Vacation Animals

Okay that first post about Disney took me way too long, so I'm going to try to make this second one a little more succinct. Just the fact that I had to make the weekend into two separate posts is rediculous--I still have ten more days of vacation to write about! Okay, here we go.

On Sunday (Aug. 31st) we decided to have another go at Disney, only this time at Animal Kingdom. The weather was supposed to be terrible (Hurricane Gustav was lurking out in the Gulf of Mexico), but we figured it would keep the crowds down. We had strollers this time to help the kids out. Mostly, it was for Hopers. She spent the entire time at Magic Kingdom crying to be carried ("Up-y! Up-y!" she says.) by an adult because of lack of sleep. We knew the sleep situation hadn't improved since then because the children had been up until eleven o'clock the previous night, so we opted for a park stroller--two park strollers, actually. They were heaven. Hopers still whined, but less often. Noodle, Caleb, and Jacob rode in them also, and it became an excellent way to corral our group. No longer did we have to continuously call for a straggler to catch up. And as a bonus, the crowds naturally parted for our bulky rolling daycare, which helped us get around the park much easier and faster.

Noodle's favorite part of the day was Everest, the newest rollercoaster. She was not afraid and wanted to go on it again right away like a roller-coaster-pro. Yep, it's the big mountain in the picture below. If you look closely, in the second picture, you can see Seth and me.

Hoper seemed to really enjoy this day. There was a playground with slides and nets to climb on. She preferred that to standing in line for a ride (go figure). But I'd bet her favorite part of Animal Kingdom was the petting zoo. Or maybe the food.

Here are some other fun pictures.

We had a great time, and just as we decided to leave the park, good ole' Gustav took control of the skies and flooded the land. We were so completely soaked by the time we reached the van that couldn't have gotten more wet if we'd jumped in a pool. What vacation isn't complete without rain?

Well, that's all I can write for the evening, but stay tuned... I'll be posting about the cruise, etc. next.