Part 13: Final day...

Sitting in an empty hotel room is a sad sad feeling.   Our stuff is here, but it's all tucked away in the suitcases to be unpacked again at home. The fridge and pantry is full of the odds and ends we weren't able to finish and never will, besides the small amount of breakfast that we'll eat when I wake up my tired family. One last blogging time on the couch here with my coffee.  I'm not the kind of person who goes home easily. Paige is looking forward to getting home in many ways, and Rose probably just thinks we live here now.  Mike is good with going from place to place, not getting attached like me.

Anyway, my family is tired from our day yesterday.  We used it wisely-- swimming in the morning, and then Disney in the evening.

Easier for Mommy to manage at the pirate pool with Daddy.

The girls didn't want to get out of the pool, but we had to go back for Rose's nap and getting ready for Disney.

Paige waiting at the monorail in her Princess dress.

Rose was sitting high up on a ledge and was worried:

Family fun on the carousel again.  I look weird in this picture and Rose has the largest cheese face ever:

We waited for about 1/2 hour to go on the Winnie the Pooh ride.  The lineup is very interactive with honey walls, and a bee roller coaster to play with. The girls both really liked the ride.  Too bad this day was busier as they asked to go on every ride "again!", but the lineups were too long.

At the Disney confectionary:

Balloon guy.  We brought our balloon from the hotel for one final go.  After it hit a bush and a few too many people in the face, the outer layer broke and i ended up leaving it behind with the rented stroller.  It would have had to stay at the hotel anyway, and Paige would have been sad about that.

We actually stayed for the fireworks this time.  Mike was set on standing at a certain place so he led us at breakneck speed through the crowds of Disney, whipping people in the face with our balloon as we sped along.  Funny and and embarrasing at the same time.  You could see that people were in true Disney spirits, as being pegged in the face with a balloon wouldn't normally go over so well.   We made it to our spot and Paige was fine to watch the fireworks.  Rose was a bit upset as she was wondering why we were standing in the same spot in the dark for so long.  She perked up when the show started and then had a huge pee diaper that soaked through her skirt and onto my shirt too. At any rate, the fireworks were a little stressful. 

By the time the show was finished, we found a bathroom for Paige, changed Rose's diaper, returned the stroller, waited for the monorail, walked to the car, drove home, unloaded the car, it was about 9:30.  The girls were sound asleep in the car and went straight to bed for one last night in the hotel. 

Part 12: Mega swimming.

This day we swam in every available moment.  We started off by going to the main pool.  We bought Paige a new bathing suit at the poolside shop as her other one was now worn through and ragged from so much swimming.

After about 20 minutes of swimming the pool was shut down for maintenance or something for 40 minutes, so we had a quick snack and travelled on to the pirate ship pool.  Much easier to handle when it is in the sun at that time of day.

When I wanted to bribe the girls to get out of the pool I bought them a smoothie from the pool bar.  I myself had a mudslide as it was almost noon.  The problem was that the girls thought it was chocolate ice-cream and wanted to try it.

After Rose's nap we went to the kiddie pool for a really long time before dinner. Paige worked on her swimming as much as she could in 1 foot of water.

This bathing suit of Rose's is so cute, but the strap is so close to falling off.  If this was a hotel with a sewing kit there would have been many times to use it...so many things are ripping and falling apart for some reason on this trip.

As I write this it is the morning of our last day here! So sad.  I am going to miss the daily swims, and trips to the playground, and generally being outside in the warm and sun.  We have settled right in here and all of our stuff is tucked away into closets and drawers and it feels very permanent.  Time to unearth it all and pack it up.  Today we're going to the pool one last time in the morning, Rose will nap after lunch while I pack up, and then we'll go to Disney in the evening.  Of course there are people and things from home that I miss, but I really want the winter to fly by and the spring to begin.

Part 11: more swimming and playing

 Right near the top of my favourite feelings ever, are the feel of a warm summer night, and a perfectly sunny and perfectly warm morning.  Not too hot, not too cold, but just right.  You are dressed exactly as you should be, there is the exact amount of a breeze to subdue the feelings of the hot sun, and you can smell the scent of the flowers, hear the trees in the wind, and in this case smell a nearby pool to swim in. Bliss.

We returned our rented BBQ tools and then got some coffee and juice from the restaurant.  The girls ran on the bridge, we looked at some ducks, and then went to the park for a bit where I listened in on a timeshare pitch that was going on with a family while their kids played at the park.  I enjoyed where the man guessed that the time share would be "$400,000?" which is way way way off, and then he and his wife were shocked at the actual price.

It was warm enough to swim so I put the girls in their bathing suits.  And this pool is shallow enough that I could just roll up my capri pants and wade in the water.

We bought a rubbery frog guy that will bounce on the water if you throw him like a skipping stone.

Paige and I worked on some of her "schoolwork" while Rose slept.  I had hoped to do more school-type activities with Paige, buuuut, it just didn't happen.  Hopefully she won't be behind when she gets back. I mean, we did all of the ones her teacher gave her, but I thought maybe we should do some other reading type activities. Paige misses school and I decided not to tell her that her class watched Happy Feet yesterday at school for Valentine's day.  I'm hoping she has lots of Valentine's when she gets back as she was worried they would forget to give her one.

After nap time, Paige wanted to go to the Pirate Ship pool which we had never been to.  At that time of day the pool is in the shade, and since it wasn't 40 degrees out, it was chilly when you were out of the water.  Being at the pirate pool involved going down the slide a million times with Rose as she wasn't able to to it herself.  Finally I couldn't handle it any longer as I was freezing, and Rose was shivering, so I said it was time to get out to which Rose had a huge tantrum.  We had to get changed at the pool because it was too far of a walk to be dripping wet all the way back to our room.

While Mike isn't around I can't take both girls in the deep end, so poor Paige can't work on her swimming which she really wants to.  She can fully swim underwater to the edge, at least 4 feet or so.  She just needs to learn to float and swim on the surface with her head out of the water.  I'll have to take a video of the swimming before we go.

We tried to look for the money again at the park on the way back:

Another partial viewing of Monster's Inc. over dinner, and then bed time.  Mike was home really late this night so I was sleeping when he got back.  It's really weird without a PVR, or even a tv guide.  So much channel surfing.

Part 10: Daddy goes to work..

At least it started to warm up for our first day without Mike at the hotel.  In the morning we wandered on over to get a Starbucks coffee from the restaurant, and then signed up for the kids activity "Giant Wooden Snakes".  A lady from the "fun team" hid 4 wooden snakes around the pool area which Paige and Rose tried to find.  Then they got to paint one.  I originally just paid for 1 snake to be painted, but then Rose was jealous and I asked for another one.  The lady gave the snakes to the girls on paper plates.  Rose proceeded to paint the plate and only the plate.  She was reaching in for brush after brush and mixing all the colours up in the ice cube tray that they were in.  Paige was doing a good job in switching her brushes and not mixing and I eventually gave her Rose's snake to paint and just let Rose continue on her plate. THey got soooo dirty! THe plan after the snake activity was to go to the playground so I left the snake and plate masterpieces at the activity desk to dry and took my kids who looked like ruffians to the park.  I wish I had taken a picture of them painting the snakes but I really couldn't take my hands off Rose as she was getting out of hand!

During the afternoon Paige played with  2 wooden snakes for more than an hour and a half while I read and lied down.  

After Rose's nap I took them to the small kids wading pool right outside our building.  It is only 1 foot deep but I sat on the edge as Rose could slip and go under, as she did once.  Paige likes to pretend to be a dolphin in this pool and there is a small seal spray thing on the side, but some other people had covered it up with a chair. 

Cool sky:

After the pool we proceeded to look for our lost money at the sand park but were unsuccessful.

I let the girls watch the Winnie the Pooh movie while I made dinner and then some of Rio.  They have watched Monster's Inc at least 3 times on this trip as well as Rio.  Our days are so busy that by the evening they like watching a show while I make dinner--and I like that they watch one too.  haha.

Now that they are used to sharing a room I read them books together on the spare bed, said that it was time for sleep and they gave each other hugs and kisses, we tucked Paige in and then I put Rose in her crib and I said good night and turned out the light and then they went to sleep.  hmmm...that was a long sentence, but you get the idea...

Part 9: Last minute Epcot, AKA "the coldest day ever"

We actually only have this 1 photo from Epcot! How sad.  The morning was so so so cold at 0 degrees, that I was dreading the day....staying in the hotel room all day was not an option! There aren't many indoor activities in a place like Orlando, so we decided to go to Epcot since we still had days left on our Disney pass.  We put the girls in hoodies and their fall jackets.  Rose had on double layer pants.  We remembered Epcot had some longer rides, and the ones we knew we would go on were relatively close together.

We arrived to Epcot to find that it was busy as ever.  We headed straight for the Spaceship Earth ride in the big silver ball.  The line was moving quick but of course stopped for about 10 minutes while we stood in the cold and Paige was sooo upset about the cold--mike held her like a baby in the line.  Rose was in my arms upset and taking her hood off and then shivering.  Finally we boarded the long ride, which was a nice reprieve.  We then headed to the Nemo ride and accompanying aquarium, which is where we took the above photo.  Rose was not happy about the shark and wouldn't get in the photo.  After she was saying something along the lines of "no shark, cheese"--as in I won't say cheese beside the shark.

We ate an early lunch and then went on "The Land", which was essentially a boat tour about agriculture and greenhouses--Paige really liked it and said "again!!" after it was over.  So funny.  I really wanted to go on "Soarin'" as I missed it last year, but the wait was 70 minutes.  One day...

Our final ride was the Figment ride, which starred a little purple dragon--we knew Paige would love this ride.

After that it was late and we went home.  It was slightly nicer at this point and not a cloud in the sky so it was definitely bearable, but time to bring Rose home for a nap.  We had to skip the World Showcase, but it is such a long walk, and we didn't have time.  Last year we did it as Rose just napped in her stroller.  I wanted to visit the Biergarten this year, but oh well.

Later in the day we needed to leave the room for housekeeping so we went to the park and played treasure hunt with money which we couldn't find in the end.   For dinner Mike BBQ'd steak as he froze in the cold with a broken BBQ.

Part 8: Another day off

We had a $50 resort credit after some housekeeping issues...or I should say "housekeeper" issues.  Anyway, we decided to spend it on a pancake breakfast at the hotel restaurant. 

Then we visited a couple of the parks, and looked at the pirate pool.  By this point the wind and cold were starting so we couldn't actually swim.

Later in the day we went to the "Orlando Premium Outlets".  Mike got some Nike shoes and I got a Coach purse.  Fun times.  Then we battened down the hatches as there was a "windchill warning"--it was going to be 0 degrees the next morning.  Ooooh.  The windchill advisory actually said "dress warmly in layers and wear a hat and gloves".