Bye Bye Orlando!

Friday, May 15
Friday...our travel day home. It was pretty uneventful. We had to wake up SUPER early and return the rental car and fly back home. Fortunately all of us had to be at the airport around the same time. Aunt Dinah rode on Southwest with us through Denver. We deplaned and she continued on to Phoenix. I think the most excitement occured when it was time to board the plane. I had taken Taylor to the restroom and they started our boarding. Well I had put the boarding passes into one of our carry on bags. Wouldn't you know, Aunt Dinah happened to pick up that bag and take it on the plane with her. Of course Tony and the kids and my mom stayed behind to wait for me because they didn't have their boarding passes and we had a slight moment of panic that we couldn't get on the plane. Fortunately, it all worked and we were able to board the plane BUT we had to sit in separate rows from each other.

When we got back to Tucson, Papa left my car at the airport and we went back to the store to say hello and bring him lunch. Then we went on our way home to try and unpack and do laundry. Back to the real world and our busy lives.

Orlando Fun...Day 9

Thursday, May 14
Kennedy Space Center
In all of our travels to Orlando, we had never driven down to Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center. Being that my mom and aunts were with us on this trip, we made sure that we drove down to visit. We could have used 2 days at Kennedy because there was still another leg of the tour and more IMAX movies to see and we just didn't have enough time to do it.

At Kennedy Space Center there are model shuttles that are on the grounds that people can look at. There is a restaurant, souvenier shop, iMax theater and the bus loading station for the rest of the tours.

Waiting to load the bus for the tours. The boys love to play around but this family shot is so typical us!

On stage 1 of the tour, this stuck racoon was the highlight of the viewing.

This is one of the 2 launch pads available for shuttle launches. A few days prior Atlantis was launched into orbit. This was the backup shuttle.

The above shuttle model is an actual replica showing the size and stature of the an actual Space Shuttle. Jackson and Anthony LOVE running underneath it.

We had dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table at the Grand Floridian. So we had to leave before we could see the last part of the tour. We will probably be going back again the next time we are in Florida.

Cinderella's Royal Table
This is a buffet dinner with all of the characters from Cinderella. We saw Cinderella and Prince Charming. We saw Lady Trumane (Stepmother) and the wicked stepsisters (Anastasia and Drusella). The best part of this buffet were the desserts! YUMMY!!!!

A family picture before we entered the ballroom for our meal.

Taylor was so excited to see Cinderella. I think that Cinderella is her favorite princess. I know she is mine!

Prince Charming...swoon!

Drusilla and the kids. The characters REALLY played up their roles.

Anastasia was AWESOME. She was loud and rude and so proud to be evil!

Lady Trumane and the kids. She is so evil! However, during the dance portion of the meal, Anthony did dance with her and she was tolerant of it. :-)

Time to leave on our horse drawn carriage.

Bye bye everyone, our carriage awaits to take us back to the timeshare.

Orlando Fun..Day 8

Wednesday, May 13
Disney's Hollywood Studios
On this trip, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios 3 times. That's kind of unbelievable considering in previous trips it seemed like this was a half day park. But they really seemed to expand the place and add more attractions and we needed 3 days to see every single one. What we did during part of this day was split up. My mom and my aunts when their way and the rest of us went our own way. But first we had to ride on Toy Story Mania!

Aunt Rosie, Nana and the three kids wait their turn in line. It turns out that one of my Aunt Dinah's friends has a son who worked on designing part of this ride...Toy Story Mania!

We got a little bored in line so I started snapping pictures of me and the boys. This is me and Anthony.

This is me and Jackson

This is me and Tony

In the building across from Toy Story Mania, we saw a sign out front that had Buzz and Woody from The Toy Story movies were inside. We were a bit early for their arrival but upon our surprise, they were actually there and signing autographs and available for pictures.

We saw a cute little movie all about Disney Animation and then at the end of the gallery tour got to get pictures with Scorcerer Mickey.

This is me and Taylor waiting outside to see Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. The boys didn't want to see it again so they went on to ride on Star Tours with Tony and Aunt Rosie.

On our way out of the theater we saw Handy Manny and June from Little Einsteins walking out to greet guests at the character autograph spots. They were on the move so it's a good think my shutter is fast on my digital camera!

The kids all gathered for a picture with Quincy from Little Einsteins. Taylor had the most fun of all of them getting this picture.

The Mickey Mouse Ears Water Tower from the Disney Hollywood Studios Backlot Tour. Tony and I took Taylor on this ride while Nana, Aunt Rosie, Aunt Dinah and the boys went to see the Lights, Camera, Action Stunt Show.

Tony and Taylor and one of the Star Wars legends...Darth Vader.

Tony and another "new generation" Star Wars Legend, Darth Maul.

Waiting for Beauty and The Beast Live on Stage show to begin. Tony went off to ride Hollywood Tower of Terror.

Afterwards, we met up again and watched the finale show of American Idol. It was nice because the guy who we had seen earlier in the day that won the round for our show also won the finale show. By the time the show was finished, the park was getting ready to close. So we went on to dinner and then headed back to the timeshare to get some good rest for the last day of fun in Orlando.