On Friday, Jan. 7, Daryn
surprized the kids with a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. He sprang it on me about 6-7 months ago, and we've been plotting and planning since then. Sadly, our
surprize ended with a flop, as their reactions were not as we expected. Of course, it was 3 a.m. at the time, too.
This is a brief pictorial of our trip to the south. We expected to have some sunshine and warmth, however, the weather thwarted us and it was low 60s and 50s most of our trip.
Brrrr. We had thunder and rain on Tuesday when we were at Magic
Kingdom, but sunshine and chilly breezes the rest of our trip.
Saturday, January 8 - Epcot
We stopped in the United Kingdom to enjoy the flowers and quaint houses. It really was a cheery
ol' sight!
Onward to Paris, France, where we enjoyed a
baguette, croissant, and macaroons. A little bit of something to share with everyone. I really wanted to get a big loaf of yummy bread as shown in the shop window, but they only had the thin small bat-shaped ones.
We continued our tour around the world and went to the Fez House in Morocco. The kids decided to get a bit goofy ... so I had to include those shots for all to see. This is Ethan.
Here's Evyn ...
... and Ian ...
... and Amber.
They also had to try on the hats from the fez tree outside the shop.
Amber and I journeyed to Japan. Several years ago I kicked myself for not "diving" for pearls. So, I really wanted to try this. Daryn and I let Amber pick this as her birthday gift from us. She chose two oysters from the two tanks. We were only going to go with one and have it made into a necklace, but she asked if she could have earrings, so we chose a simple setting and she picked out two oysters.
There is quite a bit of ceremony. Her first oyster produced a 7.25mm white pearl. Very pretty. Her second oyster produced a rare 7.25mm silver pearl (they used a special name for it, Japanese of course, which there is no way I could pronounce or even try to remember). However, they did make a big point about the fact that it is quite rare and very few are found.
They do quite a ceremony for the customer. They put the pearls in this little bowl and drew a smiley face (the pearls are the eyes). Then they wipe them clean and you chose if you want them made into something. Amber chose a simple earring setting (posts). We picked them up later in the day.
I also had to try, because I didn't want to leave without again. These were my birthday gift from Daryn! My first one was a pink pearl, and then ... YUP! I have a silver pearl, too! You should have heard the commotion! She then laughed and asked if we could please leave some silver pearls for others! I told her we were done fishing :) I also had mine made into earrings. They offered to trade out one for Amber and me, but we both decided to go with the ones we'd chosen. The girl asked why and I explained that they make a great conversation piece, they were original, and there wouldn't be anyone else with anything like it ... and then we'd be able to tell them where we got them. She smiled. I think she thought we were crazy getting mismatched pearls!
Onward through America where we happened upon the fife and drum corps. They were playing the Marine Corps Anthem here. For each service piece they played, they'd strike a pose for that service. The man with the flag sang and had others in the crowd sing with him, and he had a great voice for town crier as well!
Continuing on around the world ... have to try to get the specialty shot! Of course, it was cold, windy, and after adjusting one child, another would move. This was the best we could get. Not too bad for 5-10 minutes of work!
We forged on to Italy. I'm sure most recognize this replica. The kids tossed in pennies to make wishes.
This is one of the shops in Italy. One part of it was filled with masks. This is one of three windows of masks. There was a man there painting them, too. When we came back to Epcot on another day, Daryn and I purchased a piece of marble shaped like Mickey Mouse. It is our new spoon rest. The other died painful deaths before Christmas.
Then we made our way to Germany. Ethan made a beeline for the sweets shop. He wanted to purchase his very own caramel apple. All of this looked so yummy. The prices were unbelievable!
Ethan, however, was very pleased with his purchase and couldn't wait to try it.
He even offered a bite to Ian. Better watch out Ethan, Ian's mouth is much bigger than yours!
Next stop on our tour ... Norway! Had to stop and see the giant trolls. I looked into getting a Norwegian sweater again, but had to turn away. At $350, I decided I'd better save a whole lot more, or find a pattern I like and give it a shot myself. I can't see that I'd spend that much on yarn if I did it myself. It's mostly the time it would take to make it! But, they were sure beautiful!
My vikings ... albeit Icelandic vikings.
Crusaders and adventurers at heart?
By evening Daryn and the boys had gone off to do the Test Track ride and Amber and I wandered back to Japan to pick up our earrings. We rode the boat from Canada across the water to Japan, and walked back through the United Kingdom. Had to stop and get a shot in the phone booth!
Sunday, January 9 - Hollywood Studios
The next day dawned bright and sunny and we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Daryn and the boys headed off for the big rids and Amber and I waited around. At some point Evyn joined us while the other three headed off somewhere and we came across the
Toy Story Army men. Had to get our photos with them.
We finally met up with Daryn and the rest of the family and went in to see the
Indiana Jones live action show. It was actually a show about stunts; a show within a show. Pretty spectacular. This is one of the stunts they showed us. That truck flipped completely over onto it's back.
There was also a
Star Wars show, but we didn't see that one. But everyone had to try their hand at the
Endor speeder.
Of course, some of us were a bit more theatrical than others!
Monday, January 10 - Magic Kingdom
Threats of rain were in the forecast, complete with thunder. We took it all in stride.
After all, we live in the land of constant rain. Well, our rain in the Pacific Northwest is generally not big and fat and torrential, it's just steady and constant. The morning dawned and we set out. I had told the kids we would do one special thing for all of them that they wouldn't have to pay for. Ethan and Amber decided they wanted to join the Pirates League. Amber chose the Empress Pirate look and Ethan chose Multi-Eyed Jack Sparrow. This is the second photo I took upon completion of their looks. The first one has Ethan actually looking at me with his own eyes.
This photo shows Ethan with his eyes shut. Pretty cool, huh? If you could see both photos, they don't look much different. His painted eyes look just like his normal eyes! These are on his eyelids. Essentially, Jack can sleep and everyone will still think he's awake, watching!
It began to rain ... POUR ... while they were getting made up as pirates. It let up a bit and we braved our way toward
ToonTown ... but then it came down in sheets and buckets. Amber and I ducked in under an awning at one of the booths that shut up during the rain storm. Daryn and the boys plodded on through the rain and made it to the Barn Stormer roller coaster ride. At which point, the ride was still running. The only roller coaster in the elements that was actually running at the time. All others had shut down due to thunder. The guy told them he was okay to run, so off the boys went ... and they rode it three times in a row without having to get off. They were the only ones in line! Amber and I finally made it over from our little covered spot during a time when the rain let up and met them at Barn Stormer. They came in from the ride ... SOAKED! But each one was smiling!
Brave Barn Stormer riders! Each received a special card, but Daryn laid them out to dry and they were left behind :( We left for the cabin after this so everyone could change clothes, get dried off, and a bite to eat.
Tuesday, January 11 - Animal Kingdom
I have lots of shots of different animals, but the only shot I'm sharing is from the
Circle of Life Celebration from
Lion King. It was a great show. I didn't use a flash and only have a few shots from the show when the lights were way up. The bird in the middle at the top was a ballerina. She was good. Great singing, great acting, great dancing. It was a marvelous show in the round.
Thursday, January 13 - Return to Epcot
We returned to Epcot for another day to go into the the big ball and do the Innoventions and other attractions at the entrance to the park. Ethan and Amber also picked up some "cell phones" and became Kim Possible agents and we traveled around the world again on a secret spy mission. It was fun. At one point we had to separate and Daryn went off with Amber and I had the boys. It's a long story to describe about the Kim Possible Agents Save the World mission, but needless to say, we saw different parts of each country and learned something at each spot and in the end they completed 7 of 7 missions.
Here we are, back in China.
I had to include this shot. It was nearing the end of the day. Evyn enjoyed chasing off the hordes of seagulls that gathered throughout Epcot. It was cute.
And thus ends a quick pictorial view of our magnificent and magical trip to Walt Disney World.
These are a couple of the costumes and crowns on display in the lobby.
Amber also found this wonderful statue. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to do this. There really weren't any people around, and I thought it would be a lovely photo. (She's dressed in her ballet costume from last year, for the ballet class in which we'd hoped she'd be able to participate.)
We did not go in for lunch in the dining area, but had a bite while waiting. We shared the sandwich, had a cookie and water ... all to the tune of $24.41! City prices!
This is the ballet class. It was more of a discussion and show and tell for little children. The woman told them about PNB's interpretation of the ballet, had some photos to show them of some of the actual characters, played some of the music, and had them dance a bit. There really was no ballet class, for which we were disappointed. This part of the class they are pretending to dance at the ball. See the little girl watching Amber?
More dancing at the ball.
Lastly, a chance to try on an actual tutu from PNB's Sleeping Beauty. Amber was so excited. There are 100 hours, at least, in the tulle alone (under portion of that pancake tutu), and then another 100 hours for the decorated top. Each tutu is hand sewn. They also showed them ballet slippers (like Amber wore) and pointe shoes. The lady explained how the hard toes are from fabric and glue. As I recall, Mom told me her toe shoes were plaster? Will have to ask to confirm that information. Toes shoes have certainly come a long way. The lady also said as how most girls were ready by the time they were 11 or 12. Amber had thanked the lady afterward, and the woman asked how old she was and where she danced. Amber said she was 10 and danced at Just For Kicks. The lady then asked about her teacher and Amber told her it was Mrs. Branner. The lady said, "Oh, she's a professional!" Amber was beaming. The woman then told her it wouldn't be long and she'd be up, too. We did discuss this later and I reminded her that it would only happen when Mrs. Branner felt it was the right time AND the doctor gave the okay after examining her growth plates and xrays. She totally understood.
And, the opening curtain. There are no other photos. All the beauty remains in our memories. We thoroughly enjoyed the ballet, the experience, and our time together.
