I didn’t have a chance to do a post yesterday, sadly.  We had to drive to Winnemucca to meet my in-laws and pick up our dogs from them.  It has been so weird to be without the dogs for two whole weeks!  They’re happy to be home and the drive wasn’t even that bad.  Helped me to get some knitting done at least!  But not so good for the posting.  So I’ll be getting to that now…

Friday, August 7

We were determined to get out of our room and to the parks at a reasonable hour this morning.   I didn’t take a shower, knowing that I would much rather have it mid-day when we came back to the room to recharge.  We loaded up the kids, grabbed some granola bars to munch on and got down to the bus station to catch the bus to Epcot.

We saw my brother and his family on the bus, which was nice.  They were headed for FastPasses at the Test Track and I thought maybe Harry and I would enjoy that too.  So we tagged along with them as we went through the bag check and admission gates and found our way to the Test Track ride.  Our fast passes weren’t for a couple hours yet so we had plenty of time to kill.  My brother’s family was headed to breakfast but we had decided we would rather do lunch in the park instead so we amused ourselves elsewhere.

We went to the World of Energy, or whatever it is called.  It was a ride/show with Ellen DeGeneres that was actually pretty funny and interesting.  I remembered it from my trip there all those many years ago.  Of course, Ellen wasn’t in it back then, but you get the idea.

It was already starting to get majorly hot and we needed to find a bathroom.  It took some wandering around but eventually we found it near a gift shop.  Then we headed over to the Living Seas and did the whole Nemo ride and checked out the aquariums and did Turtle Talk with Crush too, which was fun.  I thought it was cool how they had all the Nemo fish in the aquariums so the little ones were able to identify and get excited easily.  There were also dolphins and manatees and other cool stuff.  Plus, you know, air conditioned.  But, like most things at Disney, strollers weren’t allowed.  And while Liam could walk around on his own, Evie could not and I got tired of holding her.

We were all pretty hungry at this point, so we went next door to the Earth building (the name escapes me, I apologize) and found a big food court there.  We didn’t stay to look at anything or go on any rides.  We were kind of tired and thought maybe we should head back to the room at that point.  Harry and I had missed our FastPass time while having lunch and it was after 1pm.  On our way out, we stopped in a gift shop to browse around (and take some super cute pics of the kids wearing mouse ears).

We also took some pictures of the most recognizable monument at Epcot: Spaceship Earth.  It was starting to cloud up, thank goodness.  I was beat and so were the kids.

We caught the bus back to POFQ.  Harry was desperate to go in the pool so while the boys all went down there to have at it, Evie took her nap and I took a shower.  I also tried to get some knitting done but wasn’t able to get much accomplished.  Evie woke up before too long and I let her wander around the room.  It wasn’t long after that the boys returned.  We all got cleaned up and headed down to the boat dock to take the boat to the Port Orleans: Riverside resort up the river.   We were having dinner there that night to celebrate my parents’ 50th anniversary that is happening later this year.

We had to split into two tables because there were 19 of us and there just isn’t a table alive that could fit that many people (at least not in a restaurant this size).  Dinner was alright.  The food wasn’t that great, sadly.  And Evie had some serious ants in her pants.  She normally doesn’t act up at all in restaurants but she would not settle down that night.  Kile and I took a couple turns getting up with her so we could each eat.  But eventually I had to just leave.  I let her walk to her hearts content through the lobby of the resort and then strapped her in her stroller and went outside on the docks to look at the river, feel the sprinkles from the sky and people-watch.  Eventually, the boys met us outside and we decided to head back over to Epcot for the evening.  I really wanted to get to the World Showcase.

My wrist was starting to hurt very badly.  I wondered if maybe it wasn’t because of the knitting I had done earlier, but I think it was from NOT knitting so much.  It hurt SO badly that we stopped by the aid station on our way to the World Showcase to get some ibuprofen.  Then… Mexico!

Liam had fallen asleep in his stroller (I think it was Liam… Evie?  One of them!) (or maybe both…) so I sat outside the pyramid on a bench and watched the world walk by while Kile and Harry went on the boat ride.  After that, we walked around the Showcase, and I took pictures of the different “countries” until I ran out of light.

We stopped briefly in “Germany” because Harry needed to use the restroom.  The boys also checked out the Christmas shop there and Kile brought me back a glass of the most awesome wine.  Maybe it was awesome just because I NEEDED IT SO BAD.  But whatever.  I took it.   Then… more walking.  We had no time to actually DO anything, which I’m still sad about.  But at least we saw it.  Let me say it here first, folks:  Epcot takes TIME.  Days worth, even.

Aaaaannnnd… then it got too dark to take pictures.  I was using my iPhone too, so there wasn’t much to do about picture quality.  But with my wrist hurting, it was the best picture taking solution for the moment.

We continued on, past Great Britain and  ended up at Canada when we ran into other members of my family who were there for the fireworks show.  We planted ourselves on some benches and settled in to watch the show.

I didn’t have the best view, but best I could tell, they were trying to blow the whole place UP.  It was amazing to see.  I tried to get a picture but pictures just couldn’t do it justice…

It was all done over the lagoon and was loud and simply breathtaking.  Evie got a little freaked out, even, when the night before she hadn’t been upset at the Magic Kingdom fireworks at all.

Epcot closed down after that, which was a little surprising for a Friday night.  It was all good, we were planning to leave anyhow.  Kile and Harry were going to the Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom that night, from 11 to 2am!   Originally, I was going to go, but my wrist was still hurting so bad and I was just exhausted.  We took the crowded bus back to the POFQ.

We got the little ones settled down and the boys left again.  I couldn’t have imagined it… I was rather happy to read some of my book and then go to sleep.  It would have been nice, but I was just plain tapped out at the moment.

The boys stayed the whole time, it sounds like.  Kile didn’t get many pictures, but he got a couple:

Yep, they did the Tiki Room!  They did a bunch of other rides too, though nothing too thrilling because Kile isn’t a roller coaster kind of guy.  Apparently, there were a LOT of people there.  Of course there were, it was a Friday night!  But it was cooler and the lines were shorter than during the day and the boys had a blast.  Kile even had a Dole Whip, damn him.    Mostly I’m just glad that they had fun.  The late night would take it’s toll though, especially on Harry.  The next day was our last day in the parks and there was a LOT to do!

Coming up: we finally get it right!