Fall Vacation-- SeaWorld Day 2

SeaWorld Lighthouse

Katima and her new calf born Oct. 9

We all enjoyed the Killer Whale show.  We sat several rows up so we were out of the splash zone.

The girls loved the rides in the kid's area at SeaWorld.  There were no lines to ride, unlike the Magic Kingdom.

Abbie and Uncle Matt pose for a picture in front of a tropcial aquarium.

Ah! There is a stingray on my head.

We visited SeaWorld for a second day on Tuesday before we headed home.  There are so many shows and exhibits at SeaWorld that you really need two days.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Martha came with us to SeaWorld this time.  Phil decided to sleep in this time at the hotel, but he joined us in the afternoon at the park.  It was exciting to see a newborn killer whale during our visit.  The calf was about 10 days old during our visit.  The baby whale was nine feet long and 350 pounds at birth; it will be a while before we find out if she is a boy or a girl.  After seeing some shows, our family visited the kids' area: Shamu's Happy Harbor while the others in our group rode some thrill rides.  Abbie and Sophie had an awesome time riding the kiddie roller coaster, the carousel, and other rides over and over again.  There were no waits for any of the kids' rides, which was wonderful.  After 1.5 hours of nonstop fun, we headed over to meet Phil, Martha, and Matt on the other side of the park.  The girls enjoyed some cotton candy compliments of Uncle Matt.  We visited one last aquarium with stingrays and tropical fish before we headed back to the hotel.  The girls were tired from three days in a row at theme parks, and they were in bed by 7:30 PM.  Phil gave us a ride to the Orlando airport the next morning and we all headed home.

Fall Vacation--The Magic Kingdom

It was a beautiful fall day at the Magic Kingdom

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Abbie was OK with getting close to Peter Pan.

Abbie loved the carousel.  She wanted to ride it again and again.

Abbie enjoyed Peter Pan's flight this year with Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt.

The whole group at Mickey's Toontown (slated for demolition next year).

Matt V. had the highest score on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin thanks to Abbie's skillfull maneuvering.  He obtained the rank of Space Ranger 1st Class.

Abbie is decked out with glow-in-the-dark stuff for the night parade.

The Main Street Electrical Parade is back at the Magic Kingdom.

In January, we participated in the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program by volunteering at a thrift store one morning.  By doing so, we received two certificates for admission to a Disney theme park for one day.  We finally used our certificates to take the family to the Magic Kingdom this past Monday.  Uncle Phil came with us, and we met Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt at the park.  We started off by riding the Dumbo ride, the carousel, and Peter Pan's flight.  We alsosaw Mickey's PhilharMagic movie before moving on to the Tomorrowland Speedway, and Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor.  Surprisingly, Sophie really wanted to ride Space Mountain with her uncles and aunt.  She survived.  Our family returned to the hotel in the afternoon for naps.  At night we returned to see Mickey and Minnie's house and we watched the Electrical Parade.  It was a fun, LONG day.  We didn't get back to our hotel until very late!

Chuck E. Cheese's

Abbie with Bob the Builder

Sophie with Uncle Phil

Sophie, Abbie, and Phil went up on the little stage where you can be silly

Abbie had a nice birthday. We didn't do anything too exciting during the day. Sophie and I made her some iced sugar cookies and she opened a gift from us. That night, we met Uncle Phil at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate and eat pizza. It was a rainy, messy night so Nana and Paw-paw didn't get to make it. Abbie loved sitting on the rides but didn't like for them to vibrate. She enjoyed the carousel and climbing through the tunnels with Sophie. Phil also introduced her to air hockey. It was sweet because Abbie couldn't quite climb up the steps to get into the tunnels. Uncle Phil encouraged Sophie to help push Abbie up each step since she wasn't quite tall enough. Sophie did that several times even though Abbie weighs a good portion of her weight. They had a blast playing in the tunnels and coming down the slide. It's not very expensive to take Abbie to Chuck E. Cheese since she doesn't care about most of the rides. =) Happy 2nd birthday, Abbie!

Disney Vacation-Day 2 (EPCOT)

Phil & Abbie in a play area

Oh no! Look out Sophie & Daddy

Nana & Abbie

Sophie & Paula

On our 2nd day of vacation, we all headed to Epcot. All of us who rode Soarin' really enjoyed it and Test Track was fun too! There were several rides that Abbie couldn't ride but she could ride a few. I thought that the Turtle Talk with Crush from Finding Nemo was really cute. Abbie enjoyed hanging out with her grandparents at times since she couldn't ride all of the rides. There was this really cool indoor play area that she loved!! Either on the first or second day of the trip I got laryngitis and had it for a few days because I caught a cold just before our trip.

I can't remember every little detail about our trip but we got to do the main things we wanted to at Epcot. Either on the first or second day of the trip I got laryngitis and had it for a few days because I caught a cold just before our trip. A lot of the things at Epcot are more for adults so we didn't do a lot of the countries, etc. After catching an afternoon nap, many from our group went to Chef Mickey's for dinner and that was a lot of fun!!

Sophie and the guys

Here's Sophie at the top of one of the tunnel slides at our local park. Paw-paw Waggoner and Uncle Phil came in to visit last week. One day, they offered to babysit Sophie while Paula ran some errands. They took Sophie to the park and had a lot of fun. That night, we all went to a restaurant called "The Queen Anne's Revenge" that had a pirate theme. It was about 45 minutes away but it was really good.

Matt, Paula & Sophie at "The Queen Anne's Revenge" with replica of a ship.

O-R-E-O

Well, Paw Paw Waggoner and Uncle Phil came in yesterday (2/19) after Mimi and Paw Paw Tom left Charleston and headed back to Virginia. Among other things, Sophie has been introduced to Double Stuf Oreos. It doesn't get much better than that! She promptly finished her "required" lunch food to eat a Double Stuf Oreos. Like most of us, she couldn't stop after one cookie either. =) Paw Paw Waggoner showed her how the cookies could also been dunked in milk but Sophie drew the line at that. Anyway, we've had a good time hanging out with Uncle Phil and Paw Paw Waggoner!