Disney, Day 2

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom on Day 2. There is just SO much to do there! Right at the entrance to Magic Kingdom, there is a train that rides around the outside of the whole park, and of all the things to do, they wanted to ride on it first!

 Then, we headed into Fantasyland for the day. You really can't do it all in one day, so we picked various parts of the park to do each day and it worked out well. The other thing we learned quickly was that if you get to the park early, there is no need for a fast pass. So, we ended up changing all of our fast passes that our travel person had set up for us to later in the day to save them. It is all about being strategic! Ha! Having the Disney app on my phone really made this so easy. I don't know how you do it without it!

Love his little dimple!

We started with Peter Pan, which was a blast. The boys love Peter Pan and it was a fun ride for them!

We loved Dumbo! Harrison will tell you it was his favorite ride. What we loved most about it was that in the middle of the line, there is a play area and you get a beeper once you get to that point and the kids can play until your beeper goes off and it's time to ride. And the best thing about the play area was that it was inside and air conditioned!

We did "It's a Small World" (aka most boring ride ever!), but the kids loved it and Harrison danced the entire time. He was so serious while he did it, so I had to take a video! This kid cracks me up. Beware...you will have the song in your head the rest of the day!



We did the teacups! Harrison was about to lose it before we got on this ride, but you can see he recovered quickly!

Then it was lunchtime and we had a fast pass for Be Our Guest. It was lunch in the Beast's castle, which the boys LOVED. Although they kept thinking the beast and Belle were going to come out so every little noise they heard they got all excited...so that was a bit of a let down that there weren't any real characters in there, but the food was delicious and there was even a room that had the real rose in it. I thought the coolest thing here was that you place your order sort of up at the front, and they give you a rose. You sat at any table and somehow, the waiters found you (using the rose obviously!). It was really neat...and if you asked how they did that, they all told you it was magic. :)

 

We thought Harrison might want to take a little snooze after lunch so we decided to head back to the hotel (again, trying to stay on top of sleep--he would NOT sleep in the stroller!). Here we are on the boat ride! See the beautiful sky...the weather was just like this the entire time we were there. Never saw a cloud!

 



Naptime was a complete failure so after about an hour of trying, we headed back to the park! They were just too excited and actually Harrison was doing great.

We went back to Fantasyland to do Goofy's Barnstormer ride, which was a small rollercoaster and Harrison could do it. He LOVED it!

 

 

I think we rode this 3 times while we were there!

 

 

Then, we knew we wanted to do Tomorrowland at night, so we headed that way and did the Tomorrowland speedway first. It was so fun! Hudson was a terrible driver! Ha!

 

 

And we did the Buzz Lightyear ride! It was a hit!

 

 

Joel got a little too serious with this one. So much for letting Harrison shoot! I love Harrison's little face here though!

 

 After the Buzz Lightyear ride, it was time for Space Mountain! Joel did not want Hudson to ride Space Mountain. He thought it would terrify him and ruin the rest of the trip. But, Hudson was insistent on it. So, Joel went with him first and I have to say, I was a little nervous. Hudson LOVED it though! We did switch rider and then I got to do it with him. I got a little nervous before I got on and Hudson was so sweet and told me it was going to be ok and he would take care of me. Sweet boy!

After Space Mountain, we found the real Buzz!

 They sure do know how to make boys happy!

 I have no idea why Harrison wanted to stay in the stroller for this one, but Buzz wasn't going to let him off the hook. I love these pictures! Harrison loved it!

 Got him!

 The sunset was gorgeous that night! This was from one of the rides in Tomorrowland...great view!

 

We stayed for the late parade that evening and we were so glad we did! We were exhausted, but the boys had a great time watching the parade and all the lights.

 

 

What a fun day we had! Next up, Animal Kingdom!

Disney, Day 1

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to Disney for the most fabulous six days. We kept the trip a secret from the boys for 6 long months. We finally told the boys that we were going a couple of days before we went. This worked out well because we didn't have to hear, "Is it time yet?" a million times leading up to it. We probably only heard it a couple hundred times! :) I think they were most excited for the airplane ride though!

 

Thanks to our direct Southwest flight, we arrived in Orlando by noon. The plan was to quickly go check in to our hotel and then go directly to Magic Kingdom. It took forever to get to the hotel though. The line at the airport for our shuttle was so long, so we didn't get to our hotel until around 2 I would guess. The boys were so happy though and didn't complain a bit that we had to wait in line and I had absolutely no snacks or drinks for them.

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and it ended up being great. We knew we wanted to be close since we were taking an unpredictable 2 year old. And, we knew the boys would LOVE the boat ride that takes you from the hotel to the Magic Kingdom, where we spent the majority of the time. And of course Joel loved the campy feel of the hotel itself. When Hudson first saw the hotel, he was so excited that it was all made out of Lincoln Logs! :) He thought it was so cool! They even had Lincoln Logs in the lobby to play with!

We also rented a stroller from Magic Strollers. It was $80 for the week and was super clean and nice, and both boys spent a lot of time in it (not sleeping unfortunately!). It was a must have and was waiting on us when we arrived.

Harrison does not look happy in this picture, but it's because he's focusing on Mickey Mouse at Cinderella's Castle doing a show! Do not interrupt him, not even for a picture! :)

Our trip planner had already set us up for our fast passes that afternoon, so we hit those before we had our first character dinner. The first ride was Jungle Cruise! It was a good start.

Then, it was onto Thunder Mountain, where I thought Hudson might be a little scared to ride, but in fact, that kid has no fear. He LOVED it. Harrison was too little, so we did the switch rider and Hudson rode it twice, once with me and once with Joel. Of course we loved it too! I took lots of pictures of Hudson's reactions...I loved seeing him having so much fun!

 I found a look out point with Harrison and we watched Joel and Hudson ride Thunder Mountain from it. Harrison had fun seeing them on it. He was a little upset he didn't get to ride it (he would have loved it too, but they are sticklers for height requirements!), which made me sad for him, but there were really only a few rides that were like this. By the end of the trip, he was telling his Mickey that he wasn't tall enough to do things. Poor buddy!

We had to book it out of Magic Kingdom because we had dinner with Cinderella at the Grand Floridian at 6 pm. This was one of the things that we tried to change before the trip because we knew it was just going to be too much for one day, but we weren't able to change the reservation. While we were trying to run out of the park, we got stuck at a parade. The boys weren't too disappointed by this!

 We were late for our reservation, but they still let us in thankfully. The character meals were the absolute best things we did. We got to see most all of the characters the boys wanted to see, and didn't have to wait in any lines!

We had  not been at the character dinner for 5 minutes when the evil stepmother literally grabbed Hudson out of his chair (he did not get a choice in the matter!) and made him dance with her. It was so fast that I could not even get my camera out fast enough and when I did, the setting was messed up and all the pictures turned out so dark you can't even see anything. It was such a bummer! But Hudson ate it up!

Then we saw Prince Charming...

 And then of course the main event, Cinderella! Even if you have boys, you should still do this one! My boys loved it...they like princesses too (and will probably hate me later in life for these, but they really did love this).

 

So we learned very quickly with Harrison that if the character came by while he was eating his precious food, he was not about to get up and take a picture with them! He was not scared a bit, but he loves his food so much! Ha! So, a lot of the pictures are of just Hudson with the characters because of it! We made Harrison give Cinderella a hug though...

 

 Then the mean stepsisters came by and they were a hoot! Love their faces!

The evil stepmother came back for another picture!

 My favorite picture of the night! Ha!

We also had an autograph book for all the characters to sign, and that was really fun for the boys. It has a place for pictures to go, so I'll print all of these out and put them in the book next to their signatures and I think they will love going back and looking at them all!

After dinner, we decided to hop on the monorail and head back into the Magic Kingdom to do a few more things. It was fun being there at night. We didn't stay too late that night because we wanted to stay on top of sleep. Or at least that was the grand plan. We took the boat back to the hotel and the boys actually went right to sleep! So much excitement for one day!

4K Graduation

Hudson graduated from 4K this morning. It was an emotional event, that's for sure! We are so proud of him, and he is so excited for Kindergarten! We will miss Brookwood Baptist though. It has been a wonderful place! It was really a bittersweet day.

 

The program started off with Mrs. Diane reading a poem. I'm including it here because I thought it was so appropriate and sweet, even though it made almost every single person in the entire room cry.  It's a good thing the Kleenex box went around the sanctuary before the event started!

To My Child
Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and
pick you up and take you to the park to play.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and l
let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the
computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won’t worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have madewhere you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I
won’t stand over you trying to fix them.
Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald’s and buy us
both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a
story about how you were born and how much I love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on
the porch and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.
Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.
I will think about the mothers And fathers who are searching for
their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting
their children’s graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and
fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer
senselessly, and screaming inside that they can’t handle it anymore.
And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a
little longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you.

Read more at http://www.babyrazzi.com/2008/09/15/poem-titled-to-my-child/#C0bJUGksRJkjubYl.99

 

To My Child

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and
pick you up and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and l
let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the
computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon, I won’t worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have madewhere you are concerned.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I
won’t stand over you trying to fix them.

Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald’s and buy us
both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a
story about how you were born and how much I love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on
the porch and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.  

Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

I will think about the mothers And fathers who are searching for
their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting
their children’s graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and
fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer
senselessly, and screaming inside that they can’t handle it anymore.

And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a
little longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you.

To My Child
Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and
pick you up and take you to the park to play.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and l
let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the
computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won’t worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have madewhere you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I
won’t stand over you trying to fix them.
Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald’s and buy us
both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a
story about how you were born and how much I love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on
the porch and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.
Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.
I will think about the mothers And fathers who are searching for
their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting
their children’s graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and
fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer
senselessly, and screaming inside that they can’t handle it anymore.
And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a
little longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you.

Read more at http://www.babyrazzi.com/2008/09/15/poem-titled-to-my-child/#C0bJUGksRJkjubYl.99

To My Child
Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and
pick you up and take you to the park to play.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and l
let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the
computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won’t worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have madewhere you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I
won’t stand over you trying to fix them.
Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald’s and buy us
both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a
story about how you were born and how much I love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on
the porch and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.
Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.
I will think about the mothers And fathers who are searching for
their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting
their children’s graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and
fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer
senselessly, and screaming inside that they can’t handle it anymore.
And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a
little longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you.

Read more at http://www.babyrazzi.com/2008/09/15/poem-titled-to-my-child/#C0bJUGksRJkjubYl.99

Then, the kids showed us a little about what they've learned this year through memorized bible verses and songs. The kids ended their part of the program with the song "Friends Forever" and it was just so sweet. Hudson is in the top row in the middle in the video below...it's kind of hard to see him.

 

And if that wasn't enough, there was a slide show after that to the tunes of "Let Them Be Little", "My Wish", "You've Got a Friend in Me", and Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All." If you hadn't cried yet, you cried after all of that! Phew! I'm personally glad that is over! Ha! 

 

Hudson just LOVED his teacher this year, Mrs. Mary Kay. She was amazing, and we are certainly going to miss her next year!

They had a little celebration afterwards with cake, and then that was it! I begged Hudson to come home with me, and he wanted to stay at school! He loves it so much there. I can only hope that he has the same feeling with regards to Kindergarten next year!

Happy Graduation Day sweet Hudson! We are excited about starting the next chapter!

Stay tuned for pictures from Disney World (the greatest trip ever!!!).

Crazy Weeks!

Life is crazy right now. We have so much going on it's not even funny. It's all good stuff though!

 

So this week is off to a crazy start with bad weather. School closed early yesterday and we were watching a tornado come down I-459 at almost midnight last night deciding if we needed to run and get the kids up and get down to the basement. The storm basically disintegrated as it got to Birmingham, so we were all ok here (there were some places hit nearby though), but it was a little scary! Way too close for comfort for sure. The kids slept through it all though, so that was the good news because it was loud! We have another round coming this afternoon/night. My office even closed at 2 today AND Al Roker was in Birmingham last night and today--this is serious business!

 

Last week was crazy too. Hudson had his school program on Thursday night. This is his sweet friend Avery. Hudson is sporting a 'fro, which has since been cut off! :)

 

I love hearing those little voices sing. It always brings tears to my eyes, and it really made me sad to think that this was his last preschool program. He sung his little heart out and did great!

Hudson got his crayon last week! He was so excited! The very next day, our house went under contract, so all this talk about the big school down the street, he's not even going to be going there! Whoops! So now we've been talking about his other big school...and the house search has begun.

 I'm the treasurer of PALS, which is a group that supports the children's department of the library. We have several events during the year, but one main event, a casino night and silent auction, and it was Saturday night. I worked all last week preparing for this event, helped set up Friday and Saturday, and spent all day Sunday tallying everything up. It was a ton of work, but we raised over $18,000 for the children's department, which is huge! It was definitely worth all the work! I took not one picture during the event, but here's a collage that was taken...

 Joel is out of town until Thursday night, then this happens...

The kids are gonna die...they do not even know yet. Stay tuned.

 

And then as soon as we get back, I head right to Vegas for work (and some play!) for a week. Oh yeah, and did I mention we will be homeless in a month??? We have to find a house and pack this one up too. I'm taking all volunteers to help! Ha! No rest for the weary!!!

Quick Beach Trip

Last Tuesday (April 15th!) signified the end of busy season at work. Woo hoo! While I do audits and not taxes and my busy season is really January-March, it is still a sigh of relief to see April get here. April usually means warmer weather and everyone is ready to be outside, so we planned our second annual crawfish boil on the top of the parking deck. It was miserable. The weather did not cooperate one bit. While it was sunny, there was hurricane force winds and freezing temps. The boys did not stay long! They did stay long enough for Hudson to eat about 15 crawfish. He LOVED them. Kept going back for more. Harrison, on the other hand, was terrified of them. Me too, buddy. I can't eat something that is looking at me! :)

 

 

We had this great idea that since we both had a few days off work, me for the end of busy season and Joel had holidays for Easter, that it would be a perfect time for a little pre-summer quick trip to the beach before coming back for Easter. We had not planned on packing bathing suits AND fleeces in the same bag (it was in the 80's the day before we got there!), but that's what we did. And we wore them together! Ha! And that little piece of blue sky you see in the corner of the picture below...well that's the only piece of blue sky we saw while we were down there!

It was cold and windy and rainy the entire time, but that didn't stop these boys from going down to the beach and even getting IN the (non-heated) swimming pool! Joel and I warned them not to go off the stairs because no one was going to get them! Ha! They, well really Harrison as Hudson can swim pretty good, complied. Their teeth were chattering, but they had the best time!

 Crazy!!! They swam for a long time. We could not believe it.

Thursday night we headed to our fave...the Red Bar. It never disappoints and the kids love the music. Hudson told us he was going home with the drummer. He really loved the drummer. :)

 Friday was torrential downpours all day long. We tried to go shopping at the outlets, and while that's never really that fun with two kids anyway, it really wasn't fun this time. But, we got what we needed and then we had promised the boys we would eat lunch and watch the boats in Destin. We picked Dewey's because we were able to sit outside on the porch (the walls were enclosed with plastic) and had a great view of the boats that were docked. Obviously no one was out in them that day!

The rain finally stopped for a brief period and we did see the sun one time...for about 5 minutes, before the rain came back. We ran outside to take a few pics.

We all had been in pj's since we got back from lunch because we got drenched, so we were styling. One thing about this trip was that we got a lot of sleep, and honestly, above all else, that is what we needed. We played a lot of musical beds (thanks to Harrison who couldn't make up his mind where he wanted to sleep), but everyone napped and everyone slept in every day, which was great.

 We did puzzles and games, watched movies, and were generally just lazy. It really was a good time even though we couldn't do much outside. We did hit up the donut truck in Alys Beach the last day, which was great.

It wasn't raining Saturday morning so we headed down to the beach. The boys really wanted to dig a hole before we had to leave. We stayed out for a long time and Harrison finally came around to liking the sand. Small victories!

 I just wanted to prove I was at the beach too!

I could not believe Harrison allowed this, but he loved it. We all went home with sand in our shorts, but it was a good morning!

Of course when we started home, the clouds were starting to part and the sun was going to come out that afternoon. Oh well. We still had fun, and Hudson is already asking me when we can go back again. It's good to know that we can go down to the beach in the "off-season" and be just fine.