Family Vacation: The Final (Finally)

Time has mellowed some of my memories of family vacation. But I still get a little chill when I hear that sing-songy "M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E!" A duck in a sailor hat sometimes makes a cameo in my dreams, and I still can't manage breakfast on my patio for fear of dive-bombing sparrows.

But, unfinished business must be finished. And so,

Day Five:  All of the guidebooks will tell you to plan a day of rest. We did. But a Disney prescribed day of rest probably doesn't involve a Hertz rent-a-car outside the gates. Yes. We dared to leave the gates of that magical kingdom.  We rented a car, rounded up the snack cups and suckers and hit the road to Clearwater to visit Gma C and Great Gma C.  Pizza, sword fighting, lullabies from a great grandma, and a trip to Publix to restock the fridge, and we were as rested as rested gets at Disney.  Add to that a visit to the laundry room at the hotel, and I finally managed to shake the pixie dust out of my hair, socks, shoes, and underwear--that stuff is sticky and tends to cling. (Ok, not really, but there's some kind of scunge that seems to cling when you've spent hours at the parks--I prefer to think it's pixie dust).  RJ and daddy raced remote control cars, and we pretended that the Magic Kingdom wasn't steps away. It was lovely really.

The pictures:

GiGi met her great Gma. They got along swimmingly. GiGi particularly appreciated the lullaby that Gma C sang for her. Singing Minnies are nice, but they don't compare. 

Gma C put up one heck of a sword fight. But I think the Jedi won. 

Four generations. I'll never have that. It's a treasure.

She helped me do laundry. She picked Minnie out herself. We walked by the display, and she said, "ooohhhhh!" I'm powerless. 

We fed him chocolate. After dark. In bed. We're at Disney World!

The force is strong with this one. Let's hope that Lutheran Skywalker lets her play with his light saber when we get home. We share. But it's hard. 

Day Six: Bound and determined not to spend another morning trapped on the speedway, we ventured to Animal Kingdom. Ten minutes in, we hit a street carnival in Africa. RJ was highly entertained, as were we--though by far the best adventure was the safari. It gave us a chance to rest. But, we saw zebras! And lions! (and tigers and bears oh my!--wrong movie--We're at Disney World!).  RJ faded fast. Six days is a very long time. He melted down. We melted down. We went back to our hotel. (The room is getting smaller; it must be.). We napped. We swam and washed off the pixie dust. We rode the go-carts. Again. We spun ourselves silly in teacups. And then...it's dark. They've closed the castle. We're trapped. Again. So, we watched fireworks. Again. And we found Walt Disney's little gift to parents: the People Mover. It's a couch disguised as a ride. We rode it twice. RJ convinced his daddy to ride the astro blaster rockets. I convinced RJ to try Dumbo first. He was bored. He and daddy boarded the astro blaster rockets. My baby is three stories up in a spinning rocket?! We're at Disney World!


The pictures:

How we started out at Animal Kingdom.

He lollipopped. We're at Disney World!

How we ended Animal Kingdom. He isn't medicated. I promise.

And he's done. 

So is she.

I can't believe he wend down this slide. After naps. Clearly. 

He's a fish. 

We spun. And spun. And promised we wouldn't spin any faster. And then we did. 

And we drove the race cars. Again. Twelve times. 

 Day Seven:

I'm not proud of Day Seven:

 We reached a new low. With luck (and a sprinkle of pixie dust), no one will ever associate me with this child.

Or this one:

He has turned into a Who from Whoville. It happens.

I hope they don't associate me with this either: 

Her adorable sunhats were packed. It was hot. RJ wanted to ride the race cars. One more time. 

Our flight was delayed. By seven hours. RJ had spilled chocolate milk on his shorts at breakfast. Milk sours. GiGi had four Huggies left. We were NOT staying overnight. I fought Delta, and I won. We took off sometime around 7 and flew to Chicago. That's right. Orlando to Chicago. Little sidetrip. We made our connection. And hit a massive thunderstorm. I thought the plane might fall apart. Or that I might. It was late. We (thankfully) landed to find one gate open and two planes ahead of us. RJ slept. So did GiGi. I am thankful for my sleepy good travelers. We're at home!

And someday, this is the memory I will have of our magical trip: