Disney World Day 3

This morning, Amy was our early riser, which is so unusual for her. To be fair, the blinds in the bedrooms let in a lot of sunlight, and their 8 am was our 6 am, so it was plenty bright. Add to that a little Disney excitement and sleeping in was nearly impossible. This was our day for experiencing the Magic Kingdom and reuniting with our long, lost stroller. We drove to The Contemporary hotel and while we waited for Chris to figure out where Mrs. Merrill Lynch had left it, a sky writer sent us messages: "TRUST JESUS" AND "U + GOD = HAPPINESS (happy face)"

We parked in The Contemporary's parking lot and headed inside to the monorail. It would have been faster to walk, but the experience was fun. We loaded up our lunch into the stroller and we were off. Our first FASTPASS was for Space Mountain. Unfortunately, our return appointment time was lots later in the day, and we weren't able to get another one for a couple of hours either. Not a problem at Disney World, there are always plenty of other lines to wait in. Today the park was packed--it seemed as though there was wall-to-wall people.





Amy particularly loved "Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor". She was highlighted on the main screen and asked numerous questions. She loved it. Kristen was sitting right next to her and made sure to lean in as close as possible. Misha was sitting next to Chris and grateful that she wasn't anywhere near the spotlight.

It was so nice to have our packed lunch with us today. We found a secluded shady area and enjoyed meats, cheeses, bread, snacks and treats. Interesting as we left to see a Muslim gentleman with his prayer rug saying his daily prayers. After a refreshing lunch break in the shade, we continued on riding rides and watching shows. It was a blast. Our girls were great, and it impressed Chris and I that they would look through the gift shops and then just walk out without begging for something. 'Course the alternative for them wasn't great:



We stayed at Magic Kingdom until 6 pm, even though it was open until 11 pm. We had just finished our "Splash Mountain" ride where I got soaked. My family thought it was hilarious.



We decided to take a break, get some dinner, and swim. We had plenty of leftovers from Macaroni Grill and the girls were off as quickly as possible to swim. I put a toe in the water and quickly retracted it. The water was NOT warm. But the girls and Chris said it was refreshing. I said the hot tub was refreshing.

We returned to the park at 9:15 pm. The 9 o'clock "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade had just finished and the multitude of people leaving was amazing. We had to push our way past the people leaving, or we would have been caught up too. A light rain was falling which inspired even more people to leave the park. We had a FASTPASS to "Peter Pan's Flight" but held off to watch the fireworks. They came from the left and the right, and we were right under them. Misha plugged her ears the whole time, but the music and fireworks were amazing. After that, we rode the Peter Pan ride and then caught a few other rides we had missed earlier in the day. "The Magic Carpets of Aladdin" was nearly empty so as we walked in, I asked the operator if we could stay on if the line didn't get longer. She said, "Sure." Misha and Amy didn't hear my question because after the ride, Chris, Kristen and I were still sitting in our magic carpet and the other two were walking back to where we parked our stroller. They spied us and asked what we were doing. They quickly climbed over a wall and got back on the ride. Not necessarily kosher Disney etiquette, but the line was short.

We had a little time left before the second main street parade and went on the Jungle cruise. Our girls were pooped. Kristen was all but falling asleep. Until we had a front-row seat next to Frontierland for the parade. Kristen was waved at and talked to--it made her night that Snow White shook her hand. Snow White said to Chris, "You look a little outnumbered." You just know Kristen's five-year old little brain had imagined such wonderful things about Disney World. So wonderful to watch dreams coming true for your children.

The parking lot for the Magic Kingdom was quite a distance from the entrance to the park. In fact, it was separated by a lake so the only way to get to the parking lot was either via the monorail or on the ferry. We chose the ferry just for the fun of it. The monorail would have been much faster. Kristen fell asleep in the stroller on the ferry.

We stopped at Publix grocery store to pick up more food and...Chris picked up a Bag Lady. He came back to the car with her in tow. She was quite a bit older, had definitely been drinking, and informed us that she had a really bad cold. She needed a ride across the street to the bus stop. It took us awhile to finally figure out where she wanted to go, but we got her there. Interesting.

Our final exciting event for the day was to arrive back at the condo to find Grandma Ball had arrived. She was excited. The girls were excited. We let them hug and talk for a couple of minutes and then shooed the girls off to bed. They were asleep within minutes.

Disney FASTPASS Explained

If you have a Disney FASTPASS for a ride, you're loving life. If you don't, waiting in line stinks, especially when you see those with FASTPASSes walking right on by you. Here's how they work:

"Attractions operating FASTPASS will have a regular line and a FASTPASS line. A sign at the entrance will say how long the wait is in the regular line. If the wait is acceptable to you, hop in line. If it seems too long, insert your park admission pass into a FASTPASS machine and receive an appointment time (for later in the day) to return and ride. When you return at the designated time, you enter the FASTPASS line and proceed directly to the attaction's preshow or boarding area." Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010

We also forgot to take this book with us.

Disney World Day 2

It was a bright and early morning for us on Wednesday the 26th. Misha and Kristen shared a king-size bed and when either woke up early, they proceeded to wake the other up as well. Might have had something to do with having a tv in their room. We were up and dressed and on our way by 8 am--10 am Orlando time--a slow start for the die hard Disney fan. We decided to stay on Colorado time. Since we didn't have the stroller, we left our lunch in the cooler in the van. Otherwise, we would have just slipped it in the back of the stroller and stopped at a shady spot in the park. Alas, no stroller. I suppose it had its pros and cons. On the pro side, it made getting around the park a little easier without having to worry about parking a stroller all the time. As for the cons, there were more of them: Kristen got wiped out pretty quickly trying to keep up with Daddy Long Legs; it would have been nice to store stuff in the basket underneath; we had to go back to the van for lunch. We carried a backpack full of water, snacks, and sunscreen. After a few days in the park, we all knew the drill for applying sunscreen.



Day Two took us to the Animal Kingdom. Our first stop was to get a Fast Pass at Expedition Everest. The girls were semi-excited about this ride. Prior to arriving, both Amy and Misha vowed to conquer their fear of roller coasters. They were quite successful.

Now, let's get back to bad hair days. I was having them, that's for sure, and my makeup felt as though it was going to melt off my face. So when Chris and the girls wanted to go on the Kali River Rapids, I took preventative measures. They thought I was a wuss, but we'd been on a similar ride at Elitch Gardens in Denver, and I got soaked. So, I wore my poncho. And yes, I probably looked ridiculous, but I stayed fairly dry. Thanks to Tasha for giving me the tip about ponchos. Even if it never rained, mine was useful.

Kristen was a trooper. She was just tall enough that she could ride almost all of the rides and was willing to go on all of them. Though she probably never really knew what she was getting herself in to most of the time. When we finally went on the Expedition Everest, she sat with me and screamed her ever-loving little head off the whole time. When we got off she asked, "Was that monster real?" I had to reassure her that it was just pretend, and she was okay with that.

We saw a wide variety of animals in the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The girls particularly enjoyed the tigers. You can see Kristen doing her impression of one:







We rode a number of rides that were fairly easy and enjoyable for Kristen and saw a few of the shows. We all enjoyed "It's Tough to be a Bug", but be ready for a few surprises.





Mid afternoon, Mr. Merrill Lynch left a message on Chris' cell phone that his wife, Betsy, would be getting in touch with us about the stroller. We finally connected via phone later that evening. She apologized for taking our stroller, but wanted it to be our fault for not having a name tag on it. You'd think they would have checked for their own name tag! Anyway, they were leaving the next morning, didn't have any transportation to bring the stroller to us and wondered where theirs was. When we told her that Guest Services wouldn't let us take their stroller, she was a little miffed--again that probably goes back to not having the transportation to go and get it from Epcot. They were staying at The Contemporary next to the Magic Kingdom. We told them we could pick up our stroller from the concierge, but they were on their own for picking up their own. Whew. Chris had faith that we would get ours back, I just figured it was gone. Interesting phenomenon with strollers at Disney though. They are everywhere and though the employees move them around to make room for more, people are generally comfortable leaving them. Funny because when I got back to the Denver airport, I was cautious about not leaving the stroller while I went in to the bathroom. But I digress, we were back at Animal Kingdom.

The workers had told us about the very new baby elephant and rhino that had been born in the past week. We were excited to take the Kilimanjaro Safari and see the newborns along with gazelles, giraffes, lions, alligators, hippos and a variety of other animals. We learned on another ride that all of these animals are trained to return to their specified cage every night. Even at Disney World they worry about poachers!









After a few character sightings, we left the park when it closed at 7 pm; we had plenty of time for swimming and dinner. We found a Macaroni Grill that met with everyone's approval. Our server was horrible. We waited and waited for food to arrive. By the end of the evening, he could tell that we were more than peeved. He brought out a huge brownie and two extra loaves of bread for us to take with us.

Chris gave each of the girls $20 to spend on Disney stuff. This was a few items that Kristen chose--much cheaper to buy them outside of the Disney parks.



The girls were excited for a little evening swim before bed time. A fitting end to another fun-filled day. You can imagine it didn't take any of us long to fall asleep.

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho...

It's off to Disney World we go. My girls were giddy with excitement. You think I embellish? Not so. We started hearing "Booh yah" from Kristen shortly after closing the van doors at 5:45 am Tuesday the 25th. Misha kept telling us prior to leaving that we told her about our trip too soon and that she has had to wait over four months for our vacation days to arrive. They were excited. I sadly remembered that I had left our freshly-made muffins sitting on the counter at home in the cooler we had planned to use through out the week. Oh well, it wasn't the only thing I forgot.

We were fortunate that our flight was not delayed and quickly moved from check-in, through security, and on to our gate. That's where the "quickly" changed to slowly. The train to the gate sat and sat and sat. Usually it is in a hurry and a lady's voice comes on saying "You are delaying the departure of this train..." We finally arrived at our gate only to realize that we had missed our "A" boarding on Southwest. Still, we made it and were off to Florida.

A friend who had recently spent a week in Orlando warned us to dress lightly--no layers--and to just plan on our hair looking awful while we were there. We could all wear t-shirts and shorts, but I wasn't too keen on a week of bad hair days. Fortunately, I was the one behind the camera 95% of the time, so you may not believe I was in Florida at all! But I was, bad hair and all.

We arrived at lunch time and after a quick stop to refuel our children we headed straight to a Disney park--Epcot was the choice for the day. Looking back over the week, we arrived on a relatively nice weather day for Orlando. It was low 80s and moderate humidity. It was still HOT and HUMID! It got hotter. The girls got noticeably more and more excited the closer we got to Disney World. They loved this sign.





We paid our $14 parking for the day and joined the throng of cars waiting for the folks in buttercream yellow to direct us to our parking spot. From there we made note of our parking spot and headed to the tram.



Ahhh Epcot. Our first stop, Spaceship Earth.



The line wasn't too long so we parked our stroller in the designated stroller parking with the hordes of other strollers and proceeded to.....stand in line. Actually it wasn't too long before we were boarding our buggy for our journey into space. It was a pretty tame ride, but a great introduction to the magic of Disney.

We exited the giant orb and hmmmm, our stroller. We parked it for sure, but it wasn't there when we returned. We looked around thinking maybe someone had moved it (because they definitely do a lot of stroller rearranging at Disney) but nope. It was gone. We did happen to notice a stroller similar to ours sitting innocently close by. It had a name tag; we tried calling. It belonged to a VP at Merrill Lynch. We decided to check back later and see if ours had been returned. Until then, Kristen would walk. She got tired walking the block home from school this past year so this ought to be fun!

Because we arrived later in the day at Epcot, many of the Fast Passes were already used up. But we did happen to get one for Mission: SPACE. Until it was time for our designated return, we visited other attractions and shows. You never know quite what to expect with each Disney ride, but they are often intricately and realistically (as possible) designed. Mission: SPACE was one such ride. Kristen and I went on the kinder, gentler green mission. Amy, Misha and Chris opted for the orange more intense mission. I'm not sure Kristen knew what she was in for when she climbed onto this ride.



I know I climbed off feeling a little woozy from the G-force experience. I was a little worried about her, but she just hung on and tried to push her "Navigator" buttons when it was her turn. Quite a trooper. Funny how most rides dumped us into a gift shop on our exit. Sneaky. We didn't buy the hats.



We knew that we would be back another day, so we weren't too sad to miss riding "Soarin'" or the "Test Track". We checked back on our stroller, but it still was missing with Mr. Merrill Lynch's still there. Chris reported our loss to Guest Relations. Chris sent an email to the address on the stroller tag, but nothing. It was getting late and we needed to find dinner. We didn't have reservations anywhere and our picky children weren't interested in Fish and Chips or Chinese food, so we walked around until we got to Morocco. We ate at the Tangierine Cafe--they had chicken nuggets. Woohoo. It wasn't my best meal ever, but it filled our empty spaces.



The fireworks were about to start at 9 pm so we made our way back around to the entrance of the World Showcase and found an empty spot for firework watching. It was quite impressive. After the finale, we joined the throng of people exiting the park, each of the girls hanging on to our hands. We'd already lost a stroller, that was enough for the day. Chris stopped one more time at Guest Relations and with no Kline stroller making an appearance, we hopped the tram back to our rental van.

Before heading to our condo, we stopped at Wal-mart for groceries and a few other supplies--like a cooler. The store was packed. It obviously did a good business supplying the needs of tourists. After such a long day, we were all exhausted and happy to check in at the Lake Beuna Vista Resort in Kissimmee. We unpacked suitcases and groceries, loaded up the luggage cart, and made our way to the 15th floor...of building 5. Our reservation was in building 3. Some people in our family don't have a lot of patience after a long day, but we rode the elevator down to the first floor, exited the building with our luggage in tow, found building 3 and made our way up again. Finally. The girls looked around a bit, checked out the cool pool below and were asleep within minutes of being tucked in. Chris and I weren't too far behind.

Kristen's Bedroom

This used to be Misha's bedroom, but she's not really in to pink...

Amy's Field Day

The school district has a field day for all fifth grade students today. It originally had to be rescheduled because of bad weather, but today was a super day for it. I had to wait for Kristen to finish her last day of Preschool before she and I could head into town. I packed a small lunch for us, gathered sunglasses and hats, and we were off. And we got there in time to see three of Amy's events. She was in the shuttle relay, the obstacle course, and the tug of war. She was pretty proud of her ribbons.

Where's Your Au Pair?

I was at McDonald's with Amy and Kristen after Amy's field day. A little boy started chattering non-stop at us. Amy asked, "Where's your Mom?" He replied, "My mom isn't here, that is my au pair. How come you don't have an au pair?" Not sure how he knew I wasn't the au pair--except that maybe it was because I was sitting with my kids and not off in a corner with my laptop.

Bike Riding

I wasn't home when Chris returned from mountain biking on Saturday evening. But, I saw some of the pictures that he took of his legs and bike, as well the smudges of blood on the bumper of the van. He said, "It was the worst ride ever." Besides the fact that it was a challenging ride to begin with, his stomach wasn't feeling so great, he still hadn't mastered the clips on his pedals (he said he fell on two cacti), and it was muddy.



Love those legs, Babe!

Yard Work

Saturday was a perfect morning for working in the yard. The ground was damp for easily pulling weeds and rogue grass stalks, and the temperature was just right. We spent a couple hours working (minus Misha who laid on the couch all morning with a bowl next to her chin--see later post). Chris mowed the lawn, and Amy asked if she could help. He wanted her to feel comfortable mowing the lawn since it will become her job at some point. It was nice to work together as a family. Amy even said, "I like working in the yard when we do it together. It is more fun that way!" Yes...it...is! (Sorry about cutting off your head in the picture Chris).



Our flower beds were weeded and pruned, the mulch was "fluffed", planters were planted with colorful flowers, and the front porch was swept. It looked snazzy. After Chris and Amy finished mowing, we moved on to the garden. We should have gotten some things planted sooner, but Spring in Colorado is pretty crazy. We added amendments to the soil, mixed it all up, divided the boxes into squares, and planted a few plants. Great day for getting lots done. Amy really is a good worker.

Saturday Chores

I would not say that Saturday chores are one of my girls' favorite activities. Not by a long shot. Nor would I say that their cleaning abilities are stellar, but we'll keep working because in a few weeks when school is out, they'll be doing chores every day of the week! Can you tell that she is scrubbing crusty toothpaste out of the sink with an old toothbrush?

Hair Cut

I have been trying to convince Misha to get her hair cut for awhile now. I made an appointment for her last Wednesday and sent her off with Chris to the hairdresser's. I left the final length choice up to her, but hoped she would cut off a couple of inches. She has great hair, but when it gets longer, it requires more frequent combing than she gives it to look good. She came home with an adorable cut.





I would like to exercise a mother's right to smack a smart-mouth kid who told Misha she looked like Willie Wonka the next day at school.

Oh, the Olives.....

We made pizza for dinner last week. The favorite part of that experience for Kristen was to eat olives--and as many as she possibly could. She LOVES olives. She has been on a non-eating kick lately, so if she wanted to eat some olives, I didn't mind. Of course, there's the customary olive on the finger ritual to perform first.



Later that night (much later, like 1:12 to be exact), Kristen came into my room complaining that her chest and stomach hurt. Knowing that she didn't eat much more than the olives, I asked "Are you hungry?" Her response, "Maybe." So I retrieved a roll from the kitchen and tried to help her eat some of it. No luck. I think she had a tiny crumb and was done. So, I took the roll back down to the kitchen. The prompting, "grab a bowl" came to me at the moment, so I returned to her room with a salad bowl and placed it by her bed with the instructions that IF she needed to throw up she should do it in the bowl.

I tried to go back to sleep, but never really fell back in to a deep sleep. Around 2:30, I heard a funny noise. Amy came in to my room and said, "Kristen just threw up." Used to be that Amy wouldn't wake up for anything; she said her ears were turned off at night. Not so anymore for which I am grateful. Surprisingly, Chris didn't hear anything, because he is usually up and out of bed in one second flat when he hears the wretched sound of barfing. We both go to Kristen's room to find that, yes, she had thrown up and, hallelujah, she made it in the bowl. Take a good look at the above picture. I got to see those olives twice!

She fell back to sleep and was good to go Thursday morning. Friday was field day for Misha. Amy and the rest of the 5th grade students ran all of the activities for the younger students.







Fast Forward to Friday after school. Misha came home from field day feeling worn out. I figured she hadn't had enough to drink all day. She laid on the couch and my mother instinct prompted me to put a bowl next to the couch. Whether Kristen had a stomach bug or not, I don't know, but Misha surely did. She threw up all night long Friday and a couple of times Saturday morning. Poor thing felt awful. She did, however, get out of doing yard work, so there is always a bit of a silver lining to life's miseries.

More from Kristen

Kristen was pretending to read scriptures with her friend. She started out with, "Therefore," and I was intrigued with what she might say next--because we all know she has been paying attention. NOT! "Therefore...........she became a beautiful princess."

I was at the Disney store with Kristen, who was filled with awe, "Mom, this place is amazing."

Highwater

Chris to Misha: "Mish, your pants are getting too short!"
Misha to Chris, "No they're not. I'm just wearing short socks."

Sprinklers

Chris turned the sprinklers on yesterday for the summer and had to test to make sure they were all in good working order. Here's his tester:

Art Show

Amy's artwork was selected to be in the district-wide art show last weekend. She was pretty excited.

Grandma and Grandpa Kline

Grandma and Grandpa Kline came for a quick visit last weekend. My girls were thrilled to have them come. Grandma and Grandpa borrowed the Acura and took the girls to the park for a couple of hours and had lots of fun. Though I'm not sure Grandpa will recover from being tackled by girls!



We went to dinner at 3 Margaritas that evening and then back home again for a little Band Hero. The girls were sad when I shooed them off to bed...

New Fridge

Chris and I have been considering buying a new fridge for quite awhile now. We finally found one online that we liked, but it was so new, that none of the stores had it in stock. We vacillated between should we or shouldn't we. We decided to go for it--sight unseen--when we realized we would qualify for three different rebates. It was delivered in the middle of Kristen's birthday party, of all the convenient times. Fortunately, Chris did most of the emptying of the old fridge which we had originally thought we would have recycled for additional rebates. At the last minute, though, we just couldn't justify destroying a perfectly good fridge that was worth more to us than $120 in rebates.

This new fridge has water and ice in the door. Not a big deal for most, but I have never had a fridge with such amenities. I knew it would be like bees to flowers for my children.

When I first looked at this new black, shiny fridge that we had plopped down a lot of money for, my stomach fell. It was covered in black fingerprints and the delivery guy proceeded to tell us that I would have to get used to them. It took Chris and I a couple of days to get beyond our trepidation and to like this new fridge. (Notice the fingerprints?)







The missionaries, unfortunately for them, came to dinner that night (yep it was a busy day). Chris enlisted their muscles in moving the fridge that had been in the kitchen, and subsequently moved to the garage by the delivery guys, in to the laundry room. That is, after that upright freezer had been moved out and downstairs to the store room. Not sure that the missionaries will want to come for dinner again! Anyway our refrigeration needs have been met for quite some time.

If you are in need of a self-esteem boost, come stand in front of my fridge. It makes you look as though you have lost a size or two. Love that!

Kristen's Birthday Party

This was Kristen's year for a birthday party. Most of her friends had birthday parties as well so by the time we got to Kristen's party (which was last), the pajama party, spa party, and makeover party themes had already been used. I nixed the Halloween party idea, so we came up with a PINK Dance party. I talked to one of the girls from church who is into dance and asked if she would come and teach the girls some steps.

All of the party attendees showed up in their pink dance outfits:





and Melodi took over for some dance instruction:



The girls (including Misha, Amy and Audrey who came to help) had a lot of fun learning the Macarena, though I'm sure the younger girls could use a few more hours of instruction to get the movements down. It was pretty cute to watch.

Immunizations

Kristen just got back from her five-year old check-up which included her pre-Kindergarten immunizations. After the nurses were through poking her four times, she said to me through her tears, "That was not exciting at all."