Max Discovers Photography

And he really likes to take pictures. He's a little artsy, I think.

St Louis Weekend

We took a quick trip to St Louis this weekend. Lunch at PF Changs, then the Zoo, Dinner at Caleco's Bar and Grill- then the American Idol tour. Home the next morning. Max had his face painted like a tiger at the Zoo. He loved the way he looked, but didn't like receiving so much attention.

Hannibal

Just back from Hannibal. I am not sure everyone there realizes Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Becky Thatcher were literary characters. I know they are based on real residents of Hannibal from Samuel Clemmons real life, but the houses don't say "Mary's house," who Becky was based on. They say Becky Thatchers house, etc. So I was confused some of the time.

While there, we toured the museum and houses, shopped the down town shops, took a riverboat ride (it had a fake paddle), swam in the hotel pool- you know that was the favorite of the 4 kids- took the cave tour and saw Lovers Leap, where a couple of old ladies were rescued the week before. My favorite was the cave. I've toured a lot of caves, and this one was very easy to get around in and and had lots of old graffiti signatures, including one from Jesse James. They said that there was a signature from Samuel Clemmons too. Here's the funny thing, They had experts verify the Jesse James signature, but not the Clemmons one. I found that an odd move by the proprietors of the Tom Sawyer cave...

On the way home, we got a break from the rain so we stopped at Osage Beach and played a round of mini golf.

All in all, a fun weekend!

Fun at the Lake!

We also went to the lake with Uncle Jeff, Aunt Steph, Cousins Jack, Erin and Matt, and Papa, Grammy and Grandma Young. Uncle Jeff rented a boat for the afternoon and the kids went tubing. It was a BLAST!!

Soccer Camp

Max and his buds Jaxon and Gus went to soccer camp a few weeks ago. I'm not so sure they were quite old enough for the "listening" portion, or for the "following directions" portion, but they sure had fun!

Max, can you hear?

On the plane home Max's ears clogged. His reaction was hilarious.

Favorites

Ok, I have been asked a lot what was my favorite things. Personally, I loved Soarin', Tower of terror and Hal of Presidents. But- my favorite was just having family time, and experiencing the park through the eyes of a 3 year old. Watching Max's response to just about everything was priceless. Seeing him work up the nerve to meet Chip and Dale, and watching him react to actually seeing Mickey Mouse was awesome. Someday, we will definitely go back. These are some of my favorite moments.

Towel Animals and the Grand Floridian

In my research and planning, I found out there is a group of obsessive Disney Fanatics at the website disboards.com one of the things they obsess about is towel animals. Apparently, it is a totally random thing. Some get one, some don't. Sometimes, people will get multiple towel animals on a stay. We had a Mickey Head when we checked in, then had 4 more on our visit.

I also read about the Teddy Bear lady and the Grand Floridian. The GF is a very stately resort (some say the most snobbish) that has a beautiful lobby and in the evenings, a live band plays in the lobby. There is an older lady who goes almost every day. Some of the GF regulars get mad because they say she looks homeless. Most have no problem with her. She brings in a giant rolling suitcase of teddy bears. The story is she and her husband were regular visitors to the GF for dinner and music (they lived in orlando) and when he passed away, she continued her visits alone because she misses him and it reminds her of their visits together. The uproar over her visits became so crazy online at one point that her sister explained whe she was and why she went there. She also said she brings the teddy bears because she collects them and she likes to talk with children. We actually saw her, and before we left I spoke with her a bit. She did not look homeless, but did strike me as a very old version of Tammy Faye Baker. But she was very nice. It's sad to think some would get their panties in a twist because she wants to come hear music.

Epcot- World Showcase

We spent our last day in Epcot's World Showcase. It was really cool. They have some really neat kids activities where they work on masks in each country. There are also restaurants, cultural displays, and -of course- gift shops for each nation. It was the perfect last day of our trip. We started in Mexico then made our way through Germany and Norway before being blown away by the beauty of China. We had a discussion at the USA portion. With an hour to go before our reservation at LeCellier in Canada, the last nation on our loop, I felt we could skip the USA portion, since we did Colonial Williamsburg and the Historic triangle last year. Heather felt I was being un-patriotic. Max decided that he needed a potty break, and by then we were really running behind so we raced through Morrocco, Japan, France and the UK (we definitey need to get back to see them someday) and then we had our late lunch at one of the top restaurants in Disney. They are famous for their steak and it was very good.