Vacation thoughts

We arrived home yesterday after a week in FL.  You know where we went - it's full of characters and rides and other stuff I feel I must comment on.

The three of us had a great time.  Ben loves the rides, does not feel compelled to stand in hour-long lines to snap a pic with any character, is not interested in looking like a pirate, and was terrific overall with the whole concept of 5 days at the mouse-house.

While there, we met up with my darling nephew, J, who is working there as his college internship.  He really enjoys the whole concept and has done well as a cast member.  He and his friend, S, joined us on Monday for the day at "the movie park, HS".  Ben LOVED it.  I mean, out loud, having a blast, entertaining his older cousin, so much fun he forgot to remind me he needed his snack, fun.  J is a middle child (like me) and has such great plans for his life.  He is a grounded kid in an artsy package.

Enough of the good stuff.

The following is a list of intelli-turds I feel I must share. 

1.  I don't care how hot it is, Do Not wear flip flops to WDW.  Just don't do it.  Why you ask?  Because by 3:00 on any given day you will be sporting at least one blister between your toes, your feet and back will be screaming at you for wearing unsupportive footwear, and your toes will have been run over by at least one (but probably two or more) strollers, scooters, wheelchairs, or rambunctious tweeners.   I wore sneakers - hot but safe.

2.  If your child is starting to show the signs of a meltdown please feed/hydrate/cool/or otherwise reduce the stimulation.  Ben and I kept a count of how many screaming kids we could hear each day.  Wednesday at Magic K was the worst.  It was 92 degrees and the kids were losing it.  We stopped counting around 40.  We knew from our previous trip to WDW that Ben must eat early at mealtimes - it's quieter in the restaurants and his body clock is set to school time (10:35 lunchtime).  It worked for all of us.

3.  Don't put names on your kids' shirts unless you keep forgetting who they are.  Strangers don't need to know their names.  It's not cute - it's scary - even at WDW.  You are in a strange place full of people you've never seen before.  All the security cameras in the world (and there are TONS of them) cannot completely erase the fact that bad people are everywhere.  If you're dying to look alike, wear all the same color (we saw LOTS of that) but leave off the names. 

4.  One great tip from sweet nephew.  Bottled water at the parks will run you $2.50 to $4.00 depending on where you are purchasing it.  By law, however, WDW is required to offer, for free, large cups of iced water (probably tap).  The water there is delicious and we used the free stuff to refill our thermoses everyday.  Saved us a ton in bottled water costs.

5.  Go left.  When approaching lines, or a park map, look to the left.  Americans are conditioned to go right.  Lines are typically shorter to the left and we went left once inside MK and worked our way from Adventureland to Tomorrowland.  It worked well - shorter lines and fewer people milling about.

6.  Remember - it's Florida.  It's warm for three months and hot the rest of the time.  Sunscreen is mandatory.  Oh the lobster-bodies we saw.  Even little kids.  I felt bad for them (not so much for the parents). 

7.  Going to a theme park requires cool and comfortable clothing.  Light colors, lightweight fabrics and necessary foundation garments are good suggestions.  If I was running the place, I would not let in any woman either sporting a poorly-fitted foundation garment or choosing not to wear one at all.  Holy Udders, Batman.  In the same vein, if you are a man whose body hair makes your front indistinguishable from your back, please, please, please wear a shirt with sleeves.  I don't find any man's arm-pit hair attractive and the amount of back hair I got to personally encounter could grow a tribe of Yeti. 

Sorry this post was not about more meaningful happenings.  Ben finished Kindy and is promoted to 1st grade, we visited my grandfather who is not doing well and that was tough, saw my brother and his family and that was terrific, and we are back home now and happy to be here.