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.

Hollywood Studios

This park is excellent for movie buffs. Or, big fans of the Disney Channel and American Idol. We saw a stunt show, and the Muppets in 3-D. We also did the backstage studio tour and saw lots of props and movie stuff. They have a jedi training center and we ate at a neat restaurant called the Sci-Fi Diner where you sit in old cars and watch movie clips from bad 1950's sci-fi movies. When Max took his nap, Heather and i too turns on the Tower of Terror. It was AWESOME!

Wilderness Lodge

We stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort. It was beautiful. We were able to take a water taxi to Magic Kingdom or the Contemporary resort, which was very convenient. We were upgraded from a woods view to a water view. One afternoon, it was raining so we explored the lodge instead of swimming. Max got to see Walt Disney's personal train set. They also have a fake geyser that shoots off every hour. Heather was unimpressed with the geyser. But Max, who hasn't been to Yellowstone twice, thought it was pretty cool.

Magic Kingdom, again

Magic Kingdom has so much o do we alloted 2 days for it. We started the day by catching the opening ceremony. I held Max and the camera for this, Heather was with the stroller and couldn't push as far forward. Mickey and many other characters pull up on the train, and the mayor, a group of singers and the family of the day open the park with a countdown, pixie dust and streamers. Max quivered with excitement and just giggled and squealed the whole time. The video (included in the highlight reel) is pretty shaky but you can still get the gist. His expression and reaction was just awesome.

We saw Chip and Dale as soon as we got into the park, and I waited in line to get his pillowcase signed. We rode the train to see the Hall of Presidents- it was super cool. We rode the flying carpets, Pirates o the Carribean, and the jungle Crusie and watched the Enchanted Tiki Room show. Then grabbed a bite and H and I did The Haunted Mansion while Max napped. We headed back to the room for some R&R, beause we wanted to catch the fireworks. Rain had other plans for us though. We did get to catch the Monsters Inc Laugh floor show, and they even told Max's joke we texted in. "What's the forecast in El Paso? Chili today, Hot tamale"