The rest of the trip.......

We arrived home this morning at 5am after the 18 hour drive home!! Needless to say today was spent napping, getting settled back home and going through mail and phone calls. Sorry to have gotten so far behind on the blogging but hopefully as I review our last several days my lack of time for posting will be explained.

So, back to the trip.......

Wednesday was spent at Universal Studios. We slept in a little after our late night at the Halloween party. Once again the crowds were minimal and the weather great. Until that is we all went inside for the Shrek 4D show. When we came back outside it was raining hard, and there sat our stroller (along with everyone else's) in the middle of the downpour. In true Florida weather fashion it rained really hard for about 15 minutes and then was gone and not a cloud left in the sky. We dried everything up best we could and headed on our merry way. Avery was very excited because not only did we see several shows and take her on several rides but we also visited the Kid Zone play area and we saw the Barney and Friends show. Even though she was still not interested in getting pictures with characters she stood in my lap and clapped and danced along with Barney, BJ, and Baby Bop just like she does at home. Now on to the pictures of the day:

Remember the old Dr Seuss books referring to "Thing 1" and "Thing 2"? We found shirts that included a Thing 3 and thought they were perfect for our little family.
Here we are modeling them in front of the Universal Globe.

The first ride we rode was the new Simpsons Ride. This used to be the Back to the Future ride for those of you who have visited this park. We did not particularly enjoy the Back to the Future ride because we thought it was a little jerky and made us feel a little queasy. We decided we had to give the new ride a chance but alas it was the same feeling as the old one just with newer graphics.
Sandra was not very impressed with his ride either. Here she is expressing here feelings!!

Avery entering the Kid's Zone!! Check out the smile on her face.

After our full day at Universal Studios one little girl was totally worn out. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and Avery slept through 90% of it.
Our totally pooped Thing 3!!

Riding the moving sidewalk back to our car giving you a better shot of the Thing shirts.

Thursday was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Once again we opened the park but actually left about an hour prior to closing. See I am not a theme park commando after all :)

Our first picture of the day in front of the park center: The Mickey Hat!!

Every morning Avery watches the playhouse Disney shows: Handy Manny, My friends Tigger and Pooh, Little Einsteins, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We made it a priority to see this stage show while at Hollywood Studios. Avery was totally in awe of the characters on the stage and danced and clapped right along with them. Paul and I had more fun watching her reactions than anything else.

Getting read to see the Playhouse Disney Live show!!

We also took the Backlot Tour and got up close and personal to the famous Mickey Mouse water tower.
We would love to have one of these in our backyard!

There is a new stunt show that we really enjoyed. We learned how some of the action shots are filmed
One of the scenes from the stunt show.

One of the things that Avery totally does not like is hats or things on her head. We have to kind of sneak her bows in and they are safe only until she discovers them then they are immediately ripped out. Needless to say she was not very impressed when we tried to put a mini tiara on her at one of the stores.
Does this look like the face of a happy Disney princess??

Friday was to be the day that we finally spent the majority of time at the Magic Kingdom riding the rides you always see in commercials. The stuff Disney dreams are made of.....we wound up having a slight change of plans. We did arrive at the park at opening and rode the ferry over to the gates.

Of course we had to get another obligatory shot in front of Cinderella's Castle!!

First stop: the tea cups!! Don't worry we didn't spin Avery around. We were lucky enough to see The Mad Hatter and Alice while we were waiting for our turn to ride. They were even riding in their own teacup while we took our little spin.
You can see the excitement on her face!!

After riding with mommy and daddy she also took a turn riding with Mimi and Poppy

As usual the Dumbo ride had the longest line in Fantasyland. Avery and I waited for a long time to ride those famous elephants, but it is definitely a Walt Disney World must do!!
About half way through the wait she fell asleep and I wound up carrying her until our turn came.

Finally in our elephant!! She loved controlling if we went up or down.

Next it was over to Cinderella's Carousel. She is definitely a carousel loving girl.
Waving to all her fans!!

After riding Winnie the Pooh and Snow White and seeing Mickey's Phillharmonic Show we made our way over to the "It's a Small World" ride.

Don't you love the way they have the same expression while waiting for the ride?

Mommy and Avery on the ride. This doesn't at all look like the face of a sick little girl.

After riding the small world ride we decided to get some lunch. Avery fell asleep in her stroller and appeared to be resting very peacefully. After all the grown-ups had finished lunch she woke up, looked at us, coughed, and started vomiting!! Avery has never done this before!! When I took her out of the stroller she felt like she was burning up. As I was cleaning her up and consoling her she vomited 3 more times all over herself and me right there in the Magic Kingdom!! Welcome to motherhood Robyn!!! One moment you are enjoying your dream of having your child in the happiest place on earth, the next you are sitting there soaked in vomit consoling your sick little girl. We immediately left the park and returned to our condo for some clean up and medicine (you know us nurse's are always prepared). After another nap, some Motrin, and a little crackers and sprite Avery appeared to feel much better. We weren't really sure if she was getting sick or maybe just go too hot so we took it easy for the rest of the day.

Saturday morning we awoke and tried our day at Magic Kingdom again. Since we had hit most of the rides in Fantasyland the previous day we decided to focus on everything else. After one little episode that morning Avery appeared to feel fine the rest of the day. She didn't run anymore temperature and was her normal happy go lucky self.

She did however still have her fear of the characters only now it included the princesses whose face she could see. Oh well, the pictures will be something for her to laugh at in the future!

Riding Aladdin's Magic Carpet

Sandra and I enjoying our Dole Whips. We love these concoctions of pineapple soft serve and pineapple juice!

Checking out the sewing machine in Minnie's house!

Still in Minnie's house but now in her garden room!

On our way out of the park we stopped by City Hall and picked up Avery's official "1st Visit" button.

Showing off her button. She would rather play with it than wear it!

Showing her excitement when asked how she like her first visit to Walt Disney World!!

So that about wraps up our trip! It was a great time and now I have the daunting task of editing the 1200 pictures that I took during our vacation. Aren't you glad I only showed you a small sample?

Thanks for following us and enjoying the trip along with us.

Happy Monday!!!