A Day at the Zoo

This was supposed to be the last really hot weekend this summer. Marina and I decided to go to the zoo. When we arrived, she told me she wanted to see fish. So we went to the tropics exhibit where the fish are. She was interested in them, but she spent more time looking at the snakes. Who knew she liked snakes so much? But the tarantula really freaked her out.

We stopped for a snack near the sea lions. We had a nice view of them as they played in the water. It seemed like the four of them were chasing each other. It was fun to watch. The polar bears were in their pools. At the underwater viewing window, one was right in front. But Marina didn’t have much interest.

The zoo had a lot of new babies for us to see. We saw baby giraffes, a seal, mountain goat and a zebra. Marina loved them!

Because of the heat, many of the animals were lethargic, an exception was the brown bears. One of them kept following the other around the exhibit. Every once in a while it would agitate the other.

As usual, Marina took a ride on the carousel. This time she picked the cheetah to ride on - although she was hoping for a leopard!

Just before we left, we saw the lions. Two lionesses and a lion were resting right by the viewing window. Marina was eye to eye with a lioness! (A little disconcerting to a mom, I must say!)

First Day of First Grade

Today was Marina's first day of school. I can't believe she's in first grade! This time was less traumatic than last year. This is the second year at her elementary school and I've met her teacher several times. Marina seemed quite excited. The kids lined up shortly after we arrived. She happily talked to one of her friends from kindergarten while they waited for everyone to gather. Every once in a while she waved to me. At one point she called out, "I love you, Mommy." Won't that melt a mother's heart?

When I picked her up after school, she was in a great mood. She didn't have a whole lot to say about her day. Apparently her teacher gave her Skittles for good behavior. Good to hear. I asked if she had some of her kindergarten friends in her class. "And new friends too!" she responded enthusiastically. So looks like we're off to a good start this year.

Disney World - Day Six

Our day started with a mad rush. Marina had an appointment at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and the shuttle schedule wasn't at all compatible with the appointment. It didn't help that the shuttle was ten minute late either. We were dropped off at Epcot and we did well making the monorails to the Magic Kingdom. But once we arrived on Main Street, we had to negotiate the crowds who were watching the morning parade. We passed Snow White and the Fairy Godmother who had short lines waiting to see them. But, fortunately, the Boutique was able to fit Marina in half an hour late.

Marina chose to wear her Silvermist costume today. So she chose a fall with black hair. I found it humorous that the dark haired girls were choosing blonde falls and the blondes seemed to want darker hair. As she was getting started, the Fairy Godmother came in to visit. Fairy Godmother in Training Sabina worked on Marina's hair. Later on, Christina helped with make up. I noticed that their names rhyme: Sabina-Christina-Marina.

Once her hair and make up were done, we had her picture taken. I wasn't happy with the first batch, so I made them do another set. I hope the photographer doesn't hate me!

We went into Fantasyland where Marina's favorite rides are. Then we went off to meet the fairies. We had lunch there. A nice young woman at one of the food stands asked Marina for her autograph. It was so cute to see her sign her name in the book!

Since Marina was dressed as Silvermist (and we had managed to get her picture taken with every character she was dressed as, I didn't want to ruin our streak). Unfortunately when we went through, Silvermist wasn't there. We did meet Tinkerbell, Fawn and Terence though.

We finally caught a performance of Story Time with Belle that wasn't rained out. (It was the only show of the day that wasn't.) But it was important since that show will be ending next month, so we won't have another chance to see it again. I wanted to see the entire Castle show, but lightning was visible in the distance and the performance was canceled.

We went into Adventureland to say goodbye to Aladdin and Jasmine. Unfortunately, we missed their last meet and greet by five minutes. Marina was crushed. A cashier in the store next to them offered to take a note to them. Marina wrote, "I love you," on the paper and then signed her name. She added a flower she'd picked for Jasmine. I wish I could have seen them when they got that!

We went over to see Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen again but the rain started. We ducked into the Christmas store for a while. Marina loved looking at the ornaments and I bought one for our tree this year. But we got restless in the store, so we walked over to Toon Town to try to meet Silvermist again. The wait was longer than before but what else were we going to do? By the time we got to the front of the line, we learned that Silvermist wasn't there. The cast member let us wait about 15 minutes until she came. By the time Marina got into the room to meet the fairies, they all knew she was waiting for Silvermist. Tinkerbell even called Marina by name. So fun!
By the time were done with the fairies, the rain had stopped. So we caught the train to Frontierland. Then we went back to Adventureland where we rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and the Jungle Cruise. Then we went back for our chance to meet Princess Tiana. She wasn't there but the line was, so we got in it. Good thing because they closed it soon after. Marina had her picture taken with Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. I asked if I could be in some of the pictures. Prince Naveen offered me his arm. So I was on the arm of a handsome prince while looking out at a castle. Sigh. Does it get any better than this?

We caught the end of the Electrical Parade, then went over to City Hall. We each had one day left on our passes and I wanted to know if we could keep them somehow. The wonderful man at the counter arranged for non expiring passes for our next visit. I left thinking our next visit should be next summer.

We watched the fireworks then made the made rush for the ferry. We were exhausted after nearly 12 hours at the park but I was sad to leave. I watched Cinderella's Castle fade into the distance. I hope we'll see it again soon!

Disney World - Day Five

We had another late morning after last night's fireworks. So we took our time this morning. When we arrived at Hollywood Studios Marina spotted The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We were able to get into the next showing. It was a 15 minute live version of The Little Mermaid. It was a bit choppy, but the performances were good. Naturally, Marina loved it.

We did a little shopping and had lunch. Then we went over to see the Beauty and the Beast show. Marina had worn her Belle dress for the occasion. She loved this show too.

We went back to the Animation Courtyard where Marina wanted to meet Handy Manny. A cast member asked if we'd wait for a Make a Wish family to meet with him. I said, "Of course." Then she told me about an unannounced character meet and greet time. She told me there would be characters Marina would like. Naturally, I assumed that meant princesses, so I made sure we were there.

We went over to The Art of Disney Animation to meet the Incredibles and Frozone. Marina found some fun activities to keep her busy and we looked at animation from the next Disney movie Tangled.

And then, right on schedule, a whole group of characters came in. We saw Aladdin, Mary Poppins, Chip and Dale and Minnie Mouse. While we waited to see Aladdin, Marina said she saw Belle. So as soon as she was done with him, she ran off after Belle. Sure enough, we found Belle by herself in the gallery. Marina got quite a lot of time alone with her. When that group of characters left, another group came in. This group had the Genie, Jafar, Snow White and Mulan. It was quite a lucky break to be there.

Marina wanted to see the Playhouse Disney show. After that, we had dinner at the ABC Commissary, then went to see the Muppet Vision 3D show. It was much like Philharmagic. Marina loved it. When we exited, we saw Luigi's Garage with Lightning McQueen and Mater. She was excited to have her picture taken with them.

We planned to see the Fantasmic show, but it was canceled for technical reasons. So we left a bit earlier than planned. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We would have loved to see the show, but we were tired.

Disney World - Day Four

After a late night last night, Marina and I slept in this morning and went into the Magic Kingdom just before lunch. Marina wore her Jasmine costume today. As we walked down Main Street, Marina spotted some storybook windows. She took a long look at each one.

The first thing she wanted to do was see Aladdin and Jasmine. So we went over to Adventureland to see them. Jasmine was thrilled to see Marina in her costume. I reminded them she had shown them her loose tooth on Sunday. Aladdin remembered he predicted it would fall out that night. I told him it did. He asked Marina what the "tooth genie" brought her. Jasmine pulled a blue jewel out of a vase and gave it to Marina to commemorate the occasion. Marina was thrilled.

Next we went over to Splash Mountain to meet Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. Marina has been quite a fan of Jessie lately. But I couldn't convince her to ride Splash Mountain. Maybe next time.

We went to Fantasyland and looked around Cinderella's castle. We tried to catch the Dream Along with Mickey show, but it was stopped part way through due to rain. But the rain didn't last for long, so we went over to the Fantasyland rides. We rode the Carousel, Dumbo and finally got onto Peter Pan's Flight. Marina said she was scared to try it, but once she was on it, she wanted to ride it again. We also watched the Philharmagic show. The combination of 3D and other effects was amazing. Like all the other shows we've seen, Marina didn't want to see it, but she loved it.

We went to dinner in Tomorrowland. The restaurant had a young woman with hula hoops. Marina said she wanted to play there. So I let her while I got our food. I was amazed at how well she did with the hula hoop. I didn't know she even knew how. She was so good, she had a group of cast members standing around and watching her.

We went back to Fantasyland to ride more rides. When it started getting dark, we got a dessert and sat down on Main Street to watch the Electric Light parade. A nice couple from Vermont made space for Marina on the curb. We had excellent seats. During the parade, Alice in Wonderland spotted her from on top of her giant mushroom. She asked "Are you a princess? Well, hello, Your Majesty!" Once the parade was over, we hung around until the fireworks started. It was a great show. It was a great ending to a fun day.

Disney World - Day Three

We had breakfast with Marina's grandparents this morning before heading off to Epcot. Marina wanted to wear her Ariel costume. Turns out, it fit in perfectly at our first stop - The Seas. There was no wait for The Finding Nemo ride or Turtle Talk with Crush. Marina loved them both. She also enjoyed looking at all the aquariums throughout the building.

We went into the World Showcase for lunch. We had reservations at Akershus Royal Hall for the Storybook Lunch. As we walked in, she had her picture taken with Belle. Marina ordered ravioli for lunch, it was shaped like Mickey Mouse! As we ate we were visited by Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. But I think Marina's favorite part of the lunch was the chocolate mousse for dessert.

We wandered around the World Showcase. While we were there, we met Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco, Marie the Aristocat and the Beast in France, Mulan in China and Mary Poppins in the UK.


We tried a few rides in Future World. First we tried Spaceship Earth, then Mission: Space. For Mission Space, she was the engineer. Despite being a little nervous, she did her job and even liked the ride. After that, we went back to The Seas. It was Marina's favorite part of Epcot.

By then it was getting late. We split fish and chips in the UK and settled down to watch IllumiNations, the fireworks show. Marina really enjoyed it and she cheered loudly when it was done.

We were both exhausted on our way back to the hotel. It had been a long day.

Disney World - Day Two

Today's plan was to see the Animal Kingdom. We were fortunate that Marina's grandparents were able to drive up from the Miami area to join us today. Marina hadn't see them in two years, so they made the day extra special.

Marina wore her Pocahontas costume today. People called her "Princess" and "Pocahontas" all day long. She loved telling everyone it was just a costume and she wasn't the real Pocahontas.

We started off in Africa with some breakfast. There weren't many places to sit, but Marina found a spot for herself and Grandma.

The safari had a short wait, so we went on that first. Marina was disappointed she wasn't allowed to sit near the window, but she really liked looking at the animals. She got especially excited to see the giraffes and the baby elephant. We went on a jungle trek after that. Grandma and grandpa got a chance to tell her about the animals they know about.

We were all really hot, so we took the Wilderness Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch which was air conditioned. There we go a chance to meet Pocahontas. Marina was excited about that. The cast member with Pocahontas acted confused that there were two Pocahontases. Marina did her best to explain it. We also met Rafiki (who played hide and seek with Marina) and Jiminy Cricket.


We had lunch and then went to Camp Mickie-Minnie to see The Festival of the Lion King. It was a wonderful show of music from the movie and acrobatics. We all enjoyed it.

By then, Marina was wanting to ride some rides. So, we headed to Dinoland USA. We all tried out the TriceraSpin. It was much like the Dumbo ride at the Magic Kingdom. She loved it. We also rode the Dinosaur ride. It was much more intense than I had expected. Marina didn't like it at all. There weren't many more rides, but Marina got her face painted and she was happy with that.

We went to see Finding Nemo - the Musical. It was a great show that we all loved. The puppets were very clever and the effects impressive. Once the show was over, Marina's grandparents decided to go back to the hotel. Marina wanted to stay a little while longer. As we were eating dinner it started to rain. We ducked into a store until it lightened up. Then we went back to Camp Mickie-Minnie. The line to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse was not long, so we got to see them in their safari gear. There was no line for Goofy and Donald Duck, so we stopped to see them as well.

The park was getting ready to close, so we left. Marina wanted to go swimming when we got to the hotel. She's loved having a pool at the hotel.