Final Thoughts on Our Trip...

In reflection upon our 1st family Disney trip, 

I wanted to thank a few people:

Thank you to Heather - our awesome Disney travel agent - for all the time you invested in making sure our trip was less expensive, free of hassle, full of joy, and altogether magical.

Thank you to Alison, Diana, Nikki, Lindsay, Megan, Chris and Jason for all your fantastic Disney World advice and ideas.

Thank you to Nana for sending the kids spending money to enjoy.

Thank you to John, our driver to Epcot, for making the whole bus sing "Happy Birthday" to me.

Thank you to James, the guy who worked at Hall of Presidents, for knowing absolutely everything about Presidents, and for being so interesting to listen to that Tim didn't even want to go see the show, but instead just stay in the lobby and talk with you.

And a big thank you to Tim for giving me my dream 40th Birthday trip, and for being such a good sport by joyfully going along with all the Disney things the kids and I wanted to do.

 Best Food at Disney World:

For me, it was the "Make Your Own Pasta" at the restaurant at Port Orleans.  My pasta included spinach, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, and parmesan.  It was stinkin' awesome.

Biggest Surprise at Disney World:
Little if Any Lines!  February is a great time to go... 

Best Place to Shop at Disney World:

The World of Disney at Downtown Disney

 Biggest Aggrevation at Disney World:

None of the many European visitors there believe in standing in line.

Our One Disappointment at Disney World:
We didn't get to ride the monorail.  It was down.

Greatest Lie Told at Disney World:

When I was told by the workers "Happy Birthday" in response to my birthday pin, I would respond, "Thank you!  It's my 40th!"  Many times they would say in return, "You're kidding...You don't look 40!" And those people almost sounded as if they really meant it.  I don't know how Disney trains its staff to be such good liars, but I loved it.  :)

Greatest Ego Trip at Disney World:
The guy checking my fanny pack on my way into the park one morning told me it was 'the biggest fanny pack he had ever seen.' I felt like an awesomely-prepared mom at that moment.

Funnest Treat at Our Resort:

Discovering what the "mousekeepers" would do to surprise us each day, such as making Mickey Mouses out of our towels and washcloths.

Biggest Challenge at Disney World:

Trying to get all five of us to look at the camera & keep our eyes open at the same time for a good picture.  (Story of my life!)

Biggest Laugh at Disney World:

Watching John (who hates princesses) at the princess breakfast.

Best Momentos of the Trip:

1. Pictures and videos.

2. Ears

Glad to be home.
We are tan, rested, and ready for God's good plans for us...

Silver Springs

Many years ago when we were on vacation, my family used to frequently visit Silver Springs in Ocala Florida.  (Above, sitting at the entrance to Silver Springs in 1982, are my brother Jason, my dad, and my grandmother and uncle who both passed away this year.)  So it was a treat for me to visit Silver Springs again while we were in Florida this past week...

Silver Springs is no longer a theme attraction like it once was.  It has recently become a state park, and Tim and I - who love a good state park - think it has great potential for that!  Of course, the reason Silver Springs is world famous is because of its glass-bottom boats that have toured the silver river for 70 years.  Our captain, seen in the background of the picture below, has been driving these glass-bottom boats for 57 years!

  The water in the Silver River was SO CLEAR!  You could see to it all the way to the bottom.  The black hole in the picture below was an 80' cavern.

Since Florida was being settled as early as the 1500's, there are all kinds of cool artifacts in the Silver River.  In the videos below you can see the remains of an Indian canoe and a Spanish boat that are hundreds of years old.  Amazing!

Unfortunately, the fish didn't show-up very well in my videos.  

But there were all kinds of them down there.

Silver Springs also has many pop culture ties.  Because the water is so clear, 20 movies and countless tv shows have been filmed in Silver Springs, including The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Rebel Without A Cause, Distant Drums with Gary Cooper, and numerous James Bond films such as Moon Raker and Never Say Never Again (in which statues still remain from its filming in 1983, seen below).  Cool!

The whole time we were at Silver Springs, there was a misty fog across the water.  This mist is common due to the constant 75 degree temperature of the warm water hitting the cool air.  The reason the water stays a constant temperature is because it is fed by an underground spring.  On misty days like this, we could see why Silver Springs made a great backdrop as a "Black Lagoon." 

 But the fog didn't scare-away the many kayakers we saw.

Once we got off the boats, we headed for the hikes.

We had hoped to catch a glimpse of an alligator while we hiked, but we found none.  

What we DID find, however, was much more surprising!

Below is a mama monkey with her baby.  How sweet!    

Although I have no recollection of them, my dad tells me that the wild  monkeys at Silver Springs have been there a long time - and that I saw them when I was a little girl.  Tim and I did a little research and discovered two possible origins of the monkeys: some folklore says that they escaped while one of the many movies at Silver Springs was being filmed; another legend is that they were placed there strategically by Silver Springs decades ago when they had a "jungle cruise" that went down the river to make it look more authentic.  What you have to understand is that Silver Springs is in no way enclosed:  it opens-up to the other wild areas of central Florida. So it's astounding that the monkeys have stayed in that area all those years.

But the monkeys were only ONE of our big surprises.  Perhaps the greatest wild photos I have ever taken on any hike happened that day at Silver Springs.  We found a wild American Bald Eagle!

 At first we thought, "There's no way there are Bald Eagles here.  That must be some kind of hawk or something."  But once I zoomed-in on that pointed beak and those huge, orange claws, there was no mistaking that he was wet and might have been molting, but he was certainly our national bird.  And after looking into it we found that Bald Eagles are frequently spotted in the Silver Springs area.  He stood there patiently while I went through shot after shot trying to get the perfect one through the fog.  What a blessing and a thrill for our family that day!
Thank you, Lord!

Another couple on the trail had spotted and played with an armadillo, but we were never able to find him.  We did, however, get to end our day with a sweet little deer who wasn't the least bit afraid of us. He probably would have come over and eaten out of our hands if we had anything to feed him!

Awesome end to an awesome vacation.  

Downtown Disney

 On the night we arrived at Orlando, we took a boat from our hotel (Port Orleans Riverside) to Downtown Disney, which is an area of dining and shopping within Disney World. 

 I was surprised by how excited my family got over Downtown Disney.  Their favorite spot? World of Disney, which is a hyped-up store full of ways for children to find a souvenir from the trip...

 Anna's favorite part of World of Disney was the "Magic Mirror."  If a little girl stood infront of it, the mirror would look like she was dressed-up in different princess dresses...

 Each child got to pick-out a pair of Mickey Ears at World of Disney.  Christopher had a great time trying-on hats and ears...

And since the boys are so very into Legos, we visited the Lego store in Downtown Disney.  They had some cool Lego sculptures, which to my surprise were completely touchable, instead of enclosed in glass.

And yes, this outdoor display below was made entirely out of Legos.

The boys also got a kick out of watching the Volcano erupt at Rainforest Cafe.  If you were standing at all near that restaurant at the eruption, it got WARM!

Christopher and John are crazy about all things Star Wars.  John's souvenirs included a Star Wars gun, and Christopher chose the "Make Your Own Light Saber," which he did with his dad.  They had a great time...and a little help from John.

Animal Kingdom

Our last day at Disney World was spent at Animal Kingdom.  The temperature had cooled and it was a little drizzly, which seemed to keep the crowds at a minimum.  By the end of the day, we practically had the place all to ourselves!

We started the day at an all-you-can-eat character breakfast at Tusker House.  Super cool!  Just like the princesses had done at Epcot, the characters came around from table to table for pictures.  As soon as I saw him I said, "That's the Mickey Mouse who was in Alison and AJ's honeymoon pictures!"

 It was so much fun that morning...

Below is the funniest picture of the whole week.  I had told the kids, "Let's do something different with Goofy: make your funniest face for the camera."  As it turned-out, John's "funniest face" looked very, very angry... Ha!

Likewise funny is the picture below, which makes Christopher look like he's wearing a safari hat.  In reality, Daisy was walking behind him at the exact moment the picture was snapped, and that's her hat.

 Yes, those are waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse.  They were yummy.

And a super big thank you to the characters for my birthday card and cupcake at the end of the meal!

How blessed is my life that when it came time to blow-out the candles I couldn't think of anything to wish for???

 To walk-off our breakfast, we took a walk along one of the trails at Animal Kingdom.

 Animal Kingdom was John's Day, because he loves animals so much.  He had a ball!  For whatever reason, this bamboo-cave structure cracked him up because he said it looked like "animal jail" where they put the animals who are bad.  He then made-up a song which he sang the rest of the day that started-off, "You're in animal jail 'cause you ate a gazelle..."  He and Christopher and Anna never tired of laughing about that song.  :)

  But of course the big attraction at Animal Kingdom is the safari ride.  Because the crowd was so low, we were fortunate enough to get to ride it twice. 

John had hoped to see hippos, so we were happy that he found these:

Nile crocodiles:

 Cheetas:

Rhinos crossed the road in front of us.

The funniest thing of the day happened when our safari bus was passing the lions.  Our bus was full of young school children on a field trip.  When they saw the lions, they squealed loudly.  The male lion raised his head and looked at them almost as if to say, "Mmmm.  Yummy children."

Below, is a Baobab tree, which is the kind of tree under which David Livingston - one of Tim's missionary heroes - buried his wife Mary in Africa. 

 Well, besides seeing wild animals, Animal Kingdom held the one ride that John came to Disney World to ride: Dinosaur.  He and Christopher and Tim tackled that one.  Us girls were too afraid.

 We enjoyed the Finding Nemo Musical, which from what I understand is similar to the famous Lion King production on Broadway.  (The Lion King musical was down for repairs while we were at Disney World.)  As a former drama teacher, I enjoyed the creativity Disney used in animating their characters onstage.

 We also got to eat ate Asian food a restaurant called "Yak and Yeti."   I have to hand it to anybody who has the nerve to put the word "Yak" in their restaurant title.

And the big thrill for the Barnette Fam that day was Expedition Everest, Animal Kingdom's biggest roller coaster.  From a distance, Expedition Everest just looked like a beautiful mountain in the distance...

 But once you got up-close, you could see that it was a roller coaster.

With such short lines, we were able to ride it twice. 

 So in the picture below you see Christopher trying to climb under his chair, John holding on for dear life, and me in the back sitting with a sweet girl who probably no longer has hearing after having to ride with me.

 If you want to experience the ride, here's a YouTube link. 

 Kudos to whoever held the video camera through that ride:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhPTWZ3pJ5c

Next Stop:  Downtown Disney.