Disney World

Bo was turning four, so we decided we needed to take the family to Disney World. Jason has this thing for Disney-- if he sees a sad commercial or movie where kids grow up and leave home or he feels like ours are getting too big, he books a trip to Disney World. We went for four nights and spent three days at Disney and one at Universal Studios. We had planned on doing three days at Disney and then taking one day off to relax and swim. But somehow we went to the pool in the morning and then all of a sudden found ourselves heading in a taxi to Universal Studios. The girls were in heaven at Universal-- Harry Potter land was incredible and the roller coasters blew them away. Oh, and the first land you come to is Marvel Comics land, so Bo thought he had hit the Super Hero jackpot.

It was Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios, so we spent Friday (Bo's birthday) there. There were Storm Troopers everywhere, and other characters walking around. It was pretty awesome, especially for a four-year-old boy who thinks he's a Jedi.

Jason and the girls went to Epcot to take advantage of the "extra magic hours." It's like a buffet--you eat too much food just because it's there and you feel like you've paid for it. They stayed out till midnight just because it was open that late. I was glad to be the one to stay back at the hotel with the boys and read my book.

the girls, standing in line for some ride at Epcot

Something came over Scout at Magic Kingdom on day two and she HAD to have an autograph book and HAD to wait in lines to meet the characters. We ended up only meeting Pooh and Tigger, Peter Pan, and Handy Manny. But at least we have another $10 autograph book to keep in a drawer somewhere.

The last time we went to an amusement park, Bo was terrified of the rides and bawled hysterically. This time he absolutely loved the rides. He was tall enough for all but the big roller coasters. He loved Splash Mountain and the water rides at Universal.

Bo was in an especially feisty phase, particularly days 3 and 4. I guess we were all getting a little feisty after too little sleep and too many lines but the rest of us were able to control it. My favorite feisty Bo moment was at Universal Studios. It was late, and we'd had a long day (including three hours of swimming in the morning). Jason and the girls were riding a Harry Potter ride, and I was killing time with the boys. We decided to watch a magic show, which was in a teeny little room at the front of a shop. It was more like a demonstration of the magic tricks they sold. Bo was expecting bunnies jumping out of hats, I guess. He was not thrilled with the magician's performance. Remember, it was a teeny little room with about 20 people watching. At the end of the show we all clapped and then Bo looked at me and said (very loudly), "What? That's it? That was HORRIBLE!. That was the worst show ever. It was horrible." I could only laugh and apologize and quickly left out the back door.

Day four (Animal Kingdom), which followed the bedtime of 10:30 was also difficult for Bo. It consisted of hitting his family members repeatedly and yelling at the people in front of us in line to "HURRY UP!" "YOU'RE UGLY" and "WHY AREN'T THESE STUPID PEOPLE MOVING?" It was quite embarrassing and we were helpless.

In general I feel like I'm an OK parent. I definitely won't be writing any parenting books or winning any awards, but for the most part I get most of the rules, like not rewarding bad behavior, giving kids proper amounts of sleep, feeding them nutritious foods, not letting them be the boss, etc. But for some reason at Disney all that got thrown out the window. We found ourselves bribing Bo with ice cream to get him to stop yelling at strangers, promising toys to get him to stop flailing and screaming on the ground, and letting him become a pirate to get him to stop hitting us. It wasn't pretty.

Another great Bo moment was when he met Spider Man. He was wearing his Iron Man shirt. Spidey asked Bo if he was friends with Iron Man. Bo said, "No, I'm friends with Jack and William." Spider Man had no idea what he was talking about and kept talking about Iron Man, and Bo had no idea why he was supposed to be friends with Iron Man. It was a funny exchange.

But I have to say that everybody, including Bo most of the time, was pretty well behaved and rolled with it considering how little sleep they got, how much junk they ate, how hot it was, and how crowded the parks were.

And Tucker? Sweetest little guy. He spent most of the time in the stroller waiting for everybody else to ride rides, but he did get to ride a couple (the carousel and one fish two fish red fish blue fish).

And now I get to unpack all the bags and do laundry. I'm so happy it's summer though and I'm glad to have the girls home.