March 12th, 2009 - WDW Day 8

Departure Day.

After we woke up, though I'm not at all sure of the time, we finished packing any last minute things that were still out. We finished our treats from Goofy's, taped a video promo for Owner's Locker, returned the OL and the stroller to their appropriate stations and headed out of the room one final time.

Before leaving the resort, we bought some taffy for my family (which I had already done once, but couldn't resist eating! ), talked ourselves out of the $60 DVC fleece jackets that we eye every trip, refilled our mug and called for the car. We drove to Epcot, for the first time other than the race morning.

We planned to get our free Disney Visa 5x7 until we were reminded that it didn't open until 1:30pm, so instead we rode Spaceship Earth. Zach has only ridden once (and not at all since the refurb), so he was due. I was glad to see, as I had assumed when I rode during a soft opening in December 2007, that they did finally use your picture in "the future". I was very impressed to see that you could send greetings, etc with the future you had chosen, especially considering ours were hysterical. The ride obviously uses the "face finder" technology that is is all of our cameras and photo software now, which means - as I'm sure you know - it isn't perfect. Throw two faces in very close proximity (as we each had the girls' in front carriers), and it's really confused. Zach and I looked fine, but every time you saw Emmersyn or Hartley they had a chin (at the very least) growing out of their head. Fabulous!

We walked through Innoventions and laughed as the instructor said that Segways are "not to be taken over obstacles". We laughed, you see, because that is only true at Disney.

We rode Living with the Land (which Zach and I both admittedly love!) and had lunch at Sunshine Seasons.

The girls were starting to get very crabby, which we knew would happen without a stroller or hotel room (and therefore without a nap). We prayed it wouldn't be a repeat of Day 1, and were thankful they had slept until later than 4:30am at least! We knew that we had plenty of CS meals left to eat a light lunch and a larger "linner" before heading to the airport, so the four of us split a lunch from the Grill and 2 desserts. LOVE me some Sunshine Seasons desserts... one of the best uses in Epcot for a snack credit!

(If you'd like to know, it was at this lunch that the light went on for Emmersyn, who started signing the word "more", appropriately! See, Epcot is educational! )

To our (pleasant) surprise, the girls fell asleep immediately upon getting back into the carriers!

We walked around the park a bit in search of something useful on which to spend our snack credits, but hardly anything was open that wasn't ice cream. Since we had planned to take snacks to the game (considering we had just eaten), that wasn't going to work. Instead, we transferred the girls to the car (sort of) and headed to Pop Century to use the credits up there, since it was on the way to the Wide World of Sports complex.

Since the girls were still asleep in the car (praise the Lord!), I spent my time in the resort and bought a few things that weren't on the list. You know, just because they needed to sleep longer. Eventually though, it was time to head to the Braves game!

At Wide World of Sports, we were thrilled that we purchased our tickets in advance - the line to buy them there was insane! Instead, we spent the time before the game soaking up the atmosphere and, of course, shopping. I got an adorable shirt and a pin. I couldn't believe I was FINALLY at Braves Spring training! You see, I have been a fan since I was in about the 5th grade, and couldn't have been happier than when I found out that there was a place that combined my two loves, Disney and the Atlanta Braves! We had yet to make it work during our trips, so as soon as we booked this trip I knew it was going to happen this time!

It certainly wasn't a game at Turner Field (which is one of my favorite places to be outside of WDW!), but it was fun anyway... if for no other reason than to feel like Baseball Season was finally about to begin! The girls had a good time playing on the lawn (and looked VERY cute, if you ask me! ) until it was just too hot and they were too sleepy from a less-than-sufficient catnap.

We tried moving back to the stands for the remaining innings, but nothing worked to chill them out. In my opinion, I'm still owed a Spring Training game!

We left the stadium for the Wide World of Sports Cafe, so as to stay in proximity for the duration. It's not as if we were in a rush to get to MCO, anyway! Lunch here was FABULOUS, and was something between a counter service and a table service set-up (though it just "costs" 1 CS credit). I had an excellent blackened tilapia sandwich and the best (only) chocolate chip cookie dough soft serve I've ever had! Yum!

The Braves beat the Nationals 6-4 and that also meant our trip had come to an end.

On the way out, I just had to buy Hartley and Emmersyn their first Braves hats

We changed the girls into their pajamas for the trip home, and before we even pulled out of the lot, they were asleep.

(Of course we kept an eye on the balloon! )

The Garmin took us I-4 to the airport (and reminded me how much I hate that road), so it was an interesting ride back at least (seeing different sights than we were used to). We got to the airport with time to spare, talked with my mom and found out it would be 20 degrees when we got home , and went in to check the luggage while Zach returned the car. Check in was smooth again (seriously, people just must not be able to be rude to the girls, because we ALWAYS have jerks at MCO!), and we were at our gate long enough to grab a drink for the plane and get ready to board.

The girls didn't sleep on the way home, but they were very well behaved. Emmersyn entertained the drunk guys next to me by spending 20 minutes tearing up a napkin and putting it (very deliberately) into cups, the back of the chair in front of us, etc.

We waited forever and a night at Dayton (as per usual) for our luggage, but were eventually home safe and sound. The girls fell back to sleep very quickly after sleeping the whole ride home, and slept wonderfully in the familiarity of their cribs.

For the first few days after the trip, it was an interesting dichotomy of emotions. I suffered the usual post-Disney Depression , but also enjoyed regaining some semblance of control over the girls' routine. Of course, this was short-lived until they were battling hospital-worthy illnesses again, but that's an entirely different story.

This one ends here, though you know it's always just another episode for us. I am so blessed to have a husband who enjoys the magic of WDW as much as I do, and now we are both blessed tremendously moreso with the addition of our beautiful daughters to accompany us on future ones.

The next of which, by the way, begins October 4th, 2009.......

Next: October 4th, 2009 - WDW Day 1