Three times. That is the number of times I have traveled to Orlando and visited Disney since the Characters in Flight balloon ride opened up.
Three times. That is the number of times I have tried to fulfill a dream of mine and get in a hot air balloon again. Albeit, oversized, tethered and not really the same feeling as flying over the Grand Canyon, it is still a hot air balloon…or a version of it.
Three times. That is the number of times it has been closed. All three times. Once for pouring down rain, once for lightning in the distance, and once for wind conditions.
Maybe next time we go, Characters in Flight will be open.
Stop by Mother of All Trips to see the beautiful place she is dreaming about!
My 3 year old daughter can spy a carousel a mile away. Before the carousel is even in sight, it is like she has a 6th sense…the carousel sense. She can hear that distinct sound that immediately makes you think of carousels. She can see the beautifully painted “horsies” spinning around in a circle. We have been on carousels all over the world, however this is a perfect time to remind myself that I need to sit down and organize years worth of digital pictures that are in folders with names like Mem Card 1 or New Folder217 instead of Washington DC and Vienna, Austria! Of the many carousels we have been on, here are a few of the pictures that I could find!
The carousel in Washington DC on the Mall (and possibly the fastest we have been on!)
Little S can find carousels in shopping malls too! This is the carousel at Pier Park in Panama City Beach, FL.
Did you know there was a carousel at Downtown Disney? We have been to Downtown Disney three times but this last time was the first with my daughter. I hadn’t seen a carousel before, but she has no problem finding it! (And this is probably the slowest carousel we have been on)
This carousel in Hampton, Virginia is located next to the Virginia Air and Space Center. We were leaving the museum and much to my surprise my daughter took off towards this building. That is her at the very front!
This is what we found inside the building!
Carousels, parks, and water features are things that my kids can spot a million miles away when we are traveling. What do your kids always tend to locate?
Stop by DeliciousBaby to see where everyone else is traveling this week!
Poseidon is angry.
Whenever I see the ocean looking grumpy like this, it always makes me think of my favorite piece of literature, The Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus maims Polyphemos, the cyclop and son of Poseidon. This angers Poseidon and he makes Odysseus’ return home a long and difficult journey. These waves might not look like much compared to other parts of the world, but these waves are a sign that Poseidon is angry.
We spent Sunday afternoon at Pensacola Beach cleaning up trash, debris and large shell pieces along with hundreds of other people. It was amazing to me how many people were at the beach on an awful day like Sunday. The wind was blowing and there were so many clouds in the sky that they formed one big cloud cover. The mood was heavy as people picked up trash and debris with their trash bags whipping around them in the wind. Families were snapping pictures of toes in the sand and the water crashing behind them. The seafood restaurants had lines out the door all day long. Everyone wanting to eat that last Gulf caught meal…just in case.
Big S, who just finished an Earth Day unit in school, announced that we were doing a good thing for the “Erf” and Little S was fascinated with all of the pieces of driftwood and large shell pieces.
We collected a bag of trash and a bag of shell pieces. Some of the debris was probably still leftover from Hurricane Ivan over five years ago. As my children ran around innocent of what was going to happen in the next few days, my heart was breaking.
My kids love the beach. The sand, the water, the seafood whisper my children’s names like some pied piper. We can be grocery shopping or doing something else completely different from a day at the beach and suddenly one child will ask when we will return to the beach. Is it warm enough, mom? We don’t even have to go in the water, mom. Can we just go for a walk on the sand, mom? Do you remember when we saw all those fiddler crabs, mom? As I watched my children run around, pick up trash and shells, all I could think about was whether or not we took full advantage of living near these beautiful beaches and the fact that there is a chance that we will not be spending the summer traveling to and from the beach as I had thought.
The impending doom is much like it was during Hurricane Ivan. How bad will it be? Who and what will be affected? As I write this, no one is exactly certain how this area with be affected.
If you would like to help, there are several ways. Continue to pick up trash and debris from the beach before the oil slick reaches us. BRACE, United Way and First Call are organizing volunteers for cleanup after the oil reaches the shores. There is more information on how to volunteer here and here.
Stop by Mara’s at Mother of All Trips to see what others are dreaming of.
