Hollywood! Da-dada-dada-dada Hollywood!

The day at Hollywood Studios started off really beautiful. We folllowed all of our advice, directions, and orders and sent the guys straight to Toy Story Mania for fast passes. Well worth it!! We had so much fun. All 6 of us got to ride, and guess who was high scorer? Yup, ME! LOL. Well, later on I found out everyone was helping the child that they were riding with, but not me. No siree, Graycen, you are on your own! I had 115,900 points. Graycen scored a respectable 10,900 all by herself.

We got autographs from Mickey, Bolt and Mittens (from the new movie Bolt), Prince Caspian, and Buzz and Woody. We also got pictures with Lightning McQueen and Mater and Mike and Sully. Oh, we also saw the Block Party Parade. Jadon's highlight was of course, Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. He rode Star Tours twice in a row! We saw stunt shows, but the best show by far was Fantasmic. The only damper was that it was sooooo freezing COLD!! Fantasmic was amazing, but the crowds favorite part was when the dragon lights the whole lake in front of us on

fire! LOL. We were sticking up our hands to warm them. It was spectacular though.

Nothing happened worth sending to Funniest Home Videos. To be honest, we are exhausted, but everyone seems to be hanging in there pretty well. Jadon was funny when the High School Musical 3 show got to rockin' and he just couldn't stand it any more. The funniest part is that he is oblivious! He can kinda move too! LOL. Graycen has done great with the characters, and by the time we got to Buzz and Woody, she was hugging and kissing them both! I was trying SO hard to get it on film and my camera had had it. Out of batteries. I am loving the Photopass people, but this girl wasn't very attentive, and was waiting for the group shot. I want to kick myself for not charging the batteries overnight, but I forgot and had to settle for just while we were dressing. Not quite enough juice. Won't make that mistake again!

Talk later...tomorrow is Magic!

Do you Sea what I sea?

Oh my goodness. I really am having a hard time remembering what happened yesterday, but let's see what I can do! We did not have internet service last night, so I wasn't able to update. We went to Sea World, and it was a beautiful day.

The highlight of the day was the Shamu show. Why? Because my baby was the star! LOL! Breana was chosen as we were walking in to be the audience helper! They took her backstage to make sure she would answer the trainer's questions and she new where she lived. About 1/2 way through the show they came a got her and took her to a box at the edge of the pool where she got a whale tail necklace, told them she wanted to be a cook when she grew up, FED SHAMU, and watched the rest of the show from the box!! I understand that her mom was more excited than she was - she was pretty nervous - but I was beside myself!

We saw every animal at the park - literally! The only thing we missed was petting a dolphin. We had to put it off when we went by because they were being fed and they wouldn't come to our side of the pool while the fish were at the other end. We decided we'd come back, and it just took too long to get back over there. Tentatively, we have a plan to go back Sat. morning just to pet the dolphins.

Well, after we missed the dolphins (and I knew we were chancing it to get back), I sprung for sea lion food. Two trays. Six fish. Eight dollars. You have never in your life seen so much activity! First of all, I have to tell you that there are predatory pelicans and other birds watching for unsuspecting sea lion feeders. Well, Jadon is just the feeder they were looking for! One of the pelicans as big as he is started coming toward him for his fish. He started screaming like a girl, like a wolf had treed him! He throws his fish and we start yelling for him to stop and be quiet!! He is freaking out. Graycen starts screaming. Caitlyn starts chasing the bird. It is mass pandamonium. Finally, we all calmed down and got out of there. At the time, Jason and I wanted to kill Jadon because of the screaming. It makes my adrenaline go through the roof and I feel like my eyeballs are going to explode. Finally, I asked Graycen what her problem was and she says, "That fish hit my leg." Okay, I hope this is comical for you. At the time I was not amused, but we have been laughing about it and reliving it for 2 days. Sometimes to the point of tears. I wish I had had my wits about me to take some video. We could stay at disney for a whole nother month with the money we could win!!

I know I'll remember more details, but this is all you get at 11 p.m. the next night! Our souveniers included bamboo wind chimes and an animal toob for Breana, a big Shamu for Caitlyn, a sting ray for Jadon, and a musical baby "shampu" whale for Graycen. The day and park were beautiful. We'd do it again, birds and all, in a heartbeat!!

Graycen and Isabel at the "Polar Express"

talk later...

Disney World Here We Come!

I am so tired. I mean tired. Really. So tired. It's my own fault, but we are having a great time!

Yesterday, after all day in the car we found our house we are staying in unloaded the vans and went straight to the magic kingdom! We got there in time to see the Spectromagic Parade and watch the fireworks. I got so excited when I saw the castle! I didn't realize how excited I would be! I started squealing and squeaking at the kids. They just looked at me like, "Well, ye-ah! (Read, "duh.")" They were actually really excited too. We started our photopass card with a shot in front of the castle but I think that really you will just see the setting that surrounded us which was CHRISTMAS! They have already begun the Christmas decorations, so that has added a little magic too!

It will take me a while to get a bunch of pics ready, so I'll just post a few.

We got in late last night, but we were all having fun - well Jadon was ready to melt down, but sometimes we just can't count the 5 year old boy.

This morning started early, and we headed for Animal Kingdom. While the dads got fast passes for the safari ride - the name escapes me right now - we went to the information place to get our first time visitor buttons and a birthday button for Jacob (he'll be 8 next week). We all sang Happy Birthday and the cast member had some fun with him. We loved the safari ride, except for Breana who said the radio guy's voice was freaky and she already has this weird fear of bridges so when we had to "go over" one that was falling apart, she got a little tense! LOL. It was really funny. We DID Animal Kingdom! We were right to assume that our crowd could spend all day there, and probably could have spent more, but we were fortunate it closed at 6 because everyone, deep down, was ready. The hightlights of the day were: autographs from Lilo & Stitch, Terk, and Donald Duck; the girls riding their first roller coaster - the mount Everest one - it even got to me a little, so we were proud; seeing the tigers and gorillas, the It's tough to be a bug show, which, thanks to Graycen I only saw 1/2 of! LOL; the Finding Nemo musical show and the Festival of the Lion King. Our souvenirs for the day were pressed pennies which was very cheap of us, but we want them to weigh their decisions. They have been really content and we've stayed out of gift shops.

At the end of the day these were the favorites. Breana: Mt Everest Expedition ride and the Finding Nemo show.

Caitlyn: It's tough to be a bug show! Jadon: It's tough to be a bug show and when we left the Festival of the Lion King, Jadon said, "That was a great show!" He is so cute

Graycen: "Seeing Donald Duck." If the girl ever acts shy, you know she is lying.

That's all for now, I have got to sleep! Tomorrow we are off to Sea World, and maybe a little Epcot. We've discovered we got 7 days of DW park tickets and not 6! Sea World closes at 6, so if we can stand it we may go to Epcot to check out the luminations show. I'll be checking in soon!