Another Looksee At Spring Break

I know,

one more post about Spring Break and I will be done.

(probably)

 Hey, I am counting this as a scrapbook 

so I don't have to cut and paste anything 

and /or even print out the pictures.

There is Monte waving at the top.

 Our condo in Orlando had this big slide at the pool. The girls enjoyed it so Monte thought he'd give it a whirl.

Things Monte learned AFTER that he should've learned BEFORE going down the slide:

•You must be wet before going down an enclosed 

water slide with little to no water current.

•There probably is a height/weight maximum.

•Grown-ups just look silly going down water slides.

 First of all, Monte took a REALLY long time meandering his way down the slide.

I knew exactly where he was due to the banging, shaking and LOUD raspberry-like sound of his dry skin squeaking along the not-wet-enough inside of the slide.

You know the sound of squeaking tennis shoes 

on a basketball court? 

(sweet music to my Hoosier ears)

Kinda like that but more baritone.

The slide spit him out half-way across the pool.

And he had some decent red marks from the beating.

T-Rex Cafe

 We woke up to pouring rain on Thursday and decided to make that our "shopping day" at Downtown Disney.

Unfortunately, many, many, MANY people decided the exact same thing.

We had trouble finding a place to park.

We got a map of the outdoor shopping center and saw that there was a T-Rex Cafe there

with ANIMATRONIC dinosaurs.

I know, I should've been leery after  our 

Disney "mishap" with animatronics.

But it was DINOSAURS!

Since before I can remember, I have had a thing about dinosaurs. 

I actually could spell the word dinosaur before I could spell my own last name.

I would read EVERYTHING I could find on dinosaurs and then write articles about my findings

drawing pictures to add a little flair

and then put them up on our refrigerator 

for all to enjoy.

(Oh. My. Word. 

Just hit me. 

I am still doing that. 

Just not about dinosaurs.)

[Long pause to let that sink in.]

Ok, I'm back.

I was THRILLED to drag my family through the rain across the entire outdoor shopping center from where we parked to the T-Rex Cafe.

It was awesome!

And because we didn't care about eating at the bar, we got seated right away.

Look at the bar glowing! It was like a block of ice or a crystal.
It changed colors when the "storm blew in". 

The whole restaurant was set up in different prehistoric environments and/or time periods.

(I could name them, but my geek would show. 
Too late?
Ok then, the
Cretaceous,
Jurassic
and Triassic Periods.)


There was a cave like area that changed colors from blue, pink to red when the dinosaurs "came to life" and there was thunder and lightning.

There were fossils in the cave walls. 

So. Cool. 

There was also a underwater area with jellyfish and octopi hanging from the ceiling. 

In fact, the bar area where we sat, was underneath a GIANT SQUID with an aquarium in the center.

(Ellie pointed out that a squid eats with its beak which is located in the center of its underbelly. So, according to her calculations, this giant squid was sucking that aquarium right up its beak. Eww.)

See the squid's tentacles?

When the animatronics came alive, the squids legs
wriggled around right above our heads!

Me in my own personal Disney World. 

Speaking of above our heads, check out this T-Rex! Just after Monte snapped this picture, 

he came to life, 

lurching forward quickly, 

letting out quite a racket,

making me jump and scream.

Much to the delight of the family sitting right next to him.

Yikes.

Aww.

The sign on the bathroom door.
So cute!
I was so distracted in my excitement that I barged
right in on a mom helping her little daughter
in a bathroom stall.
Awk. Ward.

Carnivores.

In the spirit of T-Rex Cafe, the girls decided to order ribs.

In the spirit of the giant squid we were sitting under, Monte and I ordered seafood.

There was a Build-a-Dino Workshop inside the restaurant that had the cutest stuffed animals and clothes and accessories.

A Pterodactyl wearing a backpack and tennis shoes?
Oh. My. Word. That is too adorable.
And I will name him Terry.
(No, I didn't get him.)

But I did get jammie pants and this t-shirt:

Because I think it is funny.

There was even an archaeological dig area where you could look for fossils in sand. I SO wanted to give it a try but the average age of the diggers was 3 1/2.

Hey, Monte did the water slide.

**FYI:  I did consider pursuing paleontology and/or archaeology in college but my dad said that he wasn't interested in me living in his basement for the rest of my life.

TO BE CONTINUED…