Florida 2022 - Day 8

 AKA - the lizard rescue day

Today was the day that AA had been looking forward to for a couple of days.  It was nice to only put in a modest 11,690 steps throughout the day.

The morning did not have a specific wake up alarm.  The only requirement was to leave the villa by 9:45 with a short drive to the Polynesian Resort for breakfast.  The kids were already awake by the time the adults were ready, so it wasn't a battle to get them out of bed and start the day.

It was a short drive to the resort for breakfast at Ohana.  AA was looking forward to seeing Lilo and Stitch but unfortunately there was no character greetings at the restaurant.  AA even wore his pineapple shirt in anticipation.

After brunch, AA and DD took the car to a supercharger to "fuel up".  MBM, Lola and twinkies took the monorail to Magic Kingdom and then a bus to the hotel.  

By the time AA and DD got back (only about an hour), the kids were being on their own in their room, reading and playing very nicely which was good so that MBM could have a rest and Lola could get some laundry started.

At 2pm, the plan was to go to the pool at the resort.  At 2:15, the gang was almost ready to go.  Once loaded into the car, it was a short drive to the resort pool and a long wait in the hotel check-in car line as one bus was waiting for another bus to finish unloading.

The kids were very excited for the pool and water slide.  There was a lot of slides and swimming in pool number 1.

Then, it was a short walk to pool number 2.  This pool was smaller than the first but had the fan favourite slide which was much faster and many turns.  It was a good way to spend the hot afternoon - in the water and the kids burning energy.  There was even time for a short drink and snack break at pool number 2.

After a short drive back to the villa, it was time for showers before supper.  AA needed to iron his shorts and "found" a small lizard on the ironing board when he pulled it out (more like the lizard ran across his hands and jumped to the floor before he even knew what was going on.  After a small shriek, the kids came to his rescue asking what was going on.  Once the situation was explained, the kids were on to the task of helping AA catch the lizard. 

After AA put on his shorts (not wanting to have another event if/when his towel fell off), the chair which the creature was hiding under was moved.  And the lizard made its way to beneath the couch.  The coffee table and then the couch were moved only to have the lizard snake its way to the row of high-top chairs at the kitchen bar table.  

At this point, T was concerned that the lizard was injured.  AA wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that situation but was first focused on trapping the little critter to escort it out of the villa.  After tracking the lizard along the bar, it was starting to make its way down the hallway towards MBM and DD's bedroom.  AA used his foot to prevent the lizard from continuing its journey, B used her hands to corner it and T used the clear pot lid to trap it.  AA used a piece of paper to form a bottom to the pen and lifted the little guy and took him outside.

As he was moving the critter outside,  AA was able see what appeared at first to be a broken leg was in fact some skin that was peeling off as the lizard was shedding.  After this was explained to T, he was feeling better - that the creature would not immediately die when moved outdoors (not that this was going to stop AA from releasing the lizard to the wild).  This then prompted the name of "Sheddy".

After the ordeal and the gang was all cleaned up and ready for dinner, it was a short walk to the boat dock to catch a ride to Disney Springs and Paddlefish.  The restaurant was pretty neat - built inside an old paddlewheel boat.

Dinner was delicious - DD and Lola elected to have crab legs, where Lola had to coach DD on the methods to get into the crab meat.  B, who requested the kid's catch of the day (and then substituted for mahi instead of salmon), was enamoured with DD's crab and started to learn the tricks of the trade of how to eat crab from a shell.

A short boat ride back to the villa and the kids are now in bed, hopefully sleeping and getting ready for another busy day at Magic Kingdom tomorrow. 

AA