Sea World - July 23, 24, 25, and 26 of 2008

While my mom and I worked our CoolMedID booth, Linden and Chris escaped to Sea World. My mom and I were able to get over a couple of times after our day at the Exhibit Hall, and we spent Saturday there as well, before starting our drive north. It was awesome, of course Shamu was a favorite, but the Dolphin show was awesome too! We loved it. The only problem is deciding on what pictures to share here...there are too many to choose from.

As you enter the park, you can get your very own souvenir picture with the star of Sea World, Shamu of course. Added Bonus - there's nothing like getting your picture taken next to a Killer Whale to make you look skinny!

The gentle Manatees of Florida....the cows of the water.

From gentle to deadly, a tunnel through the swarms of Sea World sharks.

A great nature shot of a sea horse disguised as a plant in one of the habitats.

Linden's favorite part of the whole trip was riding all the RollerCoasters. This is the Journey to Atlantis rollercoaster that Chris and Linden went on twice, as you can see it ended with a splash!

And this is the Cracken, the rollercoaster Linden was begging to go on. Thankfully she was about 3 inches shy of the height restriction. I fear that on our next trip to an amusement park, there will be no stopping her!

Linden and Chris got to feed the Dolphins...it was really cool because they are close enough to touch. Of course as soon as your fish is gone, they are onto the next adoring tourist hanging a fish out for them, so you have to be quick!

We loved the Shamu shows. There are two, and we saw both. Believe is the daytime show, and then at night they do Rock with Shamu which in addition to Shamu, features great rock music and an awesome light show. Prior to the start of the shows, they pan in on the audience and feature people up on the jumbotron. At Rock with Shamu, the camera man zoomed in on Linden, and so everyone got to see her dancing away! It was awesome, seeing her large as life on a 30 foot tall screen!

The highlight of the Shamu Shows, is sitting in the Soak Zone and getting splashed! Linden was very upset that even though we were in the Soak Zone we didn't get wet at the daytime show Believe. Fortunately, at the Rock With Shamu show we did get wet....and I got soaked! The water looks so beautiful and blue, who knew that the water would be fishy salt water....YUCK.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a surfboard....oh no, it's just a girl surfing on a killer whale!

I'm the king of the world!

After the show, you can go to an observation spot and watch the whales swimming up close. The baby whale is a real flirt. He loves playing with the spectators.

Pucker Up Baby! He loved me...what can I say!

The Mommy and Baby playing in the back of the pool.

The Seals, Walruses and Otters had their own show too. Here is Seymore steering the Pirate Ship.

The Dolphin and Whale Show was awesome too. It was part Dolphins/Whales, part exotic birds (see if you can see the blue parrot - hint: he's in two of the pictures), and part Cirque Du Soleil with high tower divers, aerialists, and dancers. It was awesome.

Ride'em Cowboy!!!

The dolphins wave goodbye to us.....Goodbye SeaWorld....You Rock!

Children with Diabetes - Friends for Life Conference, Orlando July 23, 24, 25 of 2008

The purpose of our trip to Florida was for my company CoolMedID to participate as an Exhibitor at a Conference for families with children who have Diabetes. Here we are at our Booth, with our products. We had a great show, met lots of wonderful families, and you should have seen all the FREE stuff we got :-)

The conference is for children who have Diabetes, and so the vendors at the Exhibit Hall make their booths fun for the kids. One vendor had the best face painter, and Linden chose a super cool Tiger face, she looked great.

The conference was at the Renaissance Resort across the street from Sea World. Here is the view of the main floor from the top floor. All the yellow spots are tables ready for all the conference attendees to sit at for breakfast in the morning. The conference was a great way to put CoolMedID on the "map" for children with diabetes.

Animal Kingdom - July 22, 2008

After our breakfast with Chef Mickey, we headed over to Animal Kingdom. Another great, and HOT day! We were greeted as we entered the park by Pocahontas.

During the Lion King Show, we saw lots of colorful "animals". It's a great show. Linden got picked from the audience to be part of the show. It was super cute....she had her own animal leaders for a lap around the stage of follow the leader!

One of the great things about Animal Kingdom is that they really capture the atmosphere of Africa and Asia. You feel like you are walking in through a local village. The buildings and scenery look very realistic. My mom loved this view of the Asian ruins in the background.

On our African Safari we saw tons of animals, but this giraffe was so close we had to wait for it to move off the road so that we could pass.

I include this picture especially for the Wynder's...now that's a pair of Longhorns!


The last ride we went on was the Kali River Rapids. The sign said "you may get wet and you may get soaked". At which point I asked my mom who was in all her finery, if she wanted to go. Like a true sport, she said, "oh sure, how wet can it be." Well as it happened, the first time down, the raft swung around just in time for my mom to be totally engulfed by a virtual tidal wave of water. Literally every hair on her head, and everything in between down to her tippy toes was drenched. For my part, I laughed my butt off at the sight. Linden had so much fun she wanted to go again, and so my mom waited for us while the three of us went down 3 or 4 more times. At which point luck ran out for the rest of us in turn, and we all ended the day soaking wet!

For those of you who have problems getting your kids to sleep. Try 30 out of 48 hours at Disney to make your child sleep like a log! It'll work like Magic :-)

Chef Mickey Breakfast - July 22, 2008

You know it's going to be a great day when Chef Mickey cooks your breakfast...and even adults can't help but embrace the kid in you, when you see Mickey and his friends running around your breakfast table. Also, you gotta love a buffet where they have peanut butter and jelly pizza, rice krispie squares, and bins of all the candy you wanted to eat. We all loved the gummy bears.

Grandy wanted her picture with Donald, his little waddle stole her heart! And the rest of us all had a favorite too! I loved Goofy, Linden loved Minnie, and Pluto was Chris's favorite!

Pop Century - Home Sweet Home

We spent 2 nights at Disney's Pop Century Resort. It was so fun, and its' theme is all the cool stuff you remember from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's etc. Here are a couple of the cool things at the Pop Century!

The little Mouse that started it all....only in this case there was nothing little about Mickey!

How big is that FoozBall Game? Linden will show you!

And how Big is that Big Wheel? Linden says it's the biggest one she's ever sat on.

The view from our Hotel Room... During the day this is a splash pool for the kids. Don't you love the Yo-Yo! It's actually the stairwell to the building beside it.

We love Goofy, and his car looks like a perfect fit for Linden!

Our building was the 70's and our stairwell was an 8 Track Tape. You know it's been awhile since those have been around, because Lara was the only one to figure out what it was, and it took her awhile too!

The Magic Kingdom - July 21,2008

We were so lucky to spend a couple of truly Magical days at DisneyWorld. We stayed at the Pop Century Resort on the Disney property, and we spent the entire day Monday at the Magic Kingdom - from the opening moment to the final minute the park was open. Tuesday we had breakfast with Chef Mickey and Friends, then spent the rest of the day at Animal Kingdom. Here are a couple of my favorite moments...

After watching the Disney Train roll into the Station and seeing Mickey and friends officially open the park, we were personally welcomed to the Magic Kingdom by Daisy Duck!

The Fairy Godmother was waiting for Linden as we came around the corner of Cinderella's Castle! It was just after the opening of the park, so we had her all to ourselves!


Cinderella's Castle is the home of the Bippity Boppity Boutique. And Linden had her very own appointment with a Royal Hairdresser to be transformed into a Princess, complete with Royal Princess Pink Hair which she picked out, Make-up, Manicure and Sash. It was super cute!


What's a trip to the Magic Kingdom without a picture of Cinderella, Her Prince, and Her Castle!

Donald Duck was THRILLED to see us at the Parade!


It was BLAZING HOT at 3 in the afternoon when the parade rolled through. Note all the people in the background with towels on their heads. One of my main memories of the parade is worrying Linden would be scarred for life from seeing one of the brooms drop dead from the heat! Take a look at their costumes, and you'll see what I mean. I don't know how they did it, but all brooms made it safely through the entire route...now that's Magic!

We had Dinner with Pooh and Friends at the Crystal Palace!

Mommy and Linden having a Tea Party in Minnie's kitchen!

While Grandy and I watched the fireworks, Chris and Linden rode Space Mountain (Linden's favorite ride) two more times (Mom and I made it the first time, and then gave our FastPasses to Chris and Linden so they could go twice instead of once. Once was enough for Mom and I, though it was awesome!). They had a blast on the ride, and finished just in time to join us for the finale of the fireworks. Then it was off to Disney's Nighttime Spectacular SpectroMagic Parade. Here are a few of our favorite shots, though they just don't do it justice! It really was Spectacular, and I'm so glad we stayed to see it.

Considering how bad our feet were hurting, the best part of the day may have been getting a seat on the bus for the ride back to our hotel. Linden ended her day at the Magic Kingdom, much as she began it, with her mouth hanging open :-)