6/3 - Disney Part 2

Here is finally the second half of our disney vacation. Day 2: Animal Kingdom. This first set of pictures cracks me up because Aiden was too small to go on a ride that he probably would have hated and he was so disappointed about it. He even tried to make himself taller by standing on his toes and then putting his hand on his head.

Once he got over that disappointment, we continued and got to see some fish at Animal Kingdom. The boys enjoyed that. We did a bit more waiting in lines for Animal Kingdom than we did at Magic Kingdom but the boys did a great job. We decided we were going to power through the day and just see how far Eli could make it without a nap. He did fairly well but they both got really cranky at lunch time and we had to separate from the group we were with because our kids needed food ASAP.

We went on this safari ride and the boys enjoyed it. It was nice for them to see some animals but we had enough sitting around and waiting and/or watching things. You can see Eli looking at the animals; he was starting to get pretty tired.

Our boys needed to get some activity out of them so we separated from the group again and went to dinosaur land. The boys had an absolute blast here. There was a playground area and a dino dig area. They had cool mist fans in the shaded dino dig area which was great although Aiden didn't like getting little pebbles in his shoes so he didn't stay there that long. 

We went to the Lion King show and Eli wasn't sure about it to begin with. He got a little scared but ultimately both kids allowed us to stay through the 30 minute show. This is the only somewhat decent picture we got of all of us. My camera started doing something weird and the white balance wasn't quite right for most of the day if the pictures seem a little off-color.

These are the girls/moms that I went with (Raechel, me, and Stephanie).

Here are all the kids. They looked cute all dressed the same. Aiden and Eli are on on the far right, then the three girls are in the middle (Regan, Kyleigh, Lily) and then Logan and Blaise. It was challenging to try and stay as a group with three families and the kids being so little and having different needs. Our children's needs included moving around a bit more than everyone else so we visited the dino dig site a few times.

Here is a good picture of Brad and I with the Tree of Life in the background. The kids were completely pictured out and not interested in taking a family picture like I was.

We finished the day watching The Little Mermaid at 5:00pm. Eli fell asleep in my arms while we were inside the nice air conditioning waiting for it to start. Everyone really enjoyed the show. I was concerned mine wouldn't sit there long enough (it's a 45 min show) but I was completely wrong. They loved it and so I.

Day 3: Magic Kingdom. We went back to Magic Kingdom and headed straight for the race cars.

Yeah. Both kids passed the height test and were able to drive (with us still in the car).  Eli barely made it but he qualified and Aiden was very happy that he passed.

I rode with Aiden and controlled the gas but he steered (although the car has to stay on a rail). Eli drove a car behind us and had a blast with daddy.

We ventured into Tomorrowland and went on the Buzz Lightyear ride. There wasn't much of a wait but it was a little overwhelming for Aiden. Like the other rides, he went through it with his hands over his ears but kept his eyes open to look around.

Again, the kids were tired and exhausted and after 2 days of me constantly taking pictures, they were not interested in taking a family picture for me. Brad and I managed to get a decent one with the castle in the background. We went home around noon so the boys could get a nap on this final day.

On the last day there, our boys were up normal as usual but they had a friend to play with since Kyleigh also gets up early.

Overall, we had a great time but exhausting time at Disney!

5/14 - Disney Vacation - Part 1

So I had been planning to go to Disney without Brad but since he's back for a bit, he came along. We went down there on Sunday afternoon after naps. In the first picture, you can see Brad and the boys in the parking garage. My camera was focused as close as possible but they were pretty far away. They went out "exploring" while I set the room up. They always have fun in the most random places.

We were ready for Disney on Monday morning. Here are Aiden and Brad in front of the castle at Magic Kingdom. We took the monorail and Aiden thought that was a cool "ride." I guess we didn't even need to buy tickets to Magic Kingdom. We could have stayed in the parking lot at the resort and just rode on the monorail (which you don't even need a ticket for) and the kids would have been happy.

We went on Peter Pan first. Aiden was scared and this is how he went through this ride and most other rides. He seemed to do okay if he put his hands over his ears and just blocked out the noise and tried to look at everything else. Since he suffers from sensory problems, it was interesting but we knew that before we went.

Our friend told us to get some water fans. What a good idea except when the kids get a little carried away and either soak themselves or everyone around us walking. I am glad we had them though. Here is Eli cooling himself off.

After the morning and a couple rides at Magic Kingdom, we went back to the resort (which was awesome and had 6 pools I think). The boys took naps and then as we started to head back out to the shuttle, it started to rain and nothing about being at Magic Kingdom with rain and 2 kids (with no rain gear) sounded fun. The boys agreed to stay at the hotel and go to the splash park they found while I was checking in. To buy some time before the rain stopped, we took them on exploration and let them play on the luggage cart.

This [pretend] castle was at the resort. It was quite awesome. We walked around for a long time and once they opened the pools back up, we got dressed and headed to the splash park. They had this area that looked like an old pirate shipwreck which was cool.

The boys are all ready to go swimming: 

The boys loved the splash park. The one in the blue shorts is Aiden and we were so proud of him going through and getting wet. That's a big deal for him. Eli had a blast too but we expected that. He loves water.  

There was a lazy river and zero entry pool right next to this splash park. All of the pools were heated which was awesome. Here are the boys playing in inter tubes from the lazy river.  

On Tuesday morning, we went to Animal Kingdom. Here you can see Eli (also dressed at a super hero with a cape), Blaise, and Aiden playing with the matchbox cars unfolding things. 

Aiden said he wanted to go see Tigger, Pooh, and Eyeore. Brad and I laughed when he said that but went ahead and let the boys go down. Eli was skeptical but did pass out a few fist pumps. Aiden wanted nothing to do with any of them. NOTHING.  

I'll have to post more pictures in a bit. Google tells me I've run out of "free storage space" so I need to figure something out. I think I'll delete some old posts to make more room and finish telling you about our trip to Animal Kingdom and then back to Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. Stay tuned....