Cocoa Beach! This is the beach where our family always went when we lived in Orlando. It is a little more than an hour from the UCF area and on the Atlantic Ocean.
Taylor came with us, too, yay! She and Daniel were united in their love of the sand and their dislike of the water.
Will wanted to make sure I was documented, too.
Will, rocking the anti-skin-cancer floppy hat.
Taylor and Daniel had a ton of fun playing in a giant hole with another (unnamed) boy.
Annika spent much of her time "surfing" on her boogie board.
Annika and Will out surfing together.
Annika had so much fun on the boogie board that she inspired Daniel to try as well. Huge deal for Daniel, and he loved it.
Taylor had Will carry her around in the water and really enjoyed that. I had fun wading out as well and jumping over the waves, too.
By the end of the day, our two non-water lovers were loving the water. Success!
We celebrated a successful beach day with a stop at a Twistee Treat.
Back home at the Hills, the four kids had a blast playing around in the pool together.
Wednesday evening, we had dinner at my dear friend Anna's house. We met in August 2005 when we were beginning our PhD program together and each had a 1-year-old...the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Anna's husband, Ilan, made us a delicious homemade Mediterranean meal.
After-dinner walk with the five kids together, complete with lots of scooter action.
The five kids!! Kareen, Annika, Maya, Daniel, and Noah. Crazy to see how huge everyone has gotten and how sweet they all are together (Daniel was in a good mood when I wasn't taking pictures.)
Me and Anna. What a wonderful profession that we can be co-authors together as well as dearest of dear friends!
Will and I.
The whole family. Thanks for the wonderful evening, Anna!
Yesterday, we had a very magical day at....Walt Disney World!! When we lived in Florida, we had season passes for Sea World (until the last year) since it was ridiculously cheap for Florida residents, so Annika's first choice probably would have been to go back there. Daniel did not remember anything. But I really wanted to go to Magic Kingdom, and am so glad we came.
We took the ferry boat over to the main Magic Kingdom part since the monorail was broken at the moment.
Ready for a Magical Day!! Daniel really was in a great mood all day - he just really, really hates posing for pictures.
First ride - Pirates of the Caribbean! My first time on the ride. We were able to get three fast passes to rides in the morning (including Pirates), and then were able to add additional ones one at a time at Fast Pass Kiosks around the park. Some were already unavailable for the day when we planned our itinerary the day before (like the new Snow White roller coaster), but we were able to see everything we wanted to with generally minimal waiting.
Next up - the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride! The front people make the car go up and down, and the back can cause the car to lean from side to side.
The Swiss Family Treehouse, a fun exhibit that you can walk and climb through.
Tea Cups, aka, the Mad Tea Party.
Evidence that Daniel can smile when he does not realize the camera is on him.
Buzz Lightyear ride! This was one of Daniel's favorites. You ride through in groups of two and get to shoot a gun at different targets throughout.
The best part of yesterday was getting to meet up with our awesome friends, the Pooles. Hannah and Annika were in kindergarten and Daisy Scouts together and have not seen each other since our visit in 2010, but picked up like it was yesterday. They are getting ready to move to Pittsburgh, so we are super happy we were able to all meet up together for one last adventure!
The Carousel of Progress! This was a piece of pro-GE propaganda at the 1964 World's Fair, and of course was one of the top favorite rides of our kids.
Lunchtime. Hannah's sisters Becca and Alyssa are super cute.
Dumbo Ride! They have completely redone this ride and it is much more family-friendly....not only are there now two identical Dumbo rides side by side, they now have an indoor play/wait area where you are given a pager and then play indoors while you wait. Our kids were having so much playing that they wished the ride wait would have taken longer.
Dumbo!
Princesses. It was about a 40-45 minute wait to meet the princesses without a fast-pass...but about 90 minutes if you wanted to meet Elsa or Anna from Frozen. Our kids are no interested in princesses, at least not in terms of meeting them, so we were able to skip this one.
The Carousel!
We were all pretty hot and sweaty by this point in the afternoon, so ducked in to Gaston's Inn for some beverages. Daniel was so anti-pictures at this point that he ducked under the table.
The Ariel Little Mermaid ride! This is a new ride since we have lived here and is very sweet - traveling in a large clam shell and viewing different re-enactments of the Little Mermaid movie.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Will and Annika loved this right, while Daniel and I both pronounced it "terrifying."
The moms and kids!! So happy that Cyndi and her girls could meet us for part of the day and that we all were able to pick up like it was yesterday. Best of luck in Pittsburgh!!
Buzz Lightyear ride, again, per Daniel's request.
Stitch's Great Escape - first time I have done this ride.
This was a photo inside the Stitch ride - right after I took this picture, they had a huge announcement about not taking pictures. Oops!
The Jungle Cruise! This ride is corny and cheesy but really fun.
Tom Sawyer's Island! This was Daniel's very favorite part of the whole park, and was Annika's favorite when she was his age (I think it might have been tonight as well if she had not been hot and tired at this point). You take a boat out to an island, and it is full of all kinds of places to explore - bridges, an old fort, a playground, caves, windmills, hide-outs in the woods, and all the adventures that children would want. We could have stayed here for hours.
Going across the suspension bridge. Daniel was so happy that he even wanted to take a picture here.
Approaching the fort. We had to leave the island at dusk, unfortunately, but if we come back to the park, Daniel will want to do this first thing.
The Winnie the Pooh ride!
You ride around in a giant Hunny Pot and see different scenes from the Pooh movies.
Philhar Magic show! This is a really cute 4-D show.
3-D glasses.
We rode the Small World ride again at my request, and came out to a very magical sight...the 10pm fireworks! If we had planned better, we could have stationed ourselves to watch them over Cinderella's Castle, but the kids were much more excited by rides.
The Haunted Mansion. This ride is a little creepy but not at all scary. Daniel was creeped out by the initial room and wanted to leave, but stuck with it and it ended up being his second-favorite ride. Great job, buddy!
Peter Pan ride! There were no fast passes available for this and waits were generally over an hour, but by 10:30 p.m., we could almost hop right on. This is fun in that instead of riding around on a track, the ships are connected on the top and it feels like you are floating through the world of Peter Pan.
We finished after 11 p.m. when the park was officially shut down (aka, all rides and stores were closed, but there were still a lot of people on the streets). The castle looked magical.
Evening Parade! This started at 11 p.m. and we were able to see it as we walked down through Main Street and out of the park.
Very cool lights on all of the floats and characters with a fun, catchy song.
Magic Kingdom is over-priced, crowded, and cheesy, but there is really nothing like it. I really do love the park. A truly magical day!!
