Utopia Land Delivers with Side Effects- Day Four, Five and Six

Day four begins early with showers and a quick breakfast. The die hards are up and at em' with no sign of the grumpies but the younger ones are showing a shadow of tired in their eyes. This codger was still in bed not ready to face another day, Nathan rose to the occasion, blistered feet and all and decided to go with the die hard crew on another adventure. This time to Universal Studios where the rides are mega fun and there are a lot of them.

Universal Studios waiting in line for tickets

The die hard crew spent the day riding the crazy rides. The Incredible Hulk roller coaster,  Two Harry Potter rides, and one of Alex's favorites was Twister. We watch Storm Chaser and watch weather documentaries for fun, so this was right up her alley.

Not doing to bad for only 4 hours sleep...

Alex acting out Twister

While the fun commenced with the die hard crew, I sluggishly put my feet up for a full day of R&R. A guilty pleasure during any vacation that I happily indulged in. (You'll see later I was glad I rested) I was starting to feel that run down feeling and I thought I better listen to my body and not push it. I just putzed around the house, did laundry, cleaned up a little, did a little business and called it all good.

Day five I was refreshed and ready to tag-a-long to Downtown Disney where the hunting for plush, stuffed goods was the goal of the day. The kids were raring to go and ready to blow their money. Alex had money from Christmas Nana and Papa gave her and some she earned from her dog sitting jobs.

She found everything on her list except Todd, from the Fox and the Hound. Brantley treated the girls to Mickey bracelets, and was very generous and bought Alex a wolf she was eyeing at the Harley Davidson shop.

We ate at Wolfgang Pucks and were told we had a very nice family by the wait staff who said many people come in and are rude.  Thank goodness they weren't standing in line behind us at the Areosmith ride a couple of days ago...Hahaha, (you know who you are)

The fun didn't end with shopping. The die hard crew's fun meter was a little low so they went back to Sea World after dropping off the codger crew with all the shopping spoils.

Alex rode the Manta roller coaster twice even though she was beginning to show the signs of exhaustion after lunch.  As the die hard crew strolled in for dinner, this mom knew her daughter had been spent. She was still smiling but her face was flushed and I could tell she didn't want to tell me she wasn't feeling well. She downed a whole bottle of water and admitted to a headache. I thought exhaustion, heat stroke, lack of sleep, dehydration on top of poor eating habits; what a concoction for disaster. An unexpected side effect of too much fun. Pinocchio's Pleasure Island and the dancing, puke green faces of the over stimulated donkey boys pranced about in front of me as I realized my baby was not only worn out but full on sick.  Gavin ended up sick as well.

Day six was travel day back home, we dropped Nathan off early because he had a different flight then Me and Alex. Since we had some time to kill we toured Ripley's Believe It Or Not to see the wacky weird anomalies of humankind. We ate at Uno's while Alex and Gavin slept on the bench with fevers raging away. The parents discussed making sure we didn't blow it at the airport and not get on the plane because of sick children.

We all arrive at the airport ahead of schedules and both our flights (Colorado/Texas) are delayed. Alex mustered enough energy to walk down the concourse as I fumbled with two carry on suitcases and two bags. Having the flu and having to get up and walk can be excruciating but she did it with no complaints. We had to connect flights in Dallas and hustle to make the flight in time, then sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes waiting for clearance to take off. We finally got into Austin at 9:10 at night and there was one last haul to the car before the stretch to home to finally get in bed and re-cooperate.

I was glad I took that one day for R&R and listened to my body telling me to slow down. If I had pushed myself and got sick too the getting home would have been a ride from hell.

This trip was a dream come true with all the makings for great memories. Disney delivered on their promise of family fun; next time we'll regulate our dosage so the side effects stay within the realm of smiles with out fevers.

Thanks to all my wonderful family for planning, arranging, giving so this trip could happen! We can't thank you all enough!