Introductions

Welcome to an old unfinished trip report from December 2003.

I found this and was sad to realize that I never completed it, but I figured I would post what I had....


An Introduction..... (the list of those who went)

Me, Melora (38, and trying to get as much out of it as possible until looming birthday)

Jeff (42), acting father (or acting kid actually)

Chris (18), along for the ride, counting the days until air force basic training

Sarah (16), family spiritual adviser and artist, often found drawing or reading Dalai Lama books

Emily (14), family actress who loves Disney as much as I do

Alex (8), Are we there yet?

Jeffy Jr (3), family horn, often found unwillingly loaded into a stroller wailing at the top of his lungs, makes getting through crowds much easier as people step back to stare

Grandpa Teddy (73), First time to Disneyworld and loving every minute of it

Grandma DeeDee (somewhere in her late 60s, apparently it is a highly guarded family secret), I’m sure enough will be said as the report unfolds

The Arrival

Welcome to our house. We currently have a total of 9 people residing within. (2 adults, 5 children, my mother and her live-in help) Yes it is a big house, but as you might well imagine not big enough.

We have had this trip planned since last June and all were very excited. The grandparents were not due to arrive from Vegas until the day before the trip, but in a fit of unparalleled brilliance Jeff decided that they simply could not miss Thanksgiving or Jeffy’s 3rd birthday. Thus they arrived one week to the day early.

The morning they were to arrive I lazed around the house, surfed the internet, watched some TV and then asked Jeff if he wanted to go and get some lunch.

“I cant, I have to be here.”

I must have given him a weird look because he gave me a weird look right back…

“What? Why do you have to be here?” My memory apparently is failing in my old age.

“My parents”…..long pause from him, continued blank stare from me

“My parents are coming" (pause) "in an hour…. Did you forget?”

Apparently so. As my jaw dropped to the floor, he reached over and replaced it gently.

“What do you mean they are coming today?” Reality had shifted in my brain and I became certain they were arriving tomorrow on Thanksgiving. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Somehow I thought that long conversation we engaged in last night might have clued you in.” Sarcasm, just one of his many talents.

“Yes but when you saw me just sitting around the house not doing anything, shouldn’t THAT have given you clue that I didn’t know what I was doing? ”

“Well yes, I was kind of wondering about it but since we just talked about it less than 12 hours ago I figured you knew what you were doing.” 

Yes, well he's never thought I knew what I was doing in the past, why on earth did he start now?

I became a blur racing from one room to another in an unbridled cleaning frenzy. Clothes were flying through the air, loosely aimed at the hamper, dishes were sailing into the dishwasher sideways, the hall closet door was open and toys were piling in faster than the eye could see. In less than an hour the house was practically presentable.

Just as I was collapsing on the sofa the doorbell rang and in swept the in-laws. Grandma Dee-Dee flung her arms around me and pressed my face into her ample bosom. “Oh..Oh…” cluck cluck “Oh my its so good to see you” cluck cluck “Oh I just missed you so much” cluck cluck

I became woozy as her perfume overwhelmed me.

Smiling and gagging I disengaged my self and ushered them into the house.

Thus began one week of preparation, one week of grandparents sitting in the den watching football 12 hours a day and one week of “Who on earth thought taking all these people to Disneyworld with us was a good idea?”.

 

The Departure

The morning of our departure dawned pink and soft, with clouds wisping gently in the eastern sky. Ahhhhhhhh such tranquility….

Well outside anyway.

Inside people were moving in every direction. Luggage was piling up, complete with piles of clothes laid on the floor in hopes of someone (me) finding room for these last minute items. Food was flying in all directions… bagels popping out of the toaster, empty cartons of orange juice sailing into the garbage. There was a 3 year old in the midst, naked from the waist down requesting chocolate milk and a visit to the potty. There was an 8 year old standing outside on the lawn playing “look for the limo“. I finally yanked him back inside so the neighbors didn’t call the police. (Or worse yet the HOA). Most people on our block are older folks who I’m sure don’t take kindly at hearing “Its not here yet” bellowed every 3 minutes at 7 AM.

As I was stuffing clothes into the suitcases the grandparents were engaged in “conversation”.

“Did you take your pills?”
“You didn’t give them to me.”
“Yes I did, I put them next to your dish.”
“No you didn’t, I would have seen them.”
“What do mean? You never see them, you probably just left them there like always and the baby ate them.”
“Oh the baby didn’t eat them, they taste terrible, babies don’t eat anything that tastes terrible.”
“How can you say that, you remember the neighbors baby? She ate cat food, now that can't taste any good, but she ate it anyway.”
“What does cat food have to do with my pills?”
“YOU were the one talking about cat food”
“I never said anything about cat food, we were talking about my pills.”
“Your pills? Did you take them?”
“You never gave them to me…”

It was about this time I noticed the 3 year old was now completely naked. Now see I am the ONLY one who notices this kind of thing. The limo could arrive, we could pile in, ride to the airport, get out, board the plane and he could still be naked and no one except me would notice.

As I was dressing said child, I heard the limo drive up. With the way Emily reacted you would have thought Johnny Depp himself was driving. Apparently riding in a stretch limo was a life long dream of hers.

A little foreign man in a suit began flinging our luggage into the trunk. I looked at the last of the stuff left on the floor and decided that it was OK if we didn’t bring another 3 sweatshirts and 12 pairs of socks. The socks mind you belonged to the 18 year old who not so long ago went up north on a visit and packed NO socks. Upon questioning this decision he said, “I’ll just wash the pair I have on every day.” Apparently that did not work out so well so now he decided to be overly prepared. Not to worry, I had already made sure he had enough.

Somehow we got all people and assorted luggage into the limo and got underway. It was quite spacious. And cheesy. It had color changing lights on the ceiling shaped like a rose, a non-working bubble light near the back door and strip lights all along the inside edges. I could just imagine a whole car load of teenagers coming and going to a prom all dressed up in stuffy, stiff clothes laughing and talking and thinking the limo was cool and classy.

Because of the hour (7:30 AM), and it being Friday, we had traffic concerns. We couldn’t take the 405, we’d still be trying to get to the airport at noon. So we took the scenic route over Malibu Canyon and then along the beach. I was thinking how gorgeous and beautiful the water was, the waves sloshing along the sand, then flowing back to the sea... millions and millions of gallons of wet, flowing, running water... AH CRAP! I realized why I shouldn't have had that extra cup of coffee. Jeff leaned over and asked if I ever noticed just how LIQUID the ocean looked....

You gotta go too, honey?

There really was a moment that I thought I surely could not go a moment longer and was resigned to perhaps wetting my pants, when suddenly the airport loomed into sight.

As we pulled to the curb, the little foreign man magically transported from the drivers seat to the back of the limo and began flinging the luggage onto the sidewalk. He had unloaded, ushered us out of the car, and driven off before I even realized that he overcharged us. ***SIGH***

 

The Airport and Plane

Somehow we got all of us and all of our luggage into the lobby and through the bag checks. I had one moment of panic when I thought we had accidentally checked the 3 year old in with the luggage, but he turned up right behind me. Sorry little guy, you didn’t need all those toes anyway right?

Since we seemed to have a good amount of time, we all piled into the McDonald's that was just outside of our boarding gate. The line was backed up to the door. There were 5 registers open but only one line. In theory this is a good idea, in practice it is something else. The manager decided it was something else. He wanted everyone to step to a separate lane but stay in order. My father in law does not hear well... either that he just doesn’t like to listen. He also is one of these people who thrive on the “Every man for himself” dictum. As the manager was asking everyone to step (in an orderly manner, please keep your spot in line) into separate lines, Grandpa grabbed me and propelled me from the back of the line all the way up to the counter, shoving me in front of people who had been clearly waiting in line for days. “Here this register is open” he said as he thrust me forward.

“May I help you?” the bored lady behind the counter asked. I was trying to wiggle my arm out of his grasp and explain to him that we should wait our turn. He announced loudly “Oh these people don’t mind, you have little kids at the table who need to eat, they understand…. besides we have to get on plane, go ahead and order.” Yes, well clearly we were the only ones with kids and who else here could possibly be waiting for a plane.

I could feel the stares of the people behind me boring through my back.

“Ma’am, can I take your order??” Her boredom was now turning to impatience.

Grandpa began ordering for himself and I just stood there like a statue.

“Go ahead and order honey,” Grandpa was smiling completely oblivious to the mounting hostilities behind us.

Suddenly a lady complaining loudly to the manager that her egg wasn’t yellow, that it was in fact white and therefore clearly not an egg, took all the attention off me and I somehow I squeaked out my order.

I found I had ordered one too many drinks, an extra sandwich and something that looked like hash browns but wasn't, but I was so glad to get away from the counter before the mob took me down that I didn’t even care.

An hour later we were settled onto the plane without further incident. The 3 teens were behind us and the grandparents and Alex were across the aisle.

At this point I must mention that I hate flying. Mostly the taking off part. As we are speeding down the runway I keep hearing all those news reports in my head: “The plane crashed just after take-off…”. I am fine once we get a safe distance into the sky, where I figure if something was going to fall off or break it would have done so by now.

After my usual take-off heart attack, I broke out the portable DVD players so Alex and Jeffrey could watch Spongebob for the next 4 hours.

Sometime mid flight, Grandpa had to use the restroom. He was seated at the window and thought it was necessary to crawl over both grandma and Alex to get out. The lady in front of them on the aisle was sound asleep and had been for at least 2 hours. As he stepped over Alex, he grabbed a hold of the back of her chair to help him balance and hauled it toward him as hard as he could. I don’t know, personally I would have asked the kid to get up, but that’s just me.

As he made the final step over Alex and straightened up, he let go of the back of the seat and launched the lady forward smack into the seat in front of her. She flew up, bleary eyed and looking for what hit her. She swung around and glared at Alex who was sitting there looking innocent. He smiled at her. She must have realized what had happened because her eyes suddenly shot to grandpa as he ambled cluelessly down the aisle.

I suddenly found the scenery out the window indescribably beautiful. So much so I had to press my face to the glass to get a better look. When I finally straightened up, the woman had settled back in her seat with her arms folded and a very cross look on her face. Jeff had his face buried in his hands, shaking his head. As Grandpa came back, Jeff reached over and hauled Alex out of his seat and told his mom to scoot over. Before his dad could question him, Jeff said “Just sit down Dad….” As his dad started to grab the seat back again to help lower himself down, Jeff grabbed his arm and helped him sit.

I don’t think the lady forgave him for sending her into orbit, but she never did say anything, although she did cast a sideways glance back at our row every now and again.

Not soon enough the Orlando skyline came into view and we were landing and on our way to Disney heaven.

Disney World here we come!

 

Dinner, sirens, and panic.....

Our "Happy Limo" driver was waiting patiently by the luggage carousal for us.

He helped us collect our luggage after Jeff parked his dad (who wanted to help..No I don’t think so) by the door.

The driver brought the car around and we piled like sardines into the back. The limo was smaller than the one that picked us up in LA. One long row of bench seats facing the passenger side which all of us squeezed onto, then the grandparents facing forward along the back and Alex in a tiny jumpseat next to the door. There was a working DVD player and the kids turned on Monsters INC.

Crammed in the limo:

We had asked for a grocery stop so the driver pulled up to a Kash and Karry (Oh I could be wrong, but that’s kinda what I remember it being called). Grandma got out with me and shopped for her own stuff while I ran through the market at top speed trying not to keep anyone waiting for too long. I filled a whole cart in less than 5 minutes. (Water bottles, laundry detergent, boxes of breakfast cereal…. All the stuff that costs a fortune at the world but is too bulky to schlep all the way across the US)

Everyone was completely amazed that I got in and out so quickly. The only problem was what to do with the 10 bags I had purchased. The extras that didn’t fit in the trunk (most of them) ended up on our laps.

The ride there was surprisingly short thanks to the DVD that was still playing and when the driver pulled up to Old Key West, we were all in happiness overdrive. The driver helped us unload and didn't overcharge us.... a real plus

We headed up to our room on the second floor and found that Grandma and Grandpa were safely 4 rooms over. A wonderful bellmen helped us with our bags and then we headed down to resort restaurant, Olivia's, for dinner.

Tables for 9 are always hard to come by but they sat us quickly and took our order right away.

Here is a good time to mention how fun it is to eat with Grandma and Grandpa. Now with 5 kids at one house (3 being teens) you might expect that when food is put on the table they plow into it with wild abandon so as not to miss anything. But this is not the case. Unless something is left unattended and alone in the refrigerator with no one around to see them snag it, everyone usually asks if they can have the last of something. I did not raise the grandparents, therefore they did not subscribe to the decorum as everyone else in the group.

Rolls were placed on the table and by the time the basket reaches me (waaaaaaay down on the other end as far away from where the food is served as possible) there is nothing but crumbs rolling around. I wonder if I can find one of the bigger crumbs and butter it. As I am staring into the void, Grandma, her mouth full of roll, and 2 more rolls on her plate says “We’ll ask the waiter for more, I got one extra for the baby, he just loves them.”

“The baby” (as everyone calls the walking, talking 3 year old) has disappeared under the table and is studiously ignoring his rolls. No problem, grandma will help him finish.

The waiter did bring some more rolls and placed right in front of me (thank you Sir, you get a big tip). This is one of the primary reasons we never order “family style” with the elders.

After our meal, we retired for the evening to our room, bursting with the excitement of our first day tomorrow.

Bright and early (well extra bright and way too early for those of us from the west coast) and we were ready to head off to Epcot. My reasoning was it was a good way to get the grandparents, who have never been here, eased into the whole theme park routine and being a Saturday it was probably the best choice to avoid crowds.

On the bus: 

Sarah & Emily

Chris and Alex:

Jeffrey and Jeff, who I am sure is saying something extremely important:

We got through the process of picking up our annual passes (cheaper than buying admission for 9 days and this way we can come back in the next year and its free) and headed to the entrance. It was at this point I discovered the folly of the backpack I chose to bring. It has 5 zippered pockets.

While everyone else passed through the security checkpoint quickly and easily,  I had to unzip each and every pocket while the rest of group stood around tapping their toes and scowling at me.

We headed over to the stroller rental where we discovered that Jeffrey had a previously undiscovered talent as a siren. To activate said talent, simply place him on his bottom in any stroller rented from WDW and an up-until-now-unknown switch activates and the loudest most persistent wail I have ever heard comes spewing forth from his mouth. Did I mention I was not amused? Well neither was he and after 10 minutes of me insisting he stay put and 10 minutes of everyone else in our party pretending not to know us, I begrudgingly let him out to walk.

Did I say walk? What I intended to say was I let him out to trip people who did not see him, to disappear without notice behind a trash can or to decide to join another family and be happily toddling off with a pair of legs that looked similar to our own. I was forever apologizing to unsuspecting patrons as they danced about trying to not step on him or yelping as a small hand inadvertently touched their rear end. You do have to admit that most rears are just about the right height for a 3 year old to goose as he reaches out trying to hold your hand.

You could always see us coming in a crowd. There was a wave of people bouncing about trying to keep their balance or suddenly hopping in the air as they felt a hand caressing their backside. Followed by a wave of  “I’m sorry. Oops, Jeffy, Watch Out. Oh Gosh, sorry about that. Jeffy get over here. OH I'm terribly sorry” 

It was either that or the siren.

We did somehow make it to our first ride, Mission Space.

What a beautiful gorgeous building. I LOVE space stuff. It makes me all tingly to look at it. I am in awe. The kids are beyond excited. Everyone is piling their things on the stroller (which has become a rolling locker) and are making plans about who is going with who. Even Grandpa has decided he is going.

Suddenly I do not feel so well. I need to sit. Panic has set in. I can’t go on that. I’ll get sick. I read about all those people losing their last meals or being sick all day. Uh-uh, no way!

I find myself being swept forward with the group and jostled into the building, as I am trying to explain that I have changed my mind, all the while this feeling of panic flowing through me to my very core. Everyone kept patting me and telling me it was going to be OK. In other words no one took me seriously. To this day I barely remember anything about the pre-show except standing there feeling my heart pounding in my temples. Everyone around me is smiling, laughing, giddy with anticipation. A small child (4 maybe 5 years old) stands next to me calmly smiling and waiting. Do these people not realize they are going to die? Or worse, puke all over the place? I reasoned I was the only one with enough common sense to know this, otherwise everyone else would be as panic stricken as I was.

They opened the doors and ushered us into the hallway right outside the loading area. I had been placed in the group with the teens. Chris, Sarah, and Emily. Jeff went with his dad and was one capsule over. Alex, the smartest of the group, had stayed behind with Jeffrey and Grandma.

The doors opened and the CM called us to get in place. As I walked slowly towards the door, I took one last look at Jeff, knowing I would probably never see him again.

My trip to space.....

As I am shuffled and shoved (by my own children mind you) into our space capsule, my palms were literally soaking wet. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my chest and I was starting to feel dizzy. I know if they do not close the doors soon I will bolt like a scared animal and run screaming down the hallway. (My family, I must add, would stand back and point and stare and wonder out loud who would bring such a person into an amusement park in the first place.)

The CM smiling sweetly asks if everything is OK, if everyone is ready, and to please sit back and enjoy the ride. I open my mouth but then force it closed. I will never forgive myself if I don't do this. As the doors swing close, sealing my fate I catch a little glimpse of Jeff in the capsule next to us, laughing and joking with his dad. My stomach sinks to my feet as the I hear the door click closed and I know I am doomed.

The kids, I might mention, are talking non stop about how cool it is in there. How they have been looking forward to this for, like, forever when suddenly one of them notices me. I think it was Emily. She was to my right.

“Mommy?……. Are you OK?” Has no one even remotely been listening to me?

“Mom?”

“What?”

“Are you OK?”

“How do I look?”

“Like you’re not OK”

Good observation child …. “No I’m terrified and I changed my mind”

Chris who is on my left is suddenly looking worried

“I’m really honestly scared to death and I really honestly do not want to do this. What am I going to do?”

Chris is now not looking so good.

“I swear I don’t know why I wanted to do this… I’m going to get sick, I’m going to puke, I’ll probably suffocate”

By now Chris is looking around for a way out. He of course does not find one… if there was, it would have been blocked by my butt high-tailing it out of there.

“Thanks Mom” he finally says

“What?”

“Now I’m scared.”

Both girls are now rolling their eyes and giving each other knowing glances. Clearly they thought it was going to be OK.

Poor deluded children.

As the control panel lowered itself into place, I realized I should follow all the recommended guidelines and keep my eyes and head totally focused on the panel in front of me. I gripped the joystick tightly. Not a whole lot of joy on my side of the ride right now. Chris looked as green as I did.

The countdown started and my heart was close to stopping. They do not really give you much time to come to peace with your God before you die. Suddenly the rocket was lifting off and I was uncontrollably chanting “I’m gonna be sick, I’m gonna be sick”. (Yes I know all of you readers out there would have reached out and smacked me but fortunately my family has a bit of compassion for their strung out mother, and I remained untouched.)

The pressure of lift off crushed me back against my seat and just before I thought I couldn’t take another moment, it ended and we were blissfully free of the earth's atmosphere and heading gently towards the moon. I was giddy with realization that I did not die on lift-off. (lift-off……. take-off…… I hate them all)

The rest of the ride I spent with this stupid big smile on my face. “I didn’t die” I kept saying.

Again the girls rolled their eyes.

“Why do you do that Mom?” Chris asked. “You had me freaked out.”

I was too happy to say much. The ride got bumpy at the end but it was fun and there was not the slightest bit of queasiness in my tummy.

As we all got out, Jeff was still smiling and laughing with his dad and did not have a clue as to how I almost died. Probably better not to tell him so he wouldn't worry. His dad loved the ride (go figure) and everyone piled out and headed to look for Grandma and Alex while I floated along behind them with a feeling of euphoria from the truly exhilarating experience.

Epcot Strikes Back

I was practically skipping as we got outside. I cannot begin to tell you how proud of myself I was. We scanned the crowds for grandma and found her sitting with Alex and Jeffy on a planter. She had let Jeffy take *Every*Single*Flower* off of the bush within his reach. It looked like a wedding processional had gone by. The ground, the planter bench, Grandma and Jeffy himself were COVERED in red flower petals. His fingers were also bright red.

“Look….. Flowers!” He announced happily, grabbing another handful and letting the petals cascade through his fingers.

Alex immediately told me he had nothing to do with it.

“Oh my!” was all I could say. I had no idea how there wasn’t Disney security swarming all over, arresting us for flower decimation.

“Jeffy…. You’re supposed to leave flowers ON the bush” I say it to him, but am looking at Grandma.

“Oh…that’s OK” she said “It kept him quiet, and no body cares. He’s just a baby anyway.”

Yes well I’m sure someone DOES care and can we please leave before one of those “caring” people finds us?

I grabbed the kid and headed to the closest bathroom to wash the incriminating evidence off his hands.

When I got out everyone was still standing among the flowers. I called to them from across the way (no way was I walking back over there) and we headed off to find some lunch. We decided on the Wonders of Life Pavilion where we grabbed some sandwiches and Chris lost Jeffrey.

We even have it on film.

Chris had gone off to check out some of the “totally cool” exhibits and Jeffrey tagged along after him. Chris had one of the video cameras and was filming absolutely everything. He was checking out the one where you put your hand into a hole and try to guess what’s inside. He was filming the exhibit, then Jeffery, then some more exhibit, then some more Jeffrey. He was talking the whole time. “Wow what’s this…oh look at that…. Look little Jeffrey.. Oh little Jeffrey, you’re so little, you’re so little all the time!”

He then took the camera and poked it inside one of the holes to film what was in there. The soundtrack to his film went something like this.

“Wow... look at that, look inside, whats in here? Jeffrey do you see this?” He takes the camera out and films Jeffy walking around between his legs. He puts the camera back inside another hole and continues…“What’s in THIS one... Oh can you see it... what is that, Jeffy, do you want me to pick you up and show you?” He pulls the camera out and points it down to where Jeffy was a second ago. “Jeffrey?….. Little Jeffrey??” The camera begins to pan quickly side to side, he starts to walk forward, obviously looking for the kid THROUGH the lens of the camera. “Jeffrey? Where are you?” Panic is rising in his voice and suddenly the camera rests on me walking towards him.

“Where’s Jeffy?” I sound very casual

“Ummmm... Ummmmmm”

“Chris? Don’t you have him?” I start to sound less casual.

“Ummmmm… Ummmmmm.. Well..... I swear he was right here a second ago”

He lowers the camera but doesn't turn it off so now we can see the floor as we hear 2 moderately frantic voices calling for the 3 year old.

Moments pass.... it felt like an eternity.

Suddenly you hear a relieved “OH, There he is” and then the camera swinging up and catching a smiling Little Jeffy swinging from a railing. Then a Jeff’s voice in the background… “Everything OK?” and my voice “Everything's fine….”

Chris turns the camera to his face looking slightly less stressed and whispers quietly, “OH man was THAT close!”

After that little excitement (OK so only a couple of us had excitement) we headed for the World Showcase.

The grandparents loved Mexico and thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride. Grandpa had a great time talking to all the nice ladies who were working the kiosks in the Mexican plaza. Grandma didn’t look amused.

From there we strolled towards Norway where I could hear the School Bread calling to me from 2 countries away. School bread, for those poor uneducated folk, is a wonderful sweet bread filled with custard and topped with coconut. Absolute heaven!! Well to most of us. Alex had already reminded me that he did NOT like school bread, but was hungrily looking forward to the chocolate cake he remembered having the last time we were there.

Jeff and I planted the entire group in the eating area and went in and ordered 3 school breads and a chocolate cake.

We carried everything out and I put the chocolate cake down in front of Alex and turned to deliver the rest of the goodies. One went to the older kids, one went to Jeff and I and one went over here to grandma and………... As I was about to put their bread down, I realized they had moved.... next to Alex and were devouring his chocolate cake. But perhaps “devour” isn’t a strong enough word.

Alex was sitting, a single tear in his eye, fork poised, yet unused, watching his food disappear. Chocolate crumbs were flying everywhere, their forks were a blur of motion.

“Oh my” cluck cluck “Oh my... this is SO good” cluck cluck... Grandma just couldn’t eat fast enough.

“OH No!” I gasped trying to remain calm. No use getting all hysterical.

I reached out and slowly removed the chocolate cake, both of their forks following it up and away from the table. I set the cake down on the table behind me . Alex scrambled off his chair and dove to the next table.

“I got this for you” I said as I put the school bread down in front of them. “Alex doesn’t like this, he only likes the chocolate”.

“Oh… this looks great” And they dove into the bread without missing a beat.

Alex had crammed 5 bites into his mouth at once. I patted him on the shoulder and whispered that he could slow down. He just kept stuffing.

After our snack the grandparents decided they had had enough for one day and wanted to go back to their room. We all walked them back towards the entrance. Jeff dropped the group off at Test Track and walked his parents all the way to the buses. With them, you have to worry that they may get lost somewhere along the way.

After we met back up him, we headed other direction in the world showcase, strolled around for awhile then began looking for a place to eat dinner.

We chose Morocco as it was close and they could seat us right away.

WOW! Was it great! A belly dancer entertained us while we ate. We ordered the Feast where all the food came family style. Lamb, couscous, chicken. We were totally stuffed.

 

When we left we were all weaving slightly from the amount of food we had eaten. Jeffrey had passed out and was sleeping peacefully in the stroller. It was beyond cold that night and the girls and I walked hooked together trying to share body heat.

On the way out of the park we decided to hit the big store for a bit of early souvenir shopping. We picked up some jackets and sweatshirts and as we stood at the cash register buying our stuff, Emily, while admiring Christmas ornaments, somehow managed to break one.

SMASH! It burst into about a million pieces as it hit the floor. Emily looked up, her face beet red. For one brief moment, she had absolutely nothing to say. Her mouth was open but there was no sound coming out.

“Oh its OK... Don’t worry” The lady taking care of our order was so sweet. She jumped out from behind the counter and somehow put up a perimeter around the shattered glass and grabbed a broom in 5 seconds flat.

Emily finally found her voice and began apologizing and looking more embarrassed then I think I have ever seen her. The lady kept shushing her and launched into a lengthy explanation about how SO many people break “those dang ornaments” and its just how they are hung up... and please please don’t worry about it.

She got it all cleaned in no time and, still smiling, finished ringing up our order and had us on our way.

Soon enough we were on the bus back to our room. Our first day behind us, but 8 more stretching out ahead.

It promised to be a fun and entertaining trip.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am sad to say this was as far as I got. We had such a great trip but I got a little too wound up in the fun to write every day. I still have my notes so I may try to to finish this up at some point.

The biggest reason I wish I had written more was that Grandpa died a year later and I would have liked to have written more about him.

 

 

 

Photos

 

Here are some of the photos from the trip: 

 

At the China Pavilion

 

 

You always need a picture with the troll in Norway

 

Taking the ferry across the lake

(Smile Chris!)

 

 

First day with their own video camera and they all laid around on the bed watching what they had recorded that day

 

  Sarah enjoying her morning coffee on our Balcony:

 

Some pictures with the characters:
 

 

 

Bugs Land

 

 

Jeffrey trying out a race car at the Magic Kingdom
 

 

Dinner at the Whispering Canyon Lodge

 

The group in front of the Mickey Statues