Hannah and I spent the day at Epcot on Friday. As we've been studying countries and cultures this year I have really missed our Disney passes. With all my feet problems it's just not practical to have them right now but I've been thinking that visiting the countries at Epcot would be such a great supplement to our curriculum. We are really getting into our study of European countries now that we have gotten our homeschool groove on (it's March and we are just now getting our groove!). So, I decided to ask a friend to sign Hannah and I in at Epcot and he obliged. One of the perks of living in Central Florida is that lots of people work at Disney and get the privilege of letting guests in for free. It's great if you know one of these employees! So, Hannah and I set out to reinforce what we had been learning. A bonus was that they are getting ready for the Flower and Garden festival. Here's a picture of Hannah in front of some beautiful flowers.
Of course the real reason we went was to try some authentic food. Our plan was to eat something in Norway, Germany, France, and England. After eating in Norway and Germany though we were full so we didn't eat anything in France and England. In hindsight I can't believe I passed up French pastries!
In Germany we had bratwurst and sauerkraut. It was sooo good! I think we will have that on our German food day next week.
In Norway we had Lefse (potato bread with butter and brown sugar all rolled up) and Rice Cream. The Rice Cream was our favorite! The Lefse was okay but too buttery for me. Mom--you would have loved it! We took a few pictures in Norway for our International Display.
Epcot has this new "game" that is sooo fun! It is a Kim Possible thing where you are given a mission to solve in one of the countries. They give you a cell phone that is your "Kimmunicator," and Zack at command center tells you what to do. The first thing it tells you is to go to the country, we started with a mission in China. When you get there you press ok and get your first assignment. The little screen shows a picture of where you need to go and tells you to press okay when you get there. We had to go to a cricket cage in a window and when we got there and pressed "ok," the display in the window reacted by turning the cricket's easel around to show a chinese character. This was our first clue. Zach explained what it was and then instructed us to move away quickly so as not to endanger our witness. Then we went on to the next clue and the next. One of the final clues required us to go into a store and say something specific to the worker at the counter. He then handed us a fortune cookie and in the fortune was a word that we had to type into the "Kimmunicator." That lead us to our next clue where we solved the mystery by standing in a certain place next to a pond and pushing "ok." At that point the missing jade monkey came rising up out of the pond. When you finish your mission you can be done and return you "Kimmunicator," or choose another mission. We did a second mission in Norway that was equally fun. This is definitely a must do next time you are at Epcot. You get a chance to explore the countries in a new way and learn something along the way. I imagine it's even more fun for Kim Possible fans because apparently it's a lot like the show.
Here's Hannah at one of the assignments. She had to type in her birthday and then this Zodiac thing lit up with her symbol--the rabbit.
Hannah with her "Kimmunicator."
This was my favorite topiary--big ostriches. I have my eyes closd in this picture but I'm posting it anyway because it's the only one I have of these ostriches. Aren't they great?
In Germany we had bratwurst and sauerkraut. It was sooo good! I think we will have that on our German food day next week.
Here's Hannah at one of the assignments. She had to type in her birthday and then this Zodiac thing lit up with her symbol--the rabbit.
Hannah with her "Kimmunicator."
14 comments:
The mission thing sounds fun. I know my kids would love it.
Great pictures, I'm missing our passes ALREADY! Did Joel take the picture of the two of you or did a stranger...just curious!
Our passes expire this week and I'm already mourning their loss. With Dana not having a job I can't exactly justify renewing them. However, when that man becomes employed, its the first thing on the list!
Looks like y'all had a great day. As someone who is married to a man that is nearly 100% Norwegian, y'all probably picked the only "safe" food to eat. I'm not a fan of seafood and so I live in terror of a family member making me something "traditional" (i.e. lutifiske....sp?).
Okay, I am so over the top, more than you can know, jealous!!! We went to Epcot last year for the first time and it was absolutely, hands down, our favorite part of Disney. I think it is because of our homeschooling - we love history. I am so jealous that you can just go over and explore and learn. What a great opportunity! The Vikings picture reminded me of some great pastries we had right by that location - I just remember having something in a bakery right around there that was cream stuffed and SO yummy. We had it both times we were there during the course of our week.
The mission sounds so cool - last year you gathered masks at each kid site and that was fun, but this sounds right up my kids' alley.
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled life. Thanks for sharing!
Great pictures! It looks like a great day for mom and daughter, not to mention the learning thing!!
I would have loved the butter thing I'm sure.
Glad yall had such a good day.
Love you!
I love the going to EPCOT in the spring. I start to imagine that I could grow all those beautiful flowers in MY yard until I remember that I don't have a full-time landscaping crew.
That looks like so much fun!
Sounds like such a fun day!
I wanna go to Epcot now. Why didn't you invite me anyways??
DO you think I'm fat or something??
How nice that just the two of you went. I am sure she will always remember that. I would love to do that with my guys. Love the ostrich topiaries
the flowers were so pretty in the first picture. And that game looks like a blast- I would love to play that game. And I couldn't tell your eyes were closed in the picture because it wouldn't let me click on it to see it big. And I hardly noticed the ostriches because I was admiring how sweet of a mother-daughter picture that was of the 2 of you.
oh and the food you ate in Norway is a lot like the crepes Ben's family makes and his grandmother was full Norwegian. When Ben makes crepes (not with potato flour though) we put lots of butter and sugar on the inside and roll them up. When my kids can pick a birthday meal they always ask for these.
Looks like you had a blast. Great to spend time with just one!
Julie--no, Joel didn't take our picture. Some couple asked me to take theirs and then volunteered to take ours.
Kris--I didn't know Dana was full Norwegian!
Sarah--Epcot is our favorite too. It's less crowded and very unique. I think I saw the pastry you had in Norway, it looked really good! They are still doing the masks but have added this Kim Possible thing as well. I know we are spoiled getting to live so close to Disney, especially when we had passes and went a lot. My sister commented that I had more picture of my kids with Mickey than with their own grandparents!
Yes, Shelly--I do think you are fat and that truly is the only reason I didn't invite you. Lose some weight and then you can come too.
Marissa--thanks for the comment about the sweet mother-daughter picture. I don't have many of those because I'm always behind the camera.
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