After our ride on the "Mexico Boat" as it was later dubbed by Teddy, we were ready to head out! Teddy ooooohd and ahhhhhd the weird animals again as we made our way out into the wretched heat.
His parting comments were:
"MissCammie, I love it when Mexico makes things look weird!"
me too buddy!!
At this point, my squishie was GONE. I needed some caffeine, I was NOT playing and I mean NOW!
Of course I had nothing but my Disney smile attached to my face. But the illusion was going to fade soon if I didn't get my fix.
My very intuitive husband was well aware that the smile was a little forced. So he told us to have a seat on a nice bench and people watch while he went on an expedition!
Sally knew what he was looking for and dashed after him screeching: "I'll find it Daddy!! I'll find it!!!"
Gotta love my peeps. They keep me sane!
So Teddy and I went over to the Kid transporter and he climbed in. He sweetly patted the seat beside him and said
"Come sit here with me MissCammie. You can fit!"
I was afraid however that getting IN to the kid transporter might cause an very unladylike flash of my undies, so I patted the seat beside me on the bench and said
"You can come sit by ME Teddy bear, I know you are big enough!"
As is usual for Teddy, he figured that sitting ON me was much better than sitting beside me. He climbed into my lap and settled in...even though it was outrageously hot and humid! Teddy is a boy who craves physical contact. Much to the irritation of his sister. Most times Teddy isn't even aware that he is standing much too close to any given person. He has very little body awareness. It seems that Jay was exactly the same way when he was young.
We work on respecting the personal space of others A LOT. Thus far he is not getting it. But he is always good natured about being reminded. He's just got his own head space and at this time other people's personal space is not something he's too worried about. I'm not all that worried about it either...yet. Most boys his age are like puppies...all rough and tumble and flopped all over each other.
So I did my best to ignore the humidity and the fact that Teddy puts off more heat than I thought possible from a little boy!
Teddy was quiet for a moment and then he said,
"MissCammie...do you believe in Leprechauns?"
"I do, Teddy."
"Is that because your blood is from Ireland?"
"I suppose it is."
"MissCammie...are there Italian Leprechauns?"
"I don't know Teddy...do you think there are?"
"Well what if Leprechauns came from Ireland and moved to Italianland and then they would be part Italian right MissCammie?"
"I guess that would be one way to look at it..."
"MissCammie, do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster?"
"Of course I do Teddy."
"I do too MissCammie. Her name is Nessie and people try to find her so they can study her and not respect nature but she has magic so they can't find her right MissCammie?"
"That must be the reason!"
"MissCammie how come Ireland and Scottishland have fun magic and Italianland doesn't?"
"I'll bet that ITALY has all sorts of myths and magic too..."
Teddy was quiet for another moment...
"MissCammie...do you think that Nessie likes mozzarella cheese?"
"I'm sure she does buddy..."
These are the kinds of conversations I have with Teddy...he is interested in where everyone came from and why we are the way we are and if magic is real and if whom EVER it is likes Mozzarella cheese! Of course being that Teddy was raised in Jersey and one half of his family is very Italian, Mozzarella comes out "Moo-za-dell"...if that makes any sense. No self respecting Italian by way of Jersey pronounces Mozzarella the way it's spelled! Watch the Sopranos...you'll see!!!
Either way, Teddy never fails to crack me up with his questions.
Right about that time Jay and Sally arrived with my fix!!! Sally was holding it carefully and walking swiftly towards me.
"MissCammie, I GOT IT! And the lady who handed it to daddy wasn't careful and she accidentally DROPPED the first bottle and then I told her that my step mom does NOT like shooken diet Coke so then I asked her if I could pick the bottle out my own self and she said YES so I picked a not shooken one!"
"That's my girl!"
It was a fabulous and blessed relief to finally have that caffeine flowing through my body!! I felt much revived and ready to travel!
After slipping Sally her finders fee...which was a giant hug and a noisy zerbert on her cheek...the kids hopped into the kid transporter and we were off!! It was time to head to Norway!!!
Teddy was immediately thrilled to see a "giant SHIP!! A PIRATE SHIP!!!"
I felt I needed to explain a bit about Vikings. Seeing as how I have that Irish thing going on, I am well versed in the Norse invasion of Ireland. Of course I was raised thinking that Vikings were actually called "land thieving brutes"...according to my granddad...so I passed along some familial bias to Teddy and Sally...as is the proper way to educate small children who take your word as gospel truth!
*ahem*
We parked the kids transporter and we headed into Norway! Sally immediately found the kidcot station with Teddy hot on her heels and they set to work!
Jay and I looked around and reminisced about last summer at this time, the Disney portion of our honeymoon. I couldn't believe that a year had flown by so quickly. Sally and Teddy were growing up so fast. I was glad to be here with the kids. During much of our honeymoon we had often said "Teddy and Sally would LOVE this..." And we were right...they did love it. I found myself calculating how many more days we had and how much more time in our Disney bubble of bliss before we had to return to the real world. Ugh.
I then had to FORCE myself to STOP stop STOP it. I was making myself cry. Which wasn't hard at the time...still isn't. Time passage gets me though. Even now I look at Teddy and Sally and marvel at how much they have changed. Teddy is looking more and more like a little man every day. The roundness of babyhood is giving way to the angles and gawkiness of a little boy. I remember when he was barely two, peeking around his daddy's legs, smiling and batting his incredibly long lashes at me.
don't even get me STARTED on miss SallyRally! Good grief, the child is THUNDERING towards puberty at warp speed! She actually asked me about wearing a BRA yesterday...
A bra...she's only 8! But lots of girls in her class wear one and she wants one too!! Since when did bra wearing become an elementary school right of passage?! Sadly, I suppose for me...I didn't even have to think about such a thing until I was in HIGH SCHOOL...and even then it was a stretch and a prayer and a lot of wishful thinking...is that TMI? I know...but seriously...what is in the food we are feeding our children?!
it's such an odd time...Sally still sleeps in zip up footie sleepers, and here she is wanting a bra...
I bought her some undershirts as a compromise and told her to cease growing immediately!
but she won't. willful little thing that she is!
where were we?
Oh yes...Norway...and mask making and honeymoon reminiscing!
My favorite thing in Norway is the giant troll. He freaks me out and cracks me up at the same time. He's rather imposing really...and I figured if I found him imposing and freaky, the kids would think so too. And since I had every intention of riding Maelstrom...in which the trolls really get their freaky scary on...I wanted to introduce the kids to the troll in a more friendly atmosphere...y'know before I subject them to something that might cause lifelong fears and needs for therapy.
So we met Mr. Troll. The kids weren't overly impressed. Sally noticed that he was sort of not cute...Teddy pointed out that we could see up his nose...and that was about it. No worries. So I needed a picture!
here it is...sort of small...but y'all get the point...I thought it was cute. (See, Jay glows too!) That's Teddy behind the mask! He assured me that he was smiling behind it! Sally fussed a bit and wanted to know if I knew how many people had probably TOUCHED this troll and how many germs were LIVING on it!
*pic*
I smiled. Said yes...smacked her around a bit...not really...and told her to get her rump over there and SMILE before I made her KISS the troll.
needless to say she was the first one there. Goodness...Sally had her fussy britches on today. Good thing I'm controlling and bossy...she might not have had ANY fun!
Finally the time had arrived for the Norway ride. Maelstrom. I have often seen people on the Dis comment on the absurdity of Maelstrom having a fast pass option. I am going to have to agree. I don't think I've ever seen a line for Maelstrom. I've always walked right on. This time was not much different. It took about a minute to make it to the ride. It was enough time for Teddy and Sally to comment about the giant blond people on the walls! Blond people are a bit of novelty to New Jersey kids...at least to kids in Sally's elementary school. Sally's entire class has dark brown hair. There were THREE Anthony's in her class, one of which was a twin and his sister is called Antonella...which is basically the same name as Anthony...two Angelina's and two girls whose first names start with Mary---Mary-Angela, and Mary-Therese...We live in Soprano land. So large Nordic blonds were pretty cool looking! Sally has a passion for blond hair...she has said since the first day I met her that she wants to have blond highlights in her hair...I have no idea where she got this, but she is set on it.
Did I just get WAY off the point? Sorry...
where we?
oh yes, Maelstrom!
We hopped into a boat...Sally chose to sit with Daddy as this ride looked like it may be "dark and scary". Teddy and I sat in front. Sally noticed that there were drips on her seat.
Sally tapped me rather forcefully on the shoulder. When I turned to look at her she nailed me with a look and said:
"MissCammie...am I going to get wet?! Are my underpants going to get wet? Because if they are, then I please want to get off right NOW please..."
I gave her my best smile, batted my eyelashes and said:
"You'll dry!"
wicked stepmother am I.
"MissCammie!!!" THAT bordered on whining...
*sigh* Sally had those fussy pants on tight. Jay told her to relax. We were at Disney to have fun, not to fuss. No she wasn't going to get wet and even if she did...she'll DRY.
and with that...we were OFF!
I like this ride actually. It's got some mild chills and thrills...The trolls freak me out, the way their scary eyes pop up from the water...hate that...but overall it's pretty fun! Teddy LOVED the "almost going over the water fall!!" part and Sally really liked the "Skinny Polar bear" part. (Y'all know what I'm talking about? The polar bear that is standing on his hind legs...he looks like he's been on the Slim Fast plan for one too many days!) I knew she'd be fine once we got going. Sally's a good girl. She's working on the worry wart demons.
We decided to by pass the movie. We know we can do this...unlike some other people who think they have to stay. But we know better! We actually watched it last year. It was interesting..but not so interesting that we needed to sit through it again! We had other countries to see after all!
Before we headed into China we needed a little snack. I figured Sally was a little bit hungry...which would explain the fussy pants.
We went into the Kringla Bakeri. I was well aware that this was not a place with food that the kids would likely eat...by kids, I mean Sally. Teddy will eat anything. But our Sally didn't have time to worry about scary food...she was utterly charmed by the "blond girls". They spoke to her about their country and she told them about New Jersey. She complemented their pretty hair and said she wished SHE had blond streaks in her hair! They gushed over how pretty she was and she gushed over them right back. I just watched and marveled at the magic of Disney. Sally does NOT talk to strangers. She just doesn't...and this was...I don't know...maybe the FOURTH time in two days that the child has chit chatted freely with people she didn't know!
And dang if they didn't talk her into eating a Sweet Pretzel! Food Sally has never before seen or tried...made its way into her mouth! Jay and I were dumbstruck. Sally and Teddy split it between them and Sally ate every bit of her half. Wow! I didn't dare say a word. I didn't want to break the magic bubble of eating without fear! She really enjoyed it too! The sweet "blond girls" also gave Sally and Teddy little bags of carrot sticks, which they happily munched on while we sat and rested. It was lovely. It felt magical and I wanted to hold on to that moment for as long as I could...that ordinary moment...a moment that may seem like nothing...but there was magic in the humid air as we sat outside and we ate our Disney food...and we weren't afraid or worried. We were just happy.
It was Disney magic.
Up Next: Finding Mushu
Thanks for the update; looking forward to more!
It gives me something to look forward to for my trip in Sept!!!
Thanks MissCammie!
