Disney Vacation Part 3-Magic Kingdom

Matthew, Derrick, Natalie, Lucas, and I at Magic Kingdom

We had five day park tickets, so we spent the first and last days at Magic Kingdom. It's totally our favorite park. Day one, we were there from about 10 am to 10 pm. We just went through the park, starting with the boys' favorite, Adventureland. This is where Aladdin's Carpets, the Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean are. They L.O.V.E the pirates ride. I admit, it is rather fun. Our first ride of our whole vacation was Aladdin's Carpets.

Natalie, Derrick, Matthew, and Lucas on Aladdin's Carpets.

I took the kiddos on since the wait was only about five minutes, while Derrick found a place to park our stroller and kind of make a plan for the morning. It was so fun. Natalie loved the rides. She didn't cry on anything or let anything scare her. She especially loved Pooh's Adventures and Peter Pan's Flight. She just pointed her fingers, "oohed" at everything and kept saying "this". She's a laid back kid when it comes to that kind of stuff. We grabbed a quick lunch, then did a fastpass for Splash Mountain and hit the Haunted Mansion and did a little bit in Fantasyland. It was so nice to be relaxed about our trip, and just hit the fun things we've loved in the past...and add in one or two new rides that the boys wouldn't do before like Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion. Of course, they had their favorite treats-the Mickey ears ice cream bars.
Natalie, me, Lucas, and Matthew on the tea cups.

The first night we were undecided as to whether or not we'd stay for the Electrical Parade. It's Derrick's favorite of all the Disney trip, but staking out a spot and then waiting for like 45 minutes isn't our idea of fun. So, we went into a few shops on our way out of the park. As we were leaving a shop, Derrick told me to go out and if there was a spot to get one for the parade, and if not, he'd meet me at the gate.
Lucas and Matthew at the top of the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.

Yep, there was a spot-a perfect one actually, behind a lady who was sitting on the curb with her daughter. I pulled the stroller in behind her and we were set. We only waited about 15 minutes for the parade, and I'm so glad we did. It's really magical to watch that, and see how excited the kids were to see it-even Derrick loves it.
Mason, Lucas, Matthew, and Nathan in jail with Zurg after riding Buzz Lightyear.
On our last day at Disney, we went back to Magic Kingdom with our friends, the Goldens. Jacque and her twin boys happened to be on vacation at Disney the same time we were, so we spent a few park days with them. We met up with them later in the morning, and the kids were able to ride together, or she'd stay with Natalie so we could take Matthew and Lucas and her boys on a ride.
Natalie playing with honey bees while waiting for the Pooh ride.
Natalie riding Dumbo with Matthew and I.

It worked out so great. We made our way around, doing some of our favorites again. The best part was when the boys rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad-a rollercoaster. They aren't the hugest coaster fans, and it took some talking and some peer pressure from the Golden twins to get them to go. They came back all smiles, claiming they'd had their hands up the whole time and wanted to ride again. Awesome. We started the boys on pin trading this year, and it was very cool. Apparently, this is a huge deal-like coin collecting, etc.-but they thought it was fun to trade with castmembers and see what pins they would get in return. They wore their lanyards everywhere, and by the end of the trip, I think only Lucas had an original pin that had come with his lanyard left. They can trade twice with castmembers, and the castmember has to let them pick which pin to trade. It was neat to see some of them interact with the castmembers and be excited about their trades.
Matthew and Lucas making their first pin trade.

Natalie was all about the Dumbo ride-and I was all about taking her on it :). She totally loved it, and the tea cups. I rode the tea cups again with the boys-without Natalie-and they had a high time of making mommy so dizzy. The things I do for the kiddos. We left Magic Kingdom fairly "early"-like around 5, to get back to the room and finish packing before meeting the Goldens at Downtown Disney for dinner. We met them at Wolfgang Puck, and had our last Disney dinner.

Disney Vacation Part 2-Downtown Disney

Derrick, Lucas (top), Matthew, Me, Natalie outside of Design A Tee at Downtown Disney.




One of our favorite parts of vacation is shopping at Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is a large, outdoor shopping center with fun shops and restaurants. The boys love the LEGO store there, and I'll admit I do, too. The sculptures they make out of LEGOS for the outside of the building are awesome. We've seen a dragon in the lagoon, a Transformer, a Buzz Lightyear, and a Woody from Toy Story. This year, there was a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the dragon from Sleeping Beauty attacking at LEGO knight.
Buzz and Woody made out of LEGOS. This is the scene from Toy Story when they are blasting off of RC Racecar at the end of the movie.
We like to saunter around the shops, Derrick gets Cinnamon Glazed Almonds to munch on, and the boys get to pick out their souvenirs. It sure beats carrying around souvenirs at each park, and for the most part, you can find anything at Downtown Disney that you can find in the parks. We ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express-wood fired pizzas were so good!
Matthew and Lucas outside the Christmas shop.
As we were walking through the World of Disney, Lucas and Matthew were trying on almost every hat possible.
Lucas trying on a Sorcerer Mickey hat and Matthew as Buzz Lightyear.

It was a good spot to start our first day at Disney. We went here after we had checked into our resort because we didn't want to use a park ticket if we couldn't spend a whole day at a park.

Disney Vacation Part 1-The Airport and Our Resort

My Three Cabelleros in front of the topiary outside our resort's restaurant. Matthew, Natalie, and Lucas


Wow! What an awesome Disney vacation we had this year! It started out with a flight from Columbus to Orlando at 12:30. Let me say, it was SO nice to get there in two hours instead of two days in the car. I worked so hard to convince Derrick to fly-and to find cheap fares to show him it was worth it. So glad we did. Granted, the flight wasn't without some nerves-especially from Matthew-but it was uneventful overall.
Lucas and Derrick entertaining themselves with video games

We left for the airport around 10 a.m. and checked our bags. After making it through security, it was just waiting for the flight. Natalie played a bit and napped a bit while the boys (and Derrick) played video games to pass the time. I asked the flight desk if it was full, and since it wasn't, the nice attendant blocked the seat beside me so Natalie would have a seat-so nice! She is technically a "lap" baby...but I knew that could be an issue. However, it worked out that she got her own seat thanks to the nice attendant at the desk.

All was well on the flight. Of course, the Benadryl and Dramamine that I had given the kids didn't work towards the benefit of sleeping. But, just as we were getting extra squirmy, it was time to land and get off.
Lucas and Matthew ready to ride the Magical Express!

We found our way to the Magical Express (Disney's motorcoach service that takes you from the airport to your resort) and didn't have to wait long to board it. It was about a 25 minute ride to Coronado Springs Resort. All the while, they were playing Disney movies, the kids were snacking and looking out the window, and it was good.
Derrick, Natalie, and Matthew aboard the Magical Express
When we arrived at our resort, we checked in and made our way to our room. Let's just say that it was quite spread out and took a long walk to get from the central building to our room. Otherwise, the resort was fabulous, and the boys loved the rockin' pool and waterslide. However, because it is so spread out (you can even take a Disney bus from one part of the resort to the other) we probably won't stay at that one again.
Lucas, Matthew, and Natalie chilling out before bed.

We headed to get something to eat and then explore Downtown Disney while we waited for Magical Express to deliver our bags. When we got back to our room, our bags were there, so we gave the kids a snack and some down time while we unpacked our bags. Then it was off to bed for our first day at Magic Kingdom!
Our resort-Coronado Springs. This is facing the main building, across the lake from our room.

End of Second Grade

Second grade has come and gone. I love seeing the difference in Matthew and Lucas from the first day of school to the last day of school. A few less teeth, a few inches taller, and their faces look a little more like third graders.

Lucas and Matthew on the first day of school.





























Lucas and Matthew on the last day of second grade.

Third grade means moving to the other side of the school building, being in separate classrooms, and more responsibility. Not sure if I'm ready for those things!

Natalie-20 months

Natalie has a sparkling smile and a deep, contagious giggle right now. She's also a bit on the high maintenance side, too. She's getting so good at communicating to us what she wants or needs by doing things like standing in front of the pantry and saying "um, um" for a snack. She wants an "ums"...not sure where she got that, maybe from us saying "yum"? I don't know. Or she'll go to the fridge and ask for milk-which she says very clearly. She is loving playing in the water-give the girl a 5 gallon bucket and a few squirt guns or a ball and she's happy. The pool will be super fun this summer. She is sleeping so well, too. She goes down about 8:30 and is up after 7 most mornings. Plus she's taking two naps a day still.






She has really loved going to the sitter-our last day there was this past Thursday. I can't ask for a better situation-she does crafts with the kids, she feeds them well, takes them to storytime or the zoo, and plays outside as much as possible. Natalie has made some friends at her sitter's-Nick and Lulu. It's so cute at night when I'm rocking her and telling her about going to Sara's the next day. She'll then take out her pacifier and say, "Nick, ball" or "Lulu, baby" because she plays ball with Nick and babies with Lulu. Love it!

She is all about riding her bike-a secondhand Radio Flyer tricycle from the twin sale, and she will play happily for about 20 minutes on the porch with her sidewalk chalk. She will eat about anything we give her-which is such a contrast from the boys. However, that's my fault, I think. I didn't offer them anywhere the variety I offer her-I was trying too hard to follow what books and parenting blogs were saying. Oh well. She can't stand a mess-yea, she gets that honest. She'll pick up the boys' shoes and put them on the mat by the door, or she'll bring her snack bowl back to the kitchen and put it away.

She still loves her Mickey Mouse, and will call him by her personal nickname for him, "Mick". I hope she loves him that much next week when she sees him face to face... Also, she'll smile-in a very cheesey, face scrunched up kind of way-when I take her picture. And she has a new fascination with crayons and coloring.

Her words now include: ball, baby, milk, bike, gurt (yogurt), this, ucky ucky, and bowl. She weighs over 27 lbs, and is wearing some 2T clothes already. I can't believe how much she's grown!

Easter

I love Easter. First and foremost, it's the day I live for as a daughter of God-Jesus' resurrection after His horrible death in my place. It's a party day for me-I'll be alive in Christ someday when I die because of Jesus . How much more is there to celebrate!?

Secondly, I love to dress my three kids in their best and parade them to church. Admittedly, I love to shop for their new outfits, make sure they have accessories-sweater vests, shirts, ties, socks, etc.-to make them look pulled together and then show them off to everyone.

I was looking at some pictures from last year-so much difference in the three of them from one year!






Matthew, Natalie, and Lucas-Easter 2011














Matthew, Natalie, and Lucas-Easter 2010

Second Grade, Second Place

Lucas's second place Snowman Face picture
Handmade Totem Poles



Northwood hosted an Art Show/Spaghetti Dinner a few weeks ago. Lucas wasn't feeling well, so I took Matthew over to the school. He was so proud to show off his art. They both received second place for their Snowman Face pictures. Now, my boys are not VanGoghs or Picassos. However, with the proper instruction (they're art teacher is wonderful and amazing), the appropriate expectations, and the right materials, their art turns out rather nicely. After we walked around the halls, looking for their art so I could take pictures, it was time for the second grade portion of performances. They had been working on a song, Dry Your Tears, Africa, of which the highlight was shaking handmade rainsticks. Awesome. Matthew diligently searched through all the rainsticks until he found his. They sang a song-in an African dialect..aka, we couldn't understand a thing they said...and shook the rainsticks at the appropriate times. Of course, I was beaming from ear to ear because I was so proud.





Matthew and his second place Snowman Face picture.