Magic Kingdom Fun!

 

We didn't take as many pictures as we normally do because we don't even know how many times we've been to Magic Kingdom. No matter how many times we've been, it's still magical! The pictures we took were of the things we don't normally do. It was much easier to go through the park this time with the kids a bit older. We were able to do more.

 

 

The Swiss Family Robinson House (two pictures above).

 

These pictures (above) are of us exploring Tom Sawyer Island. The guns made a shooting noises.

This was outside the Haunted House.

While going through A Small World I sat with Austyn and named all of the countries I recognized for him.

Indy car fun. We never miss this and as you can tell one picture is in the daytime and the other is after the sun set. We went to the Indy cars twice!

This is one of the oldest and most viewed exhibits created by Walt Disney himself about innovations in the Family Home over time (two pictures above).

Hula-hoop fun while waiting to eat.

Minnie's house.

Micky's house and pluto's house in the back yard.

The famous fireworks around Cinderella's castle.

Late night parade.

Nature on a Florida Resort Again!

Like the last time we were in Florida, we spent time with the wildlife. This time we met some lizards, turtles, fish (some bigger than Austyn!), ducks and more. Here is austyn getting close to the turtle we were feeding just outside of our condo.

Vacation Fun!

While on vacation we are still learning and having fun at the same time. 

Zoe LOVES fast rides and is usually upset if someone tells her she can't go on a ride because she isn't tall enough, so she wanted to go down this slide, but as you can see by the picture there is a look of terror on her face. She didn't like it at all and didn't go down again. Poor baby. I never thought I'd get a picture like this. She went on many fast rides, so we aren't sure what happened here. LOL! Poor kid!

He made a money machine in our room and kept paying us for food with his play money. 

Zoe liked to stick stickers on paper and then cut them out.

Zoe drew many pictures. This on is a picture of me. I LOVE IT!!

Austyn looked great in his goggles.

This is Austyn's lizard trap. I think it was a day or two after this that Zoe caught one at the pool.

Austyn led some boys in trying to capture some lizards after seeing one on the wall and talking to a local woman about how she catches them sometimes at her house.

Zoe liked to play in the pool with friends she met there.

MESSY HAIR!! LOL!!!

Shuttle Launch - Discovery

We finally saw a Shuttle Launch. We expected the sun to be coming up when it launched but instead it was still dark with a hint of blue when the launch began. It was the night launch we always wanted to see!

As some of you know, we attempted to see a launch a couple of months earlier. It was worth the wait. If  you want more information about this most recent mission, the mission name is STS-132 and their website is http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html.

 The sound was very delayed. This may have been the point that we actually started to hear the loud sound. I also think that by looking at this picture that this could be when the boosters separated? We have seen two other launches from central Florida at night and could see the boosters come away from the shuttle very clearly, but up close we had trouble deciding when that actually happened. 

The boosters are close together and still the brightest light in the sky. They are becoming more of a simmering red colour here. 

They have burned out and fallen here and the shuttle is moving on in space. There is a large contrail after the shuttle and it appears to be flying downward but actually it's flying around the earth at an imaginable speed. We watched it as it went over the horizon.

After attempting this a couple of months before we were much better prepared this time. We left early, knew where to park, slept in the van with the blankets and pillows from our resort, and stayed put after the launch until traffic started to move. While relaxing in our parking spot we watched the smoke from the launch transform into an interesting glowing cloud (from the sunrise). I think that it almost looked like a cartoon face in the sky. 

Leaving our spot we crossed a bridge and saw the boats. They had a nice view and it looked like it'd be very peaceful in the boats. They couldn't park on the other side because there is a military helicopter that patrols all night long making sure that the whole area around the launch site is clear of people.

The kids were pooped! It was a long night sleeping in the van. At least we tried another route back to our condo this time and it paid off. We were at a Waffle House in Orlando eating in no time at all!

Patriots Point - Vietnam Support Base

This is a river patrol boat. They were very important for protecting the base and for finding enemies.

This is where they hid their ammunition and explosives.

There were a few of these buildings. One was for eating in. One was for radios. One was for sleeping. This one is for medical personnel. It reminds me of M.A.S.H.