Paris, France – City of…

Our family vacation took us on a tour of Paris during our stay in Disneyland Paris.   During the course of our tour, we had a terrific tour guide that was extremely knowledgeable about the various wonderful places that we visited.  The only negative part of this aspect of our visit was the weather.  Darn it mother nature, you rained on our parade.  This didn’t stop us from enjoying our day as we got to visit the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and quick photo opportunities at the Arc de Triomphe and their Statue of Liberty.  Let us have our family each give you their opinion of this wonderful city.

Chad – Our visit through Paris was one of my favorite parts of our first week of vacation.  I actually truly enjoyed every city that we did visit but the history and beauty of this city is quite amazing.  It is hard to say which monument that we saw was my favorite.  Especially since the rain ruined the view we had from the top of the Eiffel Tower.  As much as I enjoyed the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Louvre was my favorite place visited during this portion of our trip.  To see the art from the various parts of the world that encompassed so much history was truly enjoyable.  We only had a few hours so we hit the highlights including the Mona Lisa and several Greek Statues.  However, it was some of the art that we didn’t get to take a good look at that grabbed my attention the most.  I could have enjoyed two whole days inside the Louvre and still would have likely not seen the entire museum as it is massive.

Ami – I loved our visit to Paris.  I wish we had more time to enjoy the city.  I can finally say that I have been to the Eiffel Tower, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe.  However, the Louvre was my absolute favorite part.  I could have spent days there.  To see art of that I have read about was amazing. To learn about pieces from different ages and to see the progression of artistic style was beyond expectation.   I hope we get a chance to return to Paris.

John –  Paris was fun.  It was a great start to our trip, with amazing sights and Disney Land as well.  We were able to see the statue of Liberty there, the Eiffel Tower, and so many more things.  The Louvre was cool as well.  It had so many different pieces of art and I bet we barely even saw any of it.  Of course we didn’t find any free Ice Cream but there was Gelato all around the place.

Josiah – I think it was awesome!  They have another version of the Statue of Liberty.  They have the Eiffel Tower with a store at the top.  But don’t go up there when it is rainy because it sways a lot.  You might have to pay to go to the bathroom.  You can pay to sail boats in a pond with a fountain in the middle.  The boats might crash into each other but they won’t sink.  The boats always come back.  They could crash into the spray or into a duck house (yes they had duck houses in there).  Some playgrounds you have to pay to get in.  You can see another miniature version of the Statue of Liberty in that park, but it’s smaller than both.

Disney Land Paris

We started off our family vacation with a trip to Disney Land Paris.  A lot of people were surprised but those that truly know us understand that we may have an addiction to Disney.  In overall size, I would compare more closely to Disney Land California but after spending a few days there, we loved this as much as we do our local parks.  It was nice seeing some of the experiences of the past such as Lights, Motors, Actions Stunt Spectacular along side experiences that are coming to Florida in the near future like Ratatouille.  Here is everyone’s opinion of this specific Disney Park.

Chad – I really enjoyed the time spent at Disney Land Paris.  Overall, it is a well designed and themed amusement park.  One of my favorite rides there was Ratatouille where they “shrink” you down to the size of a mouse.  I am looking forward to the day that this opens in EPCOT.   I also really enjoyed Crush’s Coaster.  A coaster with some good speed was fun for all to enjoy.  Overall, there are 2 parks on this property.  There is also a Disney Marketplace like the Disney Springs area in Florida but much smaller.  Plenty of neat souvenirs were up for grabs as usual but especially things that were specific to Disney Land Paris.  Overall, this wasn’t my favorite of the Disney Parks that I have visited but I would be glad to go again.  Plus, Sleeping Beauty’s castle has been my favorite that I have seen so far.  Stained glass window inside telling the story of Sleeping Beauty and the dragon underneath chained up but hoping to escape.

Ami – Disneyland Paris in some ways is very different from the Disney we are accustomed and in other ways very much the same park.  When first entering the area you must pass the security.  This security is for both parks and the free Disney Village.  I like that you only have to do security once and are still able to visit all three.  There are many rides that exist at other Disney Parks and some that are completely different.  We spent 4 days visiting the parks and that was plenty of time.  I loved the Crush Coaster, Tower of Terror, Ratatouille Ride, Sleeping Beauty’s castle, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan, and Pirates.  I was not impressed with the Indiana Jones Coaster or the Rockin’ Roller Coaster.  They made my head bounce around it caused it to hurt.  I felt Sleeping Beauty’s Castle was the best Disney Castle that we have seen thus far.  The Dragon underneath and the story told with stain glass and tapestries was enchanting.  Overall I very much enjoyed Disneyland Paris and look forward to going back. Next time, hopefully, both the Mystic Manor and Space Mountain are open.

John – It was amazing!  The Tower of Terror was in my opinion better than in California back when California had one, it wasn’t the worst when it came to being crowded, and both the parks where close together so you could easily walk to it.  For the rides they were all good, Armageddon was cool, and Crush was fun  as well.  Ratatouille was fine, and the Indiana Jones roller coaster was cool. Sadly though Hyperspace mountain was closed, as well as the Phantom Manner. Big Thunder Mountain was the best out of the three I have ridden, and Studio Tram Tour was awesome as well.  I could do an entire blog on just the rides.  The walk in attractions where also super cool.  The tree house wasn’t all that different from the one in Florida, but the Nautilus was my favorite walk in, and the dragon was cool too.  In all Disney Land Paris was an amazing part of our trip and I would like to go again. Sadly though, there is no free ice cream.

Josiah – I liked it.  There is a Crush Ride that is inside like Rockin’ Roller coaster.  I liked that it was really fast.  I also like the parachute ride in the Toy Story area.  It had rides that Disney World does not have.  The Pirates was better than in Disney World because it has the cats almost immediately.  I liked how Big Thunder Mountain goes under the water and comes up on an island.

Vienna House Dream Castle in Disneyland Paris

It has been a couple of weeks since we have published and this is because we were on an extended vacation.  Our next several blogs will be about portions of this trip slowly going through everything that we want to tell you about.  Most of what we write about are positive because any vacation is a great experience.  The majority of our trip was fantastic.  However, our first part of this trip was to stay at an off-property resort outside of Disneyland Paris.  The name of this resort is the Vienna House Dream Castle.  I will let everyone give you their opinion of our experience at this resort.

Chad – When we got to the resort, after a overnight flight to Paris, we were all pretty tired.  There were a total of 9 of us on this trip and we arrived in Paris at 10 AM Paris time.  We realized that the rooms wouldn’t be quite ready for us when we first arrived but we were surprised that one of our 2 rooms were available.  We took everyone upstairs and immediately started to notice vast differences between this resort and the off-property resorts in Disney World Orlando.  We had to ask them several times to fix the air-conditioning, a clogged toilet and when asking why the temperature in the “mini-bar” was about 70 degrees at the coldest setting, their response was a simple, it isn’t a refrigerator.  They did finally unclog the toilet after we were told that it was working about 4 times.  The good part of this is that our rooms came with free breakfast.  It was a large buffet of many types of breads, nutella, meats and cheeses and some other food items that were only OK.  Basically, you needed to eat bread and nutella to be happy at this meal which was alright for me.  This resort no longer offers breakfast as a part of the room fair so now people will have to pay for this meal, not worth extra money more than maybe twice on a trip.  We had to switch rooms half-way through the trip because there was a water leak in one of our rooms.  They shut off the electricity to the room even though there was food in the “mini-bar”.  If we ever do go back to Disneyland Paris, we are going to splurge on a Disney resort and no matter what, we will never stay at the Magic Castle again.

Ami – The hotel overall was just ok.  It was just a bus ride away from the park.  The deal we were able to get included free breakfast (this isn’t something you can always get).  The down sides of the hotel Chad has already mentioned.  If we were to go back to Disneyland Paris we would stay on property and not at this hotel.

John – It was fine for me.  As someone who didn’t have to (incapable of) pay for anything the hotel was fine.  I have a low standard when it comes to hotels as I just don’t like them.  But as hotels go my room was fine.  The first few nights I got a good sleep, which was probably partly because of the six hour time zone difference.  But I absolutely hated that they made us walk around the hotel multiple times after it rained one day because it “was leaking”.  Even though I saw no proof that it did. In all I thought it was fine other than the whole moving thing, and even though there was a buffet it had no free ice cream in it as far as I could tell.

Josiah – I liked this hotel.  The breakfast was good.  They had mini-games in the lobby that cost 2 Euros.  I liked that they gave me a bag of toys when we got there. I also liked the pool.  It wasn’t very deep, indoor not outdoor, had a slide, and a hot tub.  I didn’t like changing rooms.

Walt Disney World in the Rain

We live in the great state of Florida.  The Sunshine State for the majority of the time, mostly between September and May.  Then there are the summer months which are moving quickly to join us now.  The summer brings a different sort of weather to this fantastic state.  It brings our rainy season.  What does that mean?  Typically, it means that sometime between 2 and 4 PM, there will be a 15 minute thunderstorm.  However, like every state, we can also have our gloomy days where it will still be in the 80’s and just rain on and off all day.  How does the rain effect the parks?  That is what we want you to know in our personal opinions blog today.

~Let us know what you think about visiting Disney Parks in the rain!

Chad – I love going to the parks in the rain.  Why?  Mainly because the parks will clear out, even if it is for only a short period of time.  First off, the rainy season is during the peak months for the parks.  The summer has the largest crowds of the year and this means that it is harder to navigate, you have to wait longer in lines and people tend to be grumpier.  The grumpy part may also have to do with the fact that it is often over 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.  Plus you are walking on these paths that are made of dark colored materials which kick up extra heat.  It often feels over 100 in any one of the parks.  This makes shade hard to come by and the wait for the water rides longer than ever.  Note – You can get free glasses of ice water at any of the snack bars that have a fountain machine.  When we get that rain, the temperature immediately feels better.  Most people run for cover under some kind of awning but getting wet makes you feel better and cools your body off.  Yes, we do run for cover as well but try to remember to bring a change of clothes to the park since we usually drive ourselves.  The second benefit is that when the rain starts, many guests leave the parks.  That means that crowds narrow and the lines get shorter.  The rain doesn’t scare me at the parks, as long as it is safe, they keep the rides going.  All outdoor rides shut down if there is lightening in the area but if they Disney feels it is safe, the rides keep going.  Many rides are enhanced in the rain including Splash Mountain.  So instead of running from the park when it begins to rain, sit back, relax and enjoy yourself.  It is only water after all.  If you want ice cream, you may want to keep the cone under some cover.

Ami – We always try to prepare for rain, especially during the summer.  As passholders, we drive to Disney World and home on the same day, which can be quite uncomfortable if you are soaked.  We pack extra clothes and flip flops that we leave in the car in case of rain.  We also carry a Ziploc bag to put phones into if it starts to rain.  It is also a good idea to purchase ponchos before hitting the parks.  Disney does sell these but they can be pricey.  We bought ours from WalMart for around $5 each a couple of years ago.  Another thing we have found is due to the heat, clothes dry quickly so if you get a little wet, it isn’t a huge problem.  Kids like to play in the rain and as long as they are not splashing other people, we have always let them go for it.  One of the downsides of the storms is that outdoor rides and parades will shut down.  On the plus side, many guests will leave, making the parks less busy.  Any day at Disney is fun day, just relax, remember you are on vacation, and jump in a few puddles.

John – For some reason, when I was told to write about Disney World in the rain my mind went straight to Magic Kingdom, I don’t know why it just did.  What park you are in, and how hard it is raining will depend on what rides get shut down.  For example, if you are in Epcot, Test Track will close by a sprinkle, but the indoor rides like Nemo won’t close unless special circumstances(obviously).  In animal kingdom Expedition Everest will close by heavy rain, and probably light rains.  To keep things short pretty much all the high speed outside rides, and outside roller coasters will close by light rain.  Any indoor rides will stay open by any not severe weather, pools close if there is lightning, and I don’t know about tower of terror as it is inside, but it has doors open that lead outside.  Also ice cream is not a good idea at any place outside during the rain.

Josiah – It is WET!!! I don’t mind getting wet so I like it.  I love the roller-coasters, outside or indoor.

Disney’s Cape May Cafe

As this is Mother’s Day Weekend, I made an executive decision that we should write about one of my wife’s favorite Disney Restaurants.  An all-you-can-eat seafood buffet nestled in the lobby of Disney’s Beach Club Resort, which  in itself is a wonderful experience.  This fantastic snow crab containing buffet is Cape May Cafe.  A seafood buffet for dinner and a character buffet breakfast to start the day, this is a restaurant that has something for everybody.  Photo is courtesy of   https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/beach-club-resort/cape-may-cafe/

Chad – We have never done the character breakfast but it gets rave reviews.  However, the reason for our visits to this fantastic restaurant, definitely near the top of my list of the restaurants that we have eaten at in Walt Disney World, is because of the all-you-can-eat snow crab legs at the buffet.  However, I am from the mid-west and I like my farm food as well.  So unlike some of my other family members, I don’t eat as much crab legs.  This meal includes some fantastic carved roast, delicious chicken, ribs but it is primarily seafood.  There is very little food on this buffet line that I won’t eat.  If I feel like it, I may start with the delicious New England Clam Chowder or I may go straight for the fried fish, fried clams, mac-n-cheese, mashed potatoes and yes, some crab legs with drawn butter.  Of course, as with anything in Disney, the service is always fantastic, the food is always fresh and even though this is a more pricey option, we definitely get our money’s worth at this restaurant.  Definitely a family favorite and if you are visiting Walt Disney World, make a reservation for this seafood hot spot.  Even though this restaurant doesn’t have any ice cream, you can get some at Beaches and Cream Soda Shop also located in Disney’s Beach Club Resort which serves the famous Mickey’s Kitchen Sink.

Ami – I love Cape May Cafe!  Not only is a fantastic buffet, you can eat all the crab legs you want!    They also have clams, new england clam chowder, mashed potatoes, a kid’s area, and a variety of bread on the buffet.  It can be a bit pricey but I think Josiah and I eat our money’s worth in crab legs.  The atmosphere is wonderful and and the service is fantastic!  After eating we like to stroll around the grounds of the Beach and Yacht Clubs.  EPCOT is also very close with a short walk or boat ride away.  After dinner it also fun to visit the Boardwalk where they have all kinds of entertainment.  We have eaten at many Disney restaurants and this is my favorite!

John – Cape May Cafe has probably the best sea food in Disney world. It isn’t just great food, but a great location too!  It is in the Beach Club resort (The fifth floor is amazing!).  It has the best desserts, the crab legs are good, and other foods like mashed potatoes are there too.  Even though it is mainly based on sea food it has other foods too.  If I were to rate it it would get a better review than a lot of other Disney buffets like Chef Mickey’s is no where near as good as Cape May Cafe!

Josiah – They have crab legs and the restaurant is in the Beach Club.  It has really good oyster crackers.  It’s super super good.  This is in Disney World.  This is an indoor restaurant near the pool of the Beach Club Resort.  It is near a place to get ice cream as well.

Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg, FL

This week we are posting about a wonderful little gem in the St Petersburg, Florida area.  This state park has a great beach, camping, grills for cooking out, shelters to rent if you book early enough and a little historical gem of an old fort.  If you are looking for a great spring vacation and camping opportunity, you may want to look into this option.  If you are just visiting the St Petersburg area, this is a great place for a single day visit as the beach is less crowded than the major public beaches such as St Pete Beach or Clearwater Beach.  We have only visited during the day and haven’t camped so there is only so much that we can tell you.  Here is a link to the Pinellas County Parks page for more information about Fort De Soto park.  Image was taken from this link as well.  http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm 

*Note to bring cash as this is a state park and there is a fee for entry.

Chad – We have been to this park twice over the last couple of years.  The first time was with an event for my work.  We rented a shelter and was able to walk down to the beach, play various beach games and had a great time overall.  I enjoyed the beach because it had the soft white sand that the St Pete and Clearwater beaches are known for.  The beach itself, even though it was a beautiful day, isn’t that busy at all.  Plenty of room for everyone to enjoy time and not be crowded with all the other people in the area.  We saw many wonderful animals including Horseshoe Crabs and a variety of birds and fish.  The second time that we visited was with Josiah’s school.  I was the cook at the grill and they have these really nice brick grills that are easy to use and are in great shape.  Not the typical metal grates that you see at most parks.  I didn’t get to see a whole lot as I was cooking for all the guests of the Tampa Day School, which I would also recommend.  However, everyone there was having a great time which says a lot about the park in and of itself.

Ami –  We most recently visited this state park with Josiah’s school, Tampa Day School, for a school wide picnic.  The school had reserved shelter number 5, which was close to the beach but also close to a small park, bathrooms, and a small store.  I felt like the beach was less crowded than the overwhelming crowds we see at Clearwater Beach.  Additionally, it was nice to have a picnic area to eat so that our food did not get sand in it (a huge pet peeve of mine).  The bathrooms were well maintained and I felt the area was very safe.  I  would love to come back here and camp with the kids and explore the fort.  Overall, it was a great day.  We didn’t have ice cream but the shop did offer what looked to be tasty ice cream treats.

John – It was a nice beach, it has soft sand, and the water feels good too.  It is not the place to go if you are looking for large waves, but it might be good for body boarding.  The shelters seemed sturdy and well taken care of.  Plus they had a small store that also had food like hot dogs, and ice cream; sadly though the ice cream was not free. 😦

Josiah –  We went there for Tampa Day School picnic event.  This place is a beach and has a park.  The school brought hot dogs, burgers and other yummy food.  This park is AWESOME!!!  They have a gift shop where I bought some goggles to play with in the water.  They have a snack bar in the gift shop that sells hot dogs and slushies.  They will allow you to bring your beach water toys if you want.

Walt Disney World – Blizzard Beach

First off, as I am starting to write this, I want to apologize about the fact that we have been missing for the past two weeks.  I make no excuses and want to make it known that we will strive to improve upon the writing frequency to maintain the interest we may draw.  April wasn’t a very busy travel month for us as we all stayed together the last few weeks.  However, this didn’t stop us from taking advantage of our passes at Walt Disney World by going to one of the 2 water parks on the property, Blizzard Beach.  Yes, I know that many people were still facing snow in early April, including my parents, but here in Florida, we had a perfect day to enjoy Blizzard Beach.  This is as close to snow as I really want to get.  With the temperature in the low 80s, we were ready to slide, glide and float our way into having a lot of fun.  Here is our personal feedback of this fun park.

Chad – Blizzard Beach is an enjoyable water park and the theme is done wonderfully as expected with Disney.  The story is that there was a miraculous blizzard in Florida so this alligator decided to start up his own ski resort.  Well, it is Florida so the snow didn’t stay long and now we have a water park to enjoy.  The great part to this water park is that it includes a ski lift to get to the tallest of the mountains here, Mt Gushmore.  This is where you will find the fun family raft slide Teamboat Springs, which is always a blast.  You will also find the tallest water slide in Disney, Summit Plummit which no one in our family has braved as of yet.  Note: I will the day one of my children will do it :).  There is a section for the littlest of tikes as well as kids under 12 where they can go down a small zip-line into a pool, climb across glaciers and take a couple of small water slides.  The kids enjoy this section but the older child is now too old for this area.  Sorry John.  My favorite ride in this park is the Toboggan Racers where you have many competitors, for bragging rights only, race down the slides to see who can get down first.  Hint, typically the heavier you are the faster you go so I typically win this race.  It is a blast and there are actually 8 people racing at a single time.  Picture at the top of the post is courtesy of: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/blizzard-beach/toboggan-racers/. Overall, I really enjoy my time at Disney’s Blizzard Beach and think that you will too.

Ami –  Blizzard Beach is my favorite of the two Disney water parks.  It feels as though there is more to do here.  Additionally, it has the better family ride in Teamboat Springs.  This family ride is faster and we have never been stuck waiting for ride stoppage.  Additionally, I love the toboggan rides.  The only issue I have, as a person who wears contacts, I am always afraid that I will lose one with the water rushing at my face.  This park also offers a really great kid’s area with a zipline and an obstacle course where kids walk on “ice”.  This was the last trip that our oldest could play in this area, it does have an age limit of 12 years old.  We usually make a half day out of this water park.  We like to get here at rope drop and stay 3-4 hours.  Then, we change and head to one of Disney’s other parks to finish our day.

John –  Blizzard Beach is one of the two water parks in Disney World.  It has fun rides and amazing stairs (I will get back to that later). The family rides are fun, and so are most of the solo ones, I haven’t ridden all of the rides.  The summit Plummit is the tallest and has a speed meter at the bottom for the other guests to see. Usually when someone goes down the speed meter is around 20 MPH.  Then the stairs are awful.  If you are there for exercise then just walk up the stairs to Summit Plumit and just skip Chair Lift. That is just a short summery of the water park but sadly there is not free ice cream, but there is ice cream in general.

Josiah – They have good pizza, ice cream, and lemonade.  They have a family water slide called Teamboat Springs.  I like sit with my family, guessing who has to go backwards.  I think it is the best when Mom goes backwards.  I also like joking that it gives me a butt massage.

Behind the Seeds Tour in Epcot at Walt Disney World

This past weekend, we made it a family trip to Epcot in Walt Disney World where we got to enjoy the Flower and Garden Festival, Mission Space and many other aspects of the park.  This was a wonderful trip that we got to enjoy.  However, we decided to do something that we haven’t done before, the Behind the Seeds Tour in the Land Pavilion.  You can find the sign up for this tour next to Soarin’ in the lower level of the Land Pavilion.  The cost of this tour is $25 per person but there are discounts for passholders, Disney Vacation Club and a couple other groups as well.  The best thing about this tour is that it leaves every 45 minutes through the course of the day with the last tour leaving at 4:15 PM typically.  The tour lasts about 1.5 hours so it isn’t a major portion of your day plus you can choose to sign up while at the park instead of needing to sign up way in advance like many of the other park tour options out there.  Here is how each of our family members perceived the tour in our own way.

Chad – The Behind the Seeds tour was an enjoyable adventure for many reasons.  Yes, you can see the green house from a boat with a recording telling you about the certain areas of the tour, but you don’t get the know the details about what Disney is doing to help with research, environmental aspects as well as just getting a closer look at the green house.  Our particular tour conductor was one of the manager’s of the green house and she had a Master’s degree in biology.  Don’t ask me about the specific field as it involved plants and animals outside.  She took us around the green house giving us some behind the scenes information that you won’t learn anywhere else.  One of the things that I thought was most interesting is how they were using insects (good insects) to try and control the “bad” insect population so that chemicals were not needed.  They were using a form of a wasp, very small with no stingers, to kill off the larvae of another insect who kills the leaves of plants which will kill the plant themselves.  We got some great information about hydroponics and the other ways in which they grow and help nourish the various plants and animals raised in the green house.  We even got the chance to taste fresh cucumber that was picked and sliced that day which even I enjoyed.  Don’t tell my wife.  Maybe it was the Disney difference.  Overall, I really enjoyed this tour because it was both educational and entertaining.  I would suggest this for any family, especially if someone is really into plants.

Ami – Behind the Seeds was not what I had expected at all.  I had seen people feeding fish from the Living with the Land ride and assumed that was all it was.  It was so much more.  I learned how a type of wasp get be a natural pest control for a plant killing fly larva.  We met a fun little plant named Stanley, he closes his leaves when you touch him.  We also learned that all the plants in the greenhouse were edible, with the exception of Stanley.  I was worried that the boys would be bored but our guide did a fantastic job keeping everyone entertained.  I highly recommend you register your family for this tour.  

John – It was fun. I honestly expected it to be a boring, this is a plant, have a nice day kind of thing.  It, surprisingly, was not. The lady there was entertaining, and knew what was funny unlike some places where they say jokes that are not at all funny. She explained the plants in a way where I knew exactly what she was saying. They also had these box looking things that you put the ear buds in and you could hear the tour guide better. You could see the boat ride go through and wave. There was also water stations so you don’t get dehydrated, and they have a cucumber eating station. They also explained at the beginning how they use a special kind of wasp to kill the bad insects. The funny thing was the wasp was to small to tell it was a wasp, and didn’t even have a stinger, it had a “leaf injector” I believe the lady was saying. There was so much I learned there but to not spoil it all I just want to say… there is a smell “test” at the end, and a room with fish.  Oh, and by the way, there is not free ice cream, or ice cream at all.

Josiah – I loved the tour.  They have some ear pieces like in a movie so that you can hear what the person is saying better.  This way they don’t have to yell for us to hear.  They had a couple of video clips for us to see about some of what they do there.  They have a really cool plant that if you touch it, the leaves close in a cool way.  They called this plant Stanley as it was their pet.  They had some cool melons called the star fruit plus they had this giant watermelon looking fruit that we got our picture beside.  They showed us how they can make their cucumbers Mickey shaped.

 

Searching for Dinosaurs in Utah

During spring break Ami, John and Josiah went to Utah in search of the past.  They found dinosaur footprints, dinosaur bones, and petroglyphs. Along with plenty of knowledge on the way.

Ami- On day one of our journey we hiked Red Fleet Dinosaur Trackway Trail.  This trail is about 3 miles round trip.  It was a pretty easy hike.  At the end of the trail is a fantastic scene of water and rock.  The boys were fascinated with the footprints, which are hard to spot at first.  However, there are signs that direct you to the footprints.  This hike was absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Day two of our adventures took us to Dinosaur National Monument.  Here you can drive or walk up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall.  We found this fascinating because they built the building around the dinosaur bones.  There is also a drive you can take to more hiking trails, petroglyphs, pictographs, and the Josie Morris cabin.  This too is a was a fantastic stop.  The only downside is that there is nowhere to buy food.  If you do this stop expect to stay all day and bring your own food.

John- So, We fly on a plane for four and a half hours, get off, stay in Salt Lake City for an hour or two then we went to Dinosaur for two days.  We stayed at a hotel called Marriott in Vernal.  They had amazing service and free breakfast(no free ice cream though).  We went swimming inside, and settled in for the night.  The next day we went into the mountains and we went to “dig”. We stopped after about ten minutes because it was super muddy!  My grandma and mom kept stopping in the middle of the road because there were signs like “Bazaar Sharks”, in whatever time period they lived in.  We later went hiking and saw a bunch of Dinosaur foot prints.  We took a picture of one next to my head, and it was bigger than my head!  We went home and swam some more.  The next day we went to Dinosaur National Park, and saw a lot of cool things.  When we started hiking we saw pictographs, and an animal that we didn’t know what it was.  We later went into a building that they put onto a hill, around dinosaur bones.  We later went down and saw more petroglyphs, a cabin and other cool things. We later went back to Salt Lake City for more fun during break.

Josiah- It’s very awesome to dig because don’t know what you might find yourself in snow so dig in the snow!!!!!!!!!!

 

Epcot Flower and Garden Festival – Solo

Being a Florida resident and a family that loves to have as many adventures as possible, if we can get the kids to put down their electronics, it probably surprises no one that we go to Walt Disney World.  After all, our last three posts were about the Disney Magic cruise that we took in January.  Now that our secret is out, we are addicted to Disney, you will probably here a lot of stories about various dining halls, parks or hotels around Walt Disney World.  Well, this weeks post is going to be slightly different in the fact that I, Chad since I haven’t made that clear as of yet, took a trip to my favorite park, Epcot, all by myself today.  Sorry if you were hoping for Hahn Solo, he isn’t in Epcot.  Why did I take a solo adventure to this magical place.  The truth is because I couldn’t go to Utah with the rest of them.  Something about saving my time off for our vacation plans over the summer.  Why does work always get in the way?  A topic for a different blog site.  Next week, I will be the one left in the dark as they will be talking about their adventures in Utah.  However, this week it is all about ME, Myself and I and the experience of visiting Epcot in Walt Disney World, during the Flower and Garden Festival, as a middle-aged man, by himself.

To be clear, this is the first time that I have visited any amusement park alone.  That is what made this quite an interesting adventure for me.  I don’t have to ask anyone else for their advice or input.  I make the decision myself and can change my mind if I wanted to.  Guess what, I didn’t even question myself.  During the drive there, as I live an hour and a half away, I was feeling that this was going to be weird.  I mean, why would a guy go to a park by himself?  Will people think that I am a bit off? (The answer to this question is up to interpretation.) Is this going to be strange being all alone in this massive park?  All of these doubts that went through my mind while driving to the park, at one point early on in the trip, had me think about going back home.  However, as I arrived at the park, the excitement of being there by myself had those doubts gone before I could get out of my car.

You see, even though I had fast passes, I was on MY TIME.  I love my wife and kids dearly, but the realization of going into the park by myself dawned on me immediately that this was going to be a great opportunity for a brand new adventure.  We are annual passholders to Walt Disney World.  We have visited Epcot, my favorite park, many times before.  However, I have never, my entire life, been in any of the theme parks by myself.  As a matter of fact, my excitement was such that, even though I planned on taking a leisurely pace throughout the day, I found myself moving at a fast walking pace.  I didn’t hurry to get there at park open, I arrived at 10 AM, but as soon as I got there, it was a race to my first fast pass to Soarin’.

My timing couldn’t have been better as my second fast past was in the same building as Soarin’ and I had just a 10 minute wait before being able to ride Living with the Land.  By the time that I was done riding these first two rides, I was able to control myself and walk at that leisurely pace that I had originally planned.  This was good as I had an hour before Mission Space and I was ready for something to eat.  Now, our families typical go to snack are pretzels and ice cream.  However, since I was alone, I went and had some Jamaican Beef with Cilantro Rice from one of the stands at the start of the World Showcase.  This was only $6.25 and even though the portion size is smaller than normal, for the price in Disney it was perfect.  It was also delicious.  Even though I could have delighted in this meal all day, I decided to ride Mission Space (Green Side as I really like the new video) and take the rest of the day to enjoy the various flowers and topiaries provided by Disney throughout the World Showcase.

The reason that I love Epcot so much is because of the World Showcase.  The biggest thing missing was that my wife was always there to prevent me from buying crap that I didn’t need.  Today, I had to tell myself “NO” way more than I really enjoyed.  The one part about this trip I didn’t actually enjoy, being financially responsible for myself.  The truth is, when you have children, the World Showcase isn’t that much fun to them.  We go there to ride a ride or grab a bite to eat from time to time, typically a baguette from France, but we don’t enjoy the cultural opportunities that are brought to us.  We don’t enjoy the showcase but merely walk through it and occasionally stop because something caught their eyes in a gift shop.  That or my oldest son smelled the food in China.  This time, I was making the calls so I didn’t worry about anything except truly enjoying the various nations.

You see, the flowers and plant life during this fantastic festival really helps enhance the experience and educational opportunities of each nation.  England has their tea garden but something else that they have, which I didn’t know, was a place that would look up to see if your family name has a crest in England.  The Foxx family name has a crest from Ireland that looked pretty neat.  I wanted to buy something and have them put the family crest on it but I did good and didn’t spend money on that…yet.  I was able to watch the movies in China, Canada, France and the United States.  Something that we can never get the kids to wait through.  I was able to try many different foods that we would have never had as a family, well we may now because the Chocolate Pretzel in Norway was delicious.  I took a good look at the beer stein’s in Germany and realized that if I had the room in my place, I would want to start adding those to my collection.  I have a shot glass collection right now but beer stein’s would go right along with it.  I just don’t have a bar…yet. I got to stop and smell the roses, look at the art work and talk to many different people.

You see, the best part about this whole day was that I was able to use the time to truly enjoy everything going on around me.  I didn’t have to look around to make sure that the kids were still in tow.  I was able to control my pace, enjoy the beauty of the tile work in Morocco.  Take a ton of pictures on my phone and really just contemplate.  With everything going on in our lives, nobody thinks to take some alone time to do something that they enjoy.  If I didn’t go to Epcot today, I would have sat in my place telling myself that I need to clean this up or go to the store but I wouldn’t have had the want to do any of it.  Being home alone is never a good thing  because not only am I alone, but I am bored and lazy.  But going to the park, was a wonderful adventure.  It was a lot of fun and I would suggest it for anybody.  Now, I have to let my wife have her day, just not sure if she would be willing to do so.  I now know one thing, I will do this again.  Next time, I may try one of the other parks, but I will definitely visit the next time my family ditches me all by myself.

I did miss the family by the end of the day.  I miss them everyday that they are gone.  I know they will be back later in the week but I do still miss them.  However, the experience of going to the park and letting the cast members know, Je suis seul as they say in France, (translation: I am alone) is one that is worth doing.  Maybe you don’t like Walt Disney World,  but I do feel that everyone should take some time alone, at least once a year, doing something that they enjoy.  I feel refreshed, even though my legs are tired.  I feel that Epcot is a wonderful trip and is never more beautiful than during the Flower and Garden Festival.  If you are hesitant to go to the park by yourself, don’t be.  You will find yourself rewarded in the end with a wonderful day and maybe, a slightly different perspective of life around you.