The Most Magical of Vacations

Friday

On Friday we did all the necessary pre-trip stuff. We took Pax to the kennel. We took mom to the car rental agency. We packed and we did our last days of work before vacation (for once I remembered to turn on my out of office message). We cleaned the house so that when we got home life would be easy and we loaded up the car for an early departure.

Saturday

On Saturday morning we were off by 7:30. 

The kids had never been on a trip longer than 4 hours in the car so we began marking milestones.

We counted down states and hours and compared our trip to past trips.

I made breakfast and packed it up before we left so we were able to knock out a few hours with out difficulty. Do you see how ridiculous I was with the Disney straws. Ha

For entertainment we gave Kiernan a new DS lite. For Megan I cleared off my Kindle and filled it with movies and games and TV shows she likes. Additionally I had a bag of snacks and pipe cleaners to amuse them for another hour or two.

We stopped at many rest areas due to Megan's new diaper free state. It was good to run the kids around and to stretch our legs. 

I had a fairly careful plan for the way down which included a 7-9 hour drive with lots of stops. A major point to hit was South of the Border.

This is where we planned for lunch and for our first meet up with mom.

We had ice cream and took goofy pictures and searched nearly in vain for any vegetarian food whatsoever.

I remember having less trouble before with the food, but we did all right with a salad bar and some french fries.

More goofy pictures were taken.

Then it was off to Savannah.

The place we stayed was comfortable and had a pool (and hot tub!) and a nearby Panera so the  kids got some of their favorite familiar foods. 

Everyone was tired but not overly so. 

The kids did very well in the car for so long.

The traffic was terrible the whole day but we used a lot of rerouting and only lost about an hour and a half of our time. On the side roads we saw some beautiful trees with Spanish moss hanging off of them and felt we had really hit the south.

Sunday

On Sunday morning we got up, ate the free breakfast, and I took the kids lizard hunting while David loaded the car and checked us out. It was only a few more more hours through GA and to the FL border.

We stopped for free OJ and maps and to congratulate each other on our arrival. Then we drove down to Saint Augustine.

I really like Saint Augustine and had hoped to take a few hours there with the kids.

We went to a museum and visitors center. The kids played in the plaza.

Mom and Kiernan made wishes in the fountain.

We got pizza and joined the pigeons under the eves for a quick Florida shower.

The pizza was fantastic and the view was lovely. There was an arcade of shops and a glimpse of the basilica on one side and of the Fort and harbor on the other.

After the rain stopped we went or a walk on the sea wall.

Kiernan inspected the cannons closely.

We were just in time to see a live cannon firing demonstration. It was loud!

If you get a chance go to the Castillo de San Marcos but go early, the parking is wretched.

Lizard!

We drove for about 3 more hours (it should have been less but our horrible traffic stayed with us the whole way). Then we arrived. After check in we boggled at the $17 a day parking fee and got all our minifridge and roll away bed requests in for both adjoining rooms.

My sister Jessica and her family arrived a few hours later to occupy the other room and we all settled in.

Megan was impressed.

We all impressed.

Monday

We had designated Monday as pool day. No pool opens when Megan gets up though so we made ourselves some tea and went to a grocery store for some danishes and fruit.

After Megan and daddy did their work out and Kiernan got his Minecraft fix. The hotel wifi was very good and very expensive. $15-20 a day.

We made our beds and headed out to the pool.

Way down below you can see David and the kids returning to our room after a few hours of splashing.

This was what happened during any down time for he rest of the trip.

After lunch we went for a walk around the resort. We saw no alligators but lots of lizards.

We found the lego station. up above the pool.

We spent the evening with cousin Shawn. Kiernan talked his ear off about Minecraft and the rest of us ate hummus and pita and pasta salad.

Tuesday

Tuesday was the BIG DAY. It was the day of Magic Kingdom. Megan got to wear her Cinderella dress.

We got our tickets and hooked them up to our Magic Bands.

We rode the ferry over to the entrance. It was very hot and very crowded. There was a screaming little girl trapped in her stroller next to us for about half an hour. I was super stressed because we were late for our breakfast reservation.

The kids chatted away happily and I tried to keep my cool by texting Japan and complaining in silence.

Megan admired her new bracelet.

It took forever!

We made it an hour after we had expected to. There were people everywhere! It took us almost 2 hours from the hotel 2 miles away to make it to Cinderellas Castle where we were to have breakfast.

This meal was the big event of the trip though I doubt the kids were aware of it. $188.00 for 4 people to eat in the castle with the princesses. 

It was worth it.

In the entry way we were greeted by Cinderella and Megan got her picture taken.

I have yet to figure out how to retrieve that from Disney's site.

Then we went upstairs into a very detailed Disney castle. and the kids were presented with wishing stars ans a wand and a sword respectively.

We were served a very tasty assortment of danishes and rolls and Princesses came around to greet us and talk to the kids.

This is something you stand in line for hours to do in the rest of the parks.

Megan was thrilled.

I was ecstatic with how thrilled Megan was.

Each of the Princesses spent quite a while talking to the kids. Aurora and Snow white got right down on the floor with them.

They were particularly good. 

Kiernan agreed to be a prince charming. He was very uncomfortable with most of the Princesses but they seemed used to it and either gave him space or coaxed him depending.

Megan was over the moon.

This is my caramel apple stuffed french toast. 

It was amazing.

I don't eat french toast most of the time because I don't really eat eggs and french toast is really very eggy. This was a while new thing.

The kids got Mickey mouse waffles and scrambled eggs.

David got some sort of goat cheese quiche that was gone in moments. He said it was delicious.

They gave us bacon after several assurances that they would not but we just pushed it aside and carried on.

The table service was fair to good. 

They had tea for me and refilled any food or drink item if asked.

By the time Ariel came by we were pretty much done eating (except for Kiernan who only wanted danishes) so Megan got a hug and we did the wishing star ceremony and we left.

Meg's stared longingly at Cinderella one last time and we split up for our gender/age specific activities.

Megan and I hit the carousel then headed over to Princess Fairy tale Hall. 

They and some great Disney art up on the walls. 

Megan chatted with Rapunzel.

Then she dive bombed Cinderella.

She was just so happy.

This meet and greet hand an hour long waiting line at 10 in the morning. I knew before we went that Megan would want this one so I put it down as one of our essential 3 FastPass options. We scanned our Magic bands on the way in and were whisked to a 4 person waiting line that took us less than 3 minutes. It was amazing.

I got a text from David saying that he and Kiernan had a similar skip the huge line experience a the Haunted Mansion simultaneously.

If you go to the Disney parks use the FastPass. It is free. You can do it from your phone. It saves so much waiting.

Next Megan and I went to Small World. It was packed with people and so hot I was worried about Meg in her long gown.

Listening to her try to explain this ride to Kiernan later was hilarious.

"I went on a yellow boat and the children sang to me and that was a small world".

Kiernan said "This explanation isn't helping me at all!"

He told her that when she was bigger she should go to Haunted Mansion but not to look at the paining of the man growing older because that was really scary but the rest of it was fun.

We met up for another carousel ride then did Peter Pans magic flight. I had never seen that one and it was very cool.

We'd planned to spend only half a day at the park and to come back again in the evening if the kids wanted to. There is so much to do there but of course it stops being fun when it becomes a slog. I heard one dad say that Orlando is not a relaxing fun vacation because it is a race with money every minute.

We were determined that despite the cost we were not going to push it.

Kiernan was so hot and so tired by the time we left that he was almost crying.

David says that he had a good time before we joined back up and I sure hope so. By the time I saw him he was just done.

He told me later that Disney was fun and not fun. 

We got on the monorail and zoomed out of there at around 2 o'clock.

We got back in time for naps and cousin Katie's hula hoop contest. She didn't win but she was really very good.

Then back to the pool. This time to the splash park. Megan had two big successes there.

She made friends with an older girl named Lilly. We ran into her on and off for the rest of the week and they immediately rushed off together for random splashing. 

Megan also talked herself into the little water slide. She wouldn't go on it even holding hands. There was a path next to it for a parent to walk along that made no never-mind to her.

She ran to the top and then ran back to the pool. She ran up again and sat on the top then ran back to the pool. She ran back up and then sat down and rode to the bottom. She yelled at the top of her voice "I did it I did it myself!". She yelled it every time thereafter with nearly equal enthusiasm.

That evening I sat by the pool and read then was met by my sister for a talk by a fire.

I haven't had time alone with her for ages and it was so good to just sit and chat. I went to bed late falling into my more natural sleep rhythm. This was a foolish slip. My children are not sympathetic to my more natural sleep cycle. Ha!

Wednesday

Wednesday was beach day. We headed out the straight shot on the toll ridden 528. We paid tolls 4 times in 1 hour. Bla

We were happy and drove into the sunlight with hopes of meeting Nana, fresh from her stay on the panhandle.

Thanks to Yelp we found a fantastic beach with public changing rooms and showers and lots of free parking.

 This is the place that I felt most removed from Maryland. We walked through jungle to sand in the heat with cicada and seagull drone overhead. It was beautiful.

We were a little early and the weather was wonderful and clear. The beach was very sparsely populated. We had beach tents and blankets and found that there was a small business renting surfboards and umbrellas right there.

Mom rented a big foam board and we spent the morning playing in the water and teaching the kids a tiny bit of surfing.

This was fantastic. 

I rode around on my stomach trying to lure Kiernan out and David went out for some real surfing. He surfed and saw a dolphin!

Megan didn't like it very much after her first snootful of water.

After the beach we went for a small impromptu hike on a bird watching boardwalk.

We saw a woodpecker and lizards and spiders and wore ourselves out.

Mom meet up with Jessica and Mike and Shawn and Katie for a dolphin manatee tour. They said it was fun and I hope to get some pictures of that for a supplemental update later this week.

By the time we got back to the hotel naps called to us all.

I meet up with mom and went with her to check into her Disney hotel.

For the last two years I have been saving up all sorts of Disney rewards for this trip. Mom staying at this hotel and us getting free park tickets are the result of all that saving up.

Yay successful planning.

Thursday

On Thursday David and I left the kids with Aunt Jessica and went to Epcot.

Epcot is our favorite park. We love the world showcase. We would travel so much if we had more time and money. We love foods from around the world. We love music from around the world. Every time we have left the country we've been so enriched that we swear to do it again soon. I hate to fly and we don't have much spare money so we don't travel. 

Epcot is like a mini world tour.

As you no doubt know by now, I tour on my stomach. Before we left I had this huge list of places I wanted to eat. The Disney parks are actually quite bad for vegetarians. On Tuesday we had breakfast (which is easy) in the castle and lunch at Columbia Harbor House because it had a hummus sandwich.I would have loved to do one of the even dining things for lunch (especially Be Our Guest). There were a number of default veggie options. In most places this is a thoughtless steamed or grilled vegetable plate or pasta. It reminds me of this attitude I hit sometimes wherein people assume that I don't like good tasting food because I don't eat meat.

I was disappointed to see it at Disney where details are carefully attended to on nearly every level.

For breakfast I had hoped to eat at the Norwegian all you can eat breakfast bar. I had not remembered that Princess storybook dining also occurs here. 

When we got in we were offered photos with all the princesses again.

Oops.

At first I was uncomfortable and sad to miss the buffet. But I finally got into the swing of things.

The food thing was prefix and when I told the server we were vegetarian he looked very worried. He said he would go get the chef.

This alarmed me. I hate being trouble. Most places don't have to go get the chef if you say you are vegetarian.

Out came the chef.

He asked if we liked vegetables? How about fruit? Cheese? 

We said yes to all. He made us a cheese plate with delicious cheeses and amazing grilled asparagus and tomatoes. Then we were asked if we liked breads?

Yes.

A basket of rolls and danishes. Very tasty.

How about Yogurt?

Sure.

A big bowl of yogurt appeared.

Then what about a potato casserole and some eggs?

Bring them on!

We ate and ate and ate and took princess pictures and looked up the cheese we had never had before.

This was the sort of Disney  experience I was really hoping for.

Also the best asparagus I have ever eaten.

This is the top of the bathroom in the Norway section.

Look at those details.

Then we used our FastPass to go ride Soarin'.

I saw this when I was looking up Epcot rides and decide that it looked like fun.

Basically you fly through California with smell-o-vision.

As we were getting into the ride there was an announcement that if you have a fear of heights or flying you should use the exit on the right.

I like heights but flying makes me crazy afraid. I looked around at all the little kids and moms with purses and dads with huge cameras and decided I would be fine. 

I knew the Airline announcer voice and sound effects were setting me off and tried to work around it. I shook.

When we got in they told us to stow all unsecured items (purses and cameras and glasses) in the under seat compartments. They told us to buckle up. They told us to take off loose fitting shoes like flip flops. 

OH NO!

We were taken up into the air about 20 feet in front of a large curved screen. the armature that we rode on leaned us this way and that and air vents above us blew faster or slower to simulate speed.

It was very beautiful. David pointed out the feet of the row above us to make me laugh and the smell of orange groves pacified me.

By the end of the ride I was happy as a clam.

It was only at that point that I realized I left my panic attack medicine in Maryland. 

This is over all a very good sign for my anxiety.

After that we wandered around from country to country. Everything was cool.

Look at the bathrooms in Morocco!

We watched people and stayed in the shade a great deal. It was hot.

I liked both these pictures of us.

I love the Morocco sections the most. They are the most exotic to me. David I think likes them best too.

We were hoping to have lunch there but some menu items had changed not in our favor so we pushed on to the more familiar.

To Japan! In Japan I found C C lemon my favorite drink from when I was there visiting Kathryn years ago.

I sent her a picture.

We sat and watched a Taiko drum set by a group of women. We watched Koi in a pond.

We decided it was not the day for Sushi and pressed on.

We were going to eat in Germany. We heard a kid in one of the shops ask if Germany was famous for soccer balls. heheh

The German place had some veggie options but everything smelled of cabbage and it was a bit much.

Off to Mexico, to eat beneath a luge fake volcano In the dark and the air conditioning!

So fun.

We ate in Mexico last time and knew it was veggie friendly as they had altered something for us to include beans instead of beef.

Not this time!

The server couldn't understand David at all and finally left pronouncing that he would bring Cheese Quesadillas...

I got my order through but judging by how sick I got immediately thereafter something didn't work with my communication either.

Ug! 

So sick.

We had to leave the park and I had stomach cramps for the next 2 days on and off.

I wish we could have stayed longer. 

I did get to see some cool birds on the way out though.

We got back to the hotel and I sat miserably and watched Kiernan do his first ever Lego competition.

He was so pleased with it all. I t reminded him of Master Builder in Minecraft so he knew what to do straight away.

While we were at Epcot Mom took Shawn and Katie to Disney's Animal Kingdom park for a safari and some scary roller coasters.

I hope to have more on that soon too.

Friday

On Friday morning we went to Denny's as a whole crew.

Kiernan was firmly latched onto his cousin Shawn.

Megan was busy with her new balloon animal.

Friday was a beach day again.

This time we went to a Melbourne beach with the whole family (minus Mike who needed a down day).

Meg's still didn't want to go too deep but she had plenty of grown ups to keep her safe (thanks Nana and Aunt Jessica!)

Kiernan decided to go out with daddy and cousin Shawn.

He used his swimming class skills of breath holding and treading water to fight the waves.

He would wait for the waves and jump over them treading water like a madman.

And occasionally yell "Pick me up! Pick me up!"

He got rolled many many times but just kept coming back for more.

If I had been tossed around that much I would have moved to more tranquil waters. 

Not Kiernan though...he's crazy!

Mom got us all ice cream and treats after we were done splashing around for a few hours.

Megan showed off her beach cool in her Ariel the mermaid dress.

This was about the time she started begging to go back to the Princesses.

Poor Megs.

Not enough Disney for her.

We have been talking about doing a smaller trip again some time less crowded. We shall see.

We drove back to Orlando and the kids napped while David and I took turns going for a run or walking.

I took some cool pictures on my walk. Check out that frog. I almost stepped on it. It was about the size of the first digit of my thumb.

They have a nice 2 mile trail around the facility and all of these were taken at various points along the way.

Mostly in the shade thank goodness.

Megan slept most of the rest of the day and we had to wake her up for supper.

At the beginning of the week Jessica told me about a place called Tom & Chee which served tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

This is one of my favorite meals and it is one of hers as well so we swore to go there before we left.

Unfortunately she had a migraine and showed up for pictures then swiftly left for bed.

Poor Jessie.

I had a grilled cheese on a doughnut.

Weirdly the highlight of the food here was the salad course.

Every salad we got was spectacular.

That evening we watched the Disney fireworks from out window and went to bed tired and sad to be leaving.

Saturday

The kids took their fianl ride in the speedy tall glass elevator as we went through the check out/contestation procedures.

The oh-so-helpful snack tray with sensors had charged Jessica's room all sorts of money when her kids picked up snacks to inspect them.

We packed up the car and set off.

Talking with the kids and with mom we decided to minimize the stops and head straight home.

So off for a 14.5 hour drive with breaks for lunch and South of the Border.

We stopped at sunset for a Taco Bell picnic at a rest area in North Carolina.

We did yoga stretches and ran around. 

We covered the kids with beach towels and gave them their blankies and told them to go to sleep.

If only it were that easy.

As it grew dark I began to worry about mom and decided to ditch David and the kids at the next rest area to drive mom s car.

Mom's rental lacked our E-Zpass so mom and I got held up for construction at the Springfield interchange at midnight. There are few things more discouraging than being 2 hours from home and stuck in traffic after 14 hours on the road.

Sunday

At 1:30 Sunday morning we made it home.

To bed.

By 8:30 everyone was up for pancake day.

Katie had her birthday. She got the bow that she has been saving up for for years and she was very happy.

Happy Birthday Katie!

We dropped moms rental car off and picked up Pax.

Poor puppy was so excited to see us that she whined and shook from the moment she saw us until we let her into the yard at home.

It was very sweet.

Pew Pew

We took Pax for a walk.

We reoriented the kids and the puppy to home. 

We struggled with sleep patterns out of whack.

We smiled and yawned our way through the day.

This vacation was made possible by Dad and Mary and their Marriott time share points. It wound up being mega-complicated for them and to top it all off they didn't even get to join us for it because of Dads heart surgery.

Thank you Dad and Mary for the wonderful vacation.