So the horde of happyhaunts paused for a group photo in front of the Tree of Life. We got the CM photographer to take a couple. We're not really going to buy these, of course, we're just pretending so that she will ALSO take pictures with OUR camera. She does. Thanks! I take the PhotoPass card from her and store it away where it will never see the light of day again. Down deep in the DVC knapsack beside the postcard I forgot to mail to The General LAST December when we were here at WDW. I mailed it this time, though. When I found it. MERRY CHRISTMAS, Mom! And... Happy Mother's Day! Too. (I just added that to the bottom. Two occassions for one. I know. I know. Cheapy cheap cheap.) Tommy makes me laugh. Whenever we do a group shot he raises his hands and cups them. He has no idea why. Other than the photographers at Disney ask the kids to do this all the time. I suppose it's to insert a character into the finished product. But, since we've never actually viewed our PhotoPass Photos... that's just a guess. Anyhow... he does it all the time. Now. Whenever all five of us gather together for a picture. Cracks Me(l) up! It does. There's one of us from a couple months ago at a synchro tournament with all our cousins. Together. And Tommy is standing in front with his little hands cupped. It's funny. I think.
Moving on. Now. We head directly for EE. With every other guest that entered the park when we did. It's a streaming mass of humanity. I thought about suggesting we run but I figured there was no point. By now. Turning the corner and walking towards it we got a great view. Of it. EE. I asked Mellyman what he thought of the mountain. He was impressed. He thought it looked very real. The shape of Everest, the vegetation and landscape and all that. And... he should know. He's climbed to the base camp on Mount Annapurna. Trekking in Nepal. Not Everest, though. But... he's seen pictures. Of Mount Everest. So he's pretty much an Everest Expert. I think. Anyway... I'll let him be the expert for our group. 'Cause he HAS spent time in Nepalese villages. Pulling the worst extended ZZUB of his life... for two days... after he ate goat meat purchased at the outdoor market. After that he went vegetarian for the rest of his tour of third world countries. I mean... GROSS ME OUT! I'll spare you all the details. Of that. And, if I were you, I'd pass on the smoked goat leg from the vendor cart at AK too. Or is it turkey? No matter. Anyhow... the five of us stood in the midst of the huge crowd outside EE and debated our options. We quickly realized that we couldn't get Fastpasses for the day. They were for 4:30pm. We wouldn't be in the AK at that time. We would be either in
Walmart or the pool at BWV. But not the AK. So Mellyman decided that we would join the line which was VERY long at this point and we would just wait the approximately 1 hour to ride. We were going to have to do the baby swap thing and then that would mess up Beth's plan too. Because there was NO WAY that Mellyman was riding twice in a row. While I skipped it altogether. She'd have to ride with Me(l). Poor girl. So while Melly went off to get in line for us... I started with the sunscreen ordeal. Over to the side. Across from the EE dump shop and out of people's way. It truly is an ordeal. Yet, less of one than second degree burns on your children's extremeties. I mean... THE GENERAL never put sunsreen on me. And I am a fair-haired, fair-skinned Irish girl who tends to freckle. I burnt to a crisp. Every summer. At least twice. But... it toughened me up. I learned how to take some serious pain. And not to whimper about it. And I actually enjoyed peeling layers of skin off of my shoulders after the wet bubbles underneath popped. I think. Anyway... now I have a dermatologist. We're very close. He's on my speed dial and Christmas card list. So I started putting that over-rated sunscreen on Tommy. First. 'Cause he's the palest. And, by now, after our trudge through half of the AK... he's probably already burnt. The other challenge with Tommy is finding a sunscreen that won't cause a rash on him. It's difficult because the one I used last summer NOW causes a rash. So I pick one of the three brands I bought for this trip and cover him. Hoping for the best. I remember his ears. This time. And the tops of his feet. This time. Sorry, Tommy. Beth does her own except for her own face and back and shoulders. I help her out. Then I look over at Calvin. And note his white legs. Not his SKIN. But the amount of sunscreen he has applied to his legs appears as thick as Elmer's glue. All over his calves. About a cup of sunscreen. Geez. I scrape it off and use it for the rest of him. And there is STILL enough left over to do my face and shoulders, too. There. We're finished. I tell Beth to join her father in line and that I'll have to head over to the washroom with the boys to wash my hands and Calvin's then we'll join them. Ok. She goes off and we head to the restroom. I force Calvin into the ladies with Tommy and I, we wash up and then head back to find Beth and Mellyman. But... we can't. See them.
We head back to the dump shop area and I stand around where I'm SURE they'll be able to spot me and look for them. Tommy is in the stroller, still. Calvin is looking around too. Calvin is right beside me. Then Calvin is not. Beside me. Anymore. Calvin is gone. I quit looking for Beth and Melly and start looking for Calvin. I hate losing a child. Really. It's bad form. As a parent. So I release Tommy from the stoller and we go looking around for Calvin. Calling his name. Scanning the crowds. Finally, I'm about to freak out. Ask a CM to put out an all-points bulletin or something. When I decide to check out the dump shop. Of EE. The shop that the ride empties out into is full of neat stuff. Stuffed Yeti backpacks, t-shirts, hats, EE gear and one Calvin happyhaunt. In an orange tank. Yep. Found him.
Me: CALVIN!!! What do you think you're doing?
Calvin: Shopping.
Me: You wandered off. I lost you. You lost us. You CAN NOT do that.
Calvin: I figured you'd find me.
Me: Well, mad props to me. (really. I said it. I say it a lot.) For that. But don't do it again or we'll have some BIG problems. Alrighty? AND I MEAN BIG, MISTER!
Calvin: Alright. Sorry. I just wanted to buy something.
Me: But, Calvin, how did you expect to PAY for "something". "Somethings" aren't free. Especially at Disney.
Calvin: I don't know.
Me: Since you don't have any money on you... were you going to barter? Or something?
Calvin: What's barter?
Me: Trade things for other things.
Calvin: OH. Yeah. I was gonna do that.
Me: Great. 'Cause you have one sweaty shirt, one pair of shorts, a pair of boxers and two sandals that smell vaguely of dirty feet. That's gonna get you a buttload of stuff, my friend. So... let's go find your father and Beth.
Tommy: I want a toy.
Me: Ask Calvin to trade some nail clippings for it. Let's go.
Ok. So that was the part where Calvin got in BIG TROUBLE. I'm not much of a disciplinarian though.
I want my kids to like me. I want to be their friend.
Haahahhahhahhahaaaaahhhhhaaaaaa. HA! Yeah. Right.
So we exit said dump shop and find Mellyman and Beth standing around outside looking for us. GEEZ! They thought we got lost and left the line to find us. Clearly we are not going to be riding EE now. Today. At all. CRAP!!!! Nothing we can do about it though. So we head off to do a ride which we all like and will end up thoroughly drenching us... so AFTER we can head off to check in to the BWV looking like a bunch of bedraggled drowned rats. Who cares? Though. 'Cause we LOVE the Kali River Rapids.
No bread for us. No soup for us. And... no Yeti for us. Either.
To be continued. Up next: We get really really really wet. And then experience the maze which calls itself "The eating area of Flame Tree BBQ".