Mommy & the Boys: Florida Vacation

Way back in early May, we headed down to Florida for Joanna's wedding and stayed for a week, tacking on some time at the beach and a few days at Walt Disney World. Luke really enjoyed the beach, knocking down the sandcastles his father would build, scaring the bejesus out of his mom with a toy crab, and crawling around in all that sand. He wasn't quite as sure about the actual ocean. On the way to Disney, we stopped at the Clearwater Aquarium where we took in a Dolphin show and saw Winter, a dolphin with a prosthetic tail. And, then there was Disney. Luke really enjoyed the pools and water play areas at the resort, and he went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. His least favorite part of the whole experience was meeting Mickey and Minnie. One of his parents thought they would be pretty impressed by him in his mouse ears hat, but he was not in favor of putting it on right then, and expressed that to everyone around. Oh, well. He did also have the chance to meet up with Rafiki and Jiminy Cricket, and a few friends stopped to say hello during the parade, and he enjoyed those greetings much more.

His favorite rides and attractions at Disney were:

8-10. Small World, Peter Pan, Tea Cups
7. the flower and plant show going on at Epcot which included tunnels and playgrounds for tikes like Luke.
6. the Buzz Lightyear ride. He really enjoyed this the first time, but then zonked out on it the second time, lowering its rating.
5. Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride (too bad they make you wait so long to take off though!)
4. the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. Especially great was the big warthog who was located near our seats, Luke flashed him the peace sign several times during the performance.
3. Jungle Cruise at Animal Kingdom (this cruise really made him dance for some reason)
2. the Parade at Magic Kingdom. Luke sat in his stroller in the front row during the parade, and several characters greeted him personally on their way by, including Chip or Dale (the one with the brown nose), the genie from Aladdin, and Stitch (though Luke ignored him, so Kristina shook his hand instead).
1. The People Mover at Magic Kingdom (yes, this is basically a cart on a conveyer belt, not exactly death defying, but tons of fun nevertheless)

Photos!