Disney-Epcot-World Showcase

I absolutely love the World Showcase at Epcot. I wish we would have had more time to spend there. Next time we go, I will make that a priority (and yes, there will be a next time).

Each country has what is called a "KidCot" table. There you can get a "die-cut" that represents that country. I wanted to make sure to get all of them--not so much for the kids--more so for me and whenever I get to scrapbook all this stuff. The kids also got their names written in Chinese and Japanese and we found out that C was born in "the year of the horse" and K "the year of the dog" (appropriate).

Each country has a restaurant and some kind of an attraction. I think we only did one attraction: in Norway we rode the Maelstrom which in an indoor boat ride. Once again--like all week--we were able to walk right in without a wait. Thankfully, K girl was able to ride this. We did watch the American Adventure in the United States Pavilion. It is a show of American history narrated by Mark Twain and Ben Franklin. It's done very well, but packs all of American history into 29 minutes. The show is a combination of action on stage by wax figures and motion-pictures on a huge screen. K slept through the whole thing; C asked questions through the whole thing.

Here are some pictures of each country and what "die-cut" came from each (more for my memory than your interest) Once again Blogger is being ornery; the pictures are in backwards order from what we walked around and saw.


Canada

We didn't spend much time in Canada. It was the end of the day; we were tired; and we wanted to get out of Epcot before the Illuminations started. (We didn't want another late night; there's always next time)

Die cut: Indian something-or-another

United Kingdom

While we were at the KidCot table, we found out that Pooh and friends would be there in a few minutes for pictures/autographs. So we waited (again for only a few minutes) and got to meet Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. (I've since found out that if we would've waited til the next character session we would've met Mary Poppins. Shhh. Don't tell my kids) We did get to see Mary Poppin's bag/lamp. Too cute!

Die cut: dragon

France
The kids were impressed with all the Eiffel Towers. Then they had to pose in front of the easel. While we were getting our die cut in France, C mentioned to the guy handing them out that we had friends in France. The guy seemed interested until C mentioned that they were missionaries.
Die cut: hot air balloon

Morocco

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the belly dancers in Morocco. However the architecture was beautiful! I read somewhere that the government of Morocco was heavily involved in the design.

Die cut: decroative hand/glove

Japan

There was an amazing "river" in Japan that was so clear that you could see all the rocks in the bottom so clearly. I'd like to know how they kept it so clear.

Die cut: origami frog:

United States of America

I loved the store that they had here. There was so much history stuff you could buy. We bought a ruler with all the Presidents and their pictures listed on it. (side note: it sat near where C does school for a few days after we got home; within a week or so he had learned 8-10 of their names in order. He has a great memory! Now let's concentrate on 1st grade work!) We also watched the show "American Adventure." While waiting in the lobby for it to start, there were many pictures and quotes to walk around and see. C wanted to make sure that we saw them all. I think he is going to like history like his Daddy.

Die cut: rocking horse (not sure why?)

Italy

Italy was beautiful! It had flowers and fountains and I would have loved to have eaten there!

Die cut: mask




Germany:

Germany had the neatest model train display. I think there were at least 4 trains going around a huge set of tracks. All the houses, animals, people, etc made it look so real! It was really amazing.

Die-cut: teddy bear (not sure why?)

China

China had some beautiful "works" of art--as in china, bonzi trees, clothes, art, knives etc. Everything there was very rich looking. They also had many statues of Buddha, which gave us an oppotunity to tell C what/who he was. A little bit of edcuation (I counted Epcot as a field trip for school).

Die-cut: kite

Norway

The Princess character meal was in the restaurant in Norway. Talk about some good food! The little gnome was at the end of the boat ride. Both the kids insisted they had to have their picture taken with him.

Die-Cut: Viking ship

Mexico

As you enter the Mexican pavilion, there was a lady hand painting wooden animals. They were amazing to look at! Once you entered, the scene was at night with pyramids, a river (I didn't know you could take a boat ride on it), a restaurant, and a shopping plaza--set up to resemble a market in Mexico.

Die cut: I don't remember and I can't find it! So disappointing!

Carving pumpkins

Daddy and I spent about 4 hours Monday night carving pumpkins for the kids. This year's choices were a little bit more detailed than last years. C picked Jango Fett (or Bubba; I can't tell the difference between the two) and K picked Minnie Mouse. I always get stuck diggin out the guts. Once the kids get old enough, I'll pass that job onto them. Daddy did all the carving. Then I rubbed them all down with Vaseline; supposedly that will help them not decay as fast. That was GROSS! We didn't get done until almost 11 that night so the kids didn't even see them til the next morning. I think they turned out really good! It was fun but very messy.

So here are "their" pumpkin creations.

Why have we been so busy?

I honestly don't know. It's not like we have had a lot of extra/unusual things going on. We did have missions conference this past weekend. But we only went Friday night and there wasn't even an international dinner this year (what is a mission's conference without a meal????) So I can't blame it all on that.

The 2 weeks immediately following Disney, I had extra kids 2 days in a row. That makes for 2 busy weeks. I also had my blood drawn for a check up (my bad cholesterol is high-fun stuff) and I had a filling done last week. That was THE WORST FILLING EVER! No wonder I always cancel those appointments for 18 months in a row!

Last Thursday a friend (the mom of my Tuesday kids) and her 3 kids and me and my 2 kids (was that a run-on?) went to an indoor playground way up north of Indy. It took us about 40 minutes to get there. But it was so worth it. We were there for 3 hours. The kids got to play and we all ate lunch together. C still ended up doing an entire day of school that day. He did most in the car (we got to drive Daddy's cute new little car). He did very good.

Otherwise, I really don't know what we have been doing. Trying to keep up with the house, laundry, dishes, football............... So I've determined I'm going to try to be more productive. I don't know when, but I"m going to try.

This past Saturday we did get some shopping done. I needed hose/nylons/those horrid college thingys for winter. I never wear them in summer, but winter sometimes requires them. We are also looking for sneakers for both kids (can't find any) and Daddy needed new winter gloves.

Yesterday I got A LOT cleaned out of the garage. I'm tired of storing garage sale stuff and then making little/no money at the garage sale that I worked so hard on. So most of it went to Goodwill. I also had to rearrange some stuff to find a place to store the pool (18 feet around by 4 feet deep-just a little one) that we got from Jon&Teena (C wanted to know when we were going to set it up. It's a little cold don't you think?) I also started fixing one of our dining chairs that has been sitting in the garage for a long time. I asked my neighbor for some help and he is going to finish it hopefully tomorrow.

Last night Daddy and I spent 4 hours working on.........................check out the next post. Today I'm determined to get some Disney blogging done. Tomorrow I would like to start (that's the key word) organizing my scrapbooking stuff. I have also been busy doing some online Christmas shopping (I've found some AWESOME DEALS! Check out http://www.mysweetsavings.com/ She always has some awesome deals)

This week I have 2 different sets of kids 2 different days (did you follow that?) Saturday night we will do our new tradition for Halloween. Wednesday night for AWANA K is supposed to dress up as an animal. Check back for those pix. We still haven't finished our fence staining (on our list for whenever we have a few days without rain). Thank heavens for Green Socks who put up our swing set or that would still be in the garage too. (Oh I guess I need to blog about that too, huh?)

Oh and K got a big girl bed (frame/headboard), but no new mattress. We just put her crib mattress on top. Hopefully we will get her a new mattress this weekend. Then I will take some pictures and blog about it.

And I forgot to mention that C's children's choir sang in church a few Sunday's ago. Daddy videoed it but didn't get any pictures. In the class for this choir they had been collecting quarters for Bibles. They collected enough money for 49 Bibles to send to missionaries. That's 49 Bibles at $5 each! Good for them!

So that's been my life. In a very large nutshell/post. Now I will attempt to finish my Disney blogging--after tomorrow's post.

Here are a few pictures of the indoor playground that we went to last week.

I promise.............

................ to finish my Disney blogging. Life happens and ours has seemed busy lately. The next few days will be some catch up posts and hopefully by the end of the week I will finish Disney. It's driving me nuts and I'm sure you are worried cuz we are still stuck at Epcot (do you still remember what it stands for?) Check back tomorrow!

Epcot-Thursday

Anyone know what EPCOT means? Here is your piece of "useless information" for the day. It stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Now you are a better person for knowing.

I think Epcot is one of my favorite parks; but only the World Showcase part. I love looking at all the countries and would love to try all the different foods. We were there during the International Wine and Food Festival this year. They had extra food booths from extra countries set up. Unfortunately we didn't get to try any of them. I would love to go again during that time and try some of those foods.

We did do the Test Track that is in the Future World section of Epcot. But that's all we did there. The rest of our time was spent in the World Showcase.

Test Track is a pretty cool ride. Once again, K was not tall enough (I still think she could have ridden it). C rode it twice. The first time was C, Daddy, Papa, and me. Grandma entertained K. We didn't have a wait at all. The second time I enteretained and Grandma went with the boys. They had a little wait this time, but still not bad. C loved it! It simulates what a new car is put through before it becomes mass-manufactured. There are bumps, heat, cold, fast turns, fast stops, and speed. It's really cool. In the waiting room/show room there are numerous GM vehicles that the kids can climb all over. K had a blast climbing in those cars and pretending. Good idea GM.

After the ride, we headed over to the World Showcase. So awesome. C has been learning about different countries in school so I thought he would really like to see all this too.

Animal Kingdom-Wednesday

Blogger is being dumb again and not letting me move pictures! So frustrating! On the dino ride. Aren't her little dimples cute?

Sorry it's not rotated. Turn your head; I think it's a cute picture. :)

I thought it was so funny how these "apes?" were sleeping--with their butts up against the window. It's almost like they knew we were out there and this is all they wanted us to see.

K was fascinated with this tree. I think they called it an upside down tree.

The Mount Everest ride.

The tree of life. Can you pick out any of the animals on there?

Mary Poppins at the electrical parade in Magic Kingdom.

Wednesday morning we went to Animal Kingdom. Early that evening we went into Magic Kingdom. We were there mainly for the electrical parade and the fireworks.

But first to Animal Kingdom. The main thing that we wanted to do was the African safari. Honestly, there wasn't much we really wanted to do at Animal Kingdom. If we were ever to go back, there are things that we missed that we would do but those things weren't "earth shattering" that we missed them this time. Once we got in the gates, Daddy ran ahead and got a FastPass for the safari. Then he ran to the Mount Everest ride to get a FastPass.

The safari was interesting and we did get to see some animals. Some seemed up close, like the giraffe, but some we could barely see, like the lions. There was a rhino that crossed the road behind us and held up the vehicle behind us.

We went to DinoLand for the kids and rode The TriceraTop Spin which is a "Dumbo-like" ride. DinoLand is a fair midway part of Animal Kingdom. The kids liked it. While they rode the dino ride again with the grandparents, Daddy and I went onto Expedition Everest.

Daddy and I rode the Mount Everest ride which is another one of Disney's attempts at a roller coaster. Since we didn't have to wait we didn't get to see all the "stuff" that is throughout the waiting area. As Disney always does, it looked pretty authentic. There were no loops or twists in this ride, but it is in the dark and goes backwards so you can't see where you are going. It was a good ride but really short.

The best thing at Animal Kingdom was Camp Mickey and Minnie. There were MANY characters there for autographs and pictures. They lines weren't overly long either. I think we saw 6 characters at Animal Kingdom.

As we were leaving we stopped to admire the Tree of Life. Supposedly there is path around the tree that takes you up close to admire all the animals. We never did find that path. There is also a 3D adventure inside the tree that we didn't do this time, but will schedule for next trip.

After Animal Kingdom, we took a bus over to the Magic Kingdom. We took pictures of Cinderella's Castle, ate at Tony's, did some shopping in a huge store, and staked out our spots for the parade. We had our spots about 90 minutes before it started and I am so glad we got there that early. We had FRONT ROW SEATS! Some of the characters actually shook our hands and of course the kids thought that was THE BEST. The kids had watched Mary Poppins just a few days before we left. Mary Poppins shook our hands! After the parade, we stayed put and watched the fireworks. I would say we didn't have the best seats for the fireworks, but they were still good. The kids really liked those too. Side note: this is a pat on the back for me but since I'm the one blogging, I'll brag on myself. I had bought a pack of 10 glow sticks at Wal Mart for less than $4 to take with us to Disney. As we were waiting for the parade, I passed them out. It helped to keep the kids entertained and we didn't have to pay the very expensive prices for the ones that Disney was selling.