Disneyworld 2009 Part III

After our morning spent at the Magic Kingdom park, we decided to head to Epcot. Here's the kids in front of the giant 'globe' (I'm not really sure what to call it, so please forgive me, all you Disneyworld historians out there! :)

Since it was later in the evening and only a few hours to close, we decided to head for the 'The Seas with Nemo' ride, which was quite cute. Here are the kids posing inside a shark's mouth right outside the Nemo ride--one of Disney's many picture opportunities.

After that, we walked around the 'World Showcase' (a section of the park portraying different countries of the world). After we ate in the Moroccan restaurant, we headed outside for Epcot Illuminations, a spectacular outside show on the water with fireworks and lasers. Once the fireworks show was over, we headed home from the park on one of the shuttle buses taking us back to the resort. Unfortunately, at one of the 10 stops in our resort our bus broke down. To try and save time, we decided to walk back to our room--I mean, how bad could it be?! It was really amazing how spread out our resort was, because not only did it take forever, but we were truly lost! After searching for awhile, we finally found our room and crashed for the night.

The next morning we got up and headed to the Animal Kingdom park for our character breakfast at the Tusker House restaurant (and yes, I did double-check my blackberry to make sure I had the correct date! :) Here's the kiddos outside the park.

Once inside we passed by the Tree of Life garden which housed the most incredible looking man-made tree that I had ever seen. In all actuality, I'm not sure if I've ever seen another man-made tree, but it was really amazing! Not only was the tree very intricately made and detailed, it was also huge!

After the tree of life garden, we headed over to the Tusker House restaurant for our character breakfast. For starters, character meals are worth their weight in gold. I really liked the concept of them, because not only are you getting a nice meal, the kids get to meet several characters and have them sign their autograph books and take pictures and you don't have to stand in line! There are several different character meals at each of the parks and at every one, you get to meet different characters. For this particular meal, Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy came around to each table and meet and greet everyone. Here's the kids with each of the characters.

After the kids got to meet each of the characters, the waiters handed out African-themed instruments to the kids and they got to dance around the restaurant playing instruments while Goofy danced--it was a lot of fun! After our breakfast we headed off to see the rest of the park.

More to come in the next post...

Disneyworld 2009 Part II

The first morning (after our plane trip the night before) that we spent in Disneyworld was a little chaotic (thanks to me!) Since I recently acquired a new Blackberry for Christmas, I decided to put all of our reservations for Character meals on it. However, after we made it to the Animal Kingdom park for the Character breakfast that I thought we were supposed to be at that morning, I realized I was a day early for our reservation. Oops! Since Jason was none too happy to be at Animal Kingdom our first full day and not the Magic Kingdom, we got back on the shuttle bus and headed to the Magic Kingdom. (Nothing like an extra 20 to 30 minute bus ride in the morning when you are eager to be somewhere ;)

Anyway, once we got to the Magic Kingdom , we were off...here's some pics of the kids in front of Main Street. I love that the kids didn't even get out of their strollers for the picture. Oh well, I'm just glad we had the strollers to begin with--a necessity at Disneyworld for two small children, if you ask me!

At Downtown Disney, I had purchased the kids some Disney autograph books so they could have them sign their books when they met them. It was so cute to see the kids meeting each of the Disney characters. They really thought that they were real! Here's the kiddos meeting Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Pluto (just Ashlyn), and Chip n' Dale.



After standing in line to meet characters, we headed to the 'Winnie the Pooh' ride, the 'Peter Pan' ride (one of my favorites) and the 'Its a small world ride'. I kept laughing during 'Its a small world' ride, because Layton kept saying "I'm scared, I'm scared". I think he thought the ride was a little creepy with all the animated dolls singing 'Its a small world' again, and again, and again...I'm sure some adults would agree with him too. :)
After some of the rides, we headed to Mickey's toontown fair to see where Mickey and Minnie lived. Here we are outside Minnie and Mickey's houses.

After visiting Mickey and Minnie's houses, we headed back over to 'Goofy's Barnstormer', a kiddie roller-coaster, that Jason and Layton went on. Here's a picture of Layton and Jason before Layton's first slightly anxious, but overall enjoyable roller-coaster ride.
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After a few more hours in the park, we headed home for a much needed rest and headed to Epcot for the rest of the evening. More to come in the next post...

Disneyworld 2009 --Ashlyn and Layton's 1st trip

Since its been almost two months since my last post, (you're not really that surprised, are you?) I decided to fill you all in our most recent, exciting happening...we just took the kids for a weeklong fun-filled trip to Disneyworld! Actually, we got back about two weeks ago :), but believe me when I tell you, I feel slight overwhelmed trying to post about our trip. We did so much during our trip, I don't think I can even remember everything that we did. However, I will try to post a few of the highlights and remembrances of our trip.

First of all, Layton was seriously afraid of our plane ride to Disneyworld. This was quite a surprise to us all since Layton has flown several times since he was 4 weeks old, our most recent uneventful plane trip being in September. Its amazing how your child's awareness can change so suddenly. We think he suddenly realized how far up in the sky an airplane is--not too comforting for him. Anyway, after taking off in Houston, landing again in Jacksonville, MS (?) and taking off and landing again (remind me never too book anything that is not non-stop again!), we arrived in Orlando.

Since we have two small children, we decided that we would try to stay in a Disneyworld resort, the Caribbean Beach resort. I will say that it was very nice to not have to drive to get to all of the parks. We took shuttle buses to all of the location, which was nice to have (although a few times after a long wait to sit on a crowded bus, I was wishing we stayed at a monorail resort!) The weather was fantastic while we were there--about 70 to 80 degrees with a nice breeze. The parks were a little more crowded than I expected. It turned out that the state of Louisiana had closed schools for that week (Mardis Gras week), so we had a few more crowds than we expected, but overall it was very pleasant. Here's a few picture highlights of our trip once we were in Disneyworld.

Here's a picture of the kids after designing their 'Mickey hats' our first night at Disneyworld. Since we didn't get to our resort until after 6:00 pm, we decided to start off our disney vacation at Downtown Disney (one of the parks) to do a little shopping. What was amazing was how cold it was our first night there--poor Jason only had on a t-shirt and shorts from our plane trip there, so he was freezing. I don't think it was enough to motivate him to purchase a $50 Mickey Mouse hoodie (yes, the prices were just that expensive!), but he was pretty close to it!

Here's some neat pictures of some of the sculptures behind the kids outside the Lego store at Downtown Disney. No, your eyes are not deceiving you--those sculptures are made completely out of legos. Amazing, isn't it?!
I just noticed Ashlyn's expression in the 2nd picture--Ha! What a goofball!

After a pricey meal at the T-Rex cafe, we did some more shopping and then headed back to the hotel for our first full day at Disney. More to come in the next post...

Ashlyn dancing

Okay, I know I mentioned in one of my last posts that I would keep my blog updated on a more regular basis, but (well, you know) life gets in the way... Anyway, I did want to post a video of Ashlyn doing one of her routines from her little dance class. Isn't she cute?!!! (Note her little twirl at the end--that is sooooo Ashlyn). Luckily my sister (and my adorable nephew) was visiting and got to see Ashlyn perform. Not only did they get to see her, but we also got to get some pictures made of all the kids together which I will definitely post at a later time. Until then...

Here's Barron...

After a long nine-month wait, my adorable nephew is finally here!! What a blessing!

Barron was born Nov. 25th at 2:55 pm, and was 7 lbs. and 20 in. long. Isn't he cute?!!! We are all so excited to meet him and can't wait to hold him! Praise the Lord for this wonderful addition to our extended family!!

Random updates since my blogging 'hiatus'

Well, hello everyone! It seems like forever since I actually took the time to sit down and blog. Not sure really why--I guess with school, kids, and a rather bothersome stomach virus for me and for my family, blogging was really last on my mind. Of course on my time off from blogging, Halloween came and went and fall set in (sort of) here in Houston. Don't even get me started on how we are still bordering 80 degrees here in Houston in November, but I can't complain, it is better than stepping out the door and sweating (most of the time).

For Halloween, Ashlyn and Layton decided to take the superhero 'angle' this year and be Batgirl and a Blue Power Ranger. They were soooo cute. Not only did the kids get to go trick-or-treating on Halloween night, they also got to go trunk-or-treating at our Church and go to my mother-in-law's annual Halloween party the weekend before. So you could only imagine how much candy we had in the house--much to my dismay and my hubby's delight. Needless to say, the kids were also quite happy.

Anyway, I noticed that during my absence from blogging, my dear friend, Michael Ann, tagged me to share 7 random things about me (about a month ago!). So, in order to update my blog and illuminate everyone out there (ha!),here goes... Sorry so late, Michael Ann :(

7 Random Things About Me:

1. I had to laugh at Michael Ann's 7th random thing about herself, because it is something that we have in common (how random is that?!). I also had perfect attendance throughout my four years of high school, never missing a day even for illness. Not to mention, my parents would not let me miss school unless I was on my deathbed, but nevertheless--I never missed.

2. I have a birthmark on my face that I always have to cover up with makeup. It basically looks like someone slapped me on my right cheek, but it has always made me self-conscious. I even tried to get the discoloration removed with laser treatment, but the remnants are still there. As I have gotten older, I've learned not to care about it as much, but it would be nice to not have to put any makeup on it all. I guess we can always find something we don't like about ourselves.

3. I like to bargain shop. I'm not as good at finding deals as my friend, Nikki, but I like to look. I especially like perusing resale shops for great deals--its so much fun!

4. I've always wanted to take ballroom dancing lessons. Jason has always told me that he would do it with me if I wanted to, but I have yet to sign us up. Maybe it's because we have two small children at home that we'd have to find a sitter for. Regardless, one of these days, its going to happen!!

5. I'm with Michael Ann on this one too--we don't have Tivo. I'm sure we are one of only a handful in the country that don't. I would actually like to have it--especially with two small ones, it would be soooooo convenient. Again, (like the ballroom dancing lessons), I'm not sure what we're waiting for, but it sure would be a nice Christmas present (hint, hint, Jason).

6. I play classical piano and had competed when I was younger in numerous piano competitions for a number of years. My sister and I both played and would play solos as well as duets in these competitions (my favorite being duets). Although, I don't currently have a piano in my house (sadly) my dream is to own a grand piano one day.

7. And last but not least, I am about to become an aunt for the first time. My sister, Jackie, is due to have her little boy ANY DAY NOW! and I am soooo excited. Watch out, this baby is going to be spoiled rotten by me!

Anyway, that's my list of 7 random things. I'll try to do better at posting more often (you know how it goes with life these days), but this is a start. Here's to blogging again in the very near future!

Wordless Wednesday

Fun sights in Kansas City

The next day we were in KC, we decided to check out a place that Leah recommended for the kids on the Kansas side of KC--only about 20 minutes away. It was a place called Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead and it was about the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Not only was it the prettiest place I've seen in a long time, it was filled with so many neat things for the kids to do. There were wagon rides for the family; cane pole fishing with buckets full of worms (you know I had Jason handle that part!); a 'mining' area to find treasure; an area where you could bottle-feed baby goats; an indian encampment with tepees; a go-cart track for little tractors the kids could push with pedals (it was so cute!); pony rides; playgrounds for the kids and even a barn with tube slides coming out of the top--very cool; a petting zoo and a little 'zoo' for farm animals (ducks, geese, chickens, goats, pigs, cows and other farm animals--not to mention a bison, bobcats, an eagle, an owl); and even a little bunny village full of long-eared rabbits--so cute!

Here's us on the wagon/hay ride. It was especially nice because of the wonderful fall weather.

Here's me and Layton on the ride. I love this picture!

Here's a picture of the Jason and the kids fishing at the pond. Although we only caught one fish (and it was Jason's), the kids had fun running up and down the pier and slapping the water with their sticks (or as Ashlyn called it 'pretend fishing').

Here's a picture of the tractor 'go-cart' track. So sweet.

Here's a picture of the pony rides.

This is a picture of me and Layton after our 'disastrous' attempt to bottle-feed the baby goats. We had initially all gone into the pen to feed the goats, but we were soon overtaken by the hungry baby goats--in fact, the ones that weren't eating were nibbling on our clothes! Sheesh! Needless to say the kids were a little scared. This picture was taken after we quickly learned that the better way to feed the goats was through the fence. So here I am with Layton feeding the goats--I think Ashlyn was done after the 'feeding in the pen' attempt.

All in all, it was a very fun time at the farm. More pics and posts on our other KC sight-seeing visits in the next post...