disney: parks, people, and randomness

Now that day 2 of our Disney Adventure has come to a close, I feel like I was able to take in a whole lot more of the experience today. We weren’t rushing from ride to ride today and I took the time to notice random things. It’ll be easier to list them, rather than continue as I am.

1.       Neither kid enjoys a ride that includes more than a few seconds of darkness and Luke doesn’t like anything remotely scary. We found out the very hard way. Did you know that Pirates of the Caribbean becomes the Longest. Ride. Ever. when you have children that start screaming the second you go down that first incline less than 10 seconds into the ride? Oh, and the Finding Nemo Submarine Adventure was definitely an adventure. Reagan seemed so excited when we got on the boat, watching the bubbles and fish. When things went dark and got even remotely creepy, I prayed for the end of that dang ride. The only solution we’ve found so far to help out our cause is food. Stuff Reagan full of food and she remains silent for the amount of time it takes for her to consume whatever snack you’ve shoved in there. We now travel on any ride with an insane amount of whales (the cheap version of Goldfish; they taste better).

2.       I will never knock anyone that puts a leash on their kid. After watching two different moms run frantically around shouting their poor kid’s name today in a brief 15 minute period, I completely get it. Both kids were found pretty quickly and after the moms recovered from being absolute basket cases, I wonder if they felt the same too.

3.       I can’t figure out why there are so many Australians here. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Disney. I could easily go there each year for vacation, but to travel half way around the world to get here? That is some serious Disney dedication.

4.       Teenagers without any parents around move at a snail’s pace and have no qualms about blocking any and all families from getting quickly to their next destination.

5.       We have had to cart Luke’s potty seat around with us. It travels safely in a Wal-Mart plastic bag and Keith and Luke head off to the men’s room when the time calls for it. I love that Luke is potty trained; no accidents yet here (knock on wood), but I can’t wait to not have that baseball potty trek around with us.

6.       My kids love an impromptu dance party. After finishing our dinner in Tomorrow Land, we, along with a few other families, started dancing along to the music playing over the loud speaker. Luke and Reagan both had ear to ear grins as they got their boogey on. Both kids made a break for the stage that was roped off and I can’t help but think maybe one or both might make a career of it someday. Keith would be happiest if I said it was going to be Reagan. She seems to have the personality for it anyways.

 

 

 
7. Disney Junior is even more exciting to Luke in person than it is on television, which is saying a lot for the kid. I thought he might have a heart attack when the Jake the Pirate and Captain Hook came out. And when the gold doubloons rained from the ceiling? He had the biggest smile I might have ever seen spread across his sweet face.

And some other randoms just for fun...

 

Luke was so excited to get to take pictures with Mater and McQueen.

And Luke definitely takes after his momma. Not a huge fan of roller coasters, but love the spinning rides. We {heart} the teacups!

 

first dip

The weather here in Phoenix has taken a turn for the warm, not quite hot, so we've taken advantage of it with our fabulous Wal-Mart plastic play pool. This was Reagan's first real go at the pool and she loved every second of it. Luke wasn't so sure at first; he was actually kind of mad that Reagan got him wet. He got over that after the first few minutes and then they had a great time together.

I see many more of the experiences in our near future...

how we do...

This is how we use water guns given as birthday gifts.

 And yes, this is without water.

take me out to the ball game

Treeland has Spring Training season tickets for the Cubs, so Keith was able to take Luke to his first baseball game this year. I wasn't able to go (someone had to watch Reagan and Heaven knows there was no way she'd last through the game), so I sent my boys off with the camera and prayed for some decent pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

Jeanne and Holly got to go too. Lucky ducks.

A little old lady sitting in front of them gave Luke a real baseball, not the soft version we have at home. He was so excited to show me his new treasure when he got home.

This is how close the seats are to the field. They really are fabulous seats.

Luke got his hands on the camera at one point and took some of his own pictures. Maybe he'll follow in his Momma's footsteps...

And the game is done. I'm sad that I didn't get to experience this with Luke, but I am so happy that he had such a great time. Maybe next year I'll get to go too. Fingers crossed.

easter?

My babies need to know the truth: Keith and I kind of suck at being the Easter Bunny. In fact, Luke and Reagan really have no clue that the Easter Bunny even exists. It was sad today when people asked them what the big guy brought them and Luke just looked at them with this confused stare. I will readily admit that I dropped the ball with Easter this year. Between Disney, Luke's birthday, helping to host an engagement party, Reagan's teeth, and Luke's asthma among other things, I just didn't get to it.

Sure, they both had Easter baskets this morning that they were more than happy to tear through. With the exception of a new small wooden train set in Luke's basket, each basket was filled with things I found around the house at 11pm last night that they didn't know that we had. The plastic eggs were found at the bottom of a basket of toys and neither one noticed that they were mismatched or filled with marshmallows instead of the typical Easter candy. Reagan was lucky enough to be gifted a box of sidewalk chalk that I found buried in the back of our pantry on the top shelf that I'd bought for Luke before princess was even a thought in our minds. And to cap it off, I didn't take any pictures.

And after all that, you know what?

They still had a great time. They didn't know the difference between slightly stale puffs of sugar and jellybeans (sugar is sugar, right?). We still got to attend Mass and celebrate the true reason we observe this holiday. We were able to spend time with family and enjoy each others' company.

In 20 years, Luke and Reagan won't care how much we spent or what they got. What matters most to me today was the experience and they still had an awesome. So even though Easter wasn't exactly what we'd hoped and planned, it was just what we needed.

i hate teeth

Yep, you read that right.

Teeth suck. I know its some rite of passage that every kid get to go through, but really, six teeth all at once?

I'm over it. Reagan's over it. Luke's probably sick and tired of hearing all of her screams from the room next to him.

And you know what the kicker is? When she wakes up sobbing and wailing and I go into comfort her, she wants nothing to do with. I set her back down and she melts down even more. By the time I finally convince her nearly an hour later to go to sleep and try to set her in her crib, she magically pops back up and the cycle begins to repeat itself.

Ridiculous.

I really wish at this moment that she was like Renesmee' from Twilight, born with a full set of chompers. Oh how grand that would be.

disney: parks and pictures

Our first day at the park didn’t disappoint. We rode rides, waited in lines, met with characters, did a little shopping and ended up getting the requisite ear hats, ate some food, and enjoyed our time. There were a lot of people at the park; many more than Keith or I had originally anticipated, but we didn’t have to wait too long in any line. If it was long, we moved on to another ride or attraction where the wait wasn’t nearly as bad.

Luke’s favorite ride of the morning has to be the “baby train.” He is currently obsessed with all things train, so this was at the top of his list. The rest of the day can really be told best in pictures; enjoy!

We did learn that our precious babies do NOT enjoy any ride that is dark. At all. Too bad we figured that out 10 seconds into Pirates of the That ended up a complete disaster of epic proportions.

The rockets in Tomorrowland were a great solution and perked them up quickly!

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!