Upon our last meeting I was just tucking my weary self into bed...
I was asleep for about 2 seconds before the sun came up.
I swear.
Thats what it felt like.
That first contact between foot and floor the morning after your first day always hurts. I think its part of being on a plane, and walking at a Disney pace for the first time since our last visit. That Disney pace can be a killer! My arms also hurt thanks to Teddys dead weight. Basically I woke up achy and whiny.
Thankfully Jay had a diet coke ready! Sally sat up as he was bringing it to me and reminded him not to shake it! LOL Shell probably do that for the rest of her life!
Of course Jay had to give my diet coke a pretend shake
and I had to make veiled threats about bodily harm
.and Sally had to SHRIEK DADDYYYYYYYYYYYY.
Just your average start to a Disney day in the Campbellscot world!
Teddy was peeking out from under his blankets at us.
So I pretended not to see him as I sat down on his body. I loudly complained that this was a VERY lumpy bed.
A muffled Because youre SITTING on a boy MissCammie! came from under the blankets
Oh my goodness, I WAS sitting on a boy. However did I miss him?
Silliness over, it was time to get everybody ready to get moving for the day! I fired the kids through the shower at lightening speed and told them to get dressed ASAP! I put some cheerios boxes on the table to ward off any tummy rumblings...and as an incentive to get dressed swiftly as the cheerios were to be eaten AFTER getting dressed...fully and completely...Teddy.
*ahem*
While they were doing that I hunted down my husband
who was on the phone
already.
I nailed him with a *get off that phone this INSTANT* look and he smiled sweetly in response.
He thinks that works...deflecting my wrath with a darling smile.
so doesn't work.
Grrr.
Oh well. I had no choice...
I took Jay's phone out of his hands and yelled STOP CALLING US into it and then I threw it to the ground and stomped that wretched little cell phone into oblivion.
That solves that.
*ahem*
Okay not really, but I was fixing to. Jay held up five fingers to indicate how many more minutes hed be on. I held up two and told him not to cross me or else
then I gave him a sparkling smile of my own!
I boss because I love...
it's true.
Finally Jay got off the phone and he ran into the bathroom to get dressed.
Funniest thing EVER
I had laid out a pair of khaki shorts and a red sweat tech tee for Teddy. Imagine my surprise when Jay emerged from the bathroom wearing the grown up version of the exact same outfit!
Gotta love that Dad and Lad look! Especially when it is completely unplanned. Its that ESP thing.
Sally and I were NOT wearing matching outfits. But we DID coordinate!
With everyone dressed and teeth brushed and hair brushed, it was time to move out! We headed down to Mara for breakfast. The kids had already munched on little boxes of Cheerios, but I wanted to make sure bellies were good and full!
The weather was being most uncooperative. Rain.
quack.
I got the kids some eggs and fruit, which they inhaled. I made Jay sit down and eat some eggs himself as he turns into a total grouch if he doesnt have food in his belly. I had some Nutri-grain bars in my bag to hand out just in case!
Before heading down to the bus we stopped in Zawadi Marketplace to ask about real rain coats. The ponchos had been absolutely useless the day before. It was the wind that did it. We had noticed the night before that roaming CMs had lovely little raincoats
the same kind of material as the ponchos, but they were real coats
with sleeves and buttons and hit about knee level! Now those would be handy!
Unfortunately those kinds of rain coats are not sold at Disney World.
Drat.
Oh well. Ponchos it is.
We exited the marketplace through the doors heading down to the buses. Unfortunately we still had to troop through that smoke. Sally didnt even bother trying to preach. She just covered her face and RAN!
go Sal! Way to problem solve!!!
Thankfully the bus to Magic Kingdom didnt take forever to arrive. It only took half of forever. Luckily it arrived before steam started coming out of Jay's ears! We hopped on and had a very cozy and uneventful ride to the park!
It was going to be an interesting day
forecast called for a break in the rain with showers at times
which was a far cry from the direst of predictions I had gotten reading weather threads.
(Jay pointed this out...several times.)
That being said, upon arrival to the Magic Kingdom the weather was a bit...erm...breezy shall we say...
Okay, well the weather DID look pretty ominous now but I was keeping a positive attitude. I was going to use The Secret! I was going to WILL the weather into niceness.
Im powerful that way.
it's a gift...
Dad and Lad and Sally heading towards the gates!
My bag caused the first hold up of the day. It was pretty well packed and organized. Which meant I had to unpack and UNorganize it for the search. It had a lot of stuff...including four ponchos, precisely folded by Jay! I had a lot of stuff in there. I'm not very good at packing light. I will fill any bag I carry. I can't help myself! I was glad no one was behind me until the guard finished checking things out!
The second delay of the day was a result of my finger print not scanning. Seriously, I had to "re-try" 84,000 times.
The CM standing there kept saying "Oops...try it again...one more time..." this went on and on and on. Good GRAVY lady! Here's my room key card, my passport, a vial of blood...may I PLEASE come in now?!
FINALLY another CM came over to rescue me with "It's fine, you can come through..."
about time...
*harrumph*
just kidding...
sort of.
as I was joining my family I heard "Oops...try it again!" behind me. Okay clearly...the machine is NOT well. It's not working...and the definition of insanity is repeating a behavior over and over expecting a different result.
it's true.
Once we made it through the tunnel, Sally and I soaked in our dose of Castle magic...ahhhh...nothing like a good long look at Cindy's Castle to start the day off on a good note!!
We decided to forgo the "Kid Transporter" for today at least. The cost of renting these things was getting a little OUT of control. We decided that we'd get a kid transporter if it seemed like the kids would need it. (I know, shock of shocks...we get a kid transporter for kids that are over the age of three...and we will continue to do so as long as we have a kiddo who is known to faint dead away out of the blue in response to fatigue combined with the tiniest bit of dehydration...the kid transporter has eliminated that issue for us thus far. As long as he can fit, he can ride. Same for Sally. Period. End of Story!
)
As I was saying...we'd try out their legs and their little constitutions today and see how they did. This was a little risky for me considering my extreme allergy to whining.
what?
it's true.
hives and everything.
seriously.
*ahem*
We decided to head into the shops on Main Street...b/c it was soggy and wet outside and the kids were feeling browsy. Fine with me...I'm all about the browsing and hopefully while we wandered around inside the outside would stop raining!
Jay went all 007 on us and disappeared for a bit. Sometimes that man gets a bee in his bonnet about something and he takes off.
Man of mystery.
I was very content to get my Disney browse on! Absolutely entranced by acres of shopping potential! We started at the end near the fire station and moved forward from there.
Sally made a beeline to a rack of pins!
this would be a recurring theme...Sally could look at pins all day long. We had so created a pin trading monster!
I found this display to be particularly clever!!
Teddy was mesmerized by a large wall of games and action figure type sets. It's so cute how Teddy stands exactly like Jay when he's contemplating something!
Oh how I love to browse. I flit from place to place, taking in all the colors...noting the most adorable princess dresses that Sally is too big to wear but I would LOVE to see her in...I imagine a kitchen full of Mickey Parts utensils and cups and bowls and pot holders...and how much it would annoy Jay after a week
...I look at all the scrap book odds and ends...and magnets and picture frames and tees and beach towels...I just love it!!!
Sally and Teddy were right there with me. We were already having a blast, rain or NOT!
As I was looking through the selection of photo albums I was suddenly enclosed in a very strong pair of arms and heard "You have too many of those Cam..."
my response was,
"Captain Jack is that you? My husband will be here any second so kiss me quick before he catches us!!!"
I tease because I love.
I was punished with fingers digging into my sides (which causes me to yelp and screech in a most unladylike way) and a very loud zerbert on my cheek.
Well REALLY...we ARE in public...let us avoid rude noises if at all possible!
Teasing aside, I turned to find that my darling husband was wearing a black Disney backpack with a drawstring top and a flap that closes over the top. Wow. Gotta love a man in a Disney backpack!!!
Really though, Jay is a doll. He wanted to lighten my load and he knew if he had offered to do so I'd have been my normal stubborn self and insisted I was fine and could carry all...including Jay and the kids on my shoulders if need be.
what?
I can.
if I want to...
I CAN.
*ahem*
So Jay went rogue and made up his own mind. Tricky tricky that husband of mine!
He also bought a pin set with nine little Disney "cuties" pins. He wanted the kids to have a selection of pins to trade! Sally was THRILLED. Jay doled them out to the kids. He had given Sally a Donald pin and she said in a very matter of fact voice,
"Oh, well Daddy that's Donald. He needs to be on MissCammie's pin holder because Donald is her favorite."
Teddy chimed in with,
"Yeah...because MissCammie wants to keep it and she would feel sad if it got traded!"
I tried to insist to the kids that I wouldn't mind a bit if they traded Donald and that was what Daddy got the pins for.
But they wouldn't hear of it...and giving me one pin made it an even split for the kids and oh my how important it is to have an even split whenever possible!
So Donald was attached to my pin lanyard...under my honeymoon pin and above another grouchy Donald pin sent to me by a fellow Diser.
We were ready to trade in earnest!
But first we needed to get some rides under our belt!!
The rain had stopped for the time being and we needed to maximize our dry time!!!
So we headed on out in search of adventure!!!
I will never get tired of pictures like this...dad and daughter...
Teddy stayed back with me and we strolled along quietly, taking it all in.
Teddy looked very thoughtful as he held my hand.
"MissCammie...are we kinfolk?"
"We are indeed Teddy Bear..."
"I thought so. And BJ (our dog) is kinfolk too right?"
"Yes Teddy..."
"and what about Chubs because even if he's a hamster we still love him so he's kinfolk too right?"
"yes Teddy..."
Oh my how this child cracks me up with his random recall. Teddy had been introduced to the word "kinfolk" earlier this summer. We had been to visit some of my family in Texas. My cousin KC is as Southern as a Southern man can be. He is cowboy hats and cowboy boots and wranglers and button down shirts. He's a Good ol' Boy. He uses words like "kinfolk" regularly. Teddy had been fascinated by these Southern words he had not heard before. He found it terribly amusing that KC referred to my Diet Coke as "soda water". That's how KC refers to any carbonated beverage. KC is an experience for sure.
anyhow...it appears "kinfolk" was rolling around in his head today!
Teddy and I caught up with Jay and Sally. Both kids wanted to ride Pirates again!
All I said was "No argument from me"...and Jay gave me a look...wiggled his fingers menacingly...
what?
I like the dog part...
I do.
Captain Jack has nothing whatsoever to do with it...
much.
On the way Jay wanted to get a picture of the kids and me in front of the castle. urgh. I like to be the takER...not the takee...
I had to make it small. I was most unphotogenic in that moment...
Picture behind us it was time to ride.
We found it every bit as thrilling as we had the night before!!
Teddy was equally thrilled with the dump shop as we emerged from the ride. He's been VERY into the whole pirate thing this year...like every other kid in America! Jay and I let the kiddies browse as they pleased. There was a lot to look at!!
Teddy is trying to convince Jay that pirate guns are different from other guns...and Jay is saying to him "Son, you better put that down before your wicked step mother sees you with it!"
I don't like guns as toys. At all. Guns are weapons. They do not belong in the hands of children. That's just how I feel about it. Not trying to preach. I just don't like guns. At all.
But that's just me.
I'm not being judgmental.
I'm NOT.
I swear.
Just rigid.
*ahem*
Teddy sure did put that gun down in a hurry when he caught a glimpse of me moving in his direction...then he gave me a very impish little grin as he picked up a sword and waved it with great flourish over his head...
stinker.
He won't be taking that home as a souvenir either.
I'm bossy that way.
part of the wicked step mother gig.
Sally was looking at sunglasses and bracelets. She found a very odd pair of 80's inspired I don't know what they are called glasses. She gave me a "What are these?!" look. So I found a pair of my own and we put them on!
I love the tag in my face. Jay doesn't consider these things when he's picture taking. He just grabbed the camera and *snap* tag in front of my nose...oh well. I'm not sure I would have looked any cooler sans tag!
A very strange thing happened while we were Pirate browsing...a patch of BLUE SKY APPEARED!!!!
yes...I took a picture of blue sky...such was my joy!!
The Secret DOES work...with some Disney magic mixed in!!
wooHOO!!!
After Pirate browsing we strolled a bit and found our way to The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House!! The kids love this. The first time they visited the tree house they had not seen the movie. I sat them down and we watched the movie not too long before THIS trip. Teddy LOVED making the connections between the movie and what he was seeing. Now that Teddy reads, a whole new world has opened up for him. He was positively giddy when he found the older brother's rooms and read their names! He chattered on about all the animals he'd seen on the movie and how cool it would be if there were ostriches in the tree house so we could pet them and feed them seeds...
oh Teddy...
You would NOT find your wicked step mother holding out her hand to an Ostrich to feed it seeds! Those things will rip your fingers off! My dad had Emus on his ranch for a while...three broken ribs and a broken wrist later he gave those birds their marching orders! They are outrageously strong...and stubborn...and they like to get out of their enclosures...and they swing their heads around and whap people in the chest...which feels like someone took a baseball bat to your sternum. No thank you. Emus are no where near as big as Ostriches...so I can only imagine how much more ornery an Ostrich can be!
where was I?
oh yes...Swiss Family tree house!
Teddy got as far as the second rung before Jay and I chorused out "Far Enough Teddy!" Can't be too careful with a boy who will jump! You never know what impulse might take hold of that child's senses!
So far our first day was going well!! The rain had stopped, a patch of blue appeared and there was a promise of sun!
since I've used my picture allowance I will stop here!
up next: Captain Hook and a WALL of PINS!!!!
I love how she puts people into place and advocates for people who are disabled!!! It put tears in my eyes when I read how she went up to the lady and told her it was okay, you really know how to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you MissCammie!!!! I'm excited to hear more about your trip.
laughing: I love that screen name!) I may get that chapter out this evening!!
Hope ya'll have a magical trip and we'll be waiting for you to come back with updates on your magical 10 day trip (and looking for a TR for your pending trip! LOL)
