april 25th - the disney hangover

Back to reality. The kids are excited to see their friends and share stories from Disney. Lucy is excited to spend the day out of her stroller. Mommy and Daddy need a couple more days of rest. Mommy outs her feet up. Daddy spends the entire day in meetings and singing damn Disney songs.

Positive note - our yard looks amazing. Spring is just about here.  

april 24th - farewell disney

Last day and we stayed local. We went to the Ohana breakfast at our hotel this morning, which was the best one yet. We saw Mickey again and got to meet Lilo & Stitch. Stitch was pretty awesome and Lucy really liked him too. 

We had a late checkout so the kids got one last opportunity to play in the pool before we went to the airport. They LOVED the water climber in the kids section, but today Daddy convinced them to go on the big slide. We climbed up to the very top and Daddy went first so he could catch Alex and Gemma at the bottom.  And then we did it again...and again...and about 30 more times. 

Mommy maximized what was left of our dining plan by picking up 20 bags of candy. Travel home was pretty uneventful other than the kid on our plane that everyone wanted to throw out at 35000 feet. Listened to the Sixers close out the series on the radio against the Heat in Round 1, and came home to a stocked fridge. Thanks Beeps!  Ham sandwich time. 

april 23rd - hollywood studios

Our day kicked off with breakfast and meeting some Disney Jr characters. Gemma was super excited to meet Doc McStuffins who took forever to get to us...typical doctor. Gemma and Alex went on the Star Wars ride with Daddy and they really liked it. GemGem loved her glasses. 

Next we saw a ‘Sing Along Frozen Show’ which was really awesome. It was a narrated show of the story of Anna and Elsa with all the songs. Gemma was in awe...especially at the end when it snowed inside the theater during the finale. Really well done. Even Daddy was impressed. 

The adults hit the Rock-n-Rollercoaster and then we took Alex on ‘Tower of Terror’.  He has absolutely no fear going on these rides, but we made him give us his best “scared face” before we got on the elevator. He had the biggest grin when it was over and we went on it a second time with Mommy.

The girls went and did some stuff, while the boys (and Lucy) went and met some Star Wars characters. Alex was really excite to meet Chewbacca, and we also met Kylo Ren and BB-8. Chewy didn’t really like Uncle Frank’s Darth Vader shirt, but he loved Alex’s R2-D2 shirt. He was very proud. 

We had a great dinner at Brown Derby and Alex got yet another set of candles to blow out. They decorated the table for his birthday, which he thought was pretty cool. We caught some of the late night Fantasmic show and then beat the crowds back to our hotel. 

april 22nd - epcot...take two

Back for day two at the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. We had breakfast with Chef Mickey at the Comtemporary Resort before heading back to the park. Donald Duck loved Alex’s hat and he gave Alex some extra special love during breakfast. We FINALLY met Pluto, who the kids were looking out for all week.  Daddy continued being #1 dad when he racked up compliment number 67 from our waitress. 

Our first ride was ‘Test Track’ where everyone got to build their own simulated car and then drive 75 mph around the track. The simulated car was evaluated for speed and design...Alex’s car got 1st place out of about 25 cars both times...future engineer. Gemma couldn’t go on the ride for being vertically challenged, so she hung with Daddy the first time around. We kept busy dancing and decorating the stroller with stickers. 

Next, we went on ‘mission space’ and Gemma was able to go on the less intense ride with Alex and Daddy.  Gemma was really into it, but for peace of mind she asked, “we are not going to for real life space right?”  Alex got to go on a second time to the more intense version with G-force...giggled the whole time. 

Last ride of the day was ‘spaceship earth’ in “the big ball” which was more an obligation than a thrill. One time only experience. Mommy and the kids went to visit Princess Jasmine in Morocco, while Daddy hung with Lucy. We were right under the Morocco sign so Daddy is in 96 different family pictures holding a sleeping Lucy, drinking a beer, and watching a disappointing 3rd period of the Flyers game...smiled every time. 

Had an awesome dinner in Canada at Le Cellier. The staff was amazing, food was top notch, and we had a booth to lay Lucy down to sleep all the way through dinner. Get the red wine flowing. Alex got birthday candles number 109 in his chocolate mousse, which was shaped like a chocolate moose. 

Made it back to our hotel for fireworks. Alex finally made it to the beach that he hasn’t stopped talking about all week. 

april 21st - gemma day at epcot

Day four at Epcot and all about Gemma. Since she is a few inches shy of going on some rides, we spent lots of time with princesses today. Staying at a hotel on the monorail is the best thing ever. We got a little tour around epcot as we entered the park, and Alex “likes the big ball.”  We had breakfast in Norway and got to meet lots of princesses. Gemma loved seeing Ariel again because “she had feet today and was able to wear a pretty dress.”  I think Alex was a little disappointed that his girl, Elena, was not part of the cast. 

The showstopper for Gemma was meeting Elsa and Anna. We went on the Frozen ride and she loved it. Spent time under the sea watching some nemo shows and ‘turtle talk with crush’ was absolutely hilarious. Walked around the world and Alex was really into seeing each country and completing his passport sticker book. Gemma was just focused on expanding her um-ba-rella ☂ collection and Uncle Boogs caved. We had dinner at a restaurant in Italy and came up with a solution for Mommy to nurse Lucy without leaving the table...she was almost invisible. 

april 20th - animal kingdom 🦒 🦓 🦁

Day number three in Animal Kingdom began with an early morning for breakfast at Tusker House. Somehow we beat Uncle Boogs, which is atypical, so the kids had a chance to explore the ‘Africa’ section of the park. They were very interested in the canon. Alex said, “this was probably a real canon back in the day”...which day?  “You know, the day for wars.”  We got to see Mickey and Minnie again, and meet Goofy, Donald, and Daisy. Gemma was really exicted for Daisy and Alex for Donald. Donald actually came back to our table later and colored with Alex...grinned ear to ear for the special attention. 

We went on a safari and learned all about elephants, giraffes, lions, and cheetahs. Alex’s favorite were the cheetahs and Gemmas favorite was the elephant.  After the safari, we saw a Nemo show and then went back for a pool afternoon at our hotel. The kids loved the mini water park and only stopped moving for about five seconds at a time. Lucy had her first dip in the pool and we had a low key dinner at the Kona Cafe in our hotel. 

After dinner, daddy and Alex went back to Animal Kingdom to meet up with Uncle Boogs and Aunt Amy to hit the Avatar ride. It was absolutely AMAZING. Alex could not wipe the stunned look off of his face. If there is a ride that encapsulates the wonder and awe of Disney, this is the goddamn real deal. Daddy could not stop talking about it for three days. 

We made it back in time to join Mommy and Gemma (who had moved her bed in front of the window) for fireworks from our beds. Great day of taking it easy. Avatar was the shit.