Our last first birthday - Part 2
Our last first birthday
We've taken each of our kids to the World for their first birthday. Penelope, aka "Eppy," is our last. We decided to make it super-special, so we're spending two weeks at Disney, with 10 days in the parks.
Cast:
Susan, (me), 36, 11th trip
David (DH), 31, 9th trip
Sammie (DD), 8, 7th trip
Lily (DD), 5, 5th trip
Joey (DS), 3, 4th tip
Eppy (DD), turning 1, 1st trip
Connie (DMom), 65, 3rd trip
Sam, (DDad), 68, 3rd trip
Sunday, December 11
Lily woke up with a black eye. We weren't sure what it was from, but it was pretty prominent. She didn't seem to act like it hurt, so we went on to the Animal Kingdom. My parents weren't too keen on the idea of such an early morning, so they had planned to meet us later for breakfast. We were on the first bus of the day, and hence, we made it to rope drop (the first time I had ever made rope drop in 11 trips).
We waited in the Oasis for the first rope drop, and then were caught at the second, too. We got to watch the flight of the macaws, which was amazing. We had no clue they did that, and by the sounds of the crowd, most of the other guests didn't either.
We raced through Asia to Everest, where Sammie rode three times, back to back, trading off parents. Then we went to ride the "flying dinosaurs" (Primeval Twirl) twice for the middle two kids. By then it was time to meet my parents, who hadn't been in AK since 1998, when it wasn't even finished, so we headed back toward the tree. We passed Donald, and Joey said, "We're in Disney World!" (It's funny how they don't realize it until they see whatever Disney is to them. Lily did the same thing when she was 3, and saw the castle). We had to wait and wait and wait for my parents. They'd had major waits for busses, both in the Fort and the one that brought them to the AK. Mom said it took them an hour and a half just to get to the park. We ended up being 15 minutes late to Tusker House, but they took it in stride and we were seated within 10 minutes.
Everyone enjoyed breakfast, especially Dad, who was pleasantly surprised after dinner last night. David was a little upset that they took his plate away early, as he was busy with the kids and the characters and didn't get anymore to eat before it was time to go. Oh well, he definitely didn't go hungry. Joey was a little scared of the characters at first, but once he saw the girls hugging them, he joined right in.
I had made autograph books by buying blank journals at Target (2 Frozen and 1 Dory), and then drawing 53 characters into them, afterwards letting the kids color them. The characters LOVED them. They would fawn over them throughout the trip, amazed that I had drawn them and that the kids had colored them. I had also bought a 9 inch blank vinylmation off eBay to use as my autograph item. Many of the CMs really liked it, and the characters had fun "fighting" over who got to sign where. I don't care to have a book, but it's a nice addition to my Disney collection, and something that can be viewed by all at all times.
We had fastpasses for the safari next, and Joey almost fell asleep. In fact, he laid his head on the side of the truck and nodded off until we told him to look at the elephants. We'd walked through Pangani, since we were there, and picked up Wilderness Explorer books halfway through. The kids were wanting to do them, and I'd planned to try to completely finish them on the trip. (We ended up losing the books and having to start all over on our next day...).
While at the outdoor gorilla exhibit, Eppy snatched my necklace and broke it. It's a floating locket, and when it hit the ground, it popped open, sending charms everywhere. We managed to find all of them, but I also wear a turtle charm on that necklace that is very special to me. We couldn't find it anywhere. I looked all through my clothes, we searched all over the ground, but it was gone, and I was fairly upset.
I had made fastpasses for Kali River Rapids, but it was cold and we didn't want to get wet, so I changed them to It's Tough to Be a Bug. They weren't really needed, since we sat in the handicapped section with Mom, but it wasn't a big deal. I'd been wanting to try a Dole Whip, since I'd never had one, so we stopped to get some. The three younger kids were sleeping, and Dad didn't want one, so we got three regulars and one with rum for David. He liked it, but I wasn't too amazed. Maybe I'm just not that big of a pineapple fan.
We decided to split up so that my parents could go watch Lion King and we could ride Everest, but first we visited Flik and Tarzan. Flik had a short line, but no one was with Tarzan, which surprised me. He had fun with the books, too... and made a big deal of "just learning to write." We walked Mom and Dad over to Lion King, so they didn't get lost, and then we raced back to Everest, because we were 20 minutes from the end of our fast pass time. Between fastpasses and child swaps, Sammie got to ride four more times. I took the younger ones and got chicken fried rice from Yak 'N Yeti with some snack credits and we took turns riding and eating. The middle two kids had fun playing in the flowers and on the rocks, perfectly content to do that while Sammie rode.
When Sammie and I got off the ride the last time, I walked up to David and he said "Kiss me," so I did, and then he said, "Now you're going to cry." I looked at him, confused, and he was holding my turtle charm from my necklace. He'd sat down to watch the younger kids and it was lying at his feet. I have no clue where it'd been hiding, but yes, I did cry.
We stopped for a photopass picture by the tree, and got a couple of magic shots before heading to Flame Tree for dinner. I wanted to eat on the water, but it made for a quick meal, as it was getting cold again, and everyone was anxious to get moving. We decided to see Pocohontas while we were there, and she made a comment on Eppy's name (Joey can't say Penelope; he says Eppy, and it stuck). She said people call her all kinds of things, cause they can't say Pocahontas, so I told her that we call her Pocastontas on purpose, because that's what one of the girls called her when they were little.
We split up again, with David and Sammie headed to Everest to shut it down, and the rest of us going back to the flying dinosaurs. Sammie and David were able to ride Everest six more times, making a total of 13 trips up the mountain for Sammie that day (a record for us). We rode the dinos once, as they scared Joey, and then slowly walked around the park. We ended up at the Tree of Life just as the night show was beginning, so I recorded it for David and Sammie. They found us shortly after 7, and we headed out of the park, stopping to get a photopass picture in front of the Christmas tree.
The kids' air mattress had been pretty flat when we woke up, so we dropped off Mom and Dad at the campsite and headed back out to Walmart for a new air mattress. While we were there, we also bought two warmer blankets, since the ones we'd brought didn't seem to keep us warm enough. We were back at the site and in the bed by 11:30pm.
