Day 53

This was Tyler and Mama’s very first trip to the Animal Kingdom.  Too bad Baby was asleep for most of it.

We started off the trip with lunch at the Rainforest Café.  I was really excited to take the kids to the Rainforest Café.  As children Linh and I would often go with our uncle when we visited California and I remembered loving the atmosphere, the animals and the fanfare, I was so excited for Tyler to see it!

We got to sit close to the elephants, which Tyler loved.  Every now and then the restaurant would go through a “storm” and the animals would move around and make some noise.  I was a little worried that Tyler would get scared since he didn’t enjoy the loud noises in Belle’s Enchanted Stories but he was entranced.  He wasn’t a fan of the gorilla but he loved watching the elephants.

By the time that we were done with lunch and off to our first ride, Tyler fell asleep.  He missed out on the whole safari and I felt really bad for him.  I think he would have really enjoyed seeing all the animals!  This summer I plan on taking him back to the Oregon Zoo to make up for it.  Now that he’s a bit older I think he will enjoy it much more.  We took plenty of pictures of the animals though, so if he's ever interested he can view those later.  Though I kind of doubt he will.

After he woke up the party split up with Mama, Daddy, Uncle Linh, the grandmas, and Tyler taking a train ride to rest our feet.  After we came back Tyler’s been saying “choo-choo” for train rather than signing it.  It’s super cute.

We then met up with everyone to catch Finding Nemo: The Musical.  I don’t think Tyler was too interested but he did a really good job of sitting and not trying to run around all over the place, which we were a bit afraid of.  We have never brought him to a movie theater and he doesn’t have the attention span and patience to sit through a full movie at home.  So we were pleasantly surprised with how well he did.  His favorite part of the whole show was when the bubbles came floating down.  Unfortunately we were sitting in the middle section and missed out on the bubble action.  Both Tyler and Perry were pointing at the bubbles, wanting to run over and play.

The big kids then rode Everest while the littles got to ride a dinosaur ride that was similar to Dumbo, which Tyler missed out on the day before.  Ryan and I caught up to them in the midst of their ride and Tyler looked so happy!  Afterwards he kept pointing to it and I do wish that Ryan and I could have taken him on it again but we had a fast pass to catch, one that I wish we hadn’t done.

Ryan, Linh, and I have all done It’s Tough to Be a Bug at Disneyland and we all remembered small bits and pieces of the show.  There’s the “sting” that you get on your back, the bugs “crawling” under your seat, etc.  I knew that Tyler was not going to enjoy the show because he hates bugs.  I promise I have not been indoctrinating this baby with my own likes and dislikes, he has decided this on his own.  So the entire show is about bugs and then we got “sprayed” with “insect repellant” and Tyler panicked so Grandma Geri took him out of the auditorium, in the nick of time.  Right after he left the evil grasshopper burst into the scene with a loud bang.  Tyler would have been bawling at the time.  Perry, on the other hand, we were told enjoyed the show.  Mala did not, she was pretty scared as well.

To make up for it, the kiddos got to meet Dug from “Up!”  Apparently that’s how Disney spells his name.  Not “Doug,” but “Dug.”  I don’t care how he spells his name, he made Tyler’s day.

Tyler and Mala were both very excited to see Dug.  Tyler kept pointing and saying, “Gus!”  If you remember every dog is a “Gus” and every car is a “bus.”  So “Dug” became “Gus.”  We had received an autograph book from an AAA presentation we went to about Disney prior to taking our vacation so our first page has Dug’s name and a paw print in it, how cute!  Perry does not like the characters, something the family discovered at Great Wolf Lodge when he refused to go up to Wiley.  When it was our turn Perry did not want to see Dug at all.  Mala gave Dug a big hug and Tyler was grinning from ear to ear.  Dug gave Mama a kiss and Tyler in turn gave one to him!  We were so lucky to get to him in time, they ended up roping the entrance shortly after we got in line and a few kids were disappointed when Dug was taken away.

We ended the day picking up some super cheap pizza that really wasn’t bad considering the price ($26 for three pizzas and a dessert pizza???  What???), watching the Olympics, and then chowing down on popcorn.  And of course an Amway presentation from Craig.  But while Daddy did his “business meeting,” Tyler got some Mommy and Grandma time jumping on the bed and watching “Madagascar.”

Perhaps it’s because we went to bed late every night but Tyler slept so well in Florida.  We kept his crib next to our bed and we rarely had to get up to check on him.  I actually can’t remember a time that we did.  Maybe I was dead asleep and Ryan got up with him but I don’t remember it.  I can’t say the same about post-Florida.  Let’s just say our nights haven’t been as…sunny.