October 4th - 14th
There is nothing like prepairing for winter in Alaska than to plan a trip to visit my parents in sunny Florida!! I really enjoy this yearly pilgrimage to the lower latitudes.
Our original travel plans called for a 24 hour layover in Seattle so we could visit my best friend from high school and his family in Olympia, WA. We had made these reservations about six months ago. Then three weeks before the trip, we were upset to find out that the times for the flight had been changed, shortening our layover time to 5 hours. We decided that the side-trip was worth the effort, so we extended the vacation by a day, and once again extended our visit to 24 hours for an overnight.
We were dreading the airline portion of the trip. Alaska to Florida last year took 25 hours door to door. The side trip really helped break up the traveling portion in to more manageable bit sized portions. The kids did well on the first half. The flight attendants were very accommodating to our family of four. They even went out of their way by not charging us for a digi-player (DVD player preloaded with movies), and three snack packs of food. Hats off to Alaska Airlines!!
We arrived in Seattle at 10 am. Renee waited with Sam and our luggage, while Zach and I went to go pick up the rental car. We had just paid for an economy car at a price of $29 dollars for a 24 hour period. We figured if we could get all of us, and our luggage into our Ford Focus for the drive from our house to the airport, we could get it all in whatever Enterprise decided to rent us. Zach and I loaded onto the shuttle van and got dropped off at the rent-a-center. The rental center was crowded and Zach did his best to not cause too much commotion. My turn to the counter came up and I started checking in, when Zach, out of no where told the rental clerk that we wanted a red car. The guy was very nice and said that he would do his best. He apologized at not having a lot of cars, as they were low on cars for some reason. He scanned his computer and then asked if I wouldn't mind renting a red SUV. I asked "an SUV for the price of a compact?", and he replied "yes", there would be no extra charge. Great, lets go get the red SUV. He grabbed the key and we headed off in the direction of space 24 to get our car. When we got there, a couple was loading their bags into the back of our SUV. We all kind of shot a puzzled look at each other until our clerk asked if they had the key to this vehicle. They said that their clerk had pointed them in the direction of this car, and no, they hadn't received the key yet. As they had half of their bags loaded into a car, they asked if we wouldn't mind giving up this vehicle for an identical grey one. Zach pipped in that we wanted a red one, and well, I guess the moral of the story is; don't mess with a 5 year old with his mind set on a red car. They unloaded their gear and we got the red one.
We met Renee and Sam back at the luggage pick-up, and headed off to downtown Seattle. Downtown Seattle is very congested. I am a bit rusty driving in crowded downtown areas. Despite this, we managed to find a parking spot, and catch up with Adam and his two boys Ethan and Julian. Two years ago, Adam and I met in Seattle after I attended a conference for work in Sacramento. During that trip, Adam and I had stopped by a cheese factory across from Pike's Market and had the absolute
best macaroni and cheese for lunch. I loved this stuff and needed to go back, so this was our first stop. We found the cheese factory right where we had left it and had the best lunch of macaroni and cheese. The cheese factory was crowded, and they have limited seating so we walked down a block and found some park benches to sit on and enjoy our lunch. The weather outside was perfect and Renee and I enjoyed catching up with Adam, as the kids ran around the small park near Pike's Market. The only bad thing about the park was all of the homeless people. I got a little nervous more than a few times when the kids got a little close to a homeless guy passed out on a hill. That and the guy on a park bench literally selling drugs right in front of us. He was none-to-careful to hide his transactions either. Several times he dropped a wad of money, or "product" on the sidewalk as he was conducting his "business". We moved after a few transactions, and realizing just what was going on. I looked around for a cop or someone of authority, but of course there was none. Not real impressed with Seattle on this go around. I think that we'll skip Pike's Market and the park next time.
After a very brief tour of Pike's Market, we got back in the car and drove an hour to Adam and Tracy's house in Olympia. Tracy had stayed home for the Seattle portion of the trip, but was home when we arrived. We had a great evening of re-connecting over pizza, and talked about all that has been going on since we had last met up with them in Belize. The kids got along great, and we had a fun evening with old friends.
Luckily our fight out was not too early the next day. We all had a liesurly breakfast and then Renee packed up the SUV, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the Seattle airport. The flight from Seattle to Florida went better than expected. The kids did well flying the 5+ hours to Orlando. We again sat in the back of the plane, and Zach kept the flight attendants entertained for much of the flight. We landed without a hitch, and when the door of the airplane opened, and the rush of warm moist air flooded the cabin, I knew we were finally on "vacation".
Dad agreed to drive the hour from the house in Tavares to pick us up at the airport. We had rented a car for the week, but due to the airline scheduling snafu and us having to add a day for the stop-over in Seattle, our car reservations did not start until the day after we arrived. That put us in a pickle. We tried to add an additional day to the rental, but found out that doing so would more than double the cost of the car for the week.
We had a nice conversation with Dad on the way back to Tavares. The boys were super happy to be off of the plane, and anxious to run around at Mema and Papa's house. They hadn't seen their Mema and Papa since December, and it was time to have fun and re-acquaint everyone with each other.
We got up the next morning, fairly early, around 8 am, despite the four hour time difference. The warm temperatures and early sun rise helped everyone forget it was actually 4 am in Alaska. After a nice breakfast and a bit more catching up, Dad, Zach and I piled into Dad's truck and made our way back to Orlando to retrieve our rental for the rest of the trip. The drive was nice and Dad and I were able to talk without having to worry about cell phone minutes and battery life. As we neared the airport and got to where we thought the rental agency was, we were disappointed to find out that the office had moved locations a few months earlier. In their haste they appariently failed to update their website, hmmm, not a good start to the sidetrip. Vacation time is a wasting, and the last thing I want to do on my Florida vacation is to burn daylight hunting around for a rental agency. After a few phone calls we located where we needed to go on Dad's GPS. I mentally catalogued this location snafu for later ammunition at the rental desk, in order to hopefully get an upgrade on the vehicle. We drove another 20 minutes to where the new location was, and I went in with Zach to get our vehicle for the week. Zach again pipped in about wanting a red car, and the clerk did the best to accomidate us. It worked like a charm. The guy was able to get us a red, Mazda 5 with seating for six. Perfect!! The van would work well for everything but the trip to Disney. No worrys, we'll figure that out when the time comes. From now on, anytime I rent a car, I'm going to have Zach there to request a
red car.
We got back to Tavares and spent the rest of the day hanging out with Mom and Dad at their house. We were able to go swimming in their association pool for a bit. It would be the first swim of many on this trip. We all got to bed fairly early because tomorrow we would be heading to the happiest place on earth. Walt Disney World!!
Up at the crack of . . . 9:30 . . . not a great start. We made good time getting there and got checked in and ready to roam the park by noon.
Last year I was on a mission to see as much of the park in the three days we had to spend there. I had a "base map" of all four parks, and each night I would plan our itinerary for the next day, carefully coordinating events as to make the most of our time. That approach worked well, almost too well. By the end of the three days last year, everyone was pretty worn out. This year I would take a different approach. No base map, no plan, just head in a direction that looked like the most fun, and would appeal to all of the party involved. We took advantage of the hotel pool late in the game last year, but this year I wanted to utilize the pool more during the hot parts of the day, and concentrate on the parks during the cooler morning and evening hours. This was after all a
vacation.
I really enjoy staying at the Beach Club resort. It is right on the Disney grounds, and walking distance from Epcot (my favorite park). After checking into our room, we headed out to Epcot. Our first stop of the day was Germany. Zach is in a German immersion program for Kindergarten, so I thought he would get a lot out of visiting this psudo-German environment. We came here last year and had dinner. Dinner is just too late for the kids, Zach ended up sleeping through most of one of the live music shows. Plus, dinner is $10 dollars more than lunch, and it is the same thing. We were all hungry, so we made the spot decision that we would dine in Germany for lunch.
Germany in my opinion has the best food at the park. The buffet is awesome, and filled with authentic German food. You can eat as much as you like, and it is typically food that I am really fond of. Bratwurst and Spaetzle, and of course German beer!!
They put on a good show for the people dining in the authentic German beer garten. Dad and I both were able to dance with Zach during a polka. Zach stunned the band when at the end of one of the songs he said "alvederzane".
The Seas with Nemo and Friends attraction at Epcot turned out to be a lot of fun. One of the highlights was "Turtle Talk with Crush". Crush is an animated turtle from the movie Finding Nemo, in this theatre experience, they project Crush on a movie screen, and he interacts with the audience. I am not sure how they do it, but it is pretty weird to see an animated turtle, lips moving and everything, carrying on a conversation with an audience of kids under the age of 10. Crush's personality is that of a typical California surfer dude, and his favorite saying is "totally awesome dude!" Zach was in the front row and festooned with his winged bat Mickey Mouse ears. He was the first kid in the group who got to interact with Crush. Crush asked Zach several things and even had him say is favorite saying "totally","awesome", "dude"!
What a cool hat! Papa had gotten it for Zach on our last visit to Disney and we brought it back this year. Everyone liked the hat as they were no longer available, the version this year was a candy corn. Lame!!
Mission Mars was Zach's favorite ride of the trip. The ride simulates the G-forces of a real rocket launch. Before the ride they assign you a position for the trip. I was the engineer, Renee was the Captian and Zach got to be the Commander. Zach was very proud of the position he had and the job that he was assigned during the trip, and frequently referenced his high position during the rest of our Disney vacation. We tried to get Zach on the ride last year, but he was just a bit too short. A year has past and Zach is now several inches taller, no problem meeting the minimum hight requirements this year.
We got back to the room late and ordered room service pizza! Yum. A good snack before heading to bed. There was also left overs for breakfast a few days which we enjoyed on the tables and chairs on the patio outside of our room.
Overall, Sam did GREAT! We were a little worried that he wouldn't want anything to do with being strapped into a stroller during all the action. He had his moments, but was able to get out for the rides and a nap in the room during the day often enough that he stayed happy. He showed his displeasure more when he had to get out of the pool! He is a water baby!
Can you go to DisneyWorld and not get a family picture in front of the Magic Kingdom? It is the happiest place on earth. We enjoyed the Pirates of the Carribean, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain....and of course, It's a Small World. Sam had crashed in the stroller, so was carried, asleep for the whole ride at Small World. He would have enjoyed it, next time. As it was HOT, we headed back to the Beach Club for a nap and some swimming.
The Pirates of the Carribean ride is always a good time, especially when there are REAL pirates waiting at the other end to have your picture taken with.
Renee has a picture of her about Zach's age with a Mickey Mouse shaped balloon. The balloons have come a long way and now have a "protective" harder plastic large clear balloon around then. We suspect instead of lasting a day or two, they now stay afloat for a week or so. Papa got Zach one - a red one, his favorite color. We laughed with the guys about the skill to be able to hold so many balloons without letting them go when unwrapping the sting from his arm/hand when someone bought one. He laughed - apparently the whole bunch has gone to sky a few times with new handlers.
A hot little Sam taking a nap on the way to It's a Small World. A sweatly little boy reminded us of the hot years with Zach in Houston. Red cheeks and all!
Ahh, the pool at the Beach Club. Pure joy, for kids and adults! The pool has a great water slide, lazy river and kids area complete with piles of sand in the pool. It is just like a real beach. The water was so refreshing after a busy morning at the Magic Kingdom.
Zach was a pro at the water slide. He would go flying down, get out of the pool and go running up the sidewalk to get in line again. Zach is funny sometimes, he repeats stuff like a parrot. The slide is in the shape of a pirate ship, from a movie I'm sure. Anyway, Zach felt the need to tell me that there was a pirateship in the movie "the little mermaide", and on that pirateship Ursula had her party. So after the fourth time of Zach telling me this each time we assended the slide, it kind of became a running joke, and I used this ammunition to give Zach a taste of his own medicine. . For the rest of the trip I make sure to let Zach know that the pirate ship was where Ursula had her party. Each time he would reply "I know!!!".
Ok, the diet will start tomorrow! The Beach Club has a fantastic "Beaches and Cream" ice cream shop. We went for dinner and a tasty treat. We had the "No way Jose" a peanut butter, chocolate sundae and Papa and Mema shared a brownie delight.
Yummy! Our goal, once the kids are a little older, is to order the "Kitchen Sink" - 8 huge scoops of ice cream, all the toppings in the house and one full can of whip cream! Several large groups got one when we were there, an orange light flashes in the ceiling, and all of the wait staff come out and announce that someone has ordered "the kitchen sink". Something to look forward to in the future indeed!! We probably don't want to know how many calories are in one!
We read in the daily activities bulletin that Epcot was going to open two hours extra, until midnight, for hotel guest only. Papa and Mema volunteered to put the kids to bed and stay with them so we could go out on the town. We took them up on it! When the park closed at 10 pm, the people started steaming out. We rode all the big rides with no wait and then decided to grab a margarita and walk around the lake looking at all the countries. We got to the front of the drink line and were told they were now closed. They literally shut the doors in front of us. No margarita for us tonight. We had a great time talking and walking with no distractions. We did some shopping at Germany to get Zach a flag for his room and some German themed Mickey Mouse stuffed toys for his teachers. We closed the place at midnight, security was starting to make their final sweep as we left Epcot for our hotel. A fun "date" night.
The next day we decided to do Animal Kingdom which we hadn't done the year before. The "Everest Extreme" Adventure roller coaster was something we wanted to check out!
Renee and Zach went for the first round. Zach was so excited waiting in line, but was very concerned about the "Abominal Snowman" monster. He was reassured that it wasn't real and that the ride would just be fun. Zach was fine with the roller coaster, but about came out of his skin when the roller coaster stops inside the mountain and the shadow of the "monster" appears! That was it for Zach, he would not go on the ride again! The ride is really fun, you end up going backwards on the ride for about half of it.
The water rides were a different story, Zach couldn't get enough! The Kali River Rapids is a fun ride, and one where you are pretty much guarenteed to get wet.
Zach was only too happy to go a second time with Mom, who really didn't know what she was in for. A little wet would have been just fine - a direct hit with a wave was a little too much. Soaked clothes are not real comfortable for walking around in!
How is that you can spend lot of money on admission for the one of the best amusement parks, and what the kids REALLY want to do is get wet in the wishing well! It was a hot day and the wishing well and water spounts coming from the ground were fun. Zach and Sam joined right in with the other kids and were absolutely soaked before we headed to our next ride. Mema and Papa had taken a leasurely morning while we got up early to beat the heat a little. We met up at the wishing well and headed off to find some lunch.
After lunch we headed for the Kikimanjaro Safari. Our "park ranger" did a great job pointing out all the animals as we chased the "poachers" who were after the baby elephant! The park has an amazing collection of animals who are displayed in an "open zoo" type of format. We saw the elephants, hippos, rhinos, everything except the lions who were laying flat in the grass and couldn't be seen.
We love elephants! Although it is hard to eat more than one in a sitting.
Zach enjoyed playing the drums after our African safari. We had a quick lunch at a nearby "African" cafe, and got some food, but more importantly something to drink in the heat of the day. It was hot so we decided to head back to the pool at the Beach Club before taking an afternoon nap.
Sam is a little water baby, just like Zach. Sam couldn't get enough of being thrown up high and squealing in delight on the way down. He was not a happy swimmer when it was time to head for a nap.
For our final afternoon/night at the Beach Club, we decided to head for Hollywood Studios. We caught the boat from near our hotel and enjoyed the ride over.
The Hollywood Hotel, "Tower of Terror", is a favorite ride at Hollywood Studios. The "hotel" was hit by lightening and the family and nanny in the lobby were killed and are now ghosts in the hotel. The elevators may drop and go up unexpectly, a great ride when you are all strapped in and flying up and down! If there is one thing that Zach doesn't like more than monsters, it would be ghosts. He remembered this ride from last year and was not interested in going again. Zach and Sam stayed and toured the gift shop with Mema. It was really sweet, Zach wanted to get Mom a bracelet and Mema let him pick out a multi-colored Mickey Mouse bracelet. Mom was very appreciative and wore it the next few days, sweet of Zach to think of others.
We tried to eat at the Sci-Fi Dine-in restaurant where you sit in cars converted to seats/tables. Unfortunately, the restaurant was all booked up for the night. We will remember that for next year and get early reservations!
It had been a busy day and were all starting to get tired. We had also promised Zach a night at the Epcot fire works. On the way to catch the boat back to the Beach Club, Papa got Zach a light up Mickey Mouse light saber toy. It was a hard decision to decide what light up toy to get, but the light saber was a good choice. Of course, a few hours later Zach hit something and broke the light bulb, nothing we couldn't fix later on, not quite the same affect when there is no light! We took the boat back and Papa, Mema and Sam headed for the room. We went to find some dinner with Zach and found the sit down restaurants near the hotel all had long waits. We ended up having fish and chips at "England" in Epcot while watching the fireworks. A beer from the English pub made for a good evening.
Our last day at Disney. It is going by too quickly. In all of the 30+ times I've been to Disney, I have never once been to any of the water parks. There are two water parks, "Typhoon Lagoon", and "Blizzard Beach". Because we had just left the cold latitudes of Alaska, we thought it fitting that we spend our day at the latter.
Disney legend has it that after a freak winter storm blanketed the area with snow, Florida's first ski resort was born. When temperatures returned to normal, the powdery snow turned to slippery slush. Slalom courses, bobsled and toboggan runs became downhill waterslides. The chair lift carried swimmers instead of skiers. The ski jump became the tallest, fastest waterslide in the nation. Zach is getting old enough now to appreciate some of the water rides and areas that they have set up for the kids. Mom and Dad decided to sit out the day at Blizzard Beach and head back to Tavares. They did however, graciously agree to take Sam back with them. This left Renee and I to spend some quality one on one time with Zach. With temperatures hovering in the mid 90's, and armed with a fresh tube of Sunscreen, we were ready for whatever the park had to throw at us. We had a blast!! 
Our first task of the day was to locate the lockers. Had to stash the stuff. Then off to Mt. Gushmore for some water slide action. We actually got to take a ski lift up to the top, to funny.
The view from the top was great. It was already starting to get hot, so I was very glad that we reserved our last day at Disney for fun in the water. I wanted to start-off the day by all three of us riding "Summit Plummet", the super steep water slide that rockets you to 55 mph. Unfortunately, Zach was about two inches too short for the ride. Maybe next year. We decided to find something else we could all ride together. Luckily all we had to do was turn around and whala, a family ride we could all ride together.
"Teamboat springs", was a really cool ride and a ton of fun. Up to six riders take off in a circular raft down a toboggan run that lasts a couple of minutes. The ride seemed to go on forever as the raft banks and spins all as it makes it's way down the run. Everyone gets totally soaked by this ride, and just to make sure, the raft plunges into a pool at the end of the ride and then floats under a small waterfall. The ride was so fun that we had to ride it several times. Zach was grinning ear to ear the whole way down. It was getting really hot, so the cool water hit the spot.
Summit Plummet was still beckoning us, so after a couple of runs down Teamboat Springs, we split up and took turns riding the big daddy of all water slides. I was up first and headed to the top of Mt. Gushmore. The line wasn't too bad for Summit Plummet, although it was the longest wait of the day, about 20 minutes. The view from the top was pretty cool. You are
way up there. I tried not to think about the plunge too much while I waited in line, but when it was my turn to go, I'll admit, I got a tad bit nervous. I liken the ride to sliding off the side of a cliff. You accelerate like you are in a free fall. The fall is probably only 3 seconds, but it feels much longer. The de-exceleration is what kills you. Water is flying by at almost 55 mph, and smacks the back of your legs towards the end of the plunge. It is crazy as you slow down to a stop, you can't see a thing until because of the crazy amount of water spray. Then, as quick as it began, it is over. What a rush!!
The view from the bottom of Summit Plummet tells the whole story. There are bleachers at the bottom of the ride to watch the reaction of people as they come off the ride, and there is even a radar with a clock to see how fast people are coming down the slide. I suspect some people there are hoping to see a "wardrobe malfunction", as a result of the water whipping by and the sudden de-exceleration.
I finished with the ride and then made my way to where Renee and I agreed to meet. It was now her turn to ride the worlds fastest water slide. I wished her well, and then took over watching Zach as he navigated the obstacles at the "Ski Patrol Camp". He had a really good time on the zip line. He looked so cute too!
We then headed over to some "icebergs" that he had to cross. I pretended to
shake them, and try to knock him off balance, but I really just positioned the "bergs" so Zach could get across safely. He thinks that he is so big and can do everything on his own, but I like that he still needs some help from Dad from time to time. Whether he knows it or not.
We hit most of the rides the park offered during the course of the day. Another one of our favorites slides was the Toboggan races. Eight lanes of water slides set up as a race to the finish line. On this slide, size does matter. A life guard gets eight racers into position at the starting line. They then count down from 10 for the start of the "race". When the countdown gets to about 7, the lifeguards push the little kids and their mat down the run, giving them a head start. The course had several humps followed by a short straightaway section, before plunging down another hump. Zach could make it down the first hump well ahead of the pack, but practically stalled on the straight away, giving my heavy frame the advantage. The result was me flying by him like he was standing still and rocketing the rest of the way down the hill. All that girth has finally found a purpose. I zipped past the finish and almost to the end of the slide. Zach however, didn't even quite make it to the finish line, and had to walk the rest of the way. Despite this, he still informed us that
he had won the race?!? I don't know how he figures that, but hey, we are here for him, so yes, Zach won the race.
We rounded out the day with a couple of laps in "cross country creek", a huge lazy river that circles the park. The float is suppose to last 20 minutes as one "relaxes" on an inter-tube as you float lazily along. Zach didn't quite see it that way. Our first float was not relaxing at all, as both Renee and I chased Zach nearly halfway around the "river" running after him and dodging other people floating in inter-tubes having a relaxing time themselves. Once we caught up to him and caught our breath, we informed Zach that one is not suppose to
run around the loop, but just relax, and float, and relax!!! Our next time around went much better. I think he got it, almost. The day was getting late and we had only about an hour til the park closed. So we took some time out from the slides, and hung out for a while in "Melt Away Bay", a one acre wave pool that can generate waves up to six feet in height. The pool is only about six feet at its deepest, but, that combined with six foot waves made for a fun float. Zach and Renee rode in one of the inter-tubes and I just hung on to the side for dear life! Somewhere during all of that bobbing around I dropped my waterproof camera. I got all the way to the beach, and was going to take a picture, before I realized I had lost my camera. I quickly retraced my steps and made my way towards the deep section of the pool. I was able to find my camera in about five feet of water, luckily no one had realized that was a camera underneath their feet. It was almost a very expensive day.
We pretty much closed down Blizzard Beach, leaving right at six. I am not sure why Blizzard Beach closes so early, but we were still in the mood for more fun and not quite done with our Disney experience quite yet, so we headed back to our hotel for another ginourmous ice-cream sunday.
Renee and I each got a whole sunday to ourselves. We'll not entirely, we did share some with Zach. Our waitress was awesome. She picked up on the fact that Zach loves cherries, and went back to the kitchen and brought him a whole bowl of cherries. Isn't there a book about life . . . and a bowl full of cherries?? We stuffed ourselves with our decadent dessert and then headed out and walked (rolled) to the car, where . . .
. . . Zach fell asleep before we even left the parking lot. A great way to end a four day, fun filled time at Disney. The kids did great and we had an awesome time hanging out with Mom and Dad. Can't wait to come back again soon. The nice thing is I realized on our drive home was that were only half through with our Florida vacation. Sill more fun stuff to do, and no getting up early for work for nearly a week!! So tune into part two of the Florida vacation blog, more fun is on the way.
We thought that a quick run through of the new store would make for a fun outing. Upon walking in, we surmised that Yup, it's pretty much like the rest of the Target stores we've been to. We didn't buy anything that day, we just went to "window shop". It is nice to know however that there are a few more options for shopping close to the house.
Here is Papa doing his best to keep the kids cooled off. We certainally wouldn't be doing this in Alaska this time of year.
Last year Sam was not too sure about the "alligator" pool. What a difference a year makes. This time he was right in there with Zach, enjoying the water, and splashing his older brother.
That night we headed out to (name of restaurant here), and had a good dinner. It was a bit muggy so we ate inside. The restaurant afforded magnificent views of (name of lake here), so after dinner we ventured out and took in the sunset. Tavares is the county seat of Lake County, and the area truly lives up to its name. Look at any map or aerial view of the area, and you'll see just as much blue as you will yellow, brown or green. The area really capitalizes on it's proximity to the many lakes in the areas. I saw several brand new dock facilities for small boats, and many downtown areas were refurbishing their public docks with the pleasure boater in mind. 
Mom and Dad were very gracious hosts. We appreciated the effort they took to make us feel at home. They put up with all of the extra noise that our crew generates, and they took us using a window as a door in the spare bedroom in stride. Hopefully we didn't break anything, because we want to get invited back. Thanks again for all of your hospitality.
One of our new favorite places to visit in Tavares has to be the Mt. Dora splash park. This is a brand new park, and part of a total lakeside renovation happening in downtown Mt. Dora. The renovation includes new public docks for private boaters (I am seeing a theme for this area), an event staging area for the Dragon boat races, wooden boat festival, etc, and space set aside for a small manufacturing plant that will produce sea planes.
The park was a blast. For two dollars, you have total access to this interactive area. There is even a lifeguard on duty. The park had it's grand opening in August, and will be open til the end of September. The area is for both older and younger kids. Pretty much fun for the whole family.
The slide was one of the central attractions of the park. Zach went down the slide countless times. During our trip, Florida experienced record temperatures for the month of September. Had it not been for the warmer weather, the park may not have been such a draw. The kids were able to play without fear of getting cold. We made it a point to hit the park several times during our stay.
Sam really got his water wings on this trip. I think that he is going to be a "water rat" just like his big brother.
Back in Alaska, Sam was not too sure of playing in the water. He cried during bath times, and clung to Renee and I the few times we went to a indoor pool in Anchorage. All of the new exposure to water on our Florida trip has pretty much erased any inhibitions he had to water. 
More fun in the water. Sam was not going to be shown up by his big brother. Pretty much whatever Zach did, Sam was willing to try.
Papa even got in on the action. Sploosh!!
The water park is addictive. Young and old just can't help getting totally soaked. The 90+ deg temps really facilitated that.
The bucket of water was super fun. Every 30 seconds or so, the bucket would fill up to it's tipping point and then dump 5 gallons or so of water on whoever was standing beneath it. On first glance, the park seemed to waste a lot of water. But on closer inspection, I noticed that the water was actually recurculated and filtered much like a swimming pool. The same water is used over and over again. Quite the operation.
We got back to Mom & Dads place just in time for a "splash park" right in their front yard. It dumped for the better part of an hour. We just don't get rain like that in Alaska. The rain in Alaska just sort of drizzles, and it can last days. The storms in Florida are quick and powerful. It reminded us of the storms we used to witness living in Texas. They are fun to watch. 
That night we called Lisa and Fred on Skype. It was fun to see everyone, and have the cousins talk via the teleconference we had in Mom and Dads living room. This is a fun substitute until we can all be together for real, in Hawaii in March!! 
Time for more fun. We woke up early the next morning, piled in the Mazda 5 and headed towards Cape Canaveral to visit the Johnson Space Center. The van worked out great for these shorter trips where we were not bringing any luggage. 
The route to the Space Center was less than ideal. The route was along country two lane roads complete with construction, stop lights, and school buses. The stop and go was driving me nuts. We will find a different more direct way to head home from the Space Center. 
The Space Center, very cool. Renee and I last visited the space center eight years ago on one of our Christmas vacations. Mom and Dad figured they hadn't been there since 1967. A few things had changed since then.
Traveling with two little kids can be difficult at times. Luckily the first portion of our visit was a tour of the center via bus. The busses take you to three different portions of the Space center. You get off of the bus and can visit each of the three stops for as long as you like. The bus driver was very knowledgeable and informed passengers of interesting NASA facts in between stops. The kids enjoyed the bus ride almost as much as the stops themselves.
The giant assembly building is always an impressive sight. It is huge. The building ranks number four on the list of largest buildings in the world in terms of usable space. The building has 130 million cubic feet of usable space under one roof. To get an idea of size, the each one of the stripes on the American flag painted on the building are eight feet across. At the time of our visit, it was holding one of the space shuttles that was getting ready to hit the launch pad. While the space shuttle program is winding down, NASA is getting ready to debut it's new launch vehicle, the Aris I rocket. NASA plans to use Ares I to launch Orion, the spacecraft being designed for human space-flight missions after the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010. I imagine that that rocket is in the assembly building as well. 
Here Dad and Zach are enjoying our first stop on the tour, one of two of the launch areas is visible in the background. In a few days the Space Shuttle will be rolled out to the pad and launched from this very site.
Here is where it all happened 40 years ago for the Apollo missions to the moon. This is the actual computers used to send man into space all of those years ago. The tour did a great job re-creating the 5 minutes before launch. The councils lit up and the screens showed actual footage as the rocket prepared to launch into outer space. At one point in the demonstration, the whole back of the room lit up, simulating the light coming from the rocket lifting off. It was very realistic and Zach really enjoyed the show. It is hard to imagine them sending man to the moon with 1960's technology. I probably have more computing power in my i-Phone than all of the computers in that room combined.
The middle stop on the tour was to visit the giant Saturn V rocket. The rocket is very impressive. There are all sorts of interactive displays under and around the huge rocket. It is nice that it is inside a large building. The building keeps the rocket preserved for future generations, but more importantly, it is nice for visitors who are not used to the Florida heat (us).
Here is Zach standing on one of the sections of track used in the mobile launch platform. The crawler-transporters are a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport spacecraft from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. They were originally used to transport the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets during the Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz programs. They are currently used to transport the Space Shuttle. It is planned for them to carry the upcoming Ares I and Ares V rockets for the Constellation program as well. Each crawler-transporter weighs 2400 tons and has eight tracks, two on each corner. Each track has 57 shoes, and each shoe weighs approximately 1,984 lbs. 
We spent over an hour exploring all of the displays in this giant building.
Crew capsule from one of the Apollo missions.
The crew in front of a moon buggy.
Zach touching an actual piece of rock brought back from the moon.
A great place to eat lunch. Underneath one of the most complex machines ever made!
The last stop of the day was to the building where they assemble the pieces to the international space station. These modules are actual units that will end up in space. 
A very fun day at the Space Center. We of course didn't make it out of there without visiting the gift shop. Zach found some gloves and patches for his spaceman costume for Halloween. I got a few ideas for framing a signed picture of an astronaut that I have at home from when I was a kid, and I think we picked up a few stickers for the "sticker cabinet at home". One of the cooler gift-shops on this trip, lots of neat things. We didn't make it to the IMAX film or the shuttle simulator, everyone was running out of steam (me included). So we played with the huge granite ball suspended with water for a few minutes and then head down the road. I found a highway with a little more direct route for our return trip. It routed us through downtown Orlando, but still was a faster ride than the country road route was. A very fun day, unfortunately the trip is almost over. Just a couple of more days in the sun.
One stop I didn't want to forget was a trip to Sonic. Sonic has the best deserts!! We happened to find one not too far from Mom & Dad's place, and were lucky enough to order during their "happy hour". 
I loaded up with an assortment of Sonic deserts, drinks, and tater-tot side orders and headed back. Mmmmm . . . I miss Sonic from our Texas days. We used to live two blocks from one. It was one of our weekly rituals to drive to Sonic in the Saab convertible and get a desert. We would just sit in the car, listen to the radio, and eat. Good times!!
What would a vacation be without a trip to the landfill. Dad and I took a side trip to the Lake County landfill near their house. I originally didn't think that we would be able to go in and see the place, but Dad and I drove up to the scales, where the attendant got us in touch with a lady that agreed to give us a very informative tour.
Lake County has a very good recycling program for the residents. They have curbside service for most of the county, and they recycle many more types of plastic (1-7) than we do back in Alaska. It was a very impressive facility.
The refuse part of the landfill was not what I was used to seeing in a landfill. Of course most of the ones I manage are much smaller, but in addition to size, this was had only ash in it, no real garbage. Lake County incinerates all of their trash off-site, and then trucks it here for disposal. The nice thing about incineration is that the volume of trash is reduced by about 80 percent, there is no smell, and they don't really have to worry about methane gas production. The operation is a waste to energy program, and the electricity generated from the incinerator goes to power 25,000 homes in the area. Very impressive. The tour was about an hour and a half and very informative. It is nice to see a well run landfill once in a while.
Our original travel plans called for a 24 hour layover in Seattle so we could visit my best friend from high school and his family in Olympia, WA. We had made these reservations about six months ago. Then three weeks before the trip, we were upset to find out that the times for the flight had been changed, shortening our layover time to 5 hours. We decided that the side-trip was worth the effort, so we extended the vacation by a day, and once again extended our visit to 24 hours for an overnight.
We met Renee and Sam back at the luggage pick-up, and headed off to downtown Seattle. Downtown Seattle is very congested. I am a bit rusty driving in crowded downtown areas. Despite this, we managed to find a parking spot, and catch up with Adam and his two boys Ethan and Julian. Two years ago, Adam and I met in Seattle after I attended a conference for work in Sacramento. During that trip, Adam and I had stopped by a cheese factory across from Pike's Market and had the absolute best macaroni and cheese for lunch. I loved this stuff and needed to go back, so this was our first stop. We found the cheese factory right where we had left it and had the best lunch of macaroni and cheese. The cheese factory was crowded, and they have limited seating so we walked down a block and found some park benches to sit on and enjoy our lunch. The weather outside was perfect and Renee and I enjoyed catching up with Adam, as the kids ran around the small park near Pike's Market. The only bad thing about the park was all of the homeless people. I got a little nervous more than a few times when the kids got a little close to a homeless guy passed out on a hill. That and the guy on a park bench literally selling drugs right in front of us. He was none-to-careful to hide his transactions either. Several times he dropped a wad of money, or "product" on the sidewalk as he was conducting his "business". We moved after a few transactions, and realizing just what was going on. I looked around for a cop or someone of authority, but of course there was none. Not real impressed with Seattle on this go around. I think that we'll skip Pike's Market and the park next time.
After a very brief tour of Pike's Market, we got back in the car and drove an hour to Adam and Tracy's house in Olympia. Tracy had stayed home for the Seattle portion of the trip, but was home when we arrived. We had a great evening of re-connecting over pizza, and talked about all that has been going on since we had last met up with them in Belize. The kids got along great, and we had a fun evening with old friends.
Luckily our fight out was not too early the next day. We all had a liesurly breakfast and then Renee packed up the SUV, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the Seattle airport. The flight from Seattle to Florida went better than expected. The kids did well flying the 5+ hours to Orlando. We again sat in the back of the plane, and Zach kept the flight attendants entertained for much of the flight. We landed without a hitch, and when the door of the airplane opened, and the rush of warm moist air flooded the cabin, I knew we were finally on "vacation". 
We had a nice conversation with Dad on the way back to Tavares. The boys were super happy to be off of the plane, and anxious to run around at Mema and Papa's house. They hadn't seen their Mema and Papa since December, and it was time to have fun and re-acquaint everyone with each other.
We got up the next morning, fairly early, around 8 am, despite the four hour time difference. The warm temperatures and early sun rise helped everyone forget it was actually 4 am in Alaska. After a nice breakfast and a bit more catching up, Dad, Zach and I piled into Dad's truck and made our way back to Orlando to retrieve our rental for the rest of the trip. The drive was nice and Dad and I were able to talk without having to worry about cell phone minutes and battery life. As we neared the airport and got to where we thought the rental agency was, we were disappointed to find out that the office had moved locations a few months earlier. In their haste they appariently failed to update their website, hmmm, not a good start to the sidetrip. Vacation time is a wasting, and the last thing I want to do on my Florida vacation is to burn daylight hunting around for a rental agency. After a few phone calls we located where we needed to go on Dad's GPS. I mentally catalogued this location snafu for later ammunition at the rental desk, in order to hopefully get an upgrade on the vehicle. We drove another 20 minutes to where the new location was, and I went in with Zach to get our vehicle for the week. Zach again pipped in about wanting a red car, and the clerk did the best to accomidate us. It worked like a charm. The guy was able to get us a red, Mazda 5 with seating for six. Perfect!! The van would work well for everything but the trip to Disney. No worrys, we'll figure that out when the time comes. From now on, anytime I rent a car, I'm going to have Zach there to request a red car. 
Up at the crack of . . . 9:30 . . . not a great start. We made good time getting there and got checked in and ready to roam the park by noon.
Last year I was on a mission to see as much of the park in the three days we had to spend there. I had a "base map" of all four parks, and each night I would plan our itinerary for the next day, carefully coordinating events as to make the most of our time. That approach worked well, almost too well. By the end of the three days last year, everyone was pretty worn out. This year I would take a different approach. No base map, no plan, just head in a direction that looked like the most fun, and would appeal to all of the party involved. We took advantage of the hotel pool late in the game last year, but this year I wanted to utilize the pool more during the hot parts of the day, and concentrate on the parks during the cooler morning and evening hours. This was after all a vacation.
I really enjoy staying at the Beach Club resort. It is right on the Disney grounds, and walking distance from Epcot (my favorite park). After checking into our room, we headed out to Epcot. Our first stop of the day was Germany. Zach is in a German immersion program for Kindergarten, so I thought he would get a lot out of visiting this psudo-German environment. We came here last year and had dinner. Dinner is just too late for the kids, Zach ended up sleeping through most of one of the live music shows. Plus, dinner is $10 dollars more than lunch, and it is the same thing. We were all hungry, so we made the spot decision that we would dine in Germany for lunch.
Germany in my opinion has the best food at the park. The buffet is awesome, and filled with authentic German food. You can eat as much as you like, and it is typically food that I am really fond of. Bratwurst and Spaetzle, and of course German beer!!
They put on a good show for the people dining in the authentic German beer garten. Dad and I both were able to dance with Zach during a polka. Zach stunned the band when at the end of one of the songs he said "alvederzane".
The Seas with Nemo and Friends attraction at Epcot turned out to be a lot of fun. One of the highlights was "Turtle Talk with Crush". Crush is an animated turtle from the movie Finding Nemo, in this theatre experience, they project Crush on a movie screen, and he interacts with the audience. I am not sure how they do it, but it is pretty weird to see an animated turtle, lips moving and everything, carrying on a conversation with an audience of kids under the age of 10. Crush's personality is that of a typical California surfer dude, and his favorite saying is "totally awesome dude!" Zach was in the front row and festooned with his winged bat Mickey Mouse ears. He was the first kid in the group who got to interact with Crush. Crush asked Zach several things and even had him say is favorite saying "totally","awesome", "dude"!
What a cool hat! Papa had gotten it for Zach on our last visit to Disney and we brought it back this year. Everyone liked the hat as they were no longer available, the version this year was a candy corn. Lame!!
Mission Mars was Zach's favorite ride of the trip. The ride simulates the G-forces of a real rocket launch. Before the ride they assign you a position for the trip. I was the engineer, Renee was the Captian and Zach got to be the Commander. Zach was very proud of the position he had and the job that he was assigned during the trip, and frequently referenced his high position during the rest of our Disney vacation. We tried to get Zach on the ride last year, but he was just a bit too short. A year has past and Zach is now several inches taller, no problem meeting the minimum hight requirements this year.
We got back to the room late and ordered room service pizza! Yum. A good snack before heading to bed. There was also left overs for breakfast a few days which we enjoyed on the tables and chairs on the patio outside of our room.
Overall, Sam did GREAT! We were a little worried that he wouldn't want anything to do with being strapped into a stroller during all the action. He had his moments, but was able to get out for the rides and a nap in the room during the day often enough that he stayed happy. He showed his displeasure more when he had to get out of the pool! He is a water baby!
Can you go to DisneyWorld and not get a family picture in front of the Magic Kingdom? It is the happiest place on earth. We enjoyed the Pirates of the Carribean, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain....and of course, It's a Small World. Sam had crashed in the stroller, so was carried, asleep for the whole ride at Small World. He would have enjoyed it, next time. As it was HOT, we headed back to the Beach Club for a nap and some swimming.
The Pirates of the Carribean ride is always a good time, especially when there are REAL pirates waiting at the other end to have your picture taken with.
Renee has a picture of her about Zach's age with a Mickey Mouse shaped balloon. The balloons have come a long way and now have a "protective" harder plastic large clear balloon around then. We suspect instead of lasting a day or two, they now stay afloat for a week or so. Papa got Zach one - a red one, his favorite color. We laughed with the guys about the skill to be able to hold so many balloons without letting them go when unwrapping the sting from his arm/hand when someone bought one. He laughed - apparently the whole bunch has gone to sky a few times with new handlers.
A hot little Sam taking a nap on the way to It's a Small World. A sweatly little boy reminded us of the hot years with Zach in Houston. Red cheeks and all!
Ahh, the pool at the Beach Club. Pure joy, for kids and adults! The pool has a great water slide, lazy river and kids area complete with piles of sand in the pool. It is just like a real beach. The water was so refreshing after a busy morning at the Magic Kingdom.
Zach was a pro at the water slide. He would go flying down, get out of the pool and go running up the sidewalk to get in line again. Zach is funny sometimes, he repeats stuff like a parrot. The slide is in the shape of a pirate ship, from a movie I'm sure. Anyway, Zach felt the need to tell me that there was a pirateship in the movie "the little mermaide", and on that pirateship Ursula had her party. So after the fourth time of Zach telling me this each time we assended the slide, it kind of became a running joke, and I used this ammunition to give Zach a taste of his own medicine. . For the rest of the trip I make sure to let Zach know that the pirate ship was where Ursula had her party. Each time he would reply "I know!!!".
Ok, the diet will start tomorrow! The Beach Club has a fantastic "Beaches and Cream" ice cream shop. We went for dinner and a tasty treat. We had the "No way Jose" a peanut butter, chocolate sundae and Papa and Mema shared a brownie delight.
Yummy! Our goal, once the kids are a little older, is to order the "Kitchen Sink" - 8 huge scoops of ice cream, all the toppings in the house and one full can of whip cream! Several large groups got one when we were there, an orange light flashes in the ceiling, and all of the wait staff come out and announce that someone has ordered "the kitchen sink". Something to look forward to in the future indeed!! We probably don't want to know how many calories are in one!
We read in the daily activities bulletin that Epcot was going to open two hours extra, until midnight, for hotel guest only. Papa and Mema volunteered to put the kids to bed and stay with them so we could go out on the town. We took them up on it! When the park closed at 10 pm, the people started steaming out. We rode all the big rides with no wait and then decided to grab a margarita and walk around the lake looking at all the countries. We got to the front of the drink line and were told they were now closed. They literally shut the doors in front of us. No margarita for us tonight. We had a great time talking and walking with no distractions. We did some shopping at Germany to get Zach a flag for his room and some German themed Mickey Mouse stuffed toys for his teachers. We closed the place at midnight, security was starting to make their final sweep as we left Epcot for our hotel. A fun "date" night.
The next day we decided to do Animal Kingdom which we hadn't done the year before. The "Everest Extreme" Adventure roller coaster was something we wanted to check out!
Renee and Zach went for the first round. Zach was so excited waiting in line, but was very concerned about the "Abominal Snowman" monster. He was reassured that it wasn't real and that the ride would just be fun. Zach was fine with the roller coaster, but about came out of his skin when the roller coaster stops inside the mountain and the shadow of the "monster" appears! That was it for Zach, he would not go on the ride again! The ride is really fun, you end up going backwards on the ride for about half of it.
The water rides were a different story, Zach couldn't get enough! The Kali River Rapids is a fun ride, and one where you are pretty much guarenteed to get wet.
Zach was only too happy to go a second time with Mom, who really didn't know what she was in for. A little wet would have been just fine - a direct hit with a wave was a little too much. Soaked clothes are not real comfortable for walking around in!
After lunch we headed for the Kikimanjaro Safari. Our "park ranger" did a great job pointing out all the animals as we chased the "poachers" who were after the baby elephant! The park has an amazing collection of animals who are displayed in an "open zoo" type of format. We saw the elephants, hippos, rhinos, everything except the lions who were laying flat in the grass and couldn't be seen.
We love elephants! Although it is hard to eat more than one in a sitting.
Zach enjoyed playing the drums after our African safari. We had a quick lunch at a nearby "African" cafe, and got some food, but more importantly something to drink in the heat of the day. It was hot so we decided to head back to the pool at the Beach Club before taking an afternoon nap.
Sam is a little water baby, just like Zach. Sam couldn't get enough of being thrown up high and squealing in delight on the way down. He was not a happy swimmer when it was time to head for a nap.
For our final afternoon/night at the Beach Club, we decided to head for Hollywood Studios. We caught the boat from near our hotel and enjoyed the ride over.
The Hollywood Hotel, "Tower of Terror", is a favorite ride at Hollywood Studios. The "hotel" was hit by lightening and the family and nanny in the lobby were killed and are now ghosts in the hotel. The elevators may drop and go up unexpectly, a great ride when you are all strapped in and flying up and down! If there is one thing that Zach doesn't like more than monsters, it would be ghosts. He remembered this ride from last year and was not interested in going again. Zach and Sam stayed and toured the gift shop with Mema. It was really sweet, Zach wanted to get Mom a bracelet and Mema let him pick out a multi-colored Mickey Mouse bracelet. Mom was very appreciative and wore it the next few days, sweet of Zach to think of others.
We tried to eat at the Sci-Fi Dine-in restaurant where you sit in cars converted to seats/tables. Unfortunately, the restaurant was all booked up for the night. We will remember that for next year and get early reservations!
It had been a busy day and were all starting to get tired. We had also promised Zach a night at the Epcot fire works. On the way to catch the boat back to the Beach Club, Papa got Zach a light up Mickey Mouse light saber toy. It was a hard decision to decide what light up toy to get, but the light saber was a good choice. Of course, a few hours later Zach hit something and broke the light bulb, nothing we couldn't fix later on, not quite the same affect when there is no light! We took the boat back and Papa, Mema and Sam headed for the room. We went to find some dinner with Zach and found the sit down restaurants near the hotel all had long waits. We ended up having fish and chips at "England" in Epcot while watching the fireworks. A beer from the English pub made for a good evening.
Our last day at Disney. It is going by too quickly. In all of the 30+ times I've been to Disney, I have never once been to any of the water parks. There are two water parks, "Typhoon Lagoon", and "Blizzard Beach". Because we had just left the cold latitudes of Alaska, we thought it fitting that we spend our day at the latter. Disney legend has it that after a freak winter storm blanketed the area with snow, Florida's first ski resort was born. When temperatures returned to normal, the powdery snow turned to slippery slush. Slalom courses, bobsled and toboggan runs became downhill waterslides. The chair lift carried swimmers instead of skiers. The ski jump became the tallest, fastest waterslide in the nation. Zach is getting old enough now to appreciate some of the water rides and areas that they have set up for the kids. Mom and Dad decided to sit out the day at Blizzard Beach and head back to Tavares. They did however, graciously agree to take Sam back with them. This left Renee and I to spend some quality one on one time with Zach. With temperatures hovering in the mid 90's, and armed with a fresh tube of Sunscreen, we were ready for whatever the park had to throw at us. We had a blast!! 
Our first task of the day was to locate the lockers. Had to stash the stuff. Then off to Mt. Gushmore for some water slide action. We actually got to take a ski lift up to the top, to funny. 
The view from the top was great. It was already starting to get hot, so I was very glad that we reserved our last day at Disney for fun in the water. I wanted to start-off the day by all three of us riding "Summit Plummet", the super steep water slide that rockets you to 55 mph. Unfortunately, Zach was about two inches too short for the ride. Maybe next year. We decided to find something else we could all ride together. Luckily all we had to do was turn around and whala, a family ride we could all ride together. 
Summit Plummet was still beckoning us, so after a couple of runs down Teamboat Springs, we split up and took turns riding the big daddy of all water slides. I was up first and headed to the top of Mt. Gushmore. The line wasn't too bad for Summit Plummet, although it was the longest wait of the day, about 20 minutes. The view from the top was pretty cool. You are way up there. I tried not to think about the plunge too much while I waited in line, but when it was my turn to go, I'll admit, I got a tad bit nervous. I liken the ride to sliding off the side of a cliff. You accelerate like you are in a free fall. The fall is probably only 3 seconds, but it feels much longer. The de-exceleration is what kills you. Water is flying by at almost 55 mph, and smacks the back of your legs towards the end of the plunge. It is crazy as you slow down to a stop, you can't see a thing until because of the crazy amount of water spray. Then, as quick as it began, it is over. What a rush!!
I finished with the ride and then made my way to where Renee and I agreed to meet. It was now her turn to ride the worlds fastest water slide. I wished her well, and then took over watching Zach as he navigated the obstacles at the "Ski Patrol Camp". He had a really good time on the zip line. He looked so cute too!
We then headed over to some "icebergs" that he had to cross. I pretended to shake them, and try to knock him off balance, but I really just positioned the "bergs" so Zach could get across safely. He thinks that he is so big and can do everything on his own, but I like that he still needs some help from Dad from time to time. Whether he knows it or not.
We hit most of the rides the park offered during the course of the day. Another one of our favorites slides was the Toboggan races. Eight lanes of water slides set up as a race to the finish line. On this slide, size does matter. A life guard gets eight racers into position at the starting line. They then count down from 10 for the start of the "race". When the countdown gets to about 7, the lifeguards push the little kids and their mat down the run, giving them a head start. The course had several humps followed by a short straightaway section, before plunging down another hump. Zach could make it down the first hump well ahead of the pack, but practically stalled on the straight away, giving my heavy frame the advantage. The result was me flying by him like he was standing still and rocketing the rest of the way down the hill. All that girth has finally found a purpose. I zipped past the finish and almost to the end of the slide. Zach however, didn't even quite make it to the finish line, and had to walk the rest of the way. Despite this, he still informed us that he had won the race?!? I don't know how he figures that, but hey, we are here for him, so yes, Zach won the race.
We rounded out the day with a couple of laps in "cross country creek", a huge lazy river that circles the park. The float is suppose to last 20 minutes as one "relaxes" on an inter-tube as you float lazily along. Zach didn't quite see it that way. Our first float was not relaxing at all, as both Renee and I chased Zach nearly halfway around the "river" running after him and dodging other people floating in inter-tubes having a relaxing time themselves. Once we caught up to him and caught our breath, we informed Zach that one is not suppose to run around the loop, but just relax, and float, and relax!!! Our next time around went much better. I think he got it, almost. The day was getting late and we had only about an hour til the park closed. So we took some time out from the slides, and hung out for a while in "Melt Away Bay", a one acre wave pool that can generate waves up to six feet in height. The pool is only about six feet at its deepest, but, that combined with six foot waves made for a fun float. Zach and Renee rode in one of the inter-tubes and I just hung on to the side for dear life! Somewhere during all of that bobbing around I dropped my waterproof camera. I got all the way to the beach, and was going to take a picture, before I realized I had lost my camera. I quickly retraced my steps and made my way towards the deep section of the pool. I was able to find my camera in about five feet of water, luckily no one had realized that was a camera underneath their feet. It was almost a very expensive day. 
We pretty much closed down Blizzard Beach, leaving right at six. I am not sure why Blizzard Beach closes so early, but we were still in the mood for more fun and not quite done with our Disney experience quite yet, so we headed back to our hotel for another ginourmous ice-cream sunday. 
Renee and I each got a whole sunday to ourselves. We'll not entirely, we did share some with Zach. Our waitress was awesome. She picked up on the fact that Zach loves cherries, and went back to the kitchen and brought him a whole bowl of cherries. Isn't there a book about life . . . and a bowl full of cherries?? We stuffed ourselves with our decadent dessert and then headed out and walked (rolled) to the car, where . . . 
. . . Zach fell asleep before we even left the parking lot. A great way to end a four day, fun filled time at Disney. The kids did great and we had an awesome time hanging out with Mom and Dad. Can't wait to come back again soon. The nice thing is I realized on our drive home was that were only half through with our Florida vacation. Sill more fun stuff to do, and no getting up early for work for nearly a week!! So tune into part two of the Florida vacation blog, more fun is on the way. 
