Spring Break 2012, Part 2 - Animal Kingdom

After all of the excitement on Sunday, we headed over to Animal Kingdom on Tuesday. We got to the park around 9:45 and proceeded to run, drag children to the Safari ride. For those who don't know, you need to get to this ride early, er first, in order to see all of the animals. For some reason the Orlando heat has all of the animals running for cover. Does anyone else find this a bit strange, I mean these animals are from Africa correct? According to the weather folks it does get a bit on the warm side over there. It not like I am expecting penguins running through the Orlando sun. Well anyway, we hit the line and waited, and waited, and waited, well beyond the estimated time. Well we found out that it wasn't an animal problem it was a person problem, someone fainted from the heat. And the strange thing was it wasn't really hot, the person must have been from somewhere up north, way up north. So after an extended wait with three eager Critters we hit the ride and were not disappointed. All of the animals were still out and had not melted yet. CarCar got to see her giraffes, and Haddie got to see her 'big kitties.' After this we were able to downshift and enjoy the rest of the park.

We hit up a few more attractions, specifically the otter tank for Carson, yes my daughter is obsessed with otters. After that it was lunchtime, so we hit up a counter-service restaurant for some BBQ. $71 bucks later we were partially full. We meandered through the rest of the park and finally tried to ride the train for Brother, but after we waited in line a bit we found out there was only one train running and it would be a while. We came up with the ingenious plan to drive to a hotel and ride the monorail. Its kind of like a choo-choo train, with out the choo-choo of course. After doing one big circle we headed over to meet Grandma Kate for dinner at Olivia's. Another great, but extremely tiring day at Disney.

Here are a few pics from the day:

Brother's urban-styled beanie hat. (Yes it has a spray paint graffiti design on it yo.)

A Rino, thank God it was a little further away than last time. The last trip we thought the thing was going to ram the safari jeep.

The Crocs.

The baby elephant.

Carson with her giraffe ears and Brother with his urban flava.

The Dino Diner, home of the frozen Coke, and the reason I missed the dinosaur version of Dumbo.

Brother interacting with a character, this was a big step.

Momma and CarCar.

Yes, I'm sure they are plotting something.

The parade.

The 'safari car,' yes that's right the safari car, don't dare call it a stroller.

The giraffe parking lot. For Carson.

Brother ran out of gas.

So did Carson.

Chris

Spring Break 2012

We packed up the car, grabbed the Critters and Abbey and hit the open road (congested of course) to Orlando. Let me tell you that 5 o'clock on a Friday is not the optimal time to try to head out of Tallahassee. While our traffic may pale in comparison to other cities it is a giant PIA to get from our house to I-10 at that time.

On Sunday, the crew (The Critters, me, Rian, Grandma B, Grandma Kate, and Adam) headed over to Epcot. The big event of the day was lunch with the Princesses in Norway. (don't remember the name of the restaurant. It started with an "A" I think.) As soon as we get to the park I suggest that I'll go get fast passes for Soarin', since that is the only ride @ Epcot that I haven't had a chance to ride. Weeeellllll, everyone decided to head off and start to see the park. One problem, I didn't have my cell phone. I felt like the lost child looking for their parents, except I had a few expletives running though my head. I thought surely they would come back to the spot that we parted ways. Well, they did after about 20 minutes of me fuming there. So the day got off to a little of a rocky start, but at least I had my fast passes.

Off to Norway we went for the Princess lunch. Let me tell you the girls were getting giddy. You step in to the restaurant and are ushered for a picture with Belle from Beauty and the Beast. The Critters were a little shy but Haddie soon warmed up. It takes Carson a little bit to warm up to 'strangers.' We got to our table and the princess party started. Haddie was in heaven, it was total princess overload. First Jasmine (Aladdin), then Ariel (the Little Mermaid), then Cinderella, and finally the one Haddie had been waiting for, Sleeping Beauty (Haddie informed me that her real name is Aurora). As you can tell from the pictures below Haddie took quickly to her. She even came back and got Haddie to lead the princess parade with her. Lunch was good and then we headed over to Mexico for a boat ride. Brother kept his sunglasses on and for the folks that have been on the Mexico boat ride know it is dark in there. Well we were walking to the actual ride and Brother walked face first into a pole, apparently he couldn't see it with his sunglasses. It apparently sounded worse than it was because the Disney cast member thought it knocked Reese out. He was fine and shook it off, but he will definitely not be wearing sunglasses at night.

After Mexico we headed off to ride Soarin'. It was fun but it could be sooo much better with a few tweaks. Then we grabbed to boat to head over to Japan. Anyone who knows CarCar knows she is obsessed with Hello Kitty (much to Rian's chagrin). Surprisingly she picked out a rather small Geisha Hello Kitty and we were off to France for a snack and some champagne (for only $12 bucks a glass, er plastic flute).

The kids were getting tired by this point, and to be truthful so was dad. We headed to the big silver golf ball for our final ride. Haddie didn't want to go on it so she hung out with the Grandmas, while Carsie, Reese, Rian, Adam and I went on the ride. We finally took off and headed home, completely exhausted, but the Critters had a great time.

Here are some pics from our day @ Epcot:

I don't think I mentioned it above but it was the Flower and Garden Festival.

The group (minus Uncle Adam who was behind the camera).

This is the crew after they left me.

Cinderella and Haddie.

The girls and Cinderella.

Ariel putting some moves on Brother. She really liked his 'strawberry' colored hair. I'm not sure but I think Brother may have gotten some digits.

Haddie and Sleeping Beauty.

As you can tell Haddie loves her some Sleeping Beauty.

Brother wasn't quite as into Jasmine as he was with Ariel.

Haddie helping to lead the princess parade.

Uncle Adam and Rian in Mexico. Ole!

Haddie taking everything in on the boat ride.

Carson, me, and Hello Kitty.

Brother taking a quick rest in France.

Carson and Tinkerbell in the Fairy Garden.

The Critters getting out their last little bit of energy.

Haddie exploring while we were in the giant silver golf ball.

Chris

Buffett

And we're back. It has been quite a work related vacation from the ole blog. I have about three to four posts to bang out.

Rian and I headed to see ole Jimmy Buffett the end of February. Luckily it was not a late night at work. I was able to run to my car, change real quick, and meet Rian and the other folks down at the tailgating spot. Definitely a different experience that the other Buffett shows I have been to. Normally, I would have been down there about 4-6 hours prior to showtime and would have put down a few more beverages than I did this time.

It was a good, not great show. I think the main detraction for me was that it was not at an outside venue. There is nothing better than Buffett at an amphitheatre. The set list was solid though.

Here are a few pics from the show:

We had pretty good seats, a little far, but a straight on view.

Jimmy being Jimmy. Man what a life.

Going old school with the bic lighters. These days the young folks seem to use their cell phones during the ballads.

Ran into ole Hunter boy at the show.

Chris

Let's Party like its '19 Sine Die'

It's done, over, finished. Well, except for the Special Session for Senate Redistricting Maps. Come on Comp time!

Chris

Florida Speaker Dean Cannon and Jay-Z

Here is an exchange (click me for story and me for another story) between our local Representative Alan Williams, who is an amazingly nice and funny guy and the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. The famed rapper Jay-Z was envoked on the House floor and a pretty fuuny and amazingly unexpected exchange followed.



Chris

Brother, Two-Ways.

Here are two picks of Brother from two very different situations.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Brother:

Rian was away on a Junior League retreat, this was taken around 4 in the afternoon. Yes, Brother is still in his jammies as were his sisters and dad.Brother's war wounds. This is after an unfortunate meeting of Brother's nose and the end of a slide. Yes, that is blood everywhere, and there was more, a lot more on my shirt. Nevertheless, he was in much better spirits in this picture. He is a tough little guy.

Chris

Apparently its March, oh well, Here's the Critter's Valentine's Day

I know its March, but I figure for posterity sake I should show the Critters Valentine's Day. They had a party @ their pre-school the Monday before V-Day. I channeled my crafty-side and we made their V-Day cards to give out in their class. Oh, don't be fooled, I didn't think this up, I found it online. It was pretty easy to break-up the crayons and melt them. We printed the cards @ the local Fedex-Kinkos.

Here are a few shots of the V-Day Cards:

Here are the crayons post-oven.

After they are popped out of the mold.

The cards.

Ready for the party!

On Valentine's Day Rian and the Critters headed over to Auntie Erica's and Norah's house for breakfast. Good times and heart-shaped pancakes were had by all.

Here are some shots from Valentine's Day:

Haddie.

CarCar.

The whole crew.

Chris