More Fun Than Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock-Adventures of the Sweet 16!New8-15

I'm glad that your breakfast made you feel better. Jen & I had a morning like that at Epcot last year...we figured out that we hadn't had any caffeine yet. D'oh! You forget about those things at Disney. :rotfl:

Haley meeting the fairies sounds like a precious moment for the two of you. :goodvibes
 
Great update Jen! I'm sure the management of that large of a group can at times be overwhelming, but you guys seem to be managing. Love the pictues with Will and Snow White. Priceless. Sounds like the Fairies were great too. Such a cute area. We've only visited once. It's just too tough to get into (kind of like Dumbo.)
 
The picture of Will with Snow White is just adorable! I'm sure Haley loved seeing Tink and friends. What a fun visit! Hannah didn't want to wait when we went last year so no Pixie Hallow for us. Hopefully, next time!
 
i love the picture of him sleeping with the mickey confetti on his face, its great.

:lmao:

I'm still finding that stuff around the house - though it makes me smile a bit anytime I do. I have more pictures of him later.

Great update!

We got very used to the boat taking us to DTD when we were staying at SSR last summer, I loved taking that little boat, :cloud9:

I love the toffee cake at LTT....heaven on a plate!

Ohhh, I had the toffee cake....mmmmmmpopcorn::

Great day! I love the MK opening show. It makes me teary eyed. I've only to be to Liberty Tree Tavern when they had the buffet. I'd like to try the lunch menu. Those DTD buses always seem to be the worse of them all. I'm glad you were able to meet up with your brother and his wife.

I was so glad to see the morning show! I think you'd like LTT, especially for lunch. I don't know that we had anyone who didn't like what they got!

I :lovestruc Liberty Square. I know there isn't much there but I just adore it. How did you like lunch at LTT?? I'm debating going there in September.

It's definitely worth it. We made the ADR for lunch on purpose so that people had a choice of what they'd be eating. Dinner is family style, I think.

I always liked getting to MK at RD. You can get so much done before most people start straggling in. I cant wait to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express.

We ate there later in the week...mmmmmm.

I'm glad that your breakfast made you feel better. Jen & I had a morning like that at Epcot last year...we figured out that we hadn't had any caffeine yet. D'oh! You forget about those things at Disney. :rotfl:

Haley meeting the fairies sounds like a precious moment for the two of you. :goodvibes

I always tease DH and his family because you don't want to get in the way of one of the men when they're hungry! Will is the same way - he gets SOOOOO cranky when he's hungry. He can't really function. But it was my turn this time....:rolleyes1

Great update Jen! I'm sure the management of that large of a group can at times be overwhelming, but you guys seem to be managing. Love the pictues with Will and Snow White. Priceless. Sounds like the Fairies were great too. Such a cute area. We've only visited once. It's just too tough to get into (kind of like Dumbo.)
I couldn't believe the line when we got out. I'd heard that you needed to hit it right at rope drop, and they were right! I'm so glad we did it. But we missed out on riding very many rides because of it, too.

The picture of Will with Snow White is just adorable! I'm sure Haley loved seeing Tink and friends. What a fun visit! Hannah didn't want to wait when we went last year so no Pixie Hallow for us. Hopefully, next time!

If she's a fan of the Fairies, it's worth it. But again, it's a trade off - not as many rides when you're waiting in lines for characters. That's why we do character meals! ;)
 

I hear you on waiting for characters. Someday we won't I bet... but now it seems to consume a lot of time. I am right with you on eating character meals to knock some out... I had a hard time waiting to see Mickey in the Judges Tent this June, but my three all reminded me that we had not seen him!
 
I hear you on waiting for characters. Someday we won't I bet... but now it seems to consume a lot of time. I am right with you on eating character meals to knock some out... I had a hard time waiting to see Mickey in the Judges Tent this June, but my three all reminded me that we had not seen him!

I know that, in a few years, I'll look wistfully at the lines for the characters and wish my kids were still young enough to want to visit. :rolleyes: I need to enjoy it while it lasts, I guess. But I looked at all that Shelley and co. got to do that day and I'm a bit torn. Oh, well - it made Haley's day! It really is an neat area. I actually wish we'd been able to hit Toontown with Will. I think he would have loved Mickey's house. But this was pretty much the only thing we did there. And it'll be gone when we go back...:sad2:
 
(Tuesday, continued)

When I left Pixie Hollow with a beaming Haley, we ran into the rest of our little group. Poor Sue – we’d told her we’d be visiting the fairies. I didn’t realize that there’s nothing directing you to this building when you’re looking for them! She wandered for a while and decided to try the building we were in because it looked like the most likely spot. Once we were all together again, DH helped the kids make a few pressed pennies. We also did a little window shopping and I showed DH and MIL the fairy pics. Here we are camped out on the floor of the store area…

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And Will checking out the merchandise

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My MIL had successfully gotten us FP for Splash, and they would be up soon. So we decided to head over to Frontierland. Sue had the idea that we should ride the train – sounded good to us! We hurried to the station as we heard a train approaching. And who did we see already on the train but Great Grandma and Aunt Jane! The kids chatted to them nonstop throughout the ride about what they’d seen and done.

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Once we pulled into the station at Frontierland and said goodbye to “The Sisters,” as they came to be known by our group, we decided to hit the restroom before heading to Splash to do a child swap. We were pleased to find the Laughing Place playground at this point (I’d never been able to find it before), and decided that it was as good a place as any for Will to play while we enjoyed the ride. Sue was nice enough to take the first shift of “Will Watch” for us so that we could ride as a family, and we all headed out with Fastpasses in hand.

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The FP queue moved quickly. Before we knew it we were there. I didn’t get much of a chance to enjoy the details, but it was nice and cool there…ahhhhh! DH got in with Jack, with Haley and I right in front of them. We were in the second row behind a very nice father and daughter. Haley was getting a bit nervous at this point, and the dad assured her that while she’d get wet, she wouldn’t be soaked. His daughter asked Haley if she’d ever ridden the ride before, and shared that she’d already been on it about four times this trip. It was her favorite. That pacified Haley for a little while, at least. Of course, she wasn’t thrilled when we got wet right at the beginning of the ride, when you pass the people plunging down towards the end. She immediately started to wimper and complain that she didn’t like being that wet. Again, the pair in front of us helped by warning us when the various drops would occur.

I loved this ride!! Actually, it was a big hit with everyone except for Haley (who insisted that being wet was about the worst thing possible). I loved all the detail, and that there’s too much to see to take it all in in just one ride. I did snap a picture of our ride pic, though, simply because it was pretty darn funny.

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Notice anything missing? My children, perhaps? :rotfl: They both ducked (Haley was almost on the floor of the log) as we went down the plume. If it wasn’t for the fact that Bryan and I can vouch that we were sitting next to them, you wouldn’t even know they were there!

We traded spots with Sue so that she could ride, and the kids played at the Laughing Place with Will.

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Jack wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but we weren’t really sure we could get through in time for our lunch reservations, which were about 40 minutes away. I think at this point I went into Pecos Bill’s and got us some ice water. I could be wrong, though. I know we wandered through Frontierland in the general direction of Liberty Square, and we went into a few souvenir shops. Will became attached to a set of kids cups with Toy Story images on them. They were really cute – in one, Rex the Dinosaur was wearing Mickey Ears and eating a Mickey Bar. They became my first official souvenir purchase of the trip. At this point, Sue took Haley across the way to a little wagon that sold hats to buy her a new one (pink Minnie, very cute!), and then Bryan got a phone call from Tim. Apparently, we were the only members of the group not at the restaurant! We headed in to LTT and found everyone waiting for us. The kids colored a bit while we waited, but we were seated in no time.

While we were in the restaurant, we were able to meet up with a friend of Bryan’s from his men’s group at church. He and his family are so sweet. He has been to Disney once a year since 1971!!!! Talk about being jealous….they assured us that we’d be happy with our meals there, as it was one of their favorite restaurants. And they were right! DH and I ordered the pot roast and mashed potatoes….yummmmm!!! And the toffee cake?? WOW!!!! Even the kids enjoyed what they got…plain pasta for Haley and Jack. Will ate the sauce from Haley’s pasta with some of both the older kids’ macaroni. He inhaled it, and all but sucked up the sauce from the plate. He was quite a mess! He insisted that I needed to cut the sauce for him every time I gave him more, too. Who knows? :confused3

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At our table (we were at two large tables), we had burgers (my mom and aunt), chicken and dumplings (I think – FIL), and more pot roast (UT). I think several people at the other table had the turkey dinner. Everyone was very pleased! Several people told Shelley and I we’d made a good choice with this one, which made us feel great. It isn’t easy picking restaurants for 16 people!

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Tim told the people at the desk that we had a birthday in our party. Great Grandma had a birthday just before we left. However, she didn’t want to be celebrated, so Haley ended up with her cupcake and song. Her birthday was two weeks from our trip, and we were planning on celebrating it later in the week anyway because BBB was her birthday present from us.

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I had to show you this picture. When they started singing to Haley, I was several feet away holding Will. Why, you ask? The child hates the birthday song. I'm talking HATES. He loves music - he sings and dances all the time. In fact, we joke about "music soothing the savage beast" because if he's having a tantrum sometimes we can get him out of it if we play music he likes. But he hates this song! We have pictures of him at his birthday with tears running down his cheeks because we were singing to him. And before we left we sang happy birthday to my choir director after Mass. Not only was it the song he hates, but it was on a pipe organ and there were about 200 people singing! He screamed and wailed...not pretty stuff! Anyway, this is Haley and Jack trying to distract him afterwards.

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At some point, Mom and Aunt Dee started putting Mickey head confetti on Will. He thought it was great, as you can tell. However, when he woke up from his nap later on, he had red Mickey prints on his forehead!!!

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By the end of the meal, though, he was pretty worn out. Sue ended up getting him to sleep before we left, as you could see in Shelley’s pictures. At this point, I put him in the stroller and took him back to the room to rest, and the others stopped at the Emporium for what seemed to be a massive shopping spree. I forget what all they got, though I remember wondering why we’d worked hard to convince them to save money for the trip when they had two Grammys along. They loved it, though. This was, by far, Jack’s favorite purchase – a light-up sword, as he calls it. It still gets a lot of use here!

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After that, everyone else headed back, as well.

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And here’s how that energetic kid with the sword looked once he got on the bus.

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I had to laugh when I saw this picture.

Once back at the resort, we had a pretty laid-back evening…so laid back that I don’t have any pictures! DH and his dad went to an off-site place to buy Disney Quest tickets (they were a little cheaper). They did fine until they came to a toll plaza and realized that I’d taken most of the change I’d kept for tolls out of the van when we’d arrived. Apparently they held the line up for long enough that someone got out of their car and offered them some change to get through the toll plaza! Poor guys! MIL took the older kids to the pool, and I joined her once Will woke up. We ate dinner at the resort, and I think I read in bed for a while. Mom and Aunt Dee had tickets to go to Cirque de Soliel that night (I think I called it Le Cirque earlier in this TR….oops!) and we already knew they’d had some bus issues because someone else had run into them at the bus stop. They waited so long for a Downtown Disney bus that they didn’t have dinner before they got to the show – they were too worried about not making it there in time! But they stopped by our room after the show to tell us how much they’d enjoyed the show and show us the program. It sounds amazing! They were just gushing about it – they seriously loved it. I might have to give in and see it one of these days…the tickets just seem awfully expensive to me, when I’m already paying a decent amount of money for the vacation as it is!!!!

One of the best things about this vacation was being there long enough to have evenings like this one. Did we miss doing some things? Yes. But we honestly felt like we had the time to take it easy. Of course, next time I’d like to stay even longer…maybe get more in AND have time to take it easy! And I never did have a chance to lay in one of those CBR hammocks….

Tomorrow – Epcot World Showcase, Le Cellier, and we actually completely miss a reservation!
 
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I'm so happy you were able to ride Splash!!

I'm sure it's not funny when Will is crying but it's funny that he does it when people sing Happy Birthday. I'm sure he'll grow out of it soon. ;)

Relaxing nights are key at Disney, you need the downtime to relax and rejuvenate!
 
Great updates and pictures!

What luck running into Snow White! That is definitely a rare one for us.

Love the Mickey confetti on the face! Too cute.

I've never gotten that stupid sword out of that stone either.

LTT always sounds good, but still one place we haven't eaten yet! Have to get there soon.

Kids in the floor of the boat on Splash....:rotfl2: You sure you two just didn't want to ride together????
 
I'm so happy you were able to ride Splash!!

I'm sure it's not funny when Will is crying but it's funny that he does it when people sing Happy Birthday. I'm sure he'll grow out of it soon. ;)

Relaxing nights are key at Disney, you need the downtime to relax and rejuvenate!

In a kind of sick way (we are his parents, after all), we think it's hysterical. In fact, I've been taking pictures of him wailing so I can put a page in his scrapbook about it. :rolleyes1 Such a good mommy.....;)

Great updates and pictures!

What luck running into Snow White! That is definitely a rare one for us.

Love the Mickey confetti on the face! Too cute.

I've never gotten that stupid sword out of that stone either.

LTT always sounds good, but still one place we haven't eaten yet! Have to get there soon.

Kids in the floor of the boat on Splash....:rotfl2: You sure you two just didn't want to ride together????

I couldn't believe it when I saw that picture. Believe it or not, they both rode it again later in the trip - Jack will tell you it's one of his favorite rides now. :rotfl2:

LTT was very good for us. I'd go again just for the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake. :lovestruc The pot roast was seriously good too, though.

Jack and that sword. :confused3 :) I think it's just the fact that it's a sword. As you'll see later in the TR, he's a bit weapons-obsessed. Such a boy....;) I wish they still did the show where Merlin comes out and a kid actually gets to at least move it. He would sooooo eat that up!
 
I still have catching up to do, but I'll at least comment on your most recent post and go back to read the others.

I loved the Splash picture! Hilarious with the "missing" kids! :rotfl2:

That's great that you found a restaurant that everyone enjoyed and you got some kudos. :thumbsup2


One of the best things about this vacation was being there long enough to have evenings like this one. Did we miss doing some things? Yes. But we honestly felt like we had the time to take it easy. Of course, next time I’d like to stay even longer…maybe get more in AND have time to take it easy! And I never did have a chance to lay in one of those CBR hammocks….

I could say exactly the same thing. Except substitute CSR for CBR regarding hammocks.
 
Just read about your Jedi Training. It sounded like you had as magical experience as my son did back in 2005! That's wonderful! So glad you son got to fight Vader, and that he talked about it the whole trip.
 
I still have catching up to do, but I'll at least comment on your most recent post and go back to read the others.

I loved the Splash picture! Hilarious with the "missing" kids! :rotfl2:

That's great that you found a restaurant that everyone enjoyed and you got some kudos. :thumbsup2



I could say exactly the same thing. Except substitute CSR for CBR regarding hammocks.

MUST make time for the hammocks next trip!! :cloud9:

Just read about your Jedi Training. It sounded like you had as magical experience as my son did back in 2005! That's wonderful! So glad you son got to fight Vader, and that he talked about it the whole trip.

He had a playdate just the other day. It was a little girl he'd really gotten close to in Kindergarten. Unfortunately, her dad (she only has a sister) has taken to Jack as well because he's a Star Wars fan...he took up half their first playdate (pre-trip) playing lightsabers with Jack while poor Devin watched them. This time, Jack had to bring pictures of him fighting Vader with him to show her dad. I don't think he'll forget that for quite some time!:darth:
 
Great update! The picture of the missing children on Splash cracked me up! And LOL about Will hating the birthday song. Hopefully he'll get over that or he'll have a long childhood of missing b-day parties (of course that could save you some money not having to buy presents.) I love those relaxing evenings too. They are so nice after a fun filled day in the park!
 
Great update! The picture of the missing children on Splash cracked me up! And LOL about Will hating the birthday song. Hopefully he'll get over that or he'll have a long childhood of missing b-day parties (of course that could save you some money not having to buy presents.) I love those relaxing evenings too. They are so nice after a fun filled day in the park!

Oooh...I hadn't thought about not having to have bday parties....:laughing: I admit that, after large productions for Haley and Jack until just this last year, I'm about over birthday parties!! Again, not going to win the Mommy of the Year award here anytime soon...:rolleyes1 ;) He's doomed as the third child, I think.
 
The splash picture is pretty funny I didnt notice where Haley was. Til you pointed out that both children was ducking.
 
And LOL about Will hating the birthday song. Hopefully he'll get over that or he'll have a long childhood of missing b-day parties (of course that could save you some money not having to buy presents.)
Yeah, most of us don't start hating that song until later in life, and then we don't want the constant reminders...... :rolleyes1

Oooh...I hadn't thought about not having to have bday parties....:laughing: I admit that, after large productions for Haley and Jack until just this last year, I'm about over birthday parties!! Again, not going to win the Mommy of the Year award here anytime soon...:rolleyes1 ;) He's doomed as the third child, I think.
Yeah, that first child you film every little thing, then the second one you try to do the same, but that camcorder starts getting heavy and a pain in the butt to keep the batteries charged! By the time that third one comes along you can't remember where you put the camera, and all those wonderful first dirty diapers, spitting up, etc. just become :scared1:
 
The splash picture is pretty funny I didnt notice where Haley was. Til you pointed out that both children was ducking.

It'll be a great thing to pull out later in life and tease them about in front of friends/significant others some day... ;)

Yeah, most of us don't start hating that song until later in life, and then we don't want the constant reminders...... :rolleyes1:

:rotfl:

Yeah, that first child you film every little thing, then the second one you try to do the same, but that camcorder starts getting heavy and a pain in the butt to keep the batteries charged! By the time that third one comes along you can't remember where you put the camera, and all those wonderful first dirty diapers, spitting up, etc. just become :scared1:

I swore I wouldn't do that to him...it didn't matter. It happened anyway! :rolleyes1
 
Wednesday

This was our “no rush morning.” I was looking forward to that part of it! I was, though, up at 7 a.m. so that I could get dressed and start some laundry. We were due at Epcot for AAA Storytime with a character, something we hadn’t ever tried before, at 11:30. Only Norah, Ruby, and our little group were going to go, but we thought it might be fun. Then we had a 1:45 ADR at Le Cellier, which we’d never been to before. The plan was to then stay at Epcot, mostly in World Showcase, and see Illuminations that night.

We let the kids relax and wake up whenever, and I used a snack credit on a bagel at the food court and then loaded up five days worth of laundry for five people :laundy: and headed to the laundry area. Mom and Aunt Dee also had some laundry to do, and after it was all started I walked to Old Port Royale to sit with them while they used some extra CS credits on breakfast. As we were walking back to the laundry area, I stopped by the room to check in on DH and the kids. While I was there, I ran into Sue, who told me that she’d saved me when she went to do a quick load of laundry. Apparently, some lady had come to do her laundry and was being very loud about the fact that someone had filled a machine but hadn’t even started it. It was me, of course – I apparently didn’t start my second load. :confused3 Sue was laughing…apparently, the lady was very intent on doing her laundry! Sue had started it for me to keep the lady from taking my clothes out. So we hurried back and sure enough, there was this older lady walking around, putting her hands on all the washers to see if they were done or not. One of Mom’s laundry loads was actually sitting on the folding table because the lady had decided that, since the machine was done, she could use it.:confused: I’m sorry, but we’d been timing them, so we knew the loads had only been done for five minutes, tops. The lady pounced on us as we entered – “Are these yours? Because they’re done. Other people are waiting, you know.” :eek: Well, she was right in a way – she was waiting. There was one other couple in there doing their laundry, but they had already started theirs and were waiting for them to finish (while keeping a wary eye on the Crazy Laundry Lady, I might add). We ended up staying for the rest of the time our laundry was drying to protect our clothes. Crazy Laundry Lady proceeded to follow us around the entire time we were there. She stood and watched as I unloaded the last load out of the washer and into a dryer, standing right over me so she could snatch up my machine (I swear she’d already filled about five) as soon as I was done. Then, because we didn’t want to dry everything completely, we kept stopping the dryers and pulling things out. Every time, she was right there. “Are you done with that machine?” We tried to be polite about telling her no at first, but I got really tired of it and wasn’t nearly as polite after a while. Of course, I seemed to have some laundry dysfunction that day and couldn’t seem to remember to start the stupid machines again after I’d stopped them.:headache: She took great pleasure in coming up to me and telling me that she’d started my machines for me. The dryers seemed less and less efficient as it got hotter and hotter in there, and so I ended up being there with her much later than I’d wanted to. I ended up grabbing my last few things and making a run for it, hanging them up in the room so they’d finish drying while we were at the park.

At this point, I was going to make us late. I jumped into the shower and got ready as fast as I could, but we ended up having Norah and Ruby go ahead of us at the time we’d meant to leave because we just weren’t ready. I don’t think we got to the bus stop until 10:45, and we were supposed to be there at 11:15 to check in. :scared1: I prayed for good bus luck, but no such thing. We waited until just after 11. The drive to Epcot from CBR is really short once you’re out of the park, but we were the first stop this time, so we still had the whole resort to go. The one time I regretted being the first stop….

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We pushed and pushed, but we didn't even get through the ticket turnstiles until 11:30. Even trying to hurry, we wouldn’t make it. I had texted Norah on the bus to let her know that if we didn’t get there she shouldn’t wait for us. She told me later that the character (which they wouldn’t tell us beforehand) was Jasmine, who happens to be Ruby’s favorite princess. Norah said it was amazing – she told Ruby a story about herself, then talked with her a bit and posed for pictures and signed her book. It really sounded cool. I wish Haley had been able to be there, but this was hump day for us, and we were all feeling it. Besides, the heat was insane. We’d heard on the news that morning that the heat index was supposed to be 110 degrees, and it felt every bit of it!

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We meandered through Futureworld without a focus at this point. I know that Bryan and Aunt Dee went to ride Mission Space, and Mom, the kids, and I got a Fastpass (or whatever they are) to do a Kim Possible mission a little later. That was another thing the kids had been excited about, so I was glad we were getting to do it. I tried to find the little fountain play area to keep them busy until the others got back, but I had gotten turned around and couldn’t find it. We settled for browsing through Mousegears instead.

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It wasn’t long before the others were back. The wait time had been almost nothing for Mission Space! Bryan had downloaded an app for his smartphone called Mobile Magic (no iphone for the E-Ticket app, unfortunately – we’ve had good luck with Verizon). It gave him wait times on his cell phone so that we knew which rides to hit – very convenient, especially in Epcot where everything is so darn spread out! So they knew going in that the wait wouldn’t be too long. They of course took a few pictures…

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By this point, it was time to hit Kim Possible! Here are the kids with their Kimmunicator.

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Our adventure was in Norway. The kids really enjoyed it. I had to do a bit of explaining (Jack had no idea what a Viking was, and Haley only knew about what was in the Magic Tree House books). A few times we were a little confused by the instructions, but we got through. Haley and Jack still talk about the end of the mission when we “beat the bad guys.” Definitely worth a try if you can squeeze it in!

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(Spoiler alert - this is of the end of the mission!)
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We caught back up with Mom and Aunt Dee (they’d taken charge of Will in the stroller, which was a real blessing, and had wandered on to do a little shopping)

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(Aunt Dee posing with the Viking and the pink parasol from China that Mom got to keep out of the sun - of course, it ended up with my daughter after that...)
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and decided to head back towards Canada for our lunch ADR. We were sweating bullets, so a sitting down in the A/C sounded pretty darn good!

Continued on next post...
 
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As I’ve said, we’ve never been here before, but we’d heard so much about it here on the DIS. We all gathered in the waiting area (we took up the majority of it) and waited for our tables. Will had fallen asleep in the stroller on the way over (NOT a good thing), and we did the best we could to keep the other kids busy. We only waited ten minutes or so before being seated. Norah and Ruby, along with UT, had a table with us. The rest of the group was seated in a row of half booths/half chair seating behind us. Many of us ordered steaks (of course), but Norah, Bryan and I ordered the “Taste of LeCellier” where you could get an appetizer (I really wanted to try the soup), but had a limited number of options for entrees - no steaks! I ended up ordering a burger (which our server actually recommended, and Bryan and I found delicious – there were sautéed onions and maple BBQ sauce on top of them), the cheese soup, and the chocolate mousse. We all ended up ordering smoothies or milkshakes for our drinks, which felt really good after being in all the heat! The server for our table was Candice. She was really great – so friendly and helpful! Plus, she put up with the banter that DH insisted on keeping up about the different provinces of Canada. We found out right before we left that we were her last table. As in, LAST table. Her shift was ending, and her year in Epcot was up. We joked with her about sending her out with a bang!

As we waited for our food, Will was still sleeping.

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Looks comfy, doesn’t he? ;) Well, something woke him up after only about 15 minutes of sleep. And he was NOT in a good mood. Bryan ended up taking him out. We couldn’t see him (he was out in courtyard because Will was crying so loudly) when our appetizers came out, so we started eating without him. Candice had brought Will a milkshake when he’d woken up, and she offered to take it to him. (Told you she was pretty awesome!) Nothing seemed to be working, though. What finally got us back into the dining room? Well, I got him calmed down enough to listen, and told him we would be able to eat. :rotfl: Remember me mentioning how you don’t let the men in my husband’s family get hungry if you don’t want a grump on your hands? Well, this was another example of that. Will has definitely inherited the gene! I got him back to the table, got some food in him, and the meal went back to normal (for the most part, at least!)

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This is the only other picture I have from inside the restaurant.It was kinda dark inside...plus, let's face it, everyone was pretty darn tired, hot, and hungry! Bryan's birthday was about 10 days before we left, and he was wearing a birthday button. This is what they brough him - pretty cute!

I would go back here in a heartbeat. We enjoyed the food, the service, everything! However, there’s a rumor going around that Le Cellier will soon be a two-credit signature dining experience. We have avoided doing the two-credit restaurants on the basic plan because we get the dining plan to lower our expenses. Paying out of pocket to balance that out hasn’t interested us (plus, with the kids, it’s just not as enjoyable). If this becomes a signature experience, we won’t be back for a while!

At this point, we split up. I know Norah and Ruby went off on their own, and I’m not sure what Grandma and Aunt Jayne did. Tim, Shelley, Bryan and I had given both our moms “gift certificates” to do the pick-a-pearl experience in Japan, and we wanted to all do it together. So we headed that way. As we walked, we got to hear a little of Off Kilter (I love listening to them!). We couldn’t spend a lot of time, as we were on a bit of a mission, but the sun had gone in and the heat was bearable. We slowed down to take in a little more of the music. At this point, Will – fully recharged from the food and ultra-short nap – started to get into the music.

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I really wish I knew how to post video. What we have is just hysterical! There was a lady that had been sitting along the fence area listening, but she jumped right up and started boogey-ing with him. That just spurred him on! He attracted a bit of a crowd, but when he realized how many people were watching him, he was done. So funny!

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We also found a Photopass person while we were walking, and had our picture taken near France. Just the five of us also took a picture – one of the few that we took of just our little family. The photographer took one of us with our camera. (DH is busy adding backgrounds and clip art to the 142 pictures we had when we combined our cards…it’ll be a little while before we get it, but Shelley and I will post them when we do.)

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We made our way into Japan and found quite a crowd at the pick-a-pearl area. We got in line and got numbers for Sue and Mom. I decided to do this as well – I figured it would be a unique souvenir. Here are a few pictures. Haley picked out my mom’s, and Jack picked out Sue’s.

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We don't have any pictures of the actual pearls! :confused3 Mom got a really cool silver-ish one (the lady called it blue). Sue’s had pink tints to it. I had to laugh…my first oyster had no pearl in it! The poor girl behind the counter acted almost embarrassed. She told me to pick another one, so I did. She pulled out the pearl with the usual show and showed it to me. It looked to be a fairly normal, white pearl. Then she asked me if I felt lucky that day….my oyster had twins!! :woohoo: I was pretty excited. She cleaned them up and measured them, then gave them to us. None of us got them mounted there, since the settings seemed a bit expensive (so, yes, we got off cheap for Mother’s Day, unfortunately). There’s a place near my Aunt Dee called Silvertown that does high quality settings, and she was adamant that we could get them cheaper. So right now, my twins and Mom’s silver/blue one are with her. She’ll be calling us soon with options for mounting them.

At this point, I was really torn. Sue was trying to convince us to head back to the resort because of the heat. I really wanted to go on, especially since it had gotten cloudy. I figured that we could go to Innoventions or hit the places with air-conditioned rides in World Showcase. However, most people seemed to think it’d be better to head back to the room. I gave in, but unfortunately, I didn’t do it graciously. This was when my meltdown occurred. :furious: (this seemed like a good melt-down smiley...if there is one!) I was really upset about the fact that we’d only seen three countries in World Showcase (and hadn’t really explored any of them, since we’d had a specific reason for being in each one). With our schedule, it was going to be really hard for us to head back to Epcot later on in the week. This was it. And as it was already about 4 p.m., I really doubted we’d be back for the fireworks, which several people had suggested. I ended up trying to pull myself back together on the walk back towards the buses. Bryan kept his distance to give me some space, but he did get some really good pictures.

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(Ok, so I know several of those are out of order, but they're still good pictures!;))

Of course, when we were at the bus stop, we ended up getting caught up in the shift change and waited quite a while again for a bus. This didn’t help my mood much. But when we got on the bus, people seemed to be thankful for the air conditioning. Will is always ok when there's food involved, and Sue had gotten a package of shortbread at some point while she was there.

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We got back to the resort and we all laid down for a little while. DH let me rest, then tried to talk me into going back to see Illuminations with my Mom and Aunt Dee (Norah and Ruby had stayed in the park, but everyone else had come back and were wiped out from the heat). I hemmed and hawed, but I ended up going back with them. Actually, Bryan came with us too, thanks to Sue, Stoney, Tim, and Shelley, who volunteered to watch the kids. (Not even Haley and Jack wanted to go back – though, of course, Haley has mentioned to me since coming home that she wished we could have done more Kidcot stops.) So we hopped back on to the bus with Mom and Aunt Dee (not much of a wait this time) and headed back.

Next up – a quick evening at Epcot!
 













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