Classic

And it just would not be a trip to Disney without meeting these guys.

Do you notice one Keiglet missing?

Yes.

Bergen waited in line for over forty minutes to meet Mickey and Minnie. At the very last minute, however, he bailed. After forty minutes waiting in line - it was not worth a battle.

Legos

It was like Lego heaven.

I don't know how your theology rolls, but I am pretty sure that if toys make the cut, then Legos will be in the after life.

Just sayin'.

Bergen's Choice

We stopped at candy stores.

More than once.

Each Keigley was allowed to choose one treat.

Whatever they wanted.

Mosely and London chose cotton candy. (I think they were influenced by the sheer size of the bag. They're into quantity right now.)

I chose a chocolate covered strawberry that was practically the size of my hand. (Maybe I am into quantity too.)

Kevin and Riley chose some overwhelming chocolate/ ice cream/ waffle cone concoctions at Ghiradelli's.

And Bergen chose this.

Three marshmallows dipped in chocolate then rolled in sprinkles and crushed peppermints and speared on a Mickey Mouse straw.

He loved it. Savored it.

Slowly eating this masterpiece of tooth decay for more than thirty minutes.

buddies

At some point during our Florida Adventure we made our way to San Antonio.

Florida, of course.

We were finally able to visit my dad and Jenny at their new home. We were greeted at the door by Darryl - a super handsome greyhound who used to be quite the competitor. Piper was his biggest fan. She tried to sleep beside him in his dog bed with her own little pillow.

Actually, the pillow she was lying on is part of this story.

Jenny bought the smaller kids the most adorable pillows, called Owl Buddies. The kids loved them - and they made the perfect sleeping companions for the rest of our car journey. The pillows are actually sold on an etsy site - and are hand crafted by Jenny's daughter-in-law's sister. Really, they must be a pretty talented family because her daughter-in-law makes fantastic pendants and Riley and I each received one of those. (We don't look as cuddly with them as the kids do with their pillows - that's why our photos didn't make the cut.)

We had a lot of fun meeting Jenny's sons and their lovely families. The house was loaded with kids, but everyone played together swimmingly. Bergen seemed pretty excited to have a small fellow his own age to push tractors around with.

Another fun part of visiting family was being able to attend church together. I like seeing how other churches organize and meet and worship. GrowLife Church was led by a dynamic and interesting pastor and it was a rare treat to be able to sit in a service with Dad and Jenny.

I must admit, it was a shift to see my dad in warm, sunny Florida as opposed to cold, snowy Wyoming.

But be it the south or the west, it is always good to hug my father's neck.

The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

At Disney's Kingdom of Good Times, we spent a fair amount of our day waiting in lines.

While in line, we chatted. We told stories. We made funny faces. We yawned. Otto Fox slept.

And Piper played her own special Waiting in Line game - she pretended to pull off tiny parts of Daddy's face and then proceeded to pretend to feed his own face to him.

We all laughed a lot at that.

I don't know if it was really funny or if we were really tired of waiting in lines.

What Seems So Fun . . .

Our kids love PBS. Mosely even watches a little too much - remember?

A lot of PBS shows are sponsored by Rainforest Cafe. So our kids naturally ask, "When can we go to Rainforest Cafe?"

Guess what restaurant is located at Downtown Disney?

Yep.

So we've been talking this place up for months. The kids are all so excited. They think of it as a highlight on our Florida journey. They cannot wait.

And then we visit.

It looks like, well, a rain forest. On acid.

At first the kids are amused. Entertained. The rain falling all around us is cool. The leaves of the trees hanging around the walls are pretty interesting. The elephant beside our table actually moves. We hear jungle noises. Fish are swimming in aquariums all over the restaurant.

And then we sit down at our table.

The kids check out the crayons - just like at every other restaurant. They forget about the sounds of the rain forest surrounding them and color monkeys and trees in the four primary colors they are given.

Kevin and I look at the prices. Hmm. Is this place donating a percentage of their profits to the actual rain forest? They should be. Because they would no longer be endangered if they were. Uh - a kid's meal of mac & cheese was $7.99. And no drink included!

Piper begins to cry as the thunderstorm rocks our table and temporarily deafens us all.

Our waiter gently informs us that the thunderstorm will only happen once every thirty minutes!

I cannot even hear Kevin talk to me across the table because of the "gentle" waterfall sounds all around us. (That and Piper's cries - which only happened every thirty minutes.)

Suddenly, what seemed quirky and fun just seems loud and overpriced. (Really loud. And really overpriced.)

You can apply a moral message there if you want. There almost always is one if you look hard enough.

But what the Keigleys learned this time is pretty basic - no more themed restaurants for us. We are our own circus, our own novelty show, our own jungle. We don't need to pay anyone else for that kind of entertainment.

Disney

(I promise to add photos when I return home. I promise. Bear with me, Leanne. Bear with me.)


I don't know where to start.





Really.





And I almost don't even want to.





Because I am sure I will forget something.





There is just so much. So much.





We are actually still on the road. (Not literally, mind you.)





So maybe I will just work backwards.





Or whatever.





I'm pretty sure the only person who will be even slightly concerned with the correct order of events or the skipping of any memorable moments will be me anyway.





Disney sounds like a good place to begin.





After waiting in line for about an hour with six children at varying degrees of impatience we reached the front of the line. We laid down (ahem) $400 and received our change - exactly one dollar. Thanks Disney. Thanks.





We waded through crowds of strangers . . . some friendly, some not so much . . . to ride the ferry into the Magic Kingdom.





Now. I don't like long lines. Or crowds of people. Or spending that much money on something on which I can neither drive nor type.





But pretty much from the moment we stepped into the park and saw that iconic castle to the hours and hours we spent exploring this kingdom called Magic, I knew our money had been well spent. Indeed.





I cannot even say which moment was my favorite yet.





But here's a few that I liked . . .





Tinkerbell in lights riding a zipline from the castle to begin the fireworks show.





Piper riding her first roller coaster, liking it better than her wildly brave brother Bergen and asking "again?" as soon as the ride stopped.





Mosely walking around all day in her princess dress, feeling important and beautiful, and being greeted as a birthday princess by every Disney cast member we encountered.





The snow. In Florida. (Disney can do anything.) And London asking, "Hey, why does this snow taste like soap?"





Berg and London and Riley laughing and screaming together on Splash Mountain.





The looks on our kids' faces. Awe. Excitement. Amazement. Joy. Laughter. Shared experience.





The warm, gooey caramel cinnamon roll from the bakery on Main Street at 11 p.m., fake snow falling all around us.





And that's just a sampling.





It was fun - almost, dare I say it? - yes, magical.