Disneyworld 2015 Part 1

Yep, we did it again!  We met our Mackrory family in Orlando in January.  We had such a fun ten days with them, then a few more with just the two of us.  The next four posts are about that:

We all got there on Friday and set up in our condo.  

Saturday:  Animal Kingdom

Quote of the Day:  From Jacob "Grandma, I love being with you."

Jungle Safari:

"Look, Grandma!" said Nathan, "There's a huge termite mound!"  "How did you know that's what it is?"  "I read it in a book."  Smart kid.

After the Mackrory's went on Kali Rapids, we went to this bird show.  It was so good.

Nathan was sopping wet, so he's wearing my "tarp."  That thing comes in handy.

Who knew you could train a crane?

Bald Eagle

Scarlet Macaw and Great-horned owl.  All of the birds were trained and did tricks.  

Mount Everest ride

Those too short to ride Mount Everest got ice cream Dibs instead.

Some of the riders were a little sad they were gone when they got back.  I think this picture tells a thousand words.

That's our grandkids!

Waiting for the Finding Nemo show.

I am fascinated with the many creative ways Disney presents shows.  In Finding Nemo, the actors hold their character on a long stick and act out the show.  It is so well done.  

This little girl- Audrey- was so good all week in her stroller.  She has stolen my heart.  

Waiting for the Lion King show.  This is an amazing show.

Just like last time we were there three years ago, our kids: Brielle, Nathan, and Jacob were chosen to be part of the show.  It pays to be cute, I guess!

They did a great job!

Dinner after at Texas Roadhouse.

Sunday: Church and Prepare for the Week

Hanging at the condo

Addie demonstrated her fabulous walking skills.  After this post, I'll post a video of her walking.

That afternoon, we took a nice, long nap and made lots of preparations for the week.  We cut up lots of stuff for our lunch salads for the week and made chicken roll-ups to eat cold for lunches.

Monday: Magic Kingdom

Four-year-old Jacob loved the Buzz Lightyear ride.  He wasn't interested in shooting the lazars.  He liked driving the car and spinning it back and forth, back and forth. He wanted to do it over and over.  "Grandma, let's go again!!!"  Okay, maybe after I throw up.  

Ken and Nathan

Jared and Jacob

Kristen and Brielle

I was Addie's partner in the cheering section.

Brielle's favorite part of all of Disneyland was participating in the Enchanted Tales of Belle.  The story of Beauty and the Beast is told and children from the audience participate by acting out the other parts in the story. All of the kids participated, but budding actress, Brielle LOVED it!  She went back three or four times.

Most of us agreed that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is the best ride.  I can't even tell you how many times Brielle and Nathan rode this one over the two days they went to Magic Kingdom.  

Tuesday: Kennedy Space Center and Rocket Launch

Yes, you read that right.  We got to see a rocket launch on Tuesday evening, but I'll get to that in a minute.

We took a bus tour of the Kennedy space center.

This is the largest American flag in the world.  

How I love this precious girl.

That evening we got to view a rocket launch- the Atlas V satellite was sent by the Navy for communications.  It was AAAAHHHHMAZING!!!!!!

My camera just didn't have enough juice for me to video it.  But I found it on youtube, so you can watch it. I'll post it after this post.  It was just glorious how the whole sky lit up and then off it went.  It was probably my favorite part of the whole trip.  I loved it!  Who would have ever thought I'd get to see a launch in person???

The trajectory was not straight up as I imagined it would be.  

It made for a late night getting home as the traffic getting out of there after the launch was very backed up and slow, as you can imagine with all those people.  But it was so worth it!  I'll post those two videos and then Part 2 of this trip: