Animal kingdom

As Grandma Val didn't have to go home anymore, she got to see another theme park--Animal Kingdom.  It was our second time at this park, so we hadn't seen everything yet.

We headed straight for the ride Paige has been wanting to go on for years--Dinosaur.  We arrived early in the morning so the line up wasn't long yet.  Mike took Paige on the ride while Grandma, Rose and I went on Triceratops spin.

While they were in the line up

 Apparently Paige liked the ride but looked a little shaken up after.  I think the ride was just a bit intense. Mike wanted to go on it another time and was so sure that Paige would regret it if she didn't go on again that he persuaded her to ride it a second time right away.  She wasn't really happy when she came out saying it was too scary the second time.

Paige looked like this for a while after the ride as she was mad at Daddy.  Not to mention this was the coldest restaurant of all time even though it was boiling hot outside. 

gigantic bats.  Looks small in photo. 

Sitting at the Finding Nemo show

Instead of trying to see everything, we opted to go back slightly early to have time around the pool before dinner as the day was so hot.

Relax day

This relaxing day was supposed to be Grandma Val's last day....that is until the huge storm in Toronto thwarted her getting home plans! That was perfectly fine as she rebooked her flights for 2 days later and spent a couple more days in paradise! In the end her flights to Toronto and Edmonton would have both been cancelled so it's great that she rebooked them on the phone ahead of time with little hassle.

Actually I think this day was the day we went to the outlet mall.  And also the day when we took all the photos from the post below at the pool.  Oh well.

In the evening we headed to a restaurant across the street--Benihana.

It is a restaurant where you have a chef prepare the meal on your table while doing a bunch of tricks with the food and utensils.  The girls loved it and were laughing like crazy. Super entertaining!

Night time Disney

On Grandma Val's second last night our plans were to visit Epcot one afternoon, and then take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks.  The Epcot monorail was broken, so we opted to just visit the Magic Kingdom again as that was way easier.  Totally fine too as there is tons to do at Magic Kingdom, and we had only scratched the surface on our first visit.

Candy shop

Winnie the Pooh ride line up

The Beast's castle in New Fantasyland

New fantasyland was fun to see.  It's mainly based around Beauty and the Beast on one side, with the Beast's castle, and Belle's village. Then there was is also an Ariel ride and the new redone Dumbo, and Goofy's Barnstormer.

Gaston statue.  Just beside it was the real Gaston signing autographs.  Rose was scared of him. 

Teacups are still original

New Dumbo ride is actually 2 separate rides.  One for fast pass and the other for the long lineup.  Luckily there is now a circus tent for kids to play in while you wait with a pager.  We just walked right on though in the late afternoon. 

Castle pre-fireworks

Glow sticks we brought back from last year.

We arrived in our viewing spots about 30 minutes early so I just sat on the ground  beached out. 

It ended up being so fun to visit the Magic Kingdom again.  The first day was way busier than normal, and we realized after it was because there was a Super Bowl parade at Disney that day with the MVP's (I think that is what they are called??) on a float. So the second day was a bit more calm...until the fireworks, then it was super busy of course.  On the way home Paige passed out completely in the van.

Rest days...

Well this is why it's better to blog from the road.  I forget what happened when.  Essentially after the day at Disney we had a full day of rest, and another 3/4 day of rest before hitting up the Magic Kingdom.  Not sure which day these photos are from, not that it really matters.  Also thrown somewhere in this week was a trip to the outlet mall for myself, Grandma Val, and Paige.  Grandma Val and I spent a bit of money at Coach, and Paige got some candy and a shirt.  I also got the baby boy some clothes at the Carter's outlet. And one of these days the girls participated in a little cookie decorating activity by the pool.  Icing and sprinkles on peanut butter or chocolate chip cookies.  They ate way way more cookie then I have ever let them eat in one sitting. 

So here are photos from one of the chilled out days at the hotel. 

The girls, including Grandma Val with her new visor I picked up at the grocery store. 

normal size

Yikes!

Where we had our morning coffee and snacks 

Turtle tubie who comes with us every year

Sno Cones!!

Hula hoop contest to get free sno cones.  Someone people had multiple hoops going though...show offs. 

Mallard ducks liked to swim in the pool

Although we had our own kitchen in our room we found it really hard to get motivated to make meals even on our lazy days.  Of course for breakfast and lunch it was perfect, but we were always too tired in the night to think about the grocery store or what to eat.  Simple meals ensued...out of necessity too, really, as we didn't have spices, and wouldn't want to invest in tons of ingredients that may be thrown out. I think we were just tired from the sun and exercise in the pool.  Not to mention it is hard to get moving after being lazy.