Bumps, bruises, too many teenagers & swimming with sharks! NEW 11/17 pg. 32

[ddluvsdisney]

Your life sounds a little similiar to mine!
There have been so many activities lately- especially DS11 who is also graduating from 5th gr.
We also have basesball and now all-stars to add to it, along with karate for DS15 and hockey too. It has been a crazy spring I can't wait for the last day of school- which isn't until Wed. I NEED a vacation!

 

[MeMom]

Way to go!!!

He did "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as a solo!

Perfect for him!

This week, we (luckily Tim was working from home that day) attended the Young Author's Tea in Zach's 2nd grade class. The teacher also presented each child with an award. Zach got the "Most Enthusiastic" student.

What a sweetheart!

 

[disneyfan61]

Very nice villa!! Love all that room.

Aw we love going to Seadogs games. We did not go to any last year. It is tough now as both the boys now work most weekends.

Looks like you have been really busy! Are you going to the Dover pool?? We used to have to get up that early for soccer. It was still dark out!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Your life sounds a little similiar to mine!
There have been so many activities lately- especially DS11 who is also graduating from 5th gr.
We also have basesball and now all-stars to add to it, along with karate for DS15 and hockey too. It has been a crazy spring I can't wait for the last day of school- which isn't until Wed. I NEED a vacation!

Isn't it ridiculous how crazy things are at the end of the school year?

And now we are on our second weekday without school and the kids won't stop complaining about how bored they are!

Way to go!!!

Perfect for him!

What a sweetheart!

Thanks MeMom!!

Very nice villa!! Love all that room.

Aw we love going to Seadogs games. We did not go to any last year. It is tough now as both the boys now work most weekends.

Looks like you have been really busy! Are you going to the Dover pool?? We used to have to get up that early for soccer. It was still dark out!!

We really enjoy the space of the villas... except when I have to pick up after everyone!

We go to a lot of Fisher Cats games but try to get in one or two Sea Dogs games. We had great seats right behind the third base dugout this time.

Yes - we were up at the Dover pool. It was Alex's first outdoor swim meet. The weather wasn't so nice on Saturday but it was beautiful yesterday.

Luckily Alex swims in the afternoon at the next meet.

 

[KatMark]

Amy, sorry I missed the last "family update" (my MIL is very ill and things have been crazy). Love the photos of the boys and at the ballpark (and congrats on the "elopement" of your brother).

 

[Angies1274]

Great pictures!!

Yay for Alex winning 4 gold medals!! And congrats on his 5th grade graduation!! Nick's 6th grade graduation is tomorrow. I can't believe how fast time goes.

for Zack's "most enthusiastic award'!! So cute!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Amy, sorry I missed the last "family update" (my MIL is very ill and things have been crazy). Love the photos of the boys and at the ballpark (and congrats on the "elopement" of your brother).

I'm so sorry to hear about your MIL Kathy! I'll definitely keep her & your family in my thoughts.

Great pictures!!

Yay for Alex winning 4 gold medals!! And congrats on his 5th grade graduation!! Nick's 6th grade graduation is tomorrow. I can't believe how fast time goes.

for Zack's "most enthusiastic award'!! So cute!!

Thanks Angie! Time definitely flies by... I can't believe how quickly Alex's elementary school years went by!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Before we move on with Day 5, I want to go back to our swim time after we checked in at Vistana Villages. I pretty much just copied & pasted the post I wrote for the Vistana Villages thread and therefore left out a very important part (that nobody on that thread would have cared about).

After we checked in, we were looking down at the pool from our villa and spotted Heidi & her family! I texted her to see how much longer they would be there, then we headed down to meet up with them. It was fun to see them again & hang out for a little bit. I believe I also made my first purchase at the pool bar after spotting Heidi's yummy looking drink.

Zach didn't have any pictures for Day 3 or Day 4 so that's why I haven't posted any of his updates recently... but don't worry, the camera came back out on Day 5 (which is a good thing since my memory stick filled up part way through the day).

On to Day 5, Monday, April 23.

After a good night’s sleep, we were headed to Animal Kingdom! It was actually a little chilly out this morning but the sun was shining (we didn’t see any more rain at this point). We didn’t quite make rope drop and we paid the price in the parking lot! It was crowded driving in. It was actually EMH prior to our arrival. I always try to avoid EMHs, especially when staying off-site but with our evening plans for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, we had less park time this morning so AK fit. After parking, we made our way into the park.

I made everyone stop for a few Photopass Pictures:

Next we made our way to the safari. It was about 9:30.

Look at that tongue!

continued...

 

[DisMomAmy]

Continued...

A lion back:

After the safari, we headed toward EE. It was crowded!

We ran into DiVine on our way!

I took pictures on Expedition Everest this time! I love the view from up here:

According to Mickey it was now 10:40:

According to my receipt, we bought some stuff in the EE store at 10:34, before I took a picture of my watch.
Tim & I each got a new t-shirt (which I can’t find pictures of right now & am too lazy to go take new ones) and I bought a drink for each of the boys.

I had wanted to walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek for a while now and today was finally the day!

He’s way off in the distance:

Then my memory card was full… so I stole Zach’s camera from him! Next I’ll post Zach’s photo tour, which will include the rest of the pictures I took at AK that day.

Continued...

 

[DisMomAmy]

Here are Zach's pictures from the morning:

There were a lot more giraffe pictures but I'll just post a few...

Continued...

 

[DisMomAmy]

Moving on past giraffes:

Continued...

 

[DisMomAmy]

This bird totally freaked Alex out:

And this is where my memory stick died & I stole Zach's camera.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm going to finish up the AK portion of this day & save the HDDR for the next update... I had more pictures than I thought.

After the Jungle Trek, we decided to get an early lunch. We like to stop at Yak & Yeti for Tim to grab some lunch, then we head to Flame Tree for the rest of us. I took the boys with me & we left Tim to get his food, then find us a table. This is one of our favorite CS meals at all of Disney!

After lunch we headed to Dinoland.

We went straight to Dinosaur and rode twice.

Zach was studying dinosaurs at school & wanted these pictures to share with his class.

Then it was time for my least favorite ride, Primeval Whirl.

Luckily my neck survived because next up was another visit with the Yeti! I guess I put the camera away before we got on Primeval Whirl because there aren't any more pictures on Zach's camera for that day.

Our traditional last ride at AK is Kali River Rapids. We like to leave after getting all wet! However it was chilly today, so we opted to skip it and save it for later in the week when the weather looked like it would be warmer.

Up next: Chillin' at the resort & dinner at HDDR.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Great AK day ! It's my favorite park.

My son, Jayden loves the giraffes and we always seem to have a ton of giraffe pics.

Looking forward to your next update !

 

[MeMom]

Very often, you can only see sleeping tigers on the trail. I'm glad you got to see some action.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great pictures! Both you and Zach!

I have eaten at Flame Tree but never Yak & Yeti. What does Tim like to eat there? I've always wanted to try it!

I love Dinosaur. It has to be my favorite ride ever in AK. Kali is fun too and we also always save it for the end of the day.

 

[mrsksomeday]

It's so great that you and Heidi live close enough to see one another. I need a DISer close to me .

Looks like you had a great AK day. I just love seeing Zach's pictures, it is so great to see what he thinks is worthy of photographing. It is good you had both cameras with you.

I can't wait to see your Hoop pictures, Bill and I had a fun time when we went. I am really loving your trip report .

 

[Angies1274]

You and Zach got some really great safari pictures!

Love the view from EE but I'm always too afraid to pull out my camera. I'll have to make a point next time!!

Can't wait to hear what you thought about the HDDR!!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

You got some great pics of the tigers.
We love Flame Tree too

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Great safari pictures by both you and Zach.

Flame Tree was our favorite QS too, can't wait to read about your Hoop review