FL Trip- MGM and Magic Kingdom #2

The next two days we made it to MGM and then again the Magic Kingdom but this time we went alone, just the four of us.

MGM

I really liked MGM. I thought that there wouldn't be that much to do for the kids, but I feel like we ran out of time and I wish we would have been able to go back with a better plan. Jonathan isn't that big of fan of MGM and so we kinda just roamed around and missed a lot. We did a lot too. We made it to the Behind the Scenes Car show that had a bit of Lightning McQueen in it that Jackson loved. We could have spent the whole day at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area. They had a new Pixar area with a new Toy Story ride that was a hit with all of us! We ate at the Pizza Planet (from the Toy Story movie). We rode the Great Movie ride but we missed out on the Backlot Tour and a few other shows I wanted to see. MGM is definitely more of a show/tour park than a ride park and some planning is definitely needed if you want to hit up all of them.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area!

This is one of the few places I have memories of my Disney visits! Jackson and Brayden loved it too!

Jackson got to "meet" and take a picture with Lightning McQueen and Mater. So excited!

Our Pizza Planet Dinner

I was a little disappointed there wasn't "the claw" inside. Come on Disney. That would have been SO easy and a hit!

Waiting in line for the new Toy Story ride! This was the longest ride we had to stand in the whole trip and we stood in it twice and only rode the ride once. That's because we have a certain toddler that, after standing in an hour line for 20 minutes, just HAD to go potty. Great.

This is our baby boy after the park that night. After three fun filled nights that ran past his bedtime, he was exhausted. We got home, picked him up (which he immediately woke up and always does) and when placed on the bed to get into his pjs he immediately fell back asleep. He just couldn't keep his eyes open! We just had to document this rare occasion.

Magic Kingdom-Take 2!

This trip was a very low key day. I loved not having to rush around trying to hit all the rides. We just leisurely strolled around going to rides we didn't get to the time before, but also knowing that we would be back one more time.

Jonathan and Jack riding the magic carpets. Jackson thought this one was "really fun."

We all rode the merry-go-round. Brayden hated it until it started moving and Jackson felt so proud to ride the horse by himself.

A quick picture while we waited in line. Jackson wanted to show off his Mickey bandaide from Janet!

Jack

Brayden

Brayden LOVED it's a small world. We rode it quite a few times during our visit because the line was always so short and Jackson got a little bit of a boat ride. We knew Brayden loved the ride because he would point to it every time we would pass the sign.

Next up....Animal Kingdom, then Cruise pictures, and then our last Disney day. So much to show and tell!

FL Trip- Magic Kingdom and Epcot

Magic Kingdom

Our first day at Disney was spent at the Magic Kingdom. It is no secret that I am not the biggest Disney fan but the start of our Disney trip was pretty magical in my book. We walked in and started down that long road that lead to the castle. Jackson was riding Jonathan's shoulders and was just in awe. He saw the castle and lit up! The only thing that Jackson associated with Disney before this trip was the castle since he saw it every time he watched a Disney movie. So every time he would see that castle we would tell him that he was going to see it soon. So when he actually saw the castle he was so excited. THEN, we walked up right to the castle and, what do you know, the minute we got up there a show started and Mickey and the rest of the characters came out of the castle singing and dancing. I bet Jackson thought this was just for him! It was pretty much the most magical part of the trip. I can't lie, I got a bit teary eyed. It was the PERFECT start.

The lines were short and we made it to a bunch of rides that evening....the people mover, buzz lightyear (who we saw when we came out and Jackson got super excited!), driving the race cars, winnie the pooh ride, peter pan, small world (which ended up being Brayden's favorite), the jungle cruise, swiss family robinson, just to name a few. What a fun day!

Jackson and Brayden loving their Papa and Grandma Janet.

Jackson just couldn't believe he could actually drive the car and Jonathan said he did pretty well.

Jackson really enjoying his first Mickey ice cream cone.

As we were walking out, they were playing this really cool movie/lights show that was actually played ON the castle and then had fireworks afterwards. A great start and a great end to our first Disney day!!!

Epcot

We traveled the worlds at Epcot, while Jonathan and Janet got some few worldly beers and we rode some of the counties rides, then made our way over to Figment, the Nemo ride (along with the aquarium after) and finally met MICKEY along with a few others. We ended the day watching the Illuminations show.

The first character Jackson met was Donald. He was a little more shy then I thought and would do nothing but give him a high-five and stand there while Donald hugged him (this is all he would do with every character).

We lucked out and only stood in one line to meet all the main characters. Jackson was SO excited to meet Mickey! Definitely a highlight for him! He liked all the characters except Goofy. I think Goofy was too tall for his liking. Brayden, on the other hand, was not a big fan of any of them.

Jackson loved the Nemo ride, but especially loved the aquarium after. He could have stayed there all day. I need to get Jack over to the Shedd soon!

FL Trip-The first few days...

After a very uneventful 18.5 hour drive we finally made it to Orlando. We timed it perfectly and after unpacking and some lunch it was nap time for all....just what we needed with a long overnight drive. I napped outside in the warm 80 degree sun! I just couldn't get enough! Then we headed down to Disney's Boardwalk for some dinner with John and Janet. Then we walked around a bit to enjoy the nice night! All Jackson wanted to do was ride the boats, unfortunately he never did get a chance to ride those boats and all Brayden wanted to do was walk.

The next day we headed over to Downtown Disney and strolled around. We finally made it over to their little splash area to have a picnic lunch and splash around. Our boys just love the water!

Right before the trip Jackson got into Toy Story. He is obsessed and loves Buzz Lightyear. He now jumps off everything with open arms saying, "to infinity and beyond!" He was thrilled to "meet" and hold Buzz Lightyear's hand.

Getting ready to splash around!

Brayden got shot in the face with water more than once (which he didn't mind that much) and Jackson lost his sunglasses down one of the Mickey shaped water holes but they played and played and could have stayed all day!

Soon John and Janet joined us and Jackson convinced Papa to take him on a train ride. What a great end to Jackson's day!

It was a great start to our trip! Lots of family time and warm weather (have I said that already?). We ended up getting our Disney passes that day too. We were planning on just paying for 2 days of Disney, but ended up getting residency and for only $11 more a ticket got their resident annual pass! It was a lifesaver for me, who could only take so much Disney. We did end up going to Disney a lot, BUT we would only go in the later afternoons for a few hours at a time when it wasn't that crowded. It was much more manageable than doing full Disney days. It was kinda perfect and would do it again. However, now Jonathan thinks we need to go back before our passes expire next February....shoot.

Our Two Week Florida Adventure

Our adventure, full of sunshine, warm weather, family, eating, cruising, beaches, and a lot of Disney magic, was all smashed between a whole bunch of sickness. We started our adventure with the Illinois stomach flu (Brayden and Jackson) and ended our trip with the Florida stomach flu (all of us!) along with some nasty colds and bronchitis for Brayden.

Right before we left for our two week Florida stay, Jackson and Brayden got sick. Luckily they were pretty much over it before we left for our long drive. I thought that was misserable until we all got the stomach flu with only a few days left of our trip. It was bad. Brayden got it first, on the cruise, then I got it the next day, then Jack the next day and finally Jonathan the day after that.

Despite the germs, we had some great moments and did so much in two weeks!

A little recap(more for my memory and record)...

Friday-Started our trek down to the sunny south

Saturday-Hello Sunny Florida! Disney's Boardwalk

Sunday- Downtown Disney and outlet mall

Monday-Magic Kingdom with John and Janet

Tuesday-Epcot with John and Janet

Wednesday-MGM

Thursday-Magic Kingdom

Friday-Animal Kingdom with the Thommes Family

Saturday-low key day and dinner at Cornado Springs for John's birthday

Sunday -Cruise

Monday- Freeport, Bahamas

Tuesday-Nassau, Bahamas

Wednesday-Cruise sea day (Brayden sick)

Thursday-Orlando (Jennifer sick)

Friday-Magic Kingdom with the Staniak family (Jackson sick) Decide to drive back to Illinois

Saturday- Still driving (Jonathan sick) Home around 2pm LONGEST DRIVE EVER!

Pictures and more stories to come!

11 Months!

Our little boy is 11 months today! Just one more little month till he is ONE! So crazy to think! He has really grown up this past month....starting with walking! He is a machine but still has to learn to get up in the middle of the room. Otherwise he is full on walking and loving every second of it.

This past month Brayden:

• has learned to walk. He started taking more and more steps last month, but this month really perfected his walk. When we were in Florida he really took off. He can turn, stop, and stand still all while balancing. He loves to be upright like his brother and follows him around the house.
• has learned to do stairs and now is just understanding that he needs to turn around to get down them. I still don't feel comfortable letting him venture on them by himself but he is getting better daily.
• was almost done with bottles. He was a food machine and pretty much refused his bottles when we were in Florida but then he got sick and is now afraid of food and just will take his bottles at the moment. I have one more month to get him done with them. And milk, well...he's not the biggest fan but was starting to tolerate it a bit.
• loves food. His favorites being pretzels, cheese, breakfast sausage, eggs, hot dogs, any meat, yogurt and water.
• loves to clap and now loves to point. He points at everything that he is thinking about as if to tell us that he wants to know what that is.
• he says "mama" towards me and "da" to Jonathan. These are his first words but he "talks" to us all the time.
• he has gotten the stomach flu twice this month as well as Bronchitis and a nasty face rash that the dermatologist called Peri dermatitis. A rash that affects "Celtic" type people. I have a feeling we will be battling skin issues with this kid for a long time.
• went to Disney World and the Bahamas on a cruise. What a world traveler, though he hated the car rides.
• still has no hair.
• wears size 4 diapers and 12 months clothes.
• sleeps from 7-somewhere in the 5s and takes two naps that total 3 hrs.
• can jump on a trampoline.
• is starting to understand more. He responds to the words no (when he wants to), come here, bottle, where is "dada or mama," jump, dance, shake, and dog.
• is interested in toys and finally learned to push buttons. He also loves books now and his favorite is an animal board book when I name the animals and their sounds.
• loves to drive around cars and make the car sounds by blowing raspberries. It is so cute.
• loves to watch tv like his dad and brother.
• is getting his 7th and 8th tooth...bottom next to the middle two.
• is still a mama's boy and loves to be held by me. It is cute when I hold him because he will always grab my thumb and play with it.
• hates when he is in a room and someone leaves even if there are others still in there with him. He is getting better because he can now follow them but still gets frustrated because he is not as fast. He just loves being by everyone.
• now sleeps with a blanket.
• still loves water but is scared of ocean waves and showers.
• he loves to reach up and grab your hand and walk with you.
• he gives me kisses and sometimes gives me hugs.

One more month till this little guy is ONE. I still can't believe it! We love the boy he is turning in to.