4 going on 14

Evan told me today that I wasn't to walk him to his classroom. I was to stand outside (but I was allowed to open the heavy outside door for him, apparently), and he was going to walk down the two hallways to his room all.by.himself.

I totally tip toed in 60 seconds behind him.

Disneyworld

On Saturday, Sept 10, we made the drive to Orlando. We stayed at a hotel (thank you hotel points from work trips) outside of Disney for that first night and then checked into Port Orleans Riverside for the rest of the week. The kids loved doing some nightttime swimming in the dark. I enjoyed the empty hot tub.

On Sunday, we went to the Magic Kingdom. We had park hoppers, but only ended up using the hopper option for one day when we went to Hollywood Studios and then dropped the kids off at the kids club and did Food and Wine at Epcot. 

Evan loved the little mermaid ride. I think he went on it like 8 times. 

I took him on Splash Mountain (we had a bit of a height problem, but a change in cast members helped us get on since he was 39.99'' tall and the ride required 40''). He did not enjoy the big drop at all. A month later, he's still talking about how he "didn't like the big drop and held onto Mommy's arm". The little mermaid and the Haunted Mansion rides were much more his style. 

Corinne did not feel the same way. She is a big ride junkie. Like her parents.

Matt and I did the kid swap for Space Mountain. Corinne could have gone on it, but she just barely made the height and I wasn't sure how she would do in the dark without someone sitting next to her. 

That night, we went to Ohana. The Ohana dinner is probably my favorite meal at Disney.

The drinks weren't bad either.

The kids did coconut races where they pushed a coconut around the restaurant with a broom. 

On Monday, we went to Epcot. 

We had a princess breakfast at the Norway castle that I always spell incorrectly, so I'm not going to bother to attempt typing it. Each princess that came by directed their attention to Corinne first (because little girls love princesses and she was dressed in her Elsa dress), and after getting a cold stare back while she slinked under the table (character interactions are NOT her thing), Evan piped up because he loves the characters. Every 15 minutes or so, there would be a "princess parade" around the restaurant where each princess would take a section of the restaurant and take all the little girls on a princess royal tour around the restaurant where they waved at people. It was a bunch of little girls...and Evan. Corinne watched from the corner. We did manage to get one picture with a character. Corinne ran away as fast as her legs would carry her after we said she could. 

The ladies' man:

The kids don't do well in heat and humidity. 

But they did enjoy the air conditioning!

Our Fast Pass for the new Frozen ride (the one that had lines 5 hours in length over the summer....crazy) wasn't until 7:30p that night. So we went back to the hotel and I think Evan nursed for what will be, the last time (I was desperate to eek a nap out of him). It's been a month, and I haven't nursed since.

Then we stayed for the firework show after loading them up with sugar at the Norway confection shop (school bread was pretty good). 

On Tuesday, Evan's birthday, he started off the day with opening some gifts, then off to the Magic Kingdom:

Evan didn't want to go on the 7 dwarfs' mine train (he said it was "too fast"), so Corinne used his fast pass and got to go twice.

For lunch, we went to Be Our Guest in the Beast's castle and got the best seat in the house: right next to the magic rose in the west wing. So we were probably in lots of people's vacation pictures because everyone wanted to take a picture of the rose. I didn't know they piped in a thunderstorm in the room, so it looked like there was a thunderstorm raging outside. Nice touch.

check out the rose in the back

We didn't go back to the hotel for naps/rest that afternoon and instead powered through. However, I found the best place: inside the waiting area for the Dumbo ride, they built (air conditioned) a closed in play area. Since the crowds were every light that week, there were only a handful of other kids to share it with. I got to relax in the coolness and the kids got to unwind and enjoy self-directed play without sweating. Glorious. I didn't want to leave.

That afternoon, we used the stroller rain cover for the first time (two thumbs up) and used our ponchos (we only ended up using them twice), on the way to dinner at the Grand Floridian. 

Corinne stayed true to form and slinked under the table whenever a character dared to interact with her. Evan lapped up the attention though.

The food was meh but the characters were entertaining. Cinderella was kind of bland. The raved about strawberry soup was like a melted smoothie. Meh. 

I said "say Cinderella" when taking this picture. The stepmother said "scullery maid" instead. I was impressed by her quickness.

 Evan got two marriage proposals from the sisters (and a red lipstick kiss on each cheek). The first one asked if she could marry him and he said "No. Not yet." She replied "Well, when?" He said "In six months." She laughed "I can wait that long."

Wednesday was a break day. The kids loved the waterslides, and we got to use both of the main pools at Riverside and the sister resort: French Quarter. The FQ had a really nice splash pad area, but the pool and waterslide at Riverside was much better. Plus, I liked the bar at Riverside. 

On Thursday, we went to Hollywood Studios:

I beat Matt's score. Photo proof.

Corinne loved the Tower of Terror. 

We did a kid swap for Rockin Roller Coaster. We were both looking forward to it since last time we were there and it was closed for refurbishments.

That afternoon, we dropped the kids off at the Kids Club at the Beach Club Resort (best $100ish ever spent) and spent the night at the Food and Wine festival. Our goal was to either eat or drink at each country's kisok. There were 29 countries and a Hawaii. We did all but 4. It's a good thing we didn't have to drive that night, but the 16 snack credits we used up that night helped. After the park closed, and since we didn't have to get the kids until midnight, we found a nice bench swing on the beach and had some mommy/daddy time.

The next day was Animal Kingdom:

Corinne went on expedition everest at least 5 times? Even in the rain.