Home Again

And without much fanfare, we are home.  :)  Whenever I am flying and the pilot says something along the lines of "overcast and 50 degrees in Seattle" I nearly cry. I am a true northwest girl, and I love the cool air on my face.  

Until next time!!!

 Thelma and Louise signing off!!

Cocoa Beach

Important info from today:

• the Atlantic Coast bites (where are the waves?)
  
• my new purse is the bomb
  
• Mom and I LOVE a road trip
  
• new shoes make a person whole
  
• the Yaris is not your next car, dad
  
• sunburns fade faster than I remember
  
• Propel has not become wildly popular on the East Coast yet
  
• you must turn the camera off before the battery dies or you're up a creek
  
• Vegas is calling our name...
  

Tomorrow  -- pool time and mini-golf!! Wee-haw. :)

Where's Waldo?

Where are you? Seriously, you all have to be somewhere in this park. Everyone I have ever met, seen, taught or passed on the freeway is in this park. We're a little bit on crowd overload today.  :)  Case in point, when in line to play this fun video game below, I went in to teacher mode when the boys behind us ran in to me for the third time.  I was a little horrified by the ease at which I thought I should manage the crowd, but it was effective nonetheless.

So this video game was so fun! Actually, I found it more amusing than mom, and you will see why below. A program creates you as the character of this game by video capturing your image, the way you run and jump. Unfortunately I "killed" mom several times, despite how cute she was when she jumped

Look at her hair as she jumps!!! :)
We walked through World Showcase, and were impressed by Disney's attention to detail in every country. But....we were tired, a little cranky and both pretty stiff. Mom was walking like John Wayne (hips), and I had the Rockhopper Penguin from SeaWorld down (apparently the penguin has a sore back too).  We bought margaritas Vegas style out of a slurpee booth in Mexico, began to feel better by Norway and were cheerful and laughing by the time we took this picture in China. :)
There's a good chance we're going to opt for a non-Disney, totally Thelma and Louise style adventure tomorrow. If you're loose in the Orlando area, batten down the hatches!!!

Animal Kingdom

Well, we started our "morning"  in search of coffee again (we learn slow...).   We ended up sleeping until 1pm, so coffee seemed important. I found a "coffee bar" in Animal Kingdom, so we headed out.  Coffee was drinkable, just not cravable. :)

We came to Animal Kingdom specifically for the Safari ride (I'm sure it has a real name, but I can't think of it right now). Unfortunately they were out of fast passes, and the wait was 110 minutes.  So we sort of stood around wondering what to do with our day. We were fortunate enough to overhear another woman say she needed to give her tickets away. So we jumped on that and headed for Safari.

This guy opened up his chompers just for us!
These guys were in the walking part of the Safari experience, and line up in this weird three "person" formation, that made me feel like we were being watched. Then one of them charged forward toward us, and I don't mind telling you I was a little freaked out!
We took a break in a little outdoor cafe.  The Animal Kingdom has done a great job of recreating the African and Asian areas. You forget you are at Disney and assume you might be in the real place. I was so convinced that I was abroad that I announced several times that I wasn't using the bathroom where we were ( you know how I am about bathrooms...).


Our last stop before dinner was a time waster called "It's Tough to be a Bug".  It was a 3D short movie aimed at kids to educate/entertain using bugs. We got to wear these really fun glasses!  And the movie was terrifying! I grabbed mom next to me several times as bugs, liquid and smoke shot out of the screen!!

And that brings us to the end of Day 2! Here's a few updates:

Hair: Despite the humidity we have had great hair

Shoes: Disappointingly I had to wear tennis shoes today, and mom wore socks with sandals (really, not as bad as it sounds). We have SO many blisters.

Weather: It rained today. Loved it.

Sunday Pictures

Well it's 1pm and I'm up (a little more sunburned than I appeared several hours ago), and mom is still snoozing.  So I'll add some pictures from our adventures yesterday:

3am...

You may wonder why we're blogging at 3am instead of just getting in to bed - we're waiting for dinner. Yes, dinner!!! We took advantage of Disney's Extra Magic hours this evening, and stayed at Magic Kingdom until 2:30!!! But before that we had a fun time at SeaWorld.

We began the day in true vacation style -- got out of bed at 10:30. The first travel complication is one that we are both quite used to, but still live in a fairytale land about -- coffee. You don't really realize how much you're from Seattle until there is not an espresso stand on every corner. We settled for a mocha cappuccino cooler that came out of a slurpee machine.... You can guess how much we loved that. :) SeaWorld was HOT!!!! I sweated, my feet swelled, and sweated some more. You know how much I love the heat.

It's spring at SeaWorld, which means animals left to their own devices will...mate. Ahhhh!! First the crayfish, and then the dolphins. Luckily I didn't have to explain this to 4th graders, although I heard quite a few parents struggling through a similar explanation (which sounded stupid even to me!!).

We watched the Shamu show, of course, but also the Sea Lion show. I thought it was hilarious, and laughed myself silly like the little boy behind me. Other favorites were the penguins and the actual sea lion exhibit (more mating behaviors....).

And then to the Magic Kingdom!! My first stop was to buy myself a set of ears. Anyone remember when I had an affinity for rabbit ears during college? I think I remember wearing one pair to a final.... Anyway, these are wonderful, and don't squeeze the life out of my head. You may wonder where else one can wear this, and I think I can find many appropriate spots.

We headed straight for Splash Mountain, because if I was going to puke, I wanted to get that ride in first. :) I did so well on that one, we headed to Thunder Mountain Railroad. Mom announced this was her favorite ride. Halfway through the line (which is small at 1 in the morning), I remembered that she loves fast rollercoasters... Due mainly to the drugs I had already consumed -- I LOVED it!! It was fast, and swervy and totally fun!!! We also hit Peter Pan, and Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood.

Aha!! The knock at the door means our "dinner" has arrived.

We're too tired for pictures -- maybe tomorrow!!!