Day 2 (May 11, 2007)
Have I ever mentioned that my dh snores? Have I mentioned that my mother snores too? Well, they do. They snore a lot and often. Have I mentioned that one of my greatest pet peeves in the world is snoring. It irritates me to no end. I know they can’t help it but I can’t help wanting to beat them both with a water bottle when they do it either. I am used to dh’s snoring, though that doesn’t really make it any more bearable for me. I also have taken trips with my mother and know she snores too. She loves to deny this of course. My brother backs me up 100%. And now dh does as well after this trip. Thing is, I thought dh was loud when he snores. My mother easily put him to shame!
The good news is that I knew to expect a double dose of torture…uh, I mean snoring…so I actually bought earplugs! I truly did and I think that was the smartest decision I made this year! My mother was the first one to fall asleep the first night we were there and I swear she was sawing down some pretty big oak trees in her sleep or something. She was obnoxiously loud. Dh was giggling at her. He has a warped sense of humor and found her snoring hilarious. He giggled all the way to the table where my earplugs were and handed them to me. “Here,” he said, “I KNOW you will want these pretty soon.” Aw, the earplugs. Such sweet QUIET bliss! All was right with the world. I need to write a letter to the manufacturer of those earplugs. They deserve some recognition for saving my sanity during our trip!
I was finally going to be able to get some much needed rest now…until I felt a foot in my face several times that night. My mom took one bed, my dh took the trundle bed (his choice), and Kylie and I shared the other bed. Man, oh man, I love that little girl. Anyone that knows me IRL or just online can vouch for that. However, that kid is a mover and quite the wiggly little thing. Thank God for the bed rails we had delivered to our room. She would end up on top of me, with her feet in my face, you name it. It’s funny how a little 23 lb, 33 inch, 2 year old who is only in the 10th percentile for weight and 30th for height can manage to take up an entire full sized bed! That was why dh declined to sleep in the same bed with us. He knew better. It wasn’t too bad though. I’d take that over snoring any night!
Okay, now that you have an idea of how sleeping was with our little family I can begin the next true installment of my TR. I thought this might be worth mentioning now though so that further parts of my trip report would make more sense. Actually, come to think of it, I am pretty sure my mom asked me to keep the snoring issue out of this TR. But then, she also asked me to keep her picture off here too and I don’t plan to do that either. She should know me better by now. Oh, well. My theory is if I am brave enough to post my scary pictures of myself then everyone else has to pay that price too. I am only putting the ones I think are decent of her in this report anyway. She will say none of them are decent but she’s wrong. She looks just fine IMO. Does anyone ever really think they look good in pictures anyway? I don’t think many of us do.
Sorry for the rambling. Here I go typing at night again…the time when I ramble the most! Okay, onto day 2.
We all slept till at least 9:30. Please forgive me. I didn’t right down any details from this trip. Last year I took notes. This year I’m going on memory so some things may not be completely accurate. We will get through this together though. I can make up enough details to make you think I have a good memory anyway, right?
So anyway, everyone woke up somewhere around 9:30 and I mentioned having lunch at Sunshine Seasons food court at Epcot. I distinctly remember my mom looking at me like I had 2 heads and saying, “It’s not lunch time!” I said, “By the time we are all ready, catch a bus, and arrive at Epcot, it will be!” Sure enough, it was well after 11 when we got to Epcot.
First thing we did was go to Character Connection. Kylie LOVED the characters last year. I was praying for a similar reaction this time as well. The characters were not yet in there when we arrived. They arrived shortly after and Kylie grew so excited. I just knew she would still love them. She did…from afar. Up close? Not so much. They made her nervous. She was so funny. She would squeal in delight when she saw them. But if they got too close she would say, “NO!” and whimper. I was praying this would change during the trip. You will have to wait for further installments to see if it did or not of course. I like to have cliffhangers in May too! Makes me feel important. (*Note to self: quit typing TR late at night; you get ridiculously goofy!
Sorry everyone!*)
Anyway, this is the best I could get out of her at Character Connection this year. We got a picture with a few other characters too but this was probably the most decent shot (of me, that is!)
After Character Connection, we went to Sunshine Seasons for lunch. We all ordered lunch and I bought sushi (California rolls) much to my dh’s and my mom’s disgust. They are not as adventuresome as I am when it comes to eating. I thought it was pretty good.
Anyway, last year I tried so hard to get dh to try Soarin’. I knew he would love it but he is such a chicken about rides he isn’t sure about or has never ridden before. He always thinks I am going to trick him onto something he will hate. I have actually never done that before, and never would, but he has that fear in his head anyway. Perhaps we have a trust issue here? He wouldn’t budge last year, especially since he would have had to ride alone since someone had to watch Kylie. This year I finally convinced him to ride with me while my mom watched Kylie. So after we finished lunch we grabbed a couple of fastpasses for Soarin’. Then we rode The Land. I LOVE this ride. Kylie was especially fascinated by it this year and I had a proud mama moment. I’m weird like that.
After The Land ride we saw The Lion Kind movie thing. Can’t remember the name of it right now. Kylie loves animals so it was perfect for her. Last year she yelled at the screen the whole time. This year she growled at it like a lion. She thinks she’s so clever. And she is a lot of times.
After the Lion King we headed to The Living Seas. What did they rename that anyway? The Seas with Nemo or something like that? Anyway, we rode the cute little clam ride. They loaded someone in a wheelchair on it which was actually great because they made the ride go at a slower pace because of that. Kylie loved, loved, loved this ride. She and I rode in one clam and she kept talking to all of the sea creatures, telling them “hi” and “bye” and dancing and singing along and things like that. My mom and Scott rode in the clam to the left of us. Scott was really jealous that he didn’t ride with Kylie.
Kylie enjoyed seeing all of the fish and we got into the aquarium section just in time to see the dolphin show with the trainer. Kylie loved that but I suspect Scott liked it more. He’s fascinated with dolphins. Kylie loved the giant sea turtle. I was proud again since I also love turtles.
After exploring the sea life, we headed to Turtle Talk with Crush. Last year Crush talked to Kylie and it was one of the highlights of our trip so my mom really wanted to see it since she had never seen it before. So we headed in and I had the bright idea that Kylie would want to sit in the floor with the other kids. I thought dh and my mom would follow but they went and sat on a seat instead. Kylie did not want to sit in the floor. She kept looking for “Dada” and “Nana”. It wasn’t until a baby sat with her mother that Kylie sat too. She is fascinated with babies too. I was disappointed because Kylie did not care at all about the show this year. She was more into the children and adults sitting around her instead. It was interesting to see one of the boys Crush talked to was also from Mississippi though.
About midway through the show a woman sitting near us caught Kylie’s eye. She looked at the woman and smiled and the woman smiled back. All of a sudden Kylie raises her hand and slaps this poor woman’s arm HARD! I'm pretty sure she left a red mark on this woman's arm. I was shocked and embarrassed. I apologized profusely and the woman was really nice thankfully. She said it was okay. I will never forget the look of shock in that poor woman’s eyes though. Kylie did get an earful but I think she basically ignored me at that point. Too much to see and I wasn’t that interesting apparently. Two year olds…sigh. I really still don't know what got into her at that moment. That was extremely out of character for her. I've never seen her do that before.
After Turtle Talk I asked Kylie if she wanted to ride the clam ride again and she excitedly declared, “RIDE! RIDE!” Dh was thrilled because he would get to ride with her this time. The 3 of us rode in one clam, my mom in another. Unfortunately, Kylie fell asleep in line and slept through the entire thing. Poor dh did not get to witness her reaction to this ride yet again!
After that we decided we would head back to the room until our reservation at CR. Right as we were nearing Spaceship Earth I stopped and said, “OH!” “What?!” exclaimed my mom and my dh. I had completely forgotten about our fp time for Soarin’. It was almost time so it looked like we wouldn’t be heading back to the room afterall. We decided to ride Spaceship Earth. Kylie slept through it till the very end, which was fine by us. We weren’t really wanting to experience a tired Kylie and another ‘Ohana experience at dinner that night thankyouverymuch!
After Spaceship Earth we headed back to Soarin’. My mom said she would take Kylie and change her diaper, let her watch the Lion King again, and then maybe get her a drink or snack or something. So dh and I went on Soarin’. He of course loved it, as I knew he would. After that, we found my mom and Kylie. Kylie had seen a boy with chips and that’s all she could talk about so my mom bought her a little bag. Dh and I sat with Kylie while my mom went to the bathroom.
Then my mom joined us for a minute.
Wonder how much trouble I am going to be in for posting that?
We decided since it was too late to head back to the room and too early for our dinner reservation that we would try the clam ride again. This time we let Kylie and Scott ride alone together. Dh is kind of a big baby when it comes to wanting bonding time with his little girl. It’s sweet and endearing though. Kylie loved it as much as before according to dh. He was beaming at how he got to ride alone with her and witness her reaction and antics on the ride. He’s weird too sometimes.
We decided to go to Mexico and ride the boat ride. I’m glad we did. Kylie loves Donald Duck and she enjoyed the ride since it now has Donald Duck in it. I think the rehab was a nice improvement. I’ve always enjoyed that ride though.
After Mexico, we headed to the BabyCare Center to change Kylie. We decided to take a break and let her play in the little toy room too. It was nice to just relax for a few minutes.
Okay, so dh was tired by this point too.
He hates that picture btw. Wonder how much trouble that one is going to cost me?
In the middle of playing in the toy room I smelled something. I’ll be darned if she didn’t need to be changed again! At least she did it before dinner anyway. She is thoughtful and considerate sometimes. Famous last words again…
The one thing I love about this age is what a neat freak my child is. She always picks up after herself and she sings, "Clean up, clean up!" while doing so. It's so cute. I wish I had half that enthusiasm about cleaning but I don't. Anyway, after she was done with her toys she put them all back all nice and perfect, exactly as she found them. I didn't even have to tell her. She's kind of OCD about how things should be a certain way sometimes, actually.
After changing her we headed to our reservation at Coral Reef. We enjoyed the topiaries at Epcot but we took so many pictures of it last year that we didn’t take many this year. I think this is the only one we did take this time. Of course it had to be Donald Duck, especially for Kylie.
The hostess at the Coral Reef kept referring to Kylie as “little Tash”. We found it a bit odd. My dad and sisters and a few friends call me Tash. I don't mind at all. It's a nickname. We were just surprised that this woman had shortened my name without knowing me and whether I would appreciate that or not. We later learned that all of our dining reservations were under Tash instead of Tasha. That explained that.
Anyway, Kylie’s b-day was May 5 and, trust me, she got plenty of stuff. However, my mom wanted to do something special at WDW too. So we had our TA let them know we’d be celebrating her b-day at the CR. We got an excellent view of the tank, down on the floor near it. I love the atmosphere there and it was especially great for Kylie. It was for dh too. He spent most of dinner trying to get a picture of a shark. He never got a good one unfortunately. We were still learning the ins and outs of the new camera so this is the only decent pic we got of the aquarium.
When the waitress brought our menus, she brought 2 kids ones for Kylie. One that Kylie could color on and one as a b-day momento. I thought it was pretty cool. It was a menu/b-day card.
Dinner was very good. There were a few setbacks though. My mom ordered her steak well done and it was pretty pink. She sent it back. After that, she was satisfied. No harm done. Then, Kylie kept guzzling chocolate milk. I just figured she was really thirsty from the long day we’d had. I really didn’t think much of it. I should have known better. Pretty much as soon as we were done eating she threw up all over the table! At least she waited till we were done eating. The poor table next to us had just been seated however. Oh, how badly we felt for them. I’m so sorry if you are reading this by any chance. It was embarrassing. I tried to hide it quickly. To make matters worse, I had forgotten a change of clothing for her. The only thing I had was a bathing suit. So that’s what I ended up changing her into right there at the table. I was thankful I had brought that. She was fine after that. She apparently just drank too much, too fast.
As far as the food there, it was pretty pricey. My mom and I had the crab soup as our appetizer. Dh had the land and sea. We all had the New York Strip steak for the entrée and the chocolate wave cake for dessert. I ordered Kylie the pizza on the kids’ menu but she really didn’t eat. Too busy drinking and getting ready to throw up and all. Our dinner cost $210! Thank goodness for the dining plan there!
The steak was pretty good. The dessert however, well, none of us liked it. It gets rave reviews on the DIS all the time but we didn’t get the appeal. Maybe we are just strange? Wait, don’t answer that!
After dinner, we decided to watch Illuminations. We discovered then that Kylie is terrified of loud fireworks. I wasn’t really all that surprised. She’s a wimp these days with certain noises. She and I ended up inside a gift shop until they were over. She was still a little nervous afterwards and kept saying, “Fire?” “Hurt?” But then something wonderful happened to her. This little guy appeared. Yes, her obsession was here and all was well again.
Oh, and here’s a disheveled looking Kylie in her bathing suit that evening. Not the greatest picture but I had to share the bathing suit. She's staring at "her" duck in this pic btw.
After that, dh and I decided we wanted to go on Test Track together. It was EMH that night so we got our bracelets. Kylie fell asleep in the stroller. My mom sat with her while we got in line to ride Test Track. Dh was nervous of this ride too. I knew it would be fine but I had never actually ridden it before so of course he didn’t trust my judgment. We got in line behind 2 chatty, cute teenage girls. They were, like, sooo sweet but they, like, talked like this, like, the whole time. They were really nice though and we enjoyed the conversation. They reassured dh that he would be okay and I think it did help ease his mind a little.
We got in a car with another family. The dad sat up front with dh and me. He had already ridden too. Dh asked him if it was scary. Well, this guy proceeds to tell us he had just done the Petty driving experience that day and had gone up to 122 mph doing that so of course Test Track was nothing to him. Test Track really wasn’t scary and dh ended up loving it too. I enjoyed it a lot as well. I am glad we finally got to experience it. It was nice riding it together too. My mom was a great help on this trip.
After that it was getting late and we grabbed a bus back to the resort. Kylie went straight to sleep, taking the entire bed as usual. And my mom started sawing logs, or whatever the heck she does in her sleep, almost right away. Ah, my crazy family and WDW. Such a great and crazy combination. Life was good.
TO BE CONTINUED:
Up Next:
Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s (Will Kylie get past her fear of characters?)
We get to meet a fellow DISer, ryan840 (Will she be as weird as I suspect she is? 
)
Our night at Spectromagic and why my mom decided not to join us
They weren't all bad though or I would have torn my hair out!
And I guess I can take it as a good thing we didn't meet you the day you arrived 
Ya think anyone is still holding out hope that I'll finish mine? 
J/K of course! 
NEVER!
