Epcot

I think Epcot was Ian's favorite; and I would say both Greg and I agree. It may have been because it was the first park we visited and we had enough energy to really enjoy it. In fact, we spent a full 12 hours at Epcot that first day. Everyone was up bright and early because of the very early bedtime the night before and it was the one and only day we were all up before 8am. Anyways, I have to say that I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have. It was just so hectic trying to keep track of, and keep occupied both children with such different age interests! I also think I really need to get a little compact camera though too because my SLR is just such a beast to keep track of! I took a little over 200 pictures the entire week, and those of you who know me, know that's kinda pathetic. We do have some video as well, but I'm making no promises as to when Greg will upload them, and that's his area.

So....Epcot! I'll just get on to the pictures instead of trying to recap the whole day which would be pretty impossible!

Here is Ian bright eyed and bushy tailed after his 14 hours of sleep the night before. The first stop was breakfast at the hotel, and a trip to the gift shop to buy lanyards to keep our passes on. Ian chose the medallion as well and was very excited to get on the shuttle and get the day started!

Stickers were given out everywhere! Ana would stick them all over her body, directly on her skin. Now these were the stickiest stickers I've ever encountered so there was pain involved in their removal. Unfortunately this didn't deter her from sticking more to herself the next time she received them!

We started off in Innoventions and Ian loved this area. Here he is trying his hand at making paper which he is now bugging me to do with him at home. I told him we'd do some paper making this summer!

In the Underwriters Laboratory Ian had a ball with this display that tests hard hat durability and the one that tests tv screen strength. Yes, these were the two loudest displays in the area...

Ian got his face painted, he made a special request for flames....

Here is Ian making his own video game where he is the main character. He loved this! He had to first record a video of himself jumping, running and doing a victory dance. Then he could play the game and see what he created. It was really cool, and very funny...especially his butt wiggling victory dance!

And here is Greg trying to restrain Ana while Ian is gaming!

One of the funniest parts of the day was the "What's Your Problem" show where they pulled members from the audience to participate in games. The last one was for dads and Ian enthusiastically volunteered his dad for it. They had to properly attach a diaper and bottle to each baby before sticking it to their apron; the one with the most babies at the end wins. It ended in a tie, but was seriously one of the funniest things I've ever seen! Look how proud he was of his accomplishment!!

We then went over to The Sea where we rode the Finding Nemo ride which for the most part scared Ana unfortunately. Ian, Greg and Ana were then promptly swallowed by Bruce the shark. As you can see Greg must have been trying to retrieve Ana from slipping deeper into his belly because you can't even see her, yikes!

Fortunately Bruce remembered people are friends, not food and everyone escaped unscathed. After a trip to the gift shop both kids were very content with their goodies; Ian with some very sour candy as you can see by his expression, and Ana with a Nemo lunchbox which she carried around for days afterward!



Ana enjoyed her first popscicle and Ian had an ice cream sandwich as big as his head!



We found an activity that by some miracle both kids enjoyed! When you step on the blocks they make the sound of the subject of the picture. It occupied Ian for a very short while, but Ana had a ball running around while he and Greg went and checked everything else out.



Ian went on Test Track with Daddy a couple times and really enjoyed it. Ian was thrilled that he was finally tall enough to enjoy some of the bigger rides, and he and Greg enjoyed as many as they could!



We then headed over to The Land where we had secured a Fast Pass for the ride Soarin'. It was very cool, and simulated a hang gliding flight over California. It was very realistic; Ian loved it and went on twice, once with Greg and once with me while the other adult chased a very overtired Ana around. We had dinner at the Garden Grill which was had very yummy food, and some characters which terrified Ana unfortunately. Ian after some coercion agreed to a picture with both Chip and Dale which were the only character pictures we secured during our visit! He just couldn't be bothered with the characters this time around. Once in a while he would say he would get a picture but the wait was always awfully long and he didn't want to waste time in the lines; and Ana was terrified of them all anyways!





Even after being there 12 hours we never did get around to the countries which I was really looking forward too. We did return to Epcot on our last full day but even then we didn't make it around to the World Showcase, we were just completely spent and it was the hottest day of our trip! Oh well, we will return someday! One last picture to share...we ended our day at about 8:30 that first full day and Ana finally fell asleep on the way to the shuttle (this girl would not nap during the day!). You can see Ian sacked out on the back of the sit and stand stroller as well, not sleeping, but utterly exhausted!!