POTD January 26-30

Tonight I'm at work, so I'm scheduling this to be posted while I'm gone. I hope it works! I'm going to share some of the photos I chose for my Project 365 album for this past week.

January 26
Homework catch-up was the story of my week. The kids had make-up schoolwork to do. DD also had another packet to complete from earlier this month that was due on Friday, January 30th. They were simple little activities, but they just added to the huge list of things to do this week. In addition to schoolwork, DD had not played piano since her lesson on January 15th, so we had to work on her assignments for her lesson this past Thursday. Both boys had big projects that they neglected to mention early in the week, so both are still working on them this weekend.

January 27A
I need two photos for this subject. Today (1/27) was the first day of mandatory parking on post with "everyone" being bussed onto the hospital campus. It's not the greatest photo since it's so dark, but I had to document this since it's supposed to be the way it will be for at least two years--until the parking garage is finished. Since this is the government we're talking about, it will probably take at least three years. Look at the long line that I'm in just to get ON the bus!

January 27B
This is a photo of the bus dropping off people at the front of the hospital. This was actually taken when I was on my way to catching the bus from the hospital to my parking lot in the afternoon when there is much more light outside. I love to tell everyone that I scrapbook, but I really did not want to take too many obvious photos. I wanted to take a photo of the buses picking up people at the end of the day but I thought taking more than this one photo would call too much attention to me. ;-)

January 28
This is a photo that DH took of DS#3 crying because the pizza that he wanted for lunch wasn't ready yet. I don't love seeing the crying, but I do love how his reflection in the oven shows his sad, sad face and the bowl in his hand showing that he is more than ready to eat lunch and how dare Papa not have his lunch already ready and waiting for him!

January 29
I had so much trouble getting this photo. On top of the bussing and the construction at work, they started tearing up the road leading in and out of our subdivision this week. We used to have two lanes going either way, but now there is only one lane each way and the lane we get to use is all torn up. I can't take a photo of the day because there are other cars either in front or in back of me and I don't want to hold them up, so here is the early morning photo instead.

January 30
This is a photo of the air vent in the downstairs bedroom (DS#1's bedroom). Yes, that's moisture around it and there is liquid dripping slowly from the vent (there is a bucket on the wood floor underneath the vent). The plumbers came to investigate tonight (Friday) and they had to cut a hole in the ceiling and then in the kids' bathroom upstairs. *SIGH* It's a water line and they will have to break open some of the tile in the bathroom upstairs in order to access the leak. Since that would involve very loud noises and all of the kids are asleep, they are coming back tomorrow (Saturday) to do the job. Until then, the water is off in the house. FUN....NOT!

Thursday, January 22

On this day, we took advantage of the Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom. We actually got there early (some time around 8:30AM) and even though there were lots of other families there, DD and I got to ride Peter Pan (again), It's a Small World, and Dumbo with very little wait. These were DD's ride choices. She was so used to waiting in line that she stopped at the It's a Small World entrance just to look at the sign for how long the wait was. It said "5 minutes", but really we walked right on. We were just biding time until the Toontown opened up at 10AM and we could go meet the Princesses.

I never realized how popular the Fairies were. We should have gotten in that line first instead of the Princesses line, because there wasn't much wait in the Princess line when we went in, but when we came out, the Fairies line was already 60 minutes long! The Princess line was still "only" 30 minutes and not only was it shorter, but it moved faster. At least the wait was inside and DD got to see her favorite, Princess Aurora. She is DD's favorite because she wears pink, of course. :)

While we were at Toontown for the hour or so, the boys enjoyed riding the Indy Speedway and and Buzz Lightyear rides (twice). Later, we all went on Buzz Lightyear as a family and we were able to ride 3 times in a row because the line was so short. DS#3 had already been on this ride twice before. By the fourth time, he fell asleep while in that short line! He and DH sat out for my third and the boys' fifth and final ride. I had the kids pose in front of Buzz Lightyear since it was such a favorite. DH and the boys were rather competitive when it came to who scored the highest. DH is amazing because he can still outscore even DS#1 even when he's using one arm to hold a sleeping DS#3.

Other highlights were the older three kids going on Big Thunder Mountain (the wait was only 20 minutes) while DH, DS#3 and I rode on the Walt Disney Railroad and played in the play area in Toontown. There were knotty "holes" in this one play structure that resembled a tree. This isn't the greatest photo, but DS#3 was so cute when he looked through the holes to say "boo" to either DH or me.

What is it about boys and trying to reach up as high as they can to touch things? DS#1 stopped as we were walking by this structure, and he jumped up to touch it. He rejoiced and then asked me to take a picture. When he saw that I got a photographic proof of him touching it, he rejoiced again!

We went back "early" just so the kids could play in the sand again. It was still chilly outside and I didn't want to go back out, so I actually passed up the chance to take more photos of them digging--imagine that! DH did go back out. He went to Epcot by himself just so he could take some photos of some of the buildings in the World Showcase. He's been dabbling in drawing and Photoshop in order to do some illustrations for his books, so he was doing research at Epcot.

When we got back, he met us in the Concierge Lounge for dinner. They were serving Vegetable Lo Mein and some "Create Your Own" Asian Style Lettuce Wraps. DS#1 loved it all. DS#3 loved the lo mein--so much so that I didn't want to touch him afterwards because his hands were so greasy from picking up the noodles and his face too from sucking in the noodles. I'm not sure what dinner type food DS#2 ate, but I know he ate pineapples. They served that every night, so he ate it every night. DD had PB&J sandwiches.

After dinner we left for Downtown Disney. It took a good half hour again for the right bus to arrive. Our first stop was the Ghirardelli shop for some ice cream--yes, you heard that right. The temperature was probably in the 50s and we ate ice cream. We even ate it outdoors since there were no open seats indoors. While we were waiting for our order, DS#1 was having some fun with DS#3. Those two have so much fun with each other that it is just heartwarming to observe! :)

After the ice cream, DD and I headed to the World of Disney store. I was determined to get myself a souvenir shirt. I had been looking for one with some sort of embroidered decoration, and I finally succeeded. I also tried to find a souvenir for DS#3. I knew he would like some sort of wheeled toy best, so would hand him a car and then take it away and give him a different car, and so on. Some cars he gave up with me taking it away. When I saw this "choo choo", which is what he had been calling the monorail trains, I knew that I had found "the one". He wouldn't let go of this one without fussing.

DH and the boys had gone to the Lego store. Now THAT was a cool store. There were Legos that you could play with, and there were Legos that were built into cool things. DS#3 built three little men and he got that for a souvenir, although he had gotten another souvenir earlier in the week. DS#1 was the one that had not asked for anything at all, and there he asked for this HUGE Lego set to make a Star Wars Death Star (over 1000 little pieces) that was on sale for $69! Wow! When that boy asks for something, he doesn't go cheap! DH and I agreed, if only because DS#1 helps us out with the other kids and with chores all the time and he is always asking if he can help with something.

DS#3 and DD fell asleep on the bus home. We didn't get home until after 9PM. We were all exhausted! We had another full day planned at Hollywood Studios.

Tomorrow, I'm going to post some of my photo of the day choices for this past week. I'll be on call for 24 hours starting at 7AM tomorrow, so I'll pre-write that post tonight. I hope everyone has a great weekend, or at least a more relaxing one than mine!

Wednesday, January 21

Since we only had three days left, we decided to be much more organized in order to do everything we wanted to do so we wouldn't feel like we missed anything we enjoyed. On Tuesday night, I had the kids go through the various park maps and tell me what they wanted to do at each park. I circled everything they expressed any interest in. DH and I had our own requests in there also. We then decided that to get on some of the more popular rides, we would have to get to the parks some time after they first opened when there usually aren't as many people. That meant getting up earlier than we had been getting up. We decided that we had covered everything we wanted to do in Animal Kingdom. Thursday, the Magic Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours in the morning, so we planned to go there then. We decided to go to Epcot on Wednesday since it was still going to be chilly and it was close by.

I had missed the Mission Space and Soarin' rides the last time we went to Disney, and no one had ridden those rides during this visit yet, so we wanted to do those first. Those are very popular rides, so upon our initial arrival to Epcot, we sent DS#1 to get Fast Passes to Mission Space while the rest of us headed to Soarin'. When we got to Soarin' there was only a 20 minute or so wait. DS#3 wasn't "tall enough" to ride, so DH stayed with him and we did the "baby swap" that Disney allows you to do, and the boys got to ride a second time with DH right after the first with me.

I'm not a big "ride" fan and I don't like heights or roller coasters, which can be quite limiting. Soarin' is a one of a kind ride where you are in these seats that they lift off the ground. They show you a film of several areas of California on a big screen that really makes you feel as if you're flying over those areas. You go over snowy mountains, ocean waves, and even DisneyLand in California. It was cool experience, I have to admit, but not necessarily one I would want to re-experience to repeatedly.

While DH and the boys were on Soarin', DD, DS#3, and I went on a boat ride that took us on a tour of Disney's greenhouses and fish farm. As a self-proclaimed black thumb, I was fascinated with the different plants they were growing and the fact that they grew some of them vertically without being in soil. I should have taken some photos, but I didn't. Oh well!

We headed to Mission Space with our Fast Passes, and the wait there had then stretched to 60 minutes. Even the Fast Pass line was a little bit of a wait, but not nearly so bad. I convinced the boys to join the "Green Team" because I was not keen to go through any spinning that the "Orange Team" would have to endure. This ride takes you on a "simulator" of a rocket ride to Mars. You are with your crew and each person in turn pushes buttons on the control panel. DD was worried that she wouldn't push her buttons at the right time, but the buttons flashed when she needed to push them. I still found it interesting and telling about DD's personality that she put pressure on herself to do things the "right" way and to not make any mistakes.

After lunch in Mexico, we headed back to ride "The Seas with Nemo and Friends". I remember when that used to just be "The Seas". We all rode in "clamobiles" through a short, simple little show with the "Finding Nemo" characters swimming through different screens. The real reason why we rode this ride was to get to the other side where there was a show called "Turtle Talk with Crush". This was an interesting and funny little show that was interactive. The character "Crush" the turtle from "Finding Nemo" talks to the audience. He even identified specific audience members and asked them questions. We all found it entertaining--except for DS#3. Once again, he fell asleep in an unusual place. He was sitting on my lap when I realized that his head was flopping forward. The poor boy fell asleep in that dark theatre, even with everyone making lots of noise!


After that show the kids went around some of the interactive exhibits. I asked DH to take this photo of DD looking at one of the fish tanks. I remembered taking a similar photo in 2004 of DD and my niece. DD was around DS#3's age. Look how much she has to tippy toe and stretch up to see the fish!

At around 3PM, the Chinese Acrobats were performing in China. We thought it was a cool show the last time we came to Disney, so we wanted to see it again. One act that was the exact same as on our last visit was this guy that balanced on a board. He would position bowls on the other end of the board and then suddenly shift his weight so the bowls would be thrown into the air. He would then catch them all on his head in a neat stack with all of the previous bowls. In this particular photo, he was catching five bowls. Amazing! Last time I didn't get any photos of this because I was too busy taking video.

After the show, the kids really wanted to do another Kim Possible "mission". This one took them through Norway. One stop that we always like to make is in the store in Norway that has the Troll. DH used to write Dungeons and Dragons type books, so the Troll has a special meaning. They've moved him off to the side now, but the kids are always happy to pose with him.

After the "mission", I found a place to have a funnel cake. I had been wanting one since I saw the stand a few days before. I don't know why I love those fried, sugary concoctions, but they are yummy. There were a lot of gull-type birds around that area of Epcot (near "The American Adventure"). We had noticed earlier how aggressive those birds seemed. Well, as DH was tearing off a piece of funnel cake, one of the birds flew up and tried to take it out of his hand. All I could do was stare at DH's hand in disbelief! I was worried that he had bitten DH's hand, and with DH being on blood thinners, that would not have been a pretty sight. I was relieved that at least DH wasn't hurt. DD, however, complained that the bird had bounced off her head--hard. She wasn't really hurt either, but it was a scary experience for all of us. Thankfully, DS#1 was with DS#3 farther away, otherwise I don't even want to think about what could have happened to the little man. We found ourselves running away--all the way to Morocco, to escape The Birds.

DD even passed up a chance to meet Jasmine and get her autograph because they were situated near The Birds. That was funny too, because Aladdin and the Genie were with Jasmine. DD didn't even know who Aladdin was and she had no desire to meet "the blue guy". I told her that Aladdin was the main character of that story! DD is too funny sometimes, and I was glad that this time she lightened the mood for all of us after The Birds.

It was getting dark and a little chilly when we got back to the hotel. They had some yummy drumsticks and fried rice in the Concierge Lounge that we had for dinner. After dinner we again headed back to our room to wash up and to watch American Idol. This will be my photo of the day for today. The kids all lay in bed together to watch TV in one of those few moments where they were in close proximity but not bickering. I love that!

Tomorrow I'll talk about Fairies vs. Princesses and our last day in the Magic Kingdom.

Tuesday, January 20

I feel like I've been neglecting current events in order to recap my Disney vacation. I'll have to take a break from the Disney recaps in the next couple of days so I won't get behind on my daily photos. I've been finding it difficult to pick one photo from each day at Disney to use for my "photo of the day". I've also been finding it difficult to figure out what photos to take these past few days. Okay, back to Disney...


On Tuesday, we headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom. At first we thought we were destined not to go because we had to wait for a good 30+ minutes for a bus, but when we got there, the crowds weren't too bad. The first thing I had to do was take a photo of the family in front of the Animal Kingdom sign. I took one of all the kids when we went to Disney in 2004. Look how much bigger they are! DD was the one in the stroller instead of DS#3 who wasn't even a twinkle in DH's eye yet!





With her new autograph book in hand, DD was all excited and ready for autographs. On the ride over she insisted that her favorite character was Stitch. Guess what? Lilo and Stitch were the first characters we saw! She was beyond thrilled! The rest of the day we got something like 13 signatures without too much waiting (if you count time waited per character).

We saw a couple of shows. The whole family saw The Lion King. It was a spectacular show with live cast members and four big "floats". There was even a part of the show that had some "monkeys" doing acrobatics including flips from a trapeze. DH and I particularly enjoyed one of the male leading characters who had this wonderful deep voice that I still remember from a few years ago when we last saw the show. Right after the show was a character area--that's where we got to see Chip N'Dale, Donald Duck, Goofy, Mickey, and Minnie.

The Finding Nemo show was fun, too. Only DD and I saw that one, because the boys were off doing rides like Expedition Everest and Primevil Whirl. DS#3 would have enjoyed the music, but he fell asleep during the Kilamanjaro Safari ride and DH thought it best to just walk around with him in his stroller.

Speaking of the Kilamanjaro Safari Ride, we always enjoy that one because you get to see real animals out in the wild. There was one cheesy part, but the rest of it was pretty good. The big cats are always a family favorite, perhaps partly because they're never out during the day when we visit the zoo. That being said, I was glad to be able to get a photo of these cheetahs. The lion was asleep, of course, and too far away (probably a good thing) to get a photo of him. DS#3 must have gotten the idea and fell asleep too. Too bad--he would have enjoyed seeing the animals.

We had to stop off at The Boneyard play area, of course. DH took DS#3 there after his nap. He was too funny. There were two slides side-by-side, but he insisted on only going down the right one--even if there was someone else there and no one on the other slide. He and DD had a blast!

I couldn't resist showing this cute photo of DS#1 and DS#3. All of the kids were playing drums in this area with a whole bunch of them. They look like they're having so much fun, aren't they? I love their smiles!

After we got back to the hotel, the kids really wanted to play in the sand. It was windy and in the 50s--probably even in the 40s! Luckily, they were not interested in swimming, so they went out there in all their clothes and coats and were the only kids outside playing! DH said that he heard some people commenting on how they couldn't believe "those kids" were outside, and one kid was asking her parents to go play in the sand, too.

Monday, January 19

This morning we had reservations at 7:50AM for the Ohana breakfast at the Polynesian. They serve breakfast "family style" which means they set a huge pan of food on your table and you serve yourselves. As you can see from this picture, everyone had gotten to the scrambled eggs already. They also served Mickey waffles, Hawaiian sweet bread, and orange passionfruit guava juice. I usually love milk for breakfast, but that juice is just yummy.

While we ate, they had a "parade" for the kids where they gave them maracas to shake while parading around the restaurant. Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch joined them. DS#3 was very interested in the maracas, but by the time DS#1 had convinced him to go with him in the parade, it was almost over. DS#3 would have enjoyed the parade anyway, but apparently, Pluto touched him and he just wanted to be far away from Pluto.

Later, all the characters visited every table for autographs and photos. Lilo then Stitch came by first, and DS#3 was okay since they were across the table from him. As you can see from this photo, Pluto again dared to come close, and DS#3 just lost it! Pluto was only trying to be good by getting behind him so we could include DS#3 in the photo, but this was too much for him! Poor baby! Luckily, Mickey stayed way on the other side of the table during his visit.

After breakfast, we headed off to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We waited a good half hour for the correct bus. About three buses to Downtown Disney and two to Animal Kingdom stopped in the meantime. Of course, a good portion of the people were waiting for the same bus. We were all a little disappointed about how many people were headed to the same park as we were.

Once there, we headed straight for Toy Story Mania, a new interactive 3D arcade ride. I'll have to describe the ride later. By the time we got to the ride it was probably about 10:30ish and the wait was already 60 minutes. The Fast Passes available at that time weren't for until after 4:30PM! Not too long afterwards, they completely "sold out" of Fast Passes for the DAY. Amazing! DS#1 got us our Fast Passes and we headed to watch the new show based on Prince Caspian. The show might have meant more to me if I had seen the movie or read the book. The boys seemed to enjoy it and it passed the time a little.


After the show, the boys headed off to see the Indiana Jones stunt show and Star Tours. My sister, my niece, DD, DS#3, and I stopped off at the Little Mermaid live show. We had to wait a half hour in a crowded room, but the kids seemed to make the best of it. These are three very beautiful children if I may say so myself! :) The kids enjoyed the music and DS#3 seemed to especially enjoy the bubbles coming from the ceiling at one point during the show.

We stopped off to eat. There was another long line, of course, so M took the kids to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area while I got in line to get food. In the play area, they made large models of insects, plants, even a Kodak film canister and the kids can play on them as if they were as small as an ant. M brought the kids back when the food was ready. DS#3 loves hotdogs, but the only one they had was a chili dog that was almost $8! Still, I knew he would eat it and I figured that I could eat it if I had to. He managed to eat quite a bit and then DH and the boys met up with us and ate lunch too.

M was going to take the girls to the bathroom, I had DS#1 and DS#3, and DH went off to watch the Muppet Show in 3D with DS#2. Suddenly we couldn't find DD. I thought perhaps she was in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area, but when I looked, there were SO MANY people running around. DS#1 called DH and he came right back. We were giving a description to one of the Disney Cast Members when they found her in the play area. She had excitedly run there by herself when she heard that we were going back there. When I got to her, she looked so sad but not because she had been lost but because she wanted to go back and play in the "web" where she had been when DS#2 found her. She wasn't the least bit concerned that she was lost or that her parents didn't know where she was. Needless to say, we had a little talk. I know DH and I were having flashbacks to when we lost DS#2 at Legoland when he was 2 years old.

At 4:50PM we headed back to use our Fast Passes on Toy Story Mania. By now the wait was 90 minutes long. After riding it, we could see why it was so popular. As far as we know, there's no other ride like it. You ride in these little cars with your 3D glasses on. They stop the cars in front of some screens and you can shoot the targets. On one screen you were using darts to hit balloons, on another you were tossing rings on the Toy Story Aliens, and on still another you were shooting at plates. When the balloons pop, you feel a blast of air. It was totally cool. I guess DS#3 wasn't impressed, because he fell asleep DURING the ride.

Sometime before Toy Story Mania, we saw the Beauty and the Beast live show. I love musicals and the girls love seeing any of the princesses. Earlier during our visit, we saw a mini High School Musical 3 concert. I don't know why but I totally love that show and that music. DD is much more the Hannah Montana fan. She couldn't have cared less about HSM3--now why is that?

DS#1 and E went on Tower of Terror. They only realized when they had gotten in line already that the wait was going to be an hour. It had been 20 minutes just a short time before. DD and DS#2 were in line with them at first, but they both decided they didn't want to be there for that long.

We saw Fantasmic at 6:30PM after waiting an hour in the stadium where they had it. We sat behind some Brazilian teen girls who seemed to really enjoy my niece, DD and DS#. I could see DS#1 on the end probably wishing they would talk to him. For the first time we got great seats without being smooshed together. We could have been on the first row, but DH convinced us that we would have a better view a bit higher up.

We were going to try to ride Toy Story Mania again after the show because M and E were leaving the next day, but the wait was still an hour with no Fast Passes to be had. We ended up just hanging around and doing a little shopping. DD suddenly decided that she wanted an autograph book. I sort of groaned inside because I knew I would be the one waiting in line with her for all of these autographs. I guess she got excited about it when she saw E getting all of those signatures at the Ohana breakfast. Oh well, how could deny her when she had so much excitement in her eyes?

Maybe that was fatigue instead of excitement. Both DD and DS#3 fell asleep on the bus on the way home. DS#3 had slept in the daybed with DD since the first late night when his crib wasn't there yet. When the crib got to our room, he was in the daybed already and didn't want to move anymore. DH took this photo because they both looked so peaceful, as kids tend to be when they're asleep. :)

Tomorrow, we get to visit Animal Kingdom!

Sunday, January 18

As I was editing my photos from this day, I was thinking about how little we seemed to have done on this day. It was still super crowded at the parks we went to. I still had to wait in line for the bathroom all day and the ride lines were super long too.

We started out our day rather late--that is, we didn't get to the Magic Kingdom until 9:30 to 10AM. We went back to the Magic Kingdom because my niece E didn't get to ride Peter Pan on the day before because the line was an hour long, so we went back specifically so she could ride on Peter Pan. On our way to Fantasyland, we met The Fairy Godmother who noticed that the girls had been to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique the day before. The boys went somewhere, probably Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain again, but DH already can't remember and I wasn't there. We then managed to ride on It's a Small World before heading off to Epcot for lunch. DS#3 was fascinated with all of the colors and the singing on It's a Small World.

Lunch took forever again because of the long lines. We got Fast Passes for Test Track later in the day because the line was so long already. In the meantime, we headed to Innoventions, which had these cool interactive exhibits. We spent a long time playing with the exhibits. DS#3 became fascinated at these red squares on the ground. When he stepped on one of the squares, a door up above would slam shut. This was supposedly the way they test the durability of the door. The other kids eventually found out about it and I thought this was a cool shot of E, DS#2 and DS#3 on the red squares.

There was also another exhibit where you could push buttons to complete a circuit. If you pushed six of the buttons at the same time, it would set off an alarm sound and cause all the lights to flash at once. Since each of the buttons were on one side of the beam, one person could really only push two buttons at once. With some teamwork in our group, we were able to push six buttons at the same time. DS#1 was the one that instigated this, but DS#3 loved all the lights and sounds. I just thought it was awesome that we could do this together.

While at Innoventions, the boys got this "coupon" for some kind of "Kim Possible" scavenger hunt. "Kim Possible" is a character on a show on the Disney channel--some sort of super spy. We headed to Norway where they were supposed to be able to pick up their handsets. It was a fun thing for the kids to do. They listened to the clue which sent them off to various parts of Germany. They would find a spot where they would get the next code to punch into their handset which would then play the next recording for the next clue and so on.

While the older kids roamed around Germany with my sister M, DH, DS#3 and I roamed around The World Showcase at Epcot. We got to this spot near Germany where they had a couple of model trains going around a miniature village. DS#3 was fascinated and didn't want to leave. We let him stay for a while then we had a little dessert before meeting up with everyone else.

It was almost time for our Test Track Fast Passes, but before we got there they had this area that was set up like a car wash. The girls especially loved the spray of water. They look excited, don't they? When it came time for Test Track, DD decided that she didn't want to go, so it ended up being only DS#2, DS#3, E, and I. I'm not much of a ride fan, but I have to admit that it was a cool ride, different from any other ride I've been on. For those that have never gone, it's set up like a track where they test a car's maneuverability during certain test conditions. The last part was like a roller coaster in that you go really fast along some turns on their "road". Like I said, I'm not much of a ride fan so I didn't care to go again, but it worked out because that left three Fast Passes for DS#1, DS#2, and E to go again.

While we were waiting on the three to ride Test Track, the rest of us were waiting in the showroom area. They showed different cars on these stages, and DS#3 was in awe when the first one opened up and it was this flashy red convertible. The next one was a flashy red truck and so on.

After this, the kids all really wanted to go back and play on the beach. The temps were in the 70s but we knew that a cold front was coming so we wanted to take advantage. We were planning on staying late at Hollywood Studios on the following day, so this was the best day to go back to the hotel "early". I took this photo of DS#2 playing in the sand. I've always thought he was very photogenic, but then I'm his mother. :)

We forgot to bring DS#3's swimsuit and M forgot to bring E's swimsuit so they just got their clothes sandy. DD even went swimming briefly in the heated pool but they mostly played in the sand until it was starting to get dark, and more chilly. We watched the Wishes Fireworks display at Magic Kingdom from the hotel again--another cool ending to another fun day at Disney. :)

Saturday, January 17

This was our first official day at Disney World. I worked Thursday night, so I didn't get much sleep. On Friday, after getting the kids all tucked in and wondering when our luggage would arrive, DH and I finally got into bed around 11:30PM. My sister M and her DD E had arrived earlier the night before and got their luggage about four hours after their arrival. E and my DD had appointments for their "makeovers" at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 9:05AM on Saturday morning. I had to set the alarm for about 7:30AM so DD and I would have enough time to get dressed, eat breakfast, and make it to the bus to Downtown Disney. The girls were SO excited. DD had been talking about this ever since I told her about the appointment a few weeks ago.

We got to the World of Disney Store and the girls--I mean "princesses", were given makeovers by their "Fairy Godmothers". DD's Fairy Godmother was a little more heavy-handed with the makeup, but most of it rubbed off by the end of the day anyway. They used SO MUCH gel in their hair. They must have used half the bottle. Luckily, DD's hair is all one length, so it didn't take her Fairy Godmother long at all to get her looking very much the princess. She may have even been the first one done because then one of the store cast members asked her if she wanted to officially "open" the store at 9:30AM. There were other people shopping there already, so it was an honorary thing, but she got to "announce" the opening. I didn't get any photos because I was taking video. She was all atwitter with excitement and couldn't wait to tell DH.

They both got pink "goodie bags" with makeup and nail polish, extra bling stickers for their faces, and a comb. They also got sashes that said "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique". It was a little chilly that morning, so they wore their coats over the sashes, but they were thrilled nonetheless. They also got these cute little Mickey shaped pins for the back of their heads. Such a cute touch!

I never thought I'd get out of that store, however. My sister had given E $20 to spend on souvenirs and E was determined to spend it all right then and there. She got a cute little Minnie mini-backpack finally. DD convinced me to get her a Minnie pen. It's one of those pens that you could probably get at a regular store for a couple of bucks, but there it cost $6. One thing I didn't think to make her ahead of time, but that I asked her if she wanted me to get her there was an autograph book. She said she didn't want one, so I left it at that.

After a prolonged bus trip home (the bus we took made extra stops that we weren't aware of), we met DH and the boys back at our hotel. After snacks, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. The boys had been there that morning and had gotten Fast Passes to Space Mountain that afternoon. The park was SO crowded that we seriously questioned our decision to be there at this time of year. I hadn't realized that MLK weekend would be so popular.

I never seem to take enough photos of the older boys so here are a couple of them. The girls were posing on this stockade and we asked DS#2 to get in there, too. He got in and put his head down. Someone told him to smile and he raised his head up and said that you weren't supposed to smile when you were in a stockade! He is too funny with his logic sometimes. Of course, the girls both got up next to him and tried to smile and he told them not to.

I love this photo of DS#1 just because it shows his sense of humor. I feel like I've been calling him DH's Jr. all week. Look at that face and look at those mixed up arms/legs!

Of course I can't forget about DS#3. During our last trip we made special trips back to the hotel so he could nap--not this time. On this day he fell asleep while we were in line for the Jungle Safari ride in Adventureland. In the next few days I'll be pointing out other unusual places where he fell asleep during our trip.

Other rides that we rode on included Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (the boys), Buzz Lightyear (all of us), and It's a Small World (M, E, DD, DS#3 and I). Again, the wait times were incredible. M compared it to how it was during Spring Break of last year, which is when she was there last. There were even long bathroom lines all day, even for the changing table. DS#3 got changed over the sink area on a pad because the wait was unacceptable. We finished out our day watching the Spectro Magic Parade at 7PM and then we rushed back to our hotel where we were able to watch the Wishes Fireworks Show at 8PM while eating dessert.

I'll close this rather lengthy post with my photo of the day for today. The kids were all huddled on the sofa watching America's Funniest Videos, one of their favorite shows. You can see folded laundry on top of the sofa. DH spent all day doing laundry, and DS#1 for the most part did a lot of the folding. DS#2 always found something else to do. ;) Actually, he and DD played with their good friends across the street for most of the afternoon. I spent a lot of time with her practicing the piano lesson that she was assigned before we left. We also spent some time with homework. DS#3 finally got that regular nap at about 1:30PM or so. I got a frustrating phone call from a very unprepared resident. We're all just trying to get back into our routines. Ugh! I'd rather be back at Disney!

We're Back!

We got back this evening. I have over 500 pictures to wade through and delete or edit. That's not even counting the ones I might get on my Disney Photopass, so I'll show just a few today. After dropping off our stuff at the house and starting a load of laundry, we went out to DH's (and the kids') favorite restaurant. This is my photo of the day for today. DH wanted me to give a shout out to G because he would probably be jealous to see DH having the Chicken Enchiladas Mole and drinking his second margarita here! ;-)

I'm going to back track here a bit. I didn't get a chance to post about having lunch with DD on Friday, January 16th, the day we left for Disney. She was chosen for something called "Kid's Cafe" at school. What that means is that she got to eat lunch up on the stage in their cafeteria. She could choose one person to eat with. When DS#2 got this a couple of months ago, he chose one of his school friends. DD chose me. To be honest, I think she chose me just so I would bring her McDonald's, but there's a slight chance she just wanted to eat with me. :) She ate her cheeseburger in less than 5 minutes and chatted nonstop the rest of the time about our Disney trip and how excited she was to be spending time with her cousin who was going to be there, too.

DH and spent the rest of that afternoon packing. As soon as the younger kids got home from the bus, we picked up DS#1 from his school and then we were off to the airport. This is just a silly photo of DS#3 on one of the chairs at our airport gate as we waited to board. We got to our hotel very late. We were using the Disney Magical Express that brings your luggage to you at your Disney Resort. It's convenient because you don't have to stop off at Baggage Claim, but then you have to wait for them to deliver your luggage to your room. We didn't get our luggage until the next morning. We were prepared for that, however, and we packed some nightclothes and clean underwear for the kids in our carry-on baggage.

This is one of my favorite photos of the whole trip. DS#3 is having so much fun. He was shoveling sand onto DS#1's leg and he thought that was so cool! DS#1 is SO good with him and I love how they are having so much fun together in this photo. As you can see, we also forgot swim diapers/swimsuit for DS#3, which meant sandy clothes. This was taken on Sunday, January 18th and the temps were in the 70s. DD swam in the hotel pool, but the boys did not. They all played in the sand and they all enjoyed themselves doing it. This was a recurring theme despite a drop in the temperatures.

I took some a closeup of DS#3's face just after he had shoveled some more sand onto his brother's leg. This photo shows perfectly how much fun we had at Disney this past week. It was a nice, long, relaxing vacation. Disney really is the "happiest place on earth", and this was a well-timed trip for us. :)

More details on the trip tomorrow (as well as more photos) and in the following days.