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Disney Day 4 - Animal Kingdom

  

Our other family favorite - part zoo, part amusement park.  They even have a variation of the Dumbo ride called Triceratop Spin.

 

For lunch, I finally got to eat at a Rainforest Cafe.  Here we are being posers.

We were seated below an automatronic python.  I'm surprised that Marisa was able to eat!  She kept a close eye on that guy, though.....

We always love the river rapids ride...

...even though we end up soaked!

The attraction we always make sure to hit is the safari.  We ride in big trucks and get to see lots of different animals hanging out in the well-constructed "wild".

 

 

 

Disney Day 3 - Part 2, Not-Disney-At-All

  All of us have always wanted to visit Sea World, so this time we did!  It was helped by the generous  Hero Salute deal that Anheuser-Busch had for military families - we all got in free.  Wow.  And thank you!

Mike rode their big coaster, Manta, and he and Jillian rode the Journey to Atlantis water ride a couple times, but the best fun was all the great shows.  We started with Pets Ahoy (yes, it is possible to train cats. who knew?!) and moved on to dolphins, dance, sea lions and, of course, killer whales.  That last one was a night show that rocked - totally awesome!

Disney Day 3 - Part 1, Father's Day

We took a break from Disney to meet up with Mike's dad to celebrate Father's Day. 

 

Mike also got to get re-acquainted with a cousin that he hadn't seen since 1976.  He also happens to have the same name... so here's a picture of the Mikes Wetzel in a pose that shows their fun side.

Marisa is a bit quirky at times...

And here's the whole Wetzel group, adding in Grandma Vickie and the other Mike's girlfriend, Patti.  I loved the matching shirts, but I think that Jillian felt like a goober.

Disney Day 2 - Epcot

Epcot is the park we all love.  It has thrill rides, lots of countries and fun educational stuff.  A day is never enough to do it all!

 

Here's mom and Jillian getting cooled off at the neatest fountain ever.  It jumps from one spot to the next and it's fun to stand in the way and get splashed.

 

Marisa's favorite area was Innovations where there were lots of things to learn and play.  We picked up lots of money management tips with the Great Piggy Bank game.  Marisa loved that she was able to carry around our piggy bank from station to station. 

 

The other game we enjoyed quite a bit was all about trash - recycling, incineration and creating a safe landfill.  For this one, we got to push our very own trash truck around!

 

We rounded out the day with a concert by the Bee Gees!..... alright, it was a Bee Gees tribute band, but they sounded great.  The dude with the hair had the super high voice and made their sound like the real thing.

Disney Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

The first priority when visiting Disney World is to get young kids on the Dumbo ride.  For me it is the quintessential Disney experience and it must be done.  Unfortunately, a great many other people agree with this perspective and the lines are always long.  For this reason, I insisted that we arrive at park opening and head straight there to minimize the time spent in line. 

The Wetzel Family is Together!

I got an awesome birthday present this year - Mike home on leave!

Here's the girls waiting FOREVER for Daddy to arrive.  The USO volunteers were there greeting every soldier and helping them find their next destination.  Great guys.

He finally made his way out and there were smiles all around!

Then it was time for our soldier to grab his bag and get outta there. I think that he was feeling pretty happy about being out of Iraq....

 

We got him home and threw him in the pool so that the kids could get some immediate daddy-time!

Ha!!

For everyone who thought that I wouldn't be able to let that darling little kitten go.... ha!  I listed her on craigslist today and within an hour she had a new home.  It's a super sweet gal who is a student at U of Hawaii.  She has one cat already and we know that she'll take great care of Selena.  Here's proof that we really did let her go:

School's out!

Yesterday was the last day of school for Jillian and Marisa.  Jillian will be heading to middle school!  Yikes!

This is Marisa with her special ed teacher, Mrs. Yamauchi, and her best friend from class, Kainalu.  I think that he and Marisa connected because they both have a strong sense of humor.  And it's funny that she was among the tallest in 1st grade and he was among the shortest.  They look so cute side by side!

There was a big assembly that morning and all of the classes sang a song to send the 5th graders on their way.  It was a awesome way to end the school year.

They also presented awards to the 5th grade students.  Jillian was one of nine kids to receive the President's Award for Academic Excellence.  When the principal told the students that it was signed by Barack Obama, there was a loud collective "ooooohhh."  They were so impressed!  I tried to video tape her getting the award, but just ended up with the explanation.  I would attach it, but I don't know how.  I so totally need to get up with technology!  Anyway, here's Jillian after the assembly with her award.  I'm so proud of her!

We like local celebrities, too

Last Saturday, Marisa and I went to the Honolulu Zoo because they were hosting a Military Appreciation Day.  Marisa had lots of fun doing crafts, we got free lunch and ice cream and we had lots of quality time together.  Fun!

While we were at one of the craft tables, I noticed that several policemen were standing near-by and wondered what was up.  Then I noticed that the Honolulu mayor, Mufi Hanneman, was there to do some grip and grin with military families.  Since I'm so average, he greeted me twice.  I need to work on being more memorable!

Here's a shot of Marisa and Mufi.  He's about 6'6" so Marisa looks normal next to him...

This is temporary!

So, here's what happened....

Jillian's best friend here is Libby.  A couple weeks ago, Libby's mom went in the hospital to stop pre-term labor.  It worked for awhile, but little Sam decided to show up on June 1st - that's six weeks early, but he's doing great.  That same day, the family at home found two kittens whose mama had been hit by a car.  They found a home for one.

We've got the other.  We're fostering her until a new home is found.  We think that she's about six weeks old and Libby's family named her Selena (after Selena Gomez - a Disney channel star.)  I know it's risky, but their family is dealing with so much right now and they didn't need this on top of it all.  Their Nana said something about taking her to the humane society!  Yikes!

Could you have let this little sweetie head off to disease and almost certain death?

And the girls are having such fun with a kitten around.

But it's only temporary!!