So, I'll admit it. I'm in denial. There is no way that tomorrow is our last full day at Disney. I don't want it to be true. If tomorrow comes and it is in fact our last day, then that means that tomorrow, Jena Grace will be 10. If Jena Grace is 10, that means that only ONE of my children has a single digit age. If I only have 1 single digit aged child, that means I'm old and their childhoods really are almost over. And if their childhoods' are really almost over, I really really really really need this vacation to last. I realized ya'll are a little behind our trip. Saturday, the 7th was a fabulously wonderful lazy day. We slept in and then headed to the waterpark. You can find my commentary on that adventure on facebook. Rach and Ru got to spend the night at Magic Kingdom with Toby Mac, Francesca Battistelli, Plumb, Newsboys and Mandisa! I was jealous but so glad they had a great time. The rest of us spent the evening at Epcot and the Illumination Fireworks show. Again, this update is pointing out to me how big they are all getting. I mean, Rach had a Cinderella party when she was 3 and now she is roaming the Cinderella Castle grounds by herself. Ruth had a Lilo and Stitch party when she was 4 and now she is taller than the Stitch character! How did this happen? Sunday was a Jason and Jana day, that we let the kids tag along on. We took them all to their first NFL game, if you can call it that, because the Jaguars didn't seem to know they had one. The poor Jaguars had a horrible opening day, in a beautiful stadium, where we only saw them get 2 first downs. 2! First Downs! It was dismal, but the stadium workers were super sweet and helpful, the mascot entrance was amazing as he bungy jumped from the the top of the stadium all the way to the center of the field, and the fans were hilarious chanting Tebow 30 minutes into the game. We then made a quick side trip to Jacksonville Beach which is clean, beautiful and the water is perfectly clear. The kids stepped into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Unanimously, they decided to talk us into Cracker Barrel for dinner, completing another wonderful day in Florida. Which brings us to today. Today, was a very early start and seems that it will be a very late finish. We started the day at Ohana's for breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. It was yummy, fun and we had a beautiful view of the water and Cinderella's Castle. We headed straight to Animal Kingdom where we spent the whole day. They have the coolest atmosphere with all natural surroundings and amazing ride experiences. We had walked 4.5 miles by noon, as well as traveled back in time to rescue a dinosaur-twice, visited Mt. Everest to see the Yeti 3 times for the 3 bigs and twice for Jason and I, and miracle of miracles, we got Jena and Isaiah on it too! Isaiah was kicking himself for not riding it all three times because it was AWESOME! Funny, Isaiah aside. He was working on a Wilderness Explorer Badge and a cast member who was teaching them about animal sounds asked him what he thought the frog was trying to tell them with their sound if they could speak English. I promise you, I can not make this stuff up. He told her the frog was saying, "I hate you"! WHAT????? Where does he come up with these things???? A major highlight to our day, speaking of Wilderness Explorers was when we got to meet Russell and Dug, from UP. They are a huge favorite in our family and if any of you have heard the story of why Isaiah calls Rachael, "Master" you know why. So we were visiting with Russell and I asked the cast member what time we could meet Dug. He told me maybe later in the day but we weren't sure when he would be able to appear if at all. No problem, we said we'd check back. Literally about 2 minutes later, we walk back past Russell and Dug is there with him! YEA! So we hop back in line to meet Dug. We were last in line and they put the rope up to close off the line. Then a new cast member asks if we will get out of line and come with her. We follow her off to the side where she tells us that she heard we had already met Russell and were really interested in meeting Dug. She told us if it was okay with us, she'd like to take us to a special meet and greet with him because he was going to be leaving and we wouldn't get to see him otherwise. So 2 minutes later we had a special one on one session with Dug where he hugged us and signed autographs and took a special picture with just Rachael and Isaiah. Definitely going to frame that one! The star treatment didn't stop there for us as Ki was selected to be the Lion representative of our section in the Lion King show! He did a great job and it is an AMAZING SHOW! I love the Lion King as many of you know and it was a great time.I even got to have my picture taken with Rafiki. Yes, I was totally acting like Buddy the Elf when he met Santa. Don't judge. It was even better when all the kids sans Ruth (sorry, Ruth) were selected to be in the big finale of the Lion King. Now the 3 littles were selected for their adorable selves. Rachael was begged, and I mean begged with pouty lips and pleading eyes to please please please join the Leopard in the parade for her "perfect smile". When the little boy behind us asked his Dad why he didn't get picked to go up and be in the show, the Dad nailed it when he answered," Because that Leopard is flirting with that girl". Needless to say, they all did a great job and Rachael added a wink from a guy in a warthog costume to her day, so hey, at least she has options. Just in case that wasn't enough, don't let me fail to mention, I too was selected to be in the African street party. Dancing. Badly. Yea. Okay, enough about that. So, while I normally sign off that I'm heading to bed. Not tonight. Tonight we're going to ring in Jena Grace's 10th birthday at midnight. At Hollywood Studios. Yes, we're crazy. We're heading out to another park. Of course, Jason, Rachael, Ki and Isaiah have to get home from their Starbucks in Epcot excursion first. Like I said, it's almost our last day and I have to savor every second of it.
Thanks for traveling along with us!
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