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Monday, June 29, 2009

Ollie

I am working on a new post from Disney but I wanted to announce the arrival of our new kitten! Her name is Ollie (after Oliver from Oliver and Company). She has been getting a lot of love and I'm not entirely sure that she is enjoying it! :) Tolerating it may be a better way to put it! She is doing well though and is beginning to get used to all of the loud and crazy sounds that come from our house at pretty much all times!


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Disney Day 2 - Warning: Lots of pictures!

We were up bright and early on Day 2 of our Disney trip. We had breakfast with the princesses scheduled for 8:25a.m.! Everybody was still a little worn out from the day before so we were a kinda slow getting around. Our breakfast was at Epcot and the park doesn't open until 9. It is so nice to be able to get in early and walk through an almost completely empty park to the restaurant. We did this same breakfast the last time and really enjoyed the princesses and the food. Bray had an exceptionally hard time waking up so she wasn't overjoyed to be there. In fact, any picture Braylee is in is because I specifically asked the princess to go stand next to her chair! Brax had also been talking about how he was going to kiss Cinderella but he was a lot of talk and not quite as much action!



Braylee was having the time of her life!

We had just a few things we wanted to do at Epcot and then were planning on spending the afternoon resting. We headed to the Nemo ride and then did a show called Turtle Talk with Crush. It is a cute interactive show with Crush from Finding Nemo. Everybody enjoyed it. Nate, Julia, Ann, and Brecca headed off to ride Soarin and I stayed with Braylee and Brax to watch Turtle talk with Crush again. There is a part where Crush lets kids ask him questions and Braylee was really excited to ask him why there was a microphone is his tank (so the humans in the human tank could hear him talk) but he didn't call on her. She was raising her hand and waving it all around. Brax actually fell asleep and took about a 10 minute nap but then I had to carry him outside and find the stroller. My mom and Brecca were waiting on us. Soaring had a long line so they didn't ride it and Nate and Julia had gone to ride Test Track.
After we all met back up, we headed over to the Character Spot to meet some characters!



Brax got brave enough to kiss Minnie on the nose.

We had to stop for some photo opportunities on the way out!


We were all worn out by this point so we decided to head back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. The kids and I took a nap in our room while Nate and both Grandma's swam in the pool. We were up for a fun night at Downtown Disney later in the evening so we needed to be rested up!

We parked on the wrong side of Downtown Disney so we took a water taxi to the Marketplace. It was a fun little ride and much better than walking! :) We stopped in at Goofy's Candy Company and got some Rice Krispy Treats. They are a snack credit on the dining plan and arguably the best bang for your buck! The kids enjoyed them!
The kids with their Grandmas!

Show us your muscles Braxy!


Check out that Rice Krispy Treat!

We ate a sandwich and then did a little window shopping. We stopped and watched a little show on our way out. Nothing too exciting but an enjoyable evening! Then it was back to the hotel for another good night's sleep!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Disney - Day 1

Monday: Our plane left bright and early Monday morning - 5:45a.m. to be exact! This meant we had to leave our house at 2:00a.m. for the 2.5 hour drive to the airport. I thought we would have plenty of time but by the time we parked our van in the economy parking lot, took the shuttle to the terminal, got checked in, checked out luggage, and went through security, they were actually loading our plane! No waiting around for us although I would not have wanted to cut it any closer!!!

The girls have flown one other time (the last time we went to Disneyworld) but this was Brax's first time. He was a little nervous about it but also pretty excited. He did fine although afterward he said it was "scary" and the whole time we were in the air, he wanted "to go back down!" We flew to Milwaukee and had about an hour layover and then got on another plane for Orlando.
We got to Orlando about 1:00p.m. and got our luggage, picked up our rental car (minivan, actually!) and headed for our hotel. We stayed on Disney property at Pop Century. I know you can get some pretty good deals on houses and condos off-property but we feel the closer to the action the better. I would reallt recommend looking into it if anybody goes in the near future. It really isn't too much more expensive than off-site and you get some great benefits!
We checked in and then headed to the food court for a snack. Nate and Julia took the kids swimming while I unpacked our room and got things organized. We had a dinner reservation that night for around 6:00 so we went ahead and got around and headed that direction about 5:00. The hotel that the restaurant was in was really nice and our dinner was good. It was kinda a crazy place. The kids got to do some horse races and we all stood up and did the Hokey Pokey in the middle of dinner.


We got back to our room about 9:00. My mom had to catch a later flight and was supposed to arrive via Disney Transportation later on so the kids went to bed and I stayed up to meet my mom. She finally arrived anout 11:30p.m. after landing at 9:40p.m. I was beginning to get a little worried! We got her something to eat and then we were off to bed. Breakfast with the Princesses bright and early Tuesday morning!!!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Dreams

I am going to do a post to recap Disneyworld (more for my benefit than yours!) but first I have to mention a couple of dreams Brax has had recently. One night a couple of weeks ago, he came downstairs in the morning and told me there was a penguin in his bed under his pillow. "A weally, weally mean one!" I told him it must have been a dream and to go back up and check and I would bet that there wasn't a penguin under his pillow. He said, "No, I want you to do it!" So, I went upstairs with him tagging along behind and lifted up his pillow. You should have seen the look on him face. Complete shock! He looked around his bed and then under his covers. He couldn't believe there was no penguin in his bed!

Last night, I heard him crying in the night and got up to go see what was wrong. He was really upset. It wasn't his normal half asleep cry - it was more like an I'm terrified cry! He said, "Brecca pushed me in the thing where the crocodiles live and I was trying to get out and I couldn't." It was sad. This morning he really thought that Brecca had done that to him! It took some serious convincing for him to believe that it was all just a dream!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

We're Home!!!

We made it home! Only probably most of you didn't even know we were gone! Actually, I didn't want to announce to the whole world (okay, maybe just the three people who read this blog - who already knew we were leaving) that we were leaving town and our house would be completely empty for an entire week. Like I said, not that it mattered since the few people who read this already knew we were leaving but it made me feel better and that's all that matters! OK, so moving along.....


We went to Disneyworld for the week. We had a great time but are relieved to be home. It is true when people come home and say they need a vacation from a vacation! I have spent the last couple of days catching up on laundry and trying to get things back in order.

I will post in detail about our trip later but just had a quick story. Disney has signs up all over the place advertising "Disneys Best Kept Secret - Disney Vacation Club" (Disneys version of timeshares basically). On our last night there, Brecca (who can read now) said to me, " Mom, I think I figured out Disney's secret." "Oh, you did?" I said. "Yeah," she said. "The characters at Disneyworld are actually just people who are dressed up in costumes. That's their secret!" I think I was a lot more disappointed that she had figured that out than she was! The next day Braylee asked why Pluto had a big zipper down his back so I am pretty sure she is onto them as well! :)



Here is a picture to tide you over for a couple of days....


Saturday, May 30, 2009

Dance Recital

The big Dance Recital is this weekend for anyone interested! It really is a pretty good show. The girls are pretty cute in it too!



Brecca has another costume but my camera battery went dead so pictures of that still to come! Something to look forward to!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pool Pictures!