July 2012: Throwback Post

I'm taking a break from Disney for a moment. Among my growing piles of unfinished posts, I found this one from July. Chronologically this should be read after the entry entitled "July: The first 7 days", but does anyone really care anymore? I'm always back-blogging. I hope to eventually sort out and organize my virtual life, but I'm waiting to get my actual life under control first. I proudly present "July: The last 24 days".

Road Trip!

In mid-July we hopped in the car with our friend Jess and headed a few hours north to visit the sites in and around the Jefferson National Forest. Our first stop was the hotel in Troutville. The next morning, we started our weekend of adventures at The Natural Bridge. After finding the yellow Buddha under the bridge and spotting George Washington's initials carved into the rock (whether he put them there or not is up for debate), we continued walking down the mile-long path.

We visited a Monacan Indian village, saw a snake basking in the sun, made use of a port-a-potty, and finally turned around at a small waterfall. Somewhere along the way, Cora fell asleep on Jess' comfy shoulder.

We had a late lunch at the Pink Cadillac Diner and got our picture taken next to a giant ape. The restaurant had an interesting decor, but I wouldn't recommend ordering the very dry barbeque chicken. Then we made our way down the street to Foamhenge, a deteriorating replica of the famous Stonehenge made of-- you guessed it-- foam. Next on our list was a visit to the Natural Bridge Caverns. I've been to quite a number of caverns, and this one was very disappointing in size and number of formations. We'll have to make another trip to the Shenandoah Valley sometime and explore the better caves. I know, I'm being a cave snob.

My favorite sign from the museum.

We continued our tourist trap tour the following morning with a visit to the wax museum. Cora was petrified, so she curled up in my arms with her face pressed into my chest. Even now, months later, she will tell me "I don't like wax people". Unfortunately, her enunciation of "wax" often sounds like "black". She's working on fixing that.

Melting face.

The basement housed an exhibit on how they make the figures. Jess and I ventured down there on our own. Although it said it was a working studio, the place looked abandoned and pretty creepy. The wax museum itself housed many Biblical, patriotic, and regional history scenes. Because they don't fit those molds (ha! ha!) John Wayne, Elvis, and Santa Claus were all relegated to live in the basement. I wonder if the three of them have parties when the shop is vacant . . .

We wandered around the indoor butterfly garden. I loved the blue one. The orange and black one loved Ally; it sat on her hand and on her shoulder, and even tried to hide in her hair when we tried to leave it behind. Do you like Ally's bracelet? She made it in the hotel from a kit Aunt Jessie had gifted her.

The Natural Bridge also has an on-site toy museum. Most toys came from a private, family collection. My favorite toy from our previous visit, a melt-it-yourself lead figurine casting set, was no longer on display. But we did see plenty of Star Wars toys, Legos, Barbie dolls, He-Man figures, Cabbage Patch kids, and one Collector's Edition Jerry Springer Doll. I also found this sign that piqued my interest:

We took a picture of the girls next to the giant bear in the gift shop. We have a photo of Ally standing there (with assistance) when she was very tiny. We also let Cora play with some guns.

Channeling her inner Crockett.

Ally took a second session of swim lessons. I'm so proud of her. She only had to float on her back for 5 seconds; she could do it for over 30. She'll put her face under the water and hold her breath without freaking out. And she started letting go and really swimming! That's a great improvement from not wanting to jump in or to even be splashed on the first day of the first session.

 

Cora continued her never-ending quest for potty-training success.

She set up her own desk. She means business!

Ally, Cora, and I attended Spanish camp with Senora Kisha for a week. She held three sessions, but with everything going on this summer, only one week fit into our busy schedule. Since Cora wasn't 100% potty trained and therefore technically couldn't go, I struck a deal with la maestra. I agreed to be her teaching assistant, and she gladly welcomed all three of us to class. We had a lot of fun learning and playing. We hope to do it again this coming summer.

Because the session's theme was La Granja, we took a field trip to the N.C. A&T university farm. We rode a tractor through much of the property and then walked into some of the important buildings. We saw los pollos, vacas, cabras, and ovejas. We smelled los cerdos. Pee-U! The university is doing all sorts of plant experiments, so we drove through the crop fields too.

Spanish Splash! Camp

Grandma and Grandpa Winters decided to drop by for a visit in the later part of July. We showed them where the Farmers' Market is and had dinner at the Moose Cafe. Yummy!

We also took them to the Greensboro Children's Museum.

Child's Play.

Grandpa passed his dental check-up with flying colors, but Cora wasn't so fortunate. Grandma gave her a numbing shot and then filled her cavity. Cora was a trooper, and Ally gave her a hug and a big teddy bear for being so brave. The girls also put on a stage production, shopped for groceries, and drove a fire truck. Cora also cooked up something special in the kitchen while Ally was out delivering mail up and down Main Street. Then we wandered outside for a bit and played in the fairy garden. We also made my parents pose for a picture in the big red chair.

Little people.

The next day we took them to the Natural Science Center. I didn't take too many pictures there, and we didn't see all the animals, but I do remember spending an inordinate amount of time with the reptiles. We had gone downstairs to see the 100-year-old BoneCrusher and the two-headed turtle, and we ended up petting three different snakes, a bearded dragon, and a desert tortoise. Ally was actually brave enough to touch the reptiles, and Cora giggled and flashed an impish grin every time she gently grabbed one of the serpents.

Little Snake Charmer.

Our Disney Trip: Animal Kingdom

Growling and ready to go!

We spent our third day at Disney in Animal Kingdom. Wow! Although it is not one of the "main" parks, I think it might have been my favorite one.

Carvings on the Tree of Life.

We started our morning adventure off with a fast, crowded walk to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Where else, other than in Africa, can you go on a safari and have a giraffe and other animals cross right in front of you?

I'd like to eventually make it to Africa, but this was an excellent substitute for now. We saw a variety of animals, including two ostriches (along with their huge eggs) sitting right next to the jeep path.

Are we in Africa?

We wandered into Camp Minnie-Mickey right when all the characters were coming out. We were the first people to greet the Jungle Book animals. This was wonderful for Ally (no line!) but extremely traumatic for Cora. She did quite well at most Disney greeting spots, but seemed to have a lot of trouble with the non-clothed characters. Since Daddy was parking the stroller and I was trying to take this picture, poor Cora had nowhere to run. I wish I had a video of her trying her hardest to climb up my body and into my arms for safety. Instead, I have a cute picture of Ally with Cora's tormenters.

Ally with King Louie and Baloo

Ten seconds later, Cora was fully recovered and hugging Donald Duck with enthusiasm. What can I say? The girl is a real fan of wearing clothes.

Duck Scout Donald

Cora wanted to be near Chip and Dale, but she didn't want them to touch her. Maybe it's because hats and scarves are technically articles of clothing, but they don't cover quite enough fur to make her feel 100% comfortable?

Chip and Dale

Christmas Mickey with the family.

Christmas Minnie and the girls.

We saw Pocahontas, but didn't stand in line to meet her. Ally said she wasn't a top priority, and there were about a dozen kids already waiting for her. (We were lucky. On our trip, 12 kids was considered a long line.)

Pocahontas and a friend.

Ally and Cora in the village.

We attended two amazing live shows, "Festival of the Lion King" and "Finding Nemo-- The Musical". Neither one of these presentations was conducive to picture-taking, so you'll have to enjoy this picture of the girls instead.

"Lion King" seemed like a hybrid Cirque-du-Soleil meets Broadway spectacular (I've never seen a Cirque production, but I can imagine). Singing. Dancing. Acrobatics. People-birds flying through the air. A fire dancer. Colorful costumes. Huge animatronic jungle animals. Amazing!

"Finding Nemo" was a hybrid puppet show and live-action performance. In my opinion, it was even more amazing then the Lion King. Here's a low-quality video to ineffectively demonstrate the amazing-ness of it all.

Just because. . .

I went on Expedition Everest by myself. This was my coaster of choice for our Disney trip. Cora wanted to go with me, but she's a little too short still. (That girl is fearless-- except for the above-mentioned character encounters). I wished I had a riding buddy, but being a "single rider" has its own perks. I got on the second time with virtually no wait once I discovered a red umbrella that marked the quick line for solo persons. I was seated next to a nice man who had a thick accent and reminded me of a sherpa. How fitting!

Torn tracks.

Forward, backward, then forward again. It was a great ride! And the Yeti didn't eat me, so that was a plus.

While I was conquering the Himalayan mountain, Chris and the girls were busy meeting Pooh Bear and his friends. Cora had no fear, probably because she's known about Pooh Bear for forever.

Belly full of honey.

Flashback:


Ally's first Christmas gift to Cora was a baby Pooh we had picked up in Disneyland.

And here's a flashback photo of me comparing bellies with Pooh (a.k.a. unborn Cora meeting Pooh for the first time) back in 2009.

We watched Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade. Again, the parade was great and Cora loved everything except Baloo, King Louie, Pluto, and the other naked characters. She jumped out of the stroller and into my arms, whimpering, when the animals came close to greet the crowds.

Ally and Cora very much enjoyed DinoLand USA, which is ironic since dinosaurs always had-- until a few weeks ago (well after this trip) -- freaked Ally out. This section of Animal Kingdom was reminiscent of a dinosaur-themed parking lot carnival-- complete with tar-filled cracks in the pavement, cheesy games, and spinning rides. We avoided the fossil-filled Boneyard (no budding paleontologists here since skeletons also tend to freak Ally out). We stayed away from the Primeval Whirl coaster that looks like the old Mousetrap game.

Greetings from DinoLand!

So, what did we do in DinoLand if we liked it so much? The only ride the girls went on was Triceratops Spin, but we rode it multiple times. Ally says it's one of her favorites of the entire trip. It is pretty much a prehistoric version of Dumbo, without any wait.

Our friendly dinosaur.

Chris and I took turns going on DINOSAUR, which was a time-warp adventure into the Cretaceous Period. I was happily surprised to see Phylicia Rashad (Clair Huxtable) portraying one of the scientists. I've always wondered what happened to her; apparently she went on to earn a science PhD. Since I missed out on Indiana Jones 3 years ago (on account of being pregnant), I was really looking forward to this bumpy, jolting, high-energy jeep ride. It did not disappoint. My experience was made all the more enjoyable by my jeepmates-- a group of screaming, petrified, over-dramatic teenage girls and their laughing guy friends.

Because we only had a day, we skipped a lot of the zoo-like parts of the park. And we skipped the Kali River Rapids 'cause we didn't want to get wet and risk being too cold. We did, however, go underneath the Tree of Life to watch another 3D+ show: "It's Tough to be a Bug!". We had Ally sit forward in her seat so she wouldn't experience all the extra effects, and Cora sat on my lap. Ally says that was her favorite part-- not getting stung in the back by the bee, or feeling the termites exiting the theater under her bottom. For some reason, Cora says the smell was her favorite part; the "smell" came from a stink bug. Yuck!

Our little pillbug and the tree.

We left Animal Kingdom around 5pm. Although this was our shortest day in any of the parks, it really wore us out.

Sleeping Beauty?

I'm glad Cora fell asleep in the stroller and then stayed asleep in her carseat. She needed a nap, because our day was far from over. Next up: Dinner with a princess.

Our Disney Trip: Magic Kingdom

Let the memories begin!

Our first and fourth days at Disney were spent in Magic Kingdom. We arrived a little early to see the characters pull up on the train to open the park for the day. Cora was so excited, she decided to practice flying while we waited. I think she could use a little more pixie dust. . .

Our very first stop was to see Tinkerbell and her sister Periwinkle.

Cora's outfit distracts from her messy hair, right?

Let's stay with this theme of Ally and Cora hanging out with their Disney heroes for just a moment. Chris did a lot of homework before our trip, and he new exactly where (and when) we should go to visit the characters. We didn't have to wait very long to meet any of them, so even Daddy could enjoy spending time with the princesses. Here are several other Meet-and-Greet pictures from Magic Kingdom:

Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel

Snow White

Ariel the Little Mermaid in her new grotto.

Daisy Duck in the new circus-themed area.

Minnie Mouse the circus poodle trainer

The Great Goofini, the daredevil

Donaldo, the snake charmer

All in all, we were able to meet over 20 different princesses and characters during our trip. The only person the girls really wanted to meet but couldn't was Merida from Brave. (That line was horrendous!) We did, however, watch from a distance as she greeted other people. And, just before she was to welcome a new crowd of guests, my curly hair must have caught her attention. She grabbed her own hair, pointed to me, and then excitedly jumped up and down and waved at Cora and me. Cora (and I) felt very special, and we giggled excitedly and waved back.

Random food picture from the Main Street Bakery.

This is what the street in front of the castle can look like on a morning when you visit during a semi-"down" time for the parks. There were still a lot of people wandering around, but the crowds were not bad at all. (Once again, I'm so thankful for Chris' research and for our decision to pull Ally out of school for a family field trip the week after Thanksgiving.)

Our longest wait (1 hour?) occurred at the Enchanted Tales with Belle. This experience was located in the new section of Fantasyland and had only been open for about two weeks. This was our second stop on our first day. It was amazing!

Waiting to enter Maurice's cottage

Belle's growth chart and stack of books

We started at Belle's father's cottage, walked through a magical mirror in his workshop, and entered the Beast's castle. We surprised Belle, who then invited us to act out a play with her. Ally got to be Maurice and Cora was a dancing plate. Here's video of Ally's "shaking and shivering" performance as Belle's father who was trapped in the Beast's dungeon. The lights were low, so video/pictures aren't that great, but the girls really enjoyed the experience. And Chris and I are still trying to figure out that magically-growing mirror!

Ally and Belle

Cora got a big "Ahhhh" from the crowd as she interacted with Belle.

On our second Magic Kingdom day we had lunch at the Be Our Guest restaurant inside the Beast's castle. That was amazing as well. We chose to eat in the Rose Gallery near the giant spinning music box. We strolled around the Ballroom (which looks just like the movie) and also peaked into the West Wing-- where there was occasional thunder-and-lightning and a magical, wilting rose. Our food was good, but my favorite part of our meal was the dessert.

The Beast's Castle

Yummy French Desserts

By the way Cora talks, it's safe to say that the kiddie coaster Barnstormer was her favorite ride of our entire trip. We had three fastpasses for it, and since Ally didn't want to ride it and Cora technically didn't need a ticket, she was able to experience the thrill of the coaster three times in a row. I wish I could've gotten a good picture of her face, but here's a video of Cora and Chris riding. (You'll have to believe me. They are in the third car from the end. It's the last one with a yellow roof across it.)

The first time around, she was very excited and tried to pull the bar down on my lap before I was even situated. As we left the station, she had her hands up in the air. She scrunched down in the seat at the first drop and turn, but I don't know if that was due to nerves or the gravity and inertia forces on her tiny body. When we pulled back in she said she loved it and wanted to go again right away. As we waited for our second turn she kept saying things like "Mommy, I know when to scream. Do you think Daddy will know which part to scream at when he rides with me? I should tell him when to scream."

While Cora was getting her fill of screams with Daddy on her third go-round, Princess Ally and I safely waited on the ground near the strollers. One of the cast members, Sidney, engaged Ally in conversation. They talked about Tinkerbell and pixie dust. They talked about princesses and Dumbo. They talked about how swapping the S and D in her name spells Disney. They talked about Ally's ballet lessons, which then prompted Sidney to give Ally a waltzing lesson. Their interaction lasted about 10 minutes, and they were great friends by the end, so they had to get a picture together. Thank you, Sidney, for making Princess Ally feel so special!

Waiting for Daredevil Cora

Because the classic Dumbo ride is so popular, Disney recently opened two Dumbos and a circus tent where you can play while you wait for your turn to fly through the sky. Although crowds were low, we choose to play for a little bit before boarding our elephants. Truthfully, Ally was upset that we didn't let her clown around more, but we had rides to ride!

Dumbo's Flying Circus

Our Family, second Magic Kingdom day

Captured by Zorg at Buzz's Space Ranger Spin

Chillin' with Goofy

Another Favorite: Prince Charming's Regal Carousel

Weeeee!!!

Ally and Cora liked the People Mover so much that they asked to ride it twice. They got a kick out of pretending it was a rollercoaster as it went around some of the turns. At one point, as it rides through the Space Mountain Roller Coaster, things get pretty dark. And darkness tends to freak my children out. Below are some of their expressions revealed through the flash on my camera.

Scared?

Riding the Train

Looking cute outside the Tiki Room

The girls wanted to ride the Mad Tea Party teacups. This was not an option for Chris, so I got to do it. We had one rule-- no one was aloud to spin the center circle. Chris says we were spinning very slowly compared to everyone around us, but I was still dizzy by the end. Thankfully I recouped quickly and didn't get sick.

Smiling before the madness begins.

Which leads me to Chris' biggest regret of our trip-- getting on the Tower of Terror. (**Chris has pointed out to me that this ride is in Hollywood Studios and not Magic Kingdom, but I'll be keeping this write-up here for now.) He describes his experience on that ride with the same tone of voice and similar verbiage as he would describe a prostate exam. The Tower left him pale, clammy, sweaty and vertigo-y for a good 30 minutes and headache-y, drained, and off-kilter for a good portion of the afternoon. Although he's not a fan of confined spaces or jerky motions, he had wanted to give the Tower a try ever since he'd skipped it at Disneyland. He had some doubts about doing it just prior to getting on this time. He has no doubts now: He will never be getting on that ride again. (Unless someone paid him a substantial amount of money and promised to hold his hand-- 'cause he almost grabbed the hand of the stranger-lady sitting next to him as the elevator dropped & shot up, and then dropped & shot up again, and then dropped again . . .) So, learn from Chris. If you have your doubts and are prone to motion-sickness, don't do it.

Chris and I both (separately) went on the Haunted Mansion. That ride had some really neat effects, but Ally and Cora would've been way too scared-- like the one 8-year-old boy who was near me and cried/screamed bloody murder for a good portion of the tour. At the end of my ride a ghost took my head off, blew it up a little larger, and put it in a Mickey balloon.

Enough of the "scary" stuff. Let's get back to some cute pictures of our kids.

Cinderella Fountain

One of many mosaics around the castle.

Waiting to see the talking "wax people". That's what Cora calls the animatronic presidents.

Ears of her own.

Snack Time

And this post is almost done. (Yay!) If you just have to know everything we saw and did beyond this posting, you can always read Ally's worksheets. Basically, we rode every ride that interested us (even the nerdy ones), saw all the shows that appealed to us, and ate a lot of yummy bakery sweets.

Just a few memories I know did not get specifically recorded:

When we visited the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Cora got to be on the big screen. The caption under her screenshot read "She doesn't know there's a monster under her seat." The girls thought that was so cool.

Chris likes the bouncy bouncy part with Tigger on the Winnie-the-Pooh ride.

Ally was very frightened during Peter Pan's Flight because she believed we were really flying. It took me until the very end of the ride to convince her otherwise, and she only became convinced when she saw how the ships hung from the track above.

Our second day we saw part of the Celebrate! parade, and Ally joined in the dancing in the street. Chris said he had a hard time keeping track of her as she spun around and showed off her moves.

We ate a Dole Whip float while watching the decorating of the Christmas-themed, icicle-bejeweled castle. Yummy!

3-D movies, like Mickey's PhilharMagic, leave Cora very confused and frightened. She always starts with the glasses in place and immediately removes them at the first "popping out" sequence.

We watched the stunningly bright Main Street Electrical Parade-- wherein Drizella (Cinderella's stepsister), with hands on her hips and finger point, loudly called our exhausted Daddy out for not smiling. He obliged her by lifting his chin up off his hands and giving her a cheesy grin.