Epcot

Our last full day sent us back to Epcot. After sleeping in we headed out to meet the Lizar's at the park. The Rose's weren't ready when we left but managed to arrive at the park the same time we did. Our bus driver decided to drive real slow and give us the low-down on the wildlife around the Walt Disney World property. It was a beautiful and warm day. Epcot was having the flower and garden show, which was amazing to see. There were topiaries made out of all the characters and flowers galore. They also had special play areas set up for the kids...which we took full advantage of. One of our first stops was back to the Little Nemo ride. The twins loved it and there was no line. Afterwards we did Turtle Talk with Crush...dude! It was an interactive screen where the Crush talked to the audience and the kids asked questions. Pretty entertaining. By that time we were starving so we headed towards the World Showcase to find something to eat. Abby was pretty upset with us and kept trying to walk back towards the area we left the Roses. We kept walking and she wasn't having it. A hungry and not happy Abby was not a pretty sight. We managed to get all the way to France to eat some crepes (and drink a yummy amaretto drink) when she officially melted down. Bless her heart it had been a long week. She wanted nothing to do with daddy and mommy tried all the tricks~even a playground! Finally, we found a water wheel that caught her eye and she calmed down. Eventually she fell asleep and took a well deserved nap. While that was happening Luke enjoyed a playground with Ellie and Hayden. After a few snacks we headed back to the front of the park to go on some rides. Our first one was Soaring...we used our Fast Passes and the Baby Swap option to get 5 tickets for me, Sam, Craig, Ellie and Hayden at the front of the line. Emily stayed with a sleeping Abby and a Luke happily eating a box of popcorn. Such a cool ride where you flew over scenes from California. After the ride Abby was up and we were all ready to have meal. Too hungry to walk back to the World Showcase we headed over to a burger joint. On the way Abby spotted these twirly things. She got so excited and ran up to them. Then it hit us...that was what she wanted to see when we kept pulling her away. We had walked right by them earlier and she just wanted to watch them spin. We made sure to give her plenty of time to enjoy them. Mental note: we need to slow down and let our kids enjoy this.

After lunch we found the fairy garden. It was beautiful and Emily and I decided that we need our husbands to make our backyards look just like it. Besides a really fun playground with a maze that the kids played in for almost and hour they had an activity where you took a map and hunted for the fairies. When you found one you colored the name on your paper. Luke was such a big boy and followed Ellie, Hayden and Emily on the hunt. He was so proud of his paper and ran up to show us.

Abby on the other hand just enjoyed running around and looking at the flowers with mommy.

While the twins played the adults took turns going on Test Track. We were crash test dummies on an exciting ride. The kids were starting to get tired and we were all hot and thirsty so we headed back to the World Showcase to find some cool beverages~Margaritas in Mexico! Luke finally fell asleep but Abby was too hot to get comfortable in the stroller. We bought her a slushie (in the USA) and she calmed down a bit. Craig and Sam took the twins while I stayed with Emily, Ellie and Hayden to do a little exploring. We went through the shops in Germany, Italy, USA, Japan and Morocco. Disney does a good job of making you feel like you have stepped out of a theme park and into a different country. After a lot of walking we all met back up and decided it was time to go back to the hotel and relax.

We had dinner outside by the pool and the kids played so nicely while the adults chatted...how they had so much energy we will never know. Abby and Luke love Ellie and Hayden. Abby was imitating Ellie as she practiced her gymnastics. Here she is working on her splits.

The Lizar's were heading back to Tampa that night so we decided to say our good-byes so they weren't driving too late into the night. It was so great to have them join us on our first trip to Disney World...and definitely not the last.