Life after Disney ... Hangin' on the Beach

After the craziness and wonder that is Disney, we really needed a vacation. The beach obliged. Our hotel and resort had 3 cabillion pools [Editor's Note: 6], a beach out the window of our hotel room, a pirate (and his parrot, Bones), a frickin' mascot (a dude in one of those "character" suits -- think Philly Fanatic or, oh yeah, one of the Disney characters that walk around the park).



Henry's latest trip to the beach was marred with the realization that if salt water gets in your eyes, and then you decide to rub them with your hands that have a briney sand mixture on them, it's a little offputting. That being said, he managed to soldier on.



We also got not one, but TWO chance to see Papa Henry. After our first Papa encounter, a lunch at Fountain Court, it dumped two inches of rain in about 25 minutes. For about 15 of those minutes, I was running to the car, running back to the restaurant, and wearing a garbage bag to stay dry. I think that bag might still be in the rental car ...

We also got some dinner with Papa, and got to pilfer his freezer for some of his Tin Roof Sundae ice cream afterwards. I felt a little bad, because he was "low" on ice cream (he was just opening up the last half-gallon ... down from three).



Henry had a great time, whether it was singing in the rain, running miles at a time on the beach (he literally ran a half mile, straight line, down the beach on the last night -- if you could only see how fast those little legs fly!!!!), and playing in the water.



Say Bye, Bye, Buddy!!!

We're back!

We had an absolute blast in Florida. Sarah's conference / training went well (or so she says), the weather more-or-less cooperated, and the H-man had a great time. The flight down was kind of rough, as we had to go Columbus to Reagan National to Orlando to Tampa, due to weather. I gutted it out, but I'm told my face went three shades whiter than normal (no small feat) during the duration of the flights. That's Henry being tired on the first flight. We woke him up at 4:30 that morning.



In semi-related news, Henry has found a new friend: Buddy the sock puppet (pictured above). He is the unofficial mascot of Blue Diesel, the company I work for. Henry saw him on my work laptop, and start asking about him non-stop. Fortunately for me, Buddy not only lives in cyberspace, but as a real live sock puppet (thanks, Paul, for this incredible gift for Henry). He took it everywhere on the trip to Florida. And I took some action shots with him ... more on that later.

He also met all of his Disney friends when we went to Disney Hollywood Studios on our first day of vacation. This was his birthday present from Gramma Schmidt (a.k.a. Gramma Marti a.k.a. the Gramma with the guitar). Thank you, Gramma! We all had a great time! He met June and Leo from Little Einsteins (his favorite show) and Jo Jo and Goliath at breakfast. June held his hand and danced him around the entire restaurant. Pretty cool.




After meeting these characters, the encounters got kind of rough. After we waited in line to meet Mater and Lightning (two actual cars that they trot out to meet the kids), Henry decided that he didn't want to meet them. We thought that he might change his mind if we got up close. For all of you that know Henry, you know that changing the little dude's mind is no small feat. Here's what ensued: a lot of crying and burrowing into my shoulder.



He then pulled the same drill with Mike from Monsters, Inc. I don't blame him, the dudes can be scary. But why does he have to wait until we're in the front of the line?

We canvassed the joint, saw all of the shows, rode the Toy Story Arcade ride (fan-freakin-tastic!), and finished it off with a sleepy midnight drive back to Tampa.

Thank you thank you Gramma for everything

P.S. to the purists out there, I didn't mention Henry's dinner with an elephant, his Mickey Mouse ice cream-on-a-stick, his lunch at Pizza Planet, or the smooth moves that he put on some older Guatamalan "women" (and their Mom). Rest assured, though -- all of that happened too.