Fort Wilderness fun!

Saturday morning the 9 of us (Anthonys and McLains) managed to get ready for the day and have breakfast in a reasonably organized manner.  We took the Disney ferry boat across the lake and joined the masses at The Magic Kingdom about 10am.  We started the day with 2 trips down Splash Mountain which we all agree is a really great ride and lots of fun because all 9 of us could ride in the same log.  Good times.

We moved all around the park all day and hit all the oldies but goodies like the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Small World and the tea cups.  That isn't entirely true.  The 8 of them rode the tea cups.  I took a pass because they make me want to barf.  Not kidding.

After lunch we started our trek to Space Mountain.  Poor Magnolia isn't allowed to ride it so she had to sit out 3 different times while the rest of us took turns riding.  It is a great little coaster and the lines weren't too long (in Disney standards.)  Dave treated her to an ice cream cone on the down low during the first miss so that worked out for her pretty well and she and I had a lovely ride on the people mover once and a spin around the arcade for the last.  She is such a trooper but she still doesn't get why she can't ride with the big kids.  She has the guts now she just needs to grow 4 more inches.

I guess it rains almost every afternoon here in Orlando which worked out OK.  We found some fun rides that were inside and the rain managed to cool things off a bit.  The kids were starting to drag from 3-5pm and I wasn't sure they were going to make it.  An afternoon popsicle brought them back up to speed and we managed to power through the afternoon and early evening in good spirits. 

Before we knew it we were back to Main Street and people were already lining the streets to save spots for the parade.  Jody, Dagny, Maggie and I save some curb-side space while Dave and the bigs hustled to find dinner.  We enjoyed cheese burgers on Walt's extra clean sidewalk and had our dinner cleaned up just in time for the parade.  It was really fantastic and the kids had a great viewing spot.  I am so glad we were able to stay and see it.  Fun for us all.

After the parade we caught our ferry back to Fort Wilderness just in time for the 10pm fireworks to begin back at The Magic Kingdom.  We felt like we made a good decision on timing because our view of the fireworks was great over the lake and we had the kids that much closer to showers and a very late bedtime.  We were all wasted tired.

This morning was nice because we had no plans.  A nice breakfast and coffee had us fueled and to the pool by 10.  We swam for a solid 3 hours and had a really good time before the rain rolled in.  The Anthonys needed to head back to Punta Gorda and my crew needed some down time.  The rain kept up quiet and inside the motor home for lunch and a little afternoon TV time.  It was good to sit still.

Tonight we wrapped up our Fort Wilderness vacation with s'mores, camp fire sing-a-long, and an outdoor movie with the kids.  The campsite offers this every night and the kids have been begging to participate.  I am glad the weather cooperated so we could do it.  I sat with Maggie in front of me sitting on my lap and Alastair on my left leaning in on my shoulder and really thought about how precious this uninterrupted time is with my children and husband.  I feel so blessed to be healthy and able to create this experience.  We are so fortunate.

Tomorrow we drive our last leg of the trip south to Punta Gorda to the Anthony's home.  After that we head north east and that will feel odd.  That will mark the point in the trip where we are actually driving back in the direction of Denver and I think that will make me a little sad.  I have really enjoyed this trip and I don't want it to end.

Jll