Relative-ly Speaking

This winter not only did we have a visit from Chip and Jill, but also Russ’ sister and some of her family. Terri, her husband Bill, her youngest son Matthew (known as Boo since he was little), her daughter Kristi, and Kristi’s son Alexander (affectionately known as
     Xander or Xan...the X is pro-nounced like a Z) had escaped the snow and cold of the north for a few days.  Xander is 3 years old, and this was the first time we’d seen him since he was a baby.

 

  We met them at Animal Kingdom on their first full day and headed over to the Festival of the Lion King, always a spectacular event.  As you may recall, this 30 minute high energy, musical stage show features live singers, acrobats, dancers, puppeteers, and parade-style floats that fill the theater.  Xander watched in wide-eyed wonderment! (Too dark in the stands to get a pic of him.)

 

When we emerged from the theater, it was pouring down rain. Fortunately they had brought rain ponchos with them, but we had left ours at home though we did have a small umbrella.  It didn’t last long, and we walked over to DinoLand where they have a carnival-style area with games of skill all dinosaur related and mainly for the youngsters.  For $5 you get 3 tickets to be used on any of the 6 games, and Xander won 2 of the 3 he played winning 3 stuffed animals!

 

They were staying at the fairly new Grand Floridian Vacation Club Villas which as you can see has a beautiful and fun bronze fountain in the lobby inspired by Mary Poppins, and we had returned to the hotel to visit and relax for awhile before heading back out.  It had turned into a beautiful evening (though a tad chilly for me in my t-shirt), and as we walked along had a spectacular view across the lagoon of the moon over the Contemporary Hotel.

 

 

A couple of days later we caught up with everyone at the hotel, and even though it was overcast and a bit chilly, Xander was ready to head for the pool.  Kristi and Terri have said that if he could, he’d live in the pool fulltime!  He's definitely a water baby!  He had a blast playing by himself but then Uncle Boo joined him for awhile, too.

The next day they spent the day shopping at Downtown Disney, and we caught up with them for dinner at the Rainforest Café.  Always a fun place with good food, and Xander definitely enjoyed the dessert that came with his meal called Lava Mud, chocolate pudding with crushed Oreos and gummy worms…yummm!  Afterwards was
more shopping and soon Xander was sound asleep…it had been a long day for him.  We met them back at their hotel, and by the time they arrived, he was wide awake.  He was all wound up, but I had a blast playing with him, he had a sword and I had Buzz Lightyear's ray gun (now that's a photo we should have J).  He definitely had a lot of energy after his nap!  Unfortunately, they were heading home the next day so guess he and I will have to finish our fun another time.