Animal Kingdom mischief

Just kidding, Animal Kingdom today instead. Tomorrow will be Island of Adventure. Whoa yes.

We had great weather for this park. It was sunny and warm, but not warm enough to be uncomfortable. Short sleeves. They are a thing. I'd forgotten. We got there just before lunchtime, and of course Brennie made a beeline for food. I did manage to take a few pictures as he was dragging me around.

Observe. Our questionable attempt at a selfie. Also, Brennie's meh face is meh. 

I don't think I got any pictures in Africa, but we did take a moment to watch some tribal drummer dudes and a tribal dancer dude teaching some random noobs how to shake their booty. It was fairly spectacular. Even the bro was entranced enough to forget about eating for five seconds. Anyway. First glimpse of the Tree of Life!

Pretty. Not sure what all those ribbons are for, but whatever.

Now I just want to do this in my yard. Oh wait, I live at college. Darn.

 He finally found some food, and I got stuck with the job of shooing the bees away from his Sprite while he ate. Then we continued into Asia for... another questionable selfie! I can never get us in the middle. Hm. Need more practice, I suppose. In any case, both parks so far have had a really nice atmosphere. Good attention to detail in the sets and so on. Props. Literally.

Best. Ice cream truck. Ever.

And my brother with his mouth full again. I swear. All he ever thinks about is his stomach. You'd think it was a separate entity.

Look, even his drink is photobombing. What.

Check out the painting on this ice cream stand. Pretty epic, right? The ice cream sandwich we bought there wasn't half bad either.

I really liked the prayer flags in Asia. Woulda bought myself some, but they, like everything else, cost a fortune. Also, that drink is bombing again.

 Hangin' with mah dino in Dinoland. 'Sup. Oh, we got Fast Passes for the coaster in Dinoland, but then we were both so freaked out/confused by the neon colors and carnival-type atmosphere that we blew it off and got the heck out of there.

The bro, holding more food, in front of the Expedition Everest ride. Dude, that coaster was friggen awesome. 'Specially the part where we went backwards in the dark. That was epic.

You know what I love? Monkeys. There were two monkeys in this exhibit, and one of them was all zipping around on these ropes, and the other one was like edging along all careful-like, and then he'd just sit down in the middle for a while, and then he'd get up and keep edging along, and eventually he gave up and went back the way he came. It was hysterical. Monkeys are awesome.

 There's the tree again. We did the interactive Bug's Life show, and I didn't realize it was interactive until they started firing puffs of air at us and making stuff crawl under the seats and having stingers come out and jab us in the spine. Surprise. I enjoyed it, after I realized what was going on.

Such gorgeous detail on the trunk!

Bro pooped out on me again, so we didn't get to do the safari, which is apparently the best part. So I was a little pissed. But hey, he bought me a bracelet, so I basically forgave him. I might go back with my mom another day this week and do it. Point being, I don't have awesome safari pictures for you. Instead, have a frog.

Good God, he's still eating. Srsleh dood.

So that was Animal Kingdom. Now I'm off to crash so we can get up early for Island of Adventure tomorrow! Whoo!

Commander Kip
"Castle, you realize this is still a crime scene." "Oh. Right. Ew."
Normal is overrated!

Magic Kingdom shenanigans

Woohoo, made it to Florida! Navigated the airport all by myself and didn't die! And only got a little bit lost. Oops, that's a secret.

And guess what. The house we're staying in, Castle Camelot, has a sword in it.

 In fact, all the decor is very nice. Still need to take pictures of my room. It's chuck full of fairies. I really would have loved it when I was a kid.

Check out the backyard. There's a swimming pool in it. And a lake. Because that's not redundant or stuff.

My grandma has already taken over the coffee table for puzzling. After we finished the edge, there were so many pieces left for the middle that we decided it must be bigger on the inside.

House. It's a pretty sweet place.

Then we finally got out the door and waddled off to Disneyworld! And of course we arrived in the middle of a crazy street party and were forced to duck into the nearest restaurant for very expensive sandwiches.

After we'd enjoyed our noms and watched Hatter making very good use of his swirly coattails on his float in the square, we headed for Tomorrowland. Lookit, there's me with some spacethings.

SPAAAAAAAACE!!! We didn't ride this thingy, but we thought it was cool anyway.

And then I purchased this fantastic hat. And I would have worn it all day, too, but it has this hideous chinstrap and what I really needed was a couple of hairpins. By the way, I looked it up, and apparently the 10/6 card on the Hatter's hat is a price tag for ten shilling sixpence.

We did Space Mountain, and we both screamed our heads off, I woulda done it a bunch more times, but Brennie wanted to move on. So. Random castle picture time!

Onward to Adventureland. There's my awkward brother. He's at the age where he's all gawky limbs and enormous feet.

The Swiss Family Robinson tree house was friggen awesome. I want to live there when I grow up.

They had an organ in there. Dude.

'Sup. Just chillin' in mah tree house.

Pretty.

The Crow's Nest has a stunning view of the rest of Adventureland.

The kitchen. A classy affair, to be sure.

I always wanted a tree house when I was a kid, and I never had one. Makes me sad. My kids are having a tree house. They will get no say in the matter. I'm just gonna build them one. And if they don't want it, I'll live in it myself.

Cute little bazaar. And my brother, stuffing his face as usual. I don't think he stopped eating even once the entire day.

Look, it's Captain Jack Sparrow. The actor had the swagger down pretty good.

The gift shop outside the PotC ride had some nice stuff. I purchased this pistol. And my brother is a terrible photographer - why do I look demonic all of a sudden?

We also did the jungle river tour, which was a nice break from walking.

I was a huge fan of the animatronic elephants.

On the way to Fantasyland, we were unable to cross the road because they were having another parade. I didn't mind, though, because they had Peter Pan, Alice, and Hatter on the same float. I was so busy watching them that I forgot to take a picture until they'd already passed, so here's the backs of their heads.

We took a quick jaunt through Fantasyland, but didn't stop for the Haunted Mansion or the Peter Pan ride because Brennie was getting irritable. But we did pass the Tangled tower! Want.

More pretty.

Dragged Brennie on the teacups. He pretended not to enjoy it, but I know he did, 'specially once we got it spinning.

And then he pooped out on me, so it was back to the house with our loot.

All around, it was a marvelous day and I could have stayed until closing instead of coming back at dinnertime. I'd still like to go back sometime in the next few days and catch the rides we missed. And go shopping some more. So much cool stuff. I loved seeing all the little girls in gowns. Man, I wish they sold adult-sized princess dresses. I'd be all over the Rapunzel dress so fast. Anyways, I think we're doing Universal Studios tomorrow, and I hear all the best rides are there, so that oughta be great.

Now I'm gonna go scrounge dinner and maybe play some more Unreal Tournament with the bro on the PS2 in his bedroom. Because this house is just that awesome.

Oh, and I hope my dorm is still standing when I get back. Apparently, Regular Ordinary Kildahl Mealtime has involved katanas and flaming toasters so far. Can't wait to hear what they get up to on the morrow.

OH OH OH, and that reminds me, we had an Avatar marathon after the Great Con final and finished the last season. EHRMAHGERD, it was so mind-blowing. Fire flying everywhere, and feels, and then awesome bending, and more feels, and epicness, and just holy crap. So wonderful.

Commander Kip
"My first girlfriend turned into the moon." "That's rough, buddy."
Normal is overrated!

Dude.

This. My brother just sent me a link to this. THIS, YOU GUYS. It's happening. It's a thing!



You don't even know how excited I am. Although, what's up with Jace's British accent? Oh well, it's sexy and I don't care. This movie is gonna be awesome. Jaaaace!!

Just had to freak out about that for a minute. Now back to the friggen Jesus paper.

Commander Kip
"I have awesome hair today." "Yes, you do. It's like sex hair, but without the sex."
Normal is overrated!

With my freeze ray

I will STOP the world

With my freeze ray I will

Find the time to find the words to

Tell you how

How you make

Make me feel

What's the phrase

Like a fool

Kinda sick

Special needs

Anyway

Thank you ever so much, Brenticus, for making this shirt possible. It's pretty fantastic.

I said I was gonna, and I did.

On another subject, this is Rasputin. Say hi!

Matt was a lifesaver on this one because he let me steal a bunch of his rubber bands and paper clips with which to string the little bugger. Hurray for boyfriends who conveniently let you steal their stuff!

 Rasputin was my final project in 3D Art. We had to make a "performed object" and perform it in front of the class. I made this awkward gargoyle thing and made him jump around for a while until he looked like this:

Yes, he exploded at the end. But he had a good life. It's okay. At least I didn't take Leif's suggestion and give him a gigantic penis. That would have been silly.

So, right now, there's too much Great Con happening to think about much else, but we have managed to finish Season 2 of Avatar, and the finale was epic and depressing, and apparently we're gonna have to do all of Season 3 basically in one sitting because once you start you can't stop. So that'll be happening after the Great Con final next Wednesday.

Some of us have also found time to start up a Kildahl D&D campaign on Sunday afternoons. You'll be hearing about my new character. Her name is Valandra, previously known as Exhibit 39, and she's a hippie wind elemental with sort of a "don't step on the grass" attitude. In D&D-speak, she's a Genasi Warden who was kidnapped by fortune hunters and sold to an arcane academic facility, where she was imprisoned and studied for several hundred years, watching the creatures in the cages around her getting hauled off for dissection. She eventually escaped by turning herself into a shifting whirlwind of sand and pouring through the keyhole of her cage. Now she's joined up with our ragtag band of adventurers on her way to find the sacred grove she had sworn to protect. I suspect if she runs into those fortune hunters, she wouldn't be averse to taking a few chunks out of them, but we'll see. For the record, I'mma always play tanks from now on. It's fantastic. I do actual damage when I hit stuff. I love it. Although it is weird to have such a low Charisma stat - Ileana could seduce her way in and out of anything, but Valandra can barely keep up a civil conversation. Should be interesting. Good thing we have a sexy Cleric on the team, as well as a Dragonborn with ridiculous Charisma. We'll just leave the seducing to them, I suppose.

Back to the friggen Jesus paper! Hurray, Jesus paper. *dies*

Commander Kip
"I do hope I'm interrupting something."
Normal is overrated!

procrastination!

I'm doin' it! I should be reading Cicero right now. And I will be reading Cicero very shortly, but first, have a few doodly bits.

Anastasia

Anabeth slicin' up some spiderwebs in Mark of Athena

a pretty chick

Dr. Horrible color test

an elf lad with strange hair

more wonky hair

Ivy Dale from the steamverse mess

Genesis Pike, holding... something?

baaaaaangs

some kid whose name is probably Paco

a few faces

Holly Short, elfin badass

Sokka from Avatar sulking about his lack of cool powers

Mmkay, back to ze Great Conz. Later, all.

Oh, and Downton Abbey is killing me, just for the record. I have a few more episodes left in Season Two. Last night I ended up crying on Anna's floor yet again because FEELS. How can we care so much about people who are (a. not real and (b. perfect idiots? Because they're gorgeous perfect idiots, that's why.

Commander Kip
"If it loses, we eats it whole." *beatific smile*
Normal is overrated!