animal kingdom

We love Animal Kingdom.  It's on a much smaller scale than Magic Kingdom so it makes for a more relaxing day.  We always hit the safari ride first.  Rhinos, hippos. lions, giraffes, all sorts of hoof & antler type animals -- we love it. Gage and I rode it a few times so Adam and Savannah could race to Everest roller coaster. 

 

 

 

 

 

 The lines get longs later, but they rode it 8 times in a row!  Gage is technically enough, but he would be terrified.  Savannah figured out how to get in the front row -- ever time.This is the ride that they got stuck on -- at the top -- last year, and had to walk down 21 flights of stairs to get down when they shut the ride down while they were on it!!

We also spent some time in the dino dig area -- a big play area where they can dig for fossils, climb on dino bones, old jeeps, slide down huge slides, and jump on dino footprints that trigger giant roars.

 

 

 

We made sure to see the bug's life show.   Gage is still scare of that too. He's such a scaredy-cat!  He remembered that one of the bugs sprays you with acid (it's a mist of water, actually) and was all worried about that. He spent most of the 5 minute show hiding his head against me ;-)

ALthough we don't have any pictures, we also saw the Nemo and Lion King show. We didn't know that the Lion King show was being retired the very next day! It was REALLY good -- cannot believe they are ending it.  It's all acrobatics, fire eaters, singing. Very colorful - very interactive with the audience. I am so glad that we had a chance to see it before it ended.

magic kingdom

Day one at Magic Kingdome was a chilly one -- highs in the 40s!  That meant the park was empty in the morning.  So, Adam and Savannah made a beeline to the Space Mountain roller coaster, and Gage and I went right to Buzz Lightyear -- which we road 4 times in a row. That made for a happy boy. This was the first year Savannah was tall enough for Space Mountain,and of course...she wanted to go over and over.

 

 

 Turns out the day got very busy at the magic kingdom.  You know it was busy when we only rode It's a Small World ONCE!  Usually we ride it a bunch of times.

 Our last trip to Disney, Gage actually pulled the sword from stone.  This year...no such luck. I looked online to learn about how it works, and it seems that there is a person who sits in a room upstairs in the Cinderella castle and controls it. But, they only do it now and then, so it's a complete surprise when it happens.  The word is that the person has a view of the stone, and only releases it for kids. And...sometimes they have fun with it.  They will release it for a kiddo every time that kid tries it, but not for anyone else - so some kids will do it over and over and over and get the sword every time, but any other person who tries has no luck. We keep trying...and trying..and trying.  Maybe someday we'll get lucky again. 

 

 Visiting some princesses --- this is Cinderella's glass slipper!

 Meeting Rapunzel for the first time. I don't know what she was talking to the kids about, but she had them giggling up a storm.  I heard her ask the girl who went in front of Savannah and Gage if she had stinky feet.  They are so silly!

 

 The speedway. Savannah and I were hot on Daddy & Gage's tail. We may have bumped into them a few times ;-)

 

 The new section of Fantasy Land is open!! 

 

 We left after lunch this day because the park got very busy. But, we came back to have dinner and squeeze in a few rides. We found Cinderella and Prince Charming's horses on the carousel.  One of the Disney secrets that not many people know...but we do! Cinderella's horse has a gold ribbon on the tail, and Prince Charming's is all red, black & gold (that is what Gage is riding) and has a crown on the saddle.

 

 

 One more try....no luck!

 The castle was still lit up from Christmas and it looked so pretty!

 Saying goodnight to Main Street for the day. Off to Animal Kingdom the next day.

sea world

We started our Florida trip with a visit to SeaWorld this year!  First up...the arctic penguin exhibit. After a little ride, we went into the penguin area and it was cold (about 30 degrees)!  Some people actually had parkas on just for this exhibit..but we toughed it out with short sleeves on. 

 

 After that, Adam ran off to ride one of the big roller coasters and Savannah pouted a little because she wasn't all enough. So..we checked out a few exhibits and even ran into a flock of flamingos going for a walk!!

We caught up with Adam again for the dolphin show, where we got a litttttle bit wet because we sat in the splash zone.  The show was great -- they loved it! 

 

 Next we went to see dolphins up close (really close) but I didn't get any good pics. The stingrays however, loved Savannah. I think she touched about 100 of them. Gage was happy after he touched 1 :-)

 Shark encounter!!  This was in the tunnel... that guy seems to think Gage looks tasty :-)

 

We also saw a sea lion show, which Gage really loved. It was super silly.

 

 

 Most of the rides for kids are in one section, so first up was the undersea carousel.

 

 The kid in charge of the ride came around to check seatbelts and made Adam put a seatbelt on because "everyone who rides must wear one".  I don't know how he got that kid-sized belt on...it was rather amusing!!!!

 Here Gage is being "brave" riding with NO HANDS!

 Guess who he got that idea from?!

In the afternoon we saw the Shamu show -- the killer whales.  Savannah insisted we sit in the soak zone --- I got worried when I saw all of our neighbors putting on rain panchos!! I was right to worry.

 We got SOAKED.  Savannah LOVED it. Gage was miserable.

We rounded out the day with a few more kids rides, but there was a BIG storm heading our way so we called it a day.  Everyone picked out a stuffed animal and we made a break for the car before the storm hit.  So, SeaWorld was fun.

first lost tooth

Savannah (aka snaggletooth) has been wiggling her loose tooth for weeks now. She was determined to lose it at Disney because she thinks tinker bell will pick up her tooth there (because tink is the head fairy in Disney world, you know). Here she is on the ride down to Florida - it was barely hanging in! And here she is about 10 minutes after we checked into our room!  Adam pulled it for her and let me say it was a little traumatic. She cried because it bled for a few minutes.

But, tinker belle DID come to get it and left her $5, 2 Disney dollars, and a tinker bell pin.  There was also a trail of glitter from the window to Savannah's pillow and although mommy was quite proud of herself for this magical touchy, savannah was quick to point it lit that pixie dust is "always" yellow and this was silver and pink. Touché little girl. Mommy tried, though. 

Quite the sister, savannah offered to give gage her $5 so he could buy a pin for himself! Well....gage looked under his pillow and found a Disney dollar and a jake the pirate pin!! I don't think that gage will get something when his sister loses teeth in the future, but special things happen in Disney ;-)

santa's almost here!

Christmas is so close...the kids are going nuts!   Here are a few of the ornaments we made this year. We turned their handprints into santas...

 we did some felt tree ornaments...stuffed with cotton balls because we had to improvise!

 we made popsicle stick trees

 and cornstarch ornaments - I love how they turned out so simple and bright white

 we made gingerbread houses...and more gingerbread houses!

and ice cream cone xmas trees

 and...we reached the end of our countdown calendar.  I pin red envelopes with numbers on them to the pantry door every year. Every morning when the kids open them, there is an activity to do. 

 And...we baked gingerbread cookies for Santa because those are his favorite. But...Gage may have snuck in to eat a few of Santa's cookies on Xmas eve ;-)