A taste of Disney & St. Augustine

 We spent the morning of June 5 taking advantage of our location to visit Downtown Disney, the free section of Disney World. It's mostly intended for shopping and dining, but we treated it like a park and the great thing about our kids' age and limited experience is, they didn't ask to go to the real park.

I'm sure we won't be so lucky next time. We're already looking into sweepstakes we can enter to win WDW passes.

Miles with a hero acquaintance of his.

Adele began a love affair with Minnie today. She really didn't want to leave that stuffed Minnie behind. We'll see if this hype lasts before investing, though. 

We all loved the character-shaped topiary. 

Huge whimsical displays were everywhere. 

The colors are so bright here... must be the sunshine. 

 We didn't eat at the T-Rex Restaurant, or at the Rainforest Cafe. (OMG $$$). BUT we did get to do a free walk-through and gawk, and then play in the kiddie paleontology dig.

 Only our hunger brought us out inside of an hour.

 We found a blues-themed restaurant that had a food truck ($). With plates of BBQ and drinks we could sit in the shade & enjoy the art.

We thought our Memphis friends would enjoy this colorful map:

 There are places of musical/cultural importance described on the map.

  Look closely at the lower sign here in TN, Melissa:

"Home of the Super Hero's Adoptive Parents"

 They were referring to Superman, I think, but it made me well up anyway.

Inside the LegoStore, it was pretty much lego paradise for kids.

 There were 4-5 stations at which to build, including one out front that had a place where you could build and race vehicles.

 Miles & Papa came in second in their heat!

The park also contained a fountain playground, which Adele refused to approach. Miles, however, was soaked in no time and required a change of clothes before we could get in the car and take an afternoon nap-long drive to St. Augustine. 

St. Augustine is on an estuary, where the river meets the ocean. We stopped first at a national park to gaze a bit. Found some crabs, too. 

 And then it was time for dinner. We finally located the charming pedestrian area of St. Augustine and had a lovely walk trying to find a suitable place to eat.

 I really recommend a stroll around the Old Town. It's very pleasant. I'd say I don't know how all those ice cream shops stay in business, but I think I have an inkling. It was like 85 degrees at dusk.

 I felt drawn to this building when it was just a tower in the distance. I'd hoped it would be an old church and I was not disappointed.

The building may have been refurbished, but you are looking at the Oldest Christian Church in the United States, founded in 1565. 

See?

St. Augustine and I gazed at each other for a minute. "Well, understand, I was only human," he seemed to say. "Yes, I know." I wanted to respond. "It's okay. And, thank you for your love for God. Say hello to the angels for me, sir!"