Best Family Vacation Ever!

We survived a crazy jam-packed schedule of events on our vacation to Florida and had the absolute best time in the process. Ryan, Luke, and Leah were great and all 3 had a blast. I know the boys will never forget the trip and they have continued to thank us countless times for taking them. Although Leah won't remember, we will all remember the joy she was to have with us. She had the best time of all of us and seemed to genuinely enjoy every aspect of the vacation. We learned that she loves shows, rides with music, amusement park food, bus rides, hotel rooms, and hanging out with her family 24/7. She was champ until the last day when she came down with a cold and later an ear infection. But even when she doesn't feel good, she still tries to be happy and wants everyone to notice her.

I think Disney World was great and well worth the trip by itself. But I'm also so glad we were able to go to Universal for the Harry Potter stuff - that was pretty amazing.

We spent 5 days at Disney World and stayed at a resort on the property. We feel like we were on a bus or waiting for a bus a good bit of time, but it was probably so much easier to get around with that system rather than parking. The resort was a lot of fun and the boys loved it.

Our first day was at Hollywood Studios. I don't think we were conditioned for the humidity yet, so we were pretty wiped out that day. Greg and the boys rode a pretty intense roller coaster together and I rode on the Tower of Terror with them afterwards. Ryan gets really nervous waiting in line for roller coasters - but I'm proud of him for sticking with it. He was pretty confident by the end of the trip of what he was comfortable trying and what he wanted to skip.

Leah's first ride was the Great Movie Ride - not the best, but she loved it. She dances, points, laughs, and gives says lots of "ooh" and "Wow!" when she gets excited. I think there were many people who got as big of a kick watching her as they did out of the ride.

The only thing Leah did not like was the big characters. She loves Mickey and likes to point out his picture whenever she sees it. But she does not like the real thing. The characters scared the crud out of her. She tried to be brave and wave at them through her tears of terror, but she was glad when they were gone.

I don't think any permanent damage was done - she was happy most of the time.

That evening we ate dinner at the 50s Prime Time Cafe. I remember eating there with my family when I was in middle school. Ryan loved it - he said it was better than Casa Bonita, which is pretty high praise from him. 

Day 2 was the Animal Kingdom. 

The safari ride was pretty cool and Leah really liked all of the animals, especially the giraffe that was hanging out on the side of the road. Leah's favorite thing of the whole vacation was the Lion King Show at Animal Kingdom. She was so excited to see the giant animatronic Simba. She waved and yelled "Roar" during the whole show. Overall, we didn't spend a ton of time at Animal Kingdom. We were still adjusting to the heat, humidity, and the time change - so we called it a day and took a nap before our dinner reservation later that night.

Boat ride to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner.

Day 3 was Magic Kingdom. We had a full day and went non stop from 8 that morning to 9 that night. Leah took a nap in her stroller and we took lots of breaks along the way. The above picture is my action shot of the boys on Thunder Mountain. Ryan yelled at me that I was going to lose my phone. We wore matching shirts - much to Greg's displeasure. I would say we were in the minority for not having matching family shirts every day. Magic Kingdom was a lot of fun, but also very crowded. I had reserved our Fast Passes 2 months prior and used the Touring Plan to help us map out our route. Greg commented that if you just show up to Disney World with no plan, you probably spend most of your day waiting in line or figuring out what to do. The key is to plan - we never stood in line longer than 30 minutes and were able to hit everything we wanted to see. 

Leah was able to do a lot of rides/events at all of the Disney parks. She really is at a great age to enjoy Disney World. Greg and I noticed many older children having massive meltdowns, but she was content to hang out in stroller and enjoy what she could do - that might be different a year from now. 

Day 4 was Epcot - which may have been our favorite day. Epcot isn't as crowded and after a day of Magic Kingdom, it was nice to enjoy a low key day. 

We took a mid-day break and enjoyed the pool.

Later that night we ate dinner in the Italy section and then watched the fireworks. We had intentions of watching a few of the firework shows, but were always too tired by the end of the day. All 3 kids really enjoyed the Epcot show and they had a great view of the lake.

Our last day at Disney was back to Magic Kingdom. We were able to re-ride our favorite rides and check out a few new ones.

Leah's first Flying Dumbo ride.

Mickey Mouse ice cream bar. Ryan wasn't being too cooperative at this point, so I covered up his face with my ice cream.

Ryan, Leah, and Greg on the Little Mermaid ride - they were spared from riding with me-I sang the whole time.

After 5 days of Disney, we needed a break  and headed to Coco Beach.

Ryan and Luke were excited to see the Atlantic Ocean. They loved how warm the water was compared to the Pacific when we were in San Diego. Leah had a great time exploring the sand.

We got the boys body boards and they had the best time tying to catch a wave to bring them to the shore.

Belly girl - she helped Luke dig a little hole and then enjoyed splashing in the water and scooping up wet sand.

The waves, sand, and heat wore her out.

We had dinner at a local restaurant near the beach that night. Luke found this mural nearby.

Day 2 of our break was at the Kennedy Space Center. I thought it would only be a couple of hours - had I known that it was going to be a whole day thing, I would've insisted on stopping at Starbucks beforehand and would've been in a better frame of mind. As a result, I wasn't impressed and was anxious to leave after the 1st hour.

Greg and the boys loved it.

Leah and I kept trying to find a way out.

After a couple of days of rest, we returned to Orlando and went to Universal.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was so cool. Even Greg, who isn't interested in Harry Potter, was impressed with the details. I've read the books at least 7 times, Luke finished the series a few years ago, and Ryan is currently working his way through Book 3 - so the 3 of us loved it.

See the Knight Bus in the background?

Hogsmeade Village

The Hogwarts Express from King's Cross Station.

Part of the appeal of the Harry Potter section is going to Ollivander's and getting a wand. There is a "wand demonstration' that they offer where 1 child is selected to find the right wand - because the wand chooses the wizard. Much to Luke's excitement, he was chosen to get a wand. 

Once both boys got their wands, they had a great time walking around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade Village casting their spells at designated areas. There are dozens of bronze plaques on the ground around the 2 areas that show a kid how to wave their wand to cast the right spell - then something clever happens - like the water fountain turns on, or a book opens, etc.

We had lunch at The Leaky Cauldron and dinner at The Three Broomsticks. I read that J.K. Rowling maintained a ton of control over the creation of the Harry Potter section of the park. She insisted on the details and even determined what kind of food and drinks were served. You can't get soda or anything that doesn't have natural sugar to drink, for example - the boys enjoyed Pumpkin Juice for lunch.

And later had a Butter Beer.

Leah continued to be a champ, but she was starting to wear down by the end. We let her have her paci way more than she normally does - pacis stay in her bed and are for nap time and bedtime only - but it was a stressful trip, despite the fun, and her paci made her feel a bit better. She began to get a nasty cough the day before we left and was not quite herself. The weather was hot, but stayed pretty dry until the last day - I'm glad we got the rain cover for the stroller and ponchos for us.

Leah is waving hi to Hello Kitty.

Greg loved the Simpson's area of Universal. He insisted on eating at Krusty Burger and having a Duff Beer.

A few random pics of the trip:

The Disney resort we stayed at had a section for Finding Nemo, the Lion King, and Cars - the boys and I visited Lightening McQueen - their very first favorite Disney character - they used to call him "GoGo Queen."

We also found Blue Bell Ice Cream. Blue Bell hasn't returned to Colorado yet, so we were so excited to find Cookies and Cream. We didn't share with Greg or Leah.

Leah's first plane trip - she did great, especially for a 4 hour flight. She slept part of the time and enjoyed a couple of episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. 

Video of some more pics from the trip

Dancing Leah

Video of pics from the beach

Video at the beach

I am so thankful that we went on this vacation. Ryan and Luke are at a great age to enjoy it all and Leah was happy to be along for the ride. Despite all of the fun, we're glad to be home and have settled into a relaxing summer.

School Year Wrap Up

It's crazy how fast this school year has gone. I love summer and I love it when a school year goes, fast - but it is also bittersweet. Where has the year gone and how in the world do I now have two 5th graders?

Last day of school

Flashback to the 1st day of 4th grade

Even bigger flashback of the first and last day of Kindergarten

 

And now to our big upcoming summer plans:

 We successfully surprised the boys with a vacation to Disney World. We told them last week and will leave later this week. We have been planning this since January-I'm thrilled that they had no idea. With the Broncos making it to the Super Bowl this year, Greg was ready to shell out $3000 a ticket to take him and Luke to the game. That is on his bucket list of things to do, so I was fine with it. But after careful thought, Greg decided that it would be a better use of time and money for us all to go to Florida. Last year, Ryan was telling people that Leah had ruined our chance of going to Disney (not sure where he got that idea) -- so they were shocked to find out that we are going. 

Leah was fascinated with the boxes and bows.

I wrapped up 2 balloons - one for Disney and 1 for Harry Potter World (Universal). 

They didn't get it at first. Ryan said he thought for a minute, maybe Disney, but then thought "no way."  It took them a bit to read through their Hogwarts invitations and look at their Magic Bands along with a Mickey Mouse cookie.

But then they figured it out and the elation began. 

They are so excited to go - we hope for a great trip. It won't be a relaxing vacation and patience will be needed by all - but they are ready for the challenge and willing to take on the help that will be needed with Leah.

 Recent pictures of Leah:

Leah loves to read

 And she loves to go through her shoe drawer.

She's an overall goofy and happy little girl. 

Peek-a-boo

Climbing the stairs

Blowing bubbles

Spring Break, Easter, a Snow Storm, and Other Events

We've been busy the last month or so - the time to sit down and blog doesn't happen too often. But I do want to keep events up to date. It's crazy to think that Ryan and Luke will be 10 in June and Leah continues to grow and learn new things every day. Easter was good this year. I took the boys to church and then we had an Easter Egg Hunt in our backyard (after we had a blizzard a few days before) and then spent dinner with family. 

My 3 sweet silly kids.

Nothing like an Easter egg hunt in snow boots. The boys had a good time searching for the eggs. Leah and I spent some time before Easter making boot prints all over the yard so I wouldn't give away the hiding places of the eggs. They love it when the eggs are really hidden.

Leah had her own egg hunt in her water table. 

She was very proud of herself to find eggs and then loved eating the animal crackers out of them.

Not much this girl loves more than to be outside.

Spring Break was great this year. We started it off by taking Ryan and Luke skiing 

And then Greg went out of town, the boys went on a road trip with Nana and Grandad, and Leah and I stayed at home all by ourselves. We all had the best week. Ryan and Luke went to Carlsbad Caverns and then spent a couple of days in Lubbock. Ryan told me it was the best vacation ever. Leah and I left the house once or twice, went on some walks, dealt with a 2 day blizzard, and did lots of relaxing. It was my ideal Spring Break :)

Leah was a great companion for the week. She loved all of the individual attention.

She climbed all over me like a jungle gym.

We enjoyed the warm weather and went on a few walks before we were hit with a snow storm. She loves her wagon - I love how she hangs on to the side and sits up tall so proud of herself.

After a wonderful week off, we enjoyed Easter and the great weather. The boys helped me to put together Leah's Cozy Coupe. She has loved being pushed around the yard by both of her brothers.

Leah loves to be outside more than anywhere else. We can always count on a change of emotions if she's fussy by taking her out. She loves to hang out with her brothers, play with the water table, ride in her car or wagon, or be pushed in her swing. There are often tears when she has to come inside.

Leah got a tea set for her birthday from a friend - Ryan is an awesome brother and had a tea party with her.

Grandad got Leah these sweet little outfits when he went to China before Leah was born. I had guessed that they were about a size 2 - I'm glad I decided to put them on her a couple of weeks ago. She needs to lose some belly weight for the white one to fit and the purple one isn't too far off.

 Leah loves to give her animals hugs. She puts them to her shoulder, pouts her little mouth and then says "ewwww"

Leah has really grown and developed the last couple of months. Her favorite word is "uh-oh" which she uses with frequency. Luke wants her to understand that uh oh is only used when something is an accident, not when you throw your food on the ground on purpose. She can also say more "mo", hi, ball, and wow. She knows her animal noises for lions and tigers (she loves to yell roar), sheep, horses, cow, cats and owls. Leah can do peek a boo, pat-a-cake, and the itsy bitsy spider. She is also a silly goofy little girl. She loves to laugh and smile - especially at her brothers. She does have more stranger danger apprehension than either Ryan and Luke. She has no problem pushing people's hands away if they hold out their hands to hold her. I love her assertiveness. 

I sent Greg this picture one morning when he was out of town - he said she looks more like a little girl than a baby now.  That makes me both happy and sad.

Pictures from daycare - where she gets to do things I would never think of.

 We had our hopefully last big snow storm of the year this weekend - supposedly about 15 inches (although it was 75 degrees on Thursday, so much of it melted). 

 Leah loved playing with Ryan and Luke in the snow. They built a snow fort and she got to help pack the snow down. 

Snow baby

Videos:

Ryan is so good with Leah - he adores her and wants to make her happy more than anything else in the world. She loves for him to pull her around the yard in the wagon.

Building the snow fort and eating snow.

Leah isn't walking yet, but not for lack of skill. She walks along all of the furniture and pushes her bus around - she freezes when she realizes she is standing on her own. 

Our little comedian. 

This picture cracks me up. She is not a fan of her bike helmet :)  We don't see this face too often, which is good, because it is so heartbreaking (and funny all at the same time).