Disney Vacation: Day 2

Sunday morning, the first full day down in Disney, we started the morning off heading to a race! While we were waiting on Roro, Ava decided to feed the ducks outside our hotel room.



Ava was so excited about everything and wouldn't hardly stand still long enough to take a picture.



We had a couple different options when it came to the race as spectators and one of them involved being up and out the door by 4:00 so we decided to wait until closer to Elyse's finishing time and watch her at or close to the finish line. We lucked out and a shortly after we arrived  we spotted Lisa running by! We yelled and cheered for her, but she never saw us- which is okay- she was focused and determined to finish that last mile! We missed Julie by only a few minutes :(



We had our big Elyse heads ready to cheer her own- there would be no missing us on the sidelines! haha!



She came running by and said she could see us as she came over the last bridge- thanks to our big heads! Adam stood on the other side taking pictures, which is why she wasn't looking his way. Everyone around us was laughing at our heads- even other runners got a kick out of it. It was actually a really fun race to watch since a lot of people (guys including) were dressed up as princesses. Some were pretty creative with their costumes. After watching Elyse run by, we decided not to brave the finish line crowd and we would head on into Epcot which had just opened.  We were actually parked at the very front of Epcot so it was an easy decision.



We headed straight for Soarin' to get fast passes and then we took Ava to the Finding Nemo area. There were a few divers in the tank at the time and they were good about waving to everyone as they swam by. We also saw a few sea turtles (aka Crush)  swimming around.



After the Nemo area, we headed back to Soarin' to ride, Ava hadn't been on this ride since she hadn't been quite tall enough the last time we were at Epcot, so she was excited to ride it with us this time. She loved the ride and if it hadn't been out of fast passes we would have probably ridden it again. We also went on another ride that is right there where it take you through all the areas that Epcot has that grows food- which was pretty cool- Adam and I didn't realize all of it was back there.



Since Elyse wanted to eat (understandably) we took Ava all around Epcot. One thing I had read about before we left was an area in Japan you could pick an Oyster and see if you got a pearl. I thought it would be a really neat thing to do with Ava and somewhat educational. I ordered 2 cute necklaces with a pearl cage that was shaped like Cinderella's carriage to surprise her with. She picked out our oysters and then he opened each one and she picked 2 good ones!



Her pearls were 7 1/4mm and 7mm- so both good size! One had a pinker hue to it but they were both pretty close to the same.





After he opened both of them out he cleaned them and made her count in Japanese, which he taught us, and then we had to count backwards from 3 and performed this fun ceremony and then they were hers. It was fun and definitely a way she will always remember what produces pearls!



Her new necklace with her pearl in it



Mommy daughter matching necklaces :)

We grabbed some lunch in Italy and went to Epcot's Character Spot while we were waiting on Elyse, Aunt Ann, and Uncle Scott





Ava hadn't gotten Jasmine or Aladdin's autograph yet, so when we found out they were going to be at a certain spot in about 5 minutes we decided to wait, we were second in line and it started to rain and I thought surely they were about to say it wasn't happening, but they took us to another room and we had pictures taken there.



After a full morning, we met up with the runner and her entourage ;) She let Ava wear her medal and Ava was so proud of it. She didn't take it off at all and I was a little worried it would be a fight when we had to really give it back to Elyse! She was sweet to let her wear it the entire day!



We all took turns riding test track while other sat with Ava, who ended up falling asleep, and then we decided head back to the hotel for a little while- Roro, Aunt Ann, Uncle Scott, and Elyse stayed at Epcot, but we all had plans to head to the Magic Kingdom that night so we were okay leaving Epcot, plus we had done just about everything Ava wanted to do.



She wanted to go swimming once we made it back to the hotel and there was a small pool right outside our room, so I told her I would take her for about an hour. She was so excited, but I was a little nervous, as I always am when she hasn't been in the water in a while, but she did great!



She even made a friend who swam with her. I was always making friends wherever we were at on vacation. Some of the best memories I have are the adventures I had with friends I had made while we were camping  during the summer with my family.



After swimming and changing we headed to the Magic Kingdom. It was open late so we thought we would go for a few hours. Ava and her new best friend :) rode Buzz Light year together- I happened to glance at Ava's score and couldn't believe it! ha! She beat all of us!



We also decided to try Storytime with Belle since the wait was only like 10-15 minutes- much lower than it usually is! They picked Ava to be Maurice/Papa, she apparently did an excellent shiver! ha!



It was really cute- they had it where every kid had a special part and they all did their parts well! Luckily Ava didn't have to speak or else she might not have- she only had to shiver, just like Papa did when he was locked in the castle!



After the story was told with Belle each child was paraded around and then introduced as Princess or Prince and they posed for a picture with Belle and she gave them each a bookmark. It was really cute!



After Storytime with Belle we rode a few rides, including the carousel and then called it a night. It had been a long day for all of us, and for Aunt Ann, Uncle Scott, and Elyse it had been a super long day! Plus we still had a few more days of fun to be had-best not to wear ourselves out the first day!