As Shelley mentioned, we were up and at em early Sunday morning. There was a lot of excitement in our room Star Wars Weekends was something my older two had been talking about for a long time (of course, their Dad had nothing to do with that
).
Before we could get out the door, however, my aunt knocked on the door to tell me that my mom was sick.
She wasnt sure what had happened, but apparently Mom had woken up nauseous and was in no shape to head to the park. Add this to the fact that my aunt was just now in the clear because shed been taking antibiotics for strep throat for 48 hours now, and they were the room to avoid. Aunt Dee told me she would stay with my mom because they could both use the rest, and theyd try to meet us for our late lunch at Sci-Fi.
Ok, we were two people down. Then my MIL came over and offered to take Will. He was still sleeping, and she was worried about him keeping up with us as we ran around DHS looking for Star Wars people. That ended up being great he had much more fun with them that morning at Epcot, and we were much more mobile as we toured in the fairly high crowds that day. So when we hit the bus, it was just us, Tim and Shelley, and
UT.
After the show (nice pictures, Shelley) and rope drop, we made a beeline for the Sounds Dangerous attraction to get the kids into the Jedi Academy. We originally had thought wed leave this until Friday, when wed be back at DHS. But now I was going to be at the Keys to the Kingdom tour that day. Plus, wed heard that you could sign up for a show today and avoid standing in line! So we went for it. I grabbed the kids and actually managed to get there first. Since we were already in line, I told Bryan to go ahead and go to the store (my DH loves to shop, especially for SW things!). We waited in line
thankfully, we got to some shade fairly quickly. It was getting hot! I was a little concerned about standing in line and then not getting a spot, especially since Haley was having a hard time adjusting to the heat and was very vocal about not wanting to stand there. But we got through, and ended up with two spots in the 4:15 show! The kids were excited!!
Then we headed to find the others
I knew they were in the store, but had no idea where that had been set up. I called Brys cell
no answer. We had that a lot this trip, because it was hard to hear your phone. I ended up putting it on vibrate later, but then I didnt hear it if it was in my bag in the room, so I still missed calls. As we wandered, we saw a character meet and greet that had almost no line, so we jumped in and broke out the autograph books for the first time! For those of you who are not crazy about SW, this is Commander Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobis general in the Clone Wars cartoon (yes, when you live with it, you absorb some of it!).
The kids were excited to see him. Then there was this cut-out that we just had to pose with
Nothing like a two-headed storm trooper!
Bryan called me back in the middle of the meet-n-greet and managed to get through to me the name of the store, so I was able to ask for directions. We headed to
and promptly heard the story about Jeremy Bulloch
apparently wed just missed him. Too cool! At this point, I left and got FP for TSM. I also was in search of sunscreen. We tend to put sunscreen on the kids on the bus ride to save time. Well, when I went to use the spray sunscreen Id brought in my bag
it wouldnt spray. We tried to collect the dribbles coming out to smear on the kids, but it wasnt working. Several of the guys tried to take it apart and use it anyway, but it wasnt working. So now I was going to have to buy sunscreen in the park before my kids fried in the sun. I knew it wouldnt be cheap! When I eventually found it, I paid $14. Ouch! Another lesson learned: test the sunscreen before you leave the room!
After I got the fast passes, I sat outside the store exit and visited with the very friendly cast member there. We shared stories about people wed seen in costumes around the park already, and how hot they must be on a day like today. When everyone came out, we headed over to where Id seen people waiting for Boba and Jango Fett, as I knew the guys and the kids would want to see them. We saw this lady walking around, but she wasnt willing to stand still for a line of people to take pictures with her.
This is when Shelley and I decided to find a spot for the parade (and a snack, since our ADR was for 2:55). We tried a few different ones before finding a bench with an umbrella (technically, it wasnt offering much shade at the moment, but we hoped it would as the sun moved. Tim and UT caught up with us, and eventually so did Bryan and the kids after they got Jangos autograph.
We got some snacks smoothies, pretzels, and ice cream as we waited, and befriended a guy next to us from Kentucky who was very friendly. As we waited, they started lining people up in front of us! So DH went to the line and sat down, along with UT, to get a prime spot for pictures and video. And as you can see from the pictures below, it was worth it! These are some of the best ones he took.
(continued on next post)
Honestly, those saved our sanity a few times. I really wanted to listen to an audiobook as a family, but our kids' ages are a bit too skewed to do that easily. I also had more than enough goodies to give them whenever we stopped...I really don't have to buy stocking stuffers this year because I have so many extra! One of Haley and Jack's favorite treats was a little zippered pouch with a couple of dollars in it to spend at our next gas stop. They really got into picking their own things, and I made myself sit back and honestly let them pick what they wanted...as long as it didn't have caffeine in it! 
