Around the World in 7 Hours

Whoo hoo! I won 8 tickets to Legoland from the hospital's competition. I picked up the tickets last week with plans to take the kids as soon as possible. One small issue...Joshua's broken arm is still in a cast, and I think Joshua would rather have full use of both arms to enjoy all of the hands-on aspects of the park. So after discussing it as a family (while Daniel and Pepper romance sleep together on the couch), we decided it was time to use our Christmas present from the Ketchums by going on a trip around the world.

We got to Epcot shortly after it opened, and made our way through the turnstiles as the kids oooh'd and aaah'd in anticipation.
The weather was perfect and the park was decorated for Christmas.

The first thing we rode was the ride in the big ball. I had the boys sitting with me and Keith had Megan. Daniel was very apprehensive of the dark areas, but we made it through once he realized the black light made his shoe laces glow. Nearing the end of the ride, there is a choose-your-own-adventure on the screen as we descended back to Earth. The boys chose all of the adventures, and the computer created a story in which Daniel breaks his arm snowboarding. It was very cute.
We enjoyed the Land and the Sea and all of the sights to see with both of those. The kids LOVED the manatees.

I asked them to make a scared face, like the shark was going to eat them. Megan's face is priceless!

Megan and Daddy are "ride buddies", and so they always seemed to sit in front of me and the boys.
A nine-pound lemon. Try squeezing that into your water glass!

We saw the Captain EO show starring Micheal Jackson from back in the 80's. Daniel freaked-out during the show, so I reached over and pulled his 3-D glasses off his head and scooped him into my lap, where he quietly sobbed into my shoulder for the rest of the performance. He doesn't like anything that's too graphically intense. He's also not a big fan of really loud sounds, and so when in Imagination, it sounds like a huge train is coming up from behind, he started crying again. I realize it sounds like he had a terrible time, but really he loved it, just a few small reminders of how much of a tender-hearted little boy he still is.

I was amazed at how much technology EPCOT uses now, compared to when I first went - which incidentally, I was in the 3rd grade just like Joshua. In the picture above, Joshua is using his body to make the figments on the screen do different things.

We also loved the fountains that jump across the walk-way. The kids played with these for a while...insert a shriek from me, "don't get your cast wet!".

What's different about this waterfall? The water flows up!! So cool.

Moving on to World Showcase...

We enjoyed each and every world. Some had rides, some had shows to watch outside. We enjoyed the movie Canada in the 360 degree theater. There was just so much to take in!

We came across Sleeping Beauty and Megan got in line for a picture.

Me: "Hey guys look this way"

And people wonder why we can't seem to send out photo cards for Christmas.

Every girls' dream....two beasts. They look so ferocious!

Hanging out in Morocco. Keith said, "get a picture of me near this sign". But I couldn't resist getting the kids in there, too. They just make themselves at home wherever we go!

Megan's getting hot, so a cool snack was in order...fast! But first, a historical show at the Hall of Presidents. I've always loved this show, and am so glad to see it maintain most of it's originality. About 2 minutes into the show, Daniel was not only sleeping, but snoring. The family sitting beside me were chuckling.

We got a little distracted by the train, and all the small buildings. So cool! The little houses were all decorated for Christmas.

We sat down to watch the Chinese acrobats. Not only did we sit where we got attacked by the flag, but I managed to get the kids the messiest ice cream ever. Ugh...it was such a bad combination, but at least the show was awesome.

On to Norway to look for trolls on the boat ride.

The huge troll in the gift shop was so adorable. I wanted to take him home and find a place for him in our backyard.

The kids had other plans.

After checking out a few other cool things, we hit the gift shop. We got our obligatory magnet for the refrigerator, and I picked up two new pins.

It was a really fun day! Thanks, Ketchums - this was such a thoughtful gift, the only thing missing was having you guys here to enjoy it with us!