Last Day of Disney

Sunrise on Lake Disney

Just to give you a time frame of how far behind I am in blogging, these pics were taken when I was 9 weeks along.  Now I am 13.  So at this point I was queasy, nauseous, tired, no exhausted, but managed to garner some strength from somewhere to make it through 2 days of Dis.  And actually, it wasn't that hard.  I felt better those two days than most of the previous 9 weeks.  On this particular morning, we woke up at 6 to make it to the Magic Kingdom by early hour opening, where you get in an hour early if you stay on "campus".  Totally worth it.  

Someone is so tired!

One of the biggest surprises was waiting on the park to open, and getting to watch a small show starring Mickey and the gang!  Such a treat for Ra Ra.  He once again introduced himself to Mickey.  

Then we entered the park and Raughley was open mouthed for most of the day.  I know you are going to think this is so cheesy of me, but I have been to Disney World with some of the most important people in my life.  Family,  my high school friends, Chase, so to bring my son here was really cool.  I have all these memories of being here at 3, 9, 12, 16, 23 and 25, but this was one of the best.  

We did notice that the Kramer's kids, who we came with, were able to do a lot more at 4 and 6 than R was at 2, so we will keep that in mind for the next trip.  

 Now here come the rides...

First we rode Peter Pan's flight, then came the obligatory 

It's a small world, which Raughley loved.  

Then came Winnie the Pooh, who is quickly outpacing Mickey as the favorite character of the moment.

The line for Dumbo was too long, so we opted for the photo shot on the free standing Dumbo instead.  

Turned out just as cute I think.  

 At this point the park was opening for the rest of the crowd, so we knew things were going to get busy.

So we headed for Adventure land where we rode the Jungle Cruise, Alladin's magic carpet, and get this... Pirates!  Yes, Raughley made it through Pirates without one tear.  

Then, while the others rode splash mountain, Ra and I found another friend.  He was very scared of Donald, so all we managed was a pound.  And by this time folks, I was sweating buckets.  

A movie break was what we needed, and a little paci time too.  

So we knew time was running short, therefore photo ops with characters became more of "let's snap a pic of them with us standing in the foreground.... works for me.  

After lunch we managed a few more rides in Tomorrowland.  This one was a huge hit.  Buzz Lightyears adventure.  

 After this we headed straight for the door, managing to catch a peak of Buzz himself.

We caught sight of these two as we were headed out of the park, 

but someone was already asleep.  

Tale of the Greasy Turkey Leg

We finished off our day at the Animal Kingdom with more walking, followed by more walking (most of the activities are walking tours of Asia and African landscapes and animals.)

Raughley did great, seeing as he rode in someone's arms most of the afternoon.

He even got to express himself a bit on the drums.

Here is Dad of the year, sporting the ever so manly Mickey Mouse backpack.

"Where should we go next?  Im ready to give the mouse some more of my money."  He says.

We checked out some really cool tigers, and even heard them roaring to each other, which I had never experienced before.  So Amazing!

Finally we go to ride a ride, the triceratops flying ride... kind of like Dumbo, but with dinosaurs.

And R got to play in Dino land and dig for fossils.  

We even saw a Bug's Life 3-d Movie.  

But the greatest event of the week happened as we made our way out of the park at closing time.  

As we maneuvered the crowds, legs aching and tummies growling, we see this woman walk past us pushing an umbrella stroller with one hand.  When I say woman, I mean 400 pound woman who is sweating like she's just run a marathon.  Her stroller keeps wobbling around, and she looks at us apologetically and says (say this to yourself with the best red neck accent you can muster)..."I cain't hold on to this here stroller cause all the grease from that turkey leg I just ate."  

And she wobbled off into the night.  

Meeting Mickey Mouse

As you may know, R calls Mickey "Key", and loves to introduce himself to Mickey every morning as the show comes on television.  So it was no surprise to see this happen as we stood in line to meet the one and only at Animal Kingdom...

Once it came to actually meeting the mouse in person, Raughley became slightly shy, not wanting to get near his idol.  We managed a few pictures for posterities sake, because dang it we were not coming all this way to freak out at the sight of a man (or woman in this case I think) in a furry outfit only to turn around and go back home!!!  

No really, the experience was great, and eventually R came to, and after we left the greeting station it was all he could talk about "key" this and "key" that.  Can't wait to go back when he's even older and more excited than I was!

Disney

So this trip to the beach and Disney happened so long ago that it feels like a different time.  

Really its just that I am coming out of the fog of nausea and exhaustion and am just now feeling like talking about it.  

We went with a coworker of Chase's and his family, who we have become friends with, and look how sweet their kids were to Raughley.  So precious.

Disney was an absolute blast.  I mean, an exhausting, HOT blast, but a blast indeed. 

Someone spent the whole trip wide eyed with wonder.

We did the first afternoon at the Animal Kingdom, which was fun, but a lot of walking around.  

We picked a good time though, going at the end of the day, when the sun was setting and there was a nice breeze.  

Cameron and Carl came along and were a big help carting little man around.

The biggest attraction by far was visiting the characters.  Goofy had no wait, which was surprising as he is Chase's favorite, and R loves him too.  Look at a the smile on his face!

'You mean these guys I seen TV are actually REAL?''

Hat!

He couldn't take his eyes off the big guy.  

Wow

Im really behind.  We took this trip to the Mcwane center with friends about a month ago.  

It was R's first experience petting a SHARK.  I was a little frightened at first but he was so brave.  He wanted to "peh" the "Sha" over and over.  Loved it.  We went back the other day and he wouldn't touch the tank.  Funny how that works.  

The next weekend we had Laura's Bachelorette Party at the Lake.  So much fun.  I haven't spent a weekend with my friends in a really long time and it was so great to get away.  

Her sister planned the whole thing down to the T and did such a great job.

I wish so badly I could show all the pics, because they are sooo funny, but I just cannot.  Inappropriate is the word.  So these will have to do.  My new camera doesn't even have a flash on it, so sorry for the fuzziness.  I am still learning.  (was supposed to be taking a night and low light photo class this summer but was too sick to go.  Bummer)  The good news is the nausea is slowly fading and my energy is starting to come back.  Yay for week 13!  Ironically I still get nauseas when I think about things that I did when I was sick, like Disney World, or certain books I was reading.  Weird!

I mean, T shirts with Laura's pic on them?  Classic.

Love it.