Disney Day 1: Hollywood Studios

Blogging about Disney has not exactly gone how I envisioned it. 3 weeks after our trip and I haven't managed to do more than the one post about traveling down to Florida. I'm so afraid all the memories of all the cute thing the kids said and did will fade away before I even get a chance to write them down.  In fact, I know they are. So even though I'm not in the peachiest of peachy moods, I guess I better buckle down and get to writing.

Day 1 – Hollywood Studios...and away we go!!!

The first words out of Will’s mouth this morning when he opens his eyes: “We have a really nice hotel.” Like he has any point of reference!!!!

Of course I did tons of research on this trip and scoured crowd calendars and the like, trying to find the most optimal and enjoyable vacation. So one of the first lessons quickly learned was to ride Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios first thing.  Oh, and to be at the park for opening every morning!! 

We let the kids pick one character meal a piece and Will chose dining with some of the Disney Junior characters. So bright and early that first morning, we had a really good (really!!) buffet breakfast with Handy Manny, Oso, Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates) and June (from Little Einsteins). The kids were in love! Lots of hugs, autographs and pictures! They even got to participate in a few dances and a parade around the restaurant. I think I'll do a whole post just on dining with the Disney characters.

This breakfast worked out great because we were already in the park at opening and away we went to Toy Story Mania!  After finally making it through the maze of line queues, our actual standing still wait time was probably 30 seconds.  For the record, when we got off the ride probably 10 mins later, the wait was already at 40 mins!!  Will and I rode together first and had SO MUCH FUN, although I did think the ride was unnecessarily jerky. Which Avery didn’t like. 

After TSM, we raced across the park to Star Tours. Maybe I should have done my research more. Or maybe I should have thought about Avery’s temperament more, but she did not like this ride. At all. AT ALL. She screamed and cried, bless her heart. And it was one of those rides were you sit in your own seat and you are strapped in so she couldn’t even get in our laps. I felt really bad! Kind of set the stage for the whole day for her.

A few pics around the park that morning....

Avery and Will are huge Phineas and Ferb fans so this was a fun time for Avery.

She did enjoy the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” playground, although they have no reference as to what the playground is about! Matt and I did not like this playground, mainly because we couldn’t keep track of Will!!!!  He was “lost” more than once. 

The boys utilized Fast Pass and rode TSM again while Avery and I took a stroll. Soon after this we saw the Disney Jr. Playhouse and I finally got a smile out of her as she sang along with Mickey and Friends. 

While we were in the show, a shower passed by so we had to break out the ponchos for a few mins after the show was over. We made our way over to the big Sorcerer’s hat and had a picnic lunch under the shelter of the hat. 

We walked around a bit after lunch and then decided to head back to the hotel. The kids both took a nap and we headed to the pool.  Will was IN LOVE with the pool area. The kiddie area featured an interactive pirate ship and he had so much fun splashing around and going down the slides. Avery, on the other hand, was not a fan of the commotion. She did swim a little in the big pool and went down one of the big slides with Matt. But she was not a fan of that slide either!  

She and I eventually headed back to the beach by our building and she had a lot of fun playing in the sand. 

It was off to bed at fairly close to their normal bed time.  Day 2: Epcot! Stay tuned!!!!

A Snow White Birthday Party

While I am completely behind and already out of a sequential ordering of Disney posts (being I've only done one...), I will go ahead and interrupt again with a post about Avery's birthday party.

Our little princess just loves Snow White so I knew several months ago exactly what kind of party she wanted. Thankfully I had been working on it for some time because when it came right down to it, I didn't have much time. I had originally planned to have it in mid-May, giving me plenty of time after the Disney trip to work on the party. But unfortunately we got double-booked so I had re-order invites and all that good stuff and have the party less than 48 hours after we got back from vacation!!!!! But that is neither here nor there.....

So I kept it simple as best I could, with both the invite list and the food. I probably did a better job keeping the food aspect simple....just cake, ice cream and fruit.

I made Snow White tutu's for everyone...wait, I should say Matt and I made them (because I had to get some help that last week) and made cute little apple-shaped favor boxes for the girls, complete with an apple shaped cookie. I really wanted to do the cookies myself but once again, time got the best of me so I had to have someone else make them. It worked out fine. If nothing else, I've learned these last 6 weeks or so to let go. To let go of all the things I think matter but really don't. To let go and to ask for help or accept it when it is offered.

Avery and Lilly in their tutus....

Avery was very cute and sweet as everyone sang Happy Birthday to her! She had the sweetest little puff to blow out her THREE candles!

We had an area to make Dwarf Beards.....

A table for of princess crown making delights.....

A playroom full of princes and princesses.....

A few more random pics....

Dad had his follow-up appts at Duke a few days after Avery's birthday so they were able to come up for the party. Yay! A side note, his appointment went great and everyone at Duke could not be more please with how well he is doing. God is good!!!

Mother's Day 2012

Just a few memories of today......

Me and my babes.....

Having lunch at The Seafood Restaurant at the Farmer's Market....

Through Will's eyes....

Through Avery's eyes....

Across the Streeet

On few minutes after 1PM on Friday, May 4th, Jane "went across the street."  Those who know Jane know that she wished to stay in her house until she "went across the street" (the church cemetery is across the street from her house) and for the most part, she was able to do so.  While she had been in failing health for some time, it is still hard to believe that she is gone.

Hard to believe that the days of parking at her house and visiting her after church are gone.  Hard to believe that we won't get her crazy packages full of feathers or coins in the mail anymore. Hard to believe that she won't be handing out Hershey's Kisses and caramel creams to her visitors anymore. Hard to believe that she won't play "frogs" with Will and Avery anymore.

I am so thankful I was able to visit her in the hospital a few days before she passed away. So thankful that she knew I was there and we were able to talk and hug. Even as sick as she was, she still had her same spunk and silliness. Telling Matt to scratch her nose when he hugged her bye and complaining about her pillow. 

She has always said to me "Love you little, love you big, love you like a little pig." As I was leaving her hospital room the Wednesday before she died, she struggled to get just that last line out. But she did and it is something I will never forget.  And it was the last thing I said to her as I was leaving her service on Sunday.

 There sure a lot of people in this world who loved Jane. She touched so many in all her years in nursing and life around Carteret County. She was such a fun grandma. I have so, so many fun and fond memories of spending Saturday nights at her house and all our trips to the McDonald's in Morehead. The road trips she and I used to take to the big city of Raleigh to see the circus or the Ice Capades.  All of our trips to Radio Island in the summer.  The many miles I drove her burgundy Chrysler LeBaron coupe around her backyard when I was all of 12 years old! Playing up at the Health Dept while she worked. Going to the old post office on Front Street with her to check her mail. I remember jumping up as I high as I could as a young child, holding a red crayon, and making a mark on her mailbox so I would always know which one it was.

I am so thankful that I had Jane in my life as long as I did. I am so thankful that I lived as close to her as I did during my childhood. She was an awesome grandma and I hope I was a good granddaughter in return.

I love you, Jane, and I miss you so much.

T is for Travel

Even with all that is going on this week, I still want to document our Disney vacation before all the cute kiddo memories have left my weary head. It truly was a wonderful vacation. So beware....these next several posts are going to be picture heavy!!!

Is it just me or are travel days just total busts?!?!  Delays, waiting, etc….somehow all that inactivity makes one very tired and cranky!  I have been saying all along that I was so glad that we were not trying to rush out the door for an early morning flight. Now 90% of me is still saying that. Don’t get me wrong; it was really nice to have a non-rushed, soccer Saturday morning.  Gave me plenty of time to get the gang packed and ready to go. And then on the way to the airport, I got a text saying our flight had been delayed. FOR THREE HOURS.  Since we were already on the way to the airport with 2 extremely excited kids, we decided to just go ahead.  Man, that was a long wait. Thankfully, the delay only ended up being about 2 hours and 10 mins or so but it was still long enough to throw a kink in the best laid plans. But we made the best of the airport wait I guess!

All smiles early on

  Starting to fade a little

At least I'm still smiling, sort of

Super Dad is always having fun

Poor Sunshine had enough by this point

So the flight itself….a first for both kiddos.  The flight wasn’t full, which helped it be a slightly less stressful situation I guess. The children did great! Avery was a little apprehensive and clung to Matt. It is funny, she is a complete Mommy’s girl and wants me 99% of the time but when she is scared, she wants her big, strong Daddy.  The seat configuration in the plane was 3 and 3. Will, ever the adventurer, took the window, Matt took the middle and Avery was quite content with the aisle and even refused to move to the window! I sat across the aisle with empty seats next to me.  I had a good long cry for about half of the flight, thinking about empty seats and cancer and tumors and Parkinson's and how all that just stunk.   

Avery went into boating mode…..the whir of the engines put her right to sleep.  That and the fact it was 5:30PM and she hadn’t had a nap yet.

Thankfully the flight was completely uneventful and short. And then the travel troubles started again. We ended up on the wrong side of the terminal for our bus and it took us a while to get that sorted out. And then there was the wait for the bus. And then there was the almost hour wait on the bus before it left. All that waiting is very hard to explain to 2 tired and hungry small kids.  

We actually had the front seats in the bus (“We are the front of the bus, the front of the bus, the front of the bus. We are the front of the bus; the back of the bus…..”) so we had a great time chatting with the driver. He was originally from Haiti, then Chicago, to Orlando and he and Will talked a lot about soccer.  He announced the order of the drop-offs…..the bus was going to 4 hotels and guess which one was last. Ours. This is about where I lost it. Here it is close to 9PM, pretty much everything on this trip so far had gone sour and I was tired. And hungry. I was just like my 5 and 2 year olds come to think of it!!!  

Finally, the infamous sign!

 

But we made it to the hotel at last and got checked-in.  Will and Avery have also never stayed in a hotel before so they were bouncing off the walls by this point. Will walked in the room first and just squealed with the delight!!!  They thought everything was just awesome and cool. The towels on the bed were shaped like Mickey (of course that was torn apart before I got a pic) and they thought the big TV right in front of the beds was their own little slice of heaven!!!!  

Quick baths it was and then off to bed! They have never shared a bed before plus they were completely wired and over-tired from the long day but they eventually fell asleep. Avery woke up a few times that night completely disoriented but went right back down after a big hug and a few pats from her big, strong Daddy.

I was so wired and over-tired and nervous that I don’t think I slept more than an hour total that night.