2012 Days of Sunshine: Day 5

On Tuesday, June 5th, we were off bright and early to Disney's Animal Kingdom. We knew the forecast called for increasing chances of rain through the day (as well as the week) so our ponchos and umbrellas were packed along with dry socks. Rain or shine, we were ready!

We arrived shortly before the gates opened to the park, and were part of the first "wave" of people through. We veered off to the right to Dinoland (per Ride Max instructions) and had the area pretty much to ourselves. The morning was fairly relaxed, visiting various rides, shows and play areas. After lunch, we were able to use our Fast Passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari tour before being seated in awesome seats for the Lion King show.

After Lion King, the skies opened up and we decided to leave Animal Kingdom for the comfort and dryness of our resort rooms (we also had three very tired little boys). After drying off and having a bit of down-time, we ventured on to Epcot for the evening as we had dinner reservations at The Garden Grill. I believe this was easily one of our favorite meals of the week, and I'll describe it more here in a bit. We were then rained on for a while longer, but the skies did clear enough for us to see the Illuminations fireworks show over the lake at Epcot. Tuesday was a great day despite the rain!

Here's what we did while at Animal Kingdom:

• Primeval Whirl (Caleb was tall enough, but Logan was not and was quite upset by this. Caleb and Ryan had a great time on this ride!)
• TriceraTop Spin
• The Boneyard
• Dinosaur (Caleb didn't want to do this ride, so Papa, Logan and I checked it out. Fun!)
• Expedition Everest (Logan was surprisingly tall enough for this roller coaster! He says this was his favorite ride of the whole week. Fast Passes were SO the way to go for this ride!)
• It's Tough to be a Bug 3D show
• Lunch at Pizzafari
• Kilimanjaro Safaris (We had an excellent tour! I believe we saw nearly all the animals housed here - lions, cheetahs, hippos, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, Nile crocodiles, and more!)
• Festival of the Lion King

Our evening at Epcot:

• Dinner at The Garden Grill -- this is one we would do again, easily! The food was delicious (ok, maybe not the dessert...) and served family-style using mostly foods grown there in "The Land" section of the park. The boys all ate very well, and we discovered after being seated that we were actually in a revolving restaurant! We completed one full revolution while eating. The big highlight for Caleb and Logan was that we were visited at our table by Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale! Logan was on the lookout the entire time, and made sure to let us know long before we had a 'guest'! Toben was NOT sure of these overgrown animals, and screamed and cried any time one was near -- yet he cried 'bye!' after each one left. It was so sad and so hilarious at the same time.
• Living with the Land
• Spaceship Earth
• Journey Into Imagination with Figment
• IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth fireworks show

2012 Days of Sunshine: Day 3 & 4

We arrived in Orlando at about 3:30 Sunday afternoon, after another successful day of driving. My parents met us in the parking lot of the Disney resort we stayed at, Port Orleans Riverside. (Side Note: We loved staying here!! It met and exceeded our expectations wonderfully!) The boys didn't know that Gram and Papa would be joining us for our Disney adventure, so they were rather surprised to see these familiar faces coming out of a familiar car parked next to us! Let me just say up front... it was wonderful having Gram and Papa along for the week!!

Sunday evening was spent exploring the resort and eating our first "Table Service" meal on the dining plan at Boatwrights, the restaurant at Riverside. After a yummy cajun-style meal we walked around the main pool area and the boys played on a playground adjacent to a campfire area where folks could make s'mores and listen to stories told by a Cast Member (employee).

Monday morning our goal was to be at the Magic Kingdom before the park opened at 9, since we'd heard they have a special ceremony that Mickey and the gang do just before the "rope drops" and the park is officially open. I am so glad we got there to see it! It set off our time at Magic Kingdom just right! The boys got so excited and all showed it in different ways -- Caleb grinned from ear to ear, Logan watched attentively, and Toben was both physically and vocally excited.

So that this post doesn't get terribly wordy, and also that I may remember what happened, here are some highlights and a listing of the rides and attractions we experienced on this day:

• Dumbo
• Barnstormer (the boys' first official roller coaster!)
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Buzz Lightyear (Fast Passes ROCK!!! This was the boys' favorite of the day.)
• People Mover (strangely, one of the boys' favorite rides of the week)
• Astro Orbiter
• Space Mountain (again, Fast Passes are the BEST! Logan enjoyed this one but it was Caleb's least favorite ride of the week.)
• Lunch reservations at Tony's Town Square on Main Street (Italian style... yum!)
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Swiss Family Treehouse
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• Jungle Cruise

At this point, it was getting very hot outside and we needed a change of pace. We went back to the resort for a bit of down-time and then boarded a water taxi that took us down to Downtown Disney, an area with several shops and places to eat. We enjoyed a dinner at The Earl of Sandwich and then explored The Lego Store. Ryan and I left the boys with my folks and headed to a Christmas store while my parents took the boys to Once Upon a Toy, where the boys each got to build their own Light Saber. I think that was a definite highlight of the week for all the boys involved... my dad included! 

After our water taxi ride back to the resort, we called it a night fairly quickly since we had plans to explore Animal Kingdom the next day!

Some shots of Monday at Magic Kingdom (notice all the sunshine, blue skies, and shadows... those will not be seen the rest of the week!!!)

We had to purchase these files... The faces on Caleb, Logan and my dad are too funny!!

Toben pointing to Mickey Mouse as he arrives on the train! His whole body was shivering in excitement.

First ride of the day on Dumbo!

Tomorrowland Speedway

The boys' first roller coaster: The Barnstormer! We realized on Friday when we went back to MK that Toben was actually tall enough to ride it, too, so he got to experience his first roller coaster then!

Buzz Lightyear. Totally a favorite - you got to ride in a 'car', and shoot at targets with lasers. Made. For. Boys.

The Littles and me on the People Mover

Astro Orbiter

Tony's Town Square for lunch

Loved seeing this giggling face so much! Aladdin's Magic Carpets

Outside the Lego Store in Downtown Disney

Caleb and Ryan were in their 'happy place' at the Lego Store. Are those the eyes of "want" or what? (no, we didn't get that)

2012 Days of Sunshine: Days 1-3

Our family vacation had finally arrived!!

We had been talking with the boys about our long drive to Florida to stay with Tristan and his family. Tristan is the son of my BFF Kelli and her husband Shawn, who are currently stationed just outside of Pensacola, FL with the Marines. The boys lurve Tristan, so they were SO EXCITED, SO VERY EXCITED to head his way. They asked nearly daily about when we were leaving, and we had to go over many details about what we could do once we were there -- go to the beach, play games, eat ice cream, etc.

What we DIDN'T tell the boys about our trip to Florida, though, was that after visiting Kelli, Shawn, and their crew we were headed over to Orlando for six days at Walt Disney World. Cruel? Nah.

We'll get to Disney in future posts. :)

We left our home at about 5:20 on Friday morning, June 1st, and about 10 hours later we were on the Campbell's doorstep. The car trip went super smoothly, with us only needing to stop twice that whole time. The kids started playing together right away while we finished dinner prep and welcomed home the newly promoted Major Campbell. :) Kelli had prepared a scrumptious peach cobbler for dessert which, left alone with it for any amount of time, I'm sure my husband would have been happy to polish off.

We had an AMAZING time in Pensacola!! Saturday morning, we met up with my Aunt De for breakfast and had a great time chatting and catching up. Then we headed back to Kel's home to prepare for the rest of the day at the beach! The kids got along fabulously well and we couldn't have had a better day at the beach. The temperature of the air and the water was perfect, the seas were calm and oh-so-beautifully blue and clear, the sand was gorgeously white, and all of us had the greatest of time. Shawn taught our crew a bit about paddle boarding, and all three of my littles experienced a beach trip for the first time.

We rounded out our trip to the beach with a fun dinner at Flounders, followed by some of that amazing peach cobbler back at the house. We all nodded off relatively early from being so happily exhausted, and my crew was headed out Sunday morning for the remainder of our journey to Orlando. Truly, the time spent with the Campbells couldn't have been better! It made me long to be neighbors, but I don't see the Marines moving them to the Houston area anytime soon. ;)

More to come from our Days of Sunshine (which some really weren't, but that's for later posts)...