The Kingdoms - Animal and Magic, and Hollywood

Animal Kingdom

This is the bad guy in "A Bugs Life"

Very amazing face painting - Tiger Jacob

And Caden, the Dinosaur.

Beautiful Mount Everest - the first roller coaster ride for Jacob and Caden

This is the TREE OF LIFE in the center of Animal Kingdom.  It was worth making the entire trip to see. Almost every inch of it is one carved animal after another.  It sits atop a hill and is extremely large, probably as tall as the Magic Castle, but we had never heard of it. One of the best kept secrets of Disney, at least for us.

The entrance to the Magic Kingdom. It's hard to describe how large everything is here.  And colorful. The lights and sounds and imagery were turning grown men into little boys.  We saw so many adults acting like happy children, singing and dancing and laughing out loud.  It was very cool to experience.

This shot was taken at about 11:00 p.m. and was the highlight of the day. Caden looks a little like Eddie from the Munsters with his face wearing off. Each boy got a kiss from Minnie...well, more of a nose bump.

The Magic Kingdom must be experienced at night and this photo doesn't do it justice. The Castle changed from this purple to pink to blue then green and the fireworks behind it were the best we've ever seen. 


Hollywood Studios bus ride. Our third day of major walking and the boys are saying things like, "my feet are KILLING me!" Imagine how poor Nana and Gramps were feeling about now.  It's an interesting phenomenon that two "old" people can will themselves to keep moving when three boys are having such a good time. We've decided that Disney is 90% walking, 9% standing in line, and 1% fun, but that 1% is like no other and so worth it.

 The entrance to Hollywood Studios, the smallest park, but the most beautiful.

 Almost everything here is vintage.

 Comedians, musicians and actors roamed the streets and just randomly entertain. This guy was hilarious as part of a "city maintenance crew team", sort of a Three Muskateers type slap stick comedy act.

 The Indiana Jones Stunt Show had Jacob on the edge of his seat.

 Disney graffiti

 This was the Lights, Action, Moving stunt show with motorcycles, cars and Sea Doos.

Very tired boys at the end of the day. Only Matthew was able to smile through the crankiness at this point.  We are so blessed to have had this experience with them.  More, better photos will follow when we return.  For now, it's lights out and up early tomorrow to head home. Pray for our safe journey.

Disney at last... Happy Birthday Jacob!

 

Rainforest Cafe gave Jacob this volcano cake for dessert. 

He said it was "really cool".

All gone, but he did share with everyone. Delicious.

Our first stop was Downtown Disney.  It's just tons of shops and restaurants.  

We decided to get the shopping out of the way the very first day, so the boys could concentrate on the features of the parks and not all the stuff to buy.  

Did our plan work...ah, no!

These next few photos are of Lego art.  

I think you can see how huge they are, and constructed 

completely from tiny Lego pieces.

Here the boys are building cars from Legos and then racing them.

Below is our visit to "Build A Dino" shop,

 and the boys are registering their pets on the computer.

This is the excavation site for digging up dinosaur bones.

This bird was rescued by this man and was very tamed, except when he bit the 

owner's beard and pulled his glasses off.

The entrance to the House of Blues.

Chasing Lizards.

On the road again...

 Good-natured pillow fight while stripping the beds for the maid. No bruises or broken furniture, but we did receive a phone call from the Front Desk.  Wooops!

 I guess you've noticed by now that the boys have had these new Mouth-Man hoodies on both days.  They are standing in the corner of the hotel room by themselves now, but WILL be washed tomorrow night when we get to the condo. 

 Matthew discovered the hair dryer on the wall after his bath and decided that everyone needed a new hairdo.  Notice the Alligator tooth around Caden's neck.  His swampy souvenir claims to be "real". And now, after 2 full days of car rides, hotels, gas station bathrooms and DS, DS, DS games...

We promise to have photos of Disney tomorrow.  We are now in Orlando...finally!

Life is a Highway - All day long!

Louisiana...Our first state "hop" of the day. It was cool to see all the swamps along the highway. We spent the day listening to all kinds of music to decide on our Camp Song for this trip.  I think we've decided on "Life is a Highway, all [day] long!" We stopped at this Welcome Sign along with two motorcycle riders, and before long there was a line of people waiting to be photographed. Who knew it was such a popular thing to do?

 Mississippi...was our 2nd real stop (non-bathroom only) at the Crackle Barrel, and our waitress' name was Coco (actually "Cocovaughn") and her Mississippi accent was fascinating mostly to Jacob.  We asked her lots of questions to keep her talking.  A full day of good music and car games has left the boys with the feeling that this is, so far, an awesome vacation.  Our 8-hour trip to Milton, Mississippi only took 12 hours, so as we drove into the Holiday Inn Express parking lot, Jacob exclaimed "Hallelujah", to which Caden answered, "God is Gracious!"  I'm blogging this at 9:10 a.m. and behind me the boys are having an outrageous pillow fight that Gramps is egging on.  Side note, it was too late last night to get our Welcome to Alabama or Florida Sign photos, so we will try to catch them on the way home.  Disney, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The Night Before...

It's the night before Camp Gramps, and all thru the house, not a suitcase is packed, not even a blouse!