Animal Kingdom

Our second day in Orlando was spent in Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom didn't exist when I went to Disney World years ago, so it was a first for all of us. This day was a very low-key day. It was nice! The park closed by 7 PM and we had plenty of time to do and explore all that we wanted to. We enjoyed several shows that day - It's Tough to be a Bug, Festival of the Lion King, and Finding Nemo Musical. Not only were the shows good, but they were a nice break from the heat! Here's our day in a nutshell:

We first went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We walked through the jungle and saw different creatures - our favorites were the massively huge fruit-eating bats and the tigers. I was glad we did this first before it got to toasty. Here's a picture of the girls in the jungle:

Audrey and I then checked out some more animals belonging to the ape family while Rachel and Andy went on the Kali River Rapids. Luckily Andy did a good job of shielding Rachel, so she didn't get too wet... Andy then went on Expedition Everest (which none of the rest of us could ride). He really enjoyed this roller coaster and went on it several more times throughout the day. While he was on the roller coaster the girls and I explored and found some characters to take pictures with:

We then met up at the Kilimanjaro Safari. The girls and Andy went on the safari while I had fun people watching! :) The girls enjoyed seeing all the different animals on their safari ride. I believe they went on quite a bumpy road in a truck like this:

Somewhere we fit in some lunch. We then discovered the Triceratop Spin in Dinoland - think, Dumbo ride, but you're riding triceratops. The girls loved this ride and we went on it several times throughout the day. I made the mistake of sending Rachel with Andy on the Dinosaur ride - think Indiana Jones, but with dinosaurs... It was a bit intense for her. Andy had a very scared, sad girl on that ride. Sorry, Rachel! :( The girls still talk about Rachel going on the Dinosaur ride and crying. So, yeah, I should have done my homework a bit better on that one...

The girls really enjoyed The Boneyard in Dinoland - basically a dinosaur-themed playground. Their favorite part was the tunnels and then the water:

They would have spent a lot more time playing around in there, but we were hoping to catch a parade, so away we went... On the way to the parade we took a picture in front of Discovery Island:

We then found a nice shady spot and enjoyed the parade:

Although we probably enjoyed more watching Audrey's excitement as she pointed, danced, clapped, and blew kisses...

After the Lion King show, which we thoroughly enjoyed, the girls enjoyed playing on some drums:

We managed to get a family picture with Thumper and his girlfriend:

The girls and I headed back over to Dinoland to ride Triceratop Spin (while Andy did another Expedition Everest run). On the way we ran into Pooh and his friends...

For some reason Eeyore was just too much for Audrey...
We also couldn't resist a picture with Pluto and Goofy in Dinoland:

As you can see, character pictures happened a lot more often in Animal Kingdom. If we did wait for pictures, the longest we waited was 5 minutes... We then decided to not eat dinner in the park and headed to Downtown Disney that evening for dinner and some shopping. We of course had to stop by a Disney store to pick up a few souvenirs for the girls. By this time they were asking for things, so we got it over with and didn't have to worry about shopping while in the parks the next 2 days. And we had to grab pictures of the girls outside the store with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (no line here, either!).

Once again, we enjoyed our day. Animal Kingdom was fun!

Magic Kingdom

Our favorite park was definitely the good, old classic Magic Kingdom. We spent 2 days having fun in Magic Kingdom. There were lots of rides that we repeated several times and the girls loved it. Our first day there, Monday, wasn't too busy so that was really nice. We utilized the Ridemax program to plan out our day and it worked out well for us.

Here are the girls riding the parking lot tram, anxious for their first Disney experience:

As we walked into Magic Kingdom we headed straight back to Fantasyland where was spotted Pinocchio before anyone else did. The girls were thrilled!

Dumbo ride! I believe this was our first ride and quickly became the favorite. We repeated this ride (along with other variations) several times...

We got a lot of rides in the first 2 hours we were there. The girls loved Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan. They were not fans of Snow White (I think the Haunted Mansion was less scary to them). The carousel, of course, was a hit. We also went to a show called Philharmagic, which Rachel enjoyed and Audrey tolerated. We repeated it on Thursday though - we quickly became fans of shows during the hot afternoon hours. Audrey did have fun sporting the 3-D glasses before she knew what they were capable of:
Here's Rachel near the carousel working hard to pull out the sword:We headed over to Tomorrowland and tried out the speedway. Watch out, Rachel's got control of the race car!

A picture with Alice before we rode the teacups:

The girls' favorite ride in Tomorrowland was Buzz Lightyear. I kind of wished they had incorporated more of the characters from Toy Story, but I think Buzz is definitely one of the popular characters. As we left Tomorrowland, we grabbed a picture of the girls and I on a bridge with the castle in the background:

On our way over to Adventureland we were able to snag one of the few spots left in the shade and watch "Dream Along with Mickey". The girls enjoyed seeing the princesses.

We discovered Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride in Adventureland, which is pretty much the Dumbo ride...

We enjoyed a little ice cream break in the afternoon:
The girls and I on the Jungle Cruise:
Playing after the Jungle Cruise:

We enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean as well. That afternoon we also watched the Country Bear Jamboree. Audrey really enjoyed this show. It was one of the few shows that she didn't ask when it was going to be over. I think she really liked the bears. We went back to Tomorrowland in the early evening. We did a few rides for the second time. We even did the somewhat dull Carousel of Progress. But hey, there was no wait and it was a cool place to sit for a good chunk of time. That evening we stayed around for the Electrial Parade. Of course we didn't get the memo about having to line up along the parade route at least an hour before the parade began. So the girls watched the parade on our shoulders and they looked awfully cute in their new Mickey Mouse ears:

We then headed back to our hotel. Audrey crashed on the way back to the hotel room. She was exhausted! Totally unresponsive, which is very uncommon for her. And of course Rachel had to pretend to be asleep as well:

Thursday we spent our second day in Magic Kingdom. I was grateful it was our second day, because it was much busier. And really the only ride we needed to go on was Splash Mountain - all the other rides were repeats. We definitely just headed back to the girls' favorites. First off was Fantasyland. Andy made a run to get fast pass tickets to Splash Mountain while the girls and I stayed in Fantasyland. We grabbed a picture with Mary Poppins:

This time we grabbed pictures of the girls on the carousel. We rode the carousel several times that day!

Our Ridemax-scheduled day got a little messed up due to Splash Mountain being closed for a few hours. But oh well, things still worked out. Rachel said Splash Mountain was fun, but she didn't have any desire to go on it again.

Our most unique adventure that day was deciding to duck into Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. This didn't get great reviews, so we weren't planning on it. But after riding the Buzz ride again and it was the hot afternoon, we decided to enjoy sitting down in a cool place. Well, it didn't disappoint because they were scanning the crowd for a two-headed monster and Audrey was on my lap, so we were selected. We got to answer a few questions about where we were from and the girls thought it was pretty cool to see Audrey and I on the big screen. They also thought it was pretty funny that they thought the Eiffel Tower was in Houston, since they actually know what the Eiffel Tower is and where it is... :)

We did several Dumbo rides again on Thursday. Here's Dumbo, Andy, and the girls:

We hung around until about 7:00 because we had to wait for our fast pass for the Peter Pan ride, which the girls love! After that ride, we grabbed a picture in front of the castle and then headed back to the hotel. We decided to take a quick swim that evening, since we were all tired of being hot and just wanted to enjoy playing.

Andy on the Monorail ride, passed out (pretending to be asleep, of course):

We loved Magic Kingdom. The girls are still talking about rides, characters, parades, etc... Rachel keeps on saying, "When I go back when I'm 6..." Not sure we'll head back next year. Maybe when Audrey is 5 and Rachel's 8... I was a bit nervous about Audrey possibly being too young, but she really enjoyed it and did well. And if you go when they're under 3, they're free! We also enjoyed Epcot and Animal Kingdom. So, more pictures to come...

Orlando Trip

So, we went to Disney World back in May. It turned out to be such a good trip. We were a bit nervous about the 16 hour drive (more like 18-20 hours with stops - you have to also remember you lose an hour going there and gain a hour coming back home). But we couldn't have asked for a better outcome. Audrey did fabulously!!! And Rachel's always easy in the car... We headed out on a Saturday - drove for 2 days, went to the parks for 4 days, and then took 2 days to drive home. I thought I'd put together a few thoughts that might help others who are planning a similar trip.

TIMING. It was hot in May. No rain the whole week, which was a blessing. But it was hot. If I could pick any time of the year (which is pretty much impossible with Andy's job) I would go late February or early March. I think the weather would be decent and all the Spring Break crowds wouldn't be there yet. We did usually go to shows in the afternoon, which helped being able to avoid standing in line in the heat of the afternoon. We did have good timing though. The parks weren't especially busy. Thursday was our busiest day, but luckily that was our 2nd day at Magic Kingdom and it was the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend.

FLYING VS. DRIVING. Believe me, it was tempting... However we saved around $1500 driving. Even with high gas prices, flights were ridiculous as well. I'm sure if you planned your trip more in advance you would be able to get better deals. We're kind of bad about last minute planning... Plus driving added it's own adventure. We got to drive through 5 states, neither of us had been in Alabama or Mississippi, or seen the Mississippi River before. We also got to drive through a lot of swamp land in Louisiana - never done that before!

We took this picture as we stopped at a rest stop on our first day of traveling:

This picture was taken on our last day of traveling on our way home. In Louisiana you can access Lake Charles right off the freeway. There's an area right along I-1o. We grabbed some Wendy's and enjoyed a picnic lunch at the beach. Unfortunately Rachel was the only one who got to enjoy building a sandcastle (Audrey wouldn't finish her lunch). And a good FYI - disgusting bathrooms, walked in and walked right out. However, if you drive to the end of the beach there's a beautiful, clean tourist information building. That's where we went!

LODGING. We didn't bother with reservations while driving. We drove until we were ready to stop each time, which worked out just fine. In Orlando we chose to not stay at the Disney hotels. Even the cheapest was more expensive than anything else. And then you had internet charges, refrigerator charges, and no free breakfast. So, even though we had to pay $14 a day for parking, it saved us at least $60 a day. We stayed at a Marriott Village. Very nice! They do have a shuttle, but they charged $7 a person. Doesn't make sense unless you fly and don't have a car. Anyhow, the hotel was fabulous. Breakfast was great! Our room had 2 double beds, 1 couch bed, a fridge, microwave, and internet access. We liked! There was even a food court at the Marriott Village so when we got in Sunday night and couldn't imagine getting back in the car to find some dinner, we just walked to the food court. Very convenient! They also had a nice pool with beach entry which we enjoyed twice. From our balcony each night (as long as we were home) we could watch the Epcot fireworks show at 9 PM, which was fun. Our last night there we got a combination lightning/firework show. It was pretty cool!

RIDEMAX. This was recommended from a friend who went several years ago. Definitely worth the $16. It's a program that plans your day for you efficiently. Great for us, since we weren't familiar with the parks. The longest we ever stood in a line was 30 minutes and that was because our girls loved the Dumbo ride, so we went on that ride several times each day. If you're more tech-savvy than we are I believe you can even have it on your phone... We're a bit old-fashioned.

FOOD. You can take food in to Disney World, which I had planned on doing. However, Andy looked at me Sunday night when I told him I needed to make a run to the grocery store and told me not to bother!!! :) So, we ate breakfast at the hotel every day. Then we bought lunch and dinner in the parks. Since our girls hardly eat anything, they always shared a kid's meal. And since adult meals are usually always big portions, Andy and I just shared a meal. So, it wasn't that bad. I was actually pretty surprised at the prices. Usually the kid's meal was around $5 and our meal was around $8. Not bad... We also packed lots of snacks, juice boxes, and water bottles (frozen).

CHARACTERS. Our girls aren't really old enough to really care about the characters. I know some kids go around and get autographs and pictures with all of them. I don't think my girls know what an autograph is. So, we got off easy with this one. If we happened to be walking by and the line was short, we'd do it. However, we did discover that Epcot and Animal Kingdom were easier parks to get pictures with the characters. It's just a bit crazy at Magic Kingdom. Also, something I kind of do wish I had noticed before our last night at the park at 7 PM as we were heading back to the hotel... At the entrance of Magic Kingdom there's a fast pass option to get pictures with the princesses. Next time we'll have to make sure we take advantage. When we walked by it was a 45 minute wait - no thanks! And you can dine with characters. An FYI though, if you are considering princesses, book a few months in advance. We were a bit late for that... It is expensive, but I think it would be worth it for my girls. Next time...

PARK TICKETS. We just bought ours through Disney. It seemed like the only way to get a deal was to pay for a package, which we didn't need. Because of the ages of our children we didn't do the park hopper option. It wasn't needed. We had plenty to do each day in each park. If you're going with teenagers, it might be nice. But we were fine without and it saved quite a bit of money.

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD. The most important thing we learned is that you are never to old for Disney fun or for the use of their rental strollers (we did not obtain permission for this picture from this unsuspecting, sleeping tourist):
More pictures and fun adventures to come...

2 1/2

Audrey celebrated her half-birthday last Saturday. Okay, so we didn't really "celebrate" it, but we acknowledged it and she's pretty proud to tell people she's 2 1/2 now. Audrey is an amazing bundle of joy in our family. She has quite the little personality and can turn it off and on as quick as a switch. I think the thing we get the biggest kick out of with her is her facial expressions. When she's talking or playing or whatever she just gets the most hilarious little expressions on her face. We love it!

Audrey definitely has her own opinion of certain matters. The other morning she threw quite the fit on the floor for at least 10 minutes because she wanted to put a yellow bow in her hair and she was wearing purple. I guess I should have just given in, but she's not the only one who can act like a 2 year-old. Audrey loves any type of chocolate candy. If she asks and I don't let her have any, oh dear... There are several other moments that come to mind. Let's just say the faucet can be turned on and off pretty quickly with this one.

She can also be very sweet and concerned about her sister. The other day Andy and I had driven separate cars to church due to a meeting I had before church. I got home before Andy and the girls. When they came in the door, I jumped out and surprised them. Scared Rachel to death, so because she was crying, Audrey was very upset as well. Another example, we've been dropping Rachel off at bible school this past week. We left her in the room and started walking down the hall. Very quickly Audrey informed me she needed to go back and give her sister a hug and a kiss. Very sweet!

Audrey has been potty trained (daytime only) for a couple of a months. She has done fabulously! We've even had two successful road trips without accidents. We have also reached another milestone as we were able to spend 4 days traveling in the car without any major meltdowns. That's huge for Audrey. She's never been a fan of the car or her car seat.

She still has absolutely no interest in TV or movies, which is fine. The only time I really wish she would be more interested is on road trips. She loves to just play, play, play. She has quite the imagination. So far this summer, Rachel and her have gotten along very well. Some mornings they'll be playing so good that I don't want to interrupt them to run an errand or go to the gym. Audrey's definitely going to miss her sister once she heads off to kindergarten. Audrey is loving the pool this summer. She has absolutely no fear! I wish they had reasonable priced swim lessons for 2 year-olds, because I think she'd go for it. But we'll just work with her ourselves for now and enroll her in lessons next summer.

Audrey LOVES babies. She can't enough of them. She is constantly pointing babies out to me wherever we go. She has a certain baby (who's not really a baby anymore) who's her favorite at church. His name's Weston and who knows, maybe some day she'll just marry someone younger than her! We've also had several babysitting swaps with a neighborhood boy named Wade, who's her age. Audrey really likes playing with Wade. I think we're going to do a permanent set of play dates this Fall for the 2 of them. And of course, Audrey is not aware that she is 2 1/2 years younger than her sister. She believes that all of her sisters' friends should want to be her friend as well.

One more thing...Audrey is quite the talker. Sometimes the words she uses and her comprehension floors us. The other day she actually asked me if I was frustrated. I was; she was using the word correctly. She has definitely kept up with her sister in that regard. She also wants to be able to read like her sister. She does pretend to read quite a bit. Okay, this is really the last thing. A kiss can make everything better for Audrey. Any bump, bruise, or hurt she gets, just needs a quick kiss and she's over it. I only wish that could work for all the bigger bumps, bruises, and hurts she'll have in the future.

This is probably a sufficient mid-year report. I'm not big on scrapbooking or baby books, so this is it. We are so grateful for our Audrey. She bring us smiles, loves, laughs, and tender moments.

Preschool Graduation

Rachel's preschool graduation was held on the evening of May 17th. Rachel has had such a fun, positive year at Christ Church School. She has loved her teachers, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Williams. Rachel made several new friends in her class. She loved going to gym and music each day and chapel on Thursdays. Rachel's definitely started off on the right foot when it comes to her education. Mrs. Smith said she's more than ready for kindergarten. The only thing she worries about is how small and petite Rachel is. I'm sure she was the smallest in her class and probably will always be so... But she's girl, so it's all good. We love our little, petite girl! :)

The graduation was held in the chapel at her school. The kids came in with their class, took their places on stage, and sang several songs to us. It was very sweet! We loved the songs about springtime. Rachel and Audrey still go around the house and sing one of the songs in particular. After the singing each child had the opportunity to go up and receive their diploma.

Rachel with Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Williams:

Rachel with her carpool buddies, Mason and Peyton:

Rachel with her biggest fans:

At home after the graduation Rachel insisted on taking another picture with her diploma. She was upset that she hadn't smiled in the picture with Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Williams.

Rachel is registered for kindergarten and anxious to go. We know if she keeps the attitude she has now, she'll have great success in the years to come!

Rachel's Birthday Party

I decided this year to do something different and let Rachel have a friend birthday party. We've put it off for quite awhile... Neither of our girls really like big crowds, so it's not like they've missed out. After being invited to several birthday parties this past year, Rachel was very keen on the idea of having a birthday party of her own. I decided to let her come up with who she wanted to invite on her own - I had no influence whatsoever. I did put a limit - 12 kids, which was probably more than she needed to invite by between church and school, she has a fair amount of friends. I believe we may have ended up inviting 13 and 9 were able to attend.

We had her birthday party on Wednesday, May 11th. Andy had been around for 5 straight days in a row, which had been nice. He did head in to work that morning, but came home in the afternoon to help with the party. A wonderful friend of mine let me bring Audrey over to nap at her house, which was so helpful. It was nice to be able to focus on Rachel and not worry about Audrey needing anything...

On the morning of May 11th the girls helped me make the cupcakes, which included sorting the M&M's:

Here are the finished products:

We went with a summer swim theme. We set up a pool in the backyard, had some sprinklers going, played a water balloon target game, the kids went fishing, and the most favorite game was using water squirters to knock objects off the playset. Who would have thought... We kept it pretty simple, for ourselves and for the kids. From what I read as I was planning the party, the simpler the better. For those that don't follow Houston weather, we are in a bit of drought right now. And of course the day of Rachel's party there had to be some clouds. Luckily the rain held off until the last 15 minutes of the party. Which by then most kids were done with the water and were a little chilly due to the lack of sunshine.

I really didn't take many pictures of Rachel's party. Having 10 kids to entertain and keep happy kept me busy! It was definitely worth it though! Rachel had a good time. My mom says any party where the birthday boy/girl doesn't cry, is a success. And luckily we did have success! All the children invited seemed to enjoy the party as well. They each got sent home with a beach bucket with goodies in it, which followed our summer swim theme. Anyhow, here are a few pictures that we took.

Rachel fishing:
Rachel being sung to:

I did learn a few things about putting on a party. Next time she gets a party, she gets one gift from the family and the rest from her friends. Her birthday loot was bigger than any Christmas she's ever had... Good to keep in mind. I also always forget that Rachel has grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that always spoil her. So yeah, next time we do a party we'll keep our gift-giving simpler. Loved having it outdoors. Made clean-up easy... So grateful Andy was there to help. I couldn't have done it without him. Probably if there were fewer children, yes, but not with 10 4-5 year olds. I really liked doing it in the middle of the week. Not a fan of taking up anyone's Saturday. So, I think we'll keep that as a tradition in the future as well.

But most importantly, Rachel loved having her friends over and enjoyed it. She's already thinking of what to do next year. I'm sure it will change a million times before her next birthday rolls around...