Day 3

Animal Kingdom. When you have several animal lovers in your clan, you learn to embrace the Animal Kingdom. Baby Girl and especially Youngest Boy are animal lovers. They can't get enough of all things furry, scaly, and slimy. The big difference this time around was the sheer coldness. Turns out, African safari animals aren't too keen on below-freezing temps and windchills. Still, it was a fun safari. The best part was when our tour guide asked us to keep our fingers crossed over a rickety "old" bridge and Youngest Boy crossed his fingers! On BOTH hands!

Youngest Boy is also my budding photographer...but we left his camera at home. Instead, I was given instructions on which animals we "needed" to photograph:

Normally, I don't let anyone's opinion of me or my kids influence my decisions. However, when we went to see Finding Nemo: The Musical and Little One freaked out I decided it was best to leave (regardless of the fact that the 6-year-old girl AND her parents in front of us kept giving us dirty looks. Screw 'em. Rude behavior trumps a fussy two-year-old in my Book of Bad Parenting - which I wrote, BTW). So we strolled around waiting for the rest of the family. Little One decided that she wanted to "climb that mountain". That would be Disney's Expedition: Everest in the background. I believe she's just as likely to climb Mt. Everest. As a matter of fact, there's no doubt in my mind that if she decides she's going to, she will.

This was the day my mom crashed. Hard. We took her to the Walgreen's clinic and then back to the room to rest. "Rest" isn't exactly easy with four crazy, loud, fun-loving kids around (believe me, I should know) so we left her alone with instructions to call/text as necessary and headed out to Hollywood Studios for the night show, Fantasmic! Truly, a not-to-be-missed highlight.
We only panicked a little bit when all of the cheerleaders started their shenanigans. But we made it through this time. All enjoyed. Little One just kept saying, "Oh, no! Not the snake! NOT the snake! Not the SNAKE!" Don't worry. It's Disney. There's always a happy ending!

Day 2

Hollywood Studios (which I still refer to as MGM, so sue me. Actually, please don't) is by far my favorite of the Disney parks. I love the rides (Rockin' Rollercoaster is my favorite), I love the atmosphere, I love the attention to detail (although this is better in the newer section of Animal Kingdom near Expedition Everest). It's just "my place". That is where my happy spot is. This trip our second day was really freakin' cold (32 degrees when we woke up, with windchill factors. In Florida!!). Baby Girl was absolutely miserable. She does not like to be cold. Her sister? Never let out a peep that she was anything but toasty warm. They were dressed in similar attire. Grandma was just as unhappy about the temperature, as was Youngest Boy.

My favorite place in all of The World is The Writer's Stop. This is the best coffee and also the best place to get baked goods, in my opinion. The muffins there require two hands to hold and the cupcakes have icing that is nearly as tall as the cupcakes themselves:
The Mickey Mouse sugar cookie that Oldest Boy had was about 12" across. He shared with his daddy, though. While the boys were making short order of their sweets, the girls were doing this:
I know! The cuteness! Sadly, this will probably be the last trip for the double stroller. It has served us well. And I have no idea where I'm gonna stash all of our "necessities" when we no longer need it! For reference:

Day 1 1/2

I've been going about recording this Disney trip all wrong. I've given most of my pointers and opinions before (click the Disney tab if you are looking for my experiences and advice) so I really just need to record how this vacation happened, probably Day by Day.

We flew in on a Friday (2/10) on a very early morning flight (we left our house at 6AM!). This meant that we were ready to have a late lunch at the T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney when we arrived as it was too early to check into our room. This is an experience and the food is decent. Plus! Dinosaurs! Mommy!


Then a little Lego lovin' from all involved. The boys LOVE Lego and would have spent 95% of their vacation doing this:

Day 2 (or Day 1 at the parks) was Epcot where Baby Girl shocked the hell out of us. I had been talking up Test Track for weeks thinking that it was going to be the first ride of the day (it always is, we follow the same protocol unless a new attraction opens or one is down for "refurbishing") and I really, really wanted her to be brave and have a go. I shouldn't have worried. My girl had the time of her LIFE! She screamed her little head off ("in Daddy's EAR!!") and then proceeded to ride again with Grandma and the others while The Mommy sat out with Little One. She begged (and begged and begged) to do it again! And then she road Soarin'. WOOT! I have an adventure ride lover!!

While having lunch in The Land Pavillion Oldest Boy lost a tooth. That kid. He manages to make losing a tooth memorable no matter what (The tooth before that was in the car on the way to school with me tossing a tissue box to the 3rd row seat while driving down the interstate. His first one was at IKEA.).

We had planned to see the Main Street Electrical Parade on this trip and it was only showing on select nights. One of those nights was our first (second) night and I was anxious to see it. The main reason? The cheerleader convention was there again. The last time we were there at the same time it got ugly and I was nervous we would miss out. So, even though it wasn't on his schedule of events, Mr. MOTH agreed we would try with any one of us able to push the "abort" button and head back to the room. There was no need to give anyone that authority. We knew as soon as we got to the Magic Kingdom we would NOT be staying. Crowds. Cold. Hunger. We left as soon as we finished stuffing the kids with food. Don't worry, we had other opportunities...

This Trip: Part 1

While every Disney vacation is unique (it's not a go-once-and-you've-seen-it-all type place because they are constantly changing - technically "refurbishing for your future enjoyment") this one was pretty typical for us. The most unique thing was the weather. It was nearly as cold on Day 2 & 3 there as it was back home.

My mom came along to help us out with the kids and she ended up missing about a day and a half from being sick. I'm sure the weather didn't help (I know the cold doesn't make you sick, but being in windchill temps when you were anticipating Florida weather stinks). We've done this trip with 4 kids twice now (and 7 times total) so we know what to expect and how to prepare. Mr. MOTH is the planner and I am the preparer. He tells me when we need to do what and I make sure we have all of the necessary provisions to do so.

We don't utilize the Disney Dining Plan which makes our trip much less about food and more about the attractions (I can see this changing drastically when we have teenagers). Don't get me wrong, it still costs a fortune to eat in the parks but I pack snacks/drinks for all so that we aren't forking out $2.50 every time a child gets thirsty. You can do Disney on a budget but it's not easy. If you go expecting to pay a lot for the simple things (or the things you forgot, like, say $15 for sunscreen. Ahem.), you won't be surprised.

Some photos, Day 2:

This photo just cracks me up. They had their hands in the pockets of their hoodies but that's NOT what it looks like:

What I Was Doing Last Weekend

If you know me at all IRL, you will notice that I'm wearing my glasses - something I NEVER do in public. That would be because I contracted pink eye on the flight down (which is strange, because I purposely wore my glasses so I wouldn't be touching my face very often. Damn that Murphy and his STUPID law). I then proceeded to give it to my mother who managed to turn it into a combination of conjunctivitis, ear infection (which resulted in a perforated ear drum) and a sinus infection. Yeah. We know how to do it up big on vacation. At least no one threw up this time. And now we're home. If you're not a Disney person you'll find the next few posts very boring. Also? What's the matter with you? ;)

So I Jumped

My daughter is teaching me to jump out of my comfort zone with both feet. So I did.

About a month ago we were at mass and I looked up during Communion and spotted this young man. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and I thought to myself, "He needs someone to pray for him." So I did. This is a bit our of character for me but sometimes you just do what your heart tells you.

Except that my heart just didn't let go.

I saw him at mass every Sunday there after and something kept tugging at my heart strings telling me to at least find out his name so I could pray for him properly. This meant I would have to tell him what I was doing. Now, approaching strangers isn't exactly hard for me. It's really part of my nature (I know, shocking for those of you who know my dad's family!). But laying my faith out in the open and and offering to pray for a stranger? That's a bit out of my comfort zone. Actually, it's across the ocean and down the block from my comfort zone. But then I remembered Baby Girl jumping with both feet even though she was scared.

As fate would have it (OK, divine intervention), he was right behind us on the way out of mass yesterday. I said, "This is probably going to sound crazy, but I've seen you here the last few weeks and something is telling my heart I need to pray for you. Can you tell me your name?" He looked floored, told me his full name (we'll call him CW around here), and said thank you. The woman with him (I think it was most likely his mom) said, "His dad has cancer. Maybe that's why." And I lost it. Tears. And now I'm lifting him and his dad up in prayer multiple times a day.

Strange how the Good Lord leads you into someone's life - sometimes kicking and screaming - sometimes jumping with both feet.

Both Feet

When you have more than one child the innate need to compare them is ever-present. You can pretend you don't. But. You do. And anyone who says they don't is lying. It's not always out loud and it's not always in a negative way (You guys are both so TALL!) but it's nearly constant. Who walks first. Who talks first. Who swears first (OK, maybe that's just us...). Sometimes they're so much alike it's a bit frightening. I can remember when we first put the boys in a bedroom together they would sleep in the exact.same.position. For months.

It's important not to always give the kids the same compliment at the exact same time because it takes away from both. And you always have to be sincere. For example, Little One is a very brave (read: dangerous) little girl. Baby Girl is not as brave (read: timid) but she has other qualities. However, she's not a big fan of her baby sister showing her up in any way.

Recently, Little One has gotten to where she wants to get out of the Space Shuttle by herself, thankyouverymuch. And she doesn't just climb down. OH NO! She has to jump! I made a fuss the first time she did it about what a big kid she was and how brave she was without really thinking about the fact that Baby Girl still needs to either slide out on her toosh or hold hands to get out.

The girls and I went to the mall on Friday to pick up jammies for Mr. MOTH (read why HERE). We were about to get out when I heard some deep breathing and then saw 2 size 11 sparkle sneakers land on the ground next to me with a loud, "Yes!". "Mommy!! I did it like sister! I just took a deep breath and then I was very brave!!"

Take a deep breath and jump with both feet. Always.