavilion for nearly an hour. The girls (still) love fishies... I just HAVE to get them to the aquarium! We saw Mignent again and played another 20 minutes in the Imagination Pavilion, and just truly enjoyed one another's company. This is, among other reasons, why we can do Disney all the time. Some of our favorite memories are in these "down" times there. Priceless.

Just before dinner, we decided to ride Living with the Land again. The girls really enjoy it (as do Zach and I), and it was our last day in Epcot. Finally it was time to check in for dinner at Garden Grill, just upstairs. Let me just say, this is one of our new favorite restaurants. The character interaction was kind of middle-of-the-road -- not as great as Chef Mickey's is (consistently), but good. And super fun characters, since it's one of the only places to dine with Chip & Dale now that they've left CM... and who doesn't love Mickey & Pluto?

But beyond all that, the food was fantastic, the scenery fun (in one of my favorite pavilions - what can I say, I'm a nerd), and the girls even got their own meal - served family style just like ours, but kid-friendly favorites like Mickey mac & cheese and chicken nuggets. And worms in dirt, for dessert! So cute.

As we were leaving the restaurant, Hartley made sure to say "Bye bye" and "See ya" to every person we passed. Hopefully nobody minded ;) Finally we were done, after a somewhat long but ultimately enjoyable afternoon. We picked up a few pins, our free photopass picture from the meet & greet, and headed back to Bay Lake Tower.

We played in the room a little while while I began packing a few things, and around 7:40 settled in for our bedtime routine. The next day would be the last park day (as our Annual Passes expired), and - unbeknownst to us - would be one of the longest days/nights we've had in a long time. For the night though, it was time to sleep... and sleep we did. Well, or some of us did. I spent the night mostly awake on the loveseat next to Emmersyn as she talked through her vivid, crazy dreams all night, but whatever. Three-fourths of us slept :)

Next: March 5th, 2010 - WDW Day 7

March 3rd, 2010 - WDW Day 5

A bit of a late start again (though our whole family was ready by 7:15), and we missed the Welcome Show at the Magic Kingdom. I was bummed, but at least we were there, and not long after rope drop. In fairly short order, we rode Dumbo, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, "it's a small world" and the teacups - where we even waved at Alice as she rode just before us!

 At about 9:45, we headed into Toontown to see about meeting some fairies and princesses. It only took about 20 minutes to get through both lines, and the girls did so much better than last time! Emmersyn sort of ran the show (as you've come to expect on this trip, right?) in initiating hugs, etc, but she was always sure to point Hartley out if the character hadn't noticed. (They usually had.)

After sitting on Fawn's lap, Emmersyn assumed that was the status quo and plopped right down on Tinkerbell before she knew what to expect! Also, she marched right up and climbed onto Aurora's bench to sit for a picture instead of standing like the previous group. Do you think she's done this before? :) Hartley even enjoyed a little tickling with Belle!

After Toontown, we headed through Fantasyland to Liberty Square to eat at Columbia Harbour House - where the girls got free cookies simply for being so cute! We all ate, and put the girls down for a nap just before noon. The rest of us checked out a few stores, (FINALLY) picked up classic MMC ears for the girls with their names on them, used up some snack credits and just took our time leaving the Magic Kingdom.

Because the girls were sleeping and we weren't in a hurry, everyone else rode the monorail to Epcot while I ran back to the hotel for a few things we'd need that evening. I also stopped at the pool bar and filled up the mug, which cracked me up. You see, it was so freaking cold, that the lifeguards were all standing around in jogging suits and coats and playing games on their phone... and the bartender was sitting at his own barstool watching soaps. "Busy day, huh?" I asked. Only one of them answered, "No, not too bad." Lol... sarcasm, my friend. Learn it.

At Epcot, crowds were a bit larger than I had expected. Would the first day of the Flower and Garden Festival really bring that much traffic, even on a Wednesday? Thankfully we were just there to take it in, so it didn't really affect us. Speaking of the F&GF, the new topiaries (many of which had appeared overnight) were adorable.

The girls got their first taste of the Weevos play system where we would spend a lot of our next few days when in Epcot... and absolutely went nuts over it. Interestingly (to me), I had done some consultant work over the fall that revolved around the accessibility of these systems, so it was fun to see them in use. And boy, did Emmersyn and Hartley ADORE them . They were so brave!

After probably close to an hour on the playsets, it was time to pry the girls away. They were pleased with the distraction though, because we then changed them into their Snow White dresses and they were in awe of themselves (and one another)! :) As you might imagine, they got a lot of attention too, so we literally stayed in one spot on a sidewalk for quite a while longer. Too funny!

We were planning to spend the rest of the day in the World Showcase, and started with the Canada side since Mike and Shelly had only seen a few pavilions on the other side on their first visit. We spent some time in the shops and gardens of Canada, the UK, France (including the F&GF fragrance garden), and Japan and enjoyed a Strawberry crepe in Morocco. Well, FROM France, but IN the Morocco pavilion. 'Cause their relatively close neighbors, you know. :)

At some point in the afternoon, the time had come for Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Mike head back to the hotel, then the airport, and then Ohio. We said our goodbyes and wished them safe travels, thanking them for coming to one of our favorite places with us!

After our goodbyes, the four of us continued to mosey around the World Showcase. Zach and I shared an "American Dream" treat which looked pretty but was fairly boring tasting (red and blue icees, vanilla soft-serve). We spent some time in the Germany pavilion (where we found out a certain princess would be meeting and where we would just HAVE to be back around 4pm), got sprayed with too cold water (for a freezing day) by the Coke coolers in the Coolpost, and let the girls run around the China pavilion for a little while.

As mentioned, we had a special engagement we had to make just after 4 in the Germany pavilion, and it was well worth the trek back. Snow White, Emmersyn and Hartley were all quite smitten with one another!

Unfortunately (for us, not them) we did have to share her with the other guests. We were thrilled to get jackets back on the girls though (and pants), because it was absolutely freezing at this point and we were terrible parents letting our toddlers run around in a short-sleeved, short dresses! ;)

We had a little while until dinner, so we headed for the Mexico Pavilion with plans to ride the girls' second favorite ride anywhere on property at least one or two times, as well as let them play with the musical instruments again. Our plans changed though, when the pavilion was inexplicably packed! We had time to ride Gran Fiesta Tour just once, and it was time to backtrack to Norway.

Our experience at Akershus was simultaneously better than and worse than our expectations. We didn't try for Cinderella's Royal Table reservations since the girls haven't even really been crazy about the princess on previous trips, but wanted to check this one out. Besides, most reviews I've heard favor the princess dining in Epcot anyway, except for the camp whose only argument otherwise is "But [CRT] is in the castle!". :)

Anyway, the staff was very friendly. We were seated immediately, and the set-up of the restaurant and the dinner experience was great. An appetizer/cold-cuts buffet, but plated (and selected-from-a-menu) dinners, plus the girls got to order meals as well, at no additional cost. Our photo was taken with Belle at the start of the evening, and we were given several keepsake photos included with the price of the meal. Of course the cast of characters making an appearance can hardly be beat (if you're a princess fan like myself), but wow was the interaction pretty lame. Each princess quite literally stopped for 30 seconds or less, smiling for a picture regardless of whether the girls were ready (and absolutely NOT with each of them - just one in between, despite the fact that they were several feet apart and did not fit in the frame together very well). Oh, this is AFTER coming out about 45 minutes after our arrival (and therefore when our one-year-olds were already quite bored). That was pretty disappointing, but thankfully (ha!) the girls wanted out of there fairly quickly anyway after they were finished eating.

Since we had pretty much accomplished all we wanted for the day, we decided to make a quick run to Downtown Disney with one goal in mind - to see about some Tapo Heads. You see, a store at DTD called Once Upon a Toy has all sorts of Disney and WDW pieces for Mr. Potato Head, and my girls are nothing short of obsessed with them these days. Zach and the girls played with the pieces on the table that was out for kids, while I had a hay-day working the pieces in the box like a puzzle to get the biggest bang for our twenty bucks. I'm pleased with the result, as are my daughters!

We were only out for about half an hour, and back to our hotel around 7:30pm. While Zach went on a Diet Coke run, Hartley, Emmersyn and I watched the Boom Booms from the comfort of our (barely) quieter hotel room. I'll say it again - what a magical upgrade, however low and obstructed the view!

Next: March 4th, 2010 - WDW Day 6