We had breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Goofy welcomed us with open arms. We met Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto, and Goofy, and received a nice anniversary cupcake. Lots of fun- perhaps the high point of our kids' visit!
Friday night was "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party". Despite being a "hard ticket event" (requiring extra cash), it was worth every penny! Emily and Alex trick-or-treated (the adults did too!) and scored more than 500 pieces of candy! In addition, Alex and Emily rode Dumbo, then Alex and my mom rode Dumbo while Emily and I rode the Carousel. Emily danced with Chip, Steve rode Space Mountain, we saw the fireworks ("Hallowishes"), and we saw the "Boo to You!" parade- TWICE. We watched it in Frontierland from a bad vantage point, then made our way toward the front gate only to be blocked by... the front of the parade! And the second time, we were in the front row! We didn't get home to 11:30 (with some very tired kids), but it was well worth it. Good thing the next day was a down day!
We spent Friday morning at Animal Kingdom. We did the Safari, which had to stop three times because animals were in the road. We saw lots of animals out and about- too bad my camera couldn't handle it! Most of the photos were blurry. After that we made our way to the Jungle Trek, and on the way ran into a "living vine"- a cast member dressed up as a vine, climbing lamp posts, entangling herself on railings, etc. After the Jungle Trek we saw the Festival of the Lion King then had lunch, after which we spent some time looking for Alex's lost sunglasses, then headed home for downtime to prepare for the Halloween Party.
Thursday was Epcot. Soarin' (in the Land Paviliton) was great- Emily and I rode it TWICE. The ride had technical difficulties the second time, while Amanda rode with us. Emily loved it. Living with the Land was very interesting and educational. Alex was scared of the dark parts but loved the greenhouse (we have lots of pictures). We even found two mickeys (I'm sure one of them qualified as "hidden"). Turtle Talk with Crush was also great- very interactive. And the fish in The Living Seas- Wow! Another hidden mickey, albeit a pretty easy one to spot. Took the boat across the lagoon, saw some characters, ate a Teppanyaki Lunch, saw the fountains, then went to the hotel for a break. (I highly recommend downtime during the hot part of the day.) When we returned, we parked at Boardwalk so we coudl come in and leave via the International Gateway. We rode Spaceship Earth, which everyone enjoyed, then had ice cream while we waited for Illuminations. I do believe this was the first fireworks show that Emily enjoyed! Unfortunately, Alex and especially Claire did not. Claire wigged during the fireworks. After that we made our way home with some very tired kids.
Today was a great first day to our vacation. We checked into Saratoga Springs at 10 and were in the park by 11:30. We've seen lots of great shows and met a bunch of characters. I think Alex liked meeting the Green Power Ranger the most, and Emily liked Kim Possible. Steve *finally* rode the Tower of Terror- what a rush!
Another Pump It Up birthday party. Kids sure do have a lot of energy! They can run without stopping for an hour and then eat sweet stuff. Oh, the humanity- and the metabolism.
We met the Bunkers in Paducah, KY, for Labor Day this year. We visited the Paducah waterfront, went across the border to Metropolis, IL, to see the giant Superman statue and visit the old fort, spent time in a freezing cold pool, played video games, and last but not least, went to the Paducah Labor Day parade. Lots of fun for the weekend and good memories for us all.
And we scored five pounds (literally!) of candy at the parade!
In addition to a full crawl, Claire is pulling herself up now. She is rapidly progressing when it comes to mobility. Emily was that way - she walked at 11 months. Claire turned 9 months yesterday, so it could be "no time at all" before she's toddling.
(And boy is she cute!)
It's official - Claire crawls. She's still in the super-grumpy stage (kids get grumpy when they are in the process of learning things) but she can now coordinate her arms and legs to move around. It seems like slow motion when she does it, but I'm sure that will last all of three days before she'll be racing around the house. Time for us to put those gates back up!
We went to the beach last week and had lots of fun. See a slideshow
at Flickr
Emily went for an eye exam this morning and lo and behold, she has the same problem Alex has, only not as severe. Amanda took her to the mall and they picked out some very nice glasses. Emily says she's excited - she knows she looks good in them!
Alex broke the board and got his white belt! This was his third lesson in Tae Kwon Do and they had him take the test to get his belt. We didn't even know it was time for that, so we weren't all that prepared - Amanda wasn't even there! But given the number of belts on the wall, I'm sure she'll have plenty of chances to see him break things with various parts of his body.
BTW, the young man holding the board is Daymon Mayham, Alex's instructor for the day. He's the son of a friend and coworker, Scott Mayham. He's been doing this since he was Alex's age, and now he's a third degree black belt who has won championships - something to which Alex can aspire!
