Mickey says Hi! :)

We had a wonderful weekend!  Although it's always nice to be home, this was a perfect little getaway as a family. 

On the way to Orlando Friday, we made a quick stop at my parents to drop off Ellis.  Ellis has gone to Disney before, and we have also taken a 2 year old before.  We knew that since this was a work trip that would involve some later nights, and a busy schedule, that she would enjoy time with Mimi and Papa as much as Disney, if not more.  The reports I was getting from my parents throughout the weekend let me know we made a good decision.  When I called to check in one time, Ellis was unable to come to the phone because she was having her fingernails painted.  I think she enjoyed being the center of attention!

After dropping Ellis off, we headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to check in.  It's a great property and the boys loved it because there was a bunk bed for them to sleep in.  We had adjoining rooms, which Andy and I thought would be a special treat.  It would almost be like we were having a little getaway by putting the boys in one room and Andy in I in the other.  Well, the kids got wind of it and got so excited because they couldn't wait to "pick a room mate"!  So Andy got to sleep with Davis and Knox and I got to share a room with Drew.  Maybe next time....

   
                              

 

 

That night we were eating at the Animal Kingdom, so we got ready and headed down to meet our bus.

 

 

 The dinner was really good!  There was pasta, mashed potatoes, several different meats, etc.  I tried to stick with making a huge salad because we sat by the dessert bar and I made a plan to end my meal with this.  You can see that I took a bite of the chocolate cake before I thought to take a picture.  :)

The kids enjoyed the dessert, too.  :)

 

After dinner they brought out some characters.  Knox is not a fan of any of these dressed up characters.  In fact, in the past, if we have seen a character in the park, we will turn around and Knox will have shot off to find the closest hiding spot.

 

Here are Davis and Drew with the characters.

 

 

And here's where Knox was.

Nice and safe.

 

At one point, Knox needed to use the restroom, which meant he was going to have to pass through the hallway where the characters were.  Disney workers are so in tune to what's going on.  So the worker helping the characters saw what was happening and had the characters head into another room as Knox went by.  It was so nice. :)

 

By the time we returned to the hotel we were ready for bed, so that we would be ready for our adventure the next day.

 

We met our bus to head to breakfast.  We knew we were eating at Epcot, but didn't know where.  It turned out really cool.  We ate in the American Experience.  For those familiar with that area, it's where the American singers perform.  As a child, it was one of my favorite things to do at Epcot.  For our event, they had set up tables and a yummy breakfast.  It was a great place to start our day.

 

 

After breakfast we were split into groups to be led by a Disney Tour Guide.  We have always had wonderful guides, and this trip was no exception.  We ended up with Tommy, who by the end of the day felt like an old friend.  He was so nice and so great with the kids.  The way the tour guides work, is that basically they take you into the fast pass lane on rides, they escort you to the park(s) you desire to go to in a van, and help you with things like finding a table at lunch, etc.  Every time we have had the opportunity to join Andy on a trip like this, we try to make it work out, because we know what a special treat this is.

 

Since we were at Epcot we wanted to make sure we did our two favorite rides before leaving, Soarin and Test Track.

 

I was planning to sit out with Davis on Soarin, but when we got the entrance his head just touched the stick for the height requirement, so we decided he should try it.

 

Here we are right before getting on.  In the first picture, he forgot how excited he was.  ;)

 

 

There we go.  He's ready!

 

So.....he wasn't a huge fan, but I was proud of him for trying.

 

After this we headed to Test Track.  The boys were a little disappointed that I was voted to join them, but Andy had promised Davis that he would join him on Nemo.  This is the ride they were doing while waiting on us.  Test Track is a great ride!  You get to design your own car, and see how it performs on the "Test Track". 

 

The Palmer car was scored high on speed, and low on environmentally friendly.  The boys told me that would happen ahead of time.  They know from past experience.  :)

 

After this ride, we headed to meet the rest of our group at our meet up spot.  Here came one of our biggest adventures of the day.  Davis was standing on this fence, overlooking the water, and accidentally kicked his shoe into the water.

 

This is Knox and another friend from our group looking into the water that held Davis's shoe captive.

 

 

Here is our wonderful guide Tommy doing his best to fish Davis's croc out of the water.  But, it wasn't happening.  So, we tried to bend down and reach through the fence with our hands, but it was just too far down.

 

 

Light bulb!

 

At the same moment, a grandma in our group and I came up with the idea of holding one of our children over the side by their ankles to grab it.  We tried to talk Drew and Knox into it, but to no avail, so before Davis knew what was happening he was being hoisted over the side and down to his shoe.  I planned to take pictures or a video, but I was too busy helping to guide him over.  Oh, and before we did this, we told Tommy to walk away in case this was against Disney policy.  We also started to gather a crowd since we were putting on such an exciting show.  :)  Apparently Davis did NOT like his upside down acrobatic move and as soon as he put his shoe down he kicked it, to make sure everyone watching knew his displeasure with this idea.

 

 But, at least he had his shoe back!

Time for the Magic Kingdom!  I'll save that for my next post.  I'm ready for bed.

 

I hope that all of you had a wonderful weekend too!