Acorns to Mighty Oaks: travels

Last week we were treated to a trip to Disney World by my parents. It was fun and exhausting! Disney World is a vacation like no other I have been on, in that it doesn't really feel like a vacation at all. I kept my children awake way later than I would ever dream of on any other vacation. We ate every single meal in a restaurant. We walked miles and miles per day. As I said, it was fun AND exhausting!

Little Bear's favorite ride is the "golf ball" ride. He particularly likes the technology activities.

I could write pages and pages about our trip - how much fun we had, what we did, what we would do differently, and those may be worthy posts someday. But today I thought it would be fun to write some of the highlights of our trip.

So, here they are: the good, the bad, and the funny...

The Good:

This is her first princess sighting. Can you see the huge smile?

Tiny Dancer was enthralled with the princesses and Minnie. We don't watch much in the way of princess movies or read princess books here, but she was overjoyed to be part of it nonetheless. She was ecstatic to see Cinderella Castle (Did you know it's not called Cinderella's Castle? I did not!) My mother treated her to a morning at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. I can't even think about how much money people spend in there, but I will say she had a wonderful time. And she was very pleased with all the compliments she received throughout the day. Although, she actually had more people call her "princess" and fuss over her when she was just wearing her tattered Cinderella dress.

My little "ladybug" is on the right, next to the trainer. You can't quite see him, but Curly is in the back, just over her shoulder.

Using the force.

Defeating Vader.

Curly and Tiny Dancer took part in the Padawan training at Epcot. Curly was in a portion of the show where he not only fought Darth Vader but also had to use the force to hold back the Storm Troopers. And the Jedi trainer called Tiny Dancer "ladybug." ;) He said she was wearing a polka dot dress to prove her power. She carried a stuffed Chewbacca all through the airport on the way home. You know, princess one minute, Jedi the next.

Two thumbs up after riding the Tower of Terror.

Curly tried his first thrill rides and loved them. He worked himself into a frenzy before each one, and then would come off the ride begging to do it again.

He had a little crush on the step-sister. He does like the brunettes.

He was so strangely captivated by this lamp. He made a video of it??

The biggest cupcake ever.

Little Bear fell asleep curled on a bench in the Hollywood Studios. Too much fun for him!

The Toy Story Mania ride is the best ride in all of DW, in my opinion. I wish the lines weren't so crazy!

Papa took part in the show at the Backlot Studio tours. He had tons of ice cold water dumped on him, and we had so much fun watching!

Her favorite ride.


We have amazing table manners.

Wearing my Figment shirt from when I was seven.

Tiny Dancer was at just the right age where she super excited about absolutely everything she did and saw.

Little Bear loved seeing the behind the scenes at the Studios. He loves technology, so this was right up his alley.

The bad...

There wasn't too much bad other than waiting in much longer lines than we expected. We had heard repeatedly before we went what a great time this is at the parks because the crowds are low. They most definitely were not low, and the crowds were frustrating after a few days.

We ate dinner at Chef Mickey at 9:30 one night. A huge mistake. I will not eat that late on a major vacation again. (See, I tell myself not to say "never," so I had to work my way around that wording!)

The funny...

My mother called 911 from Tom Sawyer island. Completely by accident. They called her back three times before she realized her phone was ringing. She couldn't figure out who was on the phone when she finally did answer, and she kept insisting they had the wrong number. She had to apologize quite sheepishly. :) We had a good laugh after the fact, imagining a SWAT team piling in to the island.

Curly nearly choked at the Crystal Palace. This was not a restaurant we particularly enjoyed, and we were more than ready to leave. As we were getting up, Papa bumps into the waiter and says, "Sorry, buddy!" as if the poor man were his son. I had to seize the opportunity to tease him for this, of course. As I was ~~mocking~~ joking, Curly took a huge drink. He heard my ~~merciless teasing~~ good-natured humor, and started laughing. Next thing you know, he's knocking the table over as he's choking. I mean, the whole thing is tipping and plates are sliding. (Because I am such a good mom, I am rolling my eyes. I mean, he does have a flair for the drama, so I thought he was being dramatic!) My mother is freaking out, hubs is running to him, and out of the corner of my eye, I see a man rushing at the table. This kind man jumps into action, checking to see if Curly is okay, repeatedly asking, "Is he okay?" He finally says, "I'm a doctor; is he okay?" Can you picture this scene? Of course Curly was okay. He WAS choking, but he was not in any real danger. I am grateful to the kind man who left his family in a heartbeat to rush to the aid of my son, while on his own vacation. I just still think it's funny. See what a good mom I am? I take his pain very seriously. Very.

On a more ironic side of funny, I bumped into an old friend from elementary school/high school at 40,000 feet! What are the chances? We live almost 2 hours from the airport, and we don't live in the same town. But there we were on the exact same flight. I didn't even see her until I was returning to my seat after taking Little Bear to the bathroom (Did I mention he used the bathroom on the airplane three times in each direction? That kid has a thing for bathrooms. I really do think he's part dog.) An older woman called me by my maiden name, which I haven't heard in about a million years, and I saw my friend sitting by her own mother. How unlikely! We were staying at the same hotel, but we never did see them again.

Taste testing sodas from around the world.

All in all, it was a great trip. We are hoping to go again in the future. It will be nice to go without a stroller, with kids who can walk longer and stay awake later. I need to remember to write down what things did/didn't work for us because there is no way I will remember in the years to come.

It was fun making these memories as a family!

Saturday was beautiful here - sunny and warm but not too warm. After a morning of chores and looking for a car to replace the one that died, we headed out for a hike.

Little Bear loves to hike. He likes to lead us and look for the trail. He's happiest in the woods.

Papa Oak and I discovered this place last fall when we went for a hike for our anniversary. It's very pretty and very peaceful. I knew at once the kids would love it there, but we hadn't made it there with them. They love hiking, so they were thrilled to find somewhere new.

The path alternates between rocky and smooth, and it always follows the creek. At least it did as far as we went! It took us a long time to hike out because we stopped many times along the way...

To check out the many varieties of mushrooms growing...