Day Two Part Two

Feb 19, 2010

We arrived at Animal Kingdom. If you think Silas looks miserably tired it's because we actually took this photo at the end of the day.



After getting inside the park it took us about thirty minutes to actually get to an attraction. There is just so much to look at and everyone kept getting distracted.

One of the first things you see are these birds. The girls saw them right away and Cecily came to get me saying "Mommy,I found spoon beaks!" They are actually spoon bills and she learned about them from a magazine that our aunt Ambra gave us a subscription to for Cecily's fifth birthday. Thanks Ambra! Cecily insisted that I take a photo of them to bring home where you could see the beak.




The big landmark that they have for Animal Kingdom is this tree. It's just to look at but everyone it seems takes a photo there. We traded picture snapping with a couple who had an accent. It seemed almost everyone we encountered had some kind of accent and we didn't actually meet anyone from Texas.






Cecily wanted her photo "climbing this rock".

She also wanted it next to this termite mound.

At Animal Kingdom they have these little stations set up where kids can stop and learn about something. After they do the learning they are given a stamp on their cards. It was fun to try to find all the stations but I think we missed a few. Here are the kids feeling inside a log and trying to guess what they were feeling. They never noticed that all the things inside were set up on the table outside as well to give them clues.

Here is Clara answering some questions about what a turtle uses its shell for.

We saw the Loin King show and when we came out we met Minnie Mouse Thumper and Miss Bunny.
We just went in order of the attractions and the next thing was something called a jungle walk. It was kind of like a zoo. You just stay on the trail and look at the animals. The first thing we saw were these monkeys.

They were having a training session. They are trained to hear a bell and turn their backs so giving them shots is not a struggle. We saw the ladies ring a bell and the monkeys turn and then the ladies touched their backs with a stick to simulate the shot. Then the monkeys immediately turned back around for a treat.
Here is Silas looking at a giant slimy green frog.

I didn't take the time to write down technical names. You can see him on the left. The blob on the right is a rock but Silas thought it was another frog.
Next we entered a bird area. They have charts to help identify all the birds you might see there. There were also these fish which I think were for the birds to eat. They like to give the birds a natural feeling habitat and we saw some cranes swoop in for a snack.


Silas really liked the fish.

On the jungle walk we encountered this tiny anole lizard. I know what they are called because when Shiloh and I first got married we had these creatures all in our house. They would just come in when it got cold and snuggle on our walls. We didn't mind them because we had worse things as well.
Cecily really wanted to hold it so Shiloh helped her catch it. See him on her dress?


And for a close up.

Of course Clara wanted a turn. The lizard is to tiny its head is smaller than her thumb.

Then Silas tried to hold it. He is a fast little thing. See that green streak on Silas' arm? That's him trying to get away.

He finally got in a little pet.


When we came out of the jungle walk Cecily remembered I said if the face painting line wasn't too long she could get her face painted. So we went to do that next.
She chose a design called Tinkerbell. The girls who do this are very talented. She was done in about two minutes. Here she is just starting.







She couldn't stop looking at herself. Mirror mirror on the wall...


I wanted to get mine done too but thought I would find a souveneir that would last for more than just one day that I liked better later on. So I settled for a photo with Cecily instead.


Later on I took this photo of the girls together. Clara was too grumpy right after the face painting to take it then. She wanted her face done but wouldn't sit in the chair and the girl had to keep the line moving.

Here are the kids getting up close with some wildlife. The birds are pretty tame. They were feeding it some crust leftover from their sandwiches.

Clara was teasing this duck. It would jump to get the bread. I was afraid she would get a bite herself but she didn't.

We saw these ladies making flowers and they made one for the girls.



Then we found another learning station and they got another stamp.


Cecily knew from the planning video that she wanted to see the bats. So on our second jungle trek we found two sleeping bats and they were huge! We couldn't get a photo of the bats but here is a skeloton of one. She wanted to take a picture to bring home.

And then Clara and Silas finally gave out.

They slept while we rode a ride with Cecily and then parked for the parade. Clara woke up in time to watch. After the parade it was about time to leave. I think they only stayed open until 5 or so. But everyone was ready to leave. We had had an early breakfast.
When we got back to the cabin Cecily put on her tinkerbell costume we brought from home to match her face painting.



Then the kids hung out in the bedroom watching cartoons on cable. They got really spoiled being able to turn on the tv and have cartoons anytime they wanted. And it was nice in the mornings when they still woke up way to early.

Day Two, Part One...Breakfast!

Feb 19,2010

Today we planned a surprise breakfast for the kids at another Disney resort called the Grand Floridian. It was a character breakfast and that means that while you are eating certain characters come to your table for a chat and pictures. You can choose different restaurants for different characters. We chose a breakfast buffet here because Mary Poppins comes out and that is one person Clara really likes.

We went in and sat down and they poured us all orange juice. Here are the kids smiling for pictures.




Before we got any food Winnie the Pooh came out. We hadn't told the kids that there would be any characters and they were really surprised. Silas is eyeing Pooh. He's not too sure about a giant stuffed bear being directly behind him.



The table that they placed us at was table number 2 and that meant that we were directly facing the door where the characters came out and we only had to wait to meet them until table 1 was done. It was all very exciting.

After all the excitement of meeting Pooh we got up and went to fix our plates. Cecily had gotten a bowl of cereal but no milk yet and Clara had gotten eggs and bacon and sausage. (she made this herself at a small buffet they set out for the kids) When Tigger came out Clara saw him and told Cecily and they bolted for their seats. They thought if they weren't in their chairs waiting they would get skipped and they probably would have. I was relieved that Cecily didn't have milk in her bowl yet since in the mad dash Clara's bacon and sausage went flying just as Tigger bounced over and smashed it into the carpet. He signed the autograph books and posed for a photo.




When Tigger left the meat on the floor was still on my mind and I went to pick it up but realized someone had already beat me to it. One thing I realized about Disney it that it is very clean. I don't know if I saw any mess the whole time we were there.

They give a few minutes in between characters so we felt safe to finish filling our plates. The next person out was Mary Poppins. Clara was so excited she could not sit still. She whipped out her autograph book and kept her eyes glued to Mary until she came to our table.



Mary came over and saw Clara's autograph book was decorated with stickers of her! Here she is talking to Clara about it.



After Clara she went over to sign Cecily's book and Clara showed me this. It says Always Mary Poppins. She was so happy.





Here we are all posing together for a quick photo.


We weren't getting much eating done. A few bites and then Alice from Alice in Wonderland came out.



Then the Mad Hatter. He said he liked my hat. The girls were just trying to figure out where he got that big nose!



Silas decided he was in love with Tigger and kept asking "Where tiger go?".

When we were done eating we walked out to get our stroller and found this bush shaped like Mary Poppins. She is holding her umbrella and the girls were pretending to hold theirs too.



We hopped on a bus and rode over to Animal Kingdom where we would spend the rest of the day. Stay tuned for part two!

Please excuse the photos. Our flash was broken and we had to make do in darker situations.

New Look

Today I went looking for a new look for my blog. I chose this one because
1-It was on page two and I didn't have to go very far to find it
2-It reminded me of Minnie Mouse and that worked out since I will be blogging about that for awhile
3-It was called Clara so then I had to choose it
The only thing is there is more to the design but it seems to be enlarged so much you can't see it. Is there a way to size it down?

Home From Disney World

Hello everyone! Although we are back safely from our vacation I have not yet recovered from sleep deprivation. I wanted to share photos and a few memories while they are still fresh in my mind. I think I will just start with day one.

Day One Feb 18,2010

We woke up at 4:00 a.m. at my aunt's house and she took us to the airport. We checked our luggage and said goodbye because that was the last we would see of it until it arrived in our hotel room later in the day. That is one bonus of staying in a Disney resort. You don't have to haul suitcases all over the place. We were surprised at the line so early in the morning at the airport and were also pleasantly surprised at the security guard who eyed our three children and sent us ahead of the line. Once at the front of the line we still had to take off every ones shoes,jackets and backpacks and I beeped because I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket. While going through once more Silas ran into a roped off area. I looked at the guard to see if I could go get him and he nodded yes. Another guard saw this and almost tackled me until she confirmed with the first guard "Is she OK?" asking if he knew what I was up to. It's a funny feeling not being allowed to instinctively chase your two year old. We found our gate and while I took the girls to the bathroom we missed the early boarding call for small children. Once they finished boarding the A's however they stopped the line and let us go. We flew to Houston and when we descended Silas and Clara had some trouble with their ears. Here is Silas chomping on his bubble gum to help. He kept saying "Mouf huts" (mouth hurts). He couldn't' tell where that funny feeling was coming from.



All though we landed in Houston we didn't deplane. We just exchanged some of the passengers. I went to sit with the girls and Shiloh came to sit with Silas. A lady took the extra aisle seat and was very nice to pass things back and forth between us. Shiloh talked with her while the girls and I colored. She said we had the best behaved children she had ever seen. A very nice complement, I was glad later while at Disney World that she did not encounter us at times. :) I saw behaviours come out I never though I would.
After another two hour flight we landed in Orlando. Now we just had to find the Magical Express that would take us to our resort.
Here we are riding the tram inside the airport.


Since they have buses that leave every 20 minutes or so we had time to grab some lunch at the airport. We had Chick-fil-a and Shiloh had a sandwich from a sandwich kind of place. After lunch we boarded the bus and rode comfortably watching a video to Fort Wilderness.
We checked in and they gave us a ride to our cabin. Cabin number 2519. We were very close to both a bus stop and a laundry room. Our luggage had not yet arrived and we realized that while checking in we had forgotten to pick up the stroller we had rented for the week. This was a service we found outside of Disney. They are called Orlando Stroller Rentals and they have strollers that are more comfortable than the park strollers and also more affordable. I highly recommend using these strollers. Ours was a side by side double and very easy to push and fold. We tried out the internal bus system for the first time to go back to the check in office and Shiloh showed the kids the horses while I went inside to get the stroller and also the ticket for our breakfast in the morning. After that we took the bus again to the other end of the campgrounds to do some exploring. There was a playground where the kids burned off some steam for awhile.




Then we overheard another family say they were going to the beach. We followed them past the tree line and found a lovely little beach. We kicked off our shoes and rolled up our pants and waded in the cold water hunting sea shells. We saw a tiny dead turtle and stood very close to it so when the seagulls swooped in to try to get it they were also very close to us.




Cecily and Clara first saw a beach when they were about 5 months old but we realized that this was Silas' first time at almost 2 and a half. He loved it!

I'll have to see if I can upload Cecily's and Clara's toes in the sand pictures to show them all together but here at least are Silas' pudgy little toes in the sand.

And speaking of pudgy toes here is his fat little wrist. I wonder how much longer her will keep his baby rolls. I love them. He is holding up his shorts so they won't get wet. He heard me say to the girls about a hundred times "Don't get your pants wet. You will get cold!"



Watch the fun now. Silas kept saying "Weady Ceci? Weady?"

Then he did this.


Now he is trying to tell Cecily what he just did.


Here are Clara and Shiloh making letters in the sand.


Here is proof that Moma was here too.



After the beach it was about supper time. There was only one restaurant open during the winter at Fort Wilderness and they wanted $25.00 a person to eat there. Yikes. Well,there was another one but you had to have reservations and it was more than twice that much. We discovered that the buffet (the first restaurant) had dinner to go as well and it was priced normally. So we ordered up two fried chicken dinners and purchased our unlimited refillable mug and had a picnic on the porch. When this was done the kids were exhausted and cold so we hopped on the bus back to our cabin and found our luggage waiting for us. A bath and bed for the kids who went right to sleep. Clara slept on the top bunk, Cecily on the bottom and Silas in a pack in play that we found in the closet. There was also a double bed in the bedroom that the kids shared. Shiloh and I opted to sleep in the Murphy bed in the living room so we could watch some Olympics before we went to sleep.

Clara the Comedian

While laying with Clara in her bed last night she kept running her fingers through my hair as we talked and making it land on her face. When she had about three or four clumps on her face I swept it away because it was also getting in my eyes and I don't like that feeling like she does. As soon as I did this she said "Can you keep your hair out of my face?" As if she wasn't the one who put it there. I think she was trying to be funny and that to me is funny. Clara making jokes. I finally have someone who understands my sense of humor. Yay!