Baby and the Tramp...and a Pop (half) Century! Where Did It Go???

[snowbell]

Great update Memom. I love your pictures of the osbourne lights. I think they came out great. I could just imagine how cute Brooklynn was when she saw all the lights... I mean - I was going crazy...lol

 

[twob4him]

The photos fo the lights are beautiful.

We don't get to have snowdays here, as all students walk to our school right now...no matter how deep the snow, the kids are expected to show up...we have had about 1-1/2 ft fall over the last couple of days and still they have to go.

Have a wonderful Vanlentine's Day. don't eat too much chocolate...but then again, is there really such a thing as too much chocolate?

mmmm...chocolate

Uhhhh, what about the staff who has to drive there to teach all the little snow shoed children who walk to school in the snow both ways uphill??? Yesterday morning we had a terrible time just getting into my minivan. The doors were hermetically sealed by ice! And when I arrived at school, the parking lot doubled as an ice arean!

QUOTE=MeMom;23185757]

On the way out, I noticed that someone there had a secret about something.

Really, really a secret.

Wow that is a great pic of the lights! So what was the secret? That it was going to be Hollywood Studios soon?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow. We'll have wound up kids all day, of course.

They were pretty grumpy today because we were the only county in our area who had to go to school.

The teachers were even grumpier.

And, of course, we all blamed the weatherman.

He was at school at lunchtime, and he got a lot of glares.

Poor guy. He wanted us to have a snow day as much as we wanted one. It was our cough st cough up cough id school board.

[/QUOTE]

Grrrrrrr about the school day!



Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!

 

[twob4him]

Memom - I hear you about how busy we are at school! I have been going strong since we came back from break and I don't think I have enough time to do everything...so many labs, so little time! (I teach physical science!)

 

[MeMom]

Good evening, all! I have been working on Culture Week stuff almost all day, but I've peeked in on the Dis off and on. Between Read Me Week, two weeks later Culture Week, TCAP prep, after school tutoring (to earn extra Disney dollars), and the Schoolwide Improvement Plan, I am going to be absolutely SPENT by the time we leave. I will thoroughly enjoy my spring break!

pooksma - You guys will love Disney at Christmas! I want to go back again this year, maybe at our Thanksgiving break, if I can talk anyone into going with me. At Thanksgiving, they didn't have all the decorations up yet, but they did have some, and the Osborne Lights were on.


scottny - I enjoyed your report of PrimeTime earlier today. I look forward to being there soon. We've only been once, and we did get a TV table. I didn't realize you had to ask for one, though. Maybe Jill did, since she's the one that booked it.

k_reile - You will very much enjoy the lights. As for the Samantha Brown shows, I watch every one I can, and I wish she would also do features on the value resorts. I know they don't have as much appeal to the masses as the deluxes, but it would be cool to see her do them all on one show. There are plenty of activities between all of them to have a nice show, in my opinion.

snowbell - Better and back with us. Very good. Hopefully, you've had all the sickness you're going to have for a while. We have had several counties around our area close for a few days due to so many illnesses.

twob4him - Talented much? Very cute outfits for the girls. What beach are you on in the picture?

Brooklynn got shorted in the sewing department. None of us can do anything more than put a button on, and even that is not pretty!

Metro doesn't much care about us slipping and sliding, I guess. Oh well. There is nothing I can do. I'm too far into this career to give it up and too far away to think about retiring, so I'm stuck.

And now, on to Animal Kingdom.








Wake up, Brookie. It's time to go see the animals.

"Ammels?"

Yep, it's time to go see lions and tigers and zebras.

Brooklynn loves animals.
Loves them.
And I love Animal Kingdom.
I love whatever park I'm in on any given day, and today I loved Animal Kingdom best.
Does this sound familiar? I may have said this a time or two already.

Having decided we would eat breakfast at Pizzafari, we didn't have to stop on our way to the bus. We wanted to get to the safari as early as we could.

Here are my two favorite girls in front of one of my favorite places. It doesn't get much better than this.

The tree was decorated so cool. They are so creative with the theming of the trees.

As we were going in, we were greeted by a rather unusual looking member of the Disney cast. He called out to the triple shirt family. We all had on our purple shirts, and he was headed right for us, so we guessed he was talkin' 'bout us.

Can you guess who it was?


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Do you suppose he is one of DeVine's relatives?


We headed staight for Kilimanjaro Safari and had just a very short wait. Just a slow down, really, as we never had to stop and wait.

A lot of animals were out. Jill was on the outside, so she had a better vantage point for pictures without getting other people's heads and shoulders and such in the shot.

Here is a mix of her pictures and mine. I can't say they are in exact safari order.

Can you see the horns?

I could easily take hundreds of pictures on this journey. I wish they could stop just a second or two so that you could get better shots, though. One day, we want to stay AKL Concierge so that we can go on the special sunrise safari and learn and see much more.

 

[scottny]

very nice photos. I would love to do that from the AKL with the sunrise safari. I watche da special last night on Discovery HD and they showed that. It looks like fun.

That tree was very nice.

At PTC we didn't ask for it but someone recommended to me to do so but we just got one.

Have a good night

 

[pooksma]

Beautiful pics! Creepy thing-declansdad and I were both looking at your pics at the same time. (me on laptop he on desktop) He agrees that your pictures are gorgeous. I particularly like the ones of the lioness.

Brooklyn is sweet sleeping-but then aren't all children.

Word is another possible snow day tomorrow-hope not. I have a paper to finish. I never would have thought I'd say I WANTED school

 

[carrieannie]

What a cute picture of Brooklynn sleeping. great animal shots. And that sunshine looks soo warm, i think i can feel it by looking at the pictures

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

Loving the journey MeMom!
The Osborne Lights were Beeeyooootiful! It truly is spectacular all the lights. I loved the angel lights, they were my favorite.

Love Brooklynn getting up. How cute
I can't believe you got to see the lioness! That's so cool.

 

[twob4him]

Awwww Brookie is so cute all snuggled in her bed! I love the matchy shirts and great pics from the Safari. I was on the wrong side too (between kiddos) so I had trouble getting any good pics myself. So wait, did I miss breakfast????

 

[VandyFan10]

OH MY!!! We didn't see this guy in Dec, but MeMom you are going to remember this!! The talking Christmas tree at Harvey's in 100 Oaks Mall...always FREAKED ME OUT!!! And by looking at her sweet face this crazy palm might be doing that too!!

I could easily take hundreds of pictures on this journey. I wish they could stop just a second or two so that you could get better shots,

Just a tip....the driver told me if your camera has a 'sports' setting to use that....b/c it's more for action shots....it definitely worked on mine

 

[wannago2disney]

Animal Kingdom is Rob and TJ's favorite park as well. I am torn between MK and AK myself. I love the christmas tree theme...I would have like to have been there for that! I love your pictures!
How is your "baby speak?" I remember when my kids started to talk...everyone would look at me and ask for an interpretation as though they were speaking some sort of alien language. But it is so exciting when they start to talk and you can have truly interactive conversations with them

 

[snowbell]

i love the Ammels.... lol
I really do love AK. I love that there is always something new and exciting to see... (maybe that it b/c I am always running to everest... lol).
Are you going to do a pre-trippie for your next trip or are you going to just keep it flowing on this one? I just really love your trip report...

If you decide to go Thanksgiving next year, Joe and I might be there. I am trying to convince him to go b/c I will not have to take off of work.

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

3 weeks from tomorrow we will be loading up and heading out. Brooklynn and I will drive to Nashville to pick up Memom and her friend and then it is full speed ahead. As always, Memom and I have been calling each other at least once a day to say "Where will we be in 3 and a half weeks?" We are both getting very excited even though neither of us realized Easter was so darn early and we will be there the week leading up to it. Oh well, we will be there and that is pure happiness.

 

[scottny]

3 weeks from tomorrow we will be loading up and heading out. Brooklynn and I will drive to Nashville to pick up Memom and her friend and then it is full speed ahead. As always, Memom and I have been calling each other at least once a day to say "Where will we be in 3 and a half weeks?" We are both getting very excited even though neither of us realized Easter was so darn early and we will be there the week leading up to it. Oh well, we will be there and that is pure happiness.

Jealous overe here till I heard what week it is.
you will still have a great time.

 

[MeMom]

I may or may not finish the rest of this TR before we leave again. I try to do one section at a time, but lately my Dis life has been on hold.

School has just been taking up massive amounts of time. I worked for six hours today fixing up our hall for Read Me Week, which starts Monday. Culture Week is two weeks later, so we just went ahead and tied them both in together.

Our grade level has Europe for Culture week, so I have our end of the hall fixed up with Germany, UK/Ireland, Norway, and Italy. I went for the countries in Epcot! We made a German house with the wood beams on it, a red telephone booth, a Viking ship, and a gondola going under a bridge. I want a life-size polar bear for Norway, just like in Maelstrom, but I guess that's just a dream. The kids would love it, though!



So, I'm back home and it's time for more Animal Kingdom...and no, twob4him, you didn't miss breakfast. We haven't gotten there yet. We did the safari and Rafiki's, and then went to breakfast. Here you go:

We rode the train over to Rafiki's, because we knew Brooklynn would love seeing animals up close.

I went into the bathroom as soon as we got there, and I took a picture of the reading material that was on the door.

Oh, the things you can learn when you go to a Disney potty.

I haven't shown that picture to my kids at school, because they would say, "Eww!", "Gross!", and "That's nasty!".... the whole time they were asking to see it again and again.

The office area was decorated up so cute.

Red tree frogs and colorful insects make lovely decorations.

We didn't go in, but she enjoyed seeing these guys through the fence.

Now it's time for breakfast. I opted for the same thing Brooklynn had - French toast and grapes. It was good.

"Gapes. Gapes. Gapes."

Brooklynn was starved, and we couldn't get it all cut up fast enough for her!

Animal drama going on on the wall beside us.

More decor.

Then on to camp to see the gang dressed for Christmas.

Santa Goofy was already taking orders for next year.

I told Brooklynn to ask for a baby sister!

Mickey had a bit of trouble getting Brooklynn to warm up to him, but she finally did hug him.

Lilo and Stitch were outside one of the stores. I snapped this as we walked by. I tried to angle it just to get the characters and not the kids. I got part of the mom, though.

Yet another tree inside another store. I'm not lyin'.

Get it. Lyin'. Lion. Ha. Ha.

Sorry. I just couldn't resist.
I can do that, because you can't beat me on the head through the computer!
Thank heavens.



We decided to go over to Animal Kingdom Lodge to get a picture of the big tree in the lobby and let Brooklynn play in the water a while.

We first had to get past this big gator outside Rainforest Cafe.

With our amazing skill in being able to run in a zigzag (isn't that always what you've been told to do when a gator is chasing you?), we were able to escape his massive jaws and make it out of the park.

We had a short wait at the bus stop. Brooklynn was getting cranky.

This is what happened on the bus.

The ride was too short for a decent nap, though, and before we knew it, we were gazing upon this beautiful lobby.

More later. Have a good evening!

declansdad and pooksma - Best of everything for your St. Pete trip.

snowbell - Just gonna flow on with this one, if it's allowable.

wannago2disney - I am enjoying your report. Your kids are at perfect Disney magic ages.

VandyFan10 - I'll try the setting change, for sure. We are actually going to Animal Kingdom the first part of the first day we're there, then we're heading to MK for the evening. Maybe it'll also help with Spectro shots.

Lurrrv - Yeah, it was neat to see the lioness up and walking around. No lyin'. Oops, that's already been done, hasn't it?

carrieannie - The sun was warm. The day was just beautiful. I can't wait to get back!!!

scottny - I hope we can manage the crowds okay. When it's just us, we can go more leisurely, but since our friend is going, we will probably want to try to push in a little more, and the crowds won't help that, I know. Oh well, I'll just have to talk her in to another trip in the future. If I can get her hooked, maybe she'll go with me sometime when the kids aren't able to.

 

[mandy200587]

I just caught back up, life has been crazy for me too. Where did you have breakfast? That actually looks decent. Though we have Tusker House scheduled for the day we are there.

 

[scottny]

Great update and pics.

I have never seen that gator by Rainforest Cafe.

I hope the crowds are not too bad.

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

Great pics Memom! Awww it's cool to see the characters in their Christmas garb.
You guys are heading back!

 

[declansdad]

I may or may not finish the rest of this TR before we leave again.

This is becoming a regular occurence. I'm getting jealous.

declansdad and pooksma

- Best of everything for your St. Pete trip.[\quote]

I don't get to go. Something about having to teach a bunch of students.

 

[twob4him]

QUOTE=MeMom;23397923]I may or may not finish the rest of this TR before we leave again.

Awwwwww you poor thing.....

Our grade level has Europe for Culture week, so I have our end of the hall fixed up with Germany, UK/Ireland, Norway, and Italy. I went for the countries in Epcot! We made a German house with the wood beams on it, a red telephone booth, a Viking ship, and a gondola going under a bridge. I want a life-size polar bear for Norway, just like in Maelstrom, but I guess that's just a dream. The kids would love it, though!

Oh wow..sounds exciting! Did you take any pics???

So, I'm back home and it's time for more Animal Kingdom...and no, twob4him, you didn't miss breakfast.

Yeah a shout out!!!

This is what happened on the bus.

Awwww that is sooo cute!

The ride was too short for a decent nap, though, and before we knew it, we were gazing upon this beautiful lobby.

More later. Have a good evening!

Wow what a gorgeous tree! Great update and pics, as usual!!!