Disney - Wednesday, Feb. 21 (Day 4)

This is how our day started. I'm not kidding. We woked to find Son #2 like this - sound asleep. How goofy is that?? Fortunately he doesn't do this at home: he sleeps in the top bunk.



We all got ready and then took the bus to....


Epcot! It was pretty nice, but the least favorite of the theme parks we visited all week. I was a little disappointed because I expected to enjoy it more than I did. It was fine, worth seeing, but just not as much fun as the others (in my opinion).

Dear Hubby and the older two boys rode Mission Space while Son #3 and I visited The Seas with Nemo & Friends (part ride/part movie). Below is a photo of Son #1, Son #2 and Son #3 in front of Nemo and Friends ("Finding Nemo" is a favorite movie in our house). Son #2 is holding an astronaut Mickey. Sons #1 and #3 selected Jedi Mickey from the MGM park on Monday.

Just beyond the area in the above photo is the Nemo attraction (part ride/part movie), a fish themed gift shop and a 5 million+ gallon two-story aquarium. There was also this shark learning center. Below is a photo of the boys with Bruce (also from "Finding Nemo") Repeat after me, Bruce, kids are friends, not food!

We ate lunch at the Coral Reef restaurant, which was really neat because every table had a great view of the aquarium I mentioned above. Fish, a squid, a giant sea turtle, sting rays, sharks would swim past while you were enjoying your meal. I hope they didn't recognize me eating Uncle Bob (it was Ash Wednesday and, as Catholic,s we avoid meat that day as well as on Fridays during Lent). Occasionally a scuba diver would swim by and wave. This was our favorite restaurant that we visited, both in terms of food and ambience.

After lunch, we visited ImageWorks, sponsored by Kodak. There's a booth there where you can take your photo, add special effects if you choose, and email it to someone. Here's Son #1 after morphing his photo with that of a chimpanzee :

We used our Fast Passes to get advanced tickets to Soarin'. While in line, we chatted with a nice family from upstate New York, who happened own vacation homes in Vermont and Clearwater, Florida - must be nice! Soarin' was interesting. You're seated in three rows in front of this giant movie screen. Just before the start of the movie, each row of seats rises. We were in the front row, which mean we rose to the top. The second row became the middle row and the third row became the lowest row. (I don't remember whether there was a 4th row.) All I know is that I'm strapped into this seat with my feet dangling I'd guess at least 2 to 3 stories high. Did I mention that I hate heights? The movie projected on to the giant screen was cool - all heights as the title implied (first you're ballooning over Napa, then hang gliding, then flying over a golf course, then skiing in the mountains, etc.). I was okay with all that. What I had problems with was the feeling that I was dangling way up there and the seat belt didn't feel very tight. Dear Hubby and the kids loved it. Me, not so, but I didn't admit that.

We browsed around the international section a bit, but were getting kind of tired, so we went back to the hotel. The weather had warmed enough to play in the pool. Here's a shot of Dear Hubby and Son #2.

And here's one of Son #3 playing in the kiddie pool. Don't let the leaves in the water fool you. They really keep things clean at Disney. However, there was this other kid, around 3 years old, that dumped a whole bunch of leaves in the kiddie pool.

We had a quick dinner at our hotel restaurant and called it a day.

Today...

Another one bites the dust. That's the song that's running through my mind as Dear Hubby is ill with the same stomach bug that's plagued every member of our family, except me (knock wood). He stayed home from work and looked after Son #3 while I went grocery shopping (ha! Given Dear Hubby's condition, I'm certain Son #3 had free reign). It's interesting how productive grocery shopping can be without a 5 year old. Son #3, by the way, seems to be feeling better today. Perhaps he's on the mend, although we had our share of false alarms there.