In an attempt to allow the kids to sleep in this morning, we didn't schedule ANYTHING until a 1:30 pm lunch at Downtown Disney. We figured we would do some exploring there and let the kids each pick out their souvenir. But, like clockwork, Sammy was up at 7:45 am so we had a relaxed morning. watched a Disney movie and then got ready to go.
We arrived around 11:15 am and set out for some shopping before lunch. Not even 20 yards from the bus stop, I noticed Sammy's backpack was gone. Right away she knew it was still on the bus (which had already departed for the next stop). We decided to part ways... Scott and Tyler went on to the Lego Store to shop while Sammy and I headed back to the bus stop in search of her backpack.
Just to be clear, there is NO monetary value to her bag but it did hold all of her crushed pennies and every precious autograph she got from all her character friends this week.
So we checked with the bus stop, sent out a message to the other drivers, and submitted our claim to the lost and found office. No luck so far but they encouraged me to continue on with our plans for the day so Sammy and I started shopping.
It wasn't long before she was DONE shopping. We were close to another bus stop so headed back to our room to get the stroller. When we were on our way back, it started to rain.
We got off back off the bus just moments before our lunch reservation, so I had to walk quickly to make it in time... in the pouring rain!
When we arrived at the House of Blues, Tyler and Scott were waiting. They had avoided the worst of the rain. We got right in to a table and settled in for the meal. But the air conditioning vent was directly above our table and it was FREEZING. Sammy started to whine / cry because she was so cold so I decided to head out to buy a sweatshirt to warm her up.
By now there was 3-4 inches of standing water on the sidewalks... literally flowing OVER your food as you walk. I shared an umbrella with a stranger and made it to the store in time to buy the last two beach towels... already sold out of sweatshirts, ponchos, umbrellas, etc. So we ate our dinner wrapped in beach towels. When it was time to leave, we wrapped each kid in the towel and then put a shopping bag over each of them to act as a poncho. Back out into the rain but this time we grabbed a cab to avoid the long walk back to the bus.
Warm showers were definitely in order! So we cleaned up, warmed up and had a relaxing few hours in the hotel. The skies started to clear so we headed out for a walk to dinner at our resort.
Once we got back to our room, we watched Little Mermaid and found Tangled on TV. We got the kids in bed at a decent time and I started to pack.
It was a different kinda day... but still LOTS of fun! Tyler did buy a new Lego set and Sammy found an assortment of 5 princesses. We never did find that backpack but we are hoping it turns up.
