Take a look . . .

Click on the link below and check out picture 10. Even though her name isn't Tabisha, we'll forgive them!

http://www.roanoke.com/photography/slideshows/galleries/0430_vtspringtraining/gallery.html

Day Two - Animal Kingdom

Day Two. Another beautiful day, although it was pretty hot about midday. It was a good thing we were at Animal Kingdom which has many shady spots to get some relief from the sun! It was an early morning. We needed to be at the buses at 8:15 in order to make it to the park by opening. Being at the park by opening is key. You can get so much done in such a short amount of time (before all of those other people get there)! Of course our morning didn't go as planned. We woke up a little late and then had to shower, make our lunches (yes another key to saving time and money), pack the diaper bag, get everyone dressed. Ok, I think you get the point. So we finally made it out of the room by 8:30 or so and off we went on the bus.

You would think the next thing is that we would be there, right? Well, no. After about ten minutes we were outside of Animal Kingdom. The next 20 minutes after that, we essentially sat in the same place, moving inches at a time toward the park. There was a traffic jam just getting into the park! I have never experienced anything like that before. It was almost pure torture, sitting there, being able to see where we wanted to be but not being able to get there. After about a half an hour we finally made it though.

Our first ride at Animal Kingdom was the safari. An absolute must do for our family and usually an absolute must do, multiple times. We grabbed a fastpass (ticket thing that gets you to the front of the line - well, kind of) for about an hour later and then we got in line to go on the safari right then since the wait was only 20 minutes. Of course the wait was only about 10 minutes and then we were off! We saw the rhinos, elephants (even the babies), hippos, the sleeping lions, monkeys, ostriches, and ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh the giraffes! This is the first time that we have actually seen the giraffes close. Usually they are way off in the distance and you can barely see them. This time, all of the mamas, daddies and babies were RIGHT next to the road. They were eating their breakfast and and one of the babies was actually chasing a rabbit! They were a sight to see!

After the safari right we turned right around. That's right people, we didn't even go find the stroller! We got right back on the safari with our fastpass. Woohoo! The funny thing is, on the second trip, the animals had all moved or new ones were out. It really is totally different each time you go on it!

Next, we were off to go do the other rides. We rode Dinosaur. This ride took a little encouragement from us to get Ethan to even get on it. This is where the "I have to go potty" thing started. Let me tell you a little about our son. If you are ever in a line with him for an amusement park ride you better be prepared. At almost every ride, you will get almost to the front of the line. I mean like one or two people away from getting on. And you will hear this little voice from below say, "I have to go potty REALLY bad!" Now, being his mother and spending every day with him, I know this kid only peas a few times a day. At amusement parks, he must pee 400 times a day. It is every ride! Last year at Disney, we would get out of line and bring him to the bathroom. Then get back in line, only to wait all over again. This year, I was on to him! I am pretty sure he just has the nervous pees! The new rule was, it doesn't matter how bad you have to go, we are NOT getting out of line! Sounds harsh, doesn't it? It's not, because I don't believe he really had to go. After the ride he would tend to forget he even said he had to go. Of course, this whole situation makes Brian VERY nervous. He says Ethan is wearing diapers next time.

Alright, back to the Dinosaur ride. If anyone has been on it before, you know it is a little scary. We kind of new that but we like the kids to try new things and decide for themselves if they like it or not. On we went with both Tabitha and Ethan. The ride was a little intense and scary but what is interesting is that Tabitha didn't flinch once. She didn't even hide her head in my side (like Ethan has always done when something is scary). She watched everything, eyes wide open. Very interesting! Well, once we were off the ride Tabitha quickly announced, "I never do that again!" and then Ethan chimed in, "me either!". So, I guess that ride is off the list! Oh well, at least they tried!

The rest of the day went kind of quickly. We ate our lunch under the shade of a tree, watched the Nemo show, rode Triceratops Spin and the flying dinosaurs and watched the parade. Oh, we found the perfect spot to watch the parade. I'm not telling you though, it's our secret! After the parades we walked through the animal trek walking areas and saw many more animals (bats, tigers, fish, birds). The only thing we never saw was the zebras. Where are you zebras?

It was getting really hot and the park was about to close anyway so we headed to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had our one and only reservation this night at T-Rex in Downtown Disney. This place is awesome! The decor is great and so is the service. We had meteor showers in our area every 15 or so minutes. Tabitha was a little leery of the moving dinosaurs. She kept saying they eat people, even though the waitress clearly explained that they eat cheerios. However, under the watchful eye of a pterodactyl she ate every drop of her food and behaved like a princess!

One final note. On the way to T-Rex is when he rain started. You'll hear more about that later. Next post, day 3, Magic Kingdom on Monday.

Day One Part Two - Magic Kingdom in the Evening

So, after we checked into Pop Century we hauled all of our crap lovely things across the massive resort and up to our room. Before anyone was allowed to sit down or touch anything I began the disinfecting process. The disinfecting process: spray everything that might be touched with Lysol, remove all nonessential bed coverings (like those never washed bedspreads) and wipe all frequently touched places (i.e. door handles and light switches) with Lysol wipes all while holding your breath so the fumes don't kill you. Sounds extreme, hugh? Some of you might be thinking, "is she a germaphobe?" Nope! Not unless I am at Disney World! The reason being that up until this past trip (where I disinfected everything, including the children every ten minutes) we have gotten sick every time we have brought the kids to "The Happiest Place on Earth". And I don't mean the sniffly, coughing kind of sick. I mean the 5 year old projectile vomiting kind of sick. I'll pass on that whole mess thank you very much. So, if that means I spend 30 minutes inhaling toxic fumes, I'll take the risk to keep every one's food in there stomachs!

Now, as I was saying, after our disinfecting we headed out to the Magic Kingdom. It was beautiful and sunny and not too warm. The kids were so excited to get on the bus and off we went. The park was pretty packed so we decided to pick a couple of rides to fit in so we wouldn't have to do those when we were back at Magic Kingdom on Monday. First we were off to Thunder Mountain. This was going to be a test of Tabitha's height. Without her tennis shoes on she is about 39 and a half inches. With them she is a hair over 40 (the height restriction for most rides). So needless to say she didn't wear her crocs during most of the trip because they made her too short!

The evening went by pretty quickly. We picked up a quick dinner at Harbor House, did the Stitch show/ride, watched SpectroMagic (the light parade) and then saw the fireworks over the castle. The kids were so happy to be there that I don't even think they realized how tired they really were. We left the park a little before midnight and made our way back to the room. I think the kids were in bed around 1 or 1:30am. No, it didn't take us that long to get back but it did take us a while to give them their baths. Yes, baths are part of the disinfecting process!

Stay tuned . . . Animal Kingdom is next!

Day One - The Drive to Orlando

Saturday morning at 5:45am as promised we woke both kids, told them to quickly get dressed, threw a bag of kix at each of them and shoved them out the door into the car. As you can imagine, the first question Ethan asked was, "Where are we going?". Our answer to that was, "for a drive". So, we all packed in the car with backpacks full of disney items (pez despensers, goofy crayons, mickey and minnie coloring books, disney sunglasses, disney puzzles). You would have thought that would have been a clue but nope, they had no clue. Also joining us in the car was our dual dvd players and of course Ethan's Nintendo DS. Oh, and the only movies I brought were disney ones. Hmmm, still no clue where we were going.

We began heading south. We THOUGHT this was a good thing since it was raining and cloudy here (but more on that later). We told the kids we were looking for sunshine. Again, they were fine with that. Brian had told them that since it was Saturday and there was no school then we would just drive for the day. That meant that at naptime when they were sleeping we would turn around and head back home to the baby house. For those of you who don't know what the "baby house" is, that is the apartment in "the Burg".

As noon approached Ethan took a breather from his DS and Tabitha from her movies (that she was only half watching) for our lunch picnic in the car. That's right, we packed our lunch for the drive. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips and other snacks. A great CHEAP lunch with the added benefit of not having to stop! By the way, during the whole trip we only stopped for gas and potty 3 times I think. Pretty good for a 3 and 6 year old!

Once again we were asked by the kiddos if we would be turning around to go back home after lunch. Of course we lied (like all good parents should do) and said of course but the only way we would was if both of them went to sleep for nap time! Within 15 or 20 minutes both of them were asleep and we were noise and fight free!

The naps lasted about 2 hours. Ethan woke up first and of course started playing his DS again. He obviously hadn't been looking up the entire trip because in South Carolina we started to pass palm trees and you think that would have been a clue that we were no where near home. When they woke up both kids asked if we had turned around already. Of course the answer was yes. It really is ok to lie to your kids everyone. Especially when there is a great surprise in it for them. By this time too, Brian and I were having a difficult time keeping straight faces since they still weren't getting it!

At about 3pm we were getting into serious Disney territory. We were an hour away from "The World" and it was getting pretty obvious. Anyone who has ever driven to disney before would know what I meant. As you approach you pass Universal and Sea World. There are also numerous skyscrapers and city like things as well as billboards with disney stuff all over them. Obvious right? Noooo! Still no idea. Still clueless. Ethan did ask if we were almost back to the baby house. We said we would be there in about an hour. Well, our baby house is in Blacksburg surrounded by green mountains, sparse houses and lots of open land. Not exactly the CITY we were driving through. Oh, I also forgot to mention that as we drove by all of the huge billboards, Tabitha was pointing them all out and saying what was on them. This added more laughter and entertainment to Brian and I since they both STILL had no clue!

Alright, now we are essentially there. Brian and I can see Disney buildings and the huge entrance they have that has Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto on it. We were approaching this huge signage, getting closer and closer. Brian and I were laughing harder and harder trying to contain ourselves. We still had no reaction from the backseat. Then, finally, we hear Tabitha from the backseat and she says, "Look!", and we think, this is the moment, she has figured it out! Nope, she was looking at something else and still didn't even see the huge characters in front of her.

Then it happened. Immediately she noticed Pluto and then the others. She started rattling off their names one after the other. Then we heard Ethan shut off his DS and say, What?, What is this? Where are we? Our response was, "Surprise! We're going to Disney World!". What did Ethan say, "I thought so.". Little liar! He didn't think so, he had no clue! Then Ethan asked if we were only staying for a day and going back home that night! So cute! When he found out we would be at Disney for 5 more days he was really excited. Then the screaming and the hyperactivity started coming from both of them. They couldn't contain themselves they were so excited! By 4pm or so we were in the parking lot of the Pop Century Resort.

The buses at Disney are a favorite for both of our kids. They just love riding on them. So, when they saw the first buses they almost jumped out of their skin!

Here are Ethan and Tabitha standing outside of our room. We had a great view of the lake and the creepy unfinished early years part of the Pop Century resort. We stayed in the 60's building.

We had an elevator but decided to "take the yo yo" as the kids would say, most of the time. The yo yo covers the stairs that go up the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. Luckily we were on the 2nd floor.

Here are some of the decorations on our building. We had lots of play-doh around and some characters. The Hippy Dippy Pool was also on the other side of our building. We never actually made it into that pool. If you read my later posts you will understand why!

More posts are coming. Next will be the rest of Saturday. We make our way to the Magic Kingdom for some night time fun!

Tomorrow . . .

Tomorrow we leave for THE WORLD. That's right, mickey ears, humidity and crowds of people await us. The kids have absolutely no clue that we are going and Brian and I are loving every minute of it. We plan on ripping them out of bed at 6 am and throwing them in the car. Then we will drive for 10 hours all while avoiding every question about where we are going. Yes, we lie to our children! It is all worth it though to see the expression on their faces when they figure it out. I live for that moment!

The big question is, when will they realize where we are going? Will it be after North and South Carolina or not until we reach Florida? Will Ethan even be able to read the state names or will he even look up from his Nintende DS or movie to notice. Lets just all cross our fingers for one thing, that they fall asleep at some point during the trip for my own sanity!

A Boy and His Trains

Saturday was Rail Day at the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke. We decided to bring the kids so they could have a chance to look at all of the big trains that they have there. Of course the model train set was a big hit with both Ethan and Tabitha.

This is one of the old trains that they had on display. Of course Tabitha wanted to be able to go in all of the trains and wanted us to just "ask the people" if we could go in them. There were only a few that you could actually look inside though.

Here are Ethan and Tabitha standing next to the big train wheels. Can't you tell how much Tabitha LOVES Ethan! What you don't see is she is probably pinching him!

This locomotive is GE's fuel efficient model. It was huge!

The kids were actually able to go inside this train and see where the coal went and talk to two engineers who were inside. There sure were a lot of knobs and levers in there!

Watch out! Just kidding, none of these trains were going anywhere. I am also sure they hadn't been anywhere in a long, long time.




Ethan and Tabitha both thought this train looked like it was straight out of the movie, Polar Express.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers Day is a day to celebrate our mothers and is usually a day spent going from house to house visiting, eating and giving gifts. This year the day will be a little different for us. We are not at home to visit with everyone or eat with everyone. We actually won't have anything to do. I have begged for this kind of Mother's Day for years. This year I get to be a little selfish and just celebrate MY Mother's Day. Of course this makes me feel terribly guilty so here is our message to all of the mothers.

Happy Mother's Day . . . we love all of the mothers (and grandmothers and great grandmothers)in our life. Every one of you is strong and an unbelievably fantastic mother. We hope you all have a great day and that you enjoy every moment! Sleep in, eat a great breakfast, go shopping and spend lots of time with family! We wish we were there to spend the day with all of you.

Maybe at some point today we will get the kids to do a video message. That's if I wake up before noon tomorrow!