A Texas City Girl In A Small New England Town
Brothers and Sisters Day is celebrated on May 2 every year. It is a holiday meant to honor the bond that siblings share. It’s also a day to strengthen or repair broken relationships. The day was inspired by a woman who realized she had never properly told her brother how she actually felt about him until after his death. Read on to find out more about this amazing day and how we can honor our brothers and sisters!
National Winnie the Pooh Day on January 18th commemorates author A.A. Milne’s birthday in 1882. He brought the adorable, honey-loving bear to life in his stories, which also featured his son, Christopher Robin.
Milne’s lovable Pooh Bear, as he was fondly called, is a fictional bear inspired by a black bear named Winnie. Winnie lived at the London Zoo during World War I. The author’s son, Christopher Robin, would visit the bear often and named his own teddy bear after her and a swan named Pooh. This friendship inspired a collection of books starting with When We Were Young in 1924. E.H. Shepard beautifully illustrated the books. Their adventures took them and millions of children through the Hundred Acre Woods. Each character played a unique role in the books. Whether the wisdom of Owl or Rabbit lead the group awry or a celebration ensued, the story’s characters became beloved around the world.
In the 1960s, Disney bought the rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh characters dropping the hyphen from Pooh’s name. The illustrations were a bit different, too. Milne’s stories have been translated into over 50 languages and are considered classic children’s stories today.
After almost a week in Walt Disney World, it was time to drive back home. That day, we made it from Buena Vista, Florida all the way to New Orleans. There we had a motel room, and drove through “The Big Easy”. Five and half years later, we still could see the signs of Hurricane Katrina, she left behind. Even our motel room smelled musky from the flooding in August 2005. It was devastating to see all these damages due to the storm.
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This was the last evening at Walt Disney World. We took the kids on as many rides as possible, before we watched the firework and went to the bus station. That night my feet were hurting from all the walking around in the park. And I couldn’t wait to lift them up in our Resort room. Sara was ready to go home and sleep in her own bed, again. It was a long week. But I knew from my previous two trips to Walt Disney World in 2002 and 2007, it would be exhausting after so many days. I was beaten.
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Our family went for dinner in the late afternoon at the Crystal Palace. There we met Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, and Winnie the Pooh. It was great food. Especially, Sara enjoyed her Macaroni & Cheese and vegetables. She made quite a mess on the table. But, that is the fun part.
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While our family waited for the parade to begin, we all took a stroll through Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Kevin, our sister-in-law, and the kids rode Splash Mountain. Sara and I sat on a bench and waited for them. Later, we all went to the Haunted Mansion because it is a much slower ride. Due to the warmer weather, I also noticed that the trees began to bud and bloom.
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One of the rides we went on together was the Jungle Cruise at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
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On the morning of St. Patrick’s Day, we went on a scavenger hunt to find Peter Pan and the hook he stole from Captain Hook. While we were waiting for our tour guide, Daisy crossed our way and waved Hello. After some time, the “Accountant” came out and excused the tour guide that he had an emergency. Then the accountant ran back into the office. Two minutes later he came back out with the Scavenger Clues, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and said, that he will guide the scavenger hunt, and we all have to help him. 😄
Off we went on our journey through Disney’s Magic Kingdom. On Main Street, we posed as Disney characters, in Tomorrowland we had to find hitten Mickey’s and say Hello to a piano-playing alien. The accountant dragged us to the wishing well by the castle, where we had to wish for something before we rode on Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland. Somewhere between all this spectacle, I ended up dancing and clucking like a chicken and couldn’t stop until we made our way to Adventureland, where we danced the Hula in front of the Tikis across from The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. In the court of Pirates of the Caribbean, we finally found Peter Pan. He had one more task for us: looking for the hook he took from Captain Hook. And sure enough, Rylee found it. Out of two dozen scavenger hunters, she was the one who held the hook up in the air. As a prize, we got to shoot photos with Peter Pan and the “Accountant”, who was happy we made it safely through the scavenger hunt. Captain Hook and his crew could have sneaked up on us any moment.
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After dinner at a Mayan restaurant, where Ryan ate summer squash for the first time (yes, he liked it), we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for another night. We all just chilled and walked around enjoying the evening after sunset. No rides; just walking around the park. Two hours later, we all went back to the Pop Century Resort and were ready to rest for the night. Sara was out of it in seconds, while Katelynn still played with her cousins for a little bit.
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The following morning, we went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. There we rode on the Kilimanjaro Safaris. Sara was very tired and possibly teething. Our sister-in-law kept Sara comfortable, while we looked at some animals. Kevin and I decided to take it easy for the rest of the morning. We went back to the resort for Sara to rest a little bit. The older kids went to the pool with their mother/aunt.
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In the evening, we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (formerly known as Disney MGM Studios). We just chilled out with the Muppets and a couple of rides, before we went back to the Pop Century Resort for the night, again.
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The following day, we made a trip to EPCOT to enjoy lunch with the Disney Princesses in Norway. There I wanted to see if Sara likes some fish. She dug into the fish and vegetables like her life depends on them. When the Disney Princesses came to our table, Katelynn and Rylee were ready for photos. Sara on the other hand rather enjoyed her meal.
After lunch, we walked around in the park. At that time of the year, Disney has the Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival. A lot of Disney characters with wonderful flowers are on Display. Sara was tired; Katelynn and Rylee wanted to go into the Resort’s pool. So, we made our way back to the room to rest and change into bathing suites. The girls had a blast at the pool.
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In the late evening, we stayed in the park to see Disney’s Electrical Parade. The Electrical Parade is a nighttime parade, created by Robert Jani and project director Ron Miziker. It features floats and live performers covered in over 600,000 electronically controlled LED lights, and uses a synchronized soundtrack triggered by radio control along key areas of the parade route.
The show was hosted by Jiminy Cricket, the Blue Fairy, and revolved around the wishes of famous Disney characters – good and bad. The lights on Cinderella Castle changed colors throughout the show, reflecting the different stages of Wishes’ narrative. During different parts of the show, a “wishing star” firework was shot, cresting approximately 100 feet above the castle’s bright spires. While most of the characters in the show are only heard as part of the show’s music track, Wishes also featured an appearance from Tinker Bell as she flew from the tallest spire of Cinderella Castle. Wishes included 683 fireworks, that fired during the 557 cues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishes:_A_Magical_Gathering_of_Disney_Dreams
After the fireworks, we called it a day. It was a long day in Disney’s Magic Kingdom. We still had to wait for our turn to get to the bus which took us to the resort. The kids had a long day and almost fell asleep on the way. Kevin, Kristine, and I were tired as well. It was time to rest for another eventful day at Walt Disney World.
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In the late afternoon, we had dinner with the Princesses at Cinderella’s Royal Table in the castle. Reservations are hard to come by. And we were lucky, Kevin started booking six to eight months before our trip to Walt Disney World. The girls dressed up as Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse, and Cinderella, before the royal visit. They met Cinderella, Snow White, Princess Aurora, Ariel, and Belle. Sara loved her buttered pasta. At that age, this was Sara’s favorite finger food. When Katelynn and Rylee were done with their dinner, they got dessert, which they could decorate themselves. So much sugar! But it was something they don’t have every day. Later on, the girls could take their energy off in the park. I’ll post more about it in the next “Travel Tuesday” blog.
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After breakfast at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, we made our way over to Disney’s Magic Kingdom for a couple of hours. Sara seemed much happier with a full tummy. And so, it didn’t take long, until she fell asleep on Kevin’s shoulder. While the rest of the family waited in line for a ride, I let Sara nap in the stroller. Meanwhile, I watched Mickey and Minnie taking photos with other families. By the time, everyone came back Sara awoke from her nap. This was perfect timing for taking a photo with Mickey and Minnie before we went back to change into change clothes and rest for a little bit in Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Because the afternoon and evening were busy.
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The following morning, we took the bus to Disney’s Contemporary Resort near Disney’s Magic Kingdom. There we went to Chef Mickey’s to have breakfast. First Sous Chef Goofy came to our table. He told us there was a little accident in the kitchen. And he might have had a part in it. Head Chef Mickey came over and asked if we enjoy our breakfast. Minnie makes sure all the guests have food and drinks at their tables. Donald baked breakfast rolls since 3 am. And Sara had to watch Pluto closely, not eating her breakfast from the plate. “No Pluto, those fruits will give you a tummy ache. And you will stay outside all day.”
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After meeting with our family and having breakfast in Ocala, we drove toward Orlando to get to Walt Disney World in Buena Vista. We had rooms next to each other in the Pop Century Resort. Once settled in, we spent the afternoon in Disney’s Animal Kingdom to meet several Disney characters, take photos with them, and get their autographs, before we watched “Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade”. We went on the Kali River Rapids ride, where I got completely soaked. Therefore, I had to get some clothes to change. It was March. And the evenings were cool. I didn’t want to catch a cold while we were on vacation. In the evening, we’ve noticed the ibises getting a spot on the trees to spend the night there. That was the sign that it was time to leave the park.
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Kevin and I planned a trip to Walt Disney World for Spring 2011. While we were traveling from Texas, the girl’s aunt, uncle, and cousins came from North Carolina to join us. Getting from Texas to Florida was quite an adventure. Two hours into the drive, Sara didn’t feel well and barfed all over her cute dress and new car seat. Once, she had it out of her system and we cleaned everything up as good as we could (the car seat smelled like barf on the whole round trip), we made it into Louisiana, where we spent the night.
The next morning, Sara looked much better. After a light breakfast, we moved on. In Louisiana, we’ve looked at swamps, crossed the Horace Wilkinson Bridge in Baton Rouge, and drove on Interstate 12 to avoid New Orleans on the way to Florida. In Mobile, Alabama it was busy due to people trying to get to the Cruise ship at the Mobile River. Therefore, it took us a while to get through the George Wallace Tunnel, which is located under the river. Once we got off the tunnel, we had a good view of the USS Alabama, which is now a retired battleship and U.S. National Historic Landmark and is located in the waters of Mobile Bay next to the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, south of Interstate 10.
Pensacola, Florida is the home of the Navy Blue Angels. We’ve stopped in a rest area nearby to stretch out for a little bit. Katelynn ran up and down the hill to get the energy flowing before we ended up in Ocala for the night. The following morning, we met up with family to drive the rest of the stretch to Buena Vista.
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