Disney Day Three: Animal Kingdom

Day three at Disney was spent at Animal Kingdom. We woke up early to make our breakfast reservation at the Tusker House in Africa. The breakfast was GREAT! Tralee still had to warm up to the characters and wasn't too sure of them. Hunter LOVED them; especially Daisy Duck. He kept playing with her beak and quite frankly, couldn't keep his hands to himself. Since he's one, and she's a duck, we let it slide.

My kids were still pretty tired from the time change, and from the day before at MK, so we left a little on the early side that day. Brady and Amy also left a little earlier. Grammy Char Char and Haylee stayed until close and filled us in on all the things we missed. Maybe when my kids are a little older, they'll be able to hang in a little longer. We really enjoyed all the things we DID see and do on day three.

Here are some photos:

We took Tralee on the Dinosaur ride. She wasn't too thrilled about it, but rode it again with Grandma, Jim, and Brady. We're ghetto, so we took photos of the photos for purchase. It's a little blurry, but you get the gist.

My mom and I were the only ones that wanted to ride the Mount Everest ride, so here we are waiting in line to board. This ride is one of my new favorites at Disney. It was a lot of fun to ride it with my mom. She screamed at any little pause/turn/dip and I couldn't stop laughing at her.
The last thing Jim, the kids, and I saw before we left Animal Kingdom was A Bug's Life 3d movie inside the tree of life. When the bugs crawl under your bum to climb out of the theater at the end, Tralee started moving all around looking under her bum to find out where the bugs were. That was pretty cute.

The last picture is us back at our hotel room. Tralee and Hunter colored and painted for a bit before taking a little nap. Actually, Tralee never napped, but she rested. After Hunter fell asleep Jim stayed in the room and I took Tralee swimming. She has SO MUCH FUN! We really need to sign her up for swimming lessons soon. She loves the water now, and teaching her to swim would sure make me feel a lot better about taking both kids to the pool. After a while Jim and Hunter joined us, Hunter was still grumpy, so I went back to the room with him and Jim kept swimming with Tralee. Then we found out that Brady and Amy were back from AK so Tralee and Jim stayed in the water even longer to play with Brady. I think Tralee swam for almost two and a half hours that day and STILL didn't want to get out. Too much fun!

Highlights from Day Three:

* The 3d bugs show and watching Tralee's reaction to the special effects

* Riding on Everest with Momma

* Tralee shaking like a leaf her second time on Dinosaur

* Haylee burying her head in Amy's lap the entire Dinosaur ride

* The kids catching more lizards with Jim

Day four. . . Hollywood Studios!!!

Disney Day Two: Magic Kingdom

Our day started off with breakfast at the hotel, and then a bus ride to Magic Kingdom. Tralee absolutely ADORED Haylee, so she HAD to sit next to her on the bus. Tralee called the buses we rode on the whole week school buses. This was fine by me, as every time we see a school bus on the road at home she begs to ride on one. So, Tralee's wish to ride on a school bus came true at Disney. It really is a place where dreams come true!

I wanted to get a shot of Tralee's first glimpse at Cinderella's castle. I think she loved it! In fact I remember her saying, "I want to go there!"

Our first stop of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean. Goofy was right outside so we stopped for a photo op.

I like the picture below. First of all, whenever I asked Tralee to hold hands with me her response was always, "No thanks." Then she scampered off to find her "best friend" Haylee and hold her hand instead. I didn't think the shunning of parents happened until the teenage years. I am glad that Tralee loved her cousin Haylee, and that Haylee was such a good sport with Tralee wanting to hold her hand. Also, doesn't the picture below kind of look like a paparazzi shot?

Water break.

Tralee's first ride on Splash Mountain is pictured below. She rode this two times in a row the first day! What a trooper. I'm not sure she would have if Haylee and Brady didn't want to go again. She didn't want to be left out, but she was a little shaky ride number two.

Grammy Char Char or Mommy Char Char as Tralee says it, got soaked the first time we rode Splash Mountain.

There was a nice little play area outside Splash Mountain that Hunter climbed around on while waiting for the bigger kids to ride. Actually, most of the kids had fun climbing around this little play area for a bit.

By far, I think the ride that EVERYONE loved the most was Big Thunder Mountain. That was one of my favorites as a child as well. All the kids wanted to ride Big Thunder again and again. Good thing we had Hunter along, as he allowed the kid pass off ticket. Whoever watched Hunter while the rest of us rode, got to take a group of people to ride again without waiting in line. Usually that person took all three of the littles with them. You're only supposed to take two people with you, but we had three kids that wanted to go again, so they usually let us. I mean, how could you turn away one child? You couldn't! So, Haylee, Brady, and Tralee got to ride most of the rides two times in a row. Wahoo!

We had dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace our first day at Disney. At this point we didn't have a stroller with us, and Hunter hadn't napped all day. He slowly progressed into a very cranky little boy during dinner. It didn't help that the reservations were running behind schedule. The good news is, they gave us two fast passes all of us could use on any ride at MK to make up for it. YES!! We saved the fast passes to use on Friday. The bad news is, I quickly scarfed down my dinner so I could get back to the hotel to put Hunter to bed. Jim and I decided we should just bite the bullet and get a stroller to use the rest of our trip.

Grandma and the kids waiting for dinner.

You can tell that my kids are waning at this point.

Tralee's cousins were teaching her the fine art of thumb wars while waiting to be seated.

Poor Hunter was so tired and grumpy in the happiest place on earth.

Tralee wasn't too sure about the characters at this point. She warmed up after a few days.

Tralee didn't need any help warming up to chocolate ice cream with sprinkles at dinner.

Hunter is pictured at dinner below. He finally fell asleep, but woke up when we had to move him. Some lady came up to us and said it was a hazard to lay him in front of the emergency exit. I guess that's true, but still! Never wake a sleeping baby! Oh well.

I think we all kind of felt like Hunter after day one at Magic Kingdom. Tired.

It felt good to climb into bed that night.

Some favorite highlights of the day:

*Tralee always wanting to be next to Haylee and hold her hand

* Disney's Philhar (not sure I spelled that right) Magic. It's a 3d show, and Tralee's and Hunter's first 3d experience. Hunter watched most of it with his glasses off, but when I managed to keep them on him he reached for some 3d thing. Tralee was reaching and grabbing at things the whole time. I loved it, and remembered doing the same thing when I was a little girl. FUN!

*Our kids' first glimpses of the Castle

*Jim lizard hunting with Haylee and Brady at night

Day three on its way. . .

Disney Day One

We left for Disney World EARLY Sunday morning. I'm mean like, red eye flight early. The kids were able to sleep most of the way, but Jim and I didn't get much rest, so by the time we checked into our hotel (Pop Century) at 8:30 in the morning, all we wanted to do was climb into bed. Unfortunately, the kids didn't share our opinion; they were ready to play. Good thing there's something called a television set. We totally put on some cartoons for the kids and tried to get some shut eye. It kind of worked, at least Hunter fell back asleep. Tralee was way to excited though. Luckily the rest of our party (Grammy Char Char, Aunt Amy, Haylee, and Brady) showed up around noon and were ready to play with Tralee. Jim, Hunter, and I rested a bit more and then ventured outside.

Later Sunday afternoon, we all went swimming which was GREAT! After swimming lizards were caught, snacks were eaten, and pictures were taken. We all went to bed a little on the early side to rest up for the week ahead of us. The kids actually cooperated and fell asleep around 8pm. Jim and I stayed up a bit and watched some tv, snuggled, and then crashed ourselves around 10pm. It felt goooooood to relax and sleep.

Here are a few pics from day one in Disney.

Here are a few of my favorite memories from day one:

1. When we boarded the Magical Express from the airport Tralee pointed to the palm trees and yelled excitedly, "Look Mommy! Look at the trees!" She then asked what kind they were and I told her, "Palm trees." The rest of the trip, whenever we saw a palm tree Tralee pointed and said, "Look! There's a palm tree."

2. While traveling to our hotel Tralee saw the big Disney World sign and I asked if she knew what it said. She didn't but got really excited when I told her it meant we were in Disney World now. She also pointed to every character she saw on signs/the movie the bus played and excited stated, "Look! There's Mickey Mouse!" Or whichever character it was.

3. I LOVED that our hotel was able to get us into a room right away. There was a possibility we would have to wait until the afternoon for a room to be available. There was no way Jim and I could have lasted that long without crashing on a bed.

4. My heart was happy when I saw how excited Tralee was to see her cousins Haylee and Brady. The whole rest of the trip Tralee referred to Haylee as her best friend. I'm equally as happy that Haylee, who is five years older than Tralee, was such a good sport and so kind to her younger cousin.

More soon to come. . .

My favorite part about Disney. . .

. . . was seeing it through Tralee's eyes.

More (many many many more) pictures and memories to come.

P.S. Does the picture above remind you this?

We might have to frame these side-by-side. Tralee and my first Mickey meet and greet.

An Alaskan Surprise!

I put the kids to bed last night, cleaned downstairs, had a little WWW time, and then started getting sleepy myself so I headed off to bed. I decided to check some old DVR recordings before conking out and was in the middle of a show when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to my bedroom door where I saw a shadow. The shadow leaned forward and all of a sudden I saw him. A MAN WAS IN MY HOUSE!! AHHHH! Then I recognized the man, it was my husband! Jim wasn't supposed to be home until Saturday, but he surprised us all by flying home a few days early. GOOD SURPRISE!!! I was SO happy to see him after almost a month!

I couldn't wait for morning to see the kids' reaction to their daddy being home. Hunter woke up and started snuggling him and wouldn't let go. Everytime Jim tried to set him down, Hunter clung onto his daddy. Tralee came wondering into our room early this morning and climbed up on the bed. Then she realized that Daddy was in our bed and she got the cutest smile on her face. She kept turning to look at him just to make sure he was still there. Talk about a heart melter.

Now we just have to get ready for Disney World in a few days! WAHOO!! Can't wait.

Lastly, here are a few videos from some of Jim's Alaskan Adventures:

This was right before the sled dogs started pulling Jim. They were all excited to get going:

Here's Jim getting pulled on an ATV by the sled dogs.

Jim and some moose.

Real Princesses Don't Like Peas

Once upon a time there was a princess.

This princess wasn't aware of her royalness, but she was completely aware of the fact that she DID NOT like peas very much. Her mother, meaning well and trying to make sure her daughter ate a well rounded diet, tried to shovel copious amounts of peas down the princess's imperial throat. The princess and her throat, still unaware of their royalty, thwarted her mother's attempts by doing something not-so-princess-like. She and her throat gagged, and the peridot pellets of putridness, were regurgitated all over the dinner table. The princess was never force-fed peas again. Although on occasion, she would scrunch up her nose, and coerce one or two down, if she uncovered a pea in a salad when she was a guest at somebody's house for dinner. She didn't want to be rude, after all.

Many years went by, and this princess grew up to be a lovely young lady. As what often happens with lovely young ladies, she met and married a lovely young gentleman. They were wed in the palace of their dreams.

This princess, although still very unaware of her resplendentness, still felt very lucky and very majestic in her new wifely station. She and her husband even referred to each other as Queeny and Kingy.

After a few years of wedded bliss, our regal leading lady and her king decided to add an heir to their humble kingdom. While preparing for the arrival of their firstborn, the happy couple lovingly and carefully gathered toys, gowns, and books for their baby-to-be. One day, our fair maiden happened across a book, or rather, this book happened across our fair maiden. Book and Lady were drawn to one another, and as stories of this nature go, it was destined that this book should go home with the princess. And home with her it went.

Joined with her prince in their modest abode, Princess was anxious to read aloud the book she discovered for their baby-to-be, stating, "Let's read this book I discovered for our baby-to-be."

The tale was, The Princess and the Pea, by Lady Lauren Child. The princess in our tale was familiar with this story, as it was a favorite from her youth. However, it had been many years since she heard the story and she had never read this version. The narrative was magical and became even more so when our cardinal character read the last page in the book which affirmed:

"Peas were not served because, as everyone knows, real princesses are not especially fond of peas."

Ah-ha and alas!

Our fair maiden realized what had been true all along: she was a REAL princess. How else could you explain her disdain for peas? Even her prince, who knew of her dislike for the chartreuse circles of calamity, wondered aloud, "So that means, you must be a REAL princess!"

Though happy to discover of her princessness, our royal maiden did not change all that much. She stayed the same lovely lady that she always had been, as any real princess would. However, when she delivered her daughter, she couldn't help but wonder if she too would be of a royal nature. As it turns out, she was! As you can imagine, peas were not a favorable menu choice in their cookery.

A few years passed, three years and 10 months to be exact, since our princess birthed her beautiful royal heir into their anti-pea kingdom, when she came across a painting, or rather, a painting came across our princess. She was browsing the wondrous WWW when an image caught her eye.

Princess loved the artists and this piece of art and new it would be a gorgeous addition to her little lady's bedchamber, but it needed a little tweaking to make it the perfect addition. So the princess took it upon herself to create an inspired piece of art that would best decorate her damsel's den.

The favored factor of this artistic production was the placement of their princess credo:

"Real Princesses Don't Like Peas"

Once finished, the reproduction rested regally on the walls of the little princess's boudoir. The little lady loved her new illustration. Her mother, the princess, was as pleased as popcorn with the creation, and everyone lived happily ever after. . . and ate very few peas.

The Happy End