Disney - Day 6 (Magic Kingdom)

I really need to finish these Disney posts from February!!!  Luckily I took notes each night after the kids went to sleep on what we did so I'd be able to blog about it!

The sixth day of our trip (fifth day in the park) was Thursday, February 27th.  We decided to head back to Magic Kingdom on this day since they had Magic Hours.  We finally got to the gate at 8:30 am.  It took us a long time to get from the parking lot because employees said the monorail was not working and we had to use the ferry.  We just missed a ferry and as we got into line, we saw the monorail staring to take passengers.  Oh well.  And then as we were walking to the ferry, a bird totally hit me in the head as it was flying!  So random!

The boys wearing the Mickey ears they got the night before at Downtown Disney ...

We had planned to go to Adventureland first since we'd missed most of it earlier in the week but it was still closed (they don't open until normal operating hours), so we got in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and The Barnstormer.  The boys really wanted to get in "jail" with Zurg after the Buzz ride.

Adventureland had opened by this time so we headed there and rode Pirates of the Caribbean.  It had rained all afternoon the previous day and all night but luckily we only had to dodge a few showers on Thursday morning.  When we came out of the ride, it was raining so we did the Pirates ride again since there was no line.  The boys really liked the ride except for the one drop.  They are still singing, "Yo Ho Yo Ho!  It's a Pirate's Life for Me."

Next we did The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (since there was almost no line still) and Swiss Family Treehouse (which I had somehow never been in).

On our way back over to Tomorrowland, we stopped for our traditional photo in front of the castle (in the same exact spot as our two previous trips).

Next we went on another ride we'd never done before.  The line has always been super long for Astro Orbiter but we were walking by, it was only 10 minutes so we decided to try it.  It's like the Dumbo ride except it's much higher off the ground (you take an elevator up to it), much faster, and the cars also tilt inward.  Once Rylan was up the elevator he changed his mind about the ride but I forced him to do it (we only went up once, and not all the way).

Next we waited in line to meet Buzz Lightyear while both Brian and I rode Space Mountain using a rider swap pass.  Brian ended up being with the boys when they finally met Buzz and got to take the picture :)

Our next stop was Peter Pan's Flight which we had a fast pass for.  The kids really liked the ride.  Carter asked to go on it again the rest of the day but every time we checked the wait on our phones, it was 40 to 60 minutes.

Everyone was hungry so we stopped at our safe and easy lunch place in Magic Kingdom - Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe.  Then we decided to try something new that I don't think was at Magic Kingdom a few years ago - Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

The "game" is a little difficult to explain but here is a very simplified explanation.  When you begin, a cast member gives you a special map of the park and a stack of spell cards.

Then you go to a series of Magic Portals where you try to defeat a villain with your spell cards.

When you find a portal, you put you Magic Band up to a key hole to open the portal.

The screens for the portals aren't obvious - they are hidden in pictures or inside shop windows.

You have to stand on these emblems and hold a spell card up towards the portal when prompted.

There is a camera that can read your spell card.

I think we did two rounds of the game (Main Street, USA and Adventureland later in the day) but honestly, we never really got it.  There is strategy for what spell card to use but the kids just picked whatever one they liked.  I think you can hold up multiple cards sometimes and I'm not sure we were always holding up a card when we could have been.

There were some people that were REALLY into it.  They had huge binders with hundreds of spell cards and their screens did some crazy stuff unlike our simple little stories.  Those people must have season passes and come all the time.

Our next stop was Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.  Rylan begged to ride this every time we saw it though we go on the one at the zoo all the time.

Then we did Mickey's PhilharMagic, which is another 3-D show.  Rylan still hated having air blown in his face.  He's fun to watch though because he really reacts to the 3-D images and the water and air that are used to make scenes seem more real.

We took a round-trip ride on the Walt Disney World Railroad from Frontierland.

Then we headed over to the Jungle Cruise to use our fast pass.

We did our second Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and then a handful of rides (Tomorrowland PeopleMover, a fast pass for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Mad Tea Party, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant).

The boys really loved the new play area at the Dumbo ride.  It was really hard to get Rylan to leave - not having a nap was really catching up with him!

After the Dumbo ride we stubbled upon some clowns (the Giggling Gang?) setting up for a show.

Carter got some attention from the clowns a couple of time because of his Mickey ears so he ended up taking them off and didn't want to wear them anymore :)

We were all about ready to go but the boys requested to ride Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid again.  The wait was 20 minutes but they were patient!

After that we headed out.  Rylan fell asleep in the stroller as we were walking out the exit.  The monorail wasn't running so we took the ferry to the parking lot, which Carter was a little disappointed about.  We got to the car around 5:45 pm and Carter fell asleep right away.  Since both boys were out, we picked up Chipolte to go and took it back to the hotel.  We spent the rest of the evening watching cartoons and relaxing.  We fit so much into our day that we were done by then!

Recent Pictures

I have lots and lots of random pictures from the last few weeks ...

Rylan got his full bed back on May 19th.  He and Carter had fun trying it out after I got sheets and a quilt on it.

I've still been using the pool noodles to prevent Rylan from rolling out.  Unfortunately they failed twice.  But I have since put only one pillow in his bed (in the middle) and, so far, no more falls.

We went to Chick-fil-A for Kids Night a few weeks ago.  I think the Minion that Rylan got is my favorite balloon from the Balloon Guy so far.

Carter got a pretty cool dragon.

We met Missy and her kids at the downtown library storytime.  Rylan loved the sunglasses he got from his teachers the day before on the last day of school.  He wore them all day (until they broke).

We found Charlotte in an interesting sleeping spot ...

About a week and a half ago we went the splash ground at Cumberland Park for the first time this summer.  It was still fun!!!

We went back two days later with Brian and that is where Rylan got his black eye (the bruise is much smaller finally but it'll still be a few days until it's completely gone).

Last Monday we went to a playdate for Carter's class at Lyla's house.  Lyla was sick on the last day of school and missed "Water Day" so we recreated it for her in her backyard.

Last week was the first week of a lot of our traditional summer activities.  We went to the first summer program at the Brentwood Library on Tuesday.  We got to see Professor Greybeard do some science experiments for us.  One of the last experiments required a balloon.  Professor Greybeard handed them out to the kids that were there early and we had to hold on to them.

Carter got to help with one experiment when the Van de Graff generator wasn't making anyone's hair stand up.  Carter got to send metal tins flying instead. (Professor Greybeard was the second person to nickname Carter "Red" in as many weeks - his swim lessons instructor also called him that.  Surprisingly, Carter had never been called that before even though everyone comments on his hair!)

I think everyone's favorite experiment was sending smoke rings across the room.

On Thursday I took the kids to the first summer movie at the Cool Springs theater - Epic.

We used to go to a lot of these 2 years ago.  We never made it to one last year because they overlapped with the boys' gardening class (which was moved to Tuesdays this year).  The price has doubled, but it's still a pretty good deal.  It costs $4 per person and that includes admission, a small popcorn, a small drink, and a fruit snack.

The theater was much less crowded than it was two years back.  We got there only 5 minutes before 10 am and the lines were not bad at all.  It still took 15 minutes because we picked a horribly slow line but it worked out perfect because another theater opened at 10:15 am.  Plus, this year, there weren't any previews - woohoo!  We used to get to the theater 45 minutes early just so we didn't have to stand in line for an hour and then all our popcorn was eaten before the movie even started.  I hope we can continue to have this work out so well the rest of the summer!

On Thursday afternoon we went to the Franklin library for a summer program.  They had Terry Hedges, a magician, performing.  He kept the kids entertained the whole time.  It was so insanely crowded though that I didn't get to actually sit with the boys!

Before the performance we had stopped in the children's library and turned in the boys' summer reading logs that'd already completed.  They each got to pick out a book and also got water bottles and coupons.

Super early on Thursday morning, Carter had woken up complaining that his ear hurt.  I wasn't sure if he might have an ear infection or swimmer's ear.  I assumed the latter because we'd been swimming a lot lately and I had finally just bought drops the day before.  He (and I) eventually got back to sleep.  He didn't complain about it again that day but on Thursday night, Carter was not himself at all.  He fell asleep at dinner (we were at a restaurant!) and had a fever of 100F when we got home.

So on Friday morning I made an appointment to see our new pediatrician.  I had just requested our records to be transferred on Monday.  Our old pediatrician was fine but I never really connected to her.  Especially with a new baby on the way, I wanted to find someone I love.  So we are seeing the pediatrician my friend Ashley uses.  And I was not disappointed!  He seemed great!  He has 3 young boys of his own and seemed to be really involved with them so had a realistic approach and expectations (something our last pediatrician lacked because she doesn't have kids of her own).  Our new pediatrician reminded me more of the one we used in Knoxville who had 5 kids of his own and we loved.

Anyway, Carter was diagnosed with a double ear infection - poor guy!  He had a cough for a couple of weeks that he caught from Rylan (both are still coughing some) that must have led to the infection.

How did I not know until recently that Publix has FREE medications for common prescriptions like antibiotics!!!

Friday was National Doughnut Day.  So after Carter's doctor's appointment we stopped at Krispy Kreme for our one free doughnut each.

The powdered sugar doughnuts sure are messy!

Brian's birthday was also on Friday so he joined us midway through our doughnuts.  We weren't going to see him that evening because I was taking the boys to a birthday party at the zoo so the doughnuts were our little celebration.

We did however make Brian cupcakes that afternoon and left them out for him to find when he got home from work!

Carter drew this picture this weekend.  Apparently kids still draw houses like I did when I was young - however, they are now 3 stories tall instead of 2!

The boys and I met Jen with Chase and Sutton at the Adventure Science Center today (we had planned on swimming with them but the weather did not cooperate!!!).  We had fun checking out the Robots + Us temporary exhibit.  One exhibit was a computer that recognized faces and there were some props to try out to see if it could still find a face.

It was apparently Mohawk Monday at bathtime tonight :)

Doing the Worm Wiggle

Tuesday's class at the garden was about earth worms.  The kids learned about why they are so good for the soil.  They also worked on putting together the worm hotel.  I'm not 100% sure why they have it but it does produce "worm tea" which is a great fertilizer!

The kids tore up leaves to add to the worm hotel as food for the worms.

Here is that worm hotel (and Ms. Lisa) ...

The kids also got to take home a couple of worms.  Notice Rylan is picking one up and not squirmish at all!

Rylan is searching for another one in Ms. Lisa's hand ...

Carter's turn ...

Worms!!!

When we finally got home (about 6 hours later!) we put the worms in the cosmos the boys have been growing from seeds from the gardening class.  We really need to plant these poop pots in the yard before they start disintegrating but they are still in our screen porch.

Carter's:

Rylan's: