Disney, day 1: Epcot

We left Seth's grandparents and headed to Epcot (Saturday, July 22). We stopped at our resort, the Liki Tiki Village, first to get the stroller and check in so that when our room was ready we'd be able to just go in. It was a beautiful and hot (which we'd soon find out was the theme of the week) day for the park! 

Of COURSE I bought mouse ears for the whole family! :) 

We had a fast pass to meet Mickey and some other characters right inside the park, and it was a great FP choice. We walked right in, past a long line and to Mickey, Minnie and Goofy! (We also did the Memory Maker plan where they take tons of pictures for you and put them on your Magic Band...best purchase ever!) 

We did a bunch of rides in Future World, like Spaceship: Earth, and a couple others and headed to the World Showcase for lunch. We ate in Mexico at a taco shop. Seth and I got tacos and the kids got loaded nachos and were in heaven. By this point, two things were happening: we were beginning to sweat more than we thought possible (which, in hindsight, is hysterical because it was WAY hotter later in the week) AND we could see a storm brewing.

And it came on quickly. So we did what any good Disney traveler would do: we donned our sexy Disney World ponchos and kept on going.

When we passed by Norway, I couldn't believe it. The line to meet Elsa and Anna was TWENTY MINUTES. I had heard horror stories about this line being several hours long, so we never even told Addison Elsa and Anna were at Epcot. We, of course, hopped in line and began dressing her, braiding her hair, etc. to get her ready. I don't even think we waited 20 minutes. She. was. in. awe. If there was a moment in Disney I was going to cry, this was it. I could see her dreams coming true.

When we came out of the meet and greet, it was TORRENTIAL raining. But we had a fast pass next door for the Frozen Ever After ride (probably my favorite one we did at Disney...Disney just does such an amazing job on their imagineering. The ride was so nice!). (Check out Carter's face below from the ride. HAHA)

As we made our way through the World Showcase, we stopped in Germany for a pretzel and beer and France for...what else...a crepe (and the kids' first ice cream of MANY on the trip. I mean it was a trillion degrees....). The kids shopped for some souvenirs with their money from Oma and Opa and Gram and Poppi (Addison got a necklace and Carter got a kickball so far.)

By this point, it was nearing supper time, we were still getting rained on, and we had always planned for Epcot to be one of our shorter days, so we left to go get some groceries and get back to the condo. We decided that it was a long day for the kids so we just made spaghetti back in the condo which worked perfectly. Here are a few snapshots of our place: 

Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom! 

Florida bound and a visit with Gram and Poppi's!

On Thursday, July 20, the day had FINALLY come to head to Florida to see Seth's grandparents for 2 days and then head to Disney World! We've had this trip planned for about 16 months so we were super excited that the day was finally here. We, of course, made it to BWI airport with little traffic, making us already about 2.5 hours early. Check-in was a breeze, and we flew through security. We were golden.....we thought.

Somewhere about 2 hours out from our flight we got the dreaded "flight update" text from Jet Blue, saying that we were 15 minutes delayed. No big deal, but I knew that wasn't going to be the end of it. Sure enough, the next delay text came just a few minutes later. Knowing we'd be there for quite some time, we killed some time by walking through the concourses (Seth and I looked like pack mules carrying all the bags we had). In the international terminal, we came across a kids play land -- and with no one in it! Score! Free wi-fi, comfortable parent benches, and a fun play land made what ended up being the next THREE HOURS of delays more bearable.

My view for far too many hours. We had the place to ourselves for quite a while and then another family came in and the 4 kids played tag and got some energy out. By that time, the delays were enough that we decided we now need to eat dinner before we get on the plane because we wouldn't be arriving until well after 9. 

The kids had never flown before so I was a little apprehensive. Carter tends to get a bit motion sick and he refused dramamine. He was SO excited but I could see his nervous face (below) begin to show up as we backed up from the gate and headed to the runway. They did fine on the flight, mostly because Jet Blue has free TVs in every seat and gives you unlimited free snacks. 

We landed shortly before 9, but still needed to get our bags and our rental car. What a process at that airport. We were on our way around 9:35 or so, and still had an hour and 40 minute drive to Seth's grandparent's house. Both kids were EXHAUSTED and were asleep before we got out of the airport lot. They briefly woke up when we arrived (after 11 p.m. at that point) to look at the pool but then hopped into bed.

Needless to say, they were up early (I'm talking 5:30 a.m.) to ask if it was time to swim! We only had one full day there, so they were in the pool by 8 in the morning! HA! Gram cooked us an amazing breakfast and we spent the whole morning in the pool. It started storming around lunch and didn't let up until after dinner, so we went for lunch, helped with some projects around their house, RELAXED (so nice!), and got to bed at a reasonable time.

We had to get up early to take Gram and Poppi for breakfast and head to Epcot in the morning!

We had such a great time visiting them. They were definitely sad to see us go and we were sad that our flight delays caused us to miss an entire evening with them.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2017 summary: "slept in" (vs getting up at work time), breakfast made for me, church, lunch out, nap, outside play time, grilling, bubble bath, Starbucks. 

It was a great day! Love these little people!

Birthday celebration at Willow Valley

I can't believe it but my sweet boy is 7! I swear I was just in a delivery room, about to smack a resident, yesterday. But look at him now. He's huge. :( 

In standard tradition, we crepe papered his door and ballooned the hallway. I LOVE that they love this. In fact, the evening before, he asked if we were going to do the balloons and paper streamers like we always do. I love traditions. He was very excited to open his gifts -- two hockey sticks and balls, Legos, a slip n slide, and a few other small things. 

 

Late morning, we headed to Lancaster for our evening away (which was actually to celebrate both of their birthdays). Seth and I had a discussion a few months ago about doing more of these memory-making types of activities with the kids. Unlike the circus, of course, this weekend was rainy and freezing. Our kids were wearing shorts, but they were chilly. In fact, Addison's winter coat is even on in this picture. HA! We first went to Kitchen Kettle Village to check out some of the small shops. We grabbed homemade soft pretzels, of course! 

We did check out a bunch of shops, walked around the town for a little, checked out some enormous swing set manufacturer (you can play on all the unique sets and in the forts for free). But when it started raining, we decided to head toward Willow Valley and hope they let us in early. Let me say that Willow Valley isn't even called that anymore. Pretty soon after we got married, they sold to Hilton, so it is now a Doubletree Hilton (everyone still calls it WV, though). They knocked down half of that amazing resort and made it all Hilton-y (think: business center, not family resort). BOOOO. But the kids had no idea what it used to be so they were excited to check in!

 The view from our room, which also happens to be where our reception was almost 11 years ago. <3 br="">

OF COURSE we hit the pool within minutes of checking in. We basically dropped our bags and ran. The kids were sooooo excited when they saw the pool. Unfortunately, that only lasted about 45 minutes before they wanted to keep exploring (read: go to the arcade).

...where they won 6 balls in like 15 minutes. Carter is REALLY good at those claw machines! It's hard to tell the kid "these things are a waste of money" when he wins every time.

They wanted to take a break from the pool so we headed back to the room for sweatpants (seriously, BRRRRR). But then they decided that they needed to do the whirlpool in the bathroom. Heaven for two little kids!

We were originally just going to order pizza for dinner but since they weren't ready to go back to the pool just yet, we headed up to find a nearby restaurant. We found a good Italian place nearby that was really good -- and they had tiramisu, which I grabbed to-go for later (I figured I'd defer the cake for homemade tiramisu).

When we got back to the room, we did our little party of cake (and soda, the special treat). 

Carter was so excited to get to eat cake sitting in bed watching a show. In fact, they were so enamored with the idea of a hotel, they ASKED TO GO TO BED at 8 p.m. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. They were out like lights. Seth and I got to hang out in peace until we went to bed.

In the morning, we ate breakfast in the room before, you guessed it, the POOL. We spent hours there on Sunday morning, and we nearly had the thing to ourselves, which was super fun. 

When it was finally time to go, we didn't make it far before I turned around and saw this. Guess they had a great time. :) 

Happy birthday, little dude. We love you all the way to Guatemala.

Baltimore + Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

What a fun day!! The Ringling Bros. circus was going out of business so Seth and I made the decision that our kids HAD to see it before it was over. Otherwise, they may never know the circus like we know it. The closest location was Baltimore so we got tickets for the Saturday, April 29 late afternoon show! Carter had a scheduled baseball game that morning, which was a bummer. BUT THEN: it rained overnight and the field was too wet to play, so they canceled!! It was sunny and gorgeous so we decided to get on the road and spend the day in Baltimore. 

I'm so glad we did. The weather was perfect (maybe a tinge hot) and we got to eat at my favorite Inner Harbor restaurant with kids, Cheesecake Factory. Usually at that CF, there is a super long wait, but there was only a 20 minute wait that day. SCORE! Here are my loves waiting patiently. 

Carter loved all the ship stuff, and was excited to show me where his Trail Life trip was when they stayed on the U.S.S. Taney overnight. 

After we had done some exploring, we decided to let the kids grab some candy at the candy shop in Inner Harbor. I let them each pick a couple things and it was FIFTEEN DOLLARS. Whoooops. I am so bad at that "pay-by-the-weight" thing. :) Our car was parked right by the Harbor and we didn't want to pay another $25 garage fee, so we decided to walk because it "isn't that far." Famous last words.

90 degrees. 1 mile. 1 child on shoulders. You do the math. But we made it....we never cooled down the entire circus, but we made it, and that's what's important.

And because I show zero restraint in situations like this, I said "YES, definitely!" when my kids asked if they could get snow cones. I'm going to give you a minute to get a paper bag to breathe into because I ordered them each a snow cone and the bill was TWENTY-FOUR DOLLARS. I almost made them take it back. But it was in the name of fun, so I played cool mom. HA!

They had a total blast at the circus. Addison got antsy part way through but intermission helped that. Carter was, quite literally, on the edge of his seat the whole time. He just loved it!

We were going to go back to Inner Harbor after the circus but by then it was 6:00, we hadn't had dinner yet, and we had to walk that mile back to our car in now 88 degree weather. So we scrapped that plan and headed home. Such a fun day!!

Easter 2017: A little different than normal

Well, Easter looked a little different this year. For starters, it was HOT. Not warm...hot. And Carter wasn't feeling well the week leading up to Easter. He had a high fever that just wouldn't go away, so he was mopey and not very interested in Easter activities.

On Saturday, we did go to the bank down the street. The always have fun, free activities for families and they did on this day too. The Easter bunny was there, you could make crafts, and get snacks and stuff. He humored me to take a picture but then went home and laid on the couch most of the day. It was pitiful to see. He didn't really want to paint eggs either. In fact, he drug himself off the couch long enough to paint a single egg, and headed right back to sleep.

  The Easter bunny (wink, wink) got their baskets all ready to go! And--thankfully Carter woke up Easter morning feeling more like himself!

They got dressed in their Easter outfits and they agreed to some pictures. Surprisingly, every single one of them turned out really well. I was so excited to get some new pictures of them!

After church, we headed up to my grandma's house in Millersburg. Though it was hot, it was SUPER windy. But we decided to eat out on the carport which was a fun change of the "normal" Easter. The kids even did a massive water balloon fight....dads and Pa included.

To say we had a lot of eggs for the hunt (for 6 kids, no less) is an understatement. We had 207 eggs for them...which they found in 10 minutes flat. These kids don't mess around.

 After the egg hunt, it was time for Gramma and Pa's Easter baskets. We managed to get them to sit still for 2 seconds for this picture before they dug in! :)