Catching up

This is from a thanksgiving weekend walk in the woods at White Memorial in Litchfield CT.

Skating lessons

Hack started a 5 week session on Friday.

Disney - Part IV - Hollywood Studios & Home

On our last day, we had a late flight (8pm) so the boys and I had time to go to the final Disney park - Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). There are not all that many age appropriate rides there, more thrill rides and shows, but I figured the boys would like walking around and going on a specific Buzz Lightyear ride. Sadly, despite getting to the ride at 9:45am the line was an hour long and the "fast pass" was for 5pm! I was beyond shocked and Jack was a bit disappointed, though he did get over it. We played for a long time in the "honey I shrunk the kids" playground which makes you feel like the size of a bug - huge pieces of grass, bugs, hoses etc. They boys, of course, hadn't seen the movie but got a huge kick out of it. We also watched a Star Wars Jedi training show which was pretty cute. They trained kids (ages ~5-8) to be Jedis on a stage and then they got to fight Darth Vader. Pretty sure it was the highlight of some of their lives. We had lunch and watched a parade/show of some sort of tween singers from the Disney Channel shows.

Jack never wanted to "meet" the characters but there was no line for Handy Manny so I pushed them to go. Jack stayed in the stroller, but Nate got a kick out of it.

Our flight home was pretty uneventful (it was all 4 of us) with the boys sleeping at least part of the time.

Quite an outfit Nate picked out today!

Disney Part - Part III - Animal Kingdom / Downtown Disney

On Monday Steve had to go back to work and Jack woke up with a horrible, horrible cough and was feverish. He actually asked to go to the doctors. I was not initially sure we would go anywhere, but after some motrin, being upright for a little while and eating something, he seemed better and said he wanted to go out. Disney's Animal Kingdom is part zoo, part theme park so I figured we could treat it like a zoo and the kids could stay in the stroller keeping him rested and others from getting too many germs. I had never been there before and 2 kids along at a theme park can be a challenge, but off we went.

We actually didn't go on any rides, but walked aorund looking at some of the roller coasters, the animals and played in giant "dinasour dig" (aka a big sandbox).

The "tree of life" - the centerpiece of the park. The entire thing is carved with animals - pretty beautiful up close.





We ate lunch there after a couple of hours and headed back to the hotel for Nate's nap. Jack and I rested as well. Later in the afternoon we played in the kiddie pool and at the hotel's playground.



When Steve got home from work we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner. We ate at Bongos which was OK but both boys were very ill-behaved (probably because one was ill:) I was not particular impressed by downtown disney, but I am glad I saw it I suppose.

Disney World - Part II - Epcot / Magic Kingdom (night)

On Sunday we got up early and went to Epcot. We were there before it opened by about 10 minutes so we waited at the gates in a rather long line. When we got to the front we almost had a scene. Disney now - get this- scans your fingerprint the first time you use your (adult) ticket. Well this was the first time we were re-using our cards and it wouldn't accept my fingerprint! I hadn't signed the back of my card (I hadn't even noticed the line) so the woman started giving me a hard time implying they wouldn't be able to let me. She finally agreed to re-save my fingerprint on the card after I tried one more time. Of course, this last time it worked...

We went on spaceship earth, the finding nemo living seas, turtle talk with crush, journey into imagination (figment!), and the ride at Mexico. By this point Jack seemed to be not feeling so well, but we grabbed a quick bite and headed back for Nate's nap. Jack recovered and went swimming with Steve at the hotel which had a nice pool and even a water slide.

We decided to give a shot at dinner at the Magic Kingdom so the boys could see it lit up. It started raining which turned out great as the park really was clearing out, but it never rained again.

Now before we left I had read up on allergy-safe foods at Disney and that they were a leader. I had been sent by their staff a list of "safe" foods and the ingredients in their "standard" items. It is unbelievable - truly an example of Disney service. If you eat at a table service place (which we never did) the chef will call you before to assure a safe and good menu. At the counter -service restaurant Nate was able to, for the first time ever, order a hamburger with a bun! I can't even get a bun for him at Whole foods! They actually had a dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free bun. Not only that, they showed Steve ALL the ingredients for all items and cooked Nate's fries separately. (Nate's allergies aren't so bad that the latter has been an issue - but for sometime even having something fried in the same oil as an allergic food is problem). They even have soy and rice-milk ice cream at the ice cream parlor and some cookie options at the bakery. Amazing. Of course, did Nate eat more than a bit of the bun? nope! he had a blast cutting it though.


By this time it was dark and we could see the castle was lit all blue..walking towards it we caught the end of a short performance including the fairy-godmother from Cinderella lighting the castle up - it was amazing. The boys were transfixed.

When we got back to the hotel Jack actually gave me a hug and said "thank you for bringing me to Disney world" - so so cute.

Disney World - Part 1- Magic Kingdom

Wow, what a whirlwind amazing trip that we finished this week -- Steve and I are both surprised, relieved and happy to have survived and actually enjoyed our time at Disney..despite an "interesting" solo flight for me with the boys (this involved a no-napping Nate and multiple air sick bags for Jack) to Orlando and multiple bad colds while there..

On Saturday we went to the Magic Kingdom at opening- the day did not start out great. Waiting for the monorail took about 20 minutes as one was broken - then after lines for bag check and to enter - we went to Fantasy Land. Both boys were VERY squirmy in our first line for dumbo - it seemed like this was going to be a LONG day. However, the boys liked the ride (we could see a HUGE construction site for the new fantasy land) and from then on we had minimal lines thanks to strategic use of fast pass (timed tickets to enter popular attractions). We went on the carousel, Mickey's Philharmagic, It's a Small World (they were not so impressed as my generation was as kids), Peter Pan, Buzz Light year (Jack loved this), the people mover, the Railroad, Country Bear Jamboree, Jungle Cruise (Nate was napping in the stroller outside with Steve for the Jamboree and Cruise), the River Boat. Finally Jack/Steve went on Thunder Mountain - Jack's favorite.

We ate dinner at a restaurant near our hotel and went to bed.