The next day, we woke to our favorite view of 'raffs' and zebras, and then headed to Epcot.
Epcot has always been on my list of places I wanted to visit. What kid doesn't want to go inside the biggest golf ball in the world?! It was yet another great day of rides, food, and all around partying. The ride inside the ball was funny.... 'the ride is coming to a stop.' 'sit down, the ride is starting.' 'the ride is coming to a stop'... over and over again :) My favorite part was visiting all of the different countries, where we ate our hearts out.
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| this little baby girl is so good!! |
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| actually, all the kids were really incredible! this little miss E is so darling and i cannot get enough of her raspy voice! |
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| it was great having our own personal photographers, chase and mason. they had my camera a lot of the time and i ended up with some awesome shots. the series on people's feet was one of my favorite, haha. |
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| my epcot dream fulfilled. now maybe i should dream about getting a leg that doesn't bend that direction. |
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| a bunch of tired people trying to decide where to eat. let me tell you, there were a LOT of choices! |
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| stopping in one of the countries (Norway?) for a treat | | |
The night ended with a great fireworks show over the water, and coming home and crashing into bed again (do you sense a theme of extreme exhaustion). The next day we headed to Typhoon Lagoon (after starting out the morning with giraffes, of course) for a relaxing day of swimming, snorkeling with sharks, reading, playing in the sand, napping, and narrowly escaping a snake attack.
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| so relieved that the snake that meandered through our sand didn't stop to play |
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| hazel adored her cousins (i think the feeling was mutual). we are going to live closer someday, right? |
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| have i mentioned how laid back and good this baby is? (and she's as pretty as her momma!) |
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| waiting for uncle russ to dole out some donuts |
That night we entrusted our precious little angels into the capable hands of cousins Chase & Mason (at least, I was praying they were capable hands, Hazel is quite energetic!) and the adults went to Downtown Disney. We ate at the yummiest Italian restaurant with the best waitress ever. We ended the night with lots of shopping, ice cream, and a total downpour of rain. It was a perfect evening, and we returned to all our kids intact & sleeping (well, except for Hazel, who was quite happy to be up past midnight).
Have I mentioned yet how wonderful it was to spend so much time with family? I think, out of the sheer need to survive, that I kid myself about how much we miss our families. I like to pretend that we are just fine with going 6 months at a time without seeing them, but in reality, we miss them like crazy. Being able to spend a week straight with part of our family was incredible.
I want more than anything for Hazel to have a special relationship with her cousins, for her to feel one hundred percent a part of this family. (She is, of course, one hundred percent a part of the family, but I want her to feel it. Since she is the only cousin who lives far away, and the only cousin who is adopted, I make myself sick with worry that she will never feel comfortable and at home with her cousins and aunts and uncles. I am thus SO grateful for any moment she gets to spend with them, and it makes my heart burst with joy to see how much they all love and adore her. My heart did a lot of bursting on this trip!)
1 comment:
Two things. 1. as soon as I saw your leg picture I thought "well, she's still double jointed" so I about died when I read your comment.
2. My sister and I were the only cousins to live out of state. We saw them 1-3 times a year, max, but we're fine. We always knew we were part of the family and as adults when we were in town everyone made a huge effort to see us. I can not speak to the adoption part, but as for living out of state, it's not the end of the world. Hazel should still know she's a cousin, at least if she's anything like Lisa and I!
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