Ethan

This is our sweet new nephew.  They blessed him this weekend and my boys couldn't stop lovin' on him.  Can you blame them?

Pic of the day, well yesterday

Last Day of our Vacation . . .

We spent our last day at the Magic Kingdom again. The day started out perfect! We were having a blast! It was raining, but that made the lines shorter and to tell the truth, it was actually warmer than it had been for most of the rest of the trip. We bought some ugly touristy ponchos and didnt' let anything stop us . . . until Peter's fever spiked. I took him into the first aid station and he was almost 103 degrees. They gave him some motrin and he and I found someplace inside to hang out while Charlie and Mike went on more rides. We decided that we'd stay for the fireworks. It was only a couple hours away and it was our last night and Charlie and Peter had yet to stay awake for a fireworks show. Well when the fireworks started we couldn't see a thing. The fog had set in around the castle. I was so sad! But it gets worse from here.

We got to the car had realized that not only had we locked the keys inside, they were in the ignition. And the car had been running all day long! I broke down. It was cold. Peter was still feverish, but refused to keep a blanket on. I felt like the trip had been a big mistake. You know how you can't see the big picture when you're in the middle of a crisis? I was in total crisis mode. Mike got a number for a locksmith from the guys driving the tram. He sent me back to the store at the monorail station to wait somewhere warm.

Then Disney service stepped in.When I got there they were starting to close up. I broke down crying again and they invited us in while they were doing their closing duties. A manager came and talked to me. He brought me a wheel chair and called it my throne. He took the tram out to check on Mike and gave him directions to the close parking lot so that he could come right up to get us. The locksmith followed Mike to the gas station so that he could help push if he didn't make it on fumes. Then the locksmith led Mike back to get me and wouldn't accept a tip. I ended up leaving what could have been a horrible ordeal, with a smile on my face. It's amazing what a little kindness can do.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

The boys' favorite store
Peter was so serious about driving the cars.

The Teacups of course!
So excited to meet Buzz. We tried to wake Peter up for this one, but he refused to let anything get in the way of his nap.
The Parade.
Charlie insisted on waiting in line to meet a princess. Then at the end of the line, there were three!


Peter REALLY wanted one of those cupcakes. I've actually been thinking about them a lot lately too.

The castle all decked out for winter.
The fogged out fireworks show.

We had a great time! I loved being there with my family! I think the trip was a little bit long for how young our boys are, but I still wouldn't trade a moment of it. Well maybe the moment I broke my camera, or the moment the maid took Peter's blanket, or the moment Peter got sick, or the moment we were so excited to get in the park that we locked ourselves out of the car . . . ;)

And now back to blogging about the usual day to day . . .

Disney's Hollywood Studios

We planned to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios on Thursday, but woke up that morning to quite different plans. Peter had been having a hard time breathing all night long and had thrown up twice. I didn't have a thermometer, but he felt like he was burning up, so after a call to our pediatrician's on call doctor, we sent Charlie to the park with the rest of the family and took Peter into the urgent care facility. We got in and out fairly quickly. They checked him out and said that his chest was clear, it was probably just some virus that would need to pass. They did say he was starting to get an ear infection and gave us some antibiotics so that it would clear up before the flight home.

I was planning on staying at the hotel with him for the day, but he had so much energy that we decided to go ahead and go to Hollywood Studios anyway. We took it easy and didn't do too many rides, just enjoyed the ambiance.

Here are a few pictures of our day.

Brayden . . .Angie . . .
Everyone waiting for the Backlot Tour. I got yelled at for taking this picture. Evidently I crossed the yellow line. ;)
The boys loved Playhouse Disney on Stage.


And of course Pixar's Block Party Bash . . .

Epcot Highlights

Spaceship Earth- both boys loved it. I'm not sure I like the new ending though . . .
Hanging with the family . . .Innoventions and the Cars game . . . which we have at home. Still Charlie wanted to play . . . all day long.

The Characters! The boys LOVE the characters!
Norway and Maelstrom
Peter could have watched the ducks all day long.
Still cold, but the sun was out!
The Seas with Nemo and Friends. The boys loved the aquariums. Although we saw a little bit more of the dolphins than we bargained for. ;)
Mexico and the Three Caballeros
The View
More characters. Mulan called Charlie a brave little warrior when he told her about going on Soarin'.
More characters . . .
Some more . . .
One of our favorites . . .
They were all freezing!

Mary Poppins was so sweet! She talked to Charlie for a while, kissed him on the cheek, and asked if she could come home with us and be our nanny. Oh I wish . . .
Mike's favorite part of the day. He was too far away for me to get a good picture, but they had a place where adults could go try a Segway. He was pretty impressed.

Quick tip for any going to visit a Disney park. If you have a Disney Chase Visa, you get a special private character greeting. You can talk and hang out and you get a free 5x7 from their photographer (usually like$15 or $20). The boys LOVED it. And we got some great photos.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Not having the use of my D60, I set out with my trusty point and shoot for our day at the Animal Kingdom. We started out with a character breakfast- the one thing we splurged on at the parks. (the other days we ate breakfast at the hotel and took PB&J for lunch.) Here we are waiting with another family that we got talking to. Yes it really was that cold!

Charlie was so excited!



Peter getting up to dance with Daisy.

And then my trusty point and shoot went dead. So no more pictures for today . . .

The Magic Kingdom

After riding the monorail to the Magic Kingdom we jumped right on the Disneyland Railroad for a quick trip around the park to show the kids what we were in for.




Next we were off to Fantasyland to ride the Dumbo Ride. Peter looked like this throughout most of the trip . . . until he decided it was funny to crawl under the chain and take off laughing.

Charlie looked like this for most of the trip . . . puppy dog eyes and a "Hold me please!"


Next the carousel . . .

The kids both loved the Mickey's Philharmonic 3D show. For the first time Charlie figured out the whole 3D glasses thing. He kept reaching out to grab jewels or clouds or Donald's hands. We got such a kick out of watching him.

The boys both wanted to be held by Dad. Mike would decide to hold them both and they would fight and scream and push and cling to be the only one there.

The characters were by far the boys' favorite part of the parks.


Mike almost got Charlie to ride Splash Mountain, but once they sat down in their log, Charlie screamed and took off for the exit. Maybe next time. Instead, we played in a little play area, letting the kids run around before getting back in line.


We joined up with Mike's parents, sisters, brothers and nephews to ride Pirates of the Caribbean together.

Nap time . . .

The parade . . .


Waiting for Dad to come with the hot dogs . . .

This was the last picture I took that evening before Peter took off running through a crowd and I knocked over my backpack which broke my camera lens. That turned out to be an expensive little mistake. So I have no pictures of the SpectroMagic parade or the fireworks show. Little did I know that was just the first of many things that would go wrong on this trip . . .