Making Steve Irwin Proud

It was Turks and Caicos. That was my final choice for vacation this year. An all inclusive resort with me on the beach and a good book on my lap.

A particularly bad start to the hurricane season this year changed my mind and our plans.

I must say, Gatorland was never on the radar, but from the moment we decided to go to Florida, it was on Kaelan's!

She absolutely adores crocs, snakes, gators, any critter. She simply loves The Croc Hunter and feels that she is Bindi the Jungle Girl's long lost sister.

Look at that face! You could have filled that pond with cotton candy and lollipops and not gotten this reaction!

Okay. Let's just get this next series of pictures out of the way. I am certain I will be ousted from the "Parent of the Year" award banquet this year.

For the record, I was VERY much against this, but Kaelan and dad begged and assured me no live or limb would be lost. I am cringing. Just look already.

And the final pose......

Is your heart rate up? I know. I know! That is my baby holding that gator. Yes, I know the mouth is taped, but still....THAT IS MY BABY!

We took a nice long hike through the swamplands after that to calm my nerves.

Kaelan got lost in her thoughts out there.

Another one for the "Mother of the Year" album. Ha! The joke is on you! That sucker isn't real!

Don't worry, it got me, too. I almost gave birth when Doug and Kaelan tricked me with this one. He is fake. Thank God.

The folks at Gatorland are insane. Seriously, anyone who has a Jumperoo Show that consists of holding raw chickens up for gators to jump up and snatch needs to be examined in the head region.

Mom can stomach this type of Gator Wrangling.

See this guy? Well, there were hundreds him around the gator park, and despite their graceful demeanor, they are MEAN!

What you can't see in this picture is the skinny little crane attacking my bumside. Right there in this picture, I am being violated, and you can't even see it!

I guess it beats a sneak attack from a gator.

Just had to include some pictures from some of our nightlife fun. We headed over to Downtown Disney and Kaelan met up with some friends.

Captain Jack and Buzz.

We dined at some great places down in that area. One place, The T-Rex Cafe was a huge hit. Go if there is one near you!

Wizards, Seussville, and Arabian Nights

What? Go to Orlando and not visit Seussville and the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

I think not!

First, we made a stop at Jurassic Park. Kaelan directed these shots.

Mom, look like you are scared and running away.

Mom, get me fighting the T-Rex and scaring him away from daddy.

She just looked too cool not to share this one.

Another stop in Toon Land.

Seussville

The place to be was of course the Harry Potter exhibit. It was the only time we actually faced a crowd. It was worth it, though!

Mmmm....Butter Beer.

I am not a huge HP fan, but go if you can. It is truly magical.

**Post Edit*** It dawned on me after publishing this post that I forgot to tell you about the great Hippogriff ride. Well, since Kaelan was much too small for the big Harry Potter ride, dad convinced her to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff. This was NOT a baby in the belly ride....I am not even sure it was a ride I would have done without a critter in my tummy, but Kaelan seemed game (perhaps the word is naive). This was her first big ride, afterall.

I parked myself near a castle and waited to for them to reach the front of the line so I could film them coming around the bend. After a few moments, I heard the most blood curdling scream, so I looked up from checking emails to find out where the young girl who was surely getting sawed in half must be (what else could make that kind of sound?). It took only a second more for me to recognize that scream. Yep, my kid shattered many an eardrum that day. She blew her horn the whole ride. It all happened so quickly, and I was laughing so hard, I didn't get a chance to get the camera rolling. I probably should have snapped some pictures of people coming off that ride shaking their heads and holding their ears, but I did not want them to know I had any ties to the screamer. For legal purposes.

And that, is the Great Hippogriff incident. You will hear it referenced later.

A few of Doug's cousin's live in the Orlando area, and one of them is actually a star in the Arabian Nights dinner show. We scored some sweet seats and went to watch Misty perform. Kaelan loved the show and enjoyed hanging with the cast afterward (Really, she did. Just ignore the unpleasant faces she is making in the pictures.)

House of Mouse

I am really glad we opted to only spend one day at Disneyworld. Having hit Disneyland in CA last year, we really didn't need more than a day at this park. I found myself getting a little peeved when we first arrived and I saw the crowds. I purposely planned this trip at a Disney down time. However, everything worked out perfectly. Turns out the parade was just hitting Main Street, so everyone was out in this area at that time. Once the parade was over, the park was ours. Mommy likey.

Kaelan, Mom and Baby (as Kaelan is so kindly showing us).

We hit all the kiddo rides. Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White. You name it, we rode it. Probably more than once. Kaelan was still a little fresh from the whole Hippogriff thing on this day, so it took some convincing to get her to try the bigger stuff. She approached more than one big ride, only to change her mind after watching it for a while. And that, is why Space Mountain rocks.........

You can't SEE Space Mountain, until you are ON Space Mountain.

I nearly peed myself when I saw her coming through the tunnel at the end.

Take a look at that hair and that look of pure shock. Poor kid!

We totally forgot that the seating on SM was individual. In the pictures from the ride, Doug in actually leaning forward with his arms wrapped around her. I am not sure who was more frightened on that ride.

I will tell you that every morning for the last week or so, Kaelan comes to me and the first words out of her mouth are "I am not riding Space Mountain ever again. Okay, mom? Remind me if we ever go back."

It all ended well. She seems to have made it through thus far therapy free.




On the ferry ride back to the parking area, Kaelan reached over and patted both Doug and I on the leg.

"Thank you for taking me on this trip, Mama and Dad. I feel really lucky and wish I could take all kids on a trip like this."

Times like these, you think you might not be a total screw-up for a parent.

"Oh, and I am NOT going to ride Space Mountain ever again!"

Universal Love

We spent a day at the Old School Universal Park. You know, the one that was super cool before the Harry Potter World opened in the other part of Universal's property. I was not certain Kaelan would enjoy this side as much because I was pretty sure dad had ruined his chances of getting her on many rides after the Hippogriff incident.

That is, until we turned the first corner on the lot and saw this beauty:

If you live in my house, you know this little wagon is very important.

We really had no idea that Scooby and the gang would even be in the area. Total luck on our part because you could not have made this girl any happier.

We got to hang with Scooby and Shaggy for a bit, and then we met up with them later (dressed in their costumes) at the Halloween bash.

There were lots of friends to catch up with at Universal:

Curious George and The Man in the Yellow Hat and that lovable JAWS.

Shrek and Donkey and even Dora.....but shhhhh about that one, because Kaelan is "too big for Dora".

We ended up having a blast at Universal. We practically owned that park for the first part of the day because it was literally us and 2 other families on the whole lot. We rode E.T. over and over and hit the other kid rides enough to tire us out. Kaelan and dad hit the rides that were not baby in the belly friendly while I shopped and relaxed. Can't say I was heartbroken about missing some of those shows and rides. Poor dad.

If we weren't off doing something new and exciting at night, we were doing something new and exciting around the resort. They had a great events calender and lots of great activities each day.

Dock fishing, boating, and kid fun.

Swimming on one of four water parks.

Nightly smores, stories and songs by the fireside.

I am so glad we decided to stay off site of any of the parks. We loved this place and wished we could have spent more time vacationing at the hotel.