Ahhh, Disney. What can we say? From start to finish, our week-long trip in the Magic Kingdom was, well, magical. We met all of our favorite characters, rode the rides we wanted to ride without waiting in long lines, trick-or-treated the Halloween Spooktackular as zombie pirates (Mom and Dad, too), and even spent a day in the hotel pool with a crazy cool waterslide. We got pulled up to sit in the front at stage shows, and were called on in audience Q-and-A’s. In Disney parlance, almost our entire trip was sprinkled with pixie dust. So much so, that when we went on a ride where Tessa raised her hand to ask a question when prompted and she wasn’t called upon, she found it odd.
“But, Mommy, they didn’t let me talk!”
Mom explained that out of a hundred people in the audience, she was one of many and there were other people who had their hands up too. Still, she was stumped.
“But, Mommy, they’ve always let me talk before.”
And who could argue with that? Out of five kids called on to ask questions in a Finding Nemo ride, the three big pigs all spoke to Crush the turtle. Riley was asked to stand up and lead the “lion” section at a live Lion King show with his best, meanest lion roar. (Best roar ever.) Most every where we went, Disney characters seemed genuinely interested in hearing what we had to say or just stopping to say hi and give us hugs. (Even Daddy felt the love when Chewbacca pulled him out of our group to give him a huge hug after we took pictures.)
Our hotel room was sprinkled with pixie dust too. Not only did it have enough bathrooms to accommodate our craziness during shower times, but we all actually slept in our bedroom and let Mom and Dad sleep in theirs. (There were one or two meltdowns that Mom and Dad hoped weren’t overheard in the hall or in the next room over. After a few days, though, they realized they never heard other children yelling in the other rooms. And since there had to be other kids throwing fits in the hotel, Mom and Dad started saying “Disney World, where no one can hear you scream.”) Something that kept us occupied, and less likely to pick at each other, was our easy access to animal viewing. Our room faced the savannah side, and we got to watch giraffes, ostriches, wildebeests, and a bunch of other African animals hanging out under our balcony. They had a huge space to hang out in, but–like the characters in the parks–they seemed to want to entertain just us and they mostly stayed right in front of our building. It was great.
Sweet T picked up her Halloween costume at Disney. So did E. Keep an eye out in the next few weeks to see those modeled… Little Man never wants to wear the clothes we got when we dressed up as zombie pirates. His was a t-shirt and shorts with a pirate Mickey on them. Maybe he’s just over piracy. Or, it could be that he was fast asleep when we all got our makeup done at the Pirate’s League in the park–his too, he slept through the entire thing–and woke to find his whole family with skeleton faces, including his own. He didn’t cry, but for a bit he was standoffish. Before the end of the night, he asked if we could take “the pirates off our faces.” When we got back to our hotel room, that proved easier said than done. That makeup just wouldn’t wash off. (Mom hoped this would convince Tessa that any makeup–not just costume makeup–was best left for when she’s much older.)
In addition to Disney fun, we started some new classes this past month. Our skateboarding is, like us, awesome. We are going to the Denver Skate Park once a week to take lessons with a sponsored pro. And we hit up the school across the street to practice. Emmett is definitely the most dedicated, and its paying off for him. Mom and Dad got boards too. Dad even took his back to work with him to practice while he’s away. But you know what they say: The family that skates together, stays together. (Right?) Anyway, we love that Mom and Dad are hanging tough with skating. It gives us courage to get up after each fall when we see them doing the same. And boy, did Dad take a huge digger! But he got right back up. Like Mom says, “We fall so we can learn to get back up.” He’s really quite good at that.
And today we started a one-day-a-week school. Its meant as an enrichment for homeschooled (or, in our case, unschooled) kids through the public school system. But the cool thing is we get to do everything from robotics to spanish to lego storytelling and instead of it becoming overwhelming and boring ’cause we’d spend every waking moment there, we only do it once a week. We were wiped when Mom picked us up today, but we all said we had a great day. Riley told his new class mates about his upcoming birthday party (end-of-the-month, so save the date!) and he’s looking forward to inviting new friends. Tessa said she loved “tunnel tag” the best. And E said his favorite part was science class. Yay, E!
Little Man gets to hang out with Mommy all day while the big pigs are at school. He didn’t love the idea at first, but there were some extra cookies and snuggles that swayed him. He’s talking so much more now, and using some pretty complicated words. He told Mom today that the idea of him eating lunch was “ridiculous.” Funny and smart. Cute too. What a fantastic little pig. Actually, not so little, he’s in the 75th percentile for height! Everyone at the park thinks he’s like 4- or 5-years-old. He’s gonna be tall, like his biggest brother…
So, to sum up: Great Disney trip. Great return to home. Best of both worlds.
Here’s to it getting even better…
Love,
The Pigs
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