Animal Kingdom - Day 2

On Tuesday, we hit Animal Kingdom. This was definitely a more laid-back day than the previous one at Magic Kingdom. We got our fast passes for the safari ride and then headed straight to see The Lion King show.

Hughes practicing his wart hog face and snort. We were in the wart hog section for the show.

This show always entertains me.

After the show, we were ready for our safari.

The boys loved it.

Hughes kept telling me at the beginning of the safari that his favorite animal was the Eskimo. I kept asking him to repeat himself and explaining to him that an Eskimo is a person not an animal. After going back and forth several times, he finally pointed to a picture on the ceiling that had a whole slew of animals and he pointed to the antelope. I said, "antelope" and he said, "oh yeah, antelope".

Giraffes are so cool.

We saw all of the animals except for the lion. We could only see the tip of his tail swaying. Otherwise, it was a huge success. We saved the baby elephant from the poachers. The boys were concerned about the mother of the baby elephant. I didn't have the heart to tell them that it was only pretend. I love their innocent hearts.

On our way to DinoLand. We tried to get fast passes for the Yeti rollercoaster but they were all out. Mom & I were ready to take it on. Oh well, I'll settle for a dinosaur ride.

Playing in the dinosaur playground. The boys needed this running, climbing, sliding time.

Collins really, really enjoyed the dinosaur playground because he had been in the stroller all day the previous day and finally we were somewhere that I would let him really play around. He climbed these little rocks for what seemed like forever. He also has mad climbing skills.

One of the workers came up to me and told me that he had never seen a kid scale the rope ladder as fast as Hughes had done it. He was quite impressed. Maybe I should sign Hughes up for rock climbing? Just kidding - over my dead body is he going to scale the side of a mountain! Does he know what I went through to have him?

This is when Banks told me he was "sweatery". You gotta love it!

After the playground, we went around the corner and found the below dinosaur tucked away in the trees to have our lunch. We packed our lunch daily and treated ourselves to ice cream & snacks in the parks.

Of course when you're in DinoLand, you must hit the dinosaur gift shop. Not surprising the boys went straight for the dinosaurs that we bought two years ago when we were there. I steered them away from the "already purchased" dinosaurs. Hughes picked two geodes/crystals. He is really into rocks lately and will collect any and all. Banks picked two race cars - Mickey and Tigger.

We ended the day with the Nemo show. The boys were entertained with their new toys and Collins was entertained by the sweetest 9-year old boy sitting behind us. Thank heavens for him because otherwise it would have been me wrestling a greased pig for about an hour. But when the show started Collins was totally enamored. In fact, he did really well in all of the shows we went to. Well, except for the car show but that's for another post.

So, Day 2 ended at the park with 3 happy boys. Did I mention that the weather the entire time we were there was in the mid-70s? It was awesome weather.

Magic Kingdom Day 1

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with Mickey. David stayed home to focus on finals and the boys and I headed off to Orlando with BecBec and PopPop. I'm thankful this year will be the last year that holidays get interrupted because of law school.

On the monorail heading into Magic Kingdom.

Welcome to Disney World!

Love some brotherly love! Hughes immediately said upon getting into the Magic Kingdom that he was not riding any roller coaster rides. Guess we scarred him last time with Goofy's Barnstormer. I thought Banks may be my roller coaster kid but the area with the Barnstormer was closed so I guess I'll have to test that theory next visit.

The Teacups with Pop Pop.

I wanted to throw up midway.

Collins and PopPop waiting outside of Dumbo. I also realized at this point that my boys have not seen a lot of the old Disney movies. I was trying to explain Dumbo and Hughes looked at me like I was crazy - baby elephant, huge ears, flies. Can't say I blame him.

BecBec and Hughes up in the air.

Buzz Lightyear time.

Definitely a family favorite.

Look who is having fun!

Total concentration.

Total Domination!

Jailed with Zerg or Zorg.

Something like that.

Winnie the Pooh

Sword in the Stone

Woo Hoo - Ride'em Cowboys!

Another Dumbo ride.

Goodbye Magic Kingdom!

The boys were troopers. We were at the park until 9pm.

Mickey & Pumpkins

Last Thurday, we took Hughes and Banks to see Disney on Ice 100 Years of Magic. Hughes didn't want to go at first and said he wasn't riding any roller coasters. I guess I scarred him when I made him ride Goofy's Barnstormer two years ago.

When we got there, of course, they were inundated with light-up swirly toys, swords, hats, shirts, more toys, etc. We let the boys pick out one souvenier and let them get one snack. $60 later we came away with two Buzz Lightyear swords that light up, one shark cup with snowcone inside of it and one bag of cotton candy that came with a Mickey crown. CHA-CHING!

But, I wouldn't trade that night. The boys' eyes lit up when the show started and we had great seats. At one point, the princesses and princes came out to do a dance number and Hughes looked at me and stuck his finger down his throat like to gag himself. I don't know where he learned this but it made me laugh out loud. Obviously, he doesn't like princesses. It was a 2 hour show and towards the end we were all tired but it was still fantastic.

Thanks Mickey for a special night!

On Friday, Hughes did not have school so I declared Banks not to have school, too. We went and had mexican for lunch which Hughes requested and then we went to Wally World to get our Halloween costumes. I have totally let go my need to make my boys' costumes and they are thrilled. So, without further adieu, here are our 2011 mass produced, cheaply made but lovingly adored costumes.

Hughes the Phantom, Banks the Power Ranger and that ghost is Sally the Lion from Hughes' class. Sally visited with us this weekend so we made her a costume, too.

**Side Story - that furry green thing in the background is a witch that hangs on the outside of the downstairs bathroom door. One morning Banks was jumping around grabbing himself and I told him to go to the bathroom to which he replied he couldn't. I asked him why and he said he was afraid of the witch. I had to show him that it was pretend and just for fun but he didn't believed me. This resulted in a little boy losing control of his bladder because he couldn't muster the courage to face the witch.

Now, on to decorating pumpkins. David has been busy studying so we decided this year to take the easy way out of decorating pumpkins. We used the push-in face parts (think Mr. Potato Head). It was awesome, no mess and very little clean-up.

The Boys

Hughes (6), Collins (1), and Banks (4)

Sally the Lion made the family picture, too.

Update on Collins: Collins is back to running a fever. He has never left the crummy feeling stage so we'll go back to the doctor tomorrow. He's barely drinking and not eating at all. You can't tell from the above picture but he was just whimpering.

Bike Ride at JICP

The other week we took the boys to JICP for a bike ride. Hughes still has not gained enough confidence to ride his bike without one of us running beside him so this makes for some very tired parents at the end of the ride. We finally got Collins a bike helmet so that he can ride in the tag-a-long safely.

Modeling his new shark helmet

Banks ready to ride - he always is.