Magical Moments- Day 5

Day 5--Animal Kingdom

Monday morning we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day in Florida. Such a nice sight after the rainy, rainy day we had the day before. We took the bus over to Animal Kingdom and had another fabulous day.

Anxiously awaiting the bus to take us to the park. 

Enjoying the bus ride. 

Animal Kingdom is the one park we didn't go to last year. For some reason I had the impression that Animal Kingdom would be similar to a zoo. But boy was I wrong. It was a fantastic park with lots to see and do.  Here we are standing in front of the Tree of Life. A beautiful tree!

A close-up of the carvings on the tree. 

It really was such a sunny day that Sarah wore her little sunglasses for awhile.

Enjoying a little train ride around part of the park. 

The African Safari ride was one of the few rides where we saw animals. It was a really well done ride. We road on these safari cars and saw some amazing animals.

They really did a great job transforming this land into a "safari". We saw lots of different animals up-close which the kids loved.

We actually had to stop several times and wait for the giraffes to get off the road. So cool!

We had lunch reservations at The Tuscan House. A buffet with African type food. It was a little different but fun to try different things. 

 This was another character meal and the kids loved seeing all their favorite pals dressed up in their safari-gear.

 Sarah really was such a trooper. Napping on the go whether it was in the stroller or several days she ended up falling asleep during lunch and slept in the booth next to me. We first had to adjust to the eastern time zone then two days later we had to adjust again to daylight savings time. I think Sarah felt the time changes the most but we tried hard to make sure she got the rest she needed during the day and at night.

 Luke was also such a trooper. Normally, he still naps 2-3 times a week. I was a little concerned about how he would do being on the go all day for 7 days and probably not really able to get a decent nap in. However he did wonderful. He napped only 2 of the days we were there and both were for 20 minutes sleeping like this. But he really was fine and such a sweet little trooper!

An awesome roller coaster- Expedition Everest. 

Sarah and her Aunt Kristina. 

I love this picture of Luke!

Let's just say, after we got home from this trip I had to get a massage from sore muscles from carrying  our backpack and Sarah! Whew- my arms definitely got a good workout this week!

There was a little carnival area,  Dinoland USA where the kids enjoyed lots of rides. There was one ride,  The Primeval Swirl ride that only Jacob and Gabriel were tall enough to ride. It was a little roller coaster that they loved and ended up riding it twice. 

Snack break as we waited for the rest of the gang to come off the Dinosaur ride. Jacob, Gabriel and Annie did NOT like this ride (it was a bit scary).  However, Luke and Grace were all for riding it a second time and loved it! At one point during the ride the first time, Annie was crying and Luke looked over and asked her why she was crying. Somehow, he didn't think it was scary. Our little brave boy! 

They had a really great play area for the kids here. One side was a huge playground and the other side was this little area, the Boneyard Playgound where you could dig for fossils. So nice for the kids to be able to run around and play for awhile.

What would a day be without a little extra excitement?  I had given my phone to Sarah so she could watch a video so she would stay seated while we were walking through the park to head to our first ride. Once we got to the ride, I went to get my phone and couldn't find it. Jim calls it and we don't hear it ring anywhere. So he and I back track our steps all the way back to the front of the park while we leave the kids with Kristina and crew. We didn't spot it anywhere. We had only been in the park about 30 minutes at this point. So we thought we should go ahead and check the lost and found. We head to their administration offices, wait in line and finally get to talk to someone. We tell him the story and he goes to the back to check the lost and found and comes walking out with my phone in his hand! I couldn't believe it! All our prayers to St. Anthony had paid off! What a relief. 

Next up- Day 6- Magic Kingdom and Epcot