No commentary tonight, just a few pictures for Dad. We left around 7:15 this morning for Disney’s Hollywood Studios (the renamed MGM Park), skipped the lunchtime nap, and didn’t leave until after the big Fantasmic Show ended at nine. Shockingly, Ollie is still awake, running around in his new Chinese PJ’s with a sword playing Power Rangers (you’ll see why below). Tomorrow, Epcot — Princess Lunch, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and who knows what else. I’m going to bed!
Kids are so full of surprises. Who knew that after getting up at 6:00 and going, going, going all day at Animal Kingdom (that included three times on Kali River Rapids — coming out soaking wet each and every time) my little angels would come home around 4, spend a couple of hours in the pool, and want to go back out to Epcot for dinner, which turned into staying for the Illuminations fireworks and light show, before coming home. We had a wonderful dinner in Japan, after waiting in line for about 40 minutes, yet the kids were still graciously sharing the best parts of their dinner with each other. Ollie is fearless, and Ellie nearly so, yet she was terrified of the Bugs Life 3D movie at Animal Kingdom. And sweet Ollie, after seeing Illuminations, kept saying over and over "Dad and Woo and Ted have GOT to see this." He was still saying it when we got home an hour later!
A few pictures (with apologies to all my art and knitting friends, this is the easiest way to let our family see what’s going on).
We had a blast at Animal Kingdom despite the rain and surprising cold! It was hard to get pictures there, but lots of fun.
By the time we left, we had totally different clothes, because of how incredibly wet we got riding Kali River Rapids, which was way too short, but incredibly fun.
It was thankfully dry by the time we headed out to Epcot (Daddy, notice Ellie’s new tee, which says "Little Miss Attitude").
Epcot is so pretty! Lots of flowers and topiary.
Ollie fell in love with "God’s golf ball."
He also sucker-punched me into buying this ridiculously silly hat for him. But the big hit of the night was a cheap blanket we bought in Mexico, because by the time it got to fireworks, it was pretty near freezing. The blanket really made out night. Ollie and Ellie are all snuggled up beneath it (with Eyeore). Our wake up call tomorrow is for 6:15. We live for Disney Movie at 7:00. Amazing.
Disney. It’s so wonderful. Especially seeing it through the eyes of Ellie and Ollie who have never been before. I was a little bit nervous about taking Ollie on the barnstormer — a small rollercoaster — only to have him sit next to me the whole time, repeating over and over "I love this!" And that was pretty much how the whole day went. Here are a few quick pictures.
This is the boatride out to the Wilderness Campground for the Hoop de do Review last night.
We got up at 0’dark thirty to head off for the Magic Kingdom. Look, it’s still dark! We were at the very front of the line, which was incredibly cool.
We rode the tea cups (and lots of other rides).
Got our faces painted.
And met Pooh, Tiger, Piglet, and Eyeore!
By the time we got back to Main Street to see the parade, it was A LOT more crowded than when we entered the park at 7:00 am.
The parade was wonderful, too! After a nap and a swim at our hotel, we headed out to Downtown Disney for ice cream sundaes and a little bit of shopping. The Judge is going to be overjoyed when he sees all of Ollie’s new weaponry, including a pirate sword and a very cool wooden pistol that beams a pirate silhouette in the dark (how do they come up with this things?)
Ellie, who was a trooper all day, finally gave up on the bus ride home.
And Ollie was right behind her.
It was a fabulous day. We’re off to Animal Kingdom in about seven hours. I hope I survive!
We’re off tomorrow morning! I’m taking our two little kids for their first visit to Disney. There is a lot of excitement in our house tonight.
I’ve got to finish packing. The clothes were easy, the knitting is hard. I think I’ll take yarn to start Juliet.
I found one of my favorite yarns, Rowan’s Soft Tweed, a wool/silk blend, on sale for 60% off, so I picked up enough gray for this sweater, with some lavender and oatmeal for Meathead hats and perhaps a baby sweater.
In addition to Juliet, I’m taking my Shibui socks, and maybe my Manos shrug. I’m hoping for a little bit of time for mommy to relax, amidst all the excitement. I’ll see y’all next week!
Karen Owen is not just one of my dearest friends, she is also one of my favorite artists. I am always in awe of the beautiful work she creates. So it was a special challenge to receive her book first in the colors round robin. Her colors were a beautiful range of browns and greens and the book was so wonderful — sort of like stepping into the notes of a bird watcher who had isolated herself in a deep forest to observe.
I had a lot of fun working in her book and trying to step into her shoes a little bit. The background is a stamp we bought together, while I was in Georgia, and she took me to her favorite stamp store. It was fun using it on the page. Lots of fun went into this, including the key on the lower right page, which is made from some Paper Whimsy Grungeboard — my first experiment with it and the coffee stained tag, which my five year old thought was no end of fun to make.
I hope you like it Karen!
This is an Alabama snow day.
It’s not much by most people’s standards, but it’s the most we’ve seen in close to a decade. The snow is coming down, actually pretty hard, now. It wasn’t sticking until a few moments ago, but apparently the thermometer has dropped a bit, and at least for now, there is a little powder dusting in our yard, not just on the deck.
Cross your fingers for us. We’re hoping for a real snow storm.
Tag! I’m it.
Amy, from Cranky Pants, tagged me on her blog. She is one of my favorite Craft-onishtas. I’m never good at things like this, but since it’s Amy, I’ll try.
The rules ::
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Random
and weird sounds a lot like me.
1. I had my last baby at 42. My ob-gyn kept telling me, "nothing good happens after 38 weeks when you are 42." I just laughed at him but got increasingly more klutzy. I finally let him induce me (but still had natural childbirth) after I pulled a huge, heavy glass front bookcase on top of myself at 39 weeks. The final straw, though, was realizing he could induce on the 4th of the month and I would have some hope of remembering this child’s birthdate, because it is so embarrassing to be talking to the doctors office when you have four children and have to struggle to remember whose birthday is who. This makes the nurse thing you are probably an axe murderer. So, my fourth child was born on the fourth.
2. My guilty pleasure is reading science fantasy. I love the Dragon Riders of Pern series. Really. Even my seventeen year old thinks this makes me a nerd.
3. I like the band REM and once saw them, before they were big and famous, sitting in the 8th row of a small theater in Washington D.C. That was about a million years ago.
4. I once lived with ten cats, Ollie, Kitty, Elvis, Zoom, Iggy, Lily, Scaramouch, Louie, Jezabel, and Kliban. My youngest child is named for Ollie the Cat. He is technically named for his Uncle Bill. Oliver is his middle name, but he goes by it. As the Judge likes to say, you get to do that with your fourth child. Of course, we named our third child for his favorite dog, a Great Dane from his childhood.
5. I had too many unexcused absences from high school to graduate, despite being a straight A student. Since this was back in the good old days, my Granddaddy went to talk to the principle and everything worked out.
Those are my five very random things, since I’m pre-coffee. I tag:
1. Belinda, because she lives the most exotic, artistic life of anyone I know.
2. Selena Mordue, because she is so cool and because I love her blog.
3. Karen Owen, my wonderful roommate at retreats and partner in crime art, one of the sweetest and most artistic souls I know.
4. Fellow Alabamian, Shirley, who makes the most beautiful art and keeps the loveliest blog.
5. Joanne Thieme Huffman, both because she is who I want to be when (if?) I grow up and because you must go to her blog and see her incredible graphic artwork, Annie Warhol, which is so wonderful.
Tag. Y’all are it now.