Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Disney World

As you all know, Mollie has an extreme love for Mickey Mouse and all of his friends. We decided to make time during our cross country adventure to go to Disney World. Troy had never been to Disney World so we were super excited that we got to fit the trip in. We were so happy that our good friends Chris, Sara, Grant, and Mason Worley drove from Jacksonville to meet us. It seemed like we hadn't seen them in forever but we just picked up right where we left off. Since they had visited Disney World earlier in the summer we relied on them to point us to all of the best attractions.

The night we got to Disney we went to Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney was new to all of us (it wasn't there 15 years ago on my last visit). It's a great place to shop, eat and hang out (especially if you're single). We ended up eating at McDonalds because it was so late and we knew all the kids would eat something there. We ended up at a water play area. Mollie is a pretty cautious kid so I was so surprised when she took Sara's hand and walked right up to the water. Grant, Mollie and Mason had a blast running through the water. I think this was the start of Mollie and "Drant's" friendship. Mollie thought Grant was just hilarious.

We woke up to rain the next day but caught the bus and met the Worleys at Magic Kingdom anyway. The rain wasn't actually too bad (except for my hair). We rode several rides, watched the parade and went to Mickey's house to finally meet him face to face. Troy and I were so excited see Mollie's reaction to the "real" Mickey. Unfortunately Mollie fell asleep about 5 minutes before it was our turn to meet Mickey. It turned out that we had quite a few opportunities to meet Mickey and his friends. We saw Mollie's favorite show, Mickey's Philharmagic 3-D. She loved every bit of it. She still talks about the show at least once a day.

We spent Sunday at Hollywood Studios with the Worley's. We had a great time seeing the sights and riding the rides. We experienced quite the downpour as we were finishing lunch. So once again we got a little wet but didn't let it get us down. Unfortunately this was our last day with our friends. So we said goodbye and turned in early.

We had a great time on the rest of our trip doing a lot of the same things. We rode all of Mollie's favorite rides as many times as she wanted and of course saw Mickey's Philharmagic show several more times. We had an awesome time and look forward to going again when Troy returns from Afghanistan next year.

San Antonio Zoo and Sea World

Before we left Texas we visited the Zoo and Sea World. The zoo was so nice. There were probably about 20 people in the entire place so Mollie got to walk around and not be confined to her stroller. She loved it. We were a little disappointed that her favortie animals were the fish and birds. We can visit these animals for free any day of the week at PetSmart. Oh well, Troy and I enjoyed seeing some animals that we had never seen before. The grizzly bear was quite entertaining as were the hyenas.

Troy and I, being the intelligent people that we are, chose to go to Sea World on Labor Day weekend (living in a hotel fries your brain). Not a good idea. It was so busy that we didn't get to do too many things. I had been telling Mollie about Shamu for several weeks and we watched videos on the computer nearly every day. Our first stop was the "neighs" as Mollie calls them (also known as the Clydesdales). We then moved on to the "Viva" show. On the way we experience our first full on public melt down. Mollie threw herself down on the pavement and screamed her heart out. WOW. I'm still not sure the reason behind the fit but I picked her up and kept moving. Once we got to the show she was fine. It was an awesome show with Baluga whales, dolphins and acrobatic type divers. Mollie spent most of the show with her eyes covered because the music was so loud. After a little penguin ride and lunch it was Shamu time. We attempted to see Shamu earlier in the day but it was completely full so this time we got to the arena really early. Mollie was so excited to see "Amu". She loved the whole show and was out cold as soon as it was over.