Welcome to Tweedhome

Summer Vacation 2004
Disney’s Vero Beach & WDW Contemporary Hotel
July 17, 2004 – July 23, 2004

Magic Kingdom 7/2004

Cast:
Marshall Tweed – 31
Jenny Tweed (me) – 32
Peter Tweed – 4 ¾
Noah Tweed – 19 months (1 ½)

Pre Trip Thoughts & Notes

Monday, June 28, 2004

Most everything is ready to go for the trip. I still need to finish the itinerary, which will be a bit more rigid than normal. I have to say I'm nervous about this trip, between having a rental car, which is a first, and going to Disney World in July, I'm worried this might not be the most magical of trips that I have planned. I am excited though, and as long as I relax, which I will as soon as we get to Vero Beach I'm sure the trip will be great.

I did learn that getting a good price on a rental car is a lot like finding good airline flights. When you see the low fares book it. But the benefit of the rental car booking is that, you can cancel your reservation if you find a lower price, with out any penalties. Also, if you have coupon or promo codes try your dates with and with out the codes. Sometimes the prices are actually higher with a coupon or promo code, I don't know why, but it just is. Good place to look up rental codes is www.rentalcodes.com.So I'll continue to see if I can get a better rate on a rental. Right now we are at $202 for the week from Alamo and that includes all taxes and such. This is a good price, but I'm hoping I can do better.

Friday, July 16, 2004

We are at 20 hours 13 minutes and some odd seconds until we board our plane. Rental prices haven't gotten any cheaper so we will be staying with our $202 price. Which is a pretty good rate for the week.

Most everything is set to go, my biggest stress right now is that I lost my Van keys. I have looked everywhere and they are nowhere to be found. They could possibly be lost in the Van or Noah may have swiped them off the table, in which case they could be anywhere.

I hate getting this stressed before a trip. I'm very organized so I don't know why I get so stressed? Grant it, I wasn't packed as early as I normally am, but still I have us all packed and ready to go.

I think I need a trip where I do none of the preparation, from booking to planning to packing. Takes a lot of work, I never realized this when I was little, so Thanks Mom for all you did to get us ready to go on vacation!

I'll be better once we check in tomorrow at Vero Beach. But I just can't stop thinking about my lost keys. Actually, now that I think about it maybe the lost keys is a good distraction for me because I'm not worrying about missing our connecting flight tomorrow. We have 40 minutes provided we take off and land on time from Minneapolis to catch our connecting flight in Memphis. We are seated at the back of the plane so I'm thinking it might be close as to whether we make our flight or not.

Which reminds me of some things I've learned. I don't think I'll ever book flights from Expedia again, just too many “hands in the pot” so to speak. We booked out flights through Expedia for Continental flights, great rate of $163.00 per person. But it wasn't until after I booked the flights that I noticed how little time we had between layovers. The flights were packaged together so I had no choice in the flights, I basically looked at start time and arrival time not the layover times. But I booked them so far out, and flight scheduled change, I wasn't too worried. The times did change a bit to give us more time during our layovers, but still not that much, I really like at least an hour. The flight operator changed too, we will be flying Northwest the whole way. So it works out to be we got flights from Expedia on Continental which will be operated by Northwest. See, too many “hands in the pot”. Plus I never got a confirmation of the airlines through Expedia, or so I thought until about a week ago when I checked and Expedia told me my booking # with Expedia is the confirmation # with the airlines. In this case it was the confirmation # with both Continental and Northwest. So we were able to call Northwest and get seats, at the very back of the plane, had I known the confirmation # we would have called earlier to reserve our seats. So next time I think I'll just hold off and book directly through the airlines like I normally do. I usually use Expedia to see who is the cheapest then go directly to that airlines web site and book from there, it usually ends up being $10 to $20 cheaper directly through the airlines.

Well I'm now at 19 hours 46 minutes and some odd seconds and I think I'll go look one more time for my keys.

Update on my key. Marshall, my wonderful husband found them for me when he came home for the day. What a relief to not have to worry about missing keys the whole trip.

And so the trip begins! We finally left Rochester at about 5:00 pm, we were hoping to get on the road earlier but work kept Marshall busy. Plus Marshall had to swing by his office (he was working from home that afternoon) to pick up Larry. Who is Larry? In a nutshell Larry is a cardboard mascot from his office based on a project his team was doing for a person named Larry. Larry joined the Tweed family for a little vacation of his own.

We gassed up and were on our way to Minneapolis. Since our flight was so early the next morning we decided to go up to a hotel by the airport the night before. We stopped for supper at McDonalds on the way up and checked into the Hilton by the airport at around 7:00 pm. I got a really good deal from hotwire on the room, $78.00 for the night.

The lobby had this glass waterfall that both of the boys loved.

Our room was very spacious two double beds, a counter with a sink in the main area (like a wet bar set up minus the refrigerator), a good size desk, a sleeper sofa, and a little nook that would fit a pack-n-play perfectly. Noah loved running around the room and climbing up on the beds and the sofa.

We went for a quick dip in the pool to ware the boys out. I think this possibly got them more wound up instead as they were tearing around the hallway and the room once we got back to it. The boys had a bath and Marshall and I each had a shower. This was so we could sleep in a bit later in the morning.

I was continuing to worry about making our connecting flight the next day so I had Marshall call Northwest to see if we could get switched to the 6:00 am flight instead. He called but could not get through. So I resigned to “whatever will be will be”.

Marshall and Peter went looking for juice for the tippy cups for Peter and Noah at about 9:00 pm and much to my surprise they came back with milk. They were able to purchase milk from the hotel bar. I can just imagine the look on the customers faces when Marshall went into the bar at 9:00 pm at night with a 4 year old and bellied up to the bar. He purchased 2 ½ pint cartons of milk and headed back to the room.

By 9:30 pm we were all in bed. Marshall and Peter in one bed, Noah and myself in the other. This was the first time Noah had ever attempted to sleep with one of us and his first attempt in a “big bed”. Notice how I said attempt. At 10:00 pm Marshall went down to the car to get the pack-n-play for Noah to sleep in. We set that up and Noah was asleep in no time. At some point during the night Peter fell out of bed but only Marshall woke up to get him back into bed. Neither Peter nor I woke up. Peter didn't even know he fell out of the bed the next day.

Day 1
Saturday, July 17, 2004

We woke up with a 4:00 am wake up call and Marshall and I got ready for the day. At 4:30 we woke the boys up to get them ready. Things went pretty smooth considering the early wake up.

We got to the airport and were all checked in by 5:30. Marshall took Peter and went to get coffee (Caribou Coffee) milk and rolls. My extra large almond latte hit the spot and gave me my caffeine jolt. Marshall had his usual mocha with a vanilla flavor shot; he has to have the vanilla otherwise he thinks it tastes like burnt chocolate. The boys had chocolate milk, which Peter would not drink because “It’s not real chocolate milk”. I don't know if they didn't put enough chocolate syrup in it or what but he would not drink it. No big deal we had plenty of juice boxes.

We boarded shortly before 6:30 and it looked like we would be taking off on time. We got all settled into our seats. Noah strapped in his car seat beside me and Peter and Marshall in the row a head of us. We were seated 3 and 1 but Noah was throwing a fit because he couldn't get out of his car seat and he was kicking the seat in front of him. So we asked the person sitting there if he'd like to trade seats with Peter so he wasn't getting kicked. He thought that might be a good idea, so he took Peters seat until right before take off when the flight attendant found a seat for his a few rows away. I was so glad that he got to move away from us as Noah as not happy and I have to say he was very pleasant about it too.

The pulled out of the gate and headed towards the run way, while we were moving Noah had calmed down a bit. Pretty soon it seems like we are going the wrong way and the pilot announces that we need to go back to the gate to check an open door warning light shouldn't take more then 5 minutes.

So back at the gate we sit and wait and wait. All this time Noah is getting more and more angry, he is crying and kicking the seat in front of him, which is Peter now so at least that is no big deal. Nothing helps, snacks, juice, toys, nothing. Finally, we are cleared and take off. We were in the air at 8:20 am. The minute we took off Noah fell asleep, ahhh peace and quiet. Travel time per the captain will be 1 hour and 20 minutes. There is no way we would make our connecting flight.

Noah slept for about 45 minutes and then once again he was not happy. 19 months old is not an easy age to travel, they just don't understand why they can't get up and run around.

Once we landed in Memphis, Marshall got in line to get us a new flight while they boys and I had a snack and some water. I had barely opened the teddy grams when Marshall comes running over saying we need to run to another gate to get a hold of a different ticketing agent. We had been assigned a horrid travel route that would not get us into Orlando until 8:20 pm. The new NW agent got us switched to US airways on a flight to Charlotte at 12:15 and on to Orlando from there. She then gave us food vouchers, a couple of calling cards and coupons for future flights. We headed down to the US Air gates to get seat assignments.

At the US air gate Marshall worked on getting us seats while Peter and Noah played in the little play area. Thank you US air for having that play area. Both of the boys played for a good 15 minutes while Marshall got the seats and connecting flight info. After that we used our food vouchers to have lunch and everyone went to the bathroom and Noah got a clean diaper. We sat down at the gate for about 5 minutes and we were ready to start boarding. I gather the things collect Noah and Peter from the play area and I smell something. Sure enough Noah has a stinky diaper; I have no choice but to change him. So I run to the bathroom to change Noah of course he chooses now to not cooperate with me. He is squirming all over. So I hand him the diaper to hold, that usually works at home. Not here…. He takes the diaper and throws it across the bathroom. I finally finish and get to the gate to see Marshall and Peter and the gate attended waiting on us. It was a small plane so boarding didn't take very long. We were the last ones on the plane.

Again on this flight we were seated 2 and 2; Marshall with Peter and me with Noah. Noah fell asleep right after take off and thankfully there were no delays. Peter was crabby but he finally fell asleep about an hour into the flight.

The trip to Charlotte was pretty smooth. Once we got to Charlotte we needed to boogie down to our gate to get seat assignments for the trip to Orlando. Of course the flight was very full. As they were looking for seats I told Marshall to tell them that if we needed we could check the car seat and Noah could sit on my lap. At this point I didn't care about the fact that we paid for a seat for Noah, it by having him sit on my lap would get us to Orlando I would do it. But the gate agent was very nice. She said oh no, we'll take care of you; you have already been delayed and bumped enough. we'll find seats for you all together. So we were bumped to first class. This was my first time in first class, now I'm thinking that that is the only way to go! The seats were so roomy and even Noah didn't get to crabby on this flight. Marshall had 2 beers since it was free but I just had diet coke. The snacks are better up there too. We got gourmet potato chips and cashews and the standard pretzels. It was a nice flight, I just wish I could have enjoyed my first class trip a bit more, but I was so beat from the trip that I finally dosed off for a bit. Peter kept Marshall hopping and finally I had to go sit by Peter because he and Marshall were starting to but heads. Too much Daddy time I think, although Peter didn't want me to sit by him when I moved to Marshal seat.

We landed in Orlando at 5:20 and went to get our luggage. I had a feeling that our luggage didn't actually get transferred to the US air flight like they said it would. As we walked pass the NW baggage claim, I wondered if we should check there. My feeling was right. Our luggage was not at the US Air baggage claim. While Marshall and Peter stood in line at the US Air Baggage office I decided to go and see if our luggage was at the NW baggage office. Sure enough, it was there. We are guessing that it came in the afternoon Memphis flight that we couldn't get on because it was booked solid.

So we got our luggage and strolled down to the Alamo counter to pick up our car. Noah was now getting sick of being in his stroller, but with all the people I didn't really want him running all over but I finally gave in and let him run a bit. Marshall finishes with the paper work and we head out to the lot. We choose an Oldsmobile Alero. At this point Marshall turns to me and says “I don't know why I told you to book an intermediate car; we had a hard enough time getting all the stuff to fit into the mini van I don't know how we will get it to fit in this car. Thankfully, we did get everything to fit. Marshall installed Know car seat with out any problems the portable car seat that we brought for Peter was another story. We bought this compact travel car seat that basically is a 5 point harness from one step ahead last fall and we used it for Noah to use in the happy limo van to take us to WDW. It worked okay back then but I chalked it up to Noah being smaller then the recommend height (we didn't want to lug his full size car seat just for one van ride to and from the airport and the travel car seat seemed like a decent option). Anyway, this travel car sear that is meant for children Peters size was very difficult to install properly, and since we had a 1.5 hour drive ahead of us we wanted a car seat that we felt he would be safe in. After multiple tries we finally said its okay, it will be okay.Poor Peter could not see out at all, not that it mattered as it was getting dark, but on the other car rides he could not see anything and was uncomfortable. SIDE NOTE: I will not be using this travel seat again, we should have just brought his booster car seat. He would have been more comfortable and it would have been safer and easier to install.

It was now 8:00 pm and we were finally on our way to Vero Beach. Had the day gone like it should we would have been to Orlando by 12:30 pm and leaving the airport by 1:30 -2:00 pm but it hadn't and it was now starting to get dark. I was just glad to be in Florida, and have both the boys fast asleep and clam.

The drive to Vero Beach was calm, quite and pretty much uneventful; except we did take a wrong turn, kind of. We turned too early on to one of the roads and went through all this back roads stuff in some questionable areas, put it this way, I wouldn't have gotten out to ask directions. I couldn't understand why Disney would give directions to one of their resorts through such back roads. When I looked at the directions I realized that we turned to early, this was the road that we would eventually need to be on but not until later. So we just followed the road and sure enough ended up where we needed to be. We pulled into the resort at 9:15 p.m. and started the check in process, the bonus to checking in so late is that there was no line. Marshall started the checking process and I took Noah and went for diapers and Milk. We had planned to go to a grocery store when we got there so I didn't pack diapers only enough for the day. Neither one of us felt like trying to find a grocery store so I just went to the gift shop and got what we needed to make it through the night. Peter explored the lobby a bit and quickly found a penny press, which he was very excited about. After a quick pressing of a penny Marshall and Peter found Noah and I and we headed off to our 1 bedroom vacation home.

The bad thing about arriving so late is that there were no parking spots in the garage area under the building so we had to park out in front of the building, which there were no spots either, so we ended up parking along side the road. It wasn't a big deal since it is a gated area patrolled by Disney security, but I was a little uncomfortable being we had a rental car. We took the stairs to the second floor, as we didn't see the elevator, once we got to our room we found the elevator and Marshall planned on using that to bring the rest of the luggage up on. I had requested an Ocean view, but found out through some reading back home that the studios and 1 and 2 bedroom villas didn't have ocean views, at this point our view could have faced the garbage area and I wouldn't have cared, I was just happy to finally be “home”.

We unpacked and the boys ran around and explored the room. While I was unpacking I stepped out on to our balcony and although I couldn't see the ocean (It was too dark to see anything except the sidewalk below) I could hear it. It was the best sound I have ever heard after such a hectic day! I had the rest of the family come out to get a quick listen and all but Noah were impressed, Noah being 1 just doesn't have an appreciation for those kinds of things, he did however love the balcony.

The boys had a quick snack of popcorn and milk and headed off to bed. Marshall and I headed off to bed at about 11:30 and as we were getting into bed, with Peter between us and Noah in the pack-n-play, I told Marshall “I’m done planning until we get to Walt Disney World, you are in charge.”

We had a short snooze and were up at 12:00 am, Noah was crying. We gave him a slight rock and he went right back to sleep. Noah woke up again at 12:30 am, so another slight rock and he went back to sleep. I'm guessing he was a little scared because the surroundings were not familiar to him. I went back to sleep only to be awakened by Peter at 2:00 am, with a bad cough. I kept asking him if he was going to throw up, as it kind of sounded like that, he kept saying no. Then Marshall realized what the cough was…. Croup. Marshall scooped up Peter and took him to the kitchen and opened the freezer to let him breathe the cold air. Peter stopped coughing and we were all back to sleep by 2:30 am. Thankfully, Noah didn't wake up during Peters coughing. Peter had another spell bad coughing and another trip to the freezer at 3:30 am but after that he was okay. He went back to sleep but he still had a pretty good wheeze when he would breathe.

Day 2

Sunday, July 18, 2004

The days weather was sunny in the am and about 88 degrees then turned cloudy and rained on and off in the afternoon.

Noah woke up at about 6:30 am, just as the sun was starting to come up. I got him some milk and he watched “Bear in the Big Blue House”, this bought me a 20 minute snooze on the sofa in the living room. By then Noah was ready to go for the day. I decided to take him out on to the balcony to look around. Surprise! I can see the ocean. It wasn't a clear view but a very nice view over the greenery and in the distance, the ocean. Note: If we would have been one floor up we would have had a great view of the ocean.

Around 7:30 am Noah and I decided to go for a walk to check out the ocean. We walked down past the pool to the boardwalk to the ocean. We swiped our room key and walked through the gate and we could see ocean for miles and miles. Note: You need your room key to get down to the ocean, and back up to the resort and to get into the pool area too. We walked down the ramp to go check out the sand and ocean. We collected a few shells and let the waves hit our feet. Noah did not like the water hitting his feet. I don't know if it was too cold or if he was just too unsure of what was going on.

After checking out the beach and ocean we decided to take a stroll up to the main building and shopped a bit. I bought Noah a stuffed sea turtle and found the Mickey ghost pin for Marshall. We returned home about 8:30 am.

Marshall and Peter were still in bed but just starting to wake up. Peter was still coughing like a seal. We decided to head to Shutters up in the main building for breakfast at 9:00 am. For breakfast I had the frittata with sausage, potatoes, onion, mushrooms and pico de gaio. The pico was actually salsa but it was still good. Marshall had the omelet of the day, which was very good. It was an apple sausage and mascarpone cheese omelet. The boys both ordered Mickey waffles, but the server messed up the order and brought one Mickey waffle and one Mickey pancake. Peter didn't notice so it was no big deal. We just let the mistake slide as to bring attention to it would have caused a battle. We let Noah eat all by himself so he had syrup all over himself and some parts of the table where he was sitting, but Marshall and I got to eat in peace so it was well worth the sticky syrup mess. Most of the mess came from Noah dunking his orange slices in the syrup and trying to eat the orange. He really loved dunking things in his “dip” as he called it.

After breakfast we did a little more shopping. We rented a few movies for later, which were free for us to rent since we are vacation club members. I think the cost for rental for non-DVC members is a dollar per movie, but I'm not sure. Peter and Marshall got some pins and Noah got water shoes since I forgot Know water shoes back at home. We were back to the room by 10:45 and Peter and Marshall decided they would go for a swim and Noah went down for a much needed nap. I enjoyed another cup of coffee, relaxed, read, enjoyed the quite and napped for a bit too. I decided that I liked vacations that started out this way. I couldn't imagine taking the kids to the Magic Kingdom or some other park after a travel day like the one we had the day before. I was so happy to be at Vero beach relaxing before our up coming trip to WDW.

Mean while, Marshall and Peter had a great time gathering shells on the beach, and swimming in the pool. They both really enjoyed the big water slide in the main pool. Peter also like playing and splashing around in the kiddie area, the Princess Tiger Lilly boat. Marshall and Pete got back to the room about 12:30 just as I was getting out of the shower. Noah woke up and Marshall jumped in the shower.

Next we took a drive to the store (Publix) to get a few things. The boys were both very crabby and it made shopping a nightmare. In the future only one of us will venture to the store. We got aback to the room and unloaded the groceries and had lunch. The boys wanted cereal and bananas and that was fine by me, Marshall and I had sandwiches. After lunch the boys went down for a nap and we watched part of a movie “Miracle”.

After a bit the boys woke up and we got ready to go swimming. We headed to the pool but when we got there it was closed due to lighting in the distance. Peter had been begging for a new pirate gun he had saw in the gift shop so we headed up to the main building to get that for him. After that we headed back to the room to change. On our way back to the room we ran into a cast members cleaning cart. We pointed out to Peter the smiley face on the side of the vacuum because we thought he would think it was neat. In doing so the cast member came out of the room and talked to Peter and us a bit then asked Peter if he would like an alligator. So Peter got to take a towel folded like an alligator back to our room. We were so excited to get the linen art, because this was a first for us. Peter loved his alligator and he even slept with him at night during our stay. Peter was sad to have to leave his new friend behind when it came time to leave.

While we were changing into our clothes and deciding what to do next Noah said Peters name for the first time. He called him “Peed” and we are all very excited. For the rest of the trip Noah continued to call Peter by his name and he also learned many more words too.

We decided to go to the Green Cabin Room for drinks and appetizers for supper and we decided to sit outside at a table to have a view of the ocean. The view was lovely but it was a big mistake to sit outside due to the heat. Noah got very cranky very quickly. The one thing we learned during this trip is Noah doesn't like to be hot. If Noah is hot he gets cranky. We did have some very good appetizers and drinks though so even though we were trying to keep Noah happy we did enjoy ourselves. I had a very yummy drink called a “Big John”. This drink had Malibu, raspberry something, pineapple wedge and I'm not sure what else. Marshall had a beer and the boys had their own “cocktails” too, “Shirley Temple”. For appetizers we got that artichoke dip with chips and a four white cheese flat bread pizza. The pizza had mozzarella, mascarpone, parmesan and one other cheese. Both appetizers were very good and just right for a supper for us.

After we ate we headed back to the room to get our suits to go swimming, the pool was open again and we all needed to cool down. We swam and splashed around until 7:45 then headed back to our room and the boys had a bath, bedtime snack and then bed. Then Marshall and I finished watching our movie that we started earlier then called it a day.

Day 3

Monday, July 19, 2004

The days weather was cloudy and hot in the 90’s in the AM then rained on and off in the afternoon and cooled off to about 80 degrees. The evening was partly cloudy and in the 80’s.

The day started bright and early with Noah waking up at 6:20 am (This child doesn't understand sleeping in). Marshall got up with him and took him to the living room so that Peter and I could sleep longer. Noah played while Marshall fell back to sleep on the sofa and around 7:00 am Noah snuck back into the bedroom and woke Peter and me up. Peter and I got up and woke up Marshall. That is when I realized the smell coming from Noah and the major diaper blow out. Marshall neglected to change Noah when they got up so need less to say I was cleaning some carpet. I got the diaper mess all cleaned up and we had breakfast in the room and got dressed and headed for the pool by 8:45 AM.

The four of us swam in the pool and the boys played on the Princess Tiger Lilly ship until about 10:00 AM. Then Marshall and Noah went back to the room for Know nap. Peter and I stayed at the pool to swim some more and most importantly go down the big water slide. The water slide opened at 10:00 AM. And we were about the 5 people in line. I went down first, you can't go together and you can't really be waiting to catch your child at the bottom. You can be off to the side and help them once they get to the bottom. But Peter was wearing a life jacked that was available for check out from the activities counter for free. We loved that we could check out life jackets each day for free; it made swimming so much more fun for all of us. Plus there is no way I would have let Peter (4 1/2 yrs) go on the water slide with out one. So I went down the water slide first listings to the advice from my husband. Marshall told be it is kind of a slow slide so lay down and it will be more fun. In my opinion it was not a slow slide it was a medium speed or even moderately fast slide and laying down made me feel like I was going to drown!! I became so disoriented. I'm a very good swimmer and I love the water and usually water slides too, but this was not a fun experience for me. I think that I must always sit up when I go on water slides. Peter came after me and I had barely recovered to help him out of the way. Peter loved the water slide and wanted to go down some more. I didn't want him go up alone so we went back to the room so that Marshall could go with him and I would stay with Noah.

Marshall felt bad that I got scared and for giving me the advice to lay down, but I think that he really thought I was being a baby. Marshall took Peter back to the pool and they went on the water slide and swam until about 11:00 when the pool closed because of lighting in the area.

It was not raining so I decided to head up to the main building to return the movies and get a few more. I rented Lilo and Stitch and the Princess Diaries. No big surprise here but there were lots of Disney movies available for rental. There was lots of movies for adults too but for some reason I was just really drawn to all the Disney movies (Could it be all the Disney Magic all around us).

Movies all rented and my new tee-shirts in hand (even with just one store to shop at I managed to find something I wanted each time I went there) I headed back to the room. Back at the room Noah was still sleeping and we decided to put in Lilo and Stitch for Peter hoping he would fall asleep. No such luck but Marshall and I fell a sleep. We napped in 10 minutes segments as every 10 minutes Peter would wake us up. we'll all woke up for good at around 1:00. It was raining very hard so we made lunch while we decided what we would do next. I made sandwiches and while we ate it had stopped raining and cooled off to about 80 degrees with felt very nice. After lunch around 2:30 we headed out to the beach to get a little ocean time. We didn't spent as much time down on the beach as we would have liked as Noah was pretty nervous of the waves crashing on the shore and he wasn't all that fond of the feeling of the wet sand. We collected a few more sea shells and then headed to the pool to swim.

Note: I know it may seam that there is not much to do at Vero Beach but sit around and swim but that is not so. They had lots of daily activities and you could really make it a very active vacation if you wanted. The activities were for the young (4 yrs. Up mostly for the kids, but there were a few for toddlers too) and for adults and lots of family activities too. We just didn't get a chance to participate in to many activities because we were trying to recover from our horrid plane ride and we wanted to make sure the boys were well rested for our trip to Walt Disney World.

We got to the pool and Marshall went and got us some drinks; Pineapple Rum Fizz for us (yummy) and a soda for the boys. At around 4:00 we headed back to the room to get cleaned up for our evening activities. Peter was going to spend the evening at the 2D Club (Disney Discovery Club) from 5 until 8 while Marshall, Noah and I had dinner at Sonya’s.

I can't remember the cost of the 2D club, I think it was about $25.00 for the evening but it was well worth it. Peter had a great time with the Disney Cast members there and had fun playing with the other children. He was really missing not playing with other kids on our trip. He kept trying to “join” other families to play with their kids when we were at the pool. Marshall and I didn't mind all that much if he played with other kids but I could tell that some of the parents didn't want their children playing with other kids. Not that they had anything against Peter or other children I just think they wanted to use the time as family time so they didn't want other kids hanging out with their children. I totally respect that, but it is very hard to explain to a very social 4 year old boy. So he had a blast at the 2D club. They fed Peter supper, made a craft and played games. When we asked him if he would like to do it again some time he said “Can I go again tomorrow?”

While Peter was having a great time at the 2D club Marshall, Noah and I headed to Sonya’s for dinner. We were a bit nervous as to how Noah would be as Sonya’s is the “fine dining” restaurant. We knew the cast would be nice but what about the guests if Noah wasn't “good.”

We were seated right away when we noticed a smell. Noah needed a new diaper and we had forgotten the diaper bag back at the room. Marshall ran back to the room and got back to Sonya’s in about 5 minutes and we got Noah all cleaned up and we were all happy about that.

We started off with crab stuffed mushroom caps. There were 4 medium sized mushrooms and in my mind this was the perfect amount for an appetizer. Just enough to satisfy your hunger but not so much that you are full and don't want to eat your meal. The mushroom caps were very good. Next they brought bread; sun dried tomato bread and honey wheat bread. Both breads were very good and Noah loved the honey wheat bread. For our dinner Marshall had pecan crusted grouper with green beans julian carrots and rice. He really liked his meal. I had the crab stuffed lobster tail and petite NY sirloin with green beans julian carrots and rice. The crab stuffed lobster was excellent, my stake was a bit over medium rare (I like my stakes rare to med rare) but it was still good. Noah had the every so classic grilled cheese and fries with ketchup. Noah loved his food, especially the ketchup as he dipped everything in it including the carrot shaped frosted cookie they brought him for dessert. I don't care for ketchup all that much so Noah dipping his cookie in the ketchup was a bit too much for me. I let him dip a few times but then I had to end his fun, it was just grossing me out.

Noah was very, very good; very little food (if any) hit the floor (what can't this happed at home too?) and he didn't scream or cry the whole time we were there. He did “talk” (as much as a 19 month old really talks) loud at times but a reminder to use an inside voice help to quiet him down (like a 19 month old knows what an inside voice is). We finished up about 7:40 PM and were in awe that Noah had sat that long in a high chair and was that good, over an hour and a half.

After dinner we roamed around the main building as we needed to pick Peter at 8:00 PM. While roaming around we saw the 2D club kids come by to go out to the lawn to play games. We got to see the kids club in action as they were playing a game on the lawn outside the main building. All the kids were having a great time. As I said before Peter had a great time but he was very tired and was acting like he was tired (getting a bit of a snotty attitude). Since Peter was tired we decided it would be best if we skipped the campfire, even though we are all looking forward to it. Peter didn't even put up that much of a fight or argument as to why we weren't going to the campfire. We told him it would be better to get a good night sleep so he would have fun at Walt Disney World tomorrow. We headed home and packed up and got the boys ready for bed. As we were getting the boys ready for bed I asked Peter what his favorite part about Vero Beach was; he said “Taking a bath in the big tub.” Both of the boys loved bathing in the whirlpool tub in our room. However, they didn't really care for the jets. One night Peter begged me to turn the jets on and he wasn't fond of the noise and Noah really freaked out. It was against my better judgment, but I knew Peter would not let up until he tried the jets in the tub. Noah wasn't damaged for life, or at least I'm pretty sure he wasn't as he did continue to take baths in the tub, as long as the jets weren't on. The other things that Peter liked about Vero Beach were the water slide, swimming in the pool and ocean and collecting sea shells. We had the boys in bed by 8:45 and we wrapped up the night by watching the Princess Diaries and we were in bed by 11:00 PM.

Day 4

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

The days weather was partly cloudy and raining on and off in the morning to early afternoon. Temperatures were in the mid 80’s to low 90’s. the evening was partly cloudy in the 80’s.

The morning started off early as usual, per Noah waking up at 6:00 AM. I put the Disney channel on for him and gave him a tippy cup of milk and went to shower. Marshall got up around 7:30 and Peter wok up shortly after that. We ate breakfast in the room and got ready for the day. After that I took the boys up to the main building to return the movies with me so Marshall could finish packing up and get the car loaded with out extra “help” from the boys. We had a nice stroll up to the man building and while we were walking we ran into a grounds Cast Member who was getting everything in order for the day. One of his jobs was to make an imprint of a Mickey in the outdoor ash pots (ash trays). We watched him stamp one then he asked Peter if he would like to stamp one too. So Peter got to stamp a Mickey head, which he found to be very fun. He wanted to continue on with the CM and stamp some more pots, but we had to be on our way. We also ran into one of the Cast Member s from the 2D club from the night before and she said hello to Peter, by name. I was very impressed that the CM remembered his name. Once we got to the main building we took one last stroll around pressed a few coins and bought a few post cards and returned the movies. We headed back to the room to get ready to go.

We had everything packed up and ready to go and were on the road to Walt Disney World by 10:00 AM. We had a very nice uneventful drive. The boys slept most of the way and it rained on and off. We got to WDW at 11:45 AM and followed to the signs to the Contemporary, we'll kind of… We made a wrong turn and headed into the Magic Kingdom by mistake, to we exited and looped back up and then took the correct road to the Contemporary Resort. Marshall let me and the boys off and got our luggage to bell services and went and parked while the boys and I went to the bathroom. We checked in at noon and Surprise! our room was ready. We had requested a room on the Bay Lake side of the resort because I thought it would be nice to be able to watch the water parade at night from our room. They did have a Bay Lake view room available, but they also had a Magic Kingdom view room available. The Cast Member asked us what we wanted, I said Bay Lake. She asked “Are you sure you don't want to be able to watch the fire works from your room?” I hadn't even thought of that before now. So we took the Magic Kingdom view instead of the view we had requested. I'm so glad the CM was looking out for our best interest as we very much enjoyed the Magic Kingdom view.

Bell services helped us to our room (Tower Room 4332) and showed us one great feature of our room; the day bed. Peter thoughts the day bead was great, as did we. The CM said we could request a bed rail and it would be the perfect place to Peter to sleep. We were so excited because this meant that one of us would not have to sleep with Peter. For a 4 year old child he really hogs the bed and we didn't expect to not have to share a bed with him so this truly was a great delight. Noah would sleep in the pack-n-play, Peter on the day bed and Marshall and I could either sleep together (alone) or each have a bed to ourselves. We got unpacked and then checked out the view from our balcony. We were not exactly sure as to what we were going to do once we checked in, I had thought probably go swimming but one look at the castle from our balcony and we all had one idea in mind; The Magic Kingdom!

We went to Casey’s for lunch. Believe it or not this was a first for us. In all the times we have been to WDW and the Magic Kingdom we have never eaten at Casey’s. While Peter and I got our food Marshall and Noah went to get Fast Passes for Jungle Cruise. I got our hot dogs, corn dog nuggets, fries and drinks. I looked for a place to sit outside so Marshall would be able to see us but there wasn't a spot. It was then that I realized that we didn't talk about a meeting place. Peter wanted to sit on the bleachers and watch cartoons so that is where we sat. I just kept hoping Marshall would think to look in there. I kept trying to peek out to see if I could see him by my thoughts he should have been back already so I was a bit worried that I missed him and he and Noah were wondering around the Magic Kingdom looking for us. I did finally spot him I hadn't missed him, but I did ask him if he would have thought to look in there. He did say it wouldn't have been his first spot to look but probably would have happened upon it after he checked the surrounding area. We decided that we must get into a habit of making a meeting place. The reason it took Marshall so long to get a fast pass for Jungle Cruise was that the fast pass machines were broken and a CM was handing out fast passes. So he decided that he would run up to Splash Mountain and get fast passes for there too. Note: If you don't have to put your tickets into a fast pass machine (i.e. the machine is broken so a CM is handing out passes) then you can still receive a fast pass from a fast pass machine at another attraction.

We finished eating and it was already our fast pass time for Jungle Cruise. This was a first for Peter and he loved it. He immediately asked if he could go on it again. I said how about Pirates and he changed his mind. We may have waited in line for 15 minutes at Pirates but the line kept moving so it was had to tell. At this point I was quite impressed as it didn't seem all that bad crowd wise. Sure there were a lot of people but I honestly couldn't tell if it was more then what we are use too because all the lines so far really kept moving along. After Pirates Peter was in heaven, the Pirates merchandise store. He had been waiting this whole trip to be able to pick out a new gun and sword. After he picked out his new pirate gear we started to head to the front of the park it was about time to head over to the Wilderness Lodge for our supper at Whispering Canyon Café. On our way out of Adventureland we stopped for photos and autographs with Baloo and King Louie. We also got a chance to meet Jafar.

We hopped on the boat to the Wilderness Lodge and cruised on over. As we saw the Wilderness Lodge from the water Marshall and I got big smiles on our faces and we said we should have stayed here. Not that we didn't like the Contemporary but the Wilderness Lodge is our favorite. We walked up the dock and into the lodge as we entered Marshall turned and said to me “We’re home.” The Wilderness Lodge just feels like home to us, so comfortable and we do own a part of the Villas through DVC so it is actually home to us. We wandered around a bit took a few photos. We always get a photo by the Mickey pole in the main lobby. I'm using the Mickey pole as a growth chart for the boys in our vacation album so we can see how much they have grown from year to year. Peter and Marshall got a few pins from the pin cart and we then headed to Whispering Canyon Café for our priority seating. We were seated as soon as they opened; we had the first seating of the day. We got to our table and Peter was complaining that he was cold so our waitress ran and grabbed him a blanket and wrapped him up. I had to laugh she wrapped him up so only his head was showing. He kept the blanket through out dinner. We had a very enjoyable dinner and luckily no one at our table had any need for ketchup! The boys split a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which was tasty but Peter thought it had too much jelly so I scraped some off and it was fine. Marshall ordered the grilled chicken penne pasta with garlic chipotle sauce, it was very good. I had the Doc Willis chicken with Yukon gold potatoes and cinnamon apples. Everything was very good especially the chicken; it was the very moist and juicy. After supper Peter participated in the pony races. Noah was just a little too small so he didn't ride in the race. He couldn't quite figure out how to walk with the pony.

After dinner we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. As we hit Main Street USA Peter and Marshall decided they needed to look at pins, again. I took Noah and went to Uptown Jewelers, I had forgotten my watch at home and I was going nuts not knowing what time it was. I needed a casual in expensive brown Mickey watch so I went to look. I did have good intentions of getting a brown Mickey watch. I found one foe about $30 I liked. I was just about ready to purchase when I saw it… A pink Minnie Mouse watch, it was love at first sight. I had to have it. I love pink, I didn't have a Minnie watch, and it was twice as much in cost (not bad, but I have a hard time spending over $30 on my self). So while I'm deciding Marshall comes up and asks if I've found a watch. I show him the Minnie Mouse, tell him how much I love it, but it's not very practical because it is pink. He said but you love pink so you decision is made. He buys me the watch there for making my decision for me and I'm very happy. (Note: I wear my Minnie watch just about every day even it if doesn't match what I'm wearing).

With our shopping done we start heading back towards Splash Mountain. We had planned on doing the baby swap since Noah was too little to ride, but on the way over to Splash Mountain he fell asleep in the stroller. He was sleeping with his head planted forward on the tray of the stroller. He looked so uncomfortable so we tried to recline the stroller and lay him back so he would be more comfortable. He got very mad at us so we set the stroller seat back up and let him sleep as he wanted, head on the tray of the stroller. So I decided to browse around the briar patch shop until Peter and Marshall were done with the attraction. I looked for a Splash Mountain pin to buy Peter. We had told him that every “big” attraction he went on we would get him a pin for his lanyard. They were all out of Splash Mountain pins here so we would need to get him one from another store. We decided to offer pins to Peter not to force him to go on rides but rather so he could remember the first time he went on a “big” ride. We would never force him to go on any ride he didn't want to go on. However, with the incentive of “I get to get a pin if I go on this ride” he was ready to try all the big rides. Even ones we knew he wasn't ready for (i.e. Tower of Terror). Peter loved Splash Mountain and couldn't wait to go on it again with me the next day. We were going to buy the photo but you couldn't really see Peter in it so we didn't buy it.

Noah woke up shortly before Marshall and Peter were done with Splash Mountain he got about a 40 minute nap, so he was happier and ready to go. I say happier because he was never exactly happy when we were outside during this trip. As I've said before we discovered very quickly that Noah hated being hot, and Florida in July is HOT. So Noah was a bit cranky when we were outside for longer then 10 minutes. With Noah needing a cool down we decided to go and visit the Tiki Room.

In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Room…. We all love the Tiki Room it is a great place to cool off and an enjoyable show. Noah was dancing to the music and Peter was singing the songs. Of course they know the music well as we have the music from the parks cd that we listen to often.

After the Tiki Room it was time for our bedtime snack. What do you have for a bedtime snack when you are in Adventureland on a HOT, July evening? What else, a Dole Whip!! We got tow Dole whips one for Marshall and one for me, Peter had a taste and decided he didn't like it so Marshall got him vanilla ice cream and he was happy. Noah like the Dole Whip but lucky for me he only wanted a bite or two. So Marshall and I got to have our Dole Whips all to ourselves… yummm….For those of you who do not know what a Dole Whip is it is a heavenly frozen pineapple treat. It is whipped smooth like soft serve ice cream but to call it “pineapple soft serve ice cream” doesn't do it justice.

It was about 8:45 and time for us to head back to the Contemporary if we expected the boys to have a fun day tomorrow. We hopped the monorail and we were “home” in no time. Marshall stopped by the food and fun center to pick up some pink milk (Strawberry Quick, we were so happy to see they had this as this is what our boys drink). We got the boys in their pj’s and Noah was in bed by 9:15. Peter, Marshall and I were going to watch the fireworks form our balcony at 10:00. Marshall and Peter went to the balcony and I took the mugs down to the food n fun center to get some drinks. This is where I found a new passion. I got Marshall diet coke and was just about ready to fill mine when I saw the frozen coke machine. I ask the man filling his mug if it was good he said “it isn't too bad, he has had better elsewhere”. So I thought I'll give it a try. I didn't just like it I loved it!!! It was my new addiction. I filled my mug and headed back to the room. Noah was fast asleep and Peter and Marshall were on the balcony. I had Marshall try my frozen coke, he said it was okay but he'd stick with diet coke. I thought he was crazy. Frozen coke in my book was a close second to a Dole Whip in the yummy category. The fireworks started at 10:00 and even though we didn't have the music to go along with it we enjoyed them very much. As soon as the fireworks were over Peter was in bed and asleep with in 5 minutes, now that you can't beat! I obsessed a bit more about the frozen coke and decide to go and get one more refill, I took our mugs and got Marshall a diet coke and this time I noticed the frozen cherry next to the frozen coke. I love cherry coke so… I have to try it. I put about an inch of frozen cherry in my mug and the rest frozen coke. Even better then plain frozen coke, this was now my new obsession. I got back to the room sat on the balcony with Marshall for a bit. He still said he'd stick to his diet coke. We watch what we could see of the water parade from the balcony then decided to head to bed.

Day 5

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Before I start day 5, I just have some wonderful memories about the whole trip to tell. During this trip Noah, who was 19 months old at the time, was just learning to talk and it was during this trip that he really started to use words to communicate with us. One of his new words was “butty” for button. Peter and Noah loved pushing the elevator button at the Contemporary. Every time we would come to the elevator Noah would try to stand up in his stroller and say “butty”, “butty”, his way of asking to push the elevator button. Pretty soon Peter, who was 4 at the time, started saying “butty” too and so we also started to experience our first “fights” over things. We started to take turns pushing the “butty”, Noah on the outside button and Peter got to push the inside button. Thankfully, there were never too many other children who want to push the elevator button too else I'm sure both would have been in total melt down. Another new word for Noah was “watery” for water or any type of liquid besides milk. Noah also started to use the word “too” all the time as in “me too”. When he wanted to try anything he would say “too”. As a mom wanting to preserve my children’s memories I do what I can, by writing stuff in their baby books but this Disney trip helped me preserve more memories of Noah at this age then I could have hoped for. At home you get so busy and don't really keep track of when your children really start to communicate, I jot down the first word but that is about it. Next thing you know your baby is speaking in full sentences and you wonder “when did this happen?” I'm so happy I was on vacation at Disney when Noah really started to talk because I'll never forget it. Plus I like to think it was Disney World that brought words to his mouth. Okay my memory section is over on with day 5.

The weather was sunny in the mornings and in the 90’s. It became partly cloudy in the late morning and there was one small shower in the afternoon and then cleared off for the rest of the day.

Our wake up call came bright and early (as usual) per Noah at 6:20 am. I think that Peter may have woke him up as 10 minutes earlier Peter yelled out because he couldn't find his pillow. We tried to get Noah to lay down with us in our bed but he didn't want to. At 6:30 am I decided to get up and take Noah into the bathroom with me while I showered. So Marshall and Peter could sleep.

Our official wake up call came from Mickey at 7:00 am. Peter was just waking up so we let him answer the phone. He got the biggest smile on his face and said “That was Mickey; Mickey called me on the phone.” At 8:00 am we headed down to the food-n-fun center for breakfast. We got cereal and toast for the boys and I and Marshall had eggs. The boys were very crabby and didn't eat at all. Marshall and I quickly ate trying to keep our frustration low. We didn't want the whole day to be a crabby one and we hoped that if we got going the boys moods would change. It was now 8:40 am and we wanted to be at the gate 30 minutes to opening, since we had missed that goal we decided to walk to the Magic Kingdom to save time.

We got to the gates of the Magic Kingdom about 8: 50 am and for the first time ever we got to see the opening show where all the characters arrive on the train. It was very exciting waiting for the gates to open. After the park opened we headed back to Fantasyland. We came in over by the Tea cups, which is a great area to come into Fantasyland as there were very few people. We grabbed a fast pass for Pooh and headed to Peter Pan, Peters favorite. There were no lines so we walked on 2 times in a row. Then we saw Mickey’s Philharmagic and the boys loved. Noah really enjoyed it much more this trip compared to our trip in October 2003. After Philharmagic the line were starting to pick up a little but still not too long. We went on Snow White and after that it still wasn't time for our fast pass at Pooh. Where were getting so much done and it wasn't even 10:30 yet. There was nothing else that Peter wanted to do in Fantasyland at the moment and he was begging to go on Buzz so we headed to Tomorrowland.

Buzz was about a 15 minute wait so we decided to get in line so we go and park the stroller and get in line. Noah didn't want to walk so Marshall carried him. Peter rode with me and Noah with Marshall. Peter scored somewhere in the 3000 range and I didn't do much better, however for the first time ever both Peter and I beat Marshall score he had zero as Noah had fallen asleep so he couldn't work his laser. Since Noah was asleep we decided to take a spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA), one of our favorite resting places. Noah slept the whole time and continued to sleep as we put him back into the stroller (we reclined it so he would be more comfortable and so he would sleep longer).

It was now a little past our fast pass time for Pooh so we headed back to Fantasyland. Noah was still sleeping so Peter and I went on Pooh while Marshall and Noah found a shady spot to rest and wait. Pooh ended up being a bit of a wait. We got to the front of the line in no time thanks to our fast pass but then the ride stopped and it took about 20 minutes to get it up and running. At least Noah was getting a good nap. After Pooh we met up with Marshall and Noah and got a snack, a chocolate chip cookie and a soda. Noah continued to snooze away. We asked Peter what he would like to do next he said “I changed my mind I want to go on Dumbo”. We had told him when we came in if he wanted to ride Dumbo that it would have to be the first ride we went on, and he told us he didn't want to ride Dumbo. We explained to him that we wouldn't be able to go on Dumbo because the line was just too long and then we wouldn't get to do other rides. He was a bit bummed out so he had a bit of a frown on his face. We were trying to cheer him up and figure out what we should do next when two cast members Maria and Cory came over and asked how our day was going and what rides we had been on. We said we had been on almost everything except Dumbo. They asked Peter if he would like to ride Dumbo and of course he said “YES”. We woke Noah up and Maria and Cory took all of us to the front of the line (our second magical moment for this trip, our first time ever for a VIP front of the line treatment). We all enjoyed our spin on Dumbo. The boys both liked flying up and down and Marshall and I noticed that when we were up high we could see the construction into the old 20,000 leagues area. It was need to see the work in progress, the water was all drained and there were lots of “scoops” and “diggers”.

After Dumbo Noah, Peter and I headed to the restroom for a bathroom break and a diaper change, mean while Marshall ran over to the Haunted Mansion to get fast passes for after lunch. We met Marshall at the Harbor House and had lunch. After lunch we shopped a bit while we waited for our fast pass time. We rode Haunted Mansion which Peter loves and Noah did great too, he didn't seem scared at all. Noah was fading fast and it was time for us to leave for the afternoon. On our way out we stopped by Splash Mountain to get fast passes which we guessed would have an evening return time and it did, 5:15 was the return.

We left the Magic Kingdom at 1:00 pm and headed back to the room. Noah went down for a nap, I relaxed and read and Peter and Marshall went for a swim. Peter and Marshall enjoyed their swim; they were able to check out a life jacket at no cost for the length of our stay. This was such a convenience we wouldn't have to stop by and check one out every time we went swimming. They also got one for Noah too. Peter loved the water slide here too and Marshall warned me that this slide was too fast for him to lie down. Peter and Marshall returned from their swim at about 2:30 pm and they both when for a nap. I read some more and went and looked in the shops.

After everyone was rested we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. On our way in we stopped for some pictures and autographs with Stitch. It was about 5:00 pm so we headed to Cosmic Rays Starlight Café as we new the boys would do better eating in doors in the cool air. Chicken strips for the boys and Marshall and I split a half roasted chicken. We like Rays as the chicken is pretty good for counter service and it is a nice escape from the heat (I know, at this point we had maybe been outside 20 minutes, but remember Noah doesn't like to be hot). We ate as fast as we could as the boys were restless and a bit crabby. If fact this was suppose to be the night that we were going to watch Spectro Magic but we had decided that might not be a good idea.

After supper we headed over towards Splash Mountain via Adventureland it wasn't quite time for our fast pass time so we went on Pirates again and on the way out Peter managed to get yet another pirate pistol, we both felt it wasn't worth the battle the word ‘no ‘ would cause. It was time for our fast pass at Splash Mountain but Noah was so upset and uncomfortable that we decided it might be time to call it a night. We asked Peter if he wanted to go swimming back at the hotel and he was excited to do that so he didn't even ask about riding Splash Mountain.

Back at the room we got changed and went down to the pool, magically smiles returned to everyone’s face. We swam and splashed in the pool until about 8:00 pm. Peter loved the water slide, here is a big surprise, I didn't it was too fast for my taste and that was sitting up. I guess I'm more of a lazy river type of person, slow and easy. We had to drag the boys from the pool, they wanted to swim more but we knew they need to get some sleep.

Both boys were in bed and asleep by 8:45 pm leaving Marshall and I a quiet relaxing evening of a few snacks and drinks on the balcony (diet coke for Marshall and for me frozen cherry coke). We relaxed until 10:00 pm then watched the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom. After the fireworks we decided to call it a day and went to bed.

Day 6

Thursday, July 22, 2004

The weather was hot and sunny temps in the 90’s all day.

The day started a bit later then normal for us, Noah slept in until 6:45 am (this is sleeping in considering the normal 6:00 am wake ups he had been having). Peter got Mickey’s call again at 7:00 am and again he had a huge smile on his face. We got ready and left the room at 8:15 and hoped the monorail for Epcot. We were there before opening so we were able to see the opening show with all the characters on the bus. This was a first for us but I'm hoping not a last, I'd like to be there even a little earlier so we could have an even better view.

After the park opened we stopped and greeted lots of characters. I asked Pete who his favorite character was he said Pluto. Pluto has been his favorite since his first trip back in 2001. After we met all the characters the boys wanted to meet Noah and I went over to Test Track to get a fast pass. Marshall and Peter headed to Fountainview café. We love the pastries at the Foutainview so if we are starting a morning in Epcot we now have our ‘breakfast’ there. Marshall had made a wonderful selection of goodies; a Fruit Tulip – flakey pastry with custard and fruit (yummmm), Chocolate chip Cookie for the boys, Chocolate Croissant and a Breakfast pastry – flakey pastry stuffed with egg, bacon and sausage. The boys had mike to drink and Marshall and I split a juice and diet coke. Normally we would have had coffee, but because it was so hot outside and the coffee there is so hot we went for cold caffeine. All the pastries were very good. The one I ended up liking the best really surprised me. I loved the Breakfast pastry, it was so good. I'm not real big on breakfast type sandwiches so I didn't think I'd like the breakfast pastry (which is why Marshall only got one), but it was so light and not greasy that I loved it!

After breakfast we headed over to the Imagination pavilion. We went on the figment ride; Noah loved it and giggled when ever he saw Figment. We spent lots of time in the Imagination Works Studio doing all the activities; e-mailing photos (which nobody back home got, I'm not sure what I did wrong, the one Marshall send people got), playing with the music things, the lights, the cameras etc. As we were heading out a Cast Member came up to Peter and asked if he'd like to be the VIP for the day. They had him pick out a scene from a movie to have his photo imposed over. He picked out a scene from brother bear and then asked if Noah could be in the picture too. The scene would work for two people so Peter and Noah got to be the VIP for the day. They took the photo imposed the boys into the scene and that photo was on display all day for all who visited Imagination to see. Of course we bought a copy of the photo; although we wouldn't have had to as a few weeks after we got home we received the one that had been on display at Epcot in the mail.

It was now our fast pass time at Test Track so we headed over there. Our plan was we'd do the baby swap then play in the water sprites near Test Track. The water sprites were closed they must have been fixing them; we were all very bummed as this is one of our favorite places to cool off. The boys usually spend an hour splashing around in the sprites. We always bring a change of dry clothes and our sandals so we can wear dry clothes and shoes when we are done. We headed to Test Track fast pass line and told the CM we wanted to do a baby swap. He took all of our fast pass tickets and told two of us to go now and then gave us 3 fast pass tickets that didn't have any time limit on them so up to 3 people could come back at any time to the fast pass line. Marshall and Noah went walking around and said they would meet us in the exit area. Peter and I got in line for Test Track. Peter was very excited as he wasn't brave enough to try out the ride the last time we were at WDW. He kept looking at all the cars pulling in and told me he wanted to ride in a blue one. I told him we really don't get a choice we just have to go in the car they put us in. It just so happened that we got to go in a blue car and Peter was just thrilled (blue is his favorite color). Peter loved Test Track and was ready to go again but we told him in a little bit. We thought we would save it for later to be sure we got through all the attractions that he wanted to go through. Noah was asleep in the stroller so we decided that Universe of Energy would be a good choice, a nice cool place for Noah to nap. Noah was asleep in Marshal arms while we waited in line for 5 minutes and for about 10 to 15 minutes in the pre show area but then he woke up and was awake for the rest of the show, so he maybe got a 20 minute nap. Both boys loved the dinosaur part of Universe of Energy and Peter like the game show part too. Peter informed us that the rest of the ride was but the rest was just okay. After every ride we always asked Peter what he liked best about the ride and if it was a ride he'd like to do again some time.

After Universe of Energy we headed over to the Living Seas there was a new Nemo Display out front that looked really neat (they were in the process of adding Nemo to the Living Seas at our last trip in October 2003 so it was neat to see some of the new things. At this point the movie was still the old movie so we are excited to see that the next time we go). Inside the boys looked around the different tanks and all around the room with all the fish from Finding Nemo, we all enjoyed this display very much. I really loved watching the jelly fish, they were so tranquil and peaceful looking I could have stayed there for hours. It was now about 1:00 so we decided to head back to the room to rest up for our evening. Peter got a chance to meet Nemo as we got back outside. He had his picture taken with him, no autograph (fish can't write).

Back at the room we all decided to lay down for Marshall and I it was the only way to get Noah to lay down. Peter was on the day bed and fell asleep right away. Noah was in his pack –n- play and he didn't fall asleep right away. We had to trick Noah by pretending to be asleep. Marshall and I had to lie down on our bed and not make a noise. Meanwhile Noah is singing and talking and every few minutes standing up to see if we are awake. Finally he fell asleep and amazingly Peter slept through it all. Marshall and I ended up dosing off for a bit too.

We slept until 4:20 pm then got up and got ready for our priority seating at O’Hana at 5:15. Words can't tell describe the wonderful food. Everything was soooo good. The boys were restless though so it didn't really make for an enjoyable meal. Peter wouldn't even try the food, so they brought him peanut butter and jelly, which he ate two bites of. Peter did have a fun time doing the coconut races but that was the only part of the meal he liked. Marshall and I are looking forward to going back to O’hana again sometime either when the boys are older or without them all together. As far as meals go we discovered that counter services was the easiest with the boys, neither one of them wanted to eat much due to the heat and neither one had much patients to sitting for long times.

With our bellies full we headed back to Epcot and right to Spaceship Earth. We really love this relaxing ride through time however the exit area was so sad. AT&T had pulled sponsorship from this attraction since the last time we were there and the exit area was very disappointing. There was nothing there, just CM’s directing you to the doors and everything was boarded up. It was so sad. Hopefully imagination will find a better way to fill this area if they do not get a new sponsor.

Next we headed down to the bridge towards World Showcase to play in the water sprites there. The boys had fun splashing in the water. But the other water sprites near Test Track are more fun. After the boys were done splashing in the water we changed them into dry cloths and headed to Mousegear for a little shopping. The boys were fading fast so we decided to call it a night at about 8:45, we were going to try and stay for Illuminations but the boys were too tired.

Back at the room we got the boys ready for bed and Marshall went to fill our mugs. Marshall came back with 2 diet cokes, much to my disappointment the frozen coke machine was on the fritz, so no frozen coke tonight. Marshall and I sat out on the balcony and waited for the fireworks to start. Shortly after 10:00 pm Marshall peeked in the room and Peter was still awake. We decided to let him enjoy the fireworks with us one last time for this trip then he went o bet. Marshall and I sat up for a bit more and went to bed about 11:30 pm.

Day 7

Friday, July 23, 2004

Wouldn't you know it that Noah actually slept in for real the day we are to go home. We all woke up at 7:15 am and got cleaned up for breakfast. We would be feasting with Mickey and the gang at Chef Mickey’s at 9:00 am.

The boys’ mood at breakfast, none other then crabby, crabby, crabby. Peter got all grumpy because he didn't want his picture taken behind the big plate and we really wanted a picture. He got very grumpy and needless to say the picture didn't turn out nice so we didn't buy it. Peter was then crabby through most of the meal and didn't want to have his picture taken with any characters or get their autographs, he just wanted to pout. Noah was all smiles and happy until Dale came by to visit us. Noah loved Dale so much he didn't want him to leave. He was so sad when Dale left that it put him in a bad mood too. Noah would only cheer up when another Character would come by. The food was very good Mickey waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage omelet and a seafood and pesto omelet. With a little food in their tummies the boys cheered up a bit. Dale did stop back for a short visit and Noah Cheered up. Dale was on his way to visit a new table next to us and stopped quick to hug Noah and that made him happy. While he was at the new table next to us the people there didn't have a pen big enough for Dale to hold, so he came back to our table knowing we had one and borrowed it to sign the little girl’s autograph book. Then I got a big kiss on the head from Dale for letting him borrow our pen. Peter finally perked up when he say Pluto (his favorite) and he then wanted his picture taken and wanted to get his autograph. On the way out Peter was in better spirits and posed with Goofy for a photo and autograph. Noah was happy now too.

We went back to the room to pack up and realized that everything was not going to fit into our suitcases. So Marshall ran down and bought another suitcase, a Mickey Mouse one of course. This wasn't a totally worthless purchase as we did need another suit case in the size he bought. It never dawned on us to have some things shipped home. I now have that idea planted in my head in case we ever get in that situation again. We continued packing our bags when I said, “How are we going to get this into the rental car?” To which Marshall replied “I forgot about that”. We barely got the bags we had brought into the rental car when we got here how would we fit another medium size suit case?

We checked out at about 11:00 am and Marshall managed to get all the bags in the car. He didn't even have to struggle that much, he had just packed the car poorly when we arrived to Orlando due to being so late and tired from our travel day so there was actually plenty of room.

Next we headed downtown to the Marketplace. We shopped for a bit and had ice cream our plan was to stay a bit longer and look around but the boys moods changing fast, so we headed for the airport at 1:05 pm. We got to the airport at 2:00 dropped off the rental car and got all checked in with no problems. The boys were happy now in the coolness of the airport and we also let them run (walk) around hoping to get some of their energy out.

We boarded with no problems and we were even departing 10 minutes early, we were so happy. Then as we are backing out I hear a familiar noise. Kind of a whining clunking noise we heard on our trip down. I look over at Marshall and I can tell he is thinking the same thing I am. Sure enough we pull back into the gate and the pilot says they need to check out a warning light but we should be leaving shortly. Our depart time was suppose to be 4:20 pm. We pulled away from the gate for a second time at 4:55 pm at this point I'm doubting that we will make our connecting flight in Memphis. At 4:58 pm we head back to the gate the problem is still not fixed. The pilot comes on again and says we'll see if we can get the problem fixed if not we will need to change planes. Either way there is no way we will make our connection. At this point Marshall looks at me and says we are never flying Northwest again! The only consolation during this whole time is that Noah was asleep. For the most part Noah would always scream and cry during the waiting to take off period and once we were in the air he would fall asleep.

At 5:20 pm, an hour past the time we were supposed to take off, we finally departed Orlando. Noah slept for half of the trip (including the 1 hour delay in Orlando), so midway to Memphis he woke up. He didn't wake up grumpy… He woke up MAD. Nothing could make him happy, he cried and cried and wanted out of his seat. Thankfully he was restrained in his car seat else it would have been even worse. We landed in Memphis at 6:25 PM (which doesn't sound like that long of a flight, but there is a time zone change from Orlando to Memphis, so we had a 2 hour flight.).

We got off the plane at 6:50 pm and rebooked on a fight for Minneapolis at 7:10 pm. Where is the gate? None other but all the way across the terminal. Noah has passed just plain mad and gone to FURIOUS and Peter was no tin the best of spirits either. Noah just wanted to run around and I couldn't blame him, I would have liked more of a stretch too. We got to our gate and the incoming plane had been delayed so the passengers were just getting off so we let Noah and Peter run around for 10 minutes until we boarded.

As we boarded we noticed it was very hot, the air was not working but were assured that once we took off it would be fine. We found our seats strapped Noah in, now he was not happy again. It is not long until we are all uncomfortable by the heat. Then the pilot comes on, I looked at Marshall and say 20 minute delay. Sure enough the Pilot says they need to check out a warning light so there will be a short delay, not more then 20 minutes. As we sit it gets hotter and hotter and Noah is hot and tired so he is screaming. I could do nothing to make him happy and I tried. Finally a male flight attendant and comes back and throws a can of juice and some pretzels at me. Now I'll break into a little rant. Why do so many flight attendants think that juice and a snack will cure everything? I had a tippy cup out and it was filled with juice, Noah didn't want it. He was hot and we were not moving the two things he hates most. I had already told that flight attendant and others I have snacks and juice, as soon as we start moving and it cools down he will be fine and stop crying. Did he believe me… No, why would a mother know what her child needs.

Finally, at 7:40 pm (after a 20 minute delay) we departed Memphis, and just as I expected as soon as we started taxing down the run way Noah stopped crying and fell asleep. We all slept until about 20 minutes out of Minneapolis, when Noah woke up, still tired but content. We landed at 9:45 pm got our bags and hopped the shuttle to our car to drive the 1 and 45 minutes home. Both the boys slept all the way home. We pulled into our garage at 12:00 am and al went right to bed. No fights or hassles, Marshall and I were amazed since the boys had been sleeping so much; we figured it would have recharged them a bit. But thankfully, they were still exhausted as were we.

What is the most amazing thing about this family vacation is even thought we had horrid travel day and the boys were more crabby then happy, we look back upon it with such happy memories. Honestly, I just remembered all the fun we had and didn't even remember how crabby the boys were until I reviewed my notes to log this vacation. I think two things make me only remember the happy times of this trip. First, it was a Disney trip… So of course it had to be fun. Second, and most important, when the boys started to get crabby we didn't respond by getting crabby too (which is amazing), but we would change our plan take a break earlier then planned or quickly finish our meal so we didn't have to all be miserable. The third thing we learned is, if you have grandparents or any other adult relatives to brig with you by all means do so. The extra adults can help the parents out and share in the fun too. We loved our family of 4 trip to Vero Beach and Walt Disney World. But until the boys are a bit older we will be having extra adults join us at Walt Disney World, Vero Beach we can handle by ourselves.