Inspirational Quote of the Day

Okay, maybe inspirational isn't the right word for it. But it struck me as very funny and quotable today when my sister said (in reference to a scholarship essay she'd just written):

It reads like a bad Lifetime movie. If they made Lifetime movies about WASPy middle class college girls...

I'm afraid they don't, Caitlin...

Lunching with Pooh Bear at Crystal Palace

It wasn't Chef Mickey's, but the Crystal Palace was a lot of fun. Not much to say (unless Ike remembers something I don't), but definitely good for pictures.

Our first visit came from Tigger.


I'm not sure I've ever seen Annie as happy as she is in this picture with Piglet. I think he wins, even over Minnie and Cinderella.


Piglet being shy in front of the camera.


Jake says his favorite Pooh character is a toss-up between Eeyore and Tigger. I think that explains his personality in a nutshell...




Pooh, who taught Annie to say, "Think, think, think." And who taught me that emotional eating is okay.


Annie likes ice cream.


That's all for tonight, folks. Next time we'll visit Epcot, where Annie meets her favorite princess and Jake actually find a princess who is "kinda cool."

A full day of Disney: In Pictures!

I've gotten a little pressure to put some more pictures up from our Disney trip, so here we go. :)

We spent our first full day at Magic Kingdom. In total we spent three full days there, plus Ike and Jake went back for the Pirate Party Saturday night (yes, there will be pictures for that, too). We were able to do everything at Magic Kingdom before our trip was over. Well, everything except the Hall of Presidents, which was something only I wanted to see...

So here we are, Day One (I'd show you the picture of Ike with the kids, but I managed to take it so far away from them that you can barely see them).


We spent our whole morning before lunch (and before going back to our room for a long nap to gear up for the afternoon and night) in Tomorrowland. One of Annie's favorite rides at Magic Kingdom (second only to It's a Small World) was the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland. When asked by one of my friends what she liked most at Disneyworld, she said, "I shoot with Buzz." Yes, she likes guns and swords as much as Jake did at her age (and still does).

I don't have a picture from our first show at Disney--in Tomorrowland--but Ike told my parents a story tonight that I've totally forgotten to share with people. The first thing we did was go to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which is an interactive comedy show with the monsters.

Before the show, Disney apparently has cameras on the audience picking out their "characters" for the re-telling of the movie. When the monsters start telling the story, they mention a "huge hairy monster named Sully," then the camera focuses on a huge hairy guy in the audience. They next say that Sully meets a little girl named Boo. Anyone remember what Boo looks like?


Yep, (when her eyes are open) Annie looks like a redheaded Boo. And so, as they told the story, Annie's picture kept flashing on a large screen at the front of the room. I'm not sure Annie totally got it, but the rest of us got a kick out of it.

While we waited for our Fastpass ticket times on Buzz Lightyear, we rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and the Carousel of Progress. Here are Jake and Ike on the transit ride.


Later we met Stitch...



And at the end of the day, the kids had their first chance to meet a princess. Magic Kingdom had extended hours that night for resort guests, so Annie and I avoided the long lines through the day to meet Ariel at her grotto by going after the park closed for most people. Unfortunately for Jake, we forced him to come with us...

Annie was a little overwhelmed by seeing the Little Mermaid in person. She kept reaching out to touch her fin and staring up at Ariel. We didn't get a great picture of Annie looking at the camera (why look at us when she was hanging out with a mermaid princess??), but here she is in awe of her new friend.


Because Jake was collecting as many autographs as he could get, he was willing to sit next to Ariel. He would not, however, be nice to a...girl. A princess girl, no less. When Ariel asked if she could have a hug, he looked at her, shrugged and said, "Nope," then hopped down and moved away quickly.

Ike offered to hug her in Jake's place, but Ariel didn't seem to hear him...

Here's Jake, as far from Ariel as possible without falling off the rock.


After over two years on this blog, I've finally figured out how to put more than five pictures on one post. But in the interest of my organization (at least for my thoughts), I'll post the pictures from our lunch at the Crystal Palace (with Winnie the Pooh!) in the next post.

I know how he feels...

I hope it's okay for me to put this Penny Arcade strip here. Can someone let me know if that's breaking some law or something? Here's the direct link. Ike showed it to me last night, and I've felt this guy's pain...as have some of you who read my blog...

At Last: The Pictures Begin.

It is truly overwhelming. Have I said that? I've gone through the 250 pictures, found some highlights and will post them here with stories. It might take a few entries, since blogger doesn't seem to like more than 5 photos in a posting. If anyone is interested in seeing more pictures, please email me. I don't really want to post a link here...

In the beginning...

On Wednesday, January 23rd, we told Jake to get in the car because it was time to go to school. Once we got in the car, Ike told him he didn't think we should go to school and asked where Jake wanted to go instead. Totally unfazed, Jake suggested either McDonalds or Disneyworld. Annie suggested we go "ride bike."

We agreed with Jake that yes, we should go to Disneyworld. Again, he didn't seem at all surprised by this...until we actually got to the airport. Suddenly he realized we were serious. We've got great video footage of this...unfortunately I don't know how to put it on here... So imagine it. Cool, huh? (Ike's working on putting the footage on here after he edits it. Stayed tuned.)

We flew Skybus into St. Augustine's airport, which is about the size of our living room. Skybus is their only commercial airline, actually, which made getting in and out pretty simple. We ate at McDonalds (so we really did do McDonalds and Disneyworld in one day!), stopped at a grocery store for snacks, then headed to Orlando.

We stayed at a Disney property, which for us was absolutely the best decision. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort , which meant we stayed in Aruba and traveled through Jamaica every time we left our room. Jake wanted to explore the property itself, which would have been fun...had we not been so distracted by all of the DISNEY parks... At any rate, next time we go, we want to check out a different Disney resort, but this one was wonderful.

There were extended "Magic Hours" in the Animal Kingdom the night we arrived, so we stopped in for a quick look around and long enough for Jake and Ike to do the It's Tough To Be a Bug show. Annie and I went shopping, wandered around, etc., until they came out ready for dinner. **I would like to point out here that Jake came out of the bug show scared and saying he'd never do it again. By the end of our time at Disney, he'd ridden Space Mountain twice, declared It's a Small World "lame," and claimed the Tower of Terror as his favorite ride ever. I overheard him telling a friend after we got home, "You gotta go to Disneyworld, man. You gotta ride the Tower of Terror." Yes, he said, "man." I know, cute.

Our dinner reservations the first night were absolutely my favorite and Jake's favorite (Annie and Ike each had separate favorites I'll mention later). The buffet was wonderful, but the best part was seeing the characters. Want pictures?

Our first character autograph was actually Goofy, but we saw him before we were seated at our table, so somehow we missed a picture with him. Donald was our next character (Daisy was missing from dinner at Chef Mickey's. I suppose even Disney characters need a night off...).


Mickey loved Jake, which Jake loves to point out to anyone who asks. We were seated near the kitchen door, which meant each time a character came out, they passed right by our table. Every single time he passed, Mickey stopped to hug Jake. If he weren't, you know, Mickey Mouse, I might have been worried...


At first, Annie was not at all sure about these giant characters running around. With Goofy, Donald, and even Mickey, she was a bit standoffish.


However, as soon as she saw Minnie Mouse, Annie grabbed her pen and autograph book, waved it in the air and yelled, "Minnie!!" I wasn't at the table for this, unfortunately (I was getting Annie's and my desserts), but Ike insists it was an amazingly transformation of personality. Once she met Minnie, she was only afraid of one character (you won't see her in any pictures with Captain Hook...).


The description we'd read of Chef Mickey's before Ike made our reservations said, "Be prepared to drop your fork and swing your napkin on a moment's notice." We had no idea what that meant...until we got there. Mickey and his friends celebrate every thirty minutes or so with singing and napkins flying. The Crystal Palace did the same thing, but not to the degree Chef Mickey's did. Annie was quick to catch on to this and actually tried to start the tradition in other restaurants throughout Disneyworld too (food went flying at 1900 Park Fare when Annie started swinging her napkin)...


Okay, I'm done for the night. I know, I only got through our first night there. More later, I promise.