Our Disney experiences not captured by camera

I realized there were a couple things about our Disney trip that I didn’t get any pictures of at all… We saw Cirque De Soleil’s La Nouba show our first night there. What an awesome, amazing show that was. Both kids were sound asleep in the beginning of it, which turned out to be ok since it was a little scary at first. They both woke up during the amazing 8 year old girls with the Diablos. Addie watched them so intently and declared multiple times “I want one of them.” Ben pointed and waved the whole time he watched. There was never a dull moment. Never a moment when there weren’t at least 3 different acts/performances going on at once. Really just an awesome, awesome, show full of creativity, movement and music- three things that score really high with my children.

Another part of our Disney trip that I didn’t get any footage of was Guppy and his scooter. He rented a scooter Sunday through Tuesday, because his foot was killing him. There were many highlights of Guppy’s scooter use. Here are two of my favorite ones: At our day at Epcot, Muddy and I stood in line with Addie and Ben to meet the characters, while Brian, Guppy and Onkteb rode “Soarin.” Somehow serendipitously they were done with Soarin’ just as we were next in line to meet Mickey. They joined us in line, watched as the kids met the characters etc. The meetings and pictures took about 30 minutes. As we finished, Guppy went to get on his scooter. We met him outside, where he proclaimed that his scooter was missing. He had parked it right there and now it was gone. Brian asked about his key, which he promptly pulled out of his pocket. After searching around, his scooter was nowhere to be found. We all stood shocked that his scooter could’ve been taken, while he had the key. Muddy and Guppy went to go tell the park office and to get another one. Next thing I know, Onkteb comes out to say that he had found Guppy’s scooter afterall. Apparently, Guppy brought his scooter into the building and parked it. At the time it was scary, but in the end it was really funny that he had lost it.
My other favorite memory of Guppy’s scooter was when he had to make a turn at the Mickey’s Philharmagic show. It was an auditorium setting, and Guppy had to park his scooter and then sit in a row of seats. As he was steering his scooter to park it, he turned directly into the wall. SMACK. He drove the scooter into the wall!

Brian and I also took turns riding the rides that the kids weren't big enough for yet. Besides the Rockin' Rollercoaster, which rocked as usual, we rode "Escape to Everest" at Animal Kingdom. Woooohooo- totally fun!

This is us standing in front of Everest at Animal Kingdom. Note Addie and Ben with their maps giving us directions on how to find the massive snow-capped mountain in the middle of Animal Kingdom :)

Our most common Disney experience

It's a tiring experience, even if you're pushed around in a stroller all day long!

Some things at Disney that we learned about the kids:

Addie is terrified to be in an enclosed area, in the dark especially. Doesn't matter how colorful or happy it is, it's scary to her. It's a Small World=terrifying. The Haunted Mansion (cruel, I know.)=terrifying. Finding Nemo the Ride=terrifying. Peter Pan the ride=horrific.

Ben enjoyed anything that had color, songs or movement. Everything=fun for him. LOL

Ben's "Most Fun Disney Experience"

Words aren't even necessary. Sit back and enjoy:

Some non-Disney things...

Believe it or not, life goes on beyond Disney :)

Wanted to share some pictures of Benjamin, which are just too adorable to put off for a few days.

After La Tolteca tonight, we went to Toys R Us and bought the kids their big Christmas present, a playhouse. They are going to LOVE it. While there, Addie wanted to get yet another baby doll, which Brian was going to give in to. Instead I saw these kid-sized snow shovels. Let's just say, MAJOR hit with both of them. Addie was asleep as we got home, but Ben carried his and put it to good use right away.

We saw Santa this afternoon too- got a better one I have to scan in.

Finally, this morning Ben and Addie practiced being pregnant LOL. Ben loved having Baby up his shirt. He walked around like this for at least an hour!

Addie's "Most Fun Disney experience"

Somehow my little girl became a big girl, without me knowing it. Like big enough to ride a rollercoaster big. Due to her desire to always be upside down, swung around and cheating death, I believe her Most Fun Disney experience was riding "Goofy's Barnstormer." She rode it first with Brian and as soon as it ended was begging for more.

This is them waiting in line:



This is her riding it. I had just about zero pics/video seconds left, so it's all I have.

She would've ridden it over and over again, if we let her. She actually conned Guppy into riding it as well. For a little kid's rollercoaster, it was no joke. I just couldn't believe she was tall enough for it!!

Tomorrow, Ben's most fun experience

After a 10 hour drive in the snow storm

we are finally home. The hotel's wireless ended up being broken, so we were stuck with really bad dialup.

The trip down took about 6.5 hours. The kids rocked.

The ride home took 10 hours, thanks to the fact that December 5th always has snow. It flurried when we woke up, by the time we left there were still occasional flurries. About an hour into the drive, there were snow showers. Then by the Virginia/Washington DC line we hit the storm. The last 6 hours of our drive was at about 10 miles per hour. Sometimes we didn't hit 10 miles per hour for an hour. Yuck! Brian did a great job driving though.

The Disney pics arrived!! I'll start my Disney posts tomorrow, I promise!!

Packing....again!

Sorry to delay the Disney posts, but I'm waiting for our picture cd in the mail, so I can include photos of all of the wonderfulness. :) I've thought of my way of presenting the info too- so go me!

We're heading off to Danville, Virginia first thing in the morning. It's an 8 1/2 hour drive. with two kids. Oh dear Lord, please help us! We considered leaving tonight and splitting the drive, but somehow decided to just push it all together tomorrow. I may have no hair left by the time we arrive in Danville.

The hotel has wireless, so I'll be able to update, etc. We'll be there through 4pm Wednesday, then driving home!

Here are a few pics of life right now:

The new camera has an orange light that blinks before the camera flashes. Ben has decided that when it blinks, it means "cue cheesy, fake smile." I might put electrical tape over it, if this continues! LOL

Here's Addie first thing in the morning :)

To whet your whistle, the below picture demonstrates how Ben is channeling Addie, with the cheesy fake smile. This is on one of the bus rides from the Magic Kingdom.