Universal Day Two
I can’t believe I kept you all hanging from my last post about Universal! Life’s been really busy, but I’ll have to save that post for when things are official. Suffice to say, I’m packing up to move.
So day two Universal/Islands of Adventure!
Hubby woke up with his first case of vertigo and said he couldn’t accompany me, my four kids, 16 year old brother and two cousins 12 and 14 (all boys except Grace) to the theme park. I felt a little panicked but determined to go back to the park without hubby especially since it was our last day in Orlando and I had not ridden any roller coasters.
I can’t remember the details, but I was a tad stressed, and hubby felt a tad better as the morning preparations took longer than usually, so he decided to go with us. BIG SIGH!
After we picked up the two cousins at the parking gate to avoid my cousin having to pay $12 for parking (she’s a single mom with a dead beat almost-ex, and was dropping her boys off to spend the day with us!) we headed to the HULK while hubby and the little guys went to some other part of Islands of Adventure. Chris decided to sit the Hulk out because he got sick the last time on a different roller coaster.
Half way through the line, there was something over the load speaker talking about a malfunction…but it sounded too much like the cartoon video and noise playing on the monitors that I didn’t realize it was for real until people started leaving. So we headed to Spiderman…
VERY COOL… virtual roller coaster. We headed to the Dueling Dragons FIRE next and rode it three or four times in a row. We quickly learned if we went into the SINGLE rider line we got on way faster and we weren’t that far apart. In fact, most times at least two of us got to sit together, sometimes three of us!
The last ride on the Deuling Dragons was pretty scary, not because of all the turns and flips, but because at the end of the ride we stopped before the unloading dock. In the distance we heard the screams of people on the next roller coaster…the one right behind us. We were locked in, suspended, and waiting to be impaled by the fangs of the Dragon behind us and the worst part was that we all sat in the LAST two rows. We start there for what seemed like several minutes, waiting for the crash, feeling a little panicked and wishing our legs were long enough so we could do the Fred Flintstone run, but it finally started up again, and our heart rate returned to normal. We all agreed, THAT was the scariest part of the ride!
After lunch I took Grace to the water area in Dr. Seuss Land while the boys rode some more roller coasters. Then we went to Universal and I went with the big boys to the Mummy and hubby took Grace and Timmy to Jimmy Neutron.
We did the single passenger again and scatted past all the others to the end.
The wait time was not even ten minutes! The Mummy was GREAT, and I think a better thrill than Deuling Dragons. We rode the Mummy a few times and then headed over to Twister, but Hubby was still stuck in Jimmy Neutron, it seems it was broken down for 20 minutes while they were in there.
Other highlights were the MIB alien ride, and the E.T. ride. The kids rode it more than once and got a kick out of giving the man at the beginning a FALSE name because at the end ET says goodbye
to you. The funny thing about this ride is that Grace refused to look, though it was very mild and not scary. She just doesn’t like ET and she usually doesn’t scare easily. Though at the end there was an opportunity to get a picture with ET in a studio and she said, “Mommy, I’ll take a picture if you really want me to!”
What a sweetie! But I wasn’t about to shell out more money. I forgot to mention the first day I was with Grace I wanted to take a picture of her with Shrek, but she refused. Instead, I let HER take a photo of me and Shrek. It’s in the last post and came out pretty good!
So we had a wonderfully second day, even though the temperature was about 10-20 degrees hotter and it didn’t rain. That Souvenir cup came in real handy and one thing that didn’t cost us any money was water! They gave it to us with cups of ice at the drink stands!
My Olsen Twin
When Grace was little, strangers used to come up to me in the store and remark at how much she looked like an Olsen Twin. What do you think?
Grace’s First Teeth Cleaning
Grace did so well having her teeth cleaned. Watching Sponge Bob on the TV (in every room) was a HUGE help, but she would have done great without it!
My Baby Boy has Grown Up
Timmy (7) came to me about two weeks ago and said, “Mom, I’m not your baby any more.”
Then he smiled and showed me he just lost his first tooth. (Sniffle)
I told him a while ago I’d stop calling him my baby when he lost his first tooth. The next day he lost his second. I had forgotten what we gave the other boys for their first teeth, but he was happy with $2 under his pillow. The next day he said, “I asked everyone and they said they didn’t put it under there.” But he didn’t ask me. (We don’t over emphasize/play up the tooth fairy) That day he lost his second tooth and my husband thought the other boys got $5 for their first tooth, so the next night he found $4 under his pillow. It all evened out in the end.
So now I’m not allowed to call him my baby boy. Seven going into second grade seemed mighty old to not have lost a tooth yet. I guess I should be happy that I got to hold on to my baby boy for so long, but with him going off at school for the first time, I’m nostalgic for my little guy.
I guess I can still hold onto the fact while he’s not little in age, he’s still little in size. Though I am praying he’ll grow big when the time comes, and when he stands taller than me (5 ft. 3 1/2 in) I’ll be glad!
Three Generations and A Book!
Me, my dad and my neice at her high schoolgraduation party!
Footsteps by DiAnn Mills is up next. Don’t forget to check out my interview with this amazing woman here!
New Yorkers Know How to Par-tey
or my trip to NY…
Cousins
Did I mention I’m 5 ft. 3 1/2 in. I’m the tall one in the family!
Boogie Sisters!
My three youngest danced all night long and started a conga train.
Timmy & Joey in front, Grace on the end
50 years. Seems like Yesterday!
We are Family: The Circle of Love!
Party’s Over
WHOA! WhOA! SPLASH!
I’m breaking the rules for this photo and supplying a story.
It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Orlando and the kids wanted to go for a swim. I was dressed in fashionable Walmart pool lounging attire and it was cool enough ( 80s) I could even wear my hair down.
I wasn’t planning on swimming, but got busy spraying down the kids with sunscreen when I lost my balance on the little patio edge. (Photo is re-enactment!) I did one of those “Whoa, whoa, whoa arms flailing things and then just gave in to gravity!) The kids and I thought it was hilarious. Though I wasn’t too thrilled to have my styled hair ruined, the pool was refreshing! Oh how I miss those carefree Orlando morning BY the pool, not IN the pool!
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