Enjoying Disney

First face painting today at Hollywood Studios.

More to come when I get a chance...

Disney 2010 - Magic Kingdom

Okay, so it feels like our trip to Disney was eons ago, but I did promise you more pictures, so here they are (and Epcot is still remaining). These were taken at the Magic Kingdom on various days - some sunny and some not so sunny, as you can see from the rainclouds gathering above the Castle on that one picture. I didn't take my camera to the parks every day, so some of these were taken with my phone. The Magic Kingdom was where we were able to meet Mickey & Minnie, and see countless other characters up close. Meeting Mickey was a big one on Caleb's things to do, since he was talking about Mickey for weeks before the trip, telling tales of how he was going to tell Mickey this or that... and how Mickey was going to say this or that to him. In the end, it turned out that Mickey did not talk, but he did hug Caleb along with Minnie and I think that was just as good.

One great thing about Disney is that the whole family can enjoy the rides together. All four of us were able to get on many rides together - how great is that, when you can take a 7 month old with you on rides like the Mad Tea Party and Peter Pan and It's a Small World! Or Pirates of the Caribbean, which turned out to be one of our top favorites that we returned to again and again. Ariana slept in the Bjorn a lot, but when she was awake, I turned her to face out and she was so excited by all the sights and sounds of this place - I've never seen my babe wave her hands and kick her feet so much! I think her favorite may have been the Small World ride, but I can't be 100% sure, you'll just have to ask her!

Staying in a Disney hotel was so worth it, not only for the ease of transportation to and from the parks, but for many of the extras they offer: picking us up at the airport with the Magic Express bus, delivering our luggage from the airport to our hotel room so we never had to worry about it, extended hours in the parks just for Disney guests, airline check-in at the hotel on the day of our departure, where once again our luggage was whisked off, never to be seen by us again until we arrived home. When you are traveling with a toddler and a baby, all of these extras make your life so much easier, and well, you need to have your load lightened a little bit when you are on vacation with a toddler and a baby. Otherwise it's not vacation!

It's funny how many people, when we told them where we went with our kids, responded with "Wow, you are brave to take a toddler and a baby to Disney World!" We really didn't think about it that way, as we had traveled with Caleb everywhere (he was a wee 7 months when we went to Hungary) and he has always done very well on trips, and the baby... well, babies usually don't complain if you carry them around, close to your body 24-7... but yeah, the logistics of 2 is definitely more than the logistics of 1. Especially if the one that has never given you any trouble before suddenly has a problem, uhm... or three problems piled on top of one another, all converging precisely 2 days into your vacation. So, there were moments of chaos, for sure, but there were also many, many magical moments: how could there not be with sights such as the one below? One thing we would probably do differently, and recommend to all who travel to Disney with small children, is to go for a few extra days than what you think it would take to see what you want (don't think you can ever see everything, there's just too much) and schedule in some serious down time, like some afternoons at the hotel pool. Because it is exhausting for the little ones (and their parents carting them around) to be at the parks from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day for a week. Fun, but exhausting. :)

The Magic

The Clouds

Was that his imitation of a pirate face? I can't remember.

Mickey everywhere

Mad Tea Party

It's a Small World

YES, this bird really came this close.
NO, we were not feeding it.

But I WAS feeding the baby at the time!

One of the clear blue sky, sunshiny days!

Laughing outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean.

I think she really liked it!

Tom Sawyer's Island - so fun!

Mickey!! Minnie!! He really was beaming.

Trying to check Mickey's mail (but it wouldn't open)

Boarding the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

(Caleb really loved boat rides. He kept saying "Let's go on another water ride!")

We bought that

and that :)

but NOT that

Entering the fort on Tom Sawyer's Island - Caleb was happy to lead the way

Exploring

(we even crossed a barrel bridge - of course, I did NOT manage to take pictures then)

There were caves to explore.

When asked if he liked the caves, Caleb responded:

"Yes. But they were kind of scary."

Chip. Or Dale.

Mickey chocolate - of which we partook, of course.

"We have to go back to Disney and Mickey."

(Guess who said?)

Disney 2010 - Animal Kingdom

Here's the first installment of pictures from our vacation to Disney World. There are four parks, and Animal Kingdom is the newest one (it did not exist 12.5 years ago on our honeymoon). We spent almost a whole day here, staying until closing (it closes earlier than the other parks), after which we headed over to Epcot. This is where Caleb got to meet Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore for the very first time (that night he also met them at Epcot). You don't see the Pooh pictures, because he was a little shy at first, but by the time he got to Eeyore and then Tigger, he had warmed up considerably, entertaining everyone by the end. Ariana slept through the whole thing.

We saw lots of animals, including a tiger that came up to the glass to say hello and just stood there staring at us (weird!) - I quickly took a picture with my phone. This was in Asia and the architecture that contained the animals here was beautiful. We had lunch in Asia, then headed over to Africa for a safari, which was really neat and enjoyed by all (a little bouncy at the end when we were trying to escape from the poachers, but the baby slept through that too).

The lion on this safari was really roaring! I think it was close to his feeding.
(Our guide said that she had never heard the lion roar before.)

Here's the tiger - up close and personal.

Lunch.

Ariana eating in the highchair.

Taken during the 5 minutes that she actually stayed in it.

Afterwards I had to get really good at balancing my coconut shrimp on my fork

with a very bouncy baby.

Tree of Life

Dinoland, USA

Riding with Daddy

You may have heard that there were some problems with this child.

Yes, yes - while the problem with other children is that they tend to run off, our child's newest antic was to stop in his tracks and not move an inch. On a few occasions, no amount of pleading or command would budge him. Exhaustion, overstimulation, a cold, and what proved to be a developing stomach bug were the culprit - at least the ones we know about.

Several times we would ask ourselves, who is this child?

But here - here, he was completely himself -

our humorous, goofy, entertaining sweet boy making a scene of THE GOOD KIND,

demonstrating perhaps to all how absolutely exhausted we were by the end of the day

each and every single day.

Good times.