Surprises!

Dear Travelers, 
Our two weeks in Florida was plentiful with peeks of this and that, lots of animals.  With surprises at every turn, one of my favorite days was spent at Animal Kingdom.  Despite an oddly cold day we made it through as many places as we could.  We warmed up with Daddy's stocking stuffer hand warmers we had stowed in his backpack.  You cuddled yours Hazel and Henry you kept yours in your hip pocket looking for a little bit of toasty.  Daddy had them tucked around his hood.  

We started the animal tour on the safari jeep ride.  Super fun!  The two of you sat on the seat next to me peeking out, being the first to name out the animals, being sure to remind me to check the off in the Explorer booklet.  

The bloat of hippos and the congregation of alligators were exciting!

We were able to work our way through Africa, getting distracted in an area that featured a stream with brightly colored fish.  

After turning the corner we saw yet another stream cross section with what appeared to be just more of these fish.  Just as Mommy started to say, "Yep, more fish," a large thing floated in front of the window.  I said "Oh, Manatee! OH OH OH! No! A GIANT HIPPO!"  It floated across the window and just when you were about to walk away, the hippo turned and the GIANT FACE WAS RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR FACE!  We all flipped out!  It was beyond cool and so unexpected!

Even more unexpected was the thrill of riding a big roller coaster with you, Expedition Everest.  This sucker had you screaming the entire time from the front seat and begging and cheering for another ride when it ended!  I loved hearing you telling daddy about the yeti ripped apart tracks that you thought we would fly off, the backwards, the dark and the "exhilarations."  This meant we would be riding roller coasters at every opportunity.  
   A really amazing opportunity at Animal Kingdom is the Wilderness Explorer program.  We started our visit by getting a booklet that put us on a scavenger hunt to learn about the animals and places you see around the park.  It was so well laid out and had a funky gestures you learn at the start that you were sold on it right away and driven to find all the info you could.  

In particular you loved the gorillas and the people working that station.  Their enclosure was great, if you have to be an animal in an enclosure.  There is a lot of room for them to roam.  

You both loved watching them, touching the skulls and seeing how you measure up against a gorilla's size.

Finally, we made it to the enclosed conservation learning center and by the time we made it out it warmed up for about an hour.  We pet some goats and pigs.  

If this was all we had done the entire day it would have been enough.  Daddy had goats all around you (Hazel) and his chair rubbing their backs and eating his mug.  You were all giggles, while Henny, you were busy brushing some blissfully sleeping pigs.  

After washing hands and getting something to eat the cold made it impossible to stay.  We went to see the Nemo production in one last hope that it would warm up by the time it was over.  No such luck, but it was super neat and elaborate.  Hazel, you popped the bubbles falling down on us at the end with such joy, it made it worthwhile.  We headed back to the buses, went back to the hotel and tried to get warm and rest.  

This was my favorite day at the Disney parks by far and one place I would return to for the parts we didn't make it to; Dino World and Asia.  I loved learned and exploring with you both, my little Wilderness Explorers, Caw Caw.

Love, Mama