Aren't You a Little Short for a Storm Trooper?

Well, I guess I get to do this one (Joe). While Olivia, Kate, and Renee had their Princess Tea Party Day, Ethan, Jerome, and Joe went back to Hollywood Studios to watch the Jedi Training Academy show and spend some time. Thanks to our awesome connection, they got to have a personal meet and greet with some characters. While Ethan was pretty excited, the big kid got had a dream day and got to meet Darth Vader for a second time...the first being his fourth or fifth birthday party.

The Dark Side

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

All too easy. You will notice that the lightsaber Joe is holding is autographed. A gift from Lord Vader.

The Jedi and Sith put aside their differences for a picture.

Ethan battles the Empire.

Hollywood Studios is also home to Pixar. Here is Ethan meeting Buzz and Woody. He was pretty excited about this.

Ethan and Lightning McQueen.

Ethan really wanted to see what Mater had in his mouth. Guess Joe was equally curious.

The Green Army Man. Ethan was scared of these guys the first day through Hollywood Studios, but he couldn't wait to meet him the next time we saw him.

Of course what trip to Tatooine Traders would be complete without the family Star Wars photo. For the non-Star Wars inclined, Joe is Anakin, Kate is Padme (the parents), Ethan is Luke, and Olivia is Leia (their children). Luke pretty much whined throughout Episode IV and V, so we thought this pic appropriate. We just figured Ethan wanted to go into Tosche Station (is it wrong that I know the correct spelling) to pick up some power converters.

Random Disney Photos

The following are some random pictures that didn't quite fit into the "themes" of the previous blogs. (You know me and how I like to keep things organized!)

Ethan eating his first Mickey Mouse ice cream bar. I miss the ones Disney had when I was a kid...vanilla ice cream on the bottom and chocolate ice cream for the ears. Now they are much fancier being dipped in chocolate!

And Olivia enjoying her ice cream at the restaurant Hannah's Hideaway at our hotel (The Beach Club). The kid meals at Disney were much healthier than I had thought they would be. Kids could pick two items between carrot sticks, jello, apple slices, and fries, and there was always a non-fried entree offered. Joe and I had feared it would be hamburgers and fries all week long!

On our first night at Disney, we went to dinner at Chef Mickey's as an "introduction to the characters" for the kids. Minnie Mouse was both the first and last character we encountered on our trip. Olivia was beyond excited that Minnie gave her a hug.

The family with Donald Duck (ignore me trying to get Ethan to look at the camera!). Donald is Ethan's favorite, and he was in awe of him at this meal!

The family and Pluto. Olivia had already started to get the hang of the autograph book at this point.

Mickey Mouse!

Olivia quickly learned that Mickey Mouse ears are everywhere! I couldn't imagine being the chef making these tiny ears and then perfectly placing them on the mousse. Olivia enjoyed looking for hidden mouse ears for the entire vacation, and became very good at spotting random ones (some of which were so random only she could see them!)

Grandma, grandpa, and the kids with Goofy. This picture became a theme for Olivia. Every time we would see Goofy during the vacation, she would hold out her hair and make a goofy face.

This is Olivia driving the sunken pirate ship at The Beach Club. It really was a wonderful hotel in the Epcot region. The pool/lazy river/water slides were amazing. One of the pools was a sand bottom pool, which is one of only five in the world, plus there was a beach next to that pool for the kids to play on. I recommend this hotel to anyone! (In the background you can see the Dolphin Hotel where Joe and I stayed on our honeymoon).

A view of the sunken pirate ship pool, with The Beach Club in the background.

The view from our room. This pool was quieter than the other pools at the hotel. It was nice for a quick dip!

On our last night at Disney, we went to the Hoop de doo Review at Fort Wilderness. It was a really funny show (although most of the humor was over the kids' heads) and the food was good, too...buckets of fried chicken and ribs. Here is Joe helping Ethan play the washboard.

The morning we left we attended the Cape May character breakfast in our hotel. We just couldn't go a day with seeing characters! The waiter took this group shot of us with Donald Duck. In the autograph book, Donald always signs "Donald Duck #1". Olivia told him at this meal that he "is not #1". It is funny to see how the masked characters fake a pout! Olivia had to console him about that remark.

Olivia, Ethan, and Goofy all being goofy.

And finally, the kids giving Minnie Mouse a hug goodbye. We will definitely go back to Disney World someday.....

Disney's Magic Kingdom

Magical magical magical. No matter how old you are, the Magic Kingdom remains magical. We made about 3 trips to this park during our vacation, and that still didn't seem like enough time as we skipped Frontierland completely to spend time elsewhere. Olivia and Ethan's favorite ride of the entire vacation was "It's a Small World". We rode it 5 times total. This is my favorite ride, too (nostalgia from childhood), although Joe HATES this ride. He did a very good job "enjoying" it for the kids' sake. Other great attractions were Mickey's Philharmagic, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and Haunted Mansion. Both kids really enjoyed Dumbo and Magic Carpets of Aladdin, too.

Ethan posing with "the baseball pumpkin" along the Main Street USA.

Joe and kids posing with Daisy Duck.

Such a classic Cinderella Castle picture.

Olivia outside of the Dumbo ride, the first ride we enjoyed at Disney.

Joe and Olivia on Dumbo.

Grandpa by himself on Dumbo. Just kidding, Ethan is somewhere behind the fence pole.

Ethan, grandma, and Olivia on Dumbo. Ethan enjoyed this ride so much that the one stuffed animal he was allowed to buy was a Dumbo.

As mentioned in previous blogs, it was HOT at Disney. Our character lunch at the Crystal Palace was a very welcome reprieve. Here is Olivia, Ethan, and Winnie the Pooh.

Joe, Eeyore, Ethan, and Olivia.

Ethan, Olivia, Tigger, and grandma. Ethan was bouncing with Tigger saying "boing, boing".

Ethan, Piglet, Olivia, and grandma. I must admit that the kids did excellent at these character meals. They did a great job staying at the table until it was their turn with the character. I had pictured Ethan running wild through the restaurants and ruining everyone else's pictures with the characters!`1

Olivia with Peter Pan. I must say, of all the characters we encountered, he was the bossiest. He was definitely in charge of keeping the almost nonexistent line moving quickly. For some reason, Ethan hid from Peter Pan and wouldn't take his picture with him. Maybe because we had just gone on the Peter Pan's Flight ride, and it scared him.

Ethan playing in the Ariel's Grotto splash park. The line to see Ariel the mermaid (as opposed to when she is in human form) was one of the longest we encountered on our vacation. It was 45 minutes, but the kids had a good time in the water park area while grandma and grandpa stood in line. The bad thing was, there was absolutely no shade so we were roasting!

Olivia imitating the Ariel statue. There will be no picture of us with Ariel in this blog as we just had a photo pass picture taken with her and no candids. I know all of you were really wanting to see us with yet another character!

Ethan and Olivia wearing their new mouse ear hats that they designed themselves. And if one goes to Disney, you of course have to get the classic mouse ear balloons!

Ethan with his Mickey Mouse stickers. On his cheeks. I don't ask why anymore.

Ethan, Pinnochio, and Olivia.

Olivia was so happy to meet Cinderella's Fairy Godmother! On our first visit to the park, we saw her but the line to her had been closed. So for the second visit we made sure to get in line before she was escorted away!

Ethan with a suit of armor inside Cinderella's Castle. Another tradition of my family's...we have always eaten in Cinderella's Castle on our Disney trips. However, this was the first time that characters have been present, and each one is presented to the crowd as a sort of show. In the past, it was just a nice meal inside the castle.

The family meeting Cinderella for the only time on the vacation. The other princesses are more common to meet elsewhere.

Ethan, Snow White, and Olivia. Snow White was so enamored of Ethan she gave him a big kiss on the cheek (to be seen in later pictures).

Ethan, Princess Aurora, and Olivia. When Sleeping Beauty saw that Ethan had received a kiss from Snow White, she planted one of her own on his forehead.

Ethan, Jasmine, and Olivia. Jasmine did not give Ethan a kiss. Instead her comment was "he's a wild one isn't he?" I had to agree with her as at the time he was attempting to sword fight with her with the plastic sword he received when we were seated (Olivia received a magic wand).

Ethan, Belle, and Olivia. Belle was dismayed when she heard Olivia liked Gaston in the movie!

My assumption was proven correct...Ethan is a prince charming. Here are the kisses from Aurora (forehead) and Snow White (cheek). He was so proud of these kisses, too, when we showed them to him in the mirror.

Olivia "wearing" the chocolate crown that came on her ice cream sundae. The little details that Disney would do were amazing.

Olivia and Ethan in front of Minnie's Country House in Toontown Fair. Olivia is holding the stuffed animal she selected, a Princess Minnie doll.

The two thinkers.

Olivia was captured along with Zurg at the end of the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride! Grandma scored the highest among the six of us on this.

One final shot of the kids in front of the Magic Kingdom entrance.

Some pictures from the "Wishes" show that was performed in front of Cinderella's Castle. All of the live shows we saw were excellent.