Friday Nov. 23rd: So, continuing on from the last blog post, Riley and I were both totally down and out Friday morning with horrible nausea and vomiting. So, we said good-bye to Dave, Lacey and Tanner as they went off to enjoy Epcot while we stayed home in our sick beds :( There are three main areas in Epcot: Future World East, Future World West and World Showcase. They decided to spend the morning at "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" in Future World West. They had fun on "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" and "Turtle Talk with Crush." And Tanner's favorite part of this excursion.... Bruce, the Shark of course!
Lacey and Tanner getting chomped by Bruce!
From there, they headed over to World Showcase and went to Norway, where they rode the MaelSTROM (which we decided was named after us :))
Tanner hitching a ride with his cousin Jordan
We all live in the same town, but we all lead such busy lives, it's hard to get together often, so this was such a great time for the cousins to spend together!
Yes, Lacey did Bibbidy, Bobbity Boutique the previous day, but they had enough hairspray and gel in her hair that all it took was a little touch up and we got a second day out of it :) She really wanted to be in her princess outfit on Friday because this is the day we had our Character Meal booked - "Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall."
And although Riley was usually too shy (or temperamental) to go and meet the characters, Princess Aurora made a special point of going over to say hi to Riley and she was thrilled! No wonder, Princess Aurora is Lacey's favorite! What? Riley is there? With me in the background? Yes, I rallied. I seriously felt like I was going to die Friday morning. I had been puking on and off ALL night long. I continued puking that morning on top of taking care of a puking Riley. I couldn't get myself to eat or drink anything Friday morning and anything I had from Thursday was obviously no longer in me. I hadn't slept since Wednesday night. BUT..... I was able to get Riley down for a nap ~10:30am and I was able to lay down and rest for an hour and a half. It felt WONDERFUL. I cautiously took a drink. I realized I felt thirsty and maybe even a little hungry? I was exhausted and felt pretty weak, but the "I can't stand to miss out on anything" part of me kicked in and I decided that assuming Riley had stopped vomiting and was acting okay, I could rally and drag my 31-week pregnant, sleep-deprived, recovering body out of bed and make it to the 1:20pm lunch reservation that had been booked for months. So glad I did!
Tanner's dad and Grandpa both chipped in to buy Tanner this sword and shield which were a total hit! He was so happy to "protect" all the princesses. It was so cute!
Ariel with Lacey, Tanner, Riley and cousins Becky and Jacque.
And with Snow White
A very fun part of the lunch was when they played music and did a "Princess Parade" with all the little princesses (and one little prince :) that wanted to join in. Lacey was obviously smiling ear to ear, so Dave focused the camera on her, but Tanner was the hit of the show. Since it was all princesses, Dave told me later that he honestly forgot that Tanner had run up there to join in, so unfortunately the camera never focused on him and there is a girl between Lacey and Tanner. But, if you look closely, you will see Tanner and it seriously cracks me up! While all the girls just smiled and held hands, Tanner marched along with his sword and shield as happy as could be! Seriously cracked me up!
A close-up of Prince Tanner!
After lunch, we all headed over to Soarin' in "The Land" section of Future World West and we all (except Riley who Aunt Heidi and Nana so graciously watched) had fun on that ride - one of my all time favorites that I enjoyed at California Adventure over and over again when I used to live there. The kids LOVED it! And then Dave went home with Riley to put her back to bed and I continued my rally by heading over to Magic Kingdom with Lacey, Tanner and their cousins. The one thing I hadn't yet done that I was bound and determined to do before coming home (and this was our last night) was to watch the fireworks show at the Castle with my kids with Tinkerbell flying across the sky from the Castle. It got cold, but we put on our jackets and rode a couple rides while we waited for the 10:00pm, "Wishes nighttime spectacular" to start. Thankfully, Dave was able to get Riley down to sleep and his Dad said that he would stay with sleeping Riley so that Dave could come join us! Lacey and I took this picture of ourselves after watching the show together.
And then she started crying. "What's wrong, Lacey?" I asked. I was sure she was having a melt down from pure exhaustion. But then she responded, "It's just so beautiful, it makes me cry!" And that made my rally worth it!
Picture-less Afterward: As soon as we got to Magic Kingdom, at about 6pm, we ran over to Space Mountain to get Fast Passes. It was the only "big" ride at the Magic Kingdom that we hadn't yet ridden. The Fast Pass time was for 10:15pm, so we all headed over there as one big last "hurrah" after the fireworks. We were headed home the following day, so this was going to our last thing, not only of the day, but of the vacation. The whole 44" thing wasn't even on my radar because Tanner had gotten on the 44" ride at Kennedy Space Center and the 44" ride at Animal Kingdom. Otherwise, I NEVER would have made this our "last thing." Anyway, as soon as we got in line, an employee pulled Tanner aside and measured him. He passed! Phew! We then all got Tanner excited about this cool space ride and he was PUMPED! We get to the top and are getting in the roller coaster when another employee pulled Tanner aside and said he wanted to measure him. I said he had already been measured at the bottom and they said he was okay. But he was insistent. And he was strict! Tanner had his hoodie on and he made it. But then the guy said Tanner had to take his hoodie off. And the guy decided that Tanner couldn't ride the ride. As you might imagine, Tanner burst into tears. I was so mad!!! You don't tell a kid at the beginning of the line that they CAN ride the ride and then tell him when he's getting on the ride that he CAN'T. So, I immediately start telling Tanner how lame the ride is and how it's really not cool at all and he had already gone on all the cool rides. But he's too smart for that and all he knew was that his sister and every single one of his cousins was going on a ride without him. I decided to take him to a near-by gift shop (where he had previously asked me if he could have something and I had said no) and told him he could pick something out. He picked out a Stitch stuffed animal. He seemed to recover, but has brought it up a few times since. "Mom, why didn't I get to ride Space Mountain? Did I not stand straight enough?" etc. But alas.... it is what it is!
Saturday: We enjoyed a nice breakfast and let the kids play at the hotel before catching our 2:00 shuttle to the airport. It was around this time that Tanner started saying that his tummy hurt. Oh NO! So, we knew it was coming, but what could we do? We boarded our 5pm flight. Shortly into the flight, Riley started going full throttle "terrible two." She REFUSED to stay in her seat. She would get out of her seat belt, and wriggle her way past me into the aisle. I was told by the flight attendant twice that I needed to keep her in her seat or on my lap. Since I couldn't keep her in her seat, I put her on my lap (even though I currently have no lap!!) and wrapped my arms tight around her. She SCREAMED bloody murder and started throwing her hard head back into my face. I was in the middle of doing this when what we knew was coming with Tanner came.... he started vomiting! Thankfully, Dave (with help from cousin Lexi) handled that one! Needless to say, it was a LONG flight home and we were so grateful to touch ground in Maryland! And thank heavens, Tanner got the bug on the day we left because that poor guy got NAILED with horrible abdominal cramping and severe nausea/vomiting and diarrhea for FOUR DAYS! Whereas the rest of us "only" had nausea/vomiting for one day. Anyway, even though the travel days and the sick days were a bummer, overall we had a wonderful, memorable Disney trip and we want to say a big Thank You to Dave's wonderful parents for organizing this trip and making it possible for all of us!
