April 2021 Part 10: Kennedy

 On Friday, our last full day in Florida, we headed to the Space Coast for the Kennedy Space Center. I had no idea just how much I was going to geek out over this. I was so excited to see these rockets!

First thing that we noticed was the rocket garden right off the entrance. 

After the Rocket Garden, we headed over to the building with the Atlantis exhibit. 

We watched this really cool video presentation about the original concept to reuse the space shuttle and how they worked for years to make it happen. The video culminated with the first launch of Atlantis and then the screen became transparent and we could see the actual Atlantis shuttle. The presentation ended and we were able to walk right up to this shuttle that had made multiple missions to space. It was amazing! 

IT WAS IN SPACE!!!!!!

They had a lot of model cockpits for the shuttle that the kids could mess with.

Gabe couldn't understand why I wanted to stay right next to the space shuttle. I guess he hasn't been growing up watching Space Camp like I did. I just kept saying, "But Gabe, this is Atlantis. It's so cool!"

Atlantis!

Gabe was happier when we made it to the more hands on things. 

But I kept stopping him to take a picture. It's Atlantis!

They had a thing that simulated a space walk. 

And they had models of pieces in the International Space Station. 

And this amazing slide. 

Everyone but Hunter got to do the space shuttle launch simulator. The video training us for it was quite spectacular and clever. I was expecting the simulation to be much more intense, though.

It was still really, really cool. 

We went home and got to packing everything up. We tried to get everyone to eat all the things in the fridge and freezer. We polished off the Blue Bell ice cream. 

Until next time, my friend. 

Finally, we headed off to bed for our last night in Florida for the undetermined future. 

April 2021 Part 9: Gabe's 5th Birthday!!!!

So much of our planning for Florida revolved around Gabe's birthday. I thought he'd love to be in Magic Kingdom on his birthday. He was excited about this idea too. But, once we were in Florida, walking the walk and riding the rides, I started to worry about how best to celebrate him and make it about him on his birthday. Maybe it's because I was often on trips on my birthday that I was worried about his big day being a part of everyone else's vacation. We wondered when we'd do cake and ice cream if we were in the park all day. When would he play with his new gifts? So, we decided to have a party on the Sunday before his birthday. The night before, I made his cake. Oh, it is so sad looking! 

Serene and I headed to a party store pick up balloons for his birthday and brought them back in the pouring rain. We had the men get the kids upstairs playing so we could sneak in the balloons and do a surprise party. He was so excited to celebrate his birthday early.

Gabe loved the dinosaurs on his, especially the dinosaur candle holder. He made sure that came home with us. 

Gabe's party helped keep everyone sane being stuck in this little condo in a rainstorm. 

And Gabe was excited to have lots of time to play with his new lego sets. 

Fast forward a few days. I forgot to take our traditional "last picture of you as a _____year-old." So, I snuck in and did it while he was sleeping. Here's a picture of the last time I will ever have a four-year-old. 

The next morning, we had to wake him up to get ready for Magic Kingdom. We had blown up a bunch of green balloons to scatter in his room for his actual birthday. 

We had a couple of presents for him to open...nothing really big. 

Just a special pin that let everyone in the park know it was his birthday, some confetti Mickey Ears that I made for him, along with a matching face mask, and a glow-in-the-dark Star Wars shirt that he didn't wear because he'd already gotten dressed in his Disneyland shirt. 

Serene and Dustin beat us out the door, but we caught them at the ferry. 

It was magical being with Serene and Dustin's kids!

Gabe wanted to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train first, so that's where we went. 

We were all over the place. Some we all rode together, sometimes we were split up. Sometimes we took Hunter and sometimes we didn't. The kids rode the Tomorrowland Speedway. 

We rode Space Mountain. 

We watched this guy draw goofy with water. 

We saw Stitch, which seemed especially appropriate because the last time we brought our kids to Magic Kingdom prior to this trip, I was pregnant with Gabe and we bought him a Stitch stuffed animal. 

We used that Stitch to mark his growth

(2 months)

(six months)

(11 months)

(5 years)

We got the our friends in on our posing tradition on Splash Mountain. 

We kind of worked the system to get two rider swaps, one for Haven and one for Hunter, so we five of us got to go again. 

Meanwhile, Brian worked his magic and got Hunter to fall asleep. 

We all rode Pirates together. 

And we ran into Jack Sparrow when we got out. Gabe told him it was his birthday, and Captain Jack made an announcement to the crowd. Gabe was a little embarrassed, but I think he loved it at the same time. 

We took some of the kids on the Magic Carpets and Serene and Dustin waited to go into the Tiki Room. 

We saw Gaston riding his horse

more princesses

and Mary Poppins. 

Then we took a big group picture in front of the castle. 

Rachel spent the last of her souvenir money on a fancy tiara. 

We rode the Haunted Mansion...a  couple of times. 

We did lots of other things. Big Thunder is a big one. We finally went over to ride Ariel's ride with Elsie, and we took some pictures while we were waiting for Dustin and Serene to join us. 

Once again, we let the boys go off on their own. This time, Michael had forgotten his watch so I bravely let him take my phone with specific instructions to only use it to answer a call from us or to call us. Maybe a picture, but that was it. He promised. 

Gabe, Rachel, Brian, and I rode Seven Dwarfs for our last ride. Dustin and Serene took their three off to another ride. 

We met up in the central hub. 

We took some final pictures in the park

and celebrated the birthday boy in a picture. 

Brian and I took our castle selfies. 

And we entertained ourselves with some more pictures while we waited for Dustin and Serene's crew to take their family pictures and for everyone to make a quick pit stop to the restroom. 

We rode the monorail back

We closed the park down...what else would we do on our last night. We were tired but filled with lots of good memories. 

After we got home, we had a family dinner/birthday party for Gabe and invited Nana & Papa and Lea & Shayne. This meant I got a second chance at his birthday cake, and Gabe helped. Rachel and Gabe sculpted volcanos out of rice crispy treats, and I frosted them to look like volcanos. We added plastic dinosaurs. 

We also had Costa Vida cater, because when I asked Gabe what he wanted for his birthday dinner he said, "Costa Vida."

To which I responded, "No, Buddy, what do you want that Mommy makes?"

"Costa Vida."

So we ordered lots of enchiladas on Saturday and put them in the fridge to bake for dinner on Sunday. Lea helped make yummy refried beans and she brought Mexican rice. It was a feast and I was so happy to finally do his birthday meal request. 

But that happened a week after we got home. Now we go back to our vacation. Only two days left!