And Then . . .

Way back in February we, along with tons of Americans, took the Disney corporation up on a challenge of giving a day of service in return for an admission to one of their parks. We pulled the kids out of school, went to Burlington, and delivered meals to elderly individuals for the Meals on Wheels program. It was cool, a real fun experience for all of us-in my opinion-with the added bonus of being able to go back to Disney World. We didn't tell the kids why we did the service, deciding that we didn't want to torture them or ourselves with constant questions about when we could go. We were able to combine that my parents would meet us down there (hence my surprise about them arriving on our doorstep for Thanksgiving [a week early!!!]) to go with us and the children.

 December 1, we woke the kiddos up just before 4:00 am, in great anticipation for the surprise and glee we might see on their faces when we told them . . . we were going to Disney World! . . . . Reactions:  

Grace:  I'm tired

Lily:  hiding under the covers again (I think her actual response was "I want to go to school"-how does a child say that???)

Benjamin: surprised-yet-excited-but-trying-not-to-show-it face. 

(one of three not bad, right?)

We made it to our hotel, which just happened to have the "Worlds largest serpent slide" that's what the sign said, so we decided to try it out (this thing was pitch black on the inside, you couldn't see a thing until the splash down-kind of unnerving), even though it was ONLY 70 degrees or so . . . 

See, you can almost see the tail up there in the corner. 

 Nice to have a semi-relaxed day, and then take in a few famous people and places in Down-town Disney before calling it a night (I think this place was my Mothers favorite-you get to do all the Disney Shopping that you want,with out paying a park entrance fee. Kathleen and I got to know it pretty well as we ran there each morning, until getting kicked out the last day by the security). 

* EPCOT*

I think we could have spent a few days here, exploring more each of the countries represented, but we sure made the most of the day we were there (I loved this place too. In fact so much, that I keep thinking about the things that we saw, and the things that we didn't see that I know about, and the things that I wonder if they are there and the.....). . . 

 We spent time in NORWAY (of course) and felt like it was very similar to past trips to the Father Land minus all the travel:  fun shops, Stave Churches, and strategically placed trolls.  (Lily and I did our best rendition of the Fat Lady in our monthly Opera Day, which just happened to fall on the day we went to the Norway Pavilion)

Did I forget to mention that the Grand-parentals joined the adventure?  So fun to have them with us! It was really cool to see how much fun they had there. Growing up, the only thing we watched on T.V. on Sundays were church movies and Disney shows. I was fairly certain that there was some  "special relationship" between Mormons and the Disney corporation.  I have since learned that I was incorrect, and have come to the realization that it is just my Mom's most favorite place In. The. World.)

 We enjoyed stopping in:

China

Mexico

 Italy

and

JAPAN

While looking around the shops, there was an area where you could choose an oyster (or more than one if you wanted to I suppose) and it was guaranteed to have at least one pearl inside.  This was not just a simple open-up-the-oyster-and-see-what's-inside routine. . . there were drums involved, counting backwards in Japanese, more tricky than forward: itchy(1), knee(2), saw(3) [hmmm, ichi, ni, san] (spelled how they sound of course), bows, and delighted squeals when  there was not just one, but TWO pearls in my oyster!  We had them turn them into beautiful silver pearl earings that I completely love! This was a pretty sweet experience. The ladies running the table must have had their share of happy/hyper pills for the day. That, or the experience of ripping open mollusks in order to find semi precious calcium carbonate deposits. 

 We also spent time checking out the attractions.  

Favorites:  

Benjamin:  Space ship experience (low G flight simulation version with Momma)

Lily:  Space ship experience (full G flight simulation version with Daddy)

Jeff: The tour through the green house (Seriously, this was so cool, especially the tomato tree, and the vegetable plants that are grown in conjunction with Fish Aquaculture.)

Kathleen: Soaring (really felt like we were hang-gliding)

Grace:  Meeting the characters!

 I don't know if you can tell, but I think we all enjoyed meeting the characters and taking pictures . . . and Grace wasn't even terrified of all of them either (but she WAS terrified by Goofy. She did not like that, um, that, whatever he is).