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Ants in the Cheerios - Final Update 12/21


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Gwen, you are an awesome photographer….  Way to go on "stretching the legs on that new camera".  You and David are going to have to get a site next to Devores and get a job as a Photopass Photographer!

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Thank you x 2.   The PGA has chaplains, too.  But I don't think he would want to be on the road so much and away from his family right now since his children are so young.  We'll see.

The last photo of the series.

 

Duh.  Silly me.  Thanks, Annie.

 

No trash, horse poop only made me lol

 

Me too!

 

Unless things were different from when we were there all you would see is a GC. People are now using it for a parking space.

 

That's just sad.

 

Gwen, you are an awesome photographer….  Way to go on "stretching the legs on that new camera".  You and David are going to have to get a site next to Devores and get a job as a Photopass Photographer!

 

Thank you, Duane!  But you don't see the worst of my pics.  

 

I'd love to be a PP photographer, but my back couldn't handle standing on pavement for those long stretches.

 

Doggone it, Gwen, is there anything you can't do?  Your pictures are fabulous!  I felt as if I were right there with you.  The Fort pictures are wonderful and your grandchildren are just precious!  I am really enjoying this trip report.  Keep those pictures and comments coming; I'm along for the ride!

 

You are so sweet!  Thanks for coming along.  Yes, I definitely can't knit (really tried), and I'm even worse at singing.  You don't want to hear me!

 

So what was her excuse?

 

Lorna covered her face because she hadn't brushed her teeth yet.

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Before I go on with this TR, I'd like to acknowledge our four other grandchildren who weren't along for this trip.

 

Boys.jpg

 

At the bottom is Caden, who is destined to become our basketball star.  He is currently 8 years old.

 

Next is Austin.  Short in stature, but mentally he is our true Einstein.  He is currently 13 and is being considered for a program that will allow him to complete two years of college while still in high school.

 

Next is Ethan, soon to be a teenager.  He says he is never bored because he has imagination.  

 

And at the top is Gabriel, our 14 year old.  He is currently 6'7" tall and wears a size 15 shoe.  His size is great except that he is living with only one damaged kidney. He was born with severe hydronephrosis.    He lost a kidney several years ago.  Due to his size, he may be shortly on the kidney transplant list.

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Tuesday, November 5 – Whose Bare Bottom is That in AK? - Part 2

 

Finally the family arrived, and we had a great breakfast.

 

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Einstein and I found two hidden Mickeys:

 

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The kids went to the playground for a few minutes while we took Kassie for a walk.

 

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And at our site I found this funny-looking orange thing.

 

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I'll have another picture of this orange thing in a few days.  If you aren't familiar with it, you won't believe what it is!

 

At the Outpost this crazy squirrel was sitting upside down looking at all the children circling his tree.

 

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And then we caught a bus to Animal Kingdom.

 

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On the way we saw this cute little deer.

 

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And our driver said she had a bobcat nearby earlier that morning – the second bobcat she had seen at the fort in 20 years.

 

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Here's the first "wild animal" we saw.

 

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But at least she's a Mickey fan!

 

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About this point Diva went to sleep in the stroller.  She had an upset stomach the night before and wasn’t feeling well.  So she missed out on a lot of the fun.

 

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Some photos along the Pangani Trail:

 

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And the safari:

 

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055birds.jpg

 

056hippo.jpg

 

057crocodiles.jpg

 

To be continued.

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Keep it coming Gwen!

Love all the Fort pics.

Lorna knows we cant smell her breath in the picture, right?

i think she was secretly hiding all the MSB cinnamon rolls under there.

 

:rofl2:

 

Love your lense and your pics! You are entertaining Z while we're on the plane.

 

Thanks!  Wish I could have entertained him more, but I've spent the last several hours in the ER with my mother.  She was involved in an accident this afternoon.  A guy in a big SUV pulled out in front of her and she T-boned him.  Thankfully they were in the mall parking lot and weren't going too fast.  She's going to be okay.  Just banged up and bruised.  But she has some serious leg issues, and she banged both knees on the dash.

 

Otherwise I would have more updates posted.  Will try to do in the morning.

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Tuesday, November 5 – Whose Bare Bottom is That in AK? - Part 3

 

Continuing the safari:

 

058bighorns.jpg

 

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The baby elephant is growing!

 

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This rhino walked beside our vehicle for a good distance.

 

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The Tree of Life:

 

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Zoomed in:

 

064treeoflife2.jpg

 

065treeoflife3.jpg

 

Meanwhile we walked over to the tables past Yak and Yeti and begin eating our picnic lunch while Matthew took the boys to ride Kali.

 

The result?  They were drenched!

 

066lucasdrenched.jpg

 

067wetclothes.jpg

 

Miracle got stripped of his wet clothes at the picnic table.  I wish E had taken him to the restroom to dry him off and change him.

 

I politely refrained from taking a photo of his bare bottom.  That was something he wouldn't have appreciated in a few years.

 

Then after everyone finished eating lunch we started walking toward Expedition Everest. 

 

068Kalibuilding.jpg

 

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We had pics taken minus Diva b/c she was still asleep in the stroller.  This humidity was really playing havoc with my hair!

 

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Matthew, Erica, and Einstein rode EE.  Before they got on Einstein was crying because he was afraid of riding it.  But they finally talked him into it, and he loved it!  Unfortunately they didn’t get their pictures put onto my PP+ card. 

 

More pics in the area:

 

073building.jpg

 

074EE.jpg

 

Something weird is going on with my pics.  FF is telling me I can't use that file extension, even though all the pics are JPGs.  Will finish up this day in a separate post one picture at a time until I figure out what's going on.  Sorry!

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Let's try this again ...

 

Tuesday, November 5 – Whose Bare Bottom is That in AK? - Part 4

 

After EE we headed to DinoLand.  The kids spent time on the rides and won some “prizes” at the way-overpriced games.  Diva finally woke up and felt much better.

 

This next pic makes me smile.

 

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077store.jpg

 

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Miracle didn't win anything, but he was okay with it.

 

We met Pluto and Goofy.

 

082plutoandgoofy.jpg

 

Then David and I rode Dinosaur with Einstein and Diva.  The verdict?  Outstanding!  They loved it.

 

083dinosaur1.jpg

 

084dinosaurphoto.jpg

 

At this point we were exhausted.  We had done a lot of babysitting and chasing after Miracle and Red.  No wonder Matthew and Erica are always tired.

 

David and I headed back to the fort to take Kassie out, and M/E stayed on in AK with the kids for awhile. 

 

On our way out of the park:

 

085headingout1.jpg

 

086headingout2.jpg

 

087headingout3.jpg

 

We all had dinner in Dolly (meat loaf, baby carrots, green peas, and banana pudding).  Thankfully they went back to their hotel early and we collapsed.

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Sorry to hear about your mom's accident. I hope she is OK.

 

Thanks!  I talked to her this morning.  As to be expected, she's sore all over today.  I just hope the bruising and swelling in her knees don't get much worse. 

 

Your photos are outstanding!  Great job on all of them!  I am really enjoying your report.

 

Thank you again!  Overall I was very happy with my camera's performance up to this point.  But something bad happens a little later ...

 

Good call on skipping the bare bottom photo.

 

The moment was embarrassing enough without having documentation of it.  The area was packed with people.

 

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Thursday, November 7, 2013

 

I offered to cook but David said no, let me go to TE for a takeout.

 

His breakfast (biscuit and gravy):

 

01Biscuitandsausagegravy.jpg

 

David said his food wasn't very good.  I tasted it.  It was nasty. 

 

My breakfast -- leftover Stef's buffalo chicken.  I am eternally grateful to Stef for this recipe.

 

02leftoverStefschicken.jpg

 

We met the family at EPCOT. 

 

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First on the agenda was Nemo and the aquariums.

 

04Nemo.jpg

 

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06aquarium2.jpg

 

07aquarium3uglyfish.jpg

 

08maybefrogfish.jpg

 

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I could watch the seahorses for hours.

 

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11Bruce.jpg

 

12Diva.jpg

 

Next was The Land.

 

13Land01.jpg

 

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Einstein said he saw a hidden Mickey here, but I can't find it.  Do you see it?

 

17Landwhereishiddenmickey.jpg

 

The kids had a great time in Journey into Imagination.

 

18figment1.jpg

 

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Then we found Chip and Dale.  They were so much fun!

 

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We went to the Character Encounter.

 

25mickey.jpg

 

The PP Photographer with Goofy wasn't very nice.  In fact he was downright grumpy.  I asked if he would also use my camera.  Unfortunately I had the strap adjusted to the longest point.  He snapped a few pics and then flung my camera behind him.  It hit hard on his thigh.  I didn't say anything to him, but I really didn't appreciate the way he treated it.

 

Miracle and Red high-fiving Goofy:

 

26highfivinggoofy.jpg

 

27minnie.jpg

 

This is for Carol:

 

28forcarolonwaytoMG.jpg

 

29flags.jpg

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Bottom left corner.  Could be the one he saw.  Looks like one leaf is upside down behind the other one.  Not true circles, but close.

 

jon

 

That does look like a HM.  But sorry, I wasn't clear.  He said he saw a HM in the lab picture.

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Thursday, November 7 - Part 2

 

Einstein wanted to go MouseGear, so we browsed in there awhile.

 

30Mousegear.jpg

 

31MGmerch.jpg

 

Then Matthew said for us to meet them at Electric Umbrella in just a few minutes.  There was something they wanted to do in the meantime.

 

So I walked around awhile snapping pics.

 

32beeonflower.jpg

 

Those poor service dogs aren't given big enough bathrooms:

33servicedogarea.jpg

 

Then David and I went to Electric Umbrella, ate our lunch, and waited for an hour.  They didn't show up or answer their phones, so we decided to leave.  We only had a couple of hours to get back to the Fort, take care of Kassie, and get to Wilderness Lodge.

 

34FWsign.jpg

 

We didn't get to taste at  F&WF because we only visited Future World. Oh well, there would be other opportunities (or so we thought).

 

We got to the bus stop and waited for at least 20 minutes before I realized there was not one bus there.

 

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Finally in 10 more minutes a few buses rolled in, but sadly not one for us.

 

Our total wait for a bus was 35-40 minutes.  We were not happy.

 

The 700 loop was really empty that afternoon.

 

38empty700loop.jpg

 

But by the next day it was full again.

 

We had early reservations for dinner at Whispering Canyon Café.  M/E and the kids were late because of a very long wait for the boat from MK.  I let the hostess know what was happening and that Matt said a lot of people waiting with him also had reservations for WCC at the same time.  From her reaction this isn't unusual.

 

So what to do with my time but take more pictures!

 

My first reaction on entering Wilderness Lodge was WOW!

 

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Is there a Hidden Mickey in this fireplace?  We saw a man examining it with a flashlight.

 

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43WLbridge.jpg

 

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The gang finally arrived 20 minutes after our reservation.  And just as our food came my fancy, expensive, new camera quit focusing.    I can't help but think that PP Photographer broke it.

 

48saladunfocused.jpg

 

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I was almost too upset about my camera to eat.  Don't believe that.  I was so upset that I cried, but then I wiped away my tears and devoured everything in sight.

 

The meal was fun, but the kids were too tired to enjoy it.  Einstein and I celebrated our birthdays tonight, but he was so wiped out that they had to leave before our delicious cupcakes arrived.  And no looking for hidden Mickeys, either.  At that point all four kids were in meltdown mode.

 

So we caught the bus back to the fort and turned in early.

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Excellent Wilderness Lodge photos, Gwen!

 

I hope that you can visit there sometime when the Christmas decorations are up.  The decorations there are my favorite out of all the WDW resorts.

 

Sorry that your special meal at Whispering Canyon turned out so stressful.  Having to stick to a rigid schedule is one of my main reasons for disliking the Disney Dining Plan.

 

TCD

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