Grandchildren living 1200 miles away from their Grandparents can make the traditional holiday celebrations pretty challenging. So in addition to being a Disney Vacation, this trip was also going to be our Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa. And that's what Sunday morning was all about.
After everyone woke up, we made our way over to see what was tucked up under the traditional Christmas tree.
OK, so maybe it's not quite
that traditional, but it sure set the mood for a Florida Christmas.
Madison got a very tiny outfit.
Which makes more sense when you realize it was for her doll, Princess. And, of course, she got a matching one.
There was one box for her that wasn't wrapped. It was just a plain brown cardboard box, handwritten in marker was "The Best Christmas Present Ever". Madison opened it up and pulled out...packaging material?
No, it's Spanish Moss. Madison became enthralled with this stuff that hangs from all of the trees around Grandma & Grandpa's house over our last few visits. So, grandpa packed some up and gave it to her. I'm not sure how the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources would feel about us bringing that up north, so we decided to leave that in Florida. You know, so she could play with it every time we visited.
Quick Quiz: What's wrong with this picture?
Some more random Christmas gift pictures:
Of course Grandma & Grandpa didn't forget Kayden
After cleaning up, having a little breakfast and packing our stuff for our stay at Disney, we headed off. We had a 1:00 ADR, so all 3 kids rode with Grandma and Grandpa to the restaurant while Bambi, Kaylene and I headed over a bit early to see if we could get checked in to our Treehouse.
The 45 minute drive was uneventful and we pulled into Saratoga Springs at about 12:15 to the worst possible sight - a Magical Express bus pulling away from the curb. Bambi dropped me off and my fears were confirmed as I took one peak into the lobby - the bus had just dropped off, and people were packed into the lobby like a mosh pit at a Phish concert*.
*I have never been to a Phish concert. For that matter, I don't think I've ever even listened to a Phish song. They just sound like a band that would have a mosh pit at one of their concerts.
So, change of plans. There was no way I would be able to wait it out and get checked in and still make it to lunch. I jumped into the running get-away car and we pealed out of the parking lot, leaving scorched rubber marks 50 feet down the pristine Saratoga Springs driveway.
I was just kidding about that last part. The driveway is several years old now, it's not in pristine condition anymore.
So, where was lunch you ask? (I can only assume you asked. I can't really hear any of you.) Well, it was here:
OK, it was actually, behind me as I took a picture of the tree. I forgot to get a picture of the sign.
While we waited for our table at Whispering Canyon Cafe, the kids started showing off their engineering skills:
We were soon seated when our waitress came over and saw my camera sitting on the table. I have a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi with a Speedlite 430EX II. In plain English, it's one of those new-fangled fancy-schmancy big ol' digital jobbies. Well, Roxy took a liking too it, grabbed it, marveled at it, yelled across the entire dining room to show another waiter how fancy of a camera we had, and started taking pictures of random people around the dining room. She then turned it on herself.
She did take a very nice group shot of all of us, though. I mean look a this - 8 people, all looking at the camera. 7 of them smiling - the 8th is probably smiling, but has a fork in front of his mouth. Can't ask for much better than that!
So, we got down to looking at the menu and Roxy asked us for our drink order. I commented that the menu only shows Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry milkshakes, and that they used to have fun flavors like bubblegum and orange. Well guess what! They still have them, they're just not on the menu! Score!
Madison and I ordered bubblegum, Evan and Grandpa got Orange and Kayden asked his mom if he could have one. She relented and he ordered vanilla.
We then discovered that this was his very first milkshake. Ever. As you would expect, he like it. A lot. A LOT. Evan let him try his orange.
As you can see, Grandma is explaining to Roxy that this was Kayden's first ever shake.
Roxy was a little surprised by this. So what does Roxy do? Same thing any self-respecting Disney World Cast Member would do. She made him a special shake - layered with every flavor of milkshake they have.
Of course, it was too good not to share.
They did all of the standard antics - the straws, the napkins, etc. Nothing too outrageous. Not sure what she did to deserve it, but one waiter pushed this girl across the dining room and made her pick up the "jail cell" and hold it in front of herself.
And wouldn't luck have it - Madison had been looking forward to the stick pony races for weeks. Just after she left to go to the bathroom, they pull the barrel of ponies out and start the race.
(Don't feel too sad, there are
real ponies coming up later!)
The bill came and I took off. I couldn't get away from that table fast enough.
No, not in that way. Bambi settled up the bill while I headed back to Saratoga Springs to get us checked in. Everyone else headed off to our next destination.
Where? Well, I left a clue just a little bit ago. If you can't figure it out, I'll tell you ... in my next update.
waiting 
