On Monday the 2oth we had a Character Breakfast scheduled in Africa of Disney's Animal Kingdom. Yes... Donald, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy would all be there dressed in safari gear. We were a little apprehensive about a fifty dollar breakfast but it was our one splurge on the trip and Josiah was adorable holding his autograph book tightly to his chest just waiting for a character to come over to his table. Oliver was totally terrified and screamed if one got too close but he did enjoy the Mickey Mouse shaped waffles and the limitless "jungle juice".
When we woke up that morning, Jaime looked outside at all the sunshine and said, " Its already 55 degrees probably, warming up super fast too...supposed to be 70 today" or something along those lines. So I grabbed my shorts, flip flops and a T-Shirt ready for a spring like day. Ha! It was freezing! I was almost in tears as we were walking to the gate. "I wanna go home." I said through chattering teeth and Jaime says, "Find somewhere that sells pants and I will buy them for you." Now, I know you are probably thinking, "What the heck kind of pants can you buy at The Animal Kingdom?" Well, in Africa you could purchase a leopard print pair of MC Hammer pants for the bargin price of $44.95 or in Asia you could buy hot pink sweat pants (with elastic in the ankles) and DISNEY WORLD written in large print across the butt. As tempted as I was to ring up a $50 bill on Jaime's card for telling me it was 70 degrees, I couldn't bring myself to wear either of these monstrosities. So I froze in the name of fashion.
We even stayed the whole day and made it to the parade. Whoever was in charge of scheduling the Disney parades each day clearly wasn't thinking of toddlers or nap times. It was impossible to stay until lunch, go home and nap and be back in a good parade location by 3pm... but on this Monday we just toughed it out, skipped nap time and caught Donald and Daisy in all their 15 minutes of glory.
Then we passed out. Literally.
The next day was Jaime's birthday and what 32 year old man doesn't want to spend it at The Magic Kingdom with 6 billion other people? He even got a button announcing his special day AND we got a private bus ride into the park in honor of this happy occasion. So cool!
On day two at the Kingdom, we hit up AdventureLand and FrontierLand and had a picnic on Tom Sawyers Island. After a quick nap we returned to TomorrowLand and danced in the street with Disney's beloved characters yet again. And no, it never gets old. We went home to the unit and had a fun birthday party with pizza, cookie cake, balloons and even taught the kids how to jump a fence when the hot tub was closed. Jaime said it was his best birthday yet and ya know what? I don't think he was just saying that.
One our 5th and last day at the parks we attended Epcot. I remembered Epcot being the most boring park from my younger years so I didn't have high hopes. But as it turns out, it is way more fun as a grown up! Looking back, I can see why I didn't like it so much as a kid. There is a science center and not very many rides. Mostly, it is set up so that you can tour the world with one trip around a lake visiting Mexico, China, Morraco, Paris, Germany and Canada. It was a very relaxing end to our trip as we pushed the boys in the stroller and finally enjoyed the 70 degree weather. And it wasn't totally dull for the kiddos...we did get to take a spaceship into the future and ride on Nemo's clam shell.
After eating dinner on Disney's boardwalk we took a little boat back into Epcot for our final show of a Christmas choir singing songs with host Brad Garret reading the Christmas story. It was a truly magical and a great end to a great vacation.
So now we are home and all experiencing the Disney crash and dreaming of summer. I am so grateful to have shared such a wonderful week with my family. It is weeks like that, that will remain embedded in my memory forever and when I think back to some the happiest moments of my life, this trip will always come to mind. The boys will never be 1 and 2 again and I will always remember the joy and magic in their eyes as such fun loving, innocent little toddlers. I am SO lucky to share my life with such a great husband and kids. Yay!
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