Focht Family Blog

I am finally getting around to catching up. The next day we did go to Hollywood Studios. The first thing we went to was the new Playhouse Disney show. They have changed the line up of characters in the show. While we were waiting the kids decided to get their picture taken with some of the Little Einstein characters.

After that we went to lunch at the 50’s Prime Time. We had a very sassy waitress who enjoyed her role. The point of the 50’s restaurant is that you are having dinner at someone’s house and they will yell at you if you do not follow good manners and they make you set the table. If you do not finish your dinner they will embarrass you in some way. Some of the times we have gone there the waitresses have been too nice and didn’t get into their role. This one didn’t have that problem.

After lunch we walked around the park. We went over to the Star Wars ride to see if Josh was tall enough yet. He wasn’t and Timmy didn’t want to go on the ride. The kids found a Star Wars relic to pose on for a picture.

Timmy was mad because he wasn’t driving so after the others got off he got back on for another picture.

While we were in the same area one of the parades came through. Josh was enjoying dancing along while Nathan was holding him.

Once the parade passed we let Samantha ride the Rock-n-Rollercoaster once. There were mobs of cheerleaders at the park for some kind of competition so the lines were very long. I walked her through the single riders line and since we were not able to get on the same coaster, once she was seated I went around to meet her at the other end. Our last stop of the day was that we found Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc and we all got a picture with them.

The next day was spent at Animal Kingdom. We were able to go on the Safari ride where we were actually able to see the lions this time. Usually they are sound asleep and laying down at an angle that you can barely see them. Here is the lion..

And here is the lioness…

After the Safari ride we ate lunch and went on the Dinosaur ride. We had never been on this one before because I thought it was supposed to be scary. It was a little scary and very bouncy. After that ride Nathan had to leave to get something resolved for work. I took the kids over to the Dinoland section and let them play carnival games which I have never let them do. Most of them were a waste of money because there was only one winner and the kids were competing against adults. I even tried to play some of them with them but I guess the other adults were better than me. There was one game the kids did really well at. They had to throw balls into cups and if they got the ball in a colored cup they got a dinosaur. Timmy won two small dinosaurs. Josh won two small dinosaurs and Samantha won two small dinosaurs and a medium dinosaur. Timmy traded his two smalls in for a medium one like Samantha had. This is Samantha and Josh on the bus ride home hugging their dinosaurs.

That night it was late hours at Hollywood Studios so after dinner Nathan took the boys to the playground and I took Samantha back to Hollywood Studios to see how many times she could ride the rollercoaster. The lines were still long so we kept going through the single riders line. I managed to get a seat on her coaster two times…. but she rode the coaster five times!! She was thrilled. It was a late night though and the next day was a busy one.

This is the question Samantha asked a little girl on the boat ride back to Fort Wilderness tonight. I just thought it was so cute I had to share.

Anyways… we checked in today with only minor issues and decided to go over to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. Here is a picture I took of us walking towards the marina to catch the boat.

When we saw the boat sitting at the marina we started running to catch it until we noticed the captain walking on the pier. Come to find out that the water was too choppy so the boats weren’t running. SO… we took the bus.

Here we are waiting for the bus…

We didn’t have a restful night last night. The wind was blowing hard and all night long we heard the chains on the rock guard squeaking. I guess we should have let Nathan have a day of rest. I went to take a picture of Timmy on the bus on the way to the Kingdom and didn’t even realize that Nathan was snoozing.

One of the rides the kids wanted to go on tonight was the Astro Orbiter. It was cold and windy so it wasn’t a great ride for the adults. Mom and Josh ended up getting onto the ride before the rest of us so I tried to take a picture of them in their rocket while we were waiting in line.

I also took a picture of Samantha in our rocket after I got out.

One of the other rides they wanted to go on is the Buzz Lightyear ride. This is the boys’ favorite. By boys I am including Nathan because he loves to get the highest score everytime. The kids wanted to have their picture taken with Zorg behind bars.

One of the last rides we rode tonight was the Speedway. The kids like driving us adults around. Here is Samantha and my mom in their car.

I tried to take a picture of Josh driving me but he kept hitting the center line and flinging me the other way. I took a picture of Timmy and Nathan while we were waiting to get out of our cars. They were behind us. Timmy is holding up his drivers license that they gave him when he got into the car.

We are thinking of going to the Hollywood Studios (Disney MGM) tomorrow and see some of the shows they have recently changed but I need to check and make sure that is not the park with the extra morning hours tomorrow. If you go on the day with the extra hours it tends to be a bit more crowded. I will try to post more tomorrow.

We decided to leave Newmar on Friday morning. The snow had let up and we called Cummins and they said it was fine if we came in early and stayed in their lot. Newmar is amazing. They pulled mom’s trailer into their shop and made a new tray for her batteries so she now has two of our old batteries instead of her one battery that came with the trailer. I don’t remember if I put it in the last post or not but they also came out to the trailer in the parking lot and installed a fan to force warm air onto the pipes so they don’t freeze as easily. I am sure they wouldn’t have done either of these things in the summer when they are busy but they certainly didn’t need to do them for us now considering they did not build the trailer.

Anyways… once we got to Fort Wayne we took the kids to the mall so they could have a Chick-Fil-A. They have a very neat food court. There are four apple tables for children with regular tables near them for the adults. The kids had a lot of fun sitting at the apple eating their dinners.

After dinner we went on a ride on a two story carousel.

Samantha chose to ride on a horse on the second story.

Joshua chose a zebra on the second story.

Timmy said he wanted to ride the dragon that was on the first floor. However when I went downstairs to take his picture I found that he was making grandma ride in a spinning cup.

The cup spins by itself but Timmy got it spinning a bit faster than he was expecting it to. His eyes were getting bigger and bigger as he was spinning.

The kids enjoyed the day out.

Our last day in Seattle and our last day with Barbara we decided to take a cruise of the Locks. It was very cold and windy. The water was very choppy. I was a bit worried because I didn’t now if any of our kids would get seasick or not. We ate lunch just before the cruise and the boat was rocking quite a bit while we waited for them to start. By the time we pulled away from the dock Samantha wasn’t feeling too good. I too her to the restroom and then bought her some popcorn and coke on the way back up to settle her stomach.

One of the first pictures I took was of one of the ferries that takes cars across the water.

Next we went by the port where the large cranes were that load containers on boats.

While we were near the port we got to see tugboats at work.

We also went by a few of the marinas that were absolutely full with sailboats.

The locks were the most interesting part of the cruise. Nathan said he used to go down to the locks in NY and fish from them but he never experienced going through one. We came into the locks on the salt water side in Puget Sound, they closed doors behind the boat and the water level started rising. We had to rise 16 feet up to the fresh water level of Lake Washington. Once we were at the right level they open the doors in front of you so you can continue on your journey. The next three pictures are of us coming into the lock.

The last picture I took was of all of the kids sitting with Barbara on the boat. They enjoyed having the chance to visit with her and were sad to see her go.

After the cruise we walked to Pikes Market and walked around. I had a chance to sample a chocolate covered cherry from one of Nathan’s customers that had a store there. It is Chukar Cherries. The cherries were so good I bought a bag! :)

We were lucky enough that the roads were reasonably clear on Wednesday and since they were forecasting a LOT more snow coming towards us we left while we could. We have stopped for a couple of days in Eugene, OR. Nathan has a customer he is visiting tomorrow and we have developed a couple of small problems. There is a Newmar dealer here so we are going to see if they can fix them tomorrow before we head out towards CA.

Unfortunately we do not get reciprocity at this museum. However, the kids had fun and that is what matters. I don’t have a lot of pictures of all three kids because everyone took the stance of stick with one adult and go your own direction. I love the children’s museums because EVERYTHING is intended to be hands on. The first part was a section where they had balls that you could put in various places and learn what happens with cog and gears.

Next, Joshua and I went to the Global Village. They had an African village set up as well as houses from Japan and the Philippines and markets and restaurants from both countries. Here is Joshua driving a car in Africa.

After finding some drums and bells Joshua had to bring his brother and sister to play with him.

Timmy’s favorite part of the day was the forest where he got to dress up like a bat. He was so excited about it he came and found Josh and I in the village so I could come and get a picture of him as a bat.

After we thought we had done everything there was to do at the museum we found another section. Here is Timmy driving a fire truck complete with jacket and hat.

Next they found a market. Both Samantha and Joshua took turns on the phone.

My favorite section was a restaurant that was donated by Taco Time. It had a kitchen prep area, a drive-up window, as well as tables where the customers could sit and be served. They even had warming lamps and soda spickets in the kitchen area. Here is Joshua preparing a meal and Samantha and Timmy eating at the booth.

I am glad that Barbara came to visit. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t have done as much sight seeing. I also got a new sandwich that I loved that I am going to try to make at home now. I had it two days at the food court. It was turkey and brie with granny smith apple slices on it. It was really good! :)