Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 4 - Boma, Fishing, and La Nouba

This morning we got up a little more leisurely compared to the past several mornings and went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a wonderful breakfast buffet at Boma - a restaurant with an African theme. While there were African dishes we could try, we also had traditional breakfast foods too.

Then we split up again with Grammy and Becky heading out to the shopping areas of Downtown Disney to look for souvenirs. Grandpa, Alex, Aaron, and I all went back to the Polynesian where the boys and I swam in a quieter pool near our room. That afternoon, a fishing guide came and picked us up at the Polynesian Dock and took us on a fishing excursion on Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon under the shadow of the Magic Kingdom.





Aaron reeled in his first fish (that Grandpa hooked) - a largemouth bass weighing about 2 pounds. He was very reluctant to hold it, but he finally agreed to have it resting on a towel on his hands while I held it.



While we all did a pretty good job, Alex got the award for catching the biggest fish of the day. He cast his own baited line, hooked, set, and reeled in a 4 lb. 2 oz. largemouth, putting us all to shame. He even got credit for his Wolf Scout badge by doing that.



Aaron talked to the herons that would hang out near our boat hoping for bait handouts. When he got bored of fishing, he also loved "driving" the parked and shut off boat, taking us into space on a tour of the solar system.



We met the ladies at Downtown Disney and had dinner at Gloria Estefan's Bongos restaurant to get a taste of Cuban cuisine. We only had time for appetizers, but they were quite good. We then rushed down to the white tent at the end of the street in this picture for the Cirque du Soleil show designed for WDW, La Nouba. To call it a circus would be an understatement, but other words fail it as well. They put on simply one of the most amazing live performances that we have ever seen. It featured thrilling tightrope walkers, little girls doing spectacular tricks with large wooden spools, a man who "flew" around the theater holding two thick silk ribbons, acrobats balancing on chairs and hanging from cords and trapezes. It featured some of the most amazing precision trampoline work we'd ever seen. All with a flair for the dramatic. Well worth the time and money to see this at least once.

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 3 - Animal Kingdom and Date Night

This morning we got up and took a bus to the Animal Kingdom Park an hour earlier than normal because we were staying on the resort. The park has a large tree in the center built around an offshore oil platform. You can't miss it.

Our first "ride" was the one that makes the Animal Kingdom unique - Kilimanjaro Safari. We boarded a open air vehicle and were driven around the safari grounds where we got to be feet away from all sorts of wildlife - flamingos, hippos, alligators, antelope...

...rhinos, lions, and we even got to help "rescue" an animatronic baby elephant from poachers.

After the safari, we took a walking tour of the Pangani Forest Trail which put us face to face with even more animals.  In the African area we came upon a group of street performers that had extra instruments for the boys to play along.



We then went to a live show of the Festival of the Lion King which had live performers singing songs from The Lion King, dancing, jumping on trampolines, swinging on trapezes and getting the crowd to join in on the fun.





We then went up to Dinoland where the kids played for awhile in the Boneyard.  This was a huge playground that had casts of dinosaurs that the boys could climb on and slide off of.  They could pretend to excavate some bones, or just run around and burn off some steam.



While Aaron continued to explore Dinoland with Grammy and Grandpa, Becky and I talked Alex into the Dinosaur ride which put us into a time traveling buggy which went back to prehistoric times to observe and possibly rescue a baby iguanadon from the meteor that wiped them out.  The ride was a little too loud and bouncy for Alex who spent the ride both trying to hang on AND cover both ears.



From there we got to see a new production of Finding Nemo: The Musical.  They created songs from the story and performed them on a stage with large puppets, though you could still see the puppeteers.  The effect looked great on stage and I could see it being performed on Broadway (if Broadway had 35 minute shows).  We made one last mad dash then over to the Kali River Rapids, which was a river raft adventure ride through various Asian habitats.  Aaron was so excited to clear the 38" height limit after getting turned away from Soarin' yesterday.



Then we split up and left the kids with the grandparents.  They had a buffet dinner in the Animal Kingdom at the Tusker House while Becky and I raced back to the Polynesian.  We changed quickly (leaving the camera battery behind) and went to the California Grill restaurant at the top of the Contemporary Resort.  We had an excellent meal, maybe the best meal we've ever had, while watching the sun set over Bay Lake.  From there we spent the rest of the evening at Pleasure Island, an adults only series of nightclubs.  We started, as is tradition for us, with the next showing of the Laugh Factory - an improvisational comedy show using suggestions called out from the audience.  We then went across to The Adventurer's Club which is a more eclectic comedy experience that puts on a more scripted show, but a lot of fun nonetheless.  We ended the night at and Irish-themed pub called Raglan Road for a nightcap and a performance by an Irish band. It was a fun night out without the kids.

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 2 - Epcot

We started our first full day at Epcot, getting there when it opened. We walked to the nearby Epcot monorail station and the boys got to ride in the front with the driver. When we got in, we split up to let Grammy and Grandpa take Aaron to rides that he was tall enough to go on (Universe of Energy with animatronic dinosaurs and Spaceship Earth). Becky and Alex and I tried to get onto Test Track, but it was down for repairs (not very reassuring by the way). We went ahead next door and rode Mission: Space, which simulates taking off in a space rocket/plane and landing on Mars. There are 4 people per ship and everyone has a job to do to get through the mission successfully. Your ship is really a motion-controlled pod that flips you around depending on what is happening on the screen. Becky and I loved it, but Alex declared that he'll never go on it again (we'll see). We hustled over to The Land where we met Grammy, Grandpa, and Aaron. While we were waiting for our FastPass time for Soarin' to come due, we rode the Living with the Land (showcasing new ways to grow food) and the Circle of Life movie featuring Timon and Pumba from The Lion King teaching us an environmental message. We thought Aaron might just make the 40" height limit for Soarin', but he was in tears when the attendant slipped a card between his head and the height bar. He and Becky waited in the Land Pavilion while the rest of us took a simulated hang-glider ride over California.

We had lunch at the Coral Reef which let us dine next to an enormous fish tank while fish, sea turtles, and sharks swam by. We expanded that experience after lunch by taking the Living Seas ride around that same tank. After that, we got to talk to a live-animated computer-generated version of Crush the sea turle from Finding Nemo. He talked with the kids all sitting in the front rows, taught them some "turtle slang", and answered their questions. He even pulled out something he found on the beach - a polka-dot bikini top and wore it hanging down from his neck. When he asked Alex what it was, he told him it was a bow tie to make a joke and everybody loved it, including Crush. Nearby we found Bruce the great white shark and had to rescue the boys from his jaws. Kids are friends, not food.

We split up again to try to get onto Test Track, but the line was too long. Instead we rode Spaceship Earth, the big golf ball-looking ride in the front of the park that showcases the past, present and future of communication.

Epcot is divided into 2 sections: Future World, where we spent most of our day and which highlights high-tech innovations and rides, and the World Showcase which is set up like a perpetual World's Fair. We took a ferry across the lagoon that separates them and ended up at the American Pavilion where we at burgers and saw the American Adventure - a multimedia presentation of American history as told by an animatronic duet of Ben Franklin and Mark Twain. Outside there we found a topiary collection making up Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Alex was getting to play a Dwarf in the Spring Musical in May, so he really wanted to get some pictures to help him with his part - so I had to get pictures of him taking pictures. We wanted to make it out of the park before the mass exodus after the fireworks show, so we booked it to the China pavilion and saw Reflections of China shown in a 360 degree theater. You stand in the middle while a movie plays on screens all around you - at one point it looks like you are standing on the Great Wall and can see it extend into the horizon on both sides of you. We ended up at Mexico where a boat ride that used to tell the story of Mexico (el Rio de Tiempo) has been transformed into a ride that mostly features Donald Duck being chased all over Mexico as his mariachi bandmates try to find him for the animatronic number at the end of the Gran Fiesta.

By the end of the day, we finally found a Photopass photographer to take a group photo in front of the big Spaceship Earth. He got us into various configurations and poses and this was the best group shot. (After we got back, we went online with a code number he gave us and added the WDW Epcot 2008 logo in the corner). We kept this code number and gave it to other Photopass photogs during the week so all of our pictures would be in one place. Time to rest up - tomorrow we tackle the Animal Kingdom park.

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 1 - Volcano Pool & Ohana

We finally made it to Orlando after months of planning. Grammy and Grandpa Hardage brought us and we've really been looking forward to this day. We took the Disney shuttle from the airport and it brought us to the Polynesian Resort. It is one of the original resorts that rings the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Magic Kingdom. It is themed around Polynesian longhouses which look great with all of the palm trees on the property. The boys posed in front of the rainforest garden they have growing in the lobby while we checked in.
Once we got settled, we threw on our swimsuits from our carry-on bags and walked over to the Volcano Pool, named for the steaming volcano that had sprouted next to the pool, allowing the Disney Imagineers to build a waterslide right through it. We played there for a couple of hours until they brought our bags over from the shuttle, so we could change for dinner. We had adjoining rooms on the first floor near the entrance of one of the centrally located longhouses, which put us near about anything we needed to get to. The other advantage of our location was its proximity to the ferry dock, the monorail station, the bus stop and the Ticket and Transportation Center which got us to anywhere we needed to get on the the entire resort property.
Tonight we just had to walk to 'Ohana (which means "Family") in the main building, the Great Ceremonial House. The meal was served family style in courses, culminating in them bringing by skewers of meat that had been cooked on a grill in the center of the restaurant and dispensing turkey, pork, or beef medallions right onto our plates. The entertainment was provided by a hula singer who involved the crowd, especially the kids in the songs and dances. Once of the dances they encouraged the kids to go a grab a parent to dance with and so Becky got the privilege.

Snowy Easter Egg Hunt

A fresh layer of snow yesterday made a challenge for our Easter egg hunters this morning. It was good that they had a chance to play in it it yesterday so they knew what to expect. However, yesterday's playing in the backyard obscured our attempt to hunt for Bunny footprints.
We think we saw some at the back of the yard. They may have been just standard bunny prints (some live nearby), but there was an egg near one of the prints, so we can't say for sure.
The boys worked together to collect the plastic eggs and brought them inside. All of the candy, money and little toys inside got put into a communal pile to share.
Happy (Snowy) Easter!

What Pretty Eggs

It is officially Spring , but you can't tell by looking outside. However, because of the weird calendar juggling that picks Easter each year, the Easter Bunny is going to need to bring a thick layer of fur, and possibly a coat on top of that. We all prepared with our traditional colored hard-boiled eggs.
We tried traditional dyes, as well as stickers, shrink-wrap plastic sleeves, and clear crayons that kept the dye off of the eggs, allowing us to make neat reverse patterns on the eggs. We even tried a few two-tone eggs.
All in all, a pretty plate of eggs. Now if we can just get the boys (esp. Aaron) to try one. Alex will usually eat the whites with a little salt and pepper.

Winter Swim Meet 2008

After winning all three of his events in his last swim meet, he was bumped up to the next division and competed in 6 events this year. He has been practicing hard at Swim Team and it shows.
Using a variety of strokes - the forward crawl, the breaststroke, the butterfly, and his favorite, the backstroke - Alex swam very hard in his division.
He did well enough to place in all six events - 2 first place ribbons, 2 second place, and 2 third place. He had a great time and wants to keep up with his swimming skills, so this will likely not be his last meet.

Flat Stanley the Cowboy

Alex read a book at school this year about Flat Stanley, who was so flat that he could incorporate himself into paintings, slip through narrow cracks, and get into all sorts of adventures. The kids were assigned to draw Flat Stanley in an unusual setting. This is Flat Stanley as a cowboy. We liked his use of perspective, with the larger cactus near Stanley and the smaller cacti up on the hills behind him.

Pinewood Derby 2008

Alex was chosen as one of 2 Wolf Scouts from his den to participate in the Swan Creek District Pinewood Derby. It was held in the shell of the old Southwyck Mall in South Toledo. They were actually great - donating the space and setting up judges' tables and chairs for the audience. First, Alex had to get in line to have his car inspected. Each car had to conform to certain size requirements, both in physical dimensions and in weight. The also were prohibited from certain modifications (like liquid lubricants).
The Scouts then took turn racing each other three at a time on mutliple tracks. Becky showed up in her uniform to support her Pack, but was quickly spotted and recruited to be a race judge for one of the tracks. Alex was thrilled by the round-robin style of the derby. Since this was our first one, he was concerned that it would be done in a single or double elimination tournament style. As it was, he did not have one of the fastest cars, but still got to race it multiple times.
He actually came in third in all of the races except his final one, in which he got very excited to come in second. While this put him near the bottom of the standings, he took it in stride. Coming from a small pack, we also enjoyed seeing all of the Scouts and leaders in uniform participating in the same event. Becky got him and all of the Cub Scouts in his pack a participation ribbon. He was a good sport and conducted himself very well throughout the day. I took the boys home (Aaron had had enough by that point) and Becky stayed to help judge the Bear Scouts' heats.
Alex has already started mentally designing next year's car. It was important to him this year that he designed a car that looked cool, but next year he wants to design it for speed.

Derby Racing at Town Meeting

Alex and the rest of Pack 90 got a chance to show off their Pinewood Derby cars in front of the entire Lower School during the weekly town meeting today. Maumee Valley had an old track that had been in storage, but Becky tracked it down and the maintenance crew set it up for them in the Resource Center in the middle of the Lower School. Not only did they get to show the other kids their cars and how they race them, they held the Pack Derby heats live at town meeting. Only 2 kids from each Den can represent their Den at the District Wide Pinewood Derby, so they raced their cars and got the 2 fastest. Alex was one of the Scouts who will get to race his car at District. All of the kids will get to participate though because of our small numbers, the slower cars can enter the design competition at District.

Building Race Cars

Fresh on the heels of building a Pinewood Derby car, we all went to Home Depot's Kids' Workshop to build Nascar style Home Depot race cars.
Becky and I like these because they come prestained Home Depot orange, they are relatively simple to build (nail the top to the botom, attach the wheels, apply cool racing stickers), and the kids get a toy to play with when they're done.
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

Tumbling on PJ Day

Aaron got to wear his PJ's to school today and Becky got a chance to snap a picture of him tumbling in Gym class with Mrs. Hermann.

Go, Go Speed Racer

Today Alex and I finished his Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts. He designed it on paper and then we went to the Anderson's hardware department a few weeks ago where they cut out his shape with a power saw. We sanded it and painted it. Alex hammered in the wheels. The steering wheel is a recycled wheel from another toy car. Alex applied the decals that Becky found for him. The car was a little lighter than the limit, so to make it speedier, we screwed 4 screws into the bottom to make it heavier. He was thrilled to make something like this that works from his own design. His pack race is in a few days, and then the district wide race is in a few weeks so he can put it to the test.

Mom's Day 2008

This year they started an alternating pattern of Donuts with Dad (before school continental breakfast) in the fall and Mom's Day this winter. (Next year will be Muffins with Mom and Dad's Day.) Becky got to spend the entire day with Alex, following him, and participating with him at time with his 2nd grade activities. Aaron doesn't have school on Fridays this year, but next year, I'll have to divide my time between both kids. Here they were working together on a math activity that uses small blocks to represent ones, sticks (made of 10 blocks) to represent tens and squares (made of 10 sticks) for the hundreds. They had a great time together and amde me look forward to next year, split time and all.

Valentine's Party in P3

Becky planned this year's P3 Valentine's party for Aaron's class. There were games, valentine distribution, and of course, Valentine cookies. Guess what Aaron's favorite part was. :)

Happy Birthday Aaron! - 4 Years Old

Our littlest munchkin turned 4 today. As usual, he's been acting like a 4 year-old for several months now. He is a big time reader, loves to play just about any game and go on any adventure. Since it was a school day for Alex (but not for Aaron on Mondays), we saved most of the celebrating for after school. Remember, we had just come back from Kalahari Resort the weekend before. We did take him to breakfast at Cracker Barrel - I think we may have him convinced that it is his favorite place to eat breakfast out, while really it is ours.
He had a lot of fun opening up his presents, as expected. It blew his mind a little when a wrapped package compared his 48 months old to his Grammy's 708 months and Grandpa's 814 months. Don't worry, you'll get there too someday kid (if you eat your vegetables).
When we let him pick where he wanted to have dinner, it was no surprise that it was at Chuck E. Cheese's. Maybe he'll try pizza as a 4 year old. It is a little odd packing him a meal into his favorite restaurant. Though to his credit, the pizza probably is not the best part of Chuck E. Cheese's.
The highlight of the night was Aaron's Grand Star Cake that Becky made him. Of course, both boys are big fans of Mario videogames, and the Grand Star is the big prize for completing major levels of the newest one, Super Mario Galaxy. Becky found a large star cake pan, made him a cake filled with candied "star bits", frosted it with the right color of golden frosting, sprinkled it with sugary glitter, and gave it Pepperidge Farm cookie eyes. Needless to say, it was a big hit and capped off the day in a really fun way. Time is so compressed at this age. This last year constituted a full quarter of his life so far. While the first quarter was cute and sweet, this last quarter has been the most fun for us, and I think for him.

So Glad the Pool is Indoors

After breakfast at Kalahari we got this rhinocerous to hold still long enough for us to snap a picture in front of him. Good thing that stick fence was there to protect us in case he decided to stampede.
Today we swam until we were waterlogged. This pool was a favorite for the boys because there was enough room to practice their swimming moves from their swimming lessons.
There were also basketball goals set up to slam dunk some water basketballs. The favorite was still the wave pool and we spent much of our day in there.
We picked a good day to come to an indoor water park as it was one of the most bitterly cold days of the year, especially since the wind was blowing hard, creating below zero wind chills. I've dressed for colder weather in warmer clothes and done fine in the past, but today was different. Because we checked out of our hotel room, I hauled almost all of our gear into the van, but since we had to cram our day's necessities into a pool locker, I was wearing sweatpants and a windbreaker instead of my heavy winter coat. Because it was a popular weekend and the parking lot was far from the entrance, I think that was the closest I've ever come to frostbite. I warmed up quickly when I got out of the wind (the hot tub helped also). Day 2 of Aaron's birthday was a lot of fun.

Kalahari Celebration

Today we began the 1st day of a 3-day weekend celbration of Aaron's birthday. He was so happy to get to go to Kalahari Indoor Resort and Waterpark for his "birthday weekend". Kalahari is also in Sandusky along with the Great Wolf Lodge and Castaway Bay (Where we spent his 1st birthday). As you'd expect it had an African theme. Many of the waterpark activities were made for older kids with lots of big slides and 2 separate "Flowrider" attractions that pushes water up a hill allowing you to attempt to surf on the effective wave. Instead we enjoyed the Climbing Fort, the Lazy River, the Wave pool, and the Hot Tub. (These all had cute African names, but I've since forgotten them all.)
After we dried off and had dinner we burned off a few calories playing in the arcade, including an exhilirating run of Mario kart which the kids expectedly ate up.
Before bed we let Aaron open a "monkey box" full of small presents for his Birthday and played with a few of those before bedtime. Then we had to get a good night's rest so we could do it all again in the morning.

Fruity Hedgehogs

Aaron's class has a pet hedgehog, so his teacher used that idea to set up a fun snack station for the kids. They decoated an orange half with cloves for the eyes and nose, and toothpicks for the quills. They then stuck cut melon and pineapple on the "quills" which the kids could then eat.

Icicle the Snowman

We got a big snow last night which shut the schools down. I had already taken the day off from the office. This afternoon Alex and I went out (Aaron was napping and has a cold) and shoveled and played in the snow. (I did the shoveling and Alex did most of the playing). Alex built a small snowman by himself (fallen down to Alex's left in the picture), then he rolled an enormous snowball that looked perfect for the base of another snowman. I rolled the middle and Alex rolled the head. We used our snowman kit that we keep reserved for such occasions to place the decorations on and Alex named him Icicle. Unfortunately it warmed up a little and started raining and Icicle fell over a few hours later. Good thing we snapped a few pictures.

December 2007 Catch Up

I seem to perpetually be a month behind, so I guess this is right on time. Please follow this link to catch up on our December adventures. Now to see if I can knock out January before the end of February.