What do you think?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Doctor's Visits
Monday was a day of doctor's appointments. We started the morning out with Tanner's 18 month check-up. His stats are:
Weight: 20.33 lbs (0.98%)
Height: 31.25 in (16.77%)
Head Circumference: 18.25 in (12.79%)
He is definitely my small fry! We turned him around in his car seat in Florida since his legs were getting too long. He just couldn't stretch them out anymore. He enjoys looking forward and seeing everything else there is to see.
Tanner also had therapy yesterday. He will be tested again in December and his therapist doesn't think he will qualify anymore. We will be grateful to be done with this milestone but we will miss our therapist!
Monday also involved dentist appointments for Mason and I. Neither of us really enjoy the dentist but we both survived. I came out with wonderful, healthy teeth and Mason came out with pretty good teeth... He has one small cavity that they will fill next Tuesday. (It's his first cavity!) He's not excited about it at all. If he wouldn't have had this one cavity, he could have been put into a drawing for a Toys R Us gift card. I think he was more disappointed about that then he was about having a cavity.
And I've taken a break from taking pictures since we took so many on our trip. So, no pictures for this post but hopefully I'll have a post with pictures soon. Halloween is coming....as well as costumes!
Weight: 20.33 lbs (0.98%)
Height: 31.25 in (16.77%)
Head Circumference: 18.25 in (12.79%)
He is definitely my small fry! We turned him around in his car seat in Florida since his legs were getting too long. He just couldn't stretch them out anymore. He enjoys looking forward and seeing everything else there is to see.
Tanner also had therapy yesterday. He will be tested again in December and his therapist doesn't think he will qualify anymore. We will be grateful to be done with this milestone but we will miss our therapist!
Monday also involved dentist appointments for Mason and I. Neither of us really enjoy the dentist but we both survived. I came out with wonderful, healthy teeth and Mason came out with pretty good teeth... He has one small cavity that they will fill next Tuesday. (It's his first cavity!) He's not excited about it at all. If he wouldn't have had this one cavity, he could have been put into a drawing for a Toys R Us gift card. I think he was more disappointed about that then he was about having a cavity.
And I've taken a break from taking pictures since we took so many on our trip. So, no pictures for this post but hopefully I'll have a post with pictures soon. Halloween is coming....as well as costumes!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Florida - Day 10
It was our last day in hot, humid, sunny Florida! We let the kids sleep in for as long as they would and they woke us up at 7:30. We got ready for the day, started one more load of laundry and headed to breakfast. We ate one more time at the Gingerbread House. Then I headed back to the villa to start packing and Montana took the boys to ride the horses at Keaton's Korral. I had only packed the clothes when Montana and the boys showed up. The line was ridiculously long for the horses and it was really hot so they decided it wasn't worth it. So, they came back and Montana helped with some packing. It wasn't getting done real quickly so Montana took the older two boys to the store to find a duffle bag that would hold all of our presents as well as our 3 foot long umbrellas! We finally finished packing, finished folding the laundry, and headed to check out...about 10 minutes late! We went to check out and I realized I had packed all of our room keys. So I offered to mail them back when we got home but they said not to worry about it. They gave us all of our check-out papers. We were given a World Passport which gives us free access to a large number of parks throughout the world for the following year. Lagoon and Cherry Hill are both on the list so we will definitely be making a trip to both of those next summer! After check-out was taken care of, we headed to get ice cream one more time. Then on to the Amberville Train Station to play one last game that we had coupons for. Then we headed to find a duffle bag. (Montana wasn't able to find one big enough earlier on in the day. So we loaded all of the extra stuff into a garbage bag before check-out.) We found one at a discount store down the street. Then Montana bought some new shoes since his had holes in them. Then we headed to the airport. We got there about 3 hours before flight time. We returned the rental car, got somebody to help with our luggage and went to check in. We weighed our bags and the final weight was 50lbs each for two of our bags, 28lbs for another one, and just under 50lbs for the final one. We also checked three car seats and one stroller! Check in took the longest amount of time. We headed to security and we made it through in about 15 minutes! So we stopped and got something to eat for lunch and then headed to the gate to wait. We boarded the plane early and got all situated. I opted to sit by the two older boys and let Montana take care of Tanner. Well, we got ready to leave and Montana still had an empty seat next to him. So he had a little extra room with Tanner. And then Peyton whined almost the entire flight home. He was so tired but he wouldn't let himself fall asleep. (In fact, he was asleep before we even drove away from the airport.) I worked on homework with Mason and Montana made Tanner sleep. He slept for a couple of hours and made it really easy for Montana compared to the flight to Orlando. When we got about 15 minutes away from landing, the pilot came on the intercom and said that we were not being allowed to land. The airport had closed a runway and we were to wait until they gave us permission to land. So, we circled for about 15 minutes and finally was given the okay to land. Once we landed, we saw a plane on the runway surrounded by emergency vehicles. We learned that the plane had blown two tires upon landing and there were tire pieces all over the runway. They were shuttling people off the plane and into the airport. Therefore we were a little late getting home but we were definitely grateful that we weren't on that plane! Eric was waiting for us and we picked up our luggage, loaded the van, and headed home. We unloaded the van when we got home but just deposited everything in the family room and went to bed! We were glad to be home and to sleep in our own beds. And since I need at least one picture in every post, here's a picture of all the things the boys got while at the village. And this doesn't include the souvenirs that they picked out themselves! Talk about being spoiled...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Florida - Day 9 - For Real!
Today was our last full day in Florida! It's kinda bittersweet. We headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom first.
Montana took Mason to It's a Bug's Life while I took Peyton and Tanner on the Triceratops ride. Then we headed over to see Eeyore, Pooh, and Tigger. After that, we had to rush over to Camp Minnie and Mickey to see The Festival of The Lion King! That was the most amazing show ever! Since we had our Guest Assistance Pass, we got to sit on the second row in the handicapped seating. We decided that we weren't going to try to video or take pictures during the show...we were just gonna enjoy the show. Well, towards the end of the show, one of the performers came up to Montana and Peyton and wanted their help. Peyton cried through most of it but Montana took him up anyway. I grabbed the video camera and videoed a little bit and then took a few pictures. Montana and Peyton were given a shaker and then they walked around the circle with the performers.
It was so neat! And the show was more amazing then we thought possible. We were so glad that we had taken the time to go see it! It was like a Broadway Show! Then we headed to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We boarded a safari truck and headed into the safari.
It reminded me of South Africa and made me miss it! We saw lots and lots of animals. The boys loved it and it was nice to just sit and ride for a little bit.
Then we rode a train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. It wasn't anything too special. They did have a petting zoo but we passed on that. So we rode the train back towards the park and headed to our next adventure. We went on the Rapid ride in Asia and, again, got soaked. After that we headed to Mount Everest to ride the roller coaster. I went first with Mason and he thought it was a little scary but he was so brave. It even went backwards and that was Mason's favorite part! Then Montana took a turn on that one and we headed to a roller coaster/spinning ride in DinoLand. Montana took Mason and I watched, knowing that it would make me sick if I went on it! Then we purchased some jumbo turkey legs! They were huge and so deliciously yummy. We left the park and headed back to Magic Kingdom to finish off our wonderful trip.
We still had Frontier Land and Fantasy Land to finish up. When we got to this park, the parade was about to start so we decided to watch it (We really didn't have a choice cause we couldn't make it down Main Street). The Disney Theme this year is Celebrate Life - What a great theme! It was really neat and we got to see all the characters! Then we bought the boys their Mickey Ears, had their names stitched on them, and got a couple more souvenirs.
We headed to Splash Mountain where we got just a little wet.
Then on to Big Thunder Mountain. Mason loved that ride too! We took a break from the heat and rode the boats on It's a Small World. Peyton and Tanner LOVED this ride! Mason got off of it and said, "Yeah, Dad, that's the most annoying song ever!" Then we rode Peter Pan...twice! Then on to Dumbo and the Winnie the Pooh ride. We were quite rushed towards the end to make sure we made it back to the village to eat at the Gingerbread House one more time. We did stop for one final picture in front of the castle.
Then we caught the monorail back to the parking lot and loaded up. We said farewell to the Disney Parks and the magic and fun we experienced there.
We returned to the village in time to catch dinner. But when we got up to the Gingerbread House, they weren't serving dinner cause there was a BBQ/Pool Party going on instead. We didn't really want that for dinner so we went to the Ice Cream Parlor for ice cream and headed to the villa to order pizza. We checked out our present for the day - 3 DVD's and our final check-out paperwork.
We were so tired that after dinner, we put the boys to bed, cleaned up dinner, and headed to bed. Tomorrow is check-out day and we have a little bit of time to finish everything up at the village and purchase a duffle bag to get all of our presents and souvenirs home!
Florida - Day 9
I promise a real post is coming soon. We have been playing hard to get the last of our stuff done! And therefore we are really tired. We head home tomorrow and we are ready to sleep in our own beds! And we are ready to be home...we ran out of park tickets today :(
Monday, October 10, 2011
Florida - Day 8
Today we decided to go back to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We had one more day in those parks.
And we made the most of it. After getting there and having some parking issues we headed into the park for some more fun. We decided to start in Universal Studios and finish up the things that we didn’t get to yesterday. Montana went on Revenge of the Mummy and said it was so scary.
Then we headed to Men In Black – Alien Attack. Mason went with Montana and enjoyed it so much that he went on it with me. After that we had to head back to Curious George’s Playarea. Montana took Mason on ET and then I went with Mason. And then we headed to Woody Woodpecker’s rollercoaster for one final spin! The boys wanted to play in the water stuff with George so they played for a minute and then we headed over to Islands of Adventure. We started there in Dr. Seuss Land. We grabbed some lunch and then took the boys on Cat in the Hat. It scared Peyton a little bit but he did okay. Then we went on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. After that it was the Caro-Seuss-al and then the Trolley Ride. Peyton had a pretty good time on the rides. He cried on the fish one but we were mean parents and made him go on it! In between all of those rides, we met Sam I Am, Thing 1, Thing 2, Cat in the Hat, and the Grinch!
Then we headed on over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It was so neat to walk through Hogsmeade after reading the books.
It was so crowded in this part of the park. Montana wanted to ride on the Dragon Challenge and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to or not. So we headed to the exit with our escort…kids and all! And it was uphill the entire way. Montana rode on it and loved it but I decided against it. The wait for this ride was 90 minutes so we figured it was so busy because everybody was waiting for others that were standing in that line. Thanks to our pass, we were in and out in about 10 minutes! Then we decided to head over to the family friendly coaster…except we went the wrong way. We followed the crowds and headed into Hogwarts.
We wandered to the entrance and into the child swap area. I decided to go first with Mason. We got on the ride and I instantly knew this was not the coaster I had originally thought it was. Mason held my hand the entire time. It turns out it was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was quite scary. And it made me a little sick. So then Montana went on it by himself and Mason was a little upset with me…understandably. Next we headed to the family friendly coaster – for real! We went on the Flight of the Hippogriff. Mason went on it four times and loved it so much each time. As we were headed out of Harry Potter, we decided that we needed to try some butterbeer!
Montana got one that was a regular drink and then one that was more like a slushy. The slushy one was so much better than the regular one…and they were delicious! Next we headed into Jurassic Park Land.
We rode on the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride. It was cool. We rode a boat through the ‘park’ and saw dinosaurs and then finished it off with a huge downhill portion that soaked us! It felt really good cause it was so hot and humid. Then we headed to the Pteranadon Flyers. You have to have a child with you to be able to ride it. So Mason and I rode this one and had a blast.
Then we headed back to Toon Lagoon where we ended yesterday. We rode on Ripsaw Falls and again got SOAKED.
Then Montana and Mason headed to Popeye’s Barge Ride and got even more wet…if that is even possible!
We had about 30 minutes left before the park closed so Montana and Mason rode on Spiderman one more time! As they were riding that one, I realized that we still had a free picture to redeem. As I looked closely at the coupon, I realized that we were standing right in front of one of the places to redeem it. So, when Montana and Mason were done, we headed over there. It was one where they take your face and put it on a body. The only requirement is that Peyton had to be in the picture. So we decided to pick one that the three boys could do together. We chose a Star Wars one and it turned out perfectly. After we got the picture, we headed out of the park, returned the stroller, and headed to the car. We made it back to the village in time to hit up the Halloween Party. Montana ordered and waited for our dinner from Katie’s Kitchen while I took the boys around to the candy stations. They ended up with tons of candy. Then we headed back to the villa to eat dinner and crash!
Oh, and our present on the table today was a small lap blanket for Peyton and another game - Learning to...Share Fun Park Game.
What a day! Tomorrow is our last Disney day. I’m kinda sad that it’s coming to an end but we are getting ready to be back home!
And we made the most of it. After getting there and having some parking issues we headed into the park for some more fun. We decided to start in Universal Studios and finish up the things that we didn’t get to yesterday. Montana went on Revenge of the Mummy and said it was so scary.
Then we headed to Men In Black – Alien Attack. Mason went with Montana and enjoyed it so much that he went on it with me. After that we had to head back to Curious George’s Playarea. Montana took Mason on ET and then I went with Mason. And then we headed to Woody Woodpecker’s rollercoaster for one final spin! The boys wanted to play in the water stuff with George so they played for a minute and then we headed over to Islands of Adventure. We started there in Dr. Seuss Land. We grabbed some lunch and then took the boys on Cat in the Hat. It scared Peyton a little bit but he did okay. Then we went on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. After that it was the Caro-Seuss-al and then the Trolley Ride. Peyton had a pretty good time on the rides. He cried on the fish one but we were mean parents and made him go on it! In between all of those rides, we met Sam I Am, Thing 1, Thing 2, Cat in the Hat, and the Grinch!
Then we headed on over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It was so neat to walk through Hogsmeade after reading the books.
It was so crowded in this part of the park. Montana wanted to ride on the Dragon Challenge and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to or not. So we headed to the exit with our escort…kids and all! And it was uphill the entire way. Montana rode on it and loved it but I decided against it. The wait for this ride was 90 minutes so we figured it was so busy because everybody was waiting for others that were standing in that line. Thanks to our pass, we were in and out in about 10 minutes! Then we decided to head over to the family friendly coaster…except we went the wrong way. We followed the crowds and headed into Hogwarts.
We wandered to the entrance and into the child swap area. I decided to go first with Mason. We got on the ride and I instantly knew this was not the coaster I had originally thought it was. Mason held my hand the entire time. It turns out it was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was quite scary. And it made me a little sick. So then Montana went on it by himself and Mason was a little upset with me…understandably. Next we headed to the family friendly coaster – for real! We went on the Flight of the Hippogriff. Mason went on it four times and loved it so much each time. As we were headed out of Harry Potter, we decided that we needed to try some butterbeer!
Montana got one that was a regular drink and then one that was more like a slushy. The slushy one was so much better than the regular one…and they were delicious! Next we headed into Jurassic Park Land.
We rode on the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride. It was cool. We rode a boat through the ‘park’ and saw dinosaurs and then finished it off with a huge downhill portion that soaked us! It felt really good cause it was so hot and humid. Then we headed to the Pteranadon Flyers. You have to have a child with you to be able to ride it. So Mason and I rode this one and had a blast.
Then we headed back to Toon Lagoon where we ended yesterday. We rode on Ripsaw Falls and again got SOAKED.
Then Montana and Mason headed to Popeye’s Barge Ride and got even more wet…if that is even possible!
We had about 30 minutes left before the park closed so Montana and Mason rode on Spiderman one more time! As they were riding that one, I realized that we still had a free picture to redeem. As I looked closely at the coupon, I realized that we were standing right in front of one of the places to redeem it. So, when Montana and Mason were done, we headed over there. It was one where they take your face and put it on a body. The only requirement is that Peyton had to be in the picture. So we decided to pick one that the three boys could do together. We chose a Star Wars one and it turned out perfectly. After we got the picture, we headed out of the park, returned the stroller, and headed to the car. We made it back to the village in time to hit up the Halloween Party. Montana ordered and waited for our dinner from Katie’s Kitchen while I took the boys around to the candy stations. They ended up with tons of candy. Then we headed back to the villa to eat dinner and crash!
Oh, and our present on the table today was a small lap blanket for Peyton and another game - Learning to...Share Fun Park Game.
What a day! Tomorrow is our last Disney day. I’m kinda sad that it’s coming to an end but we are getting ready to be back home!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Florida - Day 7
I feel like it's been a long day....and it has! It started with church at 9AM this morning. It was about 10 minutes down the road from the village. It was really good and I'm glad we went. And it was still raining...I don't think it stopped all night long. We went back to the village after church, changed our clothes and were getting ready to get some lunch. And then somebody knocked on our door. They were delivering our present for the day. We got CandyLand...the GKTW version.
Then we packed up our bags and headed to lunch. We ate in the Ice Cream Palace and of course we had to eat ice cream when our lunch was gone.
At this point, the rain had stopped for a little bit and then started again. Then we headed over to Universal Studios for a few hours.
The rain stopped for a little bit while we walked to the park. We walked into the park and saw Dora and Diego.
I was digging through the bag looking for autograph books and realized that I had left them at the village. The staff member that was with Dora and Diego said that if we waited a minute, he would contact the team leader and see if she could get us books to use for today since we forgot ours. So we stood around for a little while until she got there. And then she had Montana go and sign something before we got the books. They were official Universal Studios autograph books with pens included! And the boys got them for FREE! Then the team leader took us over to see Shrek.
And then we headed to Shrek 4D while the team leader took the autograph books and got lots of autographs for the boys. We didn't even have to find the characters! Then we headed towards ET...in the rain. We had covered the strollers with our SeaWorld ponchos and then we had our umbrellas as well. So everybody stayed pretty dry. Mason loved ET and wants to go back tomorrow!
Then we went to Woody Woodpeckers Roller Coaster.
After that, we headed into Curious George's play area.
We weren't trying to get wet (it's a water park thing) and the boys were trying to play in the non wet zones. Well, they headed up to the 2nd level to play with the squirt guns when a bucket of water spilled down the roof...and soaked the boys!
Peyton wasn't happy but he survived. Then we headed to Jaws since this park was closing soon. Montana wasn't too impressed.
So I decided not to wait in line and headed to the Simpsons Ride instead. Mason and I went on that and it made me sick to my stomach. We decided to leave the park and head over to Islands of Adventure since they were still open for a couple more hours. We got over there and went to the Marvel Comics area. Montana rode the Hulk coaster while I fed the kids a snack. Then I went on Hulk! It was so crazy and so fun! I think Montana's gonna try to go again tomorrow. Then Montana and Mason went on Spiderman...twice. We headed to Toon Lagoon and Mason and I decided to go on Popeye's boat ride thing. Everybody was wearing their ponchos so we decided to put ours on too! And we sure were glad we did! It was so much fun and when we got done, we were covered in water, despite the fact that we wore our ponchos. And Mason wants to take Montana on that one tomorrow as well. Then we headed back to the car and back to the village. When we got to our villa, we unloaded and ordered pizza for dinner. The boys promptly crashed when their heads hit their pillows! And now I'm gonna sleep so that we can run around Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure tomorrow!
Then we packed up our bags and headed to lunch. We ate in the Ice Cream Palace and of course we had to eat ice cream when our lunch was gone.
At this point, the rain had stopped for a little bit and then started again. Then we headed over to Universal Studios for a few hours.
The rain stopped for a little bit while we walked to the park. We walked into the park and saw Dora and Diego.
I was digging through the bag looking for autograph books and realized that I had left them at the village. The staff member that was with Dora and Diego said that if we waited a minute, he would contact the team leader and see if she could get us books to use for today since we forgot ours. So we stood around for a little while until she got there. And then she had Montana go and sign something before we got the books. They were official Universal Studios autograph books with pens included! And the boys got them for FREE! Then the team leader took us over to see Shrek.
And then we headed to Shrek 4D while the team leader took the autograph books and got lots of autographs for the boys. We didn't even have to find the characters! Then we headed towards ET...in the rain. We had covered the strollers with our SeaWorld ponchos and then we had our umbrellas as well. So everybody stayed pretty dry. Mason loved ET and wants to go back tomorrow!
Then we went to Woody Woodpeckers Roller Coaster.
After that, we headed into Curious George's play area.
We weren't trying to get wet (it's a water park thing) and the boys were trying to play in the non wet zones. Well, they headed up to the 2nd level to play with the squirt guns when a bucket of water spilled down the roof...and soaked the boys!
Peyton wasn't happy but he survived. Then we headed to Jaws since this park was closing soon. Montana wasn't too impressed.
So I decided not to wait in line and headed to the Simpsons Ride instead. Mason and I went on that and it made me sick to my stomach. We decided to leave the park and head over to Islands of Adventure since they were still open for a couple more hours. We got over there and went to the Marvel Comics area. Montana rode the Hulk coaster while I fed the kids a snack. Then I went on Hulk! It was so crazy and so fun! I think Montana's gonna try to go again tomorrow. Then Montana and Mason went on Spiderman...twice. We headed to Toon Lagoon and Mason and I decided to go on Popeye's boat ride thing. Everybody was wearing their ponchos so we decided to put ours on too! And we sure were glad we did! It was so much fun and when we got done, we were covered in water, despite the fact that we wore our ponchos. And Mason wants to take Montana on that one tomorrow as well. Then we headed back to the car and back to the village. When we got to our villa, we unloaded and ordered pizza for dinner. The boys promptly crashed when their heads hit their pillows! And now I'm gonna sleep so that we can run around Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure tomorrow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)