We decided awhile ago one day while we were gone we were going to get room service. We decided the Yacht Club the day after our anniversary would work best. And let me tell you, they don't mess around with their room service. This lovely lady came in and put a table cloth on our table, set it all up for us, and even made our coffee.
Who doesn't have a mimosa with their Mickey waffles?
Asa, meanwhile, had Eggs Benedict.
The nice lady who brought it to us was from Japan, and she made us this cute little horse as an anniversary gift. She even wrote our names and 5 years on it. How cool is that? (Also, the butter is Mickey butter!)
Asa also had his very first Bloody Mary. He was not impressed.
After breakfast we headed up to our Behind the Seeds tour we had scheduled. Here's what I don't like about Disney, most things have to be scheduled WAY ahead of time. Dining reservations, tour times, and it just ruins the 'play it by ear' relaxation of vacation. Luckily, every time we wanted to move something up or back, Disney was pretty accommodating. But, it was still annoying. I like organization and schedules, but all of this was a bit much for me. Luckily, we were able to move Behind the Seeds so we didn't have to be in the park during the heat of the day.
So, what is Behind the Seeds? Well, in Epcot Disney has a pretty impressive greenhouse and working 'garden'. You can go on a ride called 'the land', in which you learn a bit about what they do there while riding a boat through the greenhouse. We'd always seen people off the boat walking around though, and found out you could take a walking tour of the whole place. It's another one of those things I have always wanted to do, so I was pretty excited about it. I'm a nerd like that.
First they really do take you where nobody else gets to see. You learn all about the bugs they release to eat other bugs to keep their plants nice and healthy without pesticides.
And they give you a little tube of lady bugs. But, we'd have to hang on to them for a bit. (I spent half the tour with a tube of lady bugs in my pocket!)
One of the Disney interns take you around and show you all about the process they go through to take care of the plants. Brandon was our intern, and he knew WAY more about horticulture than I even knew there was to know. I love stuff like that because it makes you realize how little you know about so many subjects- which just means there's so much more to learn!
Then you get to go out into the greenhouse and see all the cool techniques they use. These plants hang, and the roots (without any soil) just get misted as they pass through.
The hanging and vertical gardens all have their benefits too.
This plant was cool...
His leaves look like this...
Until you touch them, and they close in..
...Shake the whole plant and he'll look like this for 15 minutes.
We also got to try some veggies they are growing in the land. I guess usually you get Mickey shaped cucumbers, but on that day they only had normal ones.
Still holding on to my ladybugs!
We got to learn all about their watering and cooling systems which was really neat..
And all the stuff there is just gigantic.
These tomatoes are on a pully system to keep them growing this way.
And the stuff they grow, doesn't grow in dirt. They have three other options, one feels almost like a brillo pad, one is kind of rocky, and one is more like styrofoam.
Then we got to release our little ladybugs.
Good luck out there guys!
It was cool to look at the plants for more than just the time it takes your boat to go by, it's really interesting how some things grow, I enjoyed the hanging melons.
And they're all different kinds of fruits and veggies. A lot of things I had never even heard of before.
Without bees, they have to take care of the pollination on their own. He showed us how it was done.
We also got to be the people that everyone on the boat was pointing to, like "how did they get to go back there?"
We got to see the American Alligators up close.
And see all the tilapia. They are served at the Seas and Flying Fish.
In fact a lot of the food they grow there is served around the parks. And if it isn't good for human consumption, they'll send it over to the Animal Kingdom for the animals. They just got some pictures of the hippos eating their watermelons last week.
Look, Hidden Mickey!
There were a few things I missed out on...
...like lots of smells. But overall it was a SUPER awesome tour, and totally affordable as far as Disney tours go. I think it's a little too in depth for the boys to appreciate, but maybe someday they'll want to go on it. Until then, I now have my sights set on other behind the scenes Disney tours.
We weren't super hungry for lunch, but we had Le Cellier reservations. I knew we weren't there to get their amazing (so I've heard), expensive steaks. But, they have poutine and cheddar cheese soup, and I wanted to try those.
Luckily, our waitress was super cool about our 'snack' filled lunch.
We had the classic poutine, cheddar cheese soup, and the bread they bring to your table. Fun story about the bread: each of the three are supposed to represent a different part of Canada. I don't remember them all, but the pretzel bread was the best, and somewhere in Canada has the largest Octoberfest outside of Germany. That Poutine though, holy geez, AMAZING. Go get it, now.
And you can't leave without Maple Creme Brulee. We got a special one!
It was a long, hot walk back to the hotel in the middle of the day. I don't know where our afternoon thunderstorms went to while we were gone, but it kept things really hot (even for Florida in June.)
Although, it was easy to dry our clothes from the pool the night before.
It was so hot even when we were in the pool, and out of it, we found a nice shady place to sit or swim.
..and relaxed. It was glorious.
By late afternoon, we decided we should share some ice cream, so we walked over to Beaches N Cream for the No Way Jose Sundae. Best ice cream at Disney.
When the sun was less intense we decided to take a walk for dinner.
We headed to the boardwalk..
...and went to the ESPN Club.
For dinner, we just split some nachos.
And desert at the boardwalk bakery.
We had a bit of a storm brewing, but it never actually rained.
We walked all the way around the boardwalk and back to our hotel..
Still no rain, so to the pool we went again.
The lazy river was the best.
The next morning we were off to breakfast at Cape May.
...And it's a Character breakfast!
Complete with Goofy..
...And Minnie...
...And Donald...
We couldn't get a late check out, so it was back to the room to pack up.
We did take a few more minutes to enjoy the quiet..
And sadly we left our room.
But we did spend the rest of our morning/early afternoon down by the pool. We had some drinks and a light lunch at the pool bar and took a bunch of trips around the lazy river. We also nearly got assaulted by a squirrel who I think might have been fed by other guests at some point in time. It was a lovely time, but we had to head home.
Since it was mom's last night here, we headed out to a movie (Inside Our was super cute!) and then to dinner at Red Robin.
A friend of mom's she had met from one of her conferences was spending time in Florida. His (american) name is Joshua, he's from Nigeria. The boys got to spend some time with him this week too and really enjoyed meeting him. We finally got to meet him in person on Friday.
So, what did the boys do all week while we were gone? Well, mom CLAIMS they were well behaved. But, I'm not sure how they couldn't be given how much she spoiled them.
They went bowling..
...and to Busch Gardens..
...And to Disney!
Plus she took them out practically every meal, only eating the chili we made for them before we left.
And they got their own pops every single time. Spoiled, spoiled boys.
Mom left early this morning, and should be nearing the Georgia Tennessee line. She's off on her next adventure: watching my brother's dog! We'll see her again in August when we head north. Thanks for watching them mom! We really appreciate it. Maybe next year I'll put 'watch the Waterstraut kids' on her calendar again and see if she obliges.
I had an awesome week, but I have SO. MUCH. to do this week. We've got three presidential birthdays coming up early in July, Hobbit Day is tomorrow and I don't have my menu set yet, we've got birthday extravaganza planning to do for Peyton, I have to figure out the Waterstraut Olympics AND we're having the Amazing Race Party next Sunday and I have nothing ready for it yet- yikes! But at least the house is clean (thanks for keeping it that way, mom!), the laundry is almost done (all we had to do was the stuff we had from this week, otherwise it was all done), and now all my blogs are written.
Next Up: It's Hobbit Day! (aka Asa Day, aka Father's Day)
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