Well we’re onto day 2 of our Disney Vacation. Today our destination is Magic Kingdom! Grandma is staying at home and it is just Aunt Jessie, Me, Ken and Jack. We stayed about 1 hour & 3 dollars away from the park. We got off to a later start than anticipated but that didn’t stop the excitement.
Excited to be finally here after talking about it for so many weeks (oh and I’m also taking a picture of where we parked).
We rode the ferry over to the park, it was BUSY and HOT already.
We headed over to Tomorrow Land our first stop was the Buzz Lightyear ride. But first we took a picture at a kodak picture spot:
TIP: Be sure to get your Photo Pass right away. I had no idea they were free until our 3rd park??? The Disney Photographers are all around the park many with the characters too. They will take your picture and scan your card and all your pictures will be in one place you have access to them for 30 days. OH and don’t forget to have the Disney photo use your camera to take pictures too! That way you’ll have your free images as well as their images.
The Buzz Lightyear ride was fun. Jack enjoyed it he was a bit small so the second time we went on it he sat on my lap. For his first ride type thing I thought he did great! He didn’t freak out at all.
Right after we got off that ride we found our first character tucked behind in the corner it was STITCH! In my opinion this is one of the SCARIEST characters out there and for Stitch to be Jack’s first interaction I was definitely curious to see how all this would go down. He definitely was shy he didn’t want to touch him or get too close but he did turn and smile for the picture. Of course he held onto me TIGHT!
Then as we were finishing up with Stitch who walks out? BUZZ! We hurried over to get in line to get our picture with Buzz and to have him sign our autograph book. Again we had some apprehension but we managed to get a picture. Buzz sure is a big character. We tried to get Jack to push his buttons but he was just a bit to big…maybe it was the eyebrows?
TIP: Buy the official autograph book (the cheapest one) and buy a pen. If you go to Downtown Disney before you hit the parks you can buy them there. Have the characters sign EVERY OTHER PAGE that way you can put the picture next to the signature. We did this when we went to disney 8 years ago and I still love that mini scrapbook. OH and be sure to take your picture in LANDSCAPE portrait pictures are nice but sure don’t work well in the autograph books.
Next up was Tomorrowland Speedway. We told Jack that at Disney World he could drive his own race car just like Junior (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) so this was high on our list to do today.
He let go of mommy for a while and drove daddy around the track. While Aunt Jessie drove me (it was scary even though we were on a rail) I tried to capture it on video but kind of messed up so i don’t have a good flip video but Dad managed to get a good ones. He absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED it. I don’t think the smile ever left his face. He was soo serious too! It was adorable.
He didn’t get understand that he had to get off the ride. He wanted to go again and again. We would have this issue on every ride. As soon as he’d get into it the ride would be over. Next stop was the Tea Cups! I think this is my ALL TIME FAVORITE PICTURE EVER! I love how real his smile is in this shot. He LOVED the teacups!
Here is Jessie with her character from the play she was in at the end of school. Every time we’d try and get in line to meet the rabbit he was leaving for break so we just snapped this shot from a distance.
Next up was Meeting Tigger & Pooh! He was still a bit shy but was excited the whole time we waited in line. Boy was it hot at this point. H-O-T!!
Aunt Jessie and Jack tried to pull the sword out of the stone but weren’t successful.
Since it was so hot we decided to use our fast passes to go see Mickey’s PhilharMagic which was great b/c it was indoors and our fast passes let us wait in some nice COLD A/C! Did I mention that I had been holding this kid for nearly the entire day so far? Either he’d run away and be crazy disobedient or I had to hold him. Boy my back hurt.
It was so hot, and my back was tight from holding him that I really had no desire to take many pictures at all. I do wish i had a smaller camera with me maybe I would have been more snap happy. After cooling off in the show which the kid never saw b/c he wouldn’t keep his glasses on. We rode the carousel. This ride he enjoyed very much, he’d seen one on Handy Manny so he knew what to expect :) and we took care of another item on his wishlist.
It was time for a potty break so we stopped by a restroom close to Ariel’s Grotto and went potty refilled the water bottles and then the kiddo found a fun water playground and had a blast getting wet. Honestly if this is all we did the whole trip he would have had the time of his life! We did locate a few of these around the parks that he had fun splashing in.
Next up was another indoors activity The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Ride. It was a fun ride but what he enjoyed more was rabbits house and poohs house playground. Aunt Jessie, Dad, and me all took turns watching him play on this playground getting soaked and having a blast while we ate lunch at some tables nearby.
Lunch was a PB&J sandwich made that morning and brought in our soft sided cooler. YUMMY we had apples and snacks packed in the BIG fanny pack. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the resting time :) Next up we headed over to Mickey’s Toon Town to go on Jack’s First Roller Coaster ride. He was tired, we all were tired, but we still were up for lots of fun! The wait for The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm was a bit long but we had our fans and snacks and had fun looking for hidden mickeys along the way. Here I am holding him still.
A hidden mickey:
You’ve seen the video of his first ride check it out again if you want a good giggle :) Next up into the tent to see the princesses. The wait was fairly short for the princesses, but the fairy line was 45 minutes we went with princesses? The kid sure isn’t into princesses but hey it was a wait in A/C so we were all for it! But darn if I don’t look like a big hot mess in these pictures LOL.
Our next stop was to ride the train the kiddo was so tired. We knew a train ride would put him asleep in no time. As we were headed to the train Aunt Jessie noticed some characters tucked behind the building so we made our way over there and were the first people in line and made our rounds to each character/group of characters. There were a few others but we opted not to take a picture with them and get on the train.
The train ride was nice! Breezy and relaxing. I of course was holding the kiddo and he fell asleep right away.
I think we rode the train 2 or 3 times around the park. Getting off at Frontier land where Jessie and I rode splash mountain. Dad and Jack stayed in the shade while he finished his nap. We then went over to Pirates of the Carribean where Jessie and I rode that we had no wait so we figured we’d jump on. I thought it was boring. But the characters sure were life like. It started to pour down rain. We tried to find a place to wait it out. We pulled out our ponchos and waited. I think we were all pooped at this point. We headed back to the front of the park to leave then I remembered I wanted to get Jack his Mickey Ears and have his name put on it. So we waited around the hat shop for 45 minutes for it to be made (note to self do that first thing in the day DUH!). But doesn’t this kid look cute in mickey ears?
We were leaving and right off to the side before you exit there was Chip & Dale and Pluto!!!! We quickly jumped in line and got our pictures taken and our autograph books signed:
I think overall that day we had 16 signatures added to our autograph books. What a fun fun fun day! We headed home and shared about our day with grandma and our friends J&B then hit the sack.
We woke up at 3:30am this morning to head off to Orlando for our family vacation at Walt Disney World. What a fun trip it was.
Here is a morning (4 am) video of the kiddo, excited but barely awake. I picked him up out of bed to put him in the car and he said “Where are we going?” I said “Disney World.” and he said “ALREADY? I need a nap.” LOL not many times does he ask for a nap.
We picked up Grandma and aunt Jessie at their house packed up the car and headed down to Orlando. The trip down was nice we arrived around 2pm and headed over to Downtown Disney to hang out and play a bit before we headed over to our hosts home for the night.
It was HOT but we walked around seeing the sites:
We saw the “hugest McDonalds we’d ever seen” a direct quote from the kiddo.
Right next to the McDonalds was the Lego Store with a playground Jack enjoyed the playground the most but did have fun playing with the legos for a bit building a race car with Aunt Jessie & Daddy.
The Lego Store definitely had lots to look at (and warning to Thomas lovers they have Thomas lego sets) I had to carry him out of the store kicking because it was just too much fun and he wanted me to buy him everything.
Then we ended up walking right by a ride on train so double whammy we HAD to give him a ride and he rode with Jessie, grandma treated. But then once surely wasn’t enough so we bought the second ride with daddy. But hey we’re made of money right? And here is the most boring video on earth:
We finished out the day with a FREE boat ride from one side of Downtown Disney to the other side (where we parked).
Over all a great first day of our vacation. We headed to our wonderful friends’ home to sleep and get ready for our next day at Magic Kingdom.
Sunday we had a branch cook out and we enjoyed the fellowship and some of us played on Dad’s boat and fished and had a great time! Here are some pictures.
Only 1 fish was caught but lots of people tried. Here is Jack fishing, he’s really getting the hang of casting and reeling it back in. He still has a little bit of skill to develop but he’ll get there.
And a few more pictures, over all it was an amazingly fun day!
Monday, Ken played 9 holes with Dad, Andy, and Tim. Jack and I worked around the house and started packing for our trip to Disney. We leave tomorrow at 4am! So be ready for some pictures!!
Saw @problogger share this on twitter and I’d try it out here is my geek chart. I think I need to share a little bit more. You’ll see my chart change over time. I need some more youtube videos. Sadly the service doesn’t count facebook because we all know there is LOTS more shared on there.
Elizabethlmccoy's Geek Chart
The Story: A trip the kiddo took with me to work when he was 8 months old. LOL I love how chubby he was as a baby.
Want to play along??? Learn about FORGOTTEN PHOTO FRIDAYS here.
I had an incredible day yesterday with my family. It started out me waking up and getting to spend some quiet time alone reading and writing a few notes. It wasn’t too much later that the boys woke up and were running around upstairs working on a project (hmmmm…I didn’t peek). They finally came down and gave me the most wonderful handmade card!!!
I was so proud of them for the card so crafty! Ken even looked up instructions on the internet on how to make a pop up element in the card. I was impressed!!! They made me coffee and biscuits (but the biscuits didn’t quite make it).
Eventually we got dressed and headed to fellowship. All the mom’s shared a verse that they enjoy, or their favorite that really aids them in being great moms. The verses shared were fantastic. I will share them here:
2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Hebrews 12:1 (KJV) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Romans 8:26,27 (KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Job 31:6 (KJV) Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.
My verse was Ephesians 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. We had recently learned at the Advanced Class Special that with the measure we are all given we can be all that we want to be! “God knows who you are do you?” I shared that anything I want to be as a mother I can! Sometimes as I feel like I’m not the best mom or I could be better in a certain area. Bottom line is I can be the best mom possible to my highest standard with that Christ in Me I am able to be ALL I WANT TO BE in Him!
After fellowship we nibbled a bit on snacks holding out for our big cookout later in the evening. Since it was Mother’s Day mom and I roped our hubby’s into playing Rummikub with us.
The kids played in Jack’s new (new to us) pool. They both are VERY excited for the neighborhood pool to open next weekend!
Then the Dad’s went off to the store to pick up fixings for the cookout. While the mom’s and kids hung out at the house watched a movie and relaxed! We had a big cook-out with HUGE burgers and all the toppings! YUMMY!! It was great fellowshipping with the family. Jack had a pre dinner bowl of ice cream, I didn’t fight it he’d been great all day and hadn’t taken a nap (turns out he never took a nap the whole day – he could never fit it into all the fun that was happening).
After dinner we started up a game of Chicken Foot and everyone played.
We were playing Double 15’s so the game was going to last a while and it did. Finally we decided to take the show on the road pack up the dominos and take them on the boat. Jack was excited because he was going to go on the paddle boat with Daddy and Jessie.
Safety First! (and yes his shoes are on the wrong feet)
We also saw a fantastic sunset on the boat!
I finally won a round of chicken foot while we were on the boat!! We finished off the night wit a couple pictures with our mom and grandma:
I must say that Ken treated me sooo sweet all day yesterday taking care of EVERYTHING I didn’t have to do a thing I felt soo special and loved he’s a wonderful husband and father and I’m so thankful! I can’t wait to treat him on Father’s Day it will have to be a pretty special day to match this one!
The Story: Mom and everyone gave me a little break this day and took Jack to McDaniel Farm Park’s Farm days and I dressed him up appropriately in his little hunter’s cap and flannel jacket. Thankfully the family took pictures for me and I love all the shots they got. Don’t you just love toothless baby smiles…I do!
