We've got character

One thing almost everyone with little kids has to do at Disney World is get pictures taken with the characters. It makes a great souvenir, and the kids love it. Now, the autograph thing I just don't get. Why get somebody dressed in a costume to sign a name that isn't theirs and will never be worth anything? I don't know. But hey, at least they hold up the line nicely for everyone else. So here are some of the characters my kids got to see.

That's Rafiki from The Lion King.

Pocahontas - whose song got stuck in my head and wouldn't get out. Lilo and Stitch - a dream come true for my guys, let me tell you! Woody from Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear was there, too, but his line was crazy long. And I got to meet my girl, Kim Possible and her guy Ron Stoppable. Yeah, we hung out for a bit. Hey, Kim, you can call me or beep me, you know - if you want to reach me.

Pirates are thieves

Time for some pictures from our trip! Naturally, the first ride we went on at the Magic Kingdom was...
There was a cute pirate show outside the ride, starring Captain Jack himself. He ran off at the end of the show, but I managed to grab his sidekick for a picture with the boys. Notice the 8-year-old's shirt:We had an unfortunate incident in the ride, though. You know how pirates are always taking things that aren't theirs? Well, one of those scallywags made off with the 2-year-old's right shoe. Totally gone. Now this was the first ride of our first day at Disney, and he didn't have other shoes with him. But in a clear act of mutiny against the pirate kings, the people operating the ride gave us a voucher for a free pair of shoes from any store in the park. So he got a pair of Buzz Lightyear sneakers, and had fun telling everyone in the park that Captain Jack stole his shoe.

Too much for one post -look for installments

Wow, what a fantabulous vacation! Usually by the end of a trip I'm ready to be back home, but I had such a great time, I could have stayed another week or two easily. However, I will say that I figured out why Disney doesn't charge for under-3s to visit the parks: they know that anybody stupid enough to bring a toddler to Disney World deserves a little break. The 2-year-old (who turned 3 today, by the way!) had major meltdowns at least twice a day. I know it was mostly from too much activity and too little sleep, but no fun for the rest of us!

Some highlights include:
- oldest son riding roller coasters with us and loving it!
- the new Expedition Everest coaster at Disney's Animal Kingdom (it goes backwards through a dark tunnel - awesome!)
- the boys getting to wish Lilo & Stitch a Merry Christmas in Hawaiian (Lilo was mighty impressed)
- seeing Captain Jack in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride - too cool!
- getting picked on in the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
- talking to Crush the sea turtle

More later! And pics to come!

The school of Disney

As I may have mentioned, we're planning a trip to Disney next month. I love Disney World - it is one of my all-time favorite places. In fact, I think I've mentioned on more than one occasion that I would live there if I could. Anyway, it's been almost six years since our last visit and I am so excited for the younger boys who have never been, and even for the eight-year-old, who was too young to remember much.

Anyway, it's hard to get the boys to concentrate on school right now with all the excitement about Disney World, so I came up with this great idea: I'm making up my own Disney curriculum. I printed out lists of the attractions in the four parks, and I'm giving the boys a little bit of information on a lot of different subjects. It will give them a baseline for learning once we get there, plus I won't have to try to do all my "teaching" while we're in the parks. So many things there, especially in Epcot, present almost endless learning opportunities. Who knows, we might even continue our special Disney units when we get home!

I'm thinking I'll post some of my lesson plans here so if anyone else wants to do the same thing, they can. The boys are really enjoying it, and I think it's going to make our trip even better than it normally would be!