I cannot wait to hear how Henry utilized said bucket and shovel.
I hope that your cousin is able to go home soon to be with her family. I can imagine it would be especially hard being pregnant (extra stress & separation from her home & family). I also feel horrible for her & her family that so much was lost, including the family cat. As an animal lover myself, I hope she is able to recover from her loss. Although I have heard stories from friends in the past, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it would be to lose everything. As others have said, the irreplaceable memories are the hardest to lose...pictures, baby keepsakes, reminders of special moments, etc. Not to mention how hard it is to rebuild rooms and/or houses (time, money, emotionally, physically, etc). 
Our cable has 2 different weather channels & I have been watching them both alot the past few days due to the changing weather and since its Hurricane season. They never once mentioned it & I cannot believe that! I think its absolutely horrible that something of this magnitude was not reported. I will keep watching & let you know if I hear of it on the news. 
Our AK day is actually my next update...so hopefully I'll get to it soon so you can read it! We ate at Restarauntosaurus as well but we had never heard of it before. I have no idea how we missed it last trip, but we just came across it by accident this trip (mostly because we wanted a place to sit down in air conditioning! lol) He loved it & used it alot on the trip. He still uses it in his sandbox at home & carries the shovel around with him in the car. (Seriously, I just found it underneath my driver's seat in my car yesterday afternoon!) 
If I could pick up and go (and still have the same basic hours, pay, and benefits) working at Rafiki's Planet Watch/Conservation Station would be my ideal job. Since I can't, kids like Doug will be my ideal students!
I bet he and I could spend a couple of very fun hours out there.
If we ever have trips that overlap in Disney World, that's where we'll plan to meet.
A quick personal note...
As you may have seen on my Facebook, or perhaps even the news, southeastern Minnesota has recently had a major flood - and unfortunately, much of my family and family friends are affected.
My cousin and her husband, and their son, live in my Grandma's home (my Grandma now lives with her son, thankfully!), and they were directly affected. They have lost all their furntiure, bedding, all the floors, walls, and cabinets will need to be re-done on the first floor. Everything in their garage (which was a LOT!) is pretty much gone and destroyed. How do you tell a 3 year old boy all his toys are gone????
If you pray, please pray for them right now. It's a very rough time for them, for obvious reasons, but also, my cousin is pregnant, so it's even harder on her because she cannot be there for safety reasons.
I have so many childhood memories wrapped up in that house and in these towns that are affected. A high school friend of mine COMPLETELY lost her childhood home and her Mom is now homeless. My second cousins have lost everything on their first floor, and who knows if their home can be saved. It's devastating. So many memories...washed away.
Thanks all.
-Brook
That is a bit much to ask...I think. 
Score on that bucket and shovel!! A happy boy those will make!!!
Hi Brook, Magdalene and me actually did some exploring at Restaurantosaurus after our meal and went to every room, luckily it was quite empty. There are so many funny details, I think it is an attrection for itself
Hi Brook, what a wonderful surprise with the bucket!! I remember that I recommended Restorantosaurus to you on your PTR and I am glad that you went there!!
On the table issue: I personally get the point why people are against it. If the lines at the register are very long, it might be possible for someone to eat there meal in the time it takes another person to get through the line. So when it is very crowded, people might have difficulties finding a table while others are sitting at one for ages waiting for their food. BUT I would never get into a fight about this issue and absolutely agree with your surprise about how intense these discussions can get on the boards.And in your case: if there are plenty of tables, there is certainly no reason for not sitting down while you are waiting for the food!
Great pictures around AK!
Henry looks adorable drumming away!
Yay for the sand bucket
Restaurantosaurus has such cool theming!
Can't wait to hear about the dig site!
Love the picture of Joe and Henry playing the drums. We have eaten at Restaurantasaurus twice and really liked it. Like you said, you can't beat the air conditioning, and the food is good. Hurray for getting a shovel and pail for Henry -- don't you love it when things like that happen?
I have not been in Restaurantosaurus since it was affiliated with the Golden Arches. Even then, I really didn't look around too much, so the pictures make me want to take a second glance next year. Pixie Dust never gets old, does it? I love that the little or big things that Disney pays attention to is appreciated by most.
P.S. I did hear about MN & WI today on NPR. They said that the Mississippi would crest at about 4 1/2 feet above flood stage? Yikes. I sincerely hope that the people that really need the help are getting it.
Now it's back down and clean up has begun...but now if the Mississippi is going to flood even MORE family will possibly be affected. Hopefully my Mom will be fine, she lives right across from the Mississippi, but I think the banks are high enough where she is that it won't get near her. Thanks for the info - I'll have to give her a call!
Hi Brook! I had a busy weekend & wasn't online much so I just read your past 2 updates.
My heart broke as soon as I read about the flooding in Minnesota! I will definitely keep your family & friends in my prayers!
It will take time to heal & recover from this ordeal & my thoughts & prayers are with you & your family during this time!
It seems like a fairly quick response from FEMA. I'm glad they were there to help, but sorry they are condemning so many houses & towns! I wasn't aware that FEMA gave them an hour to decide whether or not to take the money from them...seems kind of harsh to me. I mean, they are already going through a horrible ordeal losing their homes and belongings...I think they need more time than an hour to decide. That is a life changing decision to make! It is great that FEMA offers that, but I hope its a fair price to the families if they choose to take that option. I can't imagine having to give up rights to your property & not having the chance to rebuild on your own ground.
Shame on the news for not reporting this across the country!
I loved reading your AK update! Wait until I get to that part of my trip...you will laugh because there are so many similarities!
Don't you love those little buckets with the shovel? Luke got his the one evening at CBR's food court & he was sooo amazed that his chicken nuggets & fries were inside! I think at first he thought mommy ordered him a bucket instead of food because when I handed it to him, he just looked at me like something was missing! Then he looked inside, saw the food, and said "ooooh!" and laughed!
When we ate at Restarauntosaurus, we sat in a back room, but I didn't see that really neat camper room that blessedby3 posted! I wish I would've explored the restaurant a little more, but it was super crowded when we were there & almost time for the parade! We sat in a room towards the back, it looked like a garage. I noticed a door to the right of us, I'm wondering now if thats where the camper is?! It was nice to see all of your pictures of the interior of the restaurant as well. I tried to get a picture of that big dino head but none of them turned out. I can't remember if I got a pic of the Fixins bar or not, but I liked yours! We loved the free refills too!
I completely forgot on our trip how some don't think its appropriate for one parent to get a table while the other waits in line. Personally, I don't understand what the issue is (everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion, this is just mine). We weren't ever trying to take anyone else's table or steal the good seats, it was just sooooo much easier with a little guy! (as I'm sure many moms can relate to!) There's no way Luke would've stood in every line to order food & the stroller would've just been in everyone's way. Even as crowded as the parks were during our trip, we always ate at "off times" so none of the restaurants were really packed (usually lunch between 10-11am and early dinner...we're used to eating dinner at 4 so we are done before everyone else eats!) I definitely think it was better for other guests (as well as myself) for one of us to sit down & one to order. I even had a few people offer to take my tray to my table throughout our trip (CM's and other guests) which I thought was very nice. I always declined & said I could get it myself, but always thanked them a million times for offering!
I can't wait to see pictures from the Boneyard! That was on my list of things to do, but right after we ate, we went to see Pooh/Tigger/Eeyore and then got a spot for the parade. We never went back to the Boneyard. I wanted to go there too since Luke couldn't play at Pooh's playful spot at the MK & we had forgotten to go to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playarea a few days before! (Oops!) It wasn't a huge deal but I will definitely stop by next trip!
Can't wait to hear more!!!
The water is receding and my Uncle and cousin's husband have ripped out almost all the walls and flooring and cabinets. Furniture needs to be replaced as well, but a lot of stuff was salvageable in their home, thankfully! Most all the family albums and such were not affected - including my Grandma's 80+ years of newspaper clippings and photographs from her life. My second cousin - they lost EVERYTHING on their 1st floor. 
It really is very sad. And it frustrates all of us that it's not on the news much at all...small towns aren't newsworthy enough I guess! 
I didn't realize CBR had the bucket and shovel too! That is very cool. Maybe we'll just have to get over there and visit during March! That's hilarious about Luke's reaction to it though!!! 
"Ooooh!" so stinkin' cute.
Henry REMEMBERED it from September 2009. 
That kid loves to dig!I have been following along on FB. How incredibly sad! I hope that the settlements FEMA offers are fair and just. My dad worked for FEMA after hurricane Katrina and still will tell you how hard it was.
Looks like a great lunch at Restaurantasaurus! I'll have to add that to my never ending must try list. Oh and we totally use the divide and conquer philosophy when we eat at counter service places too. It's better for everyone that way, trust me!
Glad you found me! I gotta get on yours too - and a few others! I get too far behind here! Handy dandy links in the 1st post so you can skip the chatter!
One hour?!!
Glad your Grandma's house got the all clear
Cute video of H playing the drums....I liked how at the end he was trying to used the bottom of the drum like binoculars!!
Lunch looked good...and you are right...I always overlooked it!!
A/C + free refills + bucket =
Tracy
Thank you for your prayers! We are getting some good news about the progress, so it's been better today than the past few.
A Donald Breakfast there would be really fun! Was it a TS then?
The bucket, shovel and dessert really make this kids meal a great value I think. Henry was so excited to bring his bucket and shovel into the dig site!
I'm glad all my TR people don't mind us holding the table - I kinda figured no one would give 2 hoots on these boards.
I ended up having to make a belt out of my camera bag strap to get her through the day 
Bad parents!
