Lines, Lights and Dance Offs

After a long day of travel, park hopping and late bedtimes, I thought that there might be some possibility that my two darling children would sleep in and let Mama have a little vacation of her own. Insane I know. Little monsters were up at 7AM per their usual habit.

They were anxious to head back to Mickey land though Amaya did attempt to be patient by distracting herself with some light reading.
We had perfect timing walking into the magic kingdom as we were just in time for some big block party thingamajig--that is the glass half full version. The reality is that it was such a crowded mess getting from the parking lot, to the ferry, into the kingdom and through to the castle that the kids were so grumpy that they had no desire to relax and enjoy all of the singing and dancing. Once the crowds cleared out though, they entered more agreeable states.
Which was good since we spent the majority of our day doing this.
And this.
Which led to this pretty early in the afternoon.
So we headed back to the room so Mama could have a nap. No I meant so the kids could nap. Darn typos. At this point you might be wondering why I don't have a lot of great pictures. Well, there are several reasons:

• Kids don't stand still long enough to get good shots.
• If they are being still, it's almost always because someone is carrying them. I find it hard to take photos while holding a 30lb squiggling weight in my arms.
  
• And we know Drew hardly ever takes pictures without being guilted into it.
  
• David was there, so I figured I could whine to him and he'd make me a CD of all the pictures he took.
• We had the cursed small,black camera. Perhaps you remember me mentioning it before? Well on this trip, Andy dropped the small, black camera. So now it looks like this.
  

A closer look allows one to see that the lens door/cover/shield has completely broken off. Now maybe you'll believe me when I say the camera has had a hex placed upon it instead of just chalking it up to more crazy talk from the loony girl. It's obvious that every time I touch the blasted thing I'm risking life and limb.
Anyway, after naps we met the DDN family at Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. Thankfully, this trip did not end with a case of food poisoning like last time. There are some miracles in the world. Though their service had not improved, so don't go buying lottery tickets or anything. After eating and singing Happy Birthday to Nate, we trekked back to the Magic Kingdom for the parade and fireworks.
Amaya loved looking at the lights, or so I'm told. I couldn't really see much since she kept burying her hands in my hair and swirling it all around like she was trying to wash the grey right out of it. It's certainly a new look for me.


After the parade,we got seats along the curb of Main Street and did a little people watching before the pyrotechnic display. Chase suffered the only significant injury of the trip when he snapped the elastic from his Ears really hard against his cheek. It welted up right away, but was just a faint line by the following morning.



After that, everyone was tuckered out, so away we went. Some of us were just dog tired. Hee hee.

Animal Kingdom was slated for the next day. It was hot. I mean hot. When I was planning for the trip, I asked Drew what the weather would be. He said pack jeans, short sleeved shirts and a jacket and we'd be fine. He lied. I was so sticky and miserable. I looked everywhere for some shorts to buy, but could find none--not even ones with giant Mickey Mouse ears plastered all over them. That's probably a good thing though now that I look back on it. Especially since I was beyond being a lost cause since the humidity made my hair enter a new dimension of frizz. I don't know why I haven't just accepted that my hair will always be a rat's nest mess. Wigs. I need wigs.

Despite being miserable, I insisted that we make a valiant effort to acquire a nice family picture. This is the best we got.

We played in the Bone Yard again.
Amaya contemplated wardrobe changes.
Then we found one of those fun photo op boards where you stick your head in the hole so you can pretend to be someone else. I pretty much had to drag Drew by his nonexistent hair to get him to participate, but he finally agreed to let Danielle take our picture.
Then, I took the kids around back so I could hold Amaya up while Drew took their picture. Big mistake. He obviously does not understand the concept at all.
These pictures are straight out of the camera, I did not crop them at all. This is what Drew actually intended to take a picture of--It's just sad really. Did the man not have a childhood?

Then we went to see the characters. Both kids loved basking in the attention of the over-sized rodent-- the little hams. We actually saw a number of characters, but the only photos I have are with the Mouse. I think I was counting on the Photo Pass to save me--but those pictures are $15 each, so I really hope David got some good ones. If not, I might break down and buy one or two. Might.

That night we had dinner at Downtown Disney. Amaya was our waitress and took special effort in writing down all of our dinner orders. I will tell you I'm impressed since my complicated dish arrived just as I ordered it. She's got skills.
After dinner, the kids danced in the "street" to the beat of the music coming from the restaurant's bar. I put street in quotations because I don't want you to think that I let my kids loose in a real street to run around. I only do that at home--definitely not while on vacation.
Amaya loves to dance and shake her booty. She's also quite confident in her execution of the choreography as she always claps for herself when she's done. I think she'll be on one of those dancing reality shows one day. If she is, please note that we're counting on your vote. Don't make us come over there now.