Things to Do - Cherish This Day & Random Links

Just a few photos from our last night in Disney (at Hollywood Studios) - The Great Movie Ride & Fantasmic.

Happy Friday everyone! Don't forget to click over to Cherish This Day to see all of this week's wonderful images.

RANDOM LINKS:

* I love these abstract art prints.

* "There was more time between the Stegosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus Rex than between the Tyrannosaurus Rex and you" - quirky facts about time.

* This soup looks wonderful. As does this salad.

* I LOVE Where the Watermelons Grow's upcycled pom pom shirt.

* KidFriendly DC is on a mission to uncover DC's hidden treasures, the franciscan monastery looks awesome.

* Best Valentine's Day cards ever.

* Taylor Swift just wowed me.

* Yes.

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (Februrary 2015)

For some reason, pretty much every novel I've read recently has centered on family relationships, often through the perspective of depressed middle-age women. Interestingly enough, most of these books about unhappy middle age women are written by men. Why is this?

1. This Is Where I Leave You - This book is funny/sad with quirky, witty sentences that makes it hard to put down (Trooper's prose reminds me of David Sedaris, but fictional). Sort of predictable and not entirely original. But still a great easy read about about four siblings sitting shiva after their father's death.

2. Freedom - This is the best book I've read in a long time and even though I finished a few weeks ago, I can't get this novel out of my head. It's about families and relationships and all of the random things that pull and push people apart (i.e "freedom"). Almost every character in the book does something vaguely awful. And almost everyone goes through severe periods of unhappiness. I hope life really isn't really this bleak (it hasn't seemed this bleak so far). But still you should read it. Now.

3. Wonderland - I tried to enjoy this book. The plot sounded interesting enough - a middle age female rockstar's comeback tour. And I liked the writing - a very poetic internal dialogue. But every time I went to pick up Wonderland I found myself doing random chores instead (emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the floors, etc.). So I never ended up finishing this book, even though I didn't actively dislike it.

4. Yes Please - I love Amy Poehler and I loved reading her book. Not that this surprises me or anyone else.

5. We Are Not Ourselves - Warning - this book is sad. And it's another book about a strong, yet depressed middle aged woman written by a man. And about how sometimes life hands you circumstances that are entirely beyond your control. You do your best. They did their best. It's a good read.
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Okay, I'm finally running out of books from my post-broken foot Amazon shopping spree. Any suggestions for some new reads?

Places to Go (Vacation) - Disney World 2015, Part II (Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, & Hollywood Studios)

Four days in Disney went by in a blur, during the haze of which I remember F asking, "can we just go back to the condo and watch TV for awhile?" To which I replied and (somewhat scarily) actually meant, "NO!! Fun takes effort!" Every vacation needs a mantra, doesn't it? Actually, we did truly have fun, just exhausting fun.











We spent day two at Dan's and my favorite park - Animal Kingdom. We thought this place was incredible before, but now that the kids are old enough to go on Dinosaur and Everest we couldn't get enough. Plus, the three plus one fastpasses a day really last here as there is so much else to see (animal trails, Lion King, dinosaur carnival games, etc.). Animal Kingdom has the only petting zoo I've ever experienced where none of the animals seem to defecate (only in Disney).





Not only do they now love roller coasters, they even throw their hands in the air (just like a pop music song).



Stuffed animal purchases for each best friend.

















Fun takes effort!!











By Magic Kingdom on day 3, we were all pretty exhausted (hence, the small number of photos taken). But on the upside, T LOVED Space Mountain, so I guess we're a family that roller coasters now. The Haunted Mansion will always be my absolute favorite (esp. when you take the ghost home with you), but Thunder Mountain at night proved much better than anticipated. And, as always, I'm a complete sucker for the stagecoach dancers on Mainstreet USA.



It only took T twelve hours to lose that toy gun. Then came the sadness. So. much. sadness.



The ice cream cone comes with mouse ear cookies. Of course.







The Magic Kingdom at night is truly magical. And on Superbowl Sunday, it's empty as well.





We slept in/lounged around before heading to Hollywood Studios on Day 4, which would have worked perfect except a huge storm rolled in. So. much. rain. Oh well, we needed a long afternoon off.







NOW WE NEED A SUMMARY: (their picks are so different than in 2012 (blogged here).

DARCY (AGE 39)
Faves - The Safari in Animal Kingdom, Soarin', Haunted Mansion, Muppet Vision 3D (also Benihana (read more about our meal here) and the German buffet in Epcot)
Yuck - Mission Space, Fantasmic

DAN (Age 38)
Faves - Everest, Haunted Mansion, Dinosaur, Buzz Lightyear
Yuck - Mission Space, The Great Movie Ride

F (Age 9)
Faves - Everest, Thunder Mountain, Tower of Terror
Yuck - Fantasmic ("Mickey's dream was so cheesy")

P (Age 8)
Faves - Everest, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain
Yuck - Fantasmic

T (Age 5)
Faves - Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, Thunder Mountain
Yuck - "I don't have any non-favorites"

Places to Go (Vacation) - Disney World 2015, Part I (Epcot)

So this is our family's third trip to Disney, which some may find overkill, but ideally I'd love to continue with biyearly trips to the "happiest place on earth". Plus, winter is Northern VA is cold. And my foot has healed. And plane tickets to Orlando are insanely cheap (thank you US Air!). And I had absolutely no interest in Superbowl Sunday (though we've heard it was the best game ever).

So before we knew it, we were on our way . . .

Turns out that Thursday night flights are quite pricey, compared to Friday morning flights. So the alarm went off at 6 am and the cab arrived by 6:45.







A few moments of sisterly bliss while we wait for Dan and T to pick up the rental car. "This is fun fighting mom, not 'real' fighting." In case you you were confused.









Um, we usually rock a mini-van, but sedans rent for much less. Three kids in one backseat turned out to be utter chaos. And not in a good way.









This was our first trip to Disney using the new online fastpass reserve system. I'm not really a spontaneous person, but it still seemed odd to arrive and already have our day mapped out for us (carefully planned by me, of course).





I'm terrified of small spaces and motion stimulators, but I decided to go on Mission Space with the rest of the family, so as not to miss out on any of the "fun". I will never do that again. This ride was the absolute low point of my vacation, I couldn't stop shaking for thirty minutes after it ended. Whereas the kids said, "it was just okay, not really scary enough." WTF?



Apparently, everyone needs a new hat before they can explore the world.











German beer garden buffet. I could have stayed all day. Really.















After Soarin', T started to melt down. So after a quick stop on Spaceship Earth (F's favorite Epcot ride), we drove to our rental condo and caught the tail end of a gorgeous sunset from the balcony. I had planned on staying through Epcot's light show, but apparently that was a little too ambitious.



A good first day (though somewhat exhausting) . . .