DisneyWorld

I'm back, due to popular demand. :) I love getting comments on my blog, but I don't like leaving them for others because other people can see them, and I feel like I need to say something deep or clever. I'll comment in emails.

I will write about our Disney World trip, but before I forget, I need to write about a conversation I had with Eli as we were waiting for the plane home. He was coloring a picture and was quite absorbed. I told him he was being very thorough and explained what that meant. After a minute, as he continued to look down, he said, "Mom, 'genius' is a word." I agreed. Then he told me that it means you know a lot of stuff, and I agreed. After a bit, he told me that he was a genius (and of course I agreed) and then, still coloring, he said, "It's pretty hard work to be a genius." I laughed at that, which might not have been the right thing, but I often laugh at the things he says, so he's used to it.

Tori is at a really fun age. She will often just seem to be in a little imaginary world. I'll see her pantomiming something and ask her what she's doing, and she'll say she's making a snowman or something like that. At Disney World one day, she was picking pumpkins and setting them down in a pile.

So let's see. For the flight to Florida, I packed some presents I'd gotten on clearance from disney.com and then some treats. Right before the flight, Jonah was fussing a bit and John heard someone behind us say that it was going to be a long flight (referring to our kids). However, that was the only bad moment we had. They were pretty bored toward the end, but they were very good. We wanted to tell the man to take it back. We got such a great deal on Southwest, but I hate the no-assigned-seats deal that made it feel like "every man for himself" as we rushed to get seats together. There were twelve of us with Clara's family and John's parents. We could not have traveled without them, which is good to know for the future - we always needed help with kids or luggage or something. (For example, on the way home, all of the kids slept and needed to be held.)

The first day we went to the Animal Kingdom. We saw the Finding Nemo show, which was amazingly well done, but which scared Eli. They were entranced by most of it, but a few parts, including the sharks, scared them, and that soured Eli on the whole thing. We saw the parade, which was fun and went on the Kilimanjaro Safari. It is cool, because you don't get to see all of the animals, so when you do, it feels more exciting. It rained really hard while we were on the ride, and our strollers and stuff got soaked. Luckily, we had brought ponchos.

I don't think I'll write about each day. One day, we met up with John's best friend from Florida and his family. We really enjoyed being with them and wandering around Epcot. My favorite day was one when our family stayed in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. We went on It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Dumbo, etc. We saw Mickey's Philharmagic, a 3D movie, which was Eli's favorite thing (apart from the Power Rangers). We went to Hollywood Studios our last morning just to see them. The kids loved seeing all of the different Rangers and interacting with them. My favorite moments were all when the kids were meeting different characters. Tori would always hug them for a while. She really latched onto a character who was actually John's niece in costume, so that was fun. It was almost like Tori sensed it. (I don't know how much I can say. They are huge on secrecy and maintaining the "magic." People can get fired if they reveal their identity, and what if someone stumbles upon my blog and turns us in?)

We decided that Disneyland is probably better for small children, since most of the things they like are also there, and it is not nearly so spread out. It takes quite a bit of effort to go between parks (especially with strollers and kids). We also decided that it may well be worth paying more to stay in a Disney Resort hotel and have that quick easy access. You could go back for naps, get to the park quickly, etc. So - next year who's with us for a fun trip to a Disneyland Resort?

I'm too tired to write more. It was so fun, and very hard to leave. The kids say, "I miss Disney World" multiple times a day. Even Jonah. (That was for Mike.)