Just Some Summer Fun!

Oops! One More Disney Post!

I forgot to put these pictures with the Toy Story post, and they are too cute not to show.

Meeting a toy soldier for the first time!

Anniversary Dinner and Last Disney Post!

We celebrated our 6th anniversary while in Disney World! This was also our last night in Disney. We decided to stroll around the Showcase of Nations in the late afternoon before arriving in Paris for dinner. The kids were wonderful at dinner and we all had a great time. I'm so lucky to have the best husband and most wonderful boys ever!

Character Meet and Greet

Epcot has a building dedicated to meeting the main characters of Disney. We did this last year with Tommy and he loved it, so of course, we had to do it again. This was also the first time AJ had met any characters. He LOVED them, especially Goofy. Here are some of our pictures from the meet and greet.

Private Character Meeting

At every park in Disney World, they have baby care centers. This was such a big help while being in the parks with an infant. We would usually go there to change AJ or feed him since it was much nicer than using the restrooms. It was a great way for us to take a rest and cool off too. They always had Disney movies playing too, so Tommy was always happy. Anyways, as we were leaving the baby care center in Hollywood Studios, a worker came up to us and very quietly asked us if we wanted a private meeting with some of the characters, OF COURSE!! No waiting in line, awesome!! Tommy was so excited! The worker told him they were there just to meet him. Just another way Disney makes you feel special!

Our Little Man!

So AJ enjoyed Disney so much. We were concerned with sleeping in the same room with him, naps, heat, etc. But AJ showed us again how easy going he is on this trip. He would catch naps when he could in the stroller, and loved having the stroller fans on him. He loved meeting all the characters, they would make him laugh so much. He also loved all the people. Whenever we were in line, he had many admirers and AJ being AJ would just eat it up. Taking an infant to Disney I thought would be tough, don't get me wrong, it was a lot of work, but it was also very enjoyable! Here is AJ catching a nap in between rides.

Pizza Planet

At Hollywood Studios, there is a restaurant called Pizza Planet that we had to eat at! For those of you that may not know, the main character in Toy Story, Andy, eats at Pizza Planet, so it was a must on our list of things to do. Tommy LOVED it, he was so excited the whole time. I have to say, the pizza was pretty good too!

Vikings!

While visiting Epcot, we toured around the showcase of nations. We of course had to visit Norway, Chris's favorite. We could not leave this country without all the boys trying on viking helmets!

Toy Story Mania!

As we all know, Tommy has had an obsession with Toy Story since we went to Disney last year. This trip just added to it! I have to say, though, I have grown to love it a lot too, all the characters have become part of our family. It was so neat to see Tommy's face light up when he saw Buzz, Woody and the gang. Every time we went to Magic Kingdom we had to do the Buzz Lightyear ride. We also were able to to the Toy Story Mania ride in Hollywood Studios which was so much fun. I got to sit next to Tommy during this ride and he made me feel like a kid again, we had a great time. Here are our pictures from all the different Toy Story attractions at Disney.

Buzz's rocket ship

The aliens!

Zurg!

The reunion!

Lotso Huggin Bear. He is the villain in Toy Story 3.
He is a bear that loves to hug and smells like strawberries.
He really did smell like strawberries...AJ loved him.

Chef Mickey's Character Breakfast

While we were in Disney, we did a character breakfast. We went to Chef Mickey's which was right in our hotel. I had read that this is one of the best character breakfasts, and I have to say I agree. We were able to meet all the main Disney characters, they even gave us a cupcake for our anniversary. Tommy of course loved all of them and AJ would get upset when they would leave our table to go to the next table. The food was wonderful too! We hope to go back there next time we are in Disney!

Pool Time!

We took advantage of our pool at the Contemporary Resort quite a few times. Tommy recently had been enrolled in a few swimming lessons, so he was excited to try out his new skills in the water. He did great! He was wearing a life jacket, but did not want either of us to hold on to him in the water, which was a big step for him. AJ was a crazy man. He loved the water. All he did was splash with both arms and legs. He also loved to keep his mouth open and tongue out to catch any water, what a crazy baby. We enjoyed our pool time and it was a great way to beat the Florida heat!

Typical AJ water pose!

Enjoying some fountain time!

Zurg!

Some of you may not know, but Buzz Lightyear's biggest enemy is the evil emperor Zurg! There is a ride in Disney dedicated to getting Zurg. At the end of the ride, when you walk off, you are greeted by this huge Zurg in jail. Needless to say, Zurg is very popular in our house with both boys, so we had to take our picture with him!

And we're off...to Pittsburgh?

Back to blogging! Vacation was wonderful, everyone had a blast! We all miss Disney and cannot wait to go back next year. We took a lot of pictures, so we hope you all enjoy the upcoming blog entries.

We left early last Tuesday morning in the middle of a thunderstorm that continued all the way to Midway Airport. It was a lot of fun dragging 2 suitcases, 2 carry on bags, 2 kids, and a double stroller in this never ending storm to the entrance of the airport. Nevertheless, we made it through security and happily to our gate, all before 7 in the morning!

As soon as we arrived at our gate, Christopher Cullen was paged by the attendant at the gate. Apparently, an infant cannot sit in front of an exit row, which is where we reserved our seats the night before. So the four us were separated, great. I sat next to Tommy and Chris sat on the opposite side one row in front with AJ where we played pass the baby back and forth, great fun.

Soon we were flying over West Virginia, we would be there in no time, right? All the flying anxiety was starting to leave when the captain came on and said we have to land in Pittsburgh for safety reasons and they will answer questions when we land. What? What is going on? Everyone was very calm, but I was a nervous wreck repeating my Hail Marys over and over. We land in Pittsburgh where we are greeted by 5 or 6 firetrucks, and fireman in full gear. Wow. Luckily we were all safe. The plane could not be fixed so they had to fly in a new one from Michigan. To make a long story short, we finally did arrive in Orlando by dinner, and the kids did wonderful on both flights, plus we received 3 round trip plane tickets for free for any inconveniences caused! Here are some pictures from the Pittsburgh airport and the second plane ride. More to come!

Luckily, the airport had a mini playground for the kids
so they could run off (or crawl off) some steam.

AJ reading the Hertz car rental add

Tommy watching (you guessed it) Toy Story!