Magic Kingdom

Ok, so these pictures are now 2 months later, but better late than never! We arrived at the MK gates right as the train was pulling into the station with the characters on board and got to hear the welcome song. As they finished their singing, we headed over to get a wheelchair, then it was off for some FUN! Of course, we had to stop and get a photo with the castle in the background. We headed over to the Dumbo ride, as I had heard the line for this ride gets longer throughout the day.

Next, we went over to the Peter Pan ride and Winnie the Pooh ride. Dan decided to tell Eyore a secret before we got on this ride.
After Peter Pan, we rode the Snow White ride and then went to see the 3D show. It was excellent and I wish we could have made it over again to see it one more time.

Here are Jake & Lydia on the carosel.

Lydia really, really wanted to meet Ariel, even though I figured this process would take a long time and eat up some of our peak, morning time. But we were in that section of the park, so we waited...and waited...and waited. That, by far, was our longest wait time. Maybe an hour. Thankfully, they have a little water play area right there for the kids, so that it's just mom that had to save our spot. (Dan was resting in my chair at this time, and while Jake had no intentions of wanting to meet Ariel, he wanted to come along to take Lydia's pictures with Ariel).

Finally, it was Lydia's turn. I was taking some video, while Jake snapped a few pics.

Next came Jake and Lydia's first roller coaster ride, Goofy's Barnsider (I think that was the name). I wondered how they would do. I rode with Lydia and she had a look of fright on the way up the hill, but both she and big brother were all smiles when it was over!

Jake and Lydia inside Mickey (or Minnie's house)???



Inside the Buzz Lightyear ride...fun, but no where near as fun as the ToyStory Mania the previous day.


Again, Lydia would want this picture to be in here. This fellow was walking right around us, not scared at all, when we were milling around some food places, trying to figure out what to do for lunch. Lydia was pleading for me to hurry and get the picture.

Can you tell these kids need some food in their stomachs? We decided on an indoor lunch place and took our time to get a little break.


This picture was taken after we got off the Splash Mountain ride. Earlier in the year, when I showed Lydia this ride on the computer and asked her if she would ride it, she replied, "yes." My thought was that for sure, she would quickly change her mind as it loomed closer and closer and she saw how high the drop was. But she still wanted to do it, so after using our Fast Passes, we boarded the log boat. The story of Brer Rabbit and his foes, Brer Bear and Brer Fox, was a fun, cool, long ride. But I knew what was coming and I knew it was too late for Lydia to change her mind now. Sure enough, when we rounded the last corner and saw the steep hill we were about to ascend, Lydia's breathing became fast, very fast. I put my arm around her and held her tight and told her I'd be her seatbelt. Down, down, down we went and at the end, she was making a little, panicky sound. Then, she looked up at me and said, "Can we do it again?" That's my girl! After this we went to the Pirates ride, which was NONE to her liking.

View from Swiss Family Robinson treehouse

After riding the Flying Carpet ride, we went on a little boat ride. Another nice, relaxing break, with some fun things to see.

Just hangin' out after a little shopping...watch out, you're gonna fall in!

It's A Small World (and one tired girl)

After Small World, we split up. Jake wanted to ride the Speedway cars and Lydia wanted to repeat the Pooh and Peter Pan rides. Thankfully, while we on the way there, I learned a very valuable bit of information. For some reason, I thought we would get to meet the princesses on Sunday, while Lydia got her Bippidi, Boppidi, Boutique experience at Downtown Disney. I learned this would not be the case and so the two of us headed over to where the princesses were signing autographs. Turned out to be a good move since this area was much less crowded than it was ealier in the day. We waited about 1/2 hour and got to meet 3 lovely ladies. And speaking of it being a small world, the couple in front of us with their little 1 year old, who loved Cinderella, was from Troy, Ohio...about 45 minutes from Kettering!

"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes"

"Tale As Old As Time"

"I Know You, I Danced With You Once Upon A Dream"

We met up with some friends of Dan, who also happened to have a daughter named Lydia. The three kids had so much fun playing together in the little amount of time we had with them. They live right there in Orlando, so were able to tell us where some good seats were for the parade. They went to ride a few more rides while we went to go sit down. We ended up getting a prime place right in the back of the castle. As it got darker and darker, it was so cool to see the castle being lit up in all different colors. Jake took this lovely picture, as well as the parade pictures below.

The parade was by far, my most favorite part of the day. We went to see the 9pm parade and stayed put for the fireworks that would come a little later. While we didn't have the best view for the fireworks show as the castle blocked a lot of them from where we were sitting, what was really cool was that we got to see Tinkerbell fly down from the backside window of a top turret of the castle (on a cable). That was really cool!!! After the fireworks, the kids begged to ride a few more rides. While we were exhausted, we also knew we'd be fighting a huge crowd if we left now. So, much to the delight of our offspring, we rode the teacups, Pooh, Peter Pan, and the carosel once more. Then we decided to call it a day. And we had some perfect timing again. As we left, we got to watch the 11pm showing of the parade and right when we got to the exit, the last of the parade people were starting down the street, so we beat that crowd as well! It was a magical day, at least for the kiddos! We had not had supper, so we stopped on the way home at a Burger King. By the time we got back to the hotel and started eating, it was one in the morning. Jake and Lydia find that very memorable...eating supper at 1am! Then, obviously, we all crashed.

Next post, will show our last day of our Disney days!

Disney Highlights - Part I

A few weeks ago, Dan and I were able to take the kids to Orlando, where we had planned to go to Walt Disney World for a couple of days. My mom had won 4 airline tickets and very generously gave them to us, along with a day's worth of tickets to enter one of the parks. We decided to utilize the offer on the part of WDW, that if you come on your birthday, you get a free ticket and then be able to try out 2 different parks. This blog and the next one I will get to (hopefully before our trip to Trinidad) will give you a visual idea of the fun we had!

This was Lydia's first time on an airplane. Jake flew when he was 5 1/2 months old to PNG, so really it was his first time, as far as remembering goes. Unfortunately, I did not get a great picture of him on the flight.


She looks quite the experienced traveler already, huh?

Cool spaceman we took a photo op with.

We got to pick our rental car! Wish you could have seen the way Dan squished our luggage in there.

J & L could hardly wait to go swimming as soon as we arrived. They (un)patiently waited for mom to unpack. Finally, she was ready and Dad got a much needed nap.

Glad we swam then, because there was only time for swimming one other time during our trip. Had about an hour and a half in the pool until it was time to go have supper with Mickey & friends!!!

Apparently, Daddy wasn't the only one who needed a nap.

They slept just about the entire 20 minute drive to...

I tried to wake them up to see this sign, but it was no use. (Although Lydia still claims that she never fell asleep). The power nap was good for them so all could be in a good mood for Chef Mickey's! We got to see and get autographs from all these peeps...

Donald Duck

Goofy

Pluto
Minnie (aka "Meanie," as our trolley driver called her, which completely cracked up the kids). Who...

stole a kiss from the Jakester!
And of course, Mickey!

This was my mode of transportation for Friday and Saturday. Due to breaking my leg, I was not going to be able to walk WDW for 2 straight days. I offered to push Dan around in it as well and we could take turns, since he had injured his ankle with a bad sprain the weekend before. But he declined. However, it was great for Lydia, who if you know her at all, tends to walk at her own "speed of life." I would sit back as far as I could, which left a little spot for her to sit in the middle. Jake got a few turns too, but was great in understanding Lydia's "need" for it.

Gotta love the 3D shows...I believe this was the Muppets.

Had to include this pic...how often do you get to hug a snowman in May?

This was taken on our family favorite ride, Toy Story Mania. We liked it so much we got fast passes to go again. As you can see from the pic, you pull on the little string, while aiming to shoot all sorts of things (all 3D).

Remember Honey, I Shrunk The Kids? I loved that movie. They had a little playground area where kids could run around. Was fun for the kids, but impossible to keep track of them, so I planted myself near the exit.

Dan found a glorious bit of shade and planted himself there...smart man.

Lid in my chair. We separated from the boys so Jake could do Star Tours one more time and Lydia could see The Little Mermaid show one more time (one of her favs). This was during our short wait time.

Lydia would want me to show this picture. While we were waiting for the guys at our meeting point, we saw this little guy, as well about 10 others.

Last pic before we left MGM...sorry it's sideways.

More to come later...

Locks of Love

Lydia had been begging me to get her hair cut. She liked her long hair, but H-A-T-E-D when it came time for brushing it. She uses conditioner in the shower and we also put a spray in conditioner (could have bought stock in that stuff). But regardless, it was prone to some nasty snarls and tangles. And with summer coming, the thought of throwing in suncreen, chlorine, and sweat, it wasn't going to get any easier. The only thing was we were planning on donating her hair. Locks of Love needed 10 inches and we were so close (hence the begging). I had thought about Wigs for Kids, too, but I just couldn't make my girl wait for her hair to grow another couple of inches. So, finally the day came and I called my friend, Nancy. She told us to come on over after Lid got off the bus. I told Lydia that we were going to get her hair cut and she said, "Maybe I'll be on the announcements." I guess that same day a girl who had donated her hair got to be recognized on the visual announcements. (I wrote Lydia's teacher a note the next day, and Lydia did indeed get to make an appearance and do the Pledge). The following pictures show the BIG CUT!!! Ten inches is a lot of hair, but she looks quite cute! And little sis' got to get a matching cut!

Before (front)
Before (back)

Combing...

Braiding...

CUTTING!!!
Here's what we send in.

After (profile)

Claire's turn.

Can ya tell she was not too happy?
But it was all over soon enough and then the girls got to play with friend, Philip!

Holdin' Hands

Today, Jake and I made our way down to Malcolm's house. Malcolm is an 8 year old boy, whom we discovered a couple weeks ago, lives just 6 houses down from us! I think I was more excited than Jake that he has a play buddy so closeby. We've never had friends for the kids who lived on the same street in the 7 1/2 years we have had children (which I totally get...we never intended to stay on such a busy road once we had kids). We were on our way over to invite Malcolm to Vacation Bible School, which starts tomorrow (yeah, I know...procrastination). He wasn't home, so I told Jake we would swing back by on our way to church to try again and leave a note if they still were not home. As I was telling him this, I grabbed Jake's hand and led him back to the sidewalk. Usually, when we are out on the sidewalk, he is on his bike or racing me getting off the bus (not much of a race when Mom is not back to strength yet from a broken leg). I didn't say anything, just basked in the moment of holding my son's hand. I held back the urge to squeeze tight, because I didn't want him to let go if I drew attention to our hands. But my heart sure was squeezing tight. In the next minute, my mind raced from sweet, precious memories of the past to the unforeseen future with Jake. I remembered how teeny-tiny his newborn hands were, and then holding those sweet toddlers hands that wanted to explore, but then come right back to mama. Then it dawned on me, that compared to those seemingly endless toddler days when a mother's hands are so needed and wanted (I'm there with Claire), my son did not need me in that way so much anymore. In fact, I couldn't remember the last time I held his hand. And so, we continued, just the two of us down the street. Finally, I couldn't contain myself. I squeezed his hand and gently said, " I love you, Jake." He looked up at me, giggled, and told me he loved me, too. And I got my wish...he kept holding my hand. Granted, now he was swinging my arm as hard as he could and stretching our arms apart, but he was still holdin' on and that was all I wanted at that moment.

The handprints on the wall get higher and higher and then one day, they disappear.