"The Wilderness Must Be Explored! Caw Caw ROAR!!!"

The King and I are Disney Annual Pass Holders... Have I told you that?

We have been for about 6 months now.

That means we only have 6 months left to accomplish our one goal for Disney:

Do. Every.Thing. EVERYTHING!

You see, Animal Kingdom is kind of a tough one because, one, its not EPCOT (my favorite... hands down) and two, because its so freaking hot.

The King loves him some animals though and we decided to devote the entire day yesterday to checking those animals out.

My lifelong friend, Laurel, decided to tag along (she works for Disney, so she's like my permanent Disney buddy). Laurel and I are... how would you say this???.... special. That's it, special. So when we saw the "Wilderness Explorer Troop Tent" and that there were real life Wilderness Explorers there giving out merit badge books, we said, "yes, please sir... sign us up!"

After enthusiastically learning the Wilderness Explorer's chant (the blog post title, but with hand wing motions and claws) we were presented with our own Wilderness Explorers badge books. The King rolled his eyes, did the call along with us, and then realized that he did marry "That Girl" and would be going around doing activities meant only for 3-10 year olds all day.

We did learn a lot of important things though, including:

+ Tarantulas shed their ENTIRE exoskeleton (including their lungs and eyes).

+ Cheetahs are the only cats whose claws cannot retract.

+ How to greet and say good bye to someone in Thai.

+ The Country of South Africa has three major capitals and they are all there for different purposes.

+ The brontosaurus never actually existed, but was two separate dinosaurs put together!!! (This is just like the whole, "Pluto isn't a planet" thing alllllll over again.)

Honestly, I've never had so much fun at a Disney park and never spent ALL DAY at Animal Kingdom.

You bet this Wilderness Explorer will forever explore the wilderness.

Here are a bunch of pictures I took around the park.

It was seriously the best day. I hope everyone else had a fun, restful and memorable weekend.

Our Home: Downtown Abbey

It's been a little over a week in our new home and slowly, but surely, we are making it our own.

I cannot describe to you how surreal it was sitting down at a table and signing all of those documents.

That is truly one of life's weird moments that help you realize.... Yes, I am an Adult.

I mean, the King and I have both been living our adult lives for a while. We've been providing for ourselves and making our own decisions. But now, we have an added commitment binding us together. One that makes us more responsible and accountable.

But.... it's all ours.

That's the best part.

This. Is. Our. House. HOME.

I can't wait to share with everyone the progress we will make on it.

Last weekend we started with the first bit of painting. Next stop: washer and dryer.

After that... who knows.

Welcome to our new downtown house: Downtown Abbey.