The Rest of Disney

Well, I know I'm way behind since this dates back to April, but I'm working on it. :)

Here's the rest of our Disney trip in a nutshell.  We took one day and headed to Downtown Disney; there's so much to see and do there.  Matt and I knew what we wanted to "treat" Grayson with while at Disney, and we knew he'd be excited.  We went straight to the toy store...and headed for the Mr. Potato Head bins.  For a flat price, you can fill up a box or large potato head with as much as you can fit inside.

A sweet Disney cast member snagged Grayson and told him to pick out his pieces and she would make it fit.  She really lived up to her end of the bargain!  Our potato head was packed plus she threw in about 12 extra pieces that didn't make it.

We had a wonderful time on our Pirates and Pals cruise.  Gray got to meet two of his favorite pirates at the Cotemporary Resort, followed by a pirate cruise to see the fireworks over Magic Kingdom.  SO much fun!

Hitting up Midieval Times was another highlight for him.

This was a big bonding night for him and his Papa.

More fun at Universal Studios.

and we finally got smart and created our own double stroller.

The last few pictures speak for themselves.  The week was absolutely filled with joyous and happy moments, and I could not have asked for such a blessing and more flat-out fun.

And pretty much everyday Grayson asks when we can go back to the Disney World castle.

:)

Disney Part 4- Epcot

Slowly, but surely, I'm going to catch up on our summer together here in the West household!  We've had such a wonderful summer as a family of four and I can't wait to record it all.  But first, we'll just start where we left off, our Disney trip.

On the third park day (after Uncle Lance had gone home), we headed to Epcot for some fun...and so Matt could go to Figment.  He had in his head it was going to be spectacular.  :)

The kids were getting just a little worn out...this is early in the morning.

Our little pirate again, posing in front of the ball.  I had not been to Epcot since I was much younger and I had forgotten how beautiful the gardens are.  We wanted to go to Tinkerbell's garden, but it happened to be closed while we were there...so pretty!

Grayson is always transfixed inside an aquarium; I think he could stand there all day watching the fish...we might have a national geographic photographer right in front of our eyes. :)

That's a joke, but some of you might as well prepare.  He watches Man vs. Wild and we watched Speed of Light-East Africa last night on Discovery.  :)

After riding figment (which disappointed Matt greatly), we played on the squares that light up when you jump on them.  I think I'll put those in the playroom...good for getting the wiggles out.

Ava was, again, a trooper.  She just rode in the stroller, napped when she needed it, and was mostly a joy to deal with.  I'm telling you, people, babies are not so bad at Disney World!

Gray's favorite part (and Matt's)

 by far was the water playground with all the skipping water.

Such sweet little moments happen on vacations...I love that we tend to think only of each other and what makes everyone happy.  It is so very easy to lose sight of that at home, getting "busy."  I have decided busy-ness is one of the hugest tools satan uses to distract us...or at least me, anyway.

My little jokester...he put this visor on and wore it all night, giggling away. 

Good times.

:)

Disney Part 3- Hollywood Studios and Tusker House Breakfast

We began the next day gearing up for Disney's Hollywood Studios.  Our family had not been in years and neither had Matt.  Lance was SUPER excited about the toy story ride, so we loaded up (again at 7:30 am) ready to see and do.

Matt and I actually got one picture together, just the two of us!  It's so funny that that becomes more rare with little ones running around.

One of Gray's favorite parts was playing in "Honey, I shrunk the playground." 

All the slides he could imagine, and stuff to climb on was limitless...it was right up his alley.

Papa helped him ride the giant ant.

One of the characters we met that day was a toy soldier from Toy Story.  Grayson was so excited to see him, but when it actually came time to take pictures with him, Gray's face, well, it did that.

This is literally day 2 at the park, and we were exhausted!  By lunchtime. :)

On the third day, we had a character breakfast scheduled at Tusker House Restaurant inside Animal Kingdom park, so we slept in a bit.

I was distracted by all the beauty within the park, as I am with most of Disney's attractions, but this place is kind of magical to me.  It feels so authentic.

Meeting Donald on our way inside to the breakfast (um, I won't complain that we waited for over an hour despite our reservations.)

Meeting the big guy, himself.

And collapsing again after a day filled with excitement.

:)

Disney, Part 2-Magic Kingdom!!

Excited does not come close to describing the feeling Matt and I had to share Disney with our kids...and when I say disney, I mostly mean magic kingdom.

We couldn't wait and since our kids woke up at 5:30 am, which was 4:30 our time, everybody got up so we could be there to open the park.  I know it's kind of hyper-scheduled to some (sorry, dad), but morning is the best time of day for our kids on any day, especially a day with way too much overstimulated activity. :)

This was the point when Ava really started becoming a daddy's girl....and I do love it.  She wouldn't let anyone hold her but me up until this point, so it was a welcome change for us.  Plus, Matt loves it!

Uncle Lance came for a long weekend..

And we were all SO happy he could!  Grayson loves his uncle Lance and let me be honest and say that extra pair of hands was incredible!  Loading the stroller and 2 kids and diaper bags, etc., was a lot to handle, and we definitely missed him when he was gone...for more reasons than that.  But, he's all grown up and had to get back to work.  Love you, little brother! :)

It cracks me up that this was 8:15 am on the first park day...check out Grayson's face.

As always, a favorite was the carousel.  We rode it just a few times. :)  We tried desperately hard to be flexible and do the things that interested him.  This trip was different than the first time we took him at 18 months.  Being older meant walking more, which meant becoming more tired much sooner, and of course, that leads to many discipline issues.  That part was exhausting....we would literally be in the park and have to make him take some time on a bench or some spot if he was becoming whiny and lacking self-control.  (I know this may sound a little harsh, but we knew that if we allowed much of that to go on, it would dictate the entire trip)

But that was mostly handled on the first day, as we soon got the swing of things and got into a routine.

We reserved a character lunch at the Crystal Palace...it was great!  I would definitely recommend it and would love to do it again one day.  I'm just all about getting a little time with characters to avoid standing in every single line to meet them.  :)  The food was good, and it was great to be in the ac.

 

Riding "It's a Small World."

There's the whole clan.  You really should have seen us getting on and off the buses.  Good times.

And this is how Grayson spent most of the trip.  In full pirate gear.  He got a hat, sword, and little gun the first day and he barely took it off the entire trip.  Nana and Papa spoiled him just a tad too much.  :)

It's blurry, but this reminds me of a picture I have when Matt and I were dating, of the three of us together.  Only now, there's a baby sitting in my lap.  It's just special and crazy how time passes and how much more I appreciate those whom I love.

Speaking of that...Ava was a trooper.  She did like being held a lot, but she was not too fussy and would mostly fall asleep in the stroller when she needed to nap.  I know people talk about never taking babies or younger ones, but I'm telling you, the younger they are, the more flexible they are.  Taking Gray at 18 months was the best...he was old enough to have a ton of fun, but young enough to fall asleep at any point to rest.

 We did stay the first night for the spectromagic parade...at 9 or 10 pm.  Oh my, that was so late.  It was great to see, because I've never seen it before.  But...let me say that it was too late for the kiddos.  Ava was asleep before it began and Grayson was getting totally freaked out that people were standing on top of us.  We put him on our shoulders and that seemed to last almost until the end of the parade.  But he was ready to go then...like 30 minutes before. 

His favorite ride, by far, was splash mountain and peter pan ran a close second.  It was so neat that he was tall enough to ride so much and he loved every minute. 

So much fun to be a part of.

Disney April 2010, Part One!

Alright my lovely friends and fam, I find myself (still) behind in updating you on our family life.  With the other blog becoming a bit of a very part time job, I'm cautious at how much time I'm on the computer.  I'm sorry you guys are the ones that suffer....and I'm probably forgetting so very much to record for our own memories!

Our big event of the year was a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando.  We were scheduled to go in February, but after dad's heart attack, he asked (how dare he) that we push it back a bit.  I'm so glad we did!  The weather was a little warmer and he was able to enjoy it so much more than if we had gone earlier.

In the interest of not boring you to death and avoiding exploding blogger from uploading too many pictures, I'm going to do this Disney post in parts.

:)

The trip down was a long one, but we broke it up a bit and got an early start so we were able to stop and let the kids stretch when we needed to.  Luckily, Nana and Papa were Grayson's ride (his choosing) and we each had one kid in our cars.

They were happy to arrive, though...

Ava was 9 months old on the trip and it was a good baby age to take her.  Any older and we would have been walking which means she would have been crying to get out of her stroller the entire time.  She was mostly very content, taking in all the sights and action.  The great thing about babies is they'll nap at disney...they have no choice.  Even my schedule accustomed kids.  Well, not Gray anymore. 

Too big for that...

One of his favorite spots was the pool at our resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge at Kidani Village.  We loved it!  I will say, the same animals stay in front of your rooms and it might be a better resort for older kids who would get more excited to see them.

These are shots of our first day, playing at the pool and water park...

 

 

I love this one...so sweet and michevious!

And this, my friends, is the face of sugar shock...

Alright, I've got another post coming your way today.  Magic Kingdom!