So, we all leave Animal Kingdom.... but head in different directions. If you remember correctly, this was JC's first trip - therefore he had never had the incredible opportunity to experience the Tower of Terror (fabulously thrilling) and The Rockin Roller Coaster ( awesome). Both of those rides are at Hollywood Studios. I have been able to ride them hundreds of times but have never been to The Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. We decided to split up for a while and meet in Mexico at 4pm for dinner. So, we kissed, hugged, and said our goodbyes and hoped we would be able to find each other again.
OK- so on to Bethany's and Kim's trip to Epcot.....
Now, I have heard about the Flower and Garden Festival before. They have done it for many years. I have never been..... and that just gives you an example of how it is impossible to do everything unless you go to Disney for a million years and spend weeks at a time (which I plan to do). Pre-house I would have said "Ok. sounds nice... I'll see it but it's not a big deal". Post-house I say "I have to see this glorious festival asap and I hope that Kev can recreate everything that I take pics of". See, I'm not sure if you have gotten the point that I (we) have become OBSESSED with the outdoors and our yard. Except for I don't know how to do anything...so, I enjoy looking at it while Kev does all the work. Let me just tell you that it was glorious! It blows me away the things the Disney team can create.
This is what we saw when we entered the park......
Those are bushes sculpted in the shapes of my favorite characters. How amazing is that! And just so you understand why I love Beauty and the Beast so much... here is a Kim and Kev trivia fact. The first date that Kev asked me on was to go see Beauty and the Beast. This was before he knew I LOVED Disney - BEFORE which means that we were meant to be. AND if you have ever seen the movie then you know that when the Beast turns human at the end... it looks JUST like Kev when we were married... long blonde ponytail and all. It IS possible to live a fairytale and I'm proof (except I look nothing like Belle but that is beside the point).Bethany's favorite is Cinderella. They had just about every single character sculpted throughout the park... but for the sake of space on this blog I am only able to post a few.... however, I had to post this one because I'm hoping I can have this in my front yard (with Bethany included).....
Isn't that beautiful! What a great Fall yard decoration. I've seen Kev make things out of wood before like speaker stands, pool rafts, and firewood... so, I'm sure he can make this. I'm telling you that this festival was incredible and such a treat to see.
Next we headed to Pixie Hollow. That is where Tinkerbell and her friends live. Now, I've made it pretty clear that I believe in fairies... how can you not? My friend Melissa bought me a precious pink fairy ornament one year. It hangs in my window in hopes that fairies will realize they are welcome here. Pixie Hollow was just as I've always imagined. There were little houses all throughout the gardens.....
One of the houses was even made out of a teapot. So cute!! I seriously could have stayed in there all day if there weren't so many people trying to see it. There was also a butterfly garden that you could walk through. Butterflies were flying all around - it was magical. Here is one of my favs.... Minnie Mouse. Look at how beautiful her dress is! It is made completely out of red and white flowers.
We took our time walking through looking at everything... and then we were off to another exciting adventure..... The Troll Trek. Now let me give you some background on trolls. They are from Norway and Kev is Norweigian. That means they are in his ancestry.... and I'm pretty sure from the looks of them that they are in mine. We were told that there were 20 hidden trolls in Norway and if you could find all of them then you would be crowned the queen of the trolls... well, actually there wasn't a prize but I don't ALWAYS need a reward to feel successful. After tons of searching by looking down... we were told by a nice young GIANT Norweigian man that we should be looking up. Besides the fact that he scared the stink out of me (I'm telling you that he had the deepest voice and I broke my neck looking up at him... he seriously looked like he could pick us up in his hand and eat us - so scary!) and that we were probably the only two people that really played the game - it was so much fun! Here is a pic of one that I found on a window sill.....
And now for my big purchase of the trip. Actually it was no where near a BIG purchase... but more like my only purchase. I saw this beautiful bird bath with Tinkerbell sitting on it. Bethany told me that before I could buy it, we had to think about it and look around at everything else. If you think that sounds familiar then you are right.... it is just what a mother would say. Again, this is something that would have never sparked my interest before... but now (and especially after seeing Pixie Hollow) I thought it would be the perfect addition to my flower garden.
This is a pic of it in my sunroom as I don't really have a flower garden just yet. Kev worries that it is too small for all of the birds in our back yard..... but I love it just the same. This is not the last you will hear about this birdbath because it ended up being quite troublesome and cumbersome throughout the rest of the day. Word of advice: Do not buy your souvenir in the middle of the day! I should have remembered that after the "sombrero buying incident in 1996 where Kev had to carry it around all night .. and it was not a small sombrero (like you are about to see).. it is probably the biggest one ever made. I'm still questioning my reasons for HAVING to have it. I'm so weird!
We took our time walking through looking at everything... and then we were off to another exciting adventure..... The Troll Trek. Now let me give you some background on trolls. They are from Norway and Kev is Norweigian. That means they are in his ancestry.... and I'm pretty sure from the looks of them that they are in mine. We were told that there were 20 hidden trolls in Norway and if you could find all of them then you would be crowned the queen of the trolls... well, actually there wasn't a prize but I don't ALWAYS need a reward to feel successful. After tons of searching by looking down... we were told by a nice young GIANT Norweigian man that we should be looking up. Besides the fact that he scared the stink out of me (I'm telling you that he had the deepest voice and I broke my neck looking up at him... he seriously looked like he could pick us up in his hand and eat us - so scary!) and that we were probably the only two people that really played the game - it was so much fun! Here is a pic of one that I found on a window sill.....
And now for my big purchase of the trip. Actually it was no where near a BIG purchase... but more like my only purchase. I saw this beautiful bird bath with Tinkerbell sitting on it. Bethany told me that before I could buy it, we had to think about it and look around at everything else. If you think that sounds familiar then you are right.... it is just what a mother would say. Again, this is something that would have never sparked my interest before... but now (and especially after seeing Pixie Hollow) I thought it would be the perfect addition to my flower garden.
This is a pic of it in my sunroom as I don't really have a flower garden just yet. Kev worries that it is too small for all of the birds in our back yard..... but I love it just the same. This is not the last you will hear about this birdbath because it ended up being quite troublesome and cumbersome throughout the rest of the day. Word of advice: Do not buy your souvenir in the middle of the day! I should have remembered that after the "sombrero buying incident in 1996 where Kev had to carry it around all night .. and it was not a small sombrero (like you are about to see).. it is probably the biggest one ever made. I'm still questioning my reasons for HAVING to have it. I'm so weird!
Anyway, with lots of pictures, a souvenir, and a thirst... we head over to Mexico one hour early to wait for the fam. AND THIS IS WHERE THE STORY GETS GOOD..... We discovered a taste explosion... a "party in our mouths".... DisneyWorld in a glass.... THE FIESTA MARGARITA. It was delish and by delish... I mean it was all of those things that I just listed! Mango, Lime, Strawberry, and Green Apple. If you are ever looking for me in Epcot - this is where I will be... actually I am there right now and no one even knows it. We just chilled out.... laughed, talked, relaxed. I'm telling you that it was good times and I mean it!
The rest of the family arrived... which resulted in Fiesta Margaritas for all... and we headed in to the restaurant. Now let me just say that Kev and I have eaten at this restaurant several times as have Holly, Kris, and Bethany. We have ALL had wonderful and delicious experiences. This was NOT the case on this day! I'm not saying you should never try it.... but I don't know if I will again. The service was bad, food portions were TINY, and I couldn't find the bathroom even though we were sitting right next to it... so I had to walk down to Norway. Well, actually the bathroom situation was my fault - but still. This next pic sums up how we felt about everything.....
The great thing is that my family can make just about any situation fun... therefore we pretty much laughed the whole time and got out of there as fast as we could. Halfway to the next ride, Bethany realized that I had left my cumbersome birdbath at the restaurant. And then the Spanish Inquisition began. Unfortunately the birdbath was in a box... so you really couldn't tell what it was and the manager of the restaurant seriously asked me 20 questions before he decided that I might be telling the truth. What did I leave? Describe it to me? Would I trade my sister for the box? What is the address of Kev's store because he had a gold nugget necklace to pawn? Did I like guacamole with or without jalapenos? Would I promise to only let Mexican birds use my birdbath? Needless to say.. it was very frustrating. So, I get the birdbath and start racing back to Spaceship Earth... well maybe not racing but walking as fast as I could. Well, the Nowells and Bethany were waiting for me and somehow I walked right past them and they never saw me because they were playing "let's all close our eyes and try to smell Kim when she walks by". Too bad for them that I had decided to wear deodorant that day. I finally found Holly and Kris who made a couple of phone calls ( to my brother in Iraq, Bill Clinton, and a man with a compass) and got us all back together.... they are military, you know, so they always know what to do.
The rest of the family arrived... which resulted in Fiesta Margaritas for all... and we headed in to the restaurant. Now let me just say that Kev and I have eaten at this restaurant several times as have Holly, Kris, and Bethany. We have ALL had wonderful and delicious experiences. This was NOT the case on this day! I'm not saying you should never try it.... but I don't know if I will again. The service was bad, food portions were TINY, and I couldn't find the bathroom even though we were sitting right next to it... so I had to walk down to Norway. Well, actually the bathroom situation was my fault - but still. This next pic sums up how we felt about everything.....
The great thing is that my family can make just about any situation fun... therefore we pretty much laughed the whole time and got out of there as fast as we could. Halfway to the next ride, Bethany realized that I had left my cumbersome birdbath at the restaurant. And then the Spanish Inquisition began. Unfortunately the birdbath was in a box... so you really couldn't tell what it was and the manager of the restaurant seriously asked me 20 questions before he decided that I might be telling the truth. What did I leave? Describe it to me? Would I trade my sister for the box? What is the address of Kev's store because he had a gold nugget necklace to pawn? Did I like guacamole with or without jalapenos? Would I promise to only let Mexican birds use my birdbath? Needless to say.. it was very frustrating. So, I get the birdbath and start racing back to Spaceship Earth... well maybe not racing but walking as fast as I could. Well, the Nowells and Bethany were waiting for me and somehow I walked right past them and they never saw me because they were playing "let's all close our eyes and try to smell Kim when she walks by". Too bad for them that I had decided to wear deodorant that day. I finally found Holly and Kris who made a couple of phone calls ( to my brother in Iraq, Bill Clinton, and a man with a compass) and got us all back together.... they are military, you know, so they always know what to do. We finished the night with riding some super fun rides and watching the fireworks. AND finally got the chance to celebrate Holly's birthday - kind of. Bethany had tried to celebrate it the previous day but it didn't work out... and then we thought about celebrating it in Mexico. That would have NEVER worked because I think they HATED us. So, she put a birthday hat on her head and we all took turns "pantsing" her. There is nothing like doing your family tradition in public. You can tell how much she enjoyed it......
After we left the park... Bethany and I headed to Walmart to get some REAL Mexican food to eat.... Velveeta and Chips. Bethany had NEVER had Velveeta. I had grown up on it... not only did I eat it weekly but I used it as toothpaste. I thought I was sharing a real treat with her and teaching her what it was like to live in the 80's. Let's just say that Velveeta and Bethany DO NOT MIX!! Sorry B!! I guess the 80's isn't for everyone!
After we left the park... Bethany and I headed to Walmart to get some REAL Mexican food to eat.... Velveeta and Chips. Bethany had NEVER had Velveeta. I had grown up on it... not only did I eat it weekly but I used it as toothpaste. I thought I was sharing a real treat with her and teaching her what it was like to live in the 80's. Let's just say that Velveeta and Bethany DO NOT MIX!! Sorry B!! I guess the 80's isn't for everyone!I'm sad to say that my trip is pretty much over.... I'm sad but you are probably thrilled because I have FINALLY finished blogging about this trip. Our last big adventure was on Monday for lunch. We ate at a new restaurant called T-Rex... (I bet you can't figure out the theme of the place). It is in Downtown Disney... and let me just tell you that it is a "must-do" experience. If you have ever eaten in the Rainforest Cafe, then you will understand. It is owned by the same people but everything is dinosaur themed. We ate in the Ice Age. And I wasn't even scared of the dinosaurs because THEY WERE NICE AND DID NOT SCREAM IN MY EARS AND JUMP OUT OF NOWHERE! I think I seriously had the best dessert EVER at this place. It was layered ice cream sandwiches with cool whip, fudge, and nonsense delight. I can't even remember what all was on it because we ate it so fast. What a fantastic way to end the trip!
I seriously had the best time!! What a great trip and a wonderful experience to share with family! It's all about making memories... and I hope to do it every chance I get. Thanks Bethany for all that you did to coordinate this for everyone! And thanks to the Nowells and the Craigheads for making it so much fun!
Coming soon.... Glenns' birthday and "How many trees are too many?"
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