Hollywood Studios (Day 1)

We woke up bright and early on Monday.  We arrived at the park before it opened, and as soon as the gates opened (about 10 minutes early) we raced to the far end of the park.

Due to my thorough (aka: completely obsessive) research, I knew that we needed to get to Toy Story Mania first thing.  The lines have a 1.5-3 hour wait time all day.  We went straight there and only had to wait about 15-20 minutes.  You can tell how excited I was to officially start our vacation by how many pictures I took of this one ride.

 

 

There were so many fun things to look at in line.  After our super short wait, we went on the ride and the kids loved it.  It was a great way to start off our day! 

 

 I rode with Jonah, Kevin with Dan, and Elena rode alone.  We're so lucky that she's 7 because that is the minimum age for a kid to ride without an adult seated next to them at Disney.  You can see Kevin in the background of this picture.

 

We knew it was going to rain in the afternoon, so we aimed to do as much as we could outside in the morning and tried to pack the afternoon and evening with shows.

Mid-November is a great time to go.  You miss the holiday crowds, but still get to see the Christmas lights and  decorations.  I was so happy to see this manger scene.

No wait when when you're on the far end of the park at only 10:30. :)  I was glad to get this picture taken first thing and make my boys happy.  Jonah was too freaked out to touch the cars. I love family pictures and drive Dan crazy by getting all of us in a picture together whenever I can.

The kids could've spent hours here at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground.  They had seen the movie, so that made it extra fun.  Kevin's flip flop broke, so we spent longer playing here than we had initially planned while Dan ran all over the park to find the ONE place in the whole park that sells flip flops/shoes. 1 for $20 or 2 for $30, so Elena got a new pair too.

Next we went to Star Tours which E and K were tall enough for and loved.  We had fast passes, but had to ride separately so someone could stay with Jonah.  The extra wait worked out great though because we got to watch the Jedi Training Academy.  We were too late to sign up to be in it, but the kids really enjoyed watching.

Oh my gosh, this was the cutest thing (and surprisingly entertaining).  We went to the Frozen Sing Along.  We ate our bag lunches while we waited in line for 45-60 minutes.  Even after the wait, we were way up in the bleachers and barely made it into this showing.  Anyway, it all worked out.  Hearing hundreds of kids belting out the Frozen songs at the top of their lungs together was about the cutest thing I've ever heard.  All the videos that I took were too dark, but you can see how into it they were.

At the end, the main actors come out.  Up until then it was 2 storytellers hosting the show.  I'm so glad that Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff made an appearance because I had been preparing Elena for the fact that we were not going to wait the customary 3+ hours to take pictures with them at the Magic Kingdom.

Snow!

We were lucky to be under the awning at the Stunt Show because it started raining while we were here.  The show was great - the kids loved it.  And Lightning McQueen made an appearance.

 Can you see the red car jumping from one truck to the other?

It really started to pour then.  We were prepared with a stroller cover and ponchos, but it was a crazy East Coast summer storm-type of shower.  We hurried across the park to our next planned show: Beauty and the Beast.  We got their early and sweet Dan ran back out in the rain to get us these awesome ice cream sandwiches.  We were wet but it was hot outside, so the ice cream was a great treat.  Dan and I shared the best chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich ever. 

Of course the show was great and it definitely held the kids' attention.

 

The next show was the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  The kids got into these Disney Channel shows when we lived with my mom and watch them now on Netflix/at her house, so they were really excited for the show which consisted of 1 girl and many puppets.  There were scenes from Jake, Sophia, and Doc McStuffins.

No wait to get pictures with Jake and Sophia because they were just coming back from a break.  Yay!

Jonah was really shy of the characters, but Sophia was really sweet to him and he relaxed a little.

They also got a picture standing in front of a rope with the characters from Big Hero 6, but we didn't want to wait in line for that one.  The best picture I got of the characters didn't have my kids it.

 This show was nice - exactly how I remembered it from 2011.  Jonah took a nap during this one - which is for the best because then he didn't get freaked out by Ursula.

Dinner at Pizza Planet!  It was so nice to get out of the rain.  The kids loved getting to spend some money on the arcade games and Kevin was so excited to get a Mickey Mouse dog tag necklace with his name on it (like Elena's Tinkerbell one).  Kevin really loved that he was eating at Pizza Planet just like in the movie.

On our way out back towards the exit, we went to the Muppet Show and then enjoyed the Osborne Lights.  It was amazing.  It would have been better without the rain, but it was still very cool and the one benefit from the rain was that the lights reflected off the shiny pavement.  I chose not to bug a stranger in the rain, so we took 2 separate pictures of us and the lights. Dollar Store ponchos are a wonderful invention. I'm so glad that I made that one last run to the store for candy and ponchos before we started our trip.

Last ride/show of the night!  We had Fast Passes to the Great Movie Ride.  It was nice to be inside and all squeezed together on one row.  3 attractions closed the month/months before we came, but it all worked out for the best.  We had enough time to see/do everything we wanted in the park even with the earlier off-season closing time (I think it closed at 8).

Dan's favorite!

We stayed and posed for a few pictures before leaving.

Good-bye, Hollywood Studios!

Florida Trip (traveling days)

We last went to Disney World to celebrate Dan's med school graduation 3 1/2 years ago.  At that time we had 2 kids and it was a 9 hour drive in our Camry.  This time we are celebrating Dan's residency graduation (a little late) and it's a 12 hour drive with 3 kids in an Odyssey.  The gas mileage wasn't quite as good, but it was a comfortable drive and having the built-in DVD with headphones was wonderful.

 

We took 2 days to drive down to Florida.  Dan had work on Friday and so I got everything packed up and ready while the kids enjoyed one last day of school before missing 5 days in a row.  We opted to have them miss a week of school to take the trip a random week in November, so that we could be at Disney during one of their least crowded weeks of the year.
We started the drive on Saturday morning.  The little ones did really well on the drive.  We drove 9 hours the first day and stayed in a nice, inexpensive hotel in Georgia. It was the same one we stayed at back in 2011 when we were on our way home from Florida.  Ah, memories...

They had fun jumping on the beds (quietly since the hotel was completely full), swimming in the indoor pool (big bummer that the pool heater wasn't working), and goofing around being kids.  After a nice, free, hot breakfast, we took off.  We went to church at a ward in Georgia (it was their Primary program) and then we continued on to get to our Florida hotel.

The kids enjoyed playing outside at the splash pad area.  It wasn't as fun as the last time we came in May though because, unlike the pool, the splash pad did not use heated water.  They managed to have some fun and run around a bit.  Elena even got soaked.  We went swimming to warm up afterwards and that was really nice.

First Day of School 2014

Being a former schoolteacher, I can't help but get happy at the thought of a new school year.  I just know they'll learn so much and have so much fun, but -at the same time- I am so sad that summer is over.  We had so much fun together, and I love nothing more than spending time with my family.

Kevin is starting kindergarten and he's so excited!  I'm so nervous/excited for him, but he's smiling ear to ear.  I think I should relax. :)  He didn't have to be at his bus stop until 10:30, but he was dressed and ready to go before Elena left at 7:30.  I'm glad that I was able to get pictures of them together.  Dan was bummed that he had work and couldn't see him off.

Elena is going to be in second grade and it's no surprise that she is eager to get the learning and socializing started.  What is surprising is that she isn't the least bit nervous despite the fact that she's going to be at a new school.  There's a new bus, school, teacher, and friends and she maintains that she's thrilled. I really admire that about her. 

November Update:  They are both doing really well.

Elena loves her school and doesn't regret the switch for a second. She has an amazing opportunity to go to a city-wide gifted school this year.  We love our neighborhood school (and the Spanish immersion program that they have there) and it was such a tough decision to give this new school a try.  Even once we found out that she got in, I waited a couple months to transfer her records.  She has told me again and again that she's happy to be at the new one and that is very reassuring. Here's 2 pictures from the archeological dig they had last month.  She dug up a musical instrument.  Elena and her partner then cleaned it, labeled and tagged it, recorded where they found it, and, in November, they had a class museum with all the Native American artifacts they found.  It was pretty cool.

Can you see Jonah in the background of both pictures?  He played with his shovel and drove his cars in the dirt for the whole 90 minutes that I volunteered.  He's such a good boy. :)

Kevin has been having a lot of fun at school.  He did have an adjustment period where he had to learn how to follow the rules.  It took a few weeks.  We had 4 notes home the first month, but he was on "green" or higher (good behavior) for the entire month of October!  I think he did better partially due to the bribery (aka positive reinforcement), but mostly due to the constant feedback and consistent expectations that his teacher and school provide.  He has made new friends and is loving learning to read.  This picture is from his Halloween party.  I'm bummed that his teacher isn't using parent volunteers regularly.  So far, Halloween is the only time I've been able to go.  I understand her reasoning since there are 2 teachers and 2 assistants in the classroom, but kindergarten is the BEST and I wish I could spend some time helping in centers/reading to the class/making copies/anything.  I already know who Kevin's teachers will be next year and I'll be able to volunteer a lot then.  For now, I'm happy to hear his stories about the goings on. :)

Halloween 2014

October 29th:  Trunk of Treat

All ready to go!  Ariel Elena, Ninja Kevin, and Super Why Jonah.

There were so many kids at the church!  They did a costume parade around the picnic shelter.  It was nice to see all the different costumes.

 I was so excited to run into my friend Bri at the church that night!  She was a clown and I was a "smartie pants" (if you look closely, you can see the candies stuck to my jeans).  I had so much fun catching up with her for a few minutes. I love this girl!

 

Bri came with her daughter Aria.  She's such a cutie.

 

Dan drove straight over from work and was able to take the kids from car to car so that I could hand out the candy.  We had a fun night.

October 31st:  Halloween
I was so happy to attend Kevin's Halloween party in his classroom.  His teacher doesn't want/need any volunteers this year and it's enough to break this former kindergarten teacher's heart.  The Halloween party was the first time I'd set foot in his class since his open house.  It was wonderful to see him sitting in his little chair, looking all cute and grown up with his friends.  As part of the fiesta, they made these cute spider snacks with Oreos and pretzels.

Kevin's friend Jeremiah (left) is also our neighbor which is awesome.  They play together at the bus stop everyday and get along great in and out of school. 

He ate a purple cupcake and like all children who eat colorful treats, he wanted a picture of his tongue.

Here are the 3 cutest kids in the world right before trick or treating.  Jonah is wearing the same Super Why costume that Kevin wore when he was 2.  Luckily for me, he adores Super Why and was very excited about the costume.  Elena's doll is wearing an Ariel dress that Granny made.  Kevin is wearing his dinosaur costume for the 3rd year in a row (the best $5 I ever spent apparently - it was on sale at Target November 2011).  Man, those are some awesome and fun kids.

First house!  Bethany made this Renaissance dress herself.

Success!  Lollipops are Jonah Boy's favorite kind of treat.  Apparently, one just isn't enough on Halloween night.