A Disney Junior day!

Wednesday!

Wednesday morning we headed into Hollywood Studios for breakfast at Hollywood & Vine with the Disney Junior Characters.  We had a yummy breakfast with Jake, Oso, Handy Manny & June from Little Einsteins. 

 

 

The kids had a great time and then we headed out to see the princess in training… Sofia the First!  Summer wore her Sofia dress and shoes from Aunt Chele and had to wear her hair down just like Sofia for the visit!  We waited as patiently as possible for 40 minutes (which was the longest line we waited in the whole vacation). 

 

 

 

THEN we met up with Miss Stephanie one of the kids’ teachers from daycare who is interning at Disney for the semester.

 

 We saw the Disney Junior Live on Stage and then headed to take pictures with Buzz & Woody before using our Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania.

 

 

 

 

 

Then the skies opened up and poured rain!  And it was not the 5-10 minute rain shower that happens pretty much daily at this time of year in Florida.  So we called it quits.... the kids were ready for a rest anyway.  But they both said their favorite part of the day was seeing Miss Stephanie!  And then Summer said well Sofia was first and then Miss Stephanie! 

 

I got some food from the quick service restaurant in our hotel and we ate in our room.... then Summer passed out for quite some time and Cole played quietly with his Legos the entire time she slept. 

 

After Summer's nap and the rain stopped we hit Magic Kingdom since it was just a quick walk to our hotel.  Summer decided she wanted to order one of the painted umbrellas she had seen with the rest of her money.  Then we rode Small World again which Cole decided he loves and calls Little World.  After that we hit Enchanted Tales with Belle which we got to at a perfect time because people left the line due to the parade getting ready to start.  We had never done this ride before since it just opened within the last year.  It was super cute and you could take pictures at the end with Belle on your photo pass.  Then we visited Ariel with her fin in her Grotto with the kids really enjoyed. 

 

The fireworks were going off as we were in the new Fantasyland section and it was really a beautiful spot to stop and watch!

 

 

 

Then of course we had to hit Goofy's Barnstormer, Dumbo and the Speedway again before heading back to our hotel!  What a great night! 

 



 





Another day in Disney...

Tuesday!

Tuesday was our planned day out of the parks...

We started off with our very first visit to Chef Mickey's!

 

 

Mommy epic fail.... I forgot the autograph books, but luckily we had already gotten autographs from all of the characters that would be there so the kids were ok with just getting pictures. 

 

 

After a yummy breakfast with the characters.... we got ready to hit the pool!  Which was basically.... let's go on the huge waterslide over and over and over.  Summer was really nervous but got over her fear and decide to try it and LOVED it.  In the picture below you can just about see her brown hair in the splash right below the slide!  What a brave girl that doesn't mind her face getting wet anymore. 

 

 

Then Cole decided that he was going to talk me into joining them on the waterslide!  He told me that it wasn't scary and that he would hold my hand up to the top of the 20 foot waterslide.  Then he told me how to sit so that I didn't go to fast and to wait for the light at the top to change from red to green before I went.  After we've been trying to convince him not to be scared and try certain rides I had to take my own advice and his and try the slide.  What a fun morning.  After some lunch and relaxing in our room... we headed over to Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner. 

 

 

We had our very first visit to the Lego store and Cole chose a very nice little starter set of Lego City collection.  He was super excited and couldn't wait to get back to our room to put it together.  I couldn't believe that when we did get back after dinner that he sat at the table with Jim for over 2 hours to put it all together!!! We checked out a few of our other favorite stores and then got to meet up with a friend that recently relocated to the area just before our dinner reservation...

 

It was so nice to give her a hug and see her sweet girls and their little toes!  Cole & Summer enjoyed seeing some other twins and then told me later... those twins look the same, not like us we don't look the same! 

 

Then it was time for dinner at Raglan Road that is probably my favorite place to eat in Disney World.  It is a Irish Pub and so delicious!  They also have Irish entertainment every night.  Either dancers or bands, etc.    Summer got invited up on the stage to dance with the Irish dancers and she was so excited and did such a great job! 

 

I need to figure out how to post videos to my blog.... as soon as I do I'll post the video of her on the stage! 

 

When we got back to our room.... the boys got to work on building the legos.  It was hard for me to not jump in since I'm the typically putter together in our family.  Summer also was having a tough time without daddy's attention so I took her for a walk to get some drinks to kill some time.  Cole was SO excited and has played with his Legos every time we've been back in our room!  







More Magic....

Monday - Animal Kingdom

First on the list.... the Safari!!!!!   And Cole had to go on the rapids with Daddy while Summer shopped with Mommy and found a dress that she wanted to buy with her money! 

We love that we can see lots of elephants since they are no longer at our zoo

Beautiful shot of the Lion since they are usually sleeping!

Afterwards we had to find the Mickey shaped pretzels for our snacks! 

Then we saw some characters....

 

 

Then we headed back to our hotel for some downtime and did some school work on our break... 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as we headed out for the boat to dinner the skies opened up and rain poured down in buckets.  Luckily we were able to run to a covered walkway and stayed there until it passed in a few minutes.  Then it cleared right up and we finished our trip to dinner...

 

And what a nice birthday surprise with dessert.... 2 cupcakes with candles and our waitress had the entire restaurant sing happy birthday to Summer & Cole! 

 

 

 

After dinner... we hopped on another boat and headed into Magic Kingdom.... we got fast passes to see the princesses and Mickey and then headed off for a couple of rides before our timeslots.  We attempted to go on Buzz Lightyear, but Cole chickened out (it is not scary but sometimes they think things are scary based on the character in it (Zurg) or if it looks dark inside.  We are working on overcoming that and this trip has been way better in that regard than last year.  Next we decided to try Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.  Cole tried to back out again, but we talked through it and he wound up LOVING it.  Then it was time for the princesses!  When we got in the fastpass return line we were the second group in to see them!

 

 

The kids were rubbing their eyes at this point, so we decided to see Mickey while we were there and then head back for the night.  And guess what.... since it was during the electric light parade and close to firework time.  Everyone was out staking out the best spots while we got a PRIVATE audience with Mickey Mouse!  We walked right in and had the room all to ourselves with him.  Talk about a magical night!  

 

 











A magical place to celebrate turning 5!

We've been to Disney World many times for many reasons, but we've never celebrated a birthday here until now!

Wow.... just wow!

We had a marathon day of driving yesterday.... in the car from 4am to 7:15pm!  Jim and I really wanted to get here in 1 day so we'd get to enjoy an extra day here so we could feel less rushed and plan a pool/down day into the schedule.  It was a really long time to be cooped up in the car with 2 five year olds.... especially our little chatterbox teacher wannabe!  They really did great for the most part.  We checked in... brought our luggage to the room and then got a delicious quick service meal in the Contemporary.  When we got back to our room.... we had some surprises from Mickey (our wonderful Daddy!) and a phone message from Mickey & Minnie singing Happy Birthday! 

Much to our surprise since I booked a Lake View room and not a Magic Kingdom room (to save on vacation points).... We have a Lake View room with an angled view of the Kingdom!  So we were able to watch the fireworks from our balcony!  Woohoo!!!!

Sunday's Plan: Magic Kingdom

I have been reading about the opening "show" at Magic Kingdom and REALLY wanted to get there early enough to see it.  I figured since we were staying within walking distance to Magic Kingdom this was our chance if we were ever going to see it.  But since we drove all day yesterday and the kids were pretty wound up when we arrived... everyone (but me) slept in a bit today.  And by slept in... I mean 8am and not 6:30.  I was pretty disappointed that we were running just a few minutes late and would probably miss the show.  We were approaching the park and I could hear the singing.... when all of the sudden I heard the train whistle and then actually saw the train that I assumed was involved in the show.  The train went right past us and we had a great view of all of the characters that were about to arrive at the main street station.  They all waved to us as they went by.... it was AWESOME! 

After we got in the gates and swapped our paper tickets for the new cards (the new technology coming Disney's way is pretty cool).... we were on our way!

First stop some Main Street family pictures and Starbucks!  They recently opened in Magic Kingdom and EPCOT and we heard they will soon be opening locations in all of the parks and Downtown Disney.  Then it was off to find characters and rides! 

Summer spotted these ears as soon as we walked in the park and had to buy them with her money!

Cole wanted to find Stitch first!!!

Then we did several rides and had so much fun on things like the teacups, speedway, Dumbo and Goofy's Barnstormer!  Then we headed into Pete's Silly Sideshow for some autographs and pictures...



 

After more rides.... we had lunch and headed back to our hotel for some downtime and cooling off before dinner at Be Our Guest restaurant.  I took the kids on an adventure to find the ice machine and when we returned to the room.... a birthday card from Mickey and Minnie had been slid under the door! 

 

Dinner at the newly opened Be Our Guest was really great!  Unfortunately our server left much to be desired, but everything can't be perfect right!  We sat in the main dining room which features a beautiful wall of falling snow. 

 

Me & Cole with the Beast after dinner



Be Our Guest Restaurant
 

After dinner we hit some more some more rides like It's a Small World and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Summer was so brave on the roller coaster and kept her hands up the entire time.  I was holding onto her for dear life because mommy was so scared that her little girl wasn't holding on at all! After that we headed back to our hotel and hit up the pool which we had completely to ourselves!  What a first day.... 

Pool all to ourselves

Evolving goals....

In January I decided that I was going to become a runner.  If you missed that post, you can read about that here.  Unfortunately I have had a few stumbles along the way and have needed to change my goals up a bit, but they still involve getting more fit and I think I've done really well for never having a set fitness plan in the past. Several weeks into the Couch 2 5K app that I downloaded I was doing well though moving through it more slowly than I expected and needed to repeat a few weeks.  I didn't let this discourage me after seeking advice from some runner friends.  I decided to register for a 5k with a group of my multiple mommies in July.  Unfortunately soon after registering for the 5k the pain that I had been trying to push through got worse and I started having trouble even walking without pain.... so off to the doctor I went. 
I had already of course self-diagnosed myself via WebMD and the doctor confirmed that I had plantar fasciitis.  Running had to stop while I worked on healing.  I rested, iced, stretched for a month and it was getting better but still not enough for running which is the worst possible activity for it.  After getting some good insoles from my doctor, I decided I needed to find another activity in the meantime because I was still determined to get in better shape.  I had been to a Zumba class with my multiples club in January and had been given 2 free classes to come back so I decided to take the leap. 
This gym was very appealing to me even though it is a 20 minute drive.... I didn't have to sign a contract.... I could pay class to class or buy a package of classes, but no monthly fees.  Since I wasn't ready to make a huge commitment that I couldn't back out of this was a big plus for me.  Plus they have a childcare room at night and on the weekends that I can use as needed for $2/kid.  Since Jim has to work several rotating late nights a month this would enable me to keep a routine if I found a class that I really liked.  And where can you get a babysitter for 2 kids for $4??
My first class was interesting to say the least.... a huge room absolutely packed and I had no idea of any of the choreography.  I was pretty lost, but still had fun and sweat my butt off!  I tried out some different teachers and have found the ones that I like the best and although it's not easy on our schedule for me to be out of the house a few extra nights a week Jim is super supportive of my need to do this.  For 2 solid months I was going to at least 2 but mostly 3 classes a week.  Then I skipped a couple steps down the shore and sprained my ankle at the end of May so had to take a bit of a break, but I'm back into the swing of things now. 
I am down about 7 pounds at this point which isn't as much as I was hoping for, but have definitely trimmed and toned on top of that so that makes me feel better.  I have more energy and it feels good that I am sticking with a program that works for me.  I am still hoping to try the running again, but my former musical theater geek self loves that I'm dancing again!  I did do the 5k that I signed up for although I walked instead of running... and I'm ok with that too. 

 

Besides Jim.... the kids have been super supportive of me shaping up.  Summer especially LOVES to go to the gym with me and helps me color coordinate my outfits.  She loves the bright colors of my workout tanks. 

 

I'm back into a routine of going 3 times a week (at least 2 if our schedule is too tight).  This month since my Thursday Zumba instructor is away... I decided to take a stab at Bosu bootcamp with my baby sis.  Which is exercising on a half ball with weights, etc. I have never prayed for 60 minutes to tick by more quickly in my life.  But I did make it through 4 classes so far without falling or dropping the weights and it's getting a little bit easier each week.  Although I have contemplated sneaking out while the instructor had his eyes closed during the first 30 minutes... it was that tough! And this week I got punched in the hand with weights by the girl next to me (total accident...  just a bit too close)

 

Last but not least.... my biggest feat of the moment is kicking my Coke (a Cola) habit!  It's been about a month and I cheat here and there..... but I have cut out the majority of sugary beverages from my diet.  Still having them here and there, but I was having way too many a day! 

 

My next goal is keeping up a fitness routine as we move into a new school/work routine.  The kids start kindergarten next week, I'm going to be getting up earlier for work, and they are each doing 1 activity per week (dance and soccer).  Wish me luck!  

Make our own Disney Autograph Books

I have severely neglected my blog this summer....

But I'm back and we are gearing up for a trip to the Most Magical Place on Earth (seriously just learned that Disneyland in Cali is the Happiest Place on Earth - I've be calling it wrong all this time!)...

In my opinion Disney does a lot of things right on the money, however they have gotten the autograph book completely wrong!  You really have two choices if you purchase autograph books in Disney World.

This option give you 100 pages for plenty of autographs but it is kind of small and then both kids' books look the same!


This option is available in many different characters and designs, so each kid can get a different book.  Plus there are photo sleeves to add pictures with each character.  However, there are only 12-15 pages for characters to sign!  Since we do a several character meals that usually have 5 characters each and then stand in line for characters too.... we've had to buy additional books!

 

This year I decided that I needed to find a different option before I headed to Disney World.   So I searched Etsy and found something that I liked but it was a bit too small.... so I sought advice from my multiples club..... and then I decided that I could make my OWN! 

 

I found a chipboard kit at Michael's with 7 x 6.5 inch covers with holes punched for binding (it came with larger pieces as well that I'll save for something else) and rings ... the kit cost $5

 

I also found white card stock pre-cut to the appropriate size for the covers.... a pack of 75 sheets cost $5

 

And I got a bottle of tacky glue for $2

 

Plus I had a coupon.... so I got all supplies for less than $10 and I already had plenty of Disney paper in my old scrapbooking stash. 

 

 

The most time consuming part of the project was marking and punching holes in the 75 pieces of cardstock!  Then I chose paper for each side of the chipboard, cut the paper, spread the tacky glue with a sponge brush and adhered the paper.  I added a few embellishments and voila!

Summer's front cover

Inside Summer's

Summer's back cover

Cole's front cover

Inside Cole's

 

Cole's back cover

 I'm pretty please with how they came out.... especially since I haven't touched my scrapbooking supplies in quite some time! 

I also had an idea given to me by a few people to get a photo mat for character meal autographs.  So I have purchased one for each child to take to their special character meal that I can later from with a picture from the trip! 

Keep watching for more Disney vacation prep!  Especially since this is our first BIRTHDAY celebration trip! 

 

 

The Graduates (Pre-K)

It is sometimes hard to believe that this was almost 5 years ago! 

 

This picture was from the day we brought these tiny babies home from their 11 days in the NICU.  You can see the wires from their apnea monitors that monitored their breathing and when it alarmed it would make you jump from your few hours of sleep a night in those early days to make sure everyone was still breathing. 

 

Almost 5 years later.... we have happy, thriving Pre-K graduates!  Little by little they have become these amazing, knowledge hungry creatures.  And to think that Cole was in Early Intervention for speech just 3 years ago because he had NO words at all and now they both got near perfect scores on their Kindergarten test.  They can count to 100, write the entire alphabet, spell their first & last names and SO MUCH MORE! 

 

 

Cole "Superman" - you are 43 inches and 43 pounds of rambunctious boy!  If running in circles was a hobby, that would be yours.  You love to snuggle with mommy and want to be with me at all times when I am home.  You are such a sweet boy and take such good care of me and Summer.  You love to watch anyone who can fix things and can't wait to have your own tools.  Until today you wanted to be firefighter, but now you've decided that you want to be a vet. 

 

 

Summer Lou - you are 41 inches and 36 pounds of girly princess girl!  In fact you want to be a princess when you grow up, but Cole our realist has told you that's not a "real job".  You are extremely particular about your wardrobe, but have expanded the acceptable color pallet beyond pink as long as it is a dress or skirt.  You have always been a Momma's Girl, but recently have become more snuggly with me and you try to tend to all of Coley's needs (when he lets you) You love to dance and sing and play that you're the teacher!  And you want to be a Mommy or a Movie Star when you grow up. 

 

 

I was so proud to watch my two sweet babies looking so grown up in their caps & gowns perform their graduation with their friends.  It was such a sweet ceremony that included dancing, singing and poems.  We enjoyed refreshments with our family, their classmates and teachers afterwards and really had a very memorable evening.  I have really loved my time with my preschool aged twinnies and how magical the smallest things are to them. I am in love with the daycare that we found and wish that we could stay there forever (you know minus the weekly direct debit from my checking account!).  They've had fabulous teachers that have taught them an amazing amount of information, but also truly LOVE them for me when I can't be there.  I'm happy that we decided to keep them there for the kindergarten program.  Since we only have half day kindergarten they will go to our current daycare and then be bussed to their new elementary school and back to daycare for an afternoon enrichment program. I am sad to be leaving this part of their life, but I know we'll have new wonderful memories to make ahead.  

 

Do you remember way last fall
When we were only just this tall
Now look at us
We’re way up here
And my we’ve learned a lot this year
In fact you think we’re really great
That’s why we get to graduate.