Our last first birthday - Part 7
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
Friday, December 16
We slept in until 8am, if you can call it sleeping. We told my parents to go on to Hollywood Studios and we'd meet them there later, and we did a huge load of laundry. Then we laid back down and took a nap. We finally left out at noon, which is unheard of for us. Although it passed through the girls fairly quickly, it was hanging around for Joey. Sammie had it the worst, and she was exhausted, and dressed as if she were freezing. Lily had it the easiest, and seemed to be bouncing back already. I was typical Susan at Disney, driven to stick to the plan.
We had reservations at H&V at 1:00. I couldn't bring myself to eat anything more than a bowl of soup and it would haunt me all day, and none of the kids would eat at all, other than Eppy, who was well by now. In fact, only Lily would get up to see Sophia, when she came by the table. But Sammie did get up to see Doc McStuffins, and Joey jumped up to see Jake, who really liked "how good he looked" in the autograph book. Only Joey would see Handy Manny, but we don't watch his show because the girls don't like it. I was disappointed to see the check, as only David and my parents had eaten anything, really.
They all livened up, though, when we exited the restaurant to hear the Stormtrooper march. Sammie LOVES BB-8, and was very excited to see all of the Star Wars people out and about. I was very happy that this wouldn't be our only day here, since she was too whipped to really feel up to doing it all.
We'd missed our TSM FP, due to coming to the park late, so we just wandered around. David went in the Star Tours exit to look at a light saber, but it was so crowded that he left quickly. We met Chip and Dale in their hats and scarves. And then we used FPs to see the Frozen show, again, un-needed because Mom was in a scooter. The kids enjoyed it, but I couldn't convince them to sing-a-long. That's when you know they were really puny.
Hoping to cheer Joey up, we went to meet Olaf. It worked, he threw his arms around him and gave him a huge hug. Mickey and Olaf are far and beyond his favorites.
David had no energy and was starting to feel queasy by this point, but he soldiered on. I hadn't paid attention to the short window of time for Little Mermaid, and we missed our FP, so we went to the GMR, but the line was over an hour long, so we went on over to get in line for LM anyhow. I used some snack credits to buy frozen lemonade, but I couldn't get anyone to eat. I didn't blame them.
I really wanted to get a family picture with Sorcerer Mickey, so everyone begrudgingly obliged to get in the hour long line. Joey got sick three times while waiting, and then just as they got ready to snap the picture, he got sick again, so we got the family picture with Minnie, but not Mickey. (It turned out that the CM didn't use a flash, so none of the Sorcerer Mickey pictures came out anyhow). After that, David took Joey and they headed back to the campsite.
The rest of us found a place to sit/stand for Jingle Bell Jingle Bam. I took Eppy to change a diaper and could barely get back through the crowd to find everyone. It was then that I learned that they were showing the Star Wars fireworks for the first time again after a long hiatus, so the park was packed. The show was cute, but not worth the sardine-feeling. Lily and Eppy slept through it, and Sammie begged to.
We walked down to the All American Cafe so Mom and Dad could get some dinner between the fireworks shows. I still couldn't stand the thought of eating, though, and neither could Sammie. Dad proclaimed it the best food he'd had on the trip. I laughed and said, "a burger?!" He said that the food had been good, but he wasn't into all the fancy eating we'd done, and was happy with his burger and fries.
Instead of doing anything else, we went back to the Chinese theater and staked out a spot for the SW fireworks afterwards. I left everyone and went looking for an Alex and Ani BB-8 charm that I'd seen on a girl's wrist earlier in the day. I went through three stores, as all the CMs kept saying "It's over at ____" before I gave up. However, I did find an ornament that was dated 2016 for Mom and Dad. They'd been looking and hadn't found one yet, and were leaving the next day. They were pleasantly surprised when I took it back to them.
It quickly became standing room only, and the CMs just kept pressing us closer and closer together, as it was also EMH, and tons of people were streaming into the park for that. I kept having to wake Sammie up, because I knew she'd be upset if she missed it. My feet were killing me from standing on them so much, and I was smashed between people taller than me, but it was completely worth it. I loved this fireworks show! I would rank it second only to Hallowishes. The lasers and fire complemented it so well! I wish David could have seen it.
The kids fell asleep on the bus, and I was glad to have Dad to help carry them. We finally made it to bed at midnight.
