Ouch. This was torturous. My calves were tight, my hips were tight. How the heck did I run 26.2???

Well, now that the marathon is over, it’s time for me to get on the REGIME.

Calorie counting and calorie burning is the name of the game here.

Of course, the boys don’t have school tomorrow, so I’m trying to figure out how to get a run in.  Or maybe I’ll just do Tao Bo

Should I expose them to the Bally’s child care center for the first time?  Or should I call my dad?  I should call my dad.

I need to make a plan.  I need to write stuff down.

But first I need to finish my 5th load of laundry today and rest.  Because I also have to go back to work tomorrow.  Sigh.

Last day of the trip. We had a big breakfast, trying to eat all the food we had left over. Pancake batter, eggs, milk, bacon, croissants, juice…

We packed everything and loaded up the cars. We checked the rooms, and then checked them again. We let the kids watch TV (SpongeBob!) as we finished up.

Then we all headed out. Jennifer was headed back to the Magic Kingdom, then the beach. We were going to check out Downtown Disney for a few hours before we had to head to the airport.

Much hugging and promises to not go so long without seeing each other again…

Sigh. I miss Jennifer!

We drove to Downtown Disney, following the signs. We parked and got out. On the opposite side of where we wanted to be. So… we headed back to the car and drove to the other end of Downtown Disney. Where parking was scarce. And where all the fun shops were.

We shopped for souvenirs at the World of Disney, which was basically like a Disney Department Store. We shopped there for a while. The boys picked out a Christmas ornament, a drinking cup for the bathroom and Mickey Mouse light saber flashlights. I bought myself a new WDW visor.

Then we headed over to the LEGO Imagination Center. Outside were these large, elaborate LEGO creations – a lifesize family of four, a sea creature scene, an airplane, a large Transformers type robot – and in the water was a huge Loch Ness type monster – all constructed entirely of LEGOs!

The boys played outside where they had LEGO tables and build their own creations. I went over to the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop and bought myself some chocolate.

We had lunch at the McDonald’s next to the LEGO Imagination Center. After lunch, we stopped by the Once Upon a Toy Store where they had a huge display of Mr. Potato Head parts and pieces. They even had a computer kiosk to make your own Mr. Potatohead.

Then it was time to head out to the airport to check in and catch our flight.

Which was delayed. Nearly an hour. Which meant we had about 25 minutes to catch our connecting flight. We requested seats up front so that we could get out more quickly, but I think Doug and I both were feeling like there was no way we could make our connecting flight. Especially when Zander got sick. And then when we found out we would have to go from the farthest end of the B concourse to the opposite end of the F concourse. Things were not looking good.

I explained to Zander our situation. And how much I wanted to go home tonight to sleep in our own beds. And that if we missed the flight, we’d have to stay in another hotel room in Chicago.

When we landed, we were ready to go. I was carrying Zevan and our 2 bags, and Doug carried the other two bags, with Zander running along side us. We really did run. About 5-10 minutes, Doug helped me put Zevan in the Ergo, and then we continued running through the terminals. Zander was a trooper. He kept right up with me, despite still feeling bad from the plane ride. He was really awesome. As we finally arrived at the start of the F Concourse, he said, “We’re never going to get there.” I assured him we would, just a little big farther. About halfway down the concourse, we were in the clear and slowed to a more comfortable but still quick walking pace. We made it! And I have to say that I was so proud of Zander. He did so great. He could have had a big tantrum or bad attitude, but he didn’t.

I grabbed some snacks and drinks for us and we boarded right away. Whew! Poor Zander threw up on this flight (it was a tiny prop plane). And then after my dad picked us up at the airport, he threw up in the car. I knew he was going to get sick, and I was desperately looking for a bag or something for him. At the last second, I picked up the tissue box, pulled out all the tissues, and he got sick in the tissue box. Poor little guy. At this point, he simply said, “I am having a REALLY bad day.”

We got home, safe and sound. And slept in our own beds.

Still, I have to say this was by far, the favorite park of the trip for most of us.

Another later start for us – about 11:30 AM when we arrived. We started through the Oasis, taking more time to look at animals more closely than we did on Monday. We went straight to Africa to get a fastpass for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. We had about a couple of hours to kill before we could use it.

We grabbed a heavy snack – fruit and pretzels, at the concession stand right next to the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.

We took the kids over to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and spent a good deal of time there. Zevan and I spent a very long time birdwatching in one of the first areas of the trail.

After we finished the trail, we took the Wildlife Express Train over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Turns out they have some a Kids Discovery Club Guide, much like the KidCot Stops at the Epcot center. We stopped at the Rafiki’s Planet Watch Club spot on the way in, and got the booklet. Zander got a booklet and had to look at an exhibit and find all the animals in the booklet for that Club to get a stamp. We stayed there for a short time, then moved on. It was rainy, and we headed over to the Conservation Station. Just outside the doors was a cute little talking trash can. He was very amusing. We took our time through the Conservation Station looking at all of the creatures, rooms and exhibits.

It was getting close to our FastPass time, so we started heading back. This time all the kids got into the Rafiki’s Planet Watch Club spot. Maya and Zevan each got their own booklet this time. They all found the animals and got their stamp. We took the Wildlife Express Train back to the main park and got in line for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.

The ride was really great, even though we had been on it before, you just never know exactly how close or how many of each animal you will see.

After the ride, Zander and Zevan took turns with the camera, taking pictures of each other and/or the open air bus we rode on.

We headed over to Dinoland USA afterwards. Jennifer took Zevan and Elliott so that Doug, Zander, Maya and I could go on the Dinosaur ride. That turned out to be the scariest ride of all. About 90 seconds into the ride, both Zander and Maya held onto the bar in front of them, put their heads down, and looked down at the floor. For Doug and I the ride was really great – roller coaster and thrill ride. Zander and Maya were troopers – they didn’t cry or complain. And they just talked about how intense and scary it was afterwards – with a “we survived it!” attitude.

There is one point in the ride, where the scariest, biggest dinosaur jumps out and roars at you, and there is a camera to take a picture of everyone’s reaction. I saw our photo come up on screen – it looks like Doug and I are in a row by ourselves with two empty seats between us. You couldn’t even see Zander and Maya because the were tucked down low. It was a very funny picture.

We caught up with Jennifer and the little guys on the Triceratops Spin ride. Zander, Maya and I jumped on with them. There was hardly a line, so we went on there for a few rounds.

Then we headed over to watch the Festival of the Lion King. We got really good seats near the center (it was in the round).

I got chosen to lead everyone in our section in making elephant sounds. That was comical. Later, Maya was chosen to shake a rattle and walk around the stage area for the celebration part of the show.

After the show, we decided to have dinner at The Rainforest Cafe, just outside the entrance of the park. We got our name on the list, and we waited. We distracted the kids with the fountains outside and the aquarium tanks inside. And we waited. And waited. And waited.

And then we finally got a table. And the funniest thing happened. Maya was SO tired from this week’s activities that she was punchy. It was HILARIOUS! She just giggled uncontrollably and laughed loudly at everything anyone said that was even remotely humorous. She was totally cracking me up – I was loving it. So much better than a tantrum!

Our dinner was DELICIOUS and filling and wonderful. It was a great finish to a long, fun week of activity.

After dinner, we headed outside, only to find out that the parking trams stopped running. And that we weren’t even exactly sure where our cars were. We trekked out there (I had to leave my stroller at the park) and found our cars (thank goodness for remote key fobs).

When we got back to the room, I started my pre-packing for the next day. Our flight didn’t leave until the afternoon, but we had to check out by 10 AM.

A cool, rainy day. I mean, it was actually raining this morning while we ate breakfast.

So, I already know that the Play House Disney part of the park is under renovation. Which is a HUGE bummer, because that would have been perfect for the boys at this age.

When we got to the park, I decided to bite the bullet and rent a stroller. After all, it was Day 5, and the boys had been walking a lot this week. They spent enough time yesterday trying to ride in Jen’s stroller…

If you rent for multiple days, you get a decent discount, so I decided to go ahead and pay for 2 days, so that we’d have a stroller tomorrow, too. They are those really good strollers, too – low to the ground, easy to push and for them to get in and out of – just like the ones we have at our own Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

We got a later start than usual, and got to park closer to 11 AM. It was still drizzly, misty weather, so the stroller offered shelter from that for them.

The first thing we went to was The Voyage of the Little Mermaid musical show. Just like the Nemo show, it was a condensed 17 minute musical version of the movie, and also had bubbles from the ceiling near the end of the show.

After that we split up – Jen & her kids went to see Magic of Disney Animation, and we went over to where the Play House Disney area is. Zevan and I got our photo taken with June and Quincy from The Little Einsteins. They had an activity table with activity pages from The Little Einsteins, as well as a princess-themed page. The boys enjoyed doing the activities – mazes, connect the dots, etc. And for a short time, Quincy and June were coloring with us. That was pretty cute.

We took the boys on the Disney/MGM Studios backlot tour while Jennifer and her kids watched Beauty and the Beast: Live Onstage.

We all met up again for lunch at the ABC Commissary, where dishes were named from shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. Interestingly, the burgers were not as good as the ones in the Magic Kingdom.

After lunch we went on The Great Movie Ride and watched Muppet*Vision 3D.

Elliott fell asleep in the stroller, so I took him and Zevan to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure playground while Zander, Maya, Doug and Jennifer went on the Star Tours (Star Wars flight simulator) ride. They came over to the playground when they were done, and played for a while. Then I got to go with Maya back on the Star Tours ride. She was so cute. I was watching the “safety video” before the ride, and she asked me what I was doing. I told her I was watching the Safety Video. She informed me, “Oh, you don’t have to watch that. I already know what to do – just follow me!”

At one point, it really started raining hard. We got under cover, and happened to be right next to a full bar that also served smoothies. The kids got their frozen concoctions, and I got mine – a traffic light margarita. Jennifer and Doug got beers, and we all sat around having a nice little cocktail in the middle of the afternoon.

We went to see Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen. Zander had a mini-tantrum at this point, and I briefly got angry with him, but we just continued on until he got over it. Zevan and I had our photos taken with Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen.

We all went over to watch the day’s last showing of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular together. Doug went to find an Indiana Jones action figure for our employee, Ariff, while the rest of us went back to shop for Maya’s coveted Ariel doll. Jennifer took her kids the Voyage of the Little Mermaid again, while the boys and I reconnected with Doug, got some snacks and headed towards the stadium to get seats for Fantasmic.

Fantasmic is this park’s multimedia fireworks/lightshow theatrical extravanza. Holy cow! It was amazing, and some parts were actually quite scary and intense. It’s basically Mickey fighting evil. It was really good, though.

Another long day with the kiddos…but a fun one, too. We thought about going out to eat for dinner, but the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Last night Jennifer arrived with Maya and Elliott. The boys were asleep when they arrived, but in the morning, we introduced them to each other.

I *love* Maya – she is so awesome. She and Zander are already getting along so great. She loves imaginative play as much as the boys do, and she is as high energy as the boys. And Elliott is unbelievably cute. I mean, he’s Zevan-cute. He totally reminds me of Zevan at that age. Even the way he says, “Mommy, mommy, mommy…” is so similar to Zevan’s, who still says that.

Jennifer looks great, of course, and I am so excited that we are at Disney together. We used to lay on the floor, belting Disney songs along with our CDs. We watched animated Disney movies together, before we had kids.

The kids got along famously – other than a few toy sharing issues between Zevan and Elliott – but they played in the tent we brought, and ran around

Making breakfast for 4 kids and getting them ready to go out is quite a process! I don’t know how the (Jon & Kate of the eponymous Jon & Kate plus 8) manage!

But we were able to get parked in the TTC parking lot by 10:45, only 15 minutes later than the last 3 days, so that was an accomplishment. Jen brought a double stroller for her kids, which added a new dimension to getting on and off trams, and of course the ZBoys wanted rides after a while, but it worked out okay for the most part.

We went down Main Street and straight over to Fantasyland, which we missed on our short visit on Sunday after the marathon.

Speaking of which, today was the first day I was able to really walk instead of hobble. It was quite nice.

So we rode Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Then Jennifer, Elliott and Maya stood in line to meet Ariel, while the boys first played in the water park, Ariel’s Grotto, near the line – and they got soaked. Then we hit a couple of rides and then Pooh’s Playful Spot play area, which was basically the 100 Acre Woods, child sized. Once our friends joined us again, we rode It’s A Small World and Peter Pan’s Flight.

Zander and Doug went on the Liberty Square Riverboat, while Jen and I took the kids on the Jungle Cruise (at Zevan’s request to go on it again).

We all had lunch in Frontierland. Doug got chicken strips at the Columbia Harbour House in Liberty Square for the ZBoys while the rest of us ordered our lunch at the Pecos Bill Tale Inn and Cafe. When I asked a cast member in line where they served chicken nuggets, she, in full character western drawl, answered me with a “I don’t know – I only live here.” I found that reply VERY annoying. We ended up consulting our map instead.

After lunch, I took all the older kids on Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride. Elliott fell asleep in the stroller. So we put him on my back while you took your boys to the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. For some reason, Zevan really liked that tree house. Doug and Jennifer took Maya to the Haunted mansion.

We met up again at the Toontown Playground. While the kids played, I went over to Mickey Mouse’s Country House. I remember going there with Doug on our first – and only other – trip together to Disney World. Everything was the same, except the kitchen! They had it done up as under remodel by Goofy and Donald (paint splatters and so forth). I remember when we saw it many years before, that there was a shopping list on the refrigerator – cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, etc).

Jennifer took her children to the Judge’s Tent to get a picture with Mickey. At some point, Jennifer, Doug, Maya, Zander and Elliott went on The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm (crazy kiddie coaster). Twice. Then Zander said he wanted to go on with me, so I did. Then Zevan said he wanted to go on! And he just made the 35″ minimum height requirement, so I went on with him. Afterwards, he wanted to go on again. So we all got on again. The second time was enough for Zevan. Zander says that ride was his favorite in all of Disney World.

We had a pizza dinner at Pinocchio Village Haus. By this time, it was close to time for the Wishes fireworks show over Cinderella’s castle. We picked a good spot on a bridge with a better view of the castle this time, and we were also able to hear the music and narration. That made the show EVEN better than the first time we saw it.

After the fireworks, we made our way back to the cars with some very tired kids!

Well, Epcot wasn’t nearly as exciting as the Animal Kingdom or the Magic Kingdom. But it had its bright spots. First of all, the park was not at all crowded. We got on every ride right away. We never felt crowded.

First stop: The Living Seas. The Nemo ride was fun, and had a couple of intense moments. The aquarium was really fun for us, too. They had a diving tank and diver who did a neat presentation. The best part of the Living Seas was Turtle Talk with Crush. It was an interactive show with Crush the sea turtle. It was really clever and funny.

Epcot had a KidCot Fun Stops around the park which the boys enjoyed doing. Each stop had a craft table, and they give you a little art project to hang on a badge. When you collect all the badge pieces, you get a “special prize” The special prize is really lame, and one of the Fun Stop Cast Members spilled the beans and let us know what it was before we finished. I was very annoyed to her for doing that. I mean, why ruin the surprise like that? It was less of a surprise when I found out that the Cast Members who man these Stops are usually injured or unable to perform their usual Cast Member duties.

After the Living Seas, we had lunch in The Land at Sunshine Seasons. The food was actually really good here, overpriced, but good. From there we hit the KidCot Fun Stop, and then went on the Living with the Land boatride.

The boys were now all about the Fun Stops and collecting their special prize. So we went over to Innoventions West, where there were video games for the boys – Nemo and The Incredibles. While they played games, I got to attend a Segway orientation, and then took a ride on a real Segway. That was super cool for me! We found the KidCot table and got the badge from there – a Kim Possible themed one, at that. We also sent a electronic postcard to the grandparents with our photo. We carefully steered the boys away from the computer games and headed out.

Now over to Innoventions East, where Zevan got to make paper from pulp. This is also where we found the the KidCot Center, and the cast member revealed that the prize was a “poster”

Finally, we made our way over to Test Track, where Zander refused to ride, even though he was tall enough, and Zevan was too short to go on. We looked at the car showroom and sat in a bunch of vehicles, and played some of the games on the walls. We found the KidCot center, got the last badge and received our special prize. It was a 8.5″ x 11″ illustrated mini poster with Disney Characters on it. We were unimpressed, but glad that the KidCot Fun Stations gave our boys something to do.

We went over to the World Showcase, were the boys were understandably bored. We hit the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring Donald Duck, Panchito and Jose Carioca. Then we got a FastPass for the Maelstrom. When we returned for our ride, the Maelstrom was being evacuated and shut down. They had to wait for the fire dept to arrive and inspect it before they could start it up again. So we missed out on that ride.

We went back over Future World’s Spaceship Earth and took a ride on Project Tomorrow. It was actually pretty neat. They took a picture of you at the beginning of the ride. Zevan and I were in one car, Zander and Doug in another. At the end of the ride, they ask you, through a series of multiple choice questions, what you’d like to see in the future. With your answers, they create an animated short with you and your companion, depicting the choices you made. That was really neat, and the boys enjoyed seeing their (and our) faces on-screen.

It was fairly early, so we headed out on the monorails to have dinner at one of the resorts. Doug had a childhood memory of eating at a resort restaurant and seeing the monorail cars going through while they ate. I thought it would be great if the boys had that, too.

At first we stopped at the Polynesian, thinking that wouls be fun. After looking at the menu, we decided to look elsewhere. Back on the monorail and over to the Contemporary Resort, where our choices were Chef Mickey’s Character Dining or the Concourse Steakhouse. While I would have loved character dining, Zander has an aversion to it, so we chose the Concourse Steakhouse. It was by far the best food we had since we got there. On the children’s menu, there was a pizza with chicken that Zander was eager to order. Zevan went for a more traditional and familiar mac & cheese. I ordered a steak. After ordering, the boys colored their menus and did the activities (connect the dots and mazes). Then Zevan decided he had to go potty. #2. Sigh.

I took him to the bathroom and we were in there for 15-20 minutes. By the time we got back, Zander and Doug were eating their food. They brought the food out for Zevan and I. Zander RAVED about his pizza. It was the best pizza he ever ate, he kept saying. He even told the chef when he came by. I had to agree, my steak was perfect. I saved half of it, along with half my mashed potatoes, just so I could have room for dessert – key lime pie. Yum!

We left the resort, and headed back to the car right around the time the Epcot Illuminations show was about to begin (9 PM!).

Jennifer and her kids were going to arrive that evening, and I promised a client that I would do a web site launch for him that day.

When we got back to the villa, the boys got ready for bed, and I headed over to the Business Center where I paid $21 for 3 days of unlimited internet access – just in case. And it was only accessible at the business center!

While at the business center, I finished up my launch, and gave Jennifer directions to the villa. When she arrived at Orange Lake Resort, I left to meet her. YAY!