Ok, that's pathetic. I'm only on Day 2. Good thing you're a kind, sympathetic, patient crowd.
I would have given up on me a long time ago.
We had really, really good intentions to wake up bright and early and be to MGM at park opening to make the most of our day. After all, we are a family that NEVER sleeps past 7am, even on weekends, and are almost always up by 5:30. So getting up early to have our breakfast done and still get to the park on time didn't phase us in the least. Except for one small detail...those light-blocking drapes work. They work very well. So well, in fact, that at an embarassing 9:30am, when the kids knocked on our door, unable to wait any longer, Bear and I were still sound asleep. When I realized what time it was, I jumped out of bed and started mama-shreaking - "OMG, why didn't you wake us up? There's no way we're going to get everybody showered and ready to go and get to MGM on time. Why are you just standing there? Get moving! I can't believe we slept this late. This is going to screw up our whole day. The day's half over for crying out loud. You've got 2 minutes to take a shower. Move!!"
"Um, mom? We already took our showers and got dressed. We've just been waiting for you to wake up. We thought you'd get mad if we woke you up because you never get to sleep late."
Excuse me while I wipe some humble pie off my chin, take a deep breath, and remember...this is
vacation.
So Bear and I run through the shower (separately, not together. Kids get creeped out when we do that
) and we're off to the bus stop. Breakfast, of course, is completely out of the question. I'm not even sure we'll make it to our lunch reservations at Sci Fi on time. We get to MGM and have our first experience with the bag check line. The boys get to saunter on through of course -
they don't have any bags or fanny packs. No, of course not. They make fun of me for strapping on a fanny pack big enough to carry a small child in, but where do they come running when they need a band-aid, or Tylenol, or sunscreen, or a place to put park maps or cameras or a fifth of scotch. Ok, scratch that last one. But you get my point. The girls had their own little packs to carry their disposable cameras and autograph books. Oh, crapola! Princess forgot her autograph book back at the room. Well, I guess the first stop we'll be making is to a gift shop. Gosh, I hope we can find one.
Alright, through to front gate and off we go to Sci-Fi. And that would be....where, exactly? Is it just me, or do the maps just make it look so much simpler than it really is? Let's see...it must be up that street right over there. No, wait, that's not a street. That's a big optical illusion. Cool, really cool. I'd be impressed if I wasn't lost. Somehow we stumbled onto where we needed to be with a few minutes to spare. They took our name and told us to wait - they were still getting set up. We were welcome to go browse in the gift shop. Well, isn't it our lucky day?! A gift shop! Just what we needed! Princess found what she needed and they called our name to go eat. Up to this point, my family has been looking at me with doubt all over their faces because all they've seen so far is the bare wood framework of the building. To them it looks just like they'll be eating under the bleachers at the local salebarn. But I have to tell you, even I was completely unprepared for our first view as we stepped into the restaurant. Somehow, even after reading reviews, I had the impression we'd be eating in a cute little diner with maybe, 5 or 6 little car tables and little black and white tv's playing old shows. We were just completely awestruck. There is no way to describe that place and do it justice. But if you are a newbie like me, and you haven't made dining reservations yet, you MUST go. Even if they served crackers and water, it would be worth it.
The girls sat in the front of the car, Bear and I in the middle and Dude in the back. The server called him "hitchhiker" and gave him a card to prove it. I thought he might think it was a little hokey, but he thought it was funny. The food was great - portions were HUGE! There was no way we were hungry for dessert, but didn't want to miss out, so we ordered a couple and shared. I can highly recommend the caramel cheesecake. The old sci-fi movies were hilarious. The girls kept looking at me like "these are dumb!". But they were amused by the old commercials. Dude loved the old movies. We could hear him behind us, letting loose with those great belly laughs, the kind that really do a mother's heart good to hear when we know it doesn't come from one sibling torturing another.
We hated to leave, but knew that as impressed as we were with Sci-Fi, there was a whole park waiting out there to be explored. Besides, we had supper reservations at Mama Melrose's and knew we needed to do some serious walking to work off lunch before then.
Great writing...sweet and humorous! Your kiddos remind me so much of my own. I also have a DD7 (aka princess) and a DS12. We went on our first trip last fall! I love reliving it through your TR. Our trip was amazing and we can't to go back! 
Must be something that happens with that age...hopefully they ourgrow it!
please write more I've really enjoyed reading it this far
Anxiously awaiting the next installment.
