A New Pitman Movie

I think it's official: Meet the Robinsons is the current Pitman family favorite movie.

Although it didn't make much of a splash at the box office, it has in our family. We've been quoting it all week!

We have constantly repeated lines like:

"Keep moving forward."

and

"Excellent"
"Ex-cell-ent"
"Did you say 'excellent' because I said excellent?"
"Um...no."
"Excellent."
"Ex-cell-ent."

At dinner tonight, Sofia even cracked her brother up out of a bad-mood-attitude by making a joke of that second one.

I just love how the movie makes failure not to be a big, bad, scary thing. Just part of learning.

And I love seeing my kids crack up when they blurt out "Dr. Einstein Kool Aid!!" in their best imitation of Dr. Krunklehorn's over-caffeinated voice.

It's also fun to be moving toward a monorail, remind the kids in a normal voice, "Keep moving forward" and have them break out into operatic song not matter what mood they're in.

Thanks Disney.

"Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things - because we're curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We're always exploring and experimenting."

--Walt Disney

Photos from Day - what day is this?

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Day 4: A morning in the Animal Kingdom

Grampa came last night. Boy were the kids surprised!

I just love seeing the joy on their faces.

Today we went to his favorite park: Animal Kingdom.

It was a fun, hot, day. And another day of being grateful that we didn't have to pack-it-all-in-today-because-we-might-never-be-back. It's awful watching families get so frutrated and angry with each other while they're "having fun at Disney."

And we would've missed the cool animals at the front held by cast members. One cast member was great at interacting with the kids as the looked at a centipede and learned it was an exoskeloton, etc. (Can we call this a school day?) She encouraged us to go see the snakes in jungle trek. (I warned the kids to not speak parseltongue!)

So today, we went on Expedition Everest, a roller coaster that goes frontwards and backwards and tangles with a Yeti! (Cale opted not to join us.)

Em, Sofie, Anna, Cale, and I enjoyed the TriceraTop Spin. It was a great speed and the kids ended up doing it multiple times with a different mix of Pitman adults.

Cale, Grampa, and I went on the Primeval Whirl. Loaded with signs like, "The End Is Near," we had a blast on this mini-roller coaster that spun around like a tilt-a-whirl!

I guess Caleb's over his Rock'n shock! (Another family told Em it was two years before their son got over the shock of the Rock'N'Roller coaster!)

Then Dad, Mom, and I went on Disney's not-so-creatively named Dinosaur. Pretty much the same as the former "Race to Extinction" (I think that's what it was called) but this seemed rockier and louder. Definitely a fun ride. And one I'm really glad I didn't try to talk Caleb into!

The grandparents took the grandkids and Emily and I got to walk around the park a bit. With blisters on both feet, I'm doing a bit more limping than walking. We bought some cool stuff at the shops and enjoyed the "feel" of Asia. We even looked for tiger balm! (From Grandma, her feet are worse than mine.)

We came back to Old Key West seconds before another downpour!!

Looks like a quite afternoon awaits.

It's all kind of a blur now...

Day 3 - was a Day off. The kids spent most of the day and night with Grammy. Marc and I rented a car for a day, went grocery shopping and found a Starbucks (btw, if you get a chance to try their added energy I highly suggest it). We spent some quiet time with the kids in the afternoon, then we went to Downtown Disney and saw Prince Caspian (WOW).

After the movie we went over to the Boardwalk and had dinner at what is becoming our favorite restaurant - Big River Grille. Great food, Great service.

Day 4 - divide and conquer day. Anna spent the morning with Grammy in the Pool. Sofia and I spent part of the morning exploring all the transportation wonders of Disney - from bus to monorail to ferry to van. Then we spent in the rest of our time in the pool. Caleb and Marc returned the car (did I mention that it was a Toyota RAV4), then went to Hollywood Studios.

During the afternoon, Caleb and Anna and I went back to Magic Kingdom. Daddy, Grammy and Sofia took naps. At the Magic Kingdom we went on Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Magic Carpet ride, Pirates of the Carribean (bad mommy choice), the train, and the Goofy rollercoaster.

On the way home we experienced a fullout Florida cloudburst and were glad that Daddy had the pizza made for Pizza Night. After dinner, the kids and Daddy went to the pool, and Mommy puttered.

Last night the final surprise guest for vacation, Grampa, flew in from Mississippi.

This morning the kids found Grampa, and we are headed out to the Animal Kingdom.

Photos from 3 and 4

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You could bring the DVD player to us...

What a day!

There are lots of things to do right here on the resort. The kids love just hanging by the pool.

Yesterday, I'd gotten a couple movies from Hank's, the rental place. Since we're with a DVC member, we didn't have to pay.

Gram had babysat for us last night, so the movies were supposed to help. Unfortunately, the DVD player totally blitzed out within seconds of the first movie going in!

So today, I called Hank's because the DVD's were due back at noon. After explaining that one of the DVD's was stuck in a non-responsive DVD player, the cast member said, "No problem, you can just bring us the DVD player."

Excuse me?

It's a 10-15 minute walk to the center. The better part of a mile. And have we mentioned, Florida's HOT.

I was not about to hike over with a DVD player.

Fortunately, after checking with someone, he did give the option of me calling housekeeping and having someone come over to look at the player.

I took the prize behind Door #2. The guy came and "fixed" it be simply unplugging it and plugging it back in.

The funny thing is that I'd told Sofie we could go back to the Dumbo ride after the DVD player was fixed. So she took a nap. And boy was she out! I tried waking her 2-3 times between 1:30 and 3. Nothing got her up.

So I took a nap too. It was wonderful!

She finally woke up around 4:30. Completely refreshed.

By then it was pouring. One of those Florida thunderstorms. There was no way i was returning the DVD's then. So we still have them. Hope there's no late fee!

Disney Studios fun

Today, each adult took a kid. So I got to spend this morning with Cale.

We opted to go to Disney Studios. He'd had a blast on the Goofy rollercoaster in the Magic Kingdom so his first request was for us to find a roller coaster.

Dad was happy.

The roller coaster there was the Rock'n'Roller Coaster themed around an Aerosmith soundtrack. The ride goes from 0-60 in less than 3 seconds! We did loop-de-loops and corkscrews all in the dark. We screamed alot!

Cale's decided he made a mistake. He's also decided to never go on a roller coaster again in his life.

We had fun in the new Toy Story Midway Mania game/ride. This was a much tamer experience. And we got to shoot things.

Cale was happier with this.

We ended the morning with a ride on Star Tours, in which a beginner pilot robot accidently misses Endor and took us into the heat of battle with the rebels as they destroyed the Death Star.

This made Cale's day! And our ship was filled with people really into the thrill of the ride. That made it even more fun.

Outside, we saw Darth Vader and two goofy Stormtroopers defeated by a new set of young jedis.

It's always nice to see good triumph over evil. :)

And it's really nice to not have to try to pack it all in. We left around 11:15, before we were at our wit's end.

It's cool seeing Cale on this trip. He's talking to almost everyone we meet! And he's such a good conversationalist. He talks. He listens. He asks insightful questions.

He even comes with a kung-fu grip.

Just kidding. (Although he is getting stronger and his playful punches are stinging a bit now!)