Thanksgiving with Grandad & Nana

Grandad and Nana arrived at the beginning of the week and the kids have been loving every minute of their being here.  One benefit of having them visit is that when we go places, everyone gets a partner, so Todd and I are no longer outnumbered.  We're back to playing man-to-man defense.  Grandad & Nana allowed the kids to pick out some toys at the store early on.  The boys picked out new Lego kits and got to work on them right away.


Caroline opted for a bunk bed twin baby set, which has had a lot of staying power.  Caroline has spent a lot of time playing with it.

Nana also brought a Dick & Jane book for Caroline to have since she's starting to read.  They spent a lot of time on it and Caroline was very excited to read quite a few of the first stories.  When Todd came home from work one evening, she sat him right down to show him her accomplishment.  It's always an exciting time to hear a new child read!

Todd prepped our Thanksgiving turkey the night before with a good rubdown.  I'm glad he was willing to do it, because I don't think I could put my hands up under the skin.  Not my thing.

Our Thanksgiving meal was a coordinating effort between Todd, Nana, & Grandad.  I was tasked with opening the can of cranberry sauce and cooking some broccoli.  Someone else opened the cranberry sauce and I didn't even finish cooking the broccoli.  Winning.  It was a very good meal.  I'd like to think that my contributions had something to do it.

After eating, the kids took to chalking up our driveway and sidewalk.  Over the course of this whole week, the kids have continually gone outside to add more artwork.  Caroline drew a girl and then showed me the pose.

The boys did Doc Ock, Garfield, Spiderman, light sabers, & Pikachu (Pokemon).

The kids had also gotten creative and drew Thanksgiving placemats.  Caroline did hers before Thursday, so we used them the few days prior.  They were all lovely and her hand showed her hard work.

Can you tell she traced her hand for all the turkeys?

Each placemat was personalized.  E for Erin. (Although Todd got D for Daddy...)

Josiah also did placemats for Thanksgiving Day.  All his placemats were nearly identical, with the  turkey saying each person's name.  Except mine.  I got the only disrespectful placemat.  "Psst.  Clean up."  "No."  It was a very accurate depiction of my life.

Nana and Grandad bought us a wreath for our front door.  We put it up after Thanksgiving and it has become our new "picture spot."  Caroline is our sparkle girl, so she always encourages me to get more than just the "plain" variety of everything.

The kids have had two weeks off of school at this point.  It has been great to have the down time this week.  Henry beat me at Battleship & NFL Game Day.  We've all played countless games of Guess Who?  We've tossed around footballs, frisbees, basketballs, and baseballs. 

We've watched Christmas movies and TV specials.  It was nice to have a week like this after the busy Disney trip.  The kids are ready to quit school and keep the trend going.  Not-a-one is excited for school to begin again.  But begin it shall.  Winter break is only one month away.  

Disney World

We took the kids to Disney World for a week.  The first leg of the trip ended well for Caroline.  After stopping in Tallahassee for the night, we dined at the McDonald's next to the hotel.  The lady working there was incredibly kind to the kids and asked them which toy they wanted.  The boys each pointed to a specific Pokemon toy.  For Caroline, she held out three Hello Kitty toys from which to pick out her favorite.  Caroline, not too shyly said, "I want all of them."  And this kind lady gave her all of them.

The next day, we made it to Orlando before our hotel room was ready, so we drove over to Disney Springs to check out all the shops.  We walked around both the Disney and Lego stores.  Upon leaving, Josiah said that he only wanted ten things so far.  He said it as if that was a good thing.  Caroline had her eyes on Cinderella's shoes that had heels and lit up.  Since it was the first day, we had a wait-and-see policy since we planned on coming back.  (Plus, wide feet in regular size shoes hurt, no matter how much she says they won't.)

That evening we ate at Planet Hollywood.  The kids loved that they had a two-story screen to entertain them.  It showed a lot of music videos.  Caroline smiled big when they played, "Sweet Caroline," especially because all the folks eating stopped to sing along.

EPCOT

Monday morning, we made our way over to Disney World.  When we passed the entrance sign with a giant Mickey & Minnie, the kids squealed in delight.  Our first day was spent at Epcot.  It started out a little rough because the first ride we got in line for, Test Track, had an 80 minute wait.  After waiting half that time, the ride closed due to weather.  We held out hope for a while, but finally gave in to hunger pangs and got out of line.  We walked through the countries where I got my fish and chips from England (deliciousioso).  They were everything I thought they would be and more.  The kids liked it a lot, too.  Todd and Henry ate in Japan.  Henry ordered the chicken and shrimp teriyaki, but then ended up eating half of Todd's sushi as well.  He got his sushi in one way or another.

After eating, we finally made it to some rides.  First was Soarin' which was a hit with all. It felt like you were flying through the air on a hang glider.  There was a gigantic screen that you were "in" and so it felt real - they even splashed water on you over the ocean scenes.  Josiah and Caroline screamed with glee through the whole thing.  Henry went in saying he didn't like heights, but left saying it was fun.  That's one way to conquer your fear of heights.

After that we went to a show with Crush, the surfer dude turtle from Finding Nemo.  It wasn't high on the adult list of things to do, but the kids loved it.  We also did Mission Space in which you were in a capsule and you were flying to the moon, but when you came back to Earth, there were issues and you had a rough landing.  The kids really felt that they were really saving the day.  If Caroline didn't push her button quickly enough, Josiah was yelling at her to do her job.  I'm not sure they realized, when they rode it again, that the space ships had the exact same problems as the first time we did it.  It honestly didn't seem like they noticed.  They took their roles as Captain, Commander, Engineer, etc. very seriously. We had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant.  Our meal plan included desserts with each sit-down meal, so we tried cannolis and Italian ice cream sandwiches which were nothing like what we'd call an ice cream sandwich.  It was all delicious. 

After reflecting on the first day, each kid had a very different reaction to walking around a theme park.  Josiah was great.  He talked our ears off the ENTIRE time.  He was constantly talking about what we were going to do next.  Not just the next ride, but the next four rides.  He had a very one-track mind when it came to planning the day.

Henry danced his way through the park when he wasn't climbing on every imaginable thing he could find.  When he wasn't dancing or climbing, he was throwing his arms around as if he were throwing and catching an imaginary football.  When we told him to stop, as there were thousands of people around him, he got a bit on the surly, angry side.  It was slightly rough.

Caroline, our sweet baby girl, was not in a good mood.  She was great while we were on a ride, but all the walking to the ride and standing in line for the ride involved a lot of yelling/pushing/throwing tantrums/etc.  It was rough.  We had even bought an umbrella stroller to help the kids with all the walking.  We couldn't tell if it was a blessing or a curse.  It was a blessing when they were able to sit and stop whining about feet hurting.  It was a curse when they kept track of how many minutes each child got in the stroller and they insisted their sibling got more time.  Fortunately the stroller broke on day four, and the adults were happy for it.  I had only wanted it to the last the length of our trip so it almost made it.

MAGIC KINGDOM - DAY 1

We started our day with a breakfast buffet.  Caroline wanted a plate full of bacon.  After a couple of plates of bacon I put strawberries on her plate to make it slightly healthy.  She had to eat a strawberry between each slice of bacon (that's some good parenting).  After her last strawberry, she said, "I need another piece of bacon."  No you don't baby girl. No, you don't...

Magic Kingdom was a much better park for the kids.  We did the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, which they all really liked.  Henry, especially, loved to see all the pulley systems.


They rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean, and we saw a parade down Main Street.

The best ride was Splash Mountain.  Todd and Caroline were seated in the front of our log flume thing.  The boys and I were behind.  At every possible juncture, Todd got wet.  Then, when we went down the big hill, Todd said he left his mouth open and got a lovely taste of the water.  When we looked at the photos at the end, I cracked up.  Henry ducked.  He says he was trying to not get wet.  That may be a partial truth.

After Splash Mountain, we did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  It was fun the first time, but the second time we rode it, I left feeling sick from the many circles of track.  I was done for the night.  Caroline was most definitely out of sorts, so while the boys went to ride the Haunted Mansion,

Caroline and I got a Mickey Mouse ice cream cone (always good after a tantrum) after which she promptly fell asleep.


It was a busy, long day.  We rode a LOT of rides.  And we had a little magic on the walk out for the day:

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Wednesday, we made it to Hollywood Studios before they opened so we could get in line to sign up for Jedi Training.  After getting the kids signed up for their afternoon training, we went to the new Toy Story Land.  Todd braved standing in line for 80 minutes with all three kids for the Slinky Dog Dash, because it only took one look for me to know I couldn't handle all the turns.  All four liked the coaster.  I was amazed at how much Caroline liked roller coasters, or any ride really.  She and Josiah were very eager to ride everything.  Henry was not as big a fan of the coasters, but he didn't want to admit it or miss out, so he rode most.  After the coaster, we did this 3-D Toy Story Mania game where you had to shoot targets.  That was really fun.

More Mickey ice creams

In the afternoon, we did the Tower of Terror which I had told the kids was my favorite ride.  Basically, it's a broken elevator shaft and it drops you at random intervals.  So you go up, drop a bit, go up more, drop even further.  It lifted each one of us off of our seats when it dropped.  As we exited, Caroline kept saying, "I almost threw up!"  Henry said he did throw up a little.  So we didn't ride that twice.

Henry doesn't look too happy.

Next, we went to their Jedi Training where they got suited up in their robes and they went through how to wield their light sabers.  Then when it came time to battle, they didn't know who would come out of the little cave area.  Lo and behold, out came Darth Vader and Kylo Ren.  The kids used the force well and defeated what hardened Star Wars characters could not do.

Jedi Henry

Jedi Josiah

Jedi Caroline

We ate at Hollywood and Vine that evening.

The kids say it was their favorite, not because of the food, but because of all the characters walking around.  They got pictures with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, & Goofy.  Josiah got all of their autographs as well.  Henry surprised me with how quickly he would go hug the characters.  He sometimes is above those sorts of things, but once the character came to the table, he'd jump up with a big smile on his face. 

MAGIC KINGDOM - DAY 2

We let everyone sleep in because it seemed like a necessity for all.  We did the second half of Magic Kingdom today.  They rode the quintessential Dumbo ride as well as other small rides nearby.

We caught the end of the parade, which they loved.  We ate lunch at Crystal Palace and got a lot more pictures and autographs.  The food was the best here for sure.




In the afternoon, we did the Tomorrowland Speedway.  It was basically a go-kart type ride.  I drove with Henry and Caroline.  Todd drove with Josiah.  Henry steered while I did the gas pedal.  The go-kart is on a track that gives it about 2 feet play from center.  Henry jerked us back and forth the entire ride.  Straight line child, stay in a straight line.  Todd said Josiah did the same.  It was hilarious for a while and then headache-inducing for the remainder of the time.

We did a lot more rides - the teacups (I passed on that), Ariel's grotto, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, as well as the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train,

You can see Caroline & me in the front

and a Princess Fairy Tale show at the castle.

As we were leaving the park that evening, we passed by an area where you could get pictures with princesses.  They had Cinderella and it was only a 15 minute wait.  We got in line.  Caroline LOVES Cinderella.  Todd and I were so happy that she got to have a picture with her. 


They also had Rapunzel, who is Josiah's favorite, so they got a picture with her. 

Henry didn't have time for princesses.  He loved meeting characters at restaurants, but he never wanted to stand in line to meet a character in the park.

ANIMAL KINGDOM - our last day

We did a safari ride first thing.  It was neat, but you couldn't help but wish the animals had a lot more room to roam.

Throughout the park, the kids participated in a Wilderness Explorer book in which they earned stickers throughout the park.  It was all good and fun, until the end of the day when the place where you turned it in had closed at 5:00 p.m.  Not cool, Disney.  Our kids wanted their Minnow Patch.

Animal Kingdom had an area called Dinoland.  Caroline was rejected from the only ride the whole trip.  She was half an inch too short to ride the Primeval Whirl (which by the name alone, made me not want to ride it).  She cried the whole time the boys were in line.

We played some carnival games.  I wanted to ensure the kids won at least one prize, so I played the whack-a-mole game with them (and some other kids).  I crushed it and won us a triceratops head.  Henry ended up winning the water pistol/target game.

We had a late, but delicious lunch at Rainforest Cafe.  We all shared a huge dessert. 

After eating, we walked to our last fast pass of the day.  Avatar Flight of Passage.  This was a new ride and a friend of mine said she had waited in line for two hours when her family came.  We had a fast pass, so we wouldn't have to wait in line, but as we walked through the entrance, the Stand-By riders had a wait time of 210 minutes.  3 1/2 hours!  And there were people in line.  The ride was amazing, though.  You sat on a seat like you were sitting on a motorcycle.  They engaged the restraints.  Caroline started freaking out that she was scared.  We thought, oh no, you can't back out now.  Not you, who has been gung-ho to do everything.  Basically we felt like we were riding on a banshee through this make believe land.  It was amazing.  Caroline kept saying, "Steady boy" to her banshee the whole ride, but it was so fun.  I don't know how they make it feel like you're flying or weightless, but it was really amazing.  It was a good way to end our Disney adventure.  After that, we made our way back to the hotel.

In nearly every park, we did a 3-D show.  The kids loved, loved, loved these shows.  They all reached out for the stuff coming at them.  It was more fun for Todd and I to watch them reacting than to watch the actual show.

We've learned this about staying in a hotel with the kids.  If you sleep with the boys, they moved non-stop.  Literally non-stop.  If one of them happens to be still for a moment, the other is shifting.  If you sleep with Caroline you better be skinny, because no matter the size of the bed, she picks the middle.
We stayed in hotels that had a free continental breakfast, so Josiah and I often went down before the others to start our day with a cup of coffee/hot chocolate.  We had a nice time together.

On our drive home, we drove on I-10 through the Florida panhandle and could see a lot of the destruction of Hurricane Michael.  For about 70 miles, there were thousands of trees either snapped in half or uprooted.  Thousands.

We tried to do some fun car games.  Todd tasked the kids to find the furthest away license plate.  The third car to drive by was from Alaska.  I swear the same thing happened the next day, except Alaska was the first car to drive by.  We stopped playing that game.  We played a lot of "Guess who I'm thinking of."  The vast majority of time, the kids were thinking of a Disney character.  That was until the time that Henry was thinking of someone.  After many guesses, we all game up.  His answer?  "Some random person playing this game."  Thanks buddy.  We did a lot of "From 1-10, what number am I thinking of?"  The kids couldn't keep it that simple.  Henry asked us what number he was thinking of from 80-85.  Caroline thought of a number from 1 to infinity.

We always stop at Buc-ee's on the way home, because it's an awesome place.  As if we didn't just meet a lot of characters, we met the one and only Buc-ee.  We didn't even know he existed.

We were so happy to pull into our house and unload the car.  It was a good trip overall.  A lot of walking, a lot of eating, and a lot of family time.  And the next trip to Disney will occur when all children have fully grown legs.