A Safe Landing!

We just got back from Florida last night.(**edited... I started this post last week and never finished it.. ugggh Now it is December 1st) We had a fantastic trip and were busy from morning until night every day. This was Sammie's first flight so she got to meet the pilots and sit in the cockpit too. The captain put his hat on her head!

Brad had to go for work and Sammie and I tagged along for fun. We went to the Magic Kingdom the first day. I have been there a few times before but it was her first time and so much fun to see it through her eyes. The parks are so enormous that all of Disneyland can fit into the parking lot of the Magic Kingdom. You have to take a ferry boat or the monorail to even get to the park. If you look in the distance you can see Cinderella's castle. The weather was cold/breezy during the day and very cold at night. One night it was 39 degrees!! BRRRRRR.. We went off season though, so there were practically NO lines! That was fabulous!

EPCOT.. Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

Yes, Yenny, you are exactly right! ( I know you went there so that helps!) Anyway here is Sammie in front of the famous "silver ball" which is a ride at Epcot called Spaceship Earth.
This was where we spent our second day. EPCOT is ginormous and you really can't experience it all in one day. It is divided into two lands.. The Future World and the World Showcase. The future world has rides and exhibits demonstrating the way things may be in the future and some really neat technology. There is a Finding Nemo ride ( different than Disneyland) and a ride called Test Track which simulates a vehicle crash test. It is a fast ride but very fun. There are about 7 buildings each with a different theme and exhibits/rides to go with them. We spent some of our day in the future world but then went to explore some of the countries. I wanted Sammie to see the Chinese acrobat show which is fantastic. We went to many countires in the World Showcase. Mexico, China, Norway, America, Italy, Germany, and Japan.

My pictures got out of order on this blog post so I will skip around a bit. As you read further, you will see a pic of what happenend in Japan.

This is a sign outside of Test Track. I loved that it had the number 4 and Sammie is 4 years old.. It was sort of symbolic to me as a scrapbooker!

The Test Track ride is sposored by GM and so when you exit the ride you go into a showroom with brand new cars to look at and sit in. Sammie went right up to this red Hummer and loved it.. ( She really wanted the sparkly blue pick up truck so she can pull her horsey trailer)

This is an out of order photo from Gatorland on our last day of the trip. This was fun because we got really really close to some alligators.

Hi Mickey and Minnie!

Okay.. now back to my narration of "Japan". They are famous for their pearl harvesting so I bought Sammie an oyster that she got to choose and even though I said, "what about this one?"... or"How about that one?".. or "Look in that tank there are more in there", she spotted the one she wanted from the get-go and that was it! She chose it because it had some pretty seaweed on it. Well, when they opened it up, it had 2 beautiful 6.5mm pearls inside!!! She was so excited she was jumping around. She got "twins" as they called it and said it is quite rare and happens only in 3 perecent of the oysters. Also, the average size is like 5mm. My plan was to save the pearl and someday when she gets married, give it to her as a gift, now I guess I can have a set of earrings made for her someday!

In Norway they have a really neat water ride that goes backwards down a hill and then forwards. They are known for their "trolls" so I had to snap this pic.. Although the little ham found the viking hat to add to the photo. That is not her braided hair but it sure looks like it!

Here is Sammie in China with a unicorn marionette. Yes, we did buy it.. It was really cute and fun to play with.

Wow.. this is a really mixed up post.. It is all over the place sort of like my brain right now from traveling!! LOL!

Before we left for our trip, Sammie had her last soccer game and we were losing as usual. The last quarter coach put her in as goalie for the first time. She was so excited and did a really good job. She blocked 2 balls and 2 went in but it was okay.. Here she is kicking the ball out.

This was taken at Gatorland. They had some great exhibits of snakes, turtles and birds. I love the amazed look on her face as the snake slithers up the glass. Sorry Christine. I know this is freaking you out right now and all you can say is blaaahhhh... disgusting!!!

These gators were in pond under a dock and I got these great photos using my camera zoom.

This photo, I was actually standing there next to these gators with the zookeepers as Sammie fed them big chunks of raw meat. ( She had a glove on). The zookeeper had a big pole but I dont think that would really stop the gators from eating us if they wanted to. They just sit there and lurk.. They look friendly with their big teethy smiles but no way!!

Anyway.. sorry for this long, choppy post. I am being super wordy so I can recall the details and have this as a memory/journal for myself later on so bear with me. :) We also saw lorikeets which are beautiful colorful birds ( like parrots) that you can feed. You buy some nectar in a cup and go into the aviary. They land on you and sip the nectar right out of the cup. It is a little scary at first because they land all over you like on your head, arms, shoulders, etc. One bit my hand and Sammie's finger but only because they are trying to get to the nectar. ( I had my hand over the cup and was trying to reposition and the bird was very impatient!) It only hurt for a second and we were all okay. I got some great pics that didn't end up in this post. Maybe my next post.

Wednesday we went to the Animal Kingdom. That was a great park too. Brad and I went years ago but were so exhausted and hot ( summer time) that we didn't really give it a lot of effort. It was fun this time to walk around and see it again. They had the Lion King show which was a snippet of the broadway production and just wonderful. Our favorite part of this park was seeing the animals on the safari van. We saw a lion prancing around and many other jungle animals like giraffe, elephants, okapi, zebras, deer, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, etc.

Sammie really liked the "It's tough to be a bug" show. It was a 3D movie with some cool special effects.

Thursday Brad was able to play with us. We went to MGM/Hollywood studios which is similar to California Adventure. He and Sammie rode their favorite ride Tower of Terror. I went on Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster. We rode Toy Story Mania and saw the muppets 3D show. Sammie got her pic with Woody and Buzz Lighyear. The Beauty and the Beast stageshow was fabulous too. We ate dinner at a retro restaurant called "The prime time cafe". It was great. It was like the 50's and so was the decor. There were tv's at the tables and the waitresses all wore uniforms and sat down to take orders. It was like sitting in someone's living room in the 50's. There was a lot to see and do at MGM studios. Brad and I were there in 2001 so things have changed a bit.

Friday we went back to Epcot for more fun and to see the exhibits we missed on Tuesday. That park is so enormous you have to spend at least 2 days to see everything. We were very lucky to go when it wasn't crowded.

Sammie had a fantastic time. We were on the go from morning until night every day and she was a trooper! No meltdowns at all. The airplane ride coming home was a bit challenging. We had a connecting flight in Utah and only had 20 minutes to get there. We landed and ran as fast as we could to the gate. It was really far. I saw a security guard riding a cart and asked if we could have a quick ride so we could catch our plane. When we got to the gate, the entire flight was boarded and waiting for us. They wouldn't even let us go to the bathroom. ( which we were dying to do since we just got off our 4 hour flight. We made it home safe and sound and were quite exhausted on Sunday.

I worked the 3 days before Thanksgiving and am still trying to catch up with everything and it now been a week. I have more to write but that will be another post since this one is LOOONG!!