Last Disney Day!!

BOO for March arriving!! Normally I would be super stoked about it being almost spring and daylight savings and all that... but this year, March meant an end to our Disney vacation...

But our last, and hottest, day was at Disney's Animal Kingdom, which I had a feeling would be Coleton's absolute favorite :D And I don't think I was wrong at all! We started the day off with a family photo - since it's also pretty much my favorite park :D

Then while getting some knowledge about the local culture,

we ran into Dan and Seth and got another group shot. THE ONLY ONE! haha! But better last day then not at all, right?

We headed to Dinoland first and rode the TriceraTop Spin with the kiddo,

Then he took a break, and Mark and I rode Primeval Whirl! We decided to save Nemo the Musical for later in the day, but that too was WONDERFUL! There were seriously NO lines anywhere in sight...The boys had already rode most of the rides by the time we got there (Which was only about a half hour after the park opened.). So, we walked right onto Expedition Everest. The boys sat with Coleton this time and we made my mom ride :D HAHAHA!! She was less than thrilled...

We walked all through Asia on the Maharajah Jungle Trek and even saw some Tigers!

I love this photo, but hate it at the same time, he looks TOO GROWN UP! :D

Then we headed back to Rafiki's Planet Watch, and chased after goats and some sort of pygmy pig and Coleton got to see real live Tamarins! :D He was pretty excited! (Thanks Diego for making my kid so smart!)

Then it was off to Africa and the Kilimanjaro Safaris which I knew was going to be a hit! I won't bore you with TONS of photos from that, but here are a few of my favorites

Coleton immediately wanted to do it again... haha!!

From here I think we parked it and watched Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade! and ate a snack. :D

my future assistant :D

So, I'm not sure what's up with the Disney characters wanting to get fresh with my adorable kid... BUT this time Coleton wasn't going to be played... He told King Louie who was boss!

he seriously SHOVED him away, HARD! hahahaha!!

aren't those the most awesome thing you've ever seen?!?

That's him reaching up waving to Mickey at the end of it :D LOVE this kid!!

We skipped "It's Tough to be a Bug", since we have learned our lessons that Coleton does not appreciate anything 3D... or anything extra for that matter! By this time we had pretty much done the entire park, caught Festival of the Lion King. (Another MUST see in my opinion...) and then when we asked Coleton where he wanted to eat, he promptly replied "RAINFOREST CAFE!" Fortuantely there is one right on the Animal Kingdom grounds, so we ate then went back to the hotel!

Animal Kingdom is super fun, and I love it, it's also a good park to do on the last day since you can take it a bit more leisurely since it's smaller.

We had an early morning ahead of us! Travel day, BLAH! I'll just include the photos of that here and not make a separate post, there's not many :D and you've all stuck with me thus far!

Saying goodbye to Disney... :*(

And as much as we would have LOVED to, we simply couldn't figure out how to get to Universal Studios while we were down there too... we were all a little disappointed, (2 weeks next time maybe?!?) But the boys visited the Universal Studios store in the airport and bought wands HAHAHA!!

Sorry boys, it was MUCH to hilarious NOT to include :D

Then the final crash... not the plane, the kid! haha! We gave him some medicine to make the fly home a bit better on his tummy, and he (and I) slept most of the way home.

All curled up with his blankey on mommas lap :D

Then we came home to THIS?!?!

UGH! Thankfully it didn't last long! :D

Thanks for reading along! And hopefully I'll keep up with this blog a little and share some more adventures with you!

Disney Day #4!

HAPPY LEAP DAY!! So, this was our relax day... It was technically an "extra" day. So we took it all at a leisurely pace, even breakfast, where Coleton got to spend some time coloring!

Although, we did have BIG plans to stay at Magic Kingdom well into the morning hours since, HELLO! It was open all night!! So, after breakfast we headed to the pool for the morning! :D The resort had a kiddie pool,

which was about 1 foot deep and had fountains for the kids to play in!

No worries of him being afraid of the water!! Poppa had to keep a tight hold on him!!!

The larger pool had flowers that sprinkled water!

Mark got a tad bit too much sun the day before, so he stayed in the shade, by any means necessary!

After a good nap taken by pretty much everyone, not just Coleton, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to spend the evening. Here is really the only photo I took while we tried to get some more rides in with the kiddo! PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN!

We also rode Aladdin's Magic Carpets, The Jungle Cruise, and ate dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Café. Then, got ready for the night time fireworks show, Wishes!! Disney is always doing something new everytime I've been there, this trip was no different! They have incooporated "The Magic, The Memories, and You!" into their nighttime shows, it is played before Wishes! starts and actually projects images taken throughout the day at the park onto the castle!!! I don't want to ruin it for everyone, but it is simply AMAZING! So make sure you find a spot early! I was in awe and as always impressed. :D Then, without fail, Wishes Nighttime Spectacular! began! My FAVORITE show by LEAPS AND BOUNDS!! Brings me to near tears EVERY TIME! Here are a few images from that!

Since the park was on a completely different schedule, the Main Street Electrical Parade wasn't until after Wishes. We didn't get such great seating for that (I wanted to be far enough away for the fireworks so Coleton didn't have to cover his ears...), Coleton watched most of it from Poppa's shoulders :D Then as I mentioned, Magic Kingdom, in celebration of Leap Year stayed open from 6am-6am! This is the first time they've ever done this for the public on leap day! (It'll be pretty neat to be able to say I was there for the first one if it's something they continue! Even if it does age me...) We met up with my brother and Seth for this! We rode pretty much all the "big kid" rides after Coleton went back to the room with my parents. :D And made it until about 3:30am, and decided to call it quits, since we did have ONE more day at Disney! These were taken as we were exiting Magic Kingdom!

And one of the ONLY photos taken of just Mark and I the WHOLE time we were down there! Funny how things change once you become parents :D

Sadly, only one more day to go... :( Can you guess what we saved for last??

EPCOT: Florida Day 4

Do you know what EPCOT actually stands for?? EPCOT: Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow, many don't, so if you didn't, try not to be TOO sad about it :D

This day, I got up early with the younger boys, to do the "grown-up" rides! :D Mark got to sleep in a little, so everyone was happy! Before everyone else arrived we rode: Mission: SPACE, Test Track,

(image stolen from Disney's photopass site, THANKS!) Soarin', and Living with the Land. :D Then we met up with my everyone else! I got to check out The Seas with Nemo & Friends, with my two favorite boys! Coleton really liked the seas portion of Epcot. (As we all knew he would!)

So, I was corrected that these are called "sea stars" not starfish... by my 2 year old... haha!! Smartie pants.

and he really likes the seahorses :D I do too, I think they're kind of cute!

Got crabs? haha Disney does!!

Then of course, we put the conch shell up to his ear and told him to listen for the ocean... not sure if he got that one or not...

"MOMMA MOMMA!! LOOK LOOK! I FOUND NEMO!!" Yup, it very well could be kiddo.... :D

"It's Mickey in the water!!" me: "do you think he can swim?" *look of concern*

We also rode Living with the Land again :D It may be nerdy of me to say, but I really like it! Then, it was off to the World Showcase!

Not before I stopped to get this shot of a crane...and got made fun of... what can I say it was pretty!

First up was Canada :D Five years ago, when Mark and I went after he graduated from OSU we may or may not have taken a really funny photo of me (that he carries in his wallet with him...) wearing moose ears... so again, something we HAD to recreate! (poor image quality and all!)

Photo of my parents outside Canada :D

Now, I know a lot of you are thinking that Epcot is strictly for adults... Well, Disney is really trying to change that! They have a ton more characters walking around now, and they incoorporated Duffy (see earlier posts). At any of the World showcase countries, you can color your own Duffy (FREE! Look for the Kid Kot fun spots!) and then take him to the different countries and get him stamped. Some of the countries will draw flags, or other things too! Coleton got his name written in Arabic (in Morocco), Chinese, & Japanese! He also learned how to say hello in each language! We also discovered that he was born in the year of the Ox, which explains SO MUCH! :D Here are a couple of us coloring his Duffy...

Ok, so remember how I said that Coleton was a tad apprehensive about the characters? Well, I would really like to thank Mr. Smee for turning that around for us! HE LOVES YOU SMEE!!

So, with Smee turning things around for him, he became a seasoned PRO at photos with characters! He went RIGHT up to Tigger & Pooh, without hardly any encouragement from me!

Here he is hanging out in the UK :D Just being a boy... chasing a squirrel... He thought it was "his squirrel". (We have him convinced that he has a pet squirrel, that always stays outside and that we never have to feed...but it's HIS pet...haha! perfect kind of you ask me!)

Next up, Mary Poppins... Oh how I love her! This one was AMAZING!! So proper, and polite! She seriously made me want to cry!

"Why hello little boy, what is your name?"

"My name's Coleton."

"Well, hello there Coleton, may I hold your hand?"

Seriously. I could not make this stuff up!

They chatted for quite some time! Became friends even! Then, when it was time to go, she SMOOCHED HIM! And it was all over from there. haha!! I don't think he knew what to think of a stranger kissing him! haha!! Get used to it kid! You're stinkin' adorable!

Evidence of said SMOOCH!

We continued on to the countries... France - which will be re-visited later:

My absolute favorite, Morocco (ABSOLUTE FAVORITE - and I honestly don't even know why!) This photo will replace one that I have in a Disney frame on my dresser, of me in the same spot many years ago:

After posing for a photo w/the fountain, we played in it a little to cool off :D (as you can see, Disney must use part tattoo for their lipstick... because it is STILL there, and remained so until washed off with soap!)

Then it was off to Japan... to see their drumming show, Matsuriza!

It is a MUST see in my book!

The Redcoats are coming, the Redcoats are coming!! (But really, Spirit of the American Fife & Drum Corps. :D They were pretty good!)

Except you'll never know if it's really them, because it's a black and white photo...

OH MY GOSH LOOK! IT'S THE USA!! I don't know why, but it cracks me up that they include the US when you're already in the US.... haha! and there was NO ONE THERE!

Onto another favorite, that was undergoing some rennovations while we were there, Italy!

So, I told you we'd revisit France... We went to Les Chefs de France for dinner and got to meet REMI! :D

I'm telling you, for a rat, he's not only adorable but extremely charismatic (especially since he couldn't talk!) :D

Then, Coleton and I got a dessert, that was meant to be shared, but Coleton had a hard time even sharing with me! Here we are fighting over it, taken with my mom's cell phone HAHA!

Then, we travelled back to Morocco, because I HAD to see Mo'Rockin... I fell in LOVE with this show when Mark and I went... there's something about strange instruments & belly dancing.. I don't know what it is!

Proof that even the skinny girls have rolls...LOL!

Coleton was in awe... or he was just so doggone tired that this is more of dazed & glazed look :D

So, I've become a little obsessed at this point.. but I just love trying to capture movement! It's VERY hard to do... especially not using flash & during a night show..fellow photogs, you hear me here!!

At the very end they ask the kids if they want to come up and dance, Coleton was a tad stand-offish :D

So, after this, we ride the boat ride in Mexico, which Coleton LOVED! Tour the rest of the countries. My dad and Mark grab beers in Germany, Mom gets a margarita in Mexico, I get dessert in Norway,

"Um, yes, I'd like one of everything."

That's right, I'd like my diabetic coma to-go.

(YUM-O!) and we meet to watch the night time show :D Illuminations! Here are a few of Epcot at night :D

Photo taken by the hubs (IN MANUAL!! anyone need an assistant?!? :D Such a proud wifey photog moment...) :D And one of my parents in front of "Mickey's golf ball."

And one last one:

That is one satisfied customer at the end of a big Disney filled day! At least this time he stayed up to watch the fireworks! Even if he thought they were too loud! He cried a little until he figured out he could just cover his ears! :D

What was in store for us on Disney Day #5? You'll have to just wait and see!