Tooth #3

Emma has had a wiggly tooth all week!  She wanted us to pull it out when we were in Florida, but we told her she had to wait until we were home.  She asked me all day yesterday to pull it out and it just never happened, so this morning we bit the bullet and pulled out the dental floss.  It was so loose that it popped out without much effort.  She was pretty excited!  Her adult tooth was already growing into that space, so it's even hard to see that she lost a tooth!

LEGO

The second the kids woke up they asked to get their Lego kits out.  I finally gave in and let the kids get them out.  They played all morning and were so excited for them.  It makes me happy that we were able to get them a souvenir that they actually play with!

Flight Home

We were up by 4:00 so that we could shower and get breakfast before we headed out.  Of course we didn't have much left for breakfast, so it wasn't great. We weren't sure how long it would take to get the rental car returned and checked in, so we gave ourselves lots of time.  Thankfully, everything went pretty smoothly.  It was a little tricky getting checked in as one of the machines wouldn't scan our passports, but once Lennard switched machines, it went okay.  We didn't have any issues getting through security, although Emma was a little put out that she was told to keep her shoes on.  She didn't think it was fair that we 'got' to take ours off! Once we found our gate, we got some sausage and egg muffins and a granola yogurt parfait.  

Our flights home went well.  The airplane had touch screen entertainment systems in each seat, so the kids were kept busy the entire time.  

My phone was completely full of pictures, so I didn't get any other pictures.  Minneapolis was a lot bigger airport than I was expecting.  It took us quite a while to get to our gate.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch and then got our next flight. 

We got in to Calgary on time and thankfully got through customs and had all our luggage arrive.  The shuttle for the airport was there within ten minutes and we loaded up everything and headed to get our van.  After a quick bathroom break, we were on our way!  

We stopped in High River at McDonald's so that the kids could run off some energy in the play place.  We were all anxious to get home, so before long we were back on the road.  By about 45 minutes out of Town, Ben was done.  He just wanted to be home and asked every two minutes if we were there yet.  They were both very happy to be home and Emma immediately ran to give hugs to all her stuffies!  It has been such a fun week and we've made wonderful memories together, but it's sure nice to be home in our own beds!

Magic Kingdom 2

As you can see from the pictures, the weather that we were expecting yesterday welcomed us today!  Since it is our last day at the parks, we just packed our rain gear and headed to the Magic Kindom nice and early!

The monorail was running, so we took it to the park this morning.  The kids thought it was pretty cool, especially when it went straight through one of the resorts!

We unintentionally ended up at the park super early, so we had about an hour to wait until it opened. Thankfully, we ended up being right up close to one of the check in stations, so we were able to keep out of the rain for most of the time.

They had a very modified welcome show and then we were on our way!  We had to stay behind the rope walking in, but we were some of the first people into the park.

The kids were thrilled to have a stroller to ride in and stay relatively dry.

It was amazing how quickly people overtook us and before long we were in the middle of a crowd! We headed straight back and went through the castle to get to the Princess Fairytale Hall so that Emma could meet Anna and Elsa.

We only had to wait about five minutes before Emma got to meet them.  Usually, the line ups are an hour or more to get to see them, so we were really happy that we were able to make this wish come true for Emma.

It never fails that every ride or character greeting ends with an exit through a gift store.  Emma loved seeing Minnie Mouse dressed in a Frozen outfit!

Ben didn't want anything to do with the princesses (lol). So we let him choose what he wanted to do next.  Surprisingly, he wanted to go on It's a Small World!  Thankfully, this time we literally walked on to the ride!  Both kids loved it just as much the second time.

As we were out walking, we happened upon Chip and Dale!  There was no line up, so we hopped right in.  Ben didn't want to have a picture unless I was with him, so we got a family picture done!

 We had a Fast Pass for Pirates of the Caribbean for later today, but when we walked by, the wait time was only ten minutes, so we decided to just get in line.  The kids did pretty good on the ride, although I don't think it was one of their favorites.

The Jungle Cruise was next!  There was about a half hour wait, but it was a good ride for the kids. Lennard and I enjoyed the jokes and the running commentary of the captain.

 After we got off the Jungle Cruise, we decided to go check out the wait time on Splash Mountain.  Again, we had a fast pass for it, but not for hours.  We were pleasantly surprised when the wait time was only ten minutes!  We were already in ponchos, so we were good to go!  I was extremely nervous about going on this ride as I don't really like drops, but it was a lot of fun!

 

Once we got off this ride, we started looking for somewhere to eat.  Because of the rain, we didn't want to just grab something in the street, so we looked at one of the restaurants close by.  We stopped at the Liberty Tree Tavern.  We didn't even look at prices until we sat down... (lol).  We were all so hungry, that we just decided to take the plunge and pay the price.  It was definitely pricey, but wow - the meals were SO good!  The kids both had pot roast.  I had a delicious burger and Lennard had fish and chips.  We were definitely impressed with the quantity and quality of the food.

Our next ride was The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  The kids loved it, but Lennard and I both found it quite jerky.  Emma really wanted to do Splash Mountain again, so after a bit of convincing, we got Ben to agree to go again too.

The kids really wanted to do the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train again and, even though it was an hour wait, we decided to go.  We were so excited that we finally got Ben to put his hands in the air!  It has been quite a few days of encouragement, but he finally did it!

We had to go on Tomorrowland's Speedway again and ended up getting POURED on!  We were really glad for our ponchos, but it was still crazy!  Only a few minutes after we finished the ride, they ended up closing it because of the rain.  As you can see, Emma's hair was completely soaked!

 We were right by the Mad Hatter Tea Cups, so we decided to give it a try.  The best part of it was that it was covered!  When we were on the ride, it poured even harder.  We were really glad to get a bit of break from the rain.

 Since it was raining so hard, we decided that it would be a good time to head home so that we could get packed up and ready for our early flights tomorrow morning.  As we were heading to the front of the park, we happened to walk by the Merida meeting place and there was almost no line, so we popped Emma out of the stroller, pulled her poncho off and got a quick picture with Merida!

Of course, we couldn't go home without seeing Mickey Mouse too!  The wait time said it was only 20 minutes, but it ended up being way longer than that!  It was a little crazy how long we waited, but Emma was thrilled.  Ben was excited until we got into the room and Mickey started talking... then he didn't want anything to do with him!

 This was a close as Ben got... he gave Mickey a high five!

 I convinced Ben to get a picture as long as we were all in the picture!  I had to be between him and Mickey though!  lol.  We were all pretty soaked, but it was the perfect end to our Disney adventure.

It was raining so hard when we got out that Lennard ran and got the stroller, we tucked the kids in with the rain cover on and made a run for the car.  It was a bit of fun trying to collapse the stroller and get it all packed away when it was completely drenched, but we finally managed it.  We dropped the stroller off at the resort warehouse on our way back so that the company could pick it up tomorrow.  We had a good dinner and got everything pretty much packed and ready to go for tomorrow.  It's going to be another really early morning!

A Day Off From the Parks

We decided to take a take off since the forecast was for crazy amounts of rain.  We had a lazy morning and let our feet have a break from all the walking we've been doing.  It was very much needed!

Just after 10:00, we decided to take the kids out to the Lego store in Downtown Disney.  We didn't tell them what we were doing, so when we got close to the store and they saw it, the excitement level went through the roof!  It was amazing seeing all the different creations built entirely out of Lego!

The area outside of the store was definitely a hit!  There was loads of Lego for the kids to build whatever they wanted and even race their creations!

After quite a while of playing outside, we made it into the store.  Emma loved seeing the 'Friends' Lego sets.

 Ben loved everything.  He would have moved in if he could.  Every single kit he saw, he wanted!  We did manage to find a couple kits that were quite affordable (even with the exchange), so we let the kids each get a set.

After the Lego store, we popped into the Disney store.

It was overwhelming to see everything Disney that you could imagine!  We let the kids pose with things they liked... and said that the picture would be their souvenirs!

We decided to go to the Olive Garden for lunch.  When we pulled up to the stop lights, we heard a bunch of honking and looked around to find out what was going on.  Pretty soon it became apparent when two turkeys came sauntering in front of our car!  They came right by the side of the car and just stopped on the median.  It was hilarious!  Lennard said we needed to grab one for dinner and the kids were horrified!  lol

After a delicious lunch, and eating far too much, we went back to the resort for a well deserved nap! We did some laundry, watched some TV and just relaxed.  It was so nice!

Sidenote:  Though it did rain today, it wasn't anywhere near 50+ mm of rain... maybe 5mm if that. Crazy!