Saturday morning we had a big family talk about trying to have a more positive day at the parks. The kids, on their own, decided they needed to have a little meditative time. Then India broke into spontaneous prayer. It was pretty cute. And it totally changed them into perfectly behaved and non-whiny children for the rest of the day. (HAHAHAHA. No it didn’t. But it made for a cute picture).
I’m not sure what came over me on this trip, because I am typically the mom who avoids character clothes at all clothes, and mocks people who dress their children matching and according to theme. And yet . . . I could not resist.
We spend Saturday at Epcot. If you haven’t been, Epcot has an around-the-world experience where you can have a variety of cultural experiences. The kids can get a passport and have it stamped in each country. I will admit, for a couple hours I was struggling to stay out of to-do-list mode. I had memories of visiting Europe with my dad, who was all about all about checking off each sight and hustling to the next, with no regard for the process or experience. I was totally acting like that, as if our family was being graded out completing a world tour. We all had more fun once I stopped. Type-A . . . fun for the whole family!
We found a Haiti display and I had Kembe stand in front of the sign for a picture. “Say hi in Creole!” I said. “Hola!” he said. Um . . . not exactly.
We played drums in Africa, played lawn games in the Antebellum-era US, took in a Japanese drum show, and rode a ship in Norway. After our afternoon at Epcot, it was back to the hotel for a rest before our final dinner of the Social Media Moms conference.
Dinner was held at the not-yet-open Art of Animation resort. It’s a really fun hotel with an animation theme, and the rooms are all big enough to sleep a family of six.
I don’t cook a lot of meat at home so Jafta was gorging himself on meat and seafood at the buffets each night. Prior to these shrimp skewers he ate four hamburger patties. FOUR.
My sisters and their girls were able to join us. Love seeing all these cousins together.
These two tinkerbells are tuckered out.
My nephew Derek stayed the night with us and snapped this picture of us in the morning. I think I may frame this one.
Our last morning at the hotel, we lounged by the pool, and then we transferred over to my mom’s house for the next few days. Around 7pm, we went back to the Magic Kingdom. It was open until 2am that night, and we were going to stay as long as the kids could make it.
It was really fun being in the park late at night. There were no lines, no crowds, and the weather was cooler. We were all more relaxed and this is my favorite time we had at the parks all week.
Since there were no lines, we tried to hit every single ride the kids were tall enough to ride. I believe we succeeded, and we staggered out of the park at 2am on the dot. Go big or go home.
It’s not a party until someone falls asleep standing up.
