Now I Can Have Memories!

Most people just GIVE their kids their gifts on Christmas morning, and for the most part, that's what we did.  But before we could reveal the BIG surprise, we decided they had to be tortured a little.

We were visiting family in NC, and on Christmas morning we carefully placed envelopes on the tree, with notes inside instructing the kids to perform various embarrassing tasks, before they could move on to a much needed clue. Each performance was given a "pass" or "fail" and they couldn't move on until each thing was passed.  Yeah, we're horribly awesome like that.

 These aren't extremely creative because we didn't think of this until Christmas Eve, but here's what they had to do:

1.  Run outside to a manhole cover, sit for a moment, and then return, all while shouting, "I'm a princess."

2.  Sing "I'm a Little Teapot," complete with motions.  You'd never know she actually can sing...

3.  Dance to M.C. Hammer's "Can't Touch This."  Just Because.  I'm so glad we did this because we had NO IDEA Noah had these crazy-good dance moves...

4.  Act out any scene from "Monsters Inc."

5.  Walk like Jack Sparrow.

6.  Wrap one of themselves.

7.  Hug their Dad and say, "Oh Daddy, we love and cherish you so!  Won't you please give us the last clue?

Then they were given the envelope with the clue, which read:

 "Riddle me this, riddle me that,
 Your gift is near a picture, where Dad wasn't fat."

(I didn't write that clue.)  So they ran thru the house, screaming, and we heard comments like, "NO... DAD WAS FAT IN THAT ONE." Soon they came running in with the box.  It's become a Christmas morning tradition that Elizabeth addresses Noah as "you idiot" at some point during gift opening. We probably don't do enough to discourage it, but I've never been one to stand in the way of tradition.  Listen carefully and you will hear,"That's what those are, you idiot!" Steve says that is why this clip will never show up in a Disney commercial, but even so, it's priceless. 

The beautiful hats were made by 2 a T Tot Shoppe

 

After the hardest year in the world for our family, this is how we were gonna end it, and begin a new one.

So a few days later, we were in Epcot.  We had dinner reservations at this lovely restaurant, and tickets to the Candlelight Processional after dinner.

And all night, Steve could NOT stop singing, "We're 3 caballeros, 3 gay caballeros, they say we are birds of a feather!"♫ ...because of this boat ride attraction, also at the Mexico Pavillion.  I could sense the stares of others..

And then, we were blown away by the best choir and orchestra I've ever heard.  And the Christmas story was signed, from the Bible, by deaf celebrity Marlee Matlin.  A man interpreted.  It's hard to see her in the following pic, but she's the one wearing red. And I don't really give a flying fig about celebrities and all, but we found out that just 2 weeks earlier they had Trace Adkins in for this, so then I was all devastated that we could have heard his big, deep voice reading, "And it came to pass..."  I wonder if he sang too!





So the day was good, until the fireworks began and Noah had a nuclear meltdown and we had to run out of he park.  They really were the most intense fireworks I've ever seen, AND they set the lake on fire, which you can feel.  We ALL thought it was a little scary at times.  When we got back to the room, the kids and I had several surprises waiting for us, including this:

Chocolate dipped rice krispie treat mouse ears on sticks.  We would later buy more to take home.



AND THEN THE NEXT DAY WAS NEW YEAR'S EVE. 

Ok, Disney World should warn you when you make your reservation with them for New Year's.  Something like, "Just so you know, on New Year's Eve we morph from the 'Happiest Place on Earth' into 'The Unhappiest Nightmare you'll ever experience as long as you shall live."  The Magic Kingdom loses all of it's magic that day, and it's a big free-for-all and a fight to survive.  We had dinner inside the castle which was completely lovely, but then we came out and flowed into the masses.  It was pretty cool for awhile because Disney gave everyone free New Year's hats and noisemakers that I LOVED.  It was loud and exciting. And then Disney World thought it would be a good idea to continue with the usual Electric Lights parade and it took us an hour to find a spot on the street where we could stand without some Disney employee-Nazi person yelling at us for standing somewhere we weren't allowed to stand.  And then the parade was as beautiful as ever.

And minutes later, it was over and the pushing and shoving began.  And tragically, I lost my noise maker in all that commotion. We decided to leave.  And about an hour later, we finally had an opportunity to escape as the glob of people we were stuck in, migrated near an escape route.  Then we saw this cute lizard:

Soon we were back at the Contemporary resort, along with a lot of other smart people, and we watched the fireworks and rang in the New Year from an observation deck.  There were even speakers piping in the sound from the Magic Kingdom, which was good because it helped me to not miss my lost noisemaker so much. Disney has fireworks that explode into the shape of numbers during the countdown!  There's nothing Disney can't do... except close the parks before they are too full.  Anyway, all of the exploding numbers were backwards, so that's what happens when you chicken out, and watch from the resort.  The people who risked their lives in the park saw the numbers correctly.  Being seconds from our room was totally worth watching backwards fireworks though.  They said it was gonna take 3 hours to get everyone out of the park that night.

Here are a few more highlights:

This was a hard day for Elizabeth, partly because we had to take a boat to get there and she gets nervous because she's afraid of sharks that eat through boats to get people. The Whispering Canyon Cafe, located at the Wilderness Lodge, serves more than just this yummy skillet breakfast. They also dish out a little comedy and harrassment with your meal.  Both days we ate there, Elizabeth was the main target.  When she refused to join in the little kids' stick pony rides, she had to hide from the waiter by climbing under the table, where she ate her biscuit, alone.  I would've probably just ridden the stupid stick pony, but whatever. They also made her get up in front of the restaurant and help them lead, "If You're Happy and You Know It." Twice we asked for more syrup, and then they brought us a one gallon jug of it because we'd become so annoying.  They gave Elizabeth a 2 ounce coke. And the main thing you NEVER EVER want to do there, is ask for ketchup, so we just did without.  Look at those Mickey Mouse waffles.  Best. Waffles. Ever. 

Don't let this cute Tigger fool you.  He's evil.

The coolest thing at Disney- Jedi Training Academy.  Noah got to battle Darth Vader!

Wild bird I harrassed.  He was running by this point, so it's a little blurry but you can still see what a grumpy snob this fowl was.

Our favorite ride in all of Disney World!  We rode it 153 times!  Well, probably 8 times.  I love dinosaur violence!



Ohanas at the Polynesian Resort. There are no words for this place. They cook meats over that fire pit, on skewers. Then they bring you as much steak, chicken, pork, and shrimp as you can cram into your body.

Bread pudding topped with ice cream and a bananas foster sauce.  I was shocked to discover that it's the best dessert in the whole world.




For a moment, Elizabeth and I were sad that our family doesn't drink alcohol (ok, not really) because this drink GLOWED.  But I'm sure they could have lit up a Sprite or something...



Bad moods flared when I forced everyone to ride the teacups, because apparently they're really lame.  Not to mention, our family didn't really fit in one cup and there were disagreements about how much spinning should be allowed.  Noah and I are spinners.  Steve and Elizabeth are not.



This was a snail named "Jeff."  Elizabeth carried him around one day.  We really don't know if the shell was actually occupied, but still, he entertained us for hours.

"It's a Small World" is such a beatiful ride.  Steve slept during the whole thing.  Also, I'd forgotten about Elizabeth's fear of puppets when we did this, so she's been telling everyone how it's the scariest ride at Disney...

I can't figure out how she convinced him to join in on the hula lessons.  She only wanted to do it for the free leis.

She's once, twice, three times a lady.

So after years of Noah sadly telling us he had no Disney memories, he now has 5 fun-filled (and terror-filled) days of memories to last a lifetime.  And despite my being afraid on New Year's, and hit with a door, and an ice cart, by reckless Disney employees, it's hard to not be impressed by Disney World.  Do you know, not once was any restroom stall out of those toilet seat protector tissues?  Thousands of people were hitting those restrooms.  Isn't that amazing?