The weekend went smoothly after all. Hubby and Peanut met up with the family on Friday for a visit to Animal Kingdom. Peanut took to MIL and immediately began calling her “Nanny.” In fact, he asked for her all weekend. They had a great time at the park, even without an afternoon nap. Peanut loved the safari ride and even survived the 3-D bug’s life show…with 3-D glasses and all. Hubby was much braver than I would be!

Nanny stayed with us Friday night, sans Friend, thank dog! We’re not sure what happened, but it seems Friend decided not to stay with us after all (hmmm, maybe she realized she was imposing? Probably not.) We tooled around Saturday and met up with the rest of the family for dinner at Arabian Nights. Peanut was scared by the pre-dinner magic show, which was painfully loud. Why do theaters and other entertainment places insist on putting the volume at ear-splitting level? The experience would not be lessened by a more comfortable volume. In fact, it would be better and less scary for the little kids. He kept saying “bye” and pointing to the exit. After a few rounds in the gift shop, he settled down and we were able to go back into the main hall. In retrospect, the loud pre-show was a great threshold-upper. By the time we got to dinner, Peanut was no longer freaked out and loved the horses, lights, clapping, and yelling. He even clapped and hooted during the interactive parts of the show (so cute). Each time an act ended he’d yell “BYE! BYE!!” to the horses.

The food was mediocre, but that’s not what we were there for. Free beer and wine (yes!) and our funny waiter more than made up for the food. The horses and stunts were fantastic, although the storyline was hokey (as expected.) It was great entertainment for the kids, with goofy, clean humor. The Gypsy scene was my favorite – flashy costumes, lots of acrobatics on and off horseback. Ponytailed men with sixpacks didn’t hurt, either!

After dinner we hung out at the hotel for a bit. Peanut and his cousin had a blast playing with her toys and running laps around the place. We left well past bedtime once Peanut started asking for his ba-ba. We had to make due with a sippy cup, which worked. He zonked out around halfway home.

Yesterday was a nice, relaxing day. We did our usual trip to the park, fed the ducks, and showed off our playground skills to Daddy. After several requests for Nanny, Hubby called her and let Peanut talk on the phone. He was so pleased.

Bedtime was unreal. Peanut drained 2 ½ bottles and still would not settle down. We read the night-night story. We snuggled on the couch. Hubby sang. Hubby and Peanut went in Peanut’s room. Hubby finally put Peanut in bed with me and after much crying, fussing, flailing, standing up, and clamboring over us, he fell asleep. At 10 pm. Ninety minutes past betime.