After we left Voices of Liberty, we crossed the street and heard a little bit of the concert going on - Sheena Easton! Blast from the past. The kids were not into sitting still at this moment so we kept moving. We walked through Morocco and saw these guys coming towards us...
It was probaby not a good idea to point them out to Aubrey because she had been asking to see Aladdin all day. Needless to say, when they walked by without stopping, she was not happy. Aladdin did say hello. He actually said their names since they were on their shirts. She got a kick out of that. I got a kick out of the fact that he sounded exactly like the real Aladdin! It was kinda freaky!
The sun was starting to set and it was almost time for our ADR at San Angel.
I had been very excited about this dinner because we've never eaten here before. I had heard mixed reviews about the food but the atmosphere was just so beautiful. I was a little leary about this meal though because of what happened the night before at Sci-Fi. The kids hadn't napped and it was well past their dinner time (it was not around 7:30) almost their bed time actually! I was having second thoughts about taking them to a sit down restaurant but Jason was gung ho! We parked the stroller outside the temple and walked up the steps. The kids loved the marketplace. There were tons of things for them to get in to. Yay. Here's a pic. I swear I do not have one non-blurry picture of this place. Oh well...
We checked in at San Angel and had just enough time to ride the Grand Fiesta Tour. I think that's what it's called right?? It was ok. This is probably my least favorite ride in all of the world. It seems to be a mixture of a few different rides, Maelstrom, IASM, the Land. I don't know. Just kind of seems like an after thought to me. Sorry GFT lovers! When we got off the boat, we still had a few minutes to kill. I saw that there was a pressed penny machine. I showed Aubrey and she really didn't get it. We put the money in and the pressed penny came out. Woo hoo. She didn't care. So this was the only pressed penny experience of the trip! And to think, I scrubbed all those pennies for nothing! Oh well, they're still in their tube so we will have them for our next trip. Now it was time for dinner. Uhhhhh, Aubrey was already acting up. Thankfully, we got a table in the back corner and a were seated by an VERY patient waiter. He could see that I was stressed out and without saying so, I could tell that he was trying to tell me everything was alright and he dealt with this kind of thing all day long! Jason was excited to be there. I was still trying to figure out if we were going to stay or not. He was insistant and ordered me a margarita the size of my head to take the edge off. We each got one actually and they were delicious! Here's Jason with his!
We ordered our food. I was craving a steak so I got the Filete Motulzeno. Jason got the Filete a los tres chiles. These words mean nothing to me. Thankfully Jason speaks spanish and was able to translate. My steak came sitting on a tortilla and was covered with yumminess. Jason's came sitting on a bed of roasted corn and was covered with chilies. Mine was absolutely delish. His, not so much. It tasted very roasted. Like, it had been hanging over an open campfire for an hour. It wasn't very good but he ate it anyway.We actually shared so he could enjoy mine too.
Here's a pic of his food...
And mine...
Mine also came with plantains. Ummmmm, my favorite!!!
Brendan was still sick so he was living on bland foods. He at a bunch of chips which probably wasn't the best thing for him but it was about the only thing that made him happy. He cried a lot, but the margarita was kicking in and I started getting punchy. This was the only thing that would make him stop crying...
Ok, ok. Just kidding. Please don't call CPS on me! I told you the tequilla was kicking in! Aubrey was also acting up. Shocker, I know. She didn't want any real food for dinner. Want to know what she ate????
Suckers and chips. Yes, mother of the year I know. Hey, you do what you gotta go right???
So dinner was pretty painless. We finished our meals and headed out. Actually, I left before Jason with the kids because they were getting too restless. By this time, it was completely dark outside. The WS is so beautiful at night. I couldn't wait for the kids to see Illuminations. So I loaded them into the stroller and started walking back towards France. We had planned on watching the fireworks from the bridge so we could walk "Home" right after they were done. I saw that all of the other kids had their glow toys out. Well, as we all know from my PTR, I was well prepared for this. I pulled out glow object after glow object for the kids to play with. They loved it but ended up wanting to play with their new glow toys that I had bought earlier in the day. Cool pic...
I had told Jason to meet me in France but I hadn't even made it out of Mexico yet! I was texting him and found out that he was already almost to France and had passed us right up. Side note... I was going through my text conversations on my phone yesterday, and the texts from Disney are still there! I was reading through all of them and getting a littly teary eyed. I want to go back, now! I will never erase that conversations. Sad, isn't it!
Anyway, Jason had to double back to meet up with us. We met somewhere around Morocco I think. We parked the stroller as the lights dimmed. Jason was holding Brendan while I sat on the ground next to Aubrey. I wasn't able to see Brendan's reactions, but Aubrey's made up for that. She absolutely loved this show!!! I shed my first official tear of the night. I actually watched her more than I watched the fireworks. This was another moment that I will never forget! Here are some pics of her reactions...
And my personal favorite...
She was so excited and it warmed my heart to be sharing this with her. I've mentioned this before but I will share this story again. Our first trip to WDW was in November of 2002, a year after my dad passed away suddenly. When I saw Illuminations for the first time, it was on the anniversary of his death. It was a very emotional moment for me. I don't know how to explain it. This show is an emotional one to begin with, but for some reason, I just felt close to my dad watching all of the beautiful fireworks and hearing the touching music. To this day, it reminds me of my dad. I really believe he is there with me watching it each time. And now I was sharing it with my babies. Double wammy. The tears were a flowin'!
The show ended with a boom, literally!, and we headed back to our room. What a day. It was awesome. The kids were beyond tired and so were we. I couldn't wait to curl up on the couch and relax.
When we got back to the room, I discovered this on the floor...
What could it be??? My mind started racing! Dream fast passes? An invitation to stay in the castle?? Hey, a girl can dream can't she?? It turned out to be a precious birthday card for Aubrey! It seemed Emily at the front desk had actuallly heard me say that we were celebrating Aubrey's birthday and had this card sent up for us.
Aubrey was very excited. She hopped on her computer to post it on her blog...
Hee hee, just kidding. We gave them baths at the speed of light and put Brendan down in his crib. Aubrey had her milk on the couch and fell asleep. This is something that she NEVER does so I knew she must have been exhausted.
We didn't have to wake up super early the next day because the plan was to go to Typhoon Lagoon and it doesn't open until 10:00. I was very excited about this because we had never been there. Everyone got settled in their beds and it was off to sleep.
Up next... TL and a perfect afternoon for mom!
Hope I could provide some entertainment for you while you were sick. Hope you feel all the way better soon
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Aubrey, on the other hand, was absolute glued to them for the entire performance. In fact, we went back to see them again later in the trip. I was hoping they would sing Happy Birthday to her, but it didn't happen. I think they ran out of time. It was still amazing. I recommend looking them up on youtube. There are tons of videos. I love them!
I got one strand of beads in New Orleans Square in Disneyland in April. I promptly broke them too....maybe I'm just not a good candidate for Mardi Gras! 
That's hysterical! Hope it wasn't too bad of an injury!
As we headed into the park, I stopped to snap a few pics. I didn't take a lot of picures here because I didn't want the camera to get wet. I figured there would be photopass people around and since I had pre-paid for the CD, I would be set. Right?? Not so, more on that later. Here are a few pics...
I asked Jen to send me the info on courses that are offered in Orlando. She sent me the website and lo and behold, there is one on Friday, Dec 19th. Want to know what that date is??? Ummm, my birthday!!! So yes, the wheels starting turning and I actually told Jason what I was thinking. He didn't say no. Actually, his face lit up in a way that made me want to go more than ever!
