The magic

We made today Magic Kingdom day. A quick bus trip from our resort and we were soon entering the front gates the park built on nostalgia. I have loving memories of Epcot from my own childhood visit, but fewer memories of Magic Kingdom, and walking into the iconic park was actually more breath taking than I had imagined, or that may have had something to do with the street parade and party that we ran into on Main Street just minutes after our arrival. Calvin loved the music and dancing. We also took in the sights of Tomorrowland, from the Astro Orbiter to the People Mover and the Carousel of Progress. All enjoyable.

Lunch with Pooh and friends was a real treat. Great food on a buffet, and because our park reservation had been flagged, they knew we were celebrating my birthday so they decorated our table with confetti and brought me a birthday card signed by Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore.

Then Splash Mountain (Calvin's first thrill ride) in Frontierland, and in Adventureland a jungle cruise and Aladin's Magic Carpet Ride, complete with Camels—watch out, they spit, which I think was Calvin's favorite part.

Fantasyland is a mess of construction right now, but Calvin did get to try his hand at the Sword in the Stone (great since he's been on a King Arthur kick lately), and we rode Pooh's honey pot ride and the mad hatter's tea cups.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie was a high point in Calvin's day, somewhat strange since he doesn't know them as characters all that well, but he was thrilled with them anyhow, and the actors did a great job with him. Adorable, really.

Then, exhausted and foot sore, we picked up Chicago Dogs and staked out a spot on the Main Street bridge to view the fireworks over the castle in a show that really was quite magical and well worth the wait.

Tomorrow, Epcot one last time.

The Himalayas from Africa

There is nothing like spending a birthday at Disney to make you feel young again. A quick check-in at guest services procured for me a birthday pin, complete with my name in large letters, so that everywhere I went Disney staff, and sometimes others, were wishing me a happy birthday. So how old am I today? Maybe five.

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom. Calvin enjoyed the flying triceratops carnival ride, but not so much the Dinosaur thrill ride, and we all enjoyed the Kilimanjaro Safari through Africa from which we spotted giraffes, elephants, lions, and cheetahs as well as a variety of grazing ungulates. We ate ice cream for lunch (gasp) and lest we forget that this is the place of dreams and memory making, we snapped a quick picture of the family with the Himalayas in the background...from the bridge in Kenya (or wherever we were in Africa).

The Tree of Life really is beautiful, carved with many species so as to be eye pleasing and thoroughly engrossing. We skipped the line at the runaway train (in the Himalayas) and fell in love with the tigers, the golden pheasants, and especially the flying foxes in Asia.

Home again, home again (or resort again, resort again) to enjoy the snack bar (and regular bar) and the pool, before heading back to Downtown Disney for a birthday dinner—crab legs and whole lobsters for five, plus wine, plus a surprise birthday cake at the end. We topped it off with Irish coffee before catching the bus back to our hotel, and with Calvin and the grandparents all in bed Jon and I capped the evening with a stroll on the resort pond, and a stop at the tiki bar.

Around the world in 10 hours

Epcot today, and it was such a long wonderful day that we are home late, and tired. Just pictures, I'll have to write later.

Planes, trains, buses

We left the snow behind this morning and headed for warmer climes and a Walt Disney World vacation. It may sound a little out of character for someone who has carefully avoided the machine that is Disney and other pop culture booby traps, but I have very fond memories of Florida and Disney World, none of them having anything to do with the usual character association. I'm hoping to repeat the experience for Calvin.

If nothing else, our transportation quota was met for today: driving to the airport; using escalators, moving walkways, and the tram (just for fun) in the terminal; taking the bus to the Disney resort. This was the first flight I have ever been on that produced a chorus of "wheeee!" with every sickening drop during landing. The cabin was abound with giggles.

The bus to the resort started us off with videos about the park while Calvin watched for interesting wildlife out the window. Disney makes it easy to vacation here. They picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at our resort, and they did the same for our luggage, picking it up and delivering it to our rooms so we didn't have to wait. Transportation within the resort area has been a breeze as well. We took a bus to Downtown Disney for dinner, which we ate with the dinosaurs at T-Rex Cafe.

For Calvin every step has been a hit. He rode and re-road the moving walkway, and tram rides at both airports were like icing on the cake. He was clearly nervous about the flying, but he handled it well, and by the time we were on descent he was oohing and aahing along with the others. And we were not at all surprised by his excitement over the dinosaurs at dinner. We experience no fewer than four major extinction episodes in the form of meteor showers while we were there, and had a chat with dinos and mammoths alike.

We're in bed now. Tomorrow will be busy. I have a feeling this will be the kind of vacation that warrants a spa weekend upon return home, but what great joy to find ourselves drinking in the warm sunshine in the middle of January.

Home again Monday

We arrived back at home tonight after spending a long weekend with my family in Chicago. We were there courtesy of my parents, who gathered us all to celebrate their 40th anniversary, and of my brother and his girlfriend, who live there and are always kind enough to open their home to us and show us a great time in their big city.

I never find the time to post while we are there because without fail our time is packed with fun activities, good company, and delicious food. This weekend, it was a matter of grilling on the rooftop while an orange evening sun lit up our city view, of sipping wine at a sidewalk wine bar, of Italian, and sushi, and when we weren't eating we were at the Brookfield Zoo or the Field Museum, and today we even made sure Calvin had his chance to ride the El before we headed for home.

We spent Saturday at the Brookfield Zoo, which is a beautiful zoo in the suburbs. Lots of room to move, for both animals and observers, and a few more exotic species that i have seen only rarely in the zoo setting, like Mexican Gray Wolves, and the Okapi, which happens to be one of my favorite animals, thus it gave me great joy to be able to share him with my son and my family. Sloth bears are pretty cool, too, and they had unique and enjoyable desert and rainforest buildings with even more animals I haven't seen since I studied their skins and skeletons back in my college days (and they are oh so much more fun alive). We ate bison burgers outside the bison enclosure, and Calvin played with a seal through the glass of her underwater exhibit. We spent hours there under a warm sun and blue sky and came home deliciously exhausted.

Slide Show—hover over the sides of the photo to reveal slide show controls, then click through to see the pictures from the Brookfield Zoo. Vertical pictures don't render properly yet (this is a new feature from Squarespace), so click here if you want to see the photos in the Chicago 2011 gallery.

Sunday we spent at the Field Museum. The hours we spent there are another example of how much Calvin has grown. The last time we were here he was not quite two yet; he sat in a stroller for what ended up being a disappointingly brief dash through the museum while we balanced our own interest with his toddler sized patience. This time around he walked the museum for almost six hours, and while his attention wasn't rapt for the entire time, he had enough pre-seeded information to give him at least some interest in every exhibit, from the taxidermy section, to the walk of Evolution, to Ancient Egypt, and finally to the Native Americas. To do it right, of course, we would have to spend several days there, visiting just one exhibit per day, and preferably over time. I guess that means we will have to visit each time we start to explore and study any of the subjects for which they have a permanent exhibit.

Slide Show—hover over the edges of the photo to reveal slide show controls, then click through to see the pictures from the Field Museum. Vertical pictures don't render properly yet (this is a new feature), so click here if you want to see the photos in the Chicago 2011 gallery.

And our quieter moments were good, too; Oregon Trail on the iPad, grilling on the roof in delightful weather, celebrating 40 years and the family they created with toasts and dinner.

Wine before dinner, celebrating 40 years and the family they created

Sushi on Sunday, learning to use the chopsticks

coloring with Uncle curtis

Riding the El...in the front car nonetheless

And now we're home and attempting to get back into the swing of things. If we're lucky we'll actually get there some day, or maybe the point is avoid that kind of mundane existence after all.