Disney's Animal Kingdom

The first full day of our vacation was Sunday. We started out with a bang with breakfast at the Polynesian Resort. The breakfast was with Lilo and Stitch and Friends. I had heard that Mickey was one of the "friends," but they wouldn't confirm that for me when I made the reservations. I went ahead and booked it in blind faith that we wouldn't be subjected to a breakfast with two characters that Maura really didn't care about. We showed up for our breakfast, and much to my relief, I caught sight of the mouse himself!
The Allen family getting ready for a great meal. They gave everyone leis and took a photo of the group. Later they came to the table and tried to sell it to us, but being a cheapskate and realizing I was already paying $50 for breakfast, I politely declined! Pretty soon, we started catching sight of the characters. I'm not sure who was more excited, Maura or I. Probably me. I'll never grow up!
I have no shame! They announced over the loudspeaker that Mickey was going to have a parade around the restaurant. I could NOT convince Maura to go with me. In fact, she wrapped her legs around the high chair and refused! I grabbed my baby boy, who isn't old enough to have an opinion and went off to join the parade! It was fun! Pluto was the first character to visit the table. Maura loved Pluto on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but I wasn't sure how she'd react to having a giant dog at her table. Luckily, she loved him and that set the tone for the whole week when it came to meeting characters. Tristan was a fan too--he loved the whiskers! Notice the children in the background staring adoringly at Pluto.

Me, Mickey, Tristan and Maura. Tristan was so intrigued that he kept attempting back flips out of the highchair to get a better look. Maura was pretty excited about meeting Mickey.
Stitch came to visit too. We had watched a Lilo and Stitch movie just before we left, so we were at least a little familiar with the character. He spent lots of time with the kids and they loved him. He licked each one of them, which Maura thought was hilarious. She proceeded to lick all of us for the rest of the trip.
Fun times with Stitch. He hung out with us for quite awhile and waved his ears at us when he left. Lilo finally came over for a visit too. She was so cute. She did the hula with Maura, although I didn't catch it on the camera. The breakfast was awesome. It was probably our favorite of the whole week. The food was really great and all the character visits were fun and well organized. We loved breakfast at the Polynesian, especially Mickey!
Pappap and Tristan feeling very tropical in the lobby.
Grammy and Pappap and the kids. This is a pretty typical photo of Maura.
Maura was inspired by the tropical locale to try a little hula dance. From there, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. We figured it would be the least crowded on a Sunday, but it was still pretty busy. Maura loved this xylophone player. Too cool. The Animal Kingdom has a lot of cool attractions, but it really is just a glorified zoo. It was a fun first day for us.
The kids underneath the Tree of Life. Tristan chose to take a nap and Maura chose to adorn him with her hat. The Tree of Life was cool. It has all kinds of animals carved into it.
We took in Bug's Life in 3D in the Tree of Life. I figured that Maura would love it. From what I remembered, it was funny and cute. Well, it may be funny and cute to an adult, but it was terrifying to a two-year-old. A giant spider started throwing darts at us and Maura screamed and hid her face in Brent's chest. She stayed that way for the rest of the movie. I guess when you look at it from a preschoolers perspective and realize that they think these things are real, it really is scary. Grammy and Maura checking out the hippo skull. Maura is fascinated with bones at the moment. She's my little biologist.
We took in the Animal Safari next, which is one of the coolest rides at any theme park anywhere. They ride you through a preserve on a "Jeep" to see the animals. The animals really are able to walk up to the vehicle and across the tracks if they want. Well, the predatory animals are in enclosures, but any non-violent animal has the run of the place. We pulled up right next to this giraffe, on of Maura's current favorite animals.
We even caught sight of an elephant with her calf. So cute. I don't think I've ever seen a baby elephant in real life. After the safari, it was time for a snack. You know that Tristan is my second child when you check out his ice cream face. I NEVER let Maura have anything like that at this age, but with him, I figure it's OK to break the rules sometimes.
Lets just say that this big man likes his ice cream! He would have eaten it all if I'd let him.
We hung out and watched the African dancers while we ate our ice cream.
Brent and Maura even picked up the African vibe with a little drum playing.
The Allen family at the end of a long Disney day. We stayed until the park closed and took in the Finding Nemo show at the very end. It was SO cool. I saw Lion King on Broadway several years ago and this show rivaled that one.
All the fish were actually puppets and the puppeteers were on stage singing with the fish. It was so awesome visually. The puppets actually blinked their eyes and moved like real fish do.
Nemo in the fish tank. Click on this picture. It's amazing the detail they put into everything.
Marlin and my favorite Nemo character, Crush. I LOVED this show and would have watched it again if it hadn't been the end of the day. As a side note, both Brent and I got peed upon during the show. Apparently we'd been pushing fluids on the kids and they let us know about it. First, Tristan's diaper leaked on my leg, then Maura leaked all over Brent! How eventful! Thankfully, it was the very end of a long day and we headed back to the hotel to rest!! We had even bigger days planned for later and we needed that rest! More tomorrow...

Avoiding all Ice Storms!

This past week was one of the worst weeks, weather-wise, that Kentucky has seen in a very long time. The received five or so inches of snow and several inches of ice on top. Millions of people are without power and some are even without water. Happily, we missed all of that. We were not in Kentucky. We weren't even in Georgia. We were in FLORIDA!! We spent this past week in sunny Florida while almost everyone I know was cold and iced in. Sorry folks, we did pray for you! We had such a good time with weather in the 70's and 80's.
Here are the kids just as we're leaving. Don't they look excited about spending the next seven hours in the car??
We FINALLY arrived in Florida and checked into our hotel. We stayed at one of the Disney value resorts, All Star Sports. It was certainly a value resort with no frills, but we didn't care because we were only there long enough to sleep at night. It was a GREAT value at $49 a night and still on the property. We didn't have to pay for parking at any of the parks, and we were able to split up and take the kids home and the others could ride the Disney transportation. It was awesome.
Grammy and Maura just after we arrived. Maura has camera radar and avoids looking at it at all costs.
We met this little friend right outside the door of our hotel. Cool!
On our first evening, Saturday, we travelled down to Downtown Disney to meet our friends, the Rogers. We met at Rainforest Cafe because we thought the kids would love it. I think the atmosphere is so cool with trees everywhere and huge animals that move and make noise. The kids were kind of split on whether they liked it. Little Tristan enjoyed his dinner. As I've said before, Tristan loves commotion, so the hubub of the restaurant, combined with the animal noises and movements was really exciting for him. He did great, despite being kept out long past bedtime.
Hannah and Anna Kate. Anna Kate did NOT enjoy the occasional "thunderstorms" that shook the rainforest.
Hannah and Wesley. I love the lip! Also not a fan of the thunderstorms.
The boys: Michael, Brent and Dad, and the tippy top of Tristan's head. We were seated right by the aquarium and not far from the elephants.
Tristan taking in the aquarium with Pappap. Tristan has developed camera radar like Maura has, but, happily, he smiles and shows off for the camera.
Hannah and I. I wish that the Rogers still lived in Kentucky. We could have all sorts of fun together, but we'll have to content ourselves with our occasional visits while one of us is on vacation. The kids loved playing in the gift shop area while we got ready to leave. It's hard to photograph all three kids at the same time, so we herded them all into this game to attempt it!
Maura and Anna Kate and a friend took in the game. Looks like fun girls! MUCH more to come from our Florida trip, but I'm still too swamped to wade through all the Disney pictures. We had a ball and we have the four hundred or so photos to prove it. Don't worry, I won't subject you to every single one! Tune in tomorrow for more from the Allen family vacation!

January in Photos

I'd love to say that January has been a relaxing month for me, but that would be a lie. After our extended visits north in December, I feel like I've been playing catchup all month. It took me forever to get all the Christmas gear unpacked and put away, and just when I felt like I was organized, we have to turn around and repack for Disney. NOT that I'm complaining! It has been a much more social month for me than any I've had since our move. I feel like we're finally starting to make some friends here in Georgia. We had two different playdates and I went to two movie nights with the girls from church. We went out to dinner with a guy Brent works with and his family. I had an Army Wive's Coffee that I planned this evening, AND Brent and I went out on a date this week. So in addition to home life, our social life has expanded. I'm loving that I have some new social outlets and I can't wait to expand my new friendships. Here's the overview of January in pictures.

Early this month, we met our friends Carolyn, Will and Walker at McDonald's for lunch. Carolyn and I enjoyed visiting after the extended break and we just let the kids run wild in the playground. Maura made friends with a slightly older boy who was able to help her up the tower and into the tunnels. She loved it! Will wasn't so lucky. The same little boy wasn't as keen to help Will up the tunnels, so he stayed grounded. Will is three months younger than Maura.
Tristan certainly enjoyed all the action. He loves commotion and just giggles at everything the bigger kids do. Walker enjoyed hanging out and talking to Tristan. He's only six weeks younger than Tristan. We're looking forward to many more playdates with our friends.
Aunt Amy and Uncle Matt got us this floor piano for Christmas and the kids both love it. Maura's "favorite" song is one of the demos and she plays it at least fifty times a day, complete with ballet moves. Tristan just loves to move around on the piano and makes noise.
Tristan and Daddy cheering on their Titans during playoffs. Sadly, Brent's Titans didn't win, but my Steelers are in the Superbowl!
I love this photo. He looks like he's saying, "Hey, loved the black beans Mom!" Tristan will eat anything I put on his tray--with gusto! I'll have to post a video of him drinking from a sippy cup soon. It's hilarious. Can you tell that this child is excited about swimming while we're in Florida? I can only pray that the weather warms up down there. The two things she's most excited about are swimming and meeting the Little Einsteins.
Since Tristan's birth, Brent and I have tried to be conscious of spending alone time with both kids. We've instituted Daddy/daughter and Mommy/daughter dates where Maura gets to go do fun things without her baby brother tagging along. Maura LOVES these times to be alone with one or the other of us and gets so excited when we tell her she's going on a date. Brent had a four day weekend over MLK weekend, so it was the perfect time to get some one on one time. Brent took her to a local arcade/indoor amusement park and later to Chik-fil-A. They had loads of fun together.
Meeting the mouse. We've been to Chuck E. Cheese several times, but generally on weekdays when it hasn't been busy. I guess they don't don the suit for a small crowd, but we were there on MLK day and it was busy. Maura got to give Chuck E. hugs and high fives. I figured it was good training for Disney next week!
One of our rare willing smile moments. So cute. She's almost too big for this booster seat, but I REALLY need her to be strapped in at mealtimes.
>Little man in a big bed. He loves being made up in the bed. He was laughing so hard about it that I was afraid he was going to wake up Maura.
Not the best photo of Tristan, but definately the first to show off his upper teeth in all their glory. Double click on the photo to enlarge it and you'll see those choppers! His teeth look huge to me--much larger than Maura's. I hope he doesn't have buck teeth but he'll be cute even if he does!

Intermission

We interrupt this continuous Christmas coverage to bring you something very pleasant. TRISTAN!! He's eight months old today! I can't believe how big he's getting and it's happening more quickly than I could ever imagine. I'm so excited about all the new things he's doing, but at the same time I'm sad because it won't be long before he's not a baby anymore. I love my babies so much and I want to hang on to this baby stage forever! I love the age of eight months. He's so pleasant and happy almost all the time. Tristan rarely cries, and when he does, it's generally because he's tired or hungry. He's a mommy's boy and he hates to be separated from me for even a moment, but he's getting much better about playing on his own. He loves his toys, especially ones that rattle and he waves them around to show them to us. He LOVES his food even more. He's still nursing really well most of the time, although he does have to take frequent breaks to see what his sister is doing. Tristan will eat almost anything I give him and his most recent discovery is cheese. We gave him some shredded cheese last night and he had to sit and think about the texture for a few moments, but he decided he liked it. He began shoving it into his mouth with both fists and grunting for more. As soon as I sit him in his highchair, he starts grunting for food. He is a puff fanatic and would probably eat the whole can of puffs if I would let him. We've started moving out of the realm of Gerber only and he's experimenting with Lima beans and peas. Exciting stuff!!

Adorable eight month old. He's got such a charming smile that he woos women of all ages successfully. Old ladies can't get enough of him and they come up and touch him in the store!
Physically, Tristan isn't in any hurry. He's such a content little man that he's usually content to just stay and play where I set him down. He is sitting up really well, although he occasionally will get too enthusiastic about playing and end up on his back. Tristan has just recently started playing on his tummy. He always hated tummy time, so we only did it sporadically, but recently he's realized he can reach a lot farther if he's on his tummy. He even pushes himself forward with his feet to STRETCH just a few inches farther. He's starting to push himself way up while he's on his belly and the other day he even got up on his knees. I know it's probably not long until he starts crawling, and while I'm excited about his accomplishments, I'm going to miss the pre-crawling days. I know it's going to open a whole can of worms with Maura when he tries to swipe her toys. I'm also going to have to be a lot better about getting all those teeny tiny Barbie shoes off the carpet before he get set loose!
My little Swami! Tristan is sleeping through the night on most nights. He generally goes to bed about 7pm and sleeps until sometime between 5 and 7am. I actually prefer the 5am feed, because I can generally get him to go back to sleep until 8 or so. Naps are a different story. Tristan is just not a napper and I can spend 20-30 minutes rocking him to sleep only to hear him cry in 20 minutes. It's maddening, but he's a happy guy most of the time, even without a good nap. Who can stay mad at that little face?? I can't wait to see the little boy he becomes, but my mommy heart aches that this little one has to grow up!! What do big sisters do while Mommy is nursing baby brother?? Why, play with all his toys, of course! She thought she was being hilarious when she crawled under the jumperoo and used it like a tent. Come to think of it, she is pretty hilarious!