Fun with Auntie Rachelle

Auntie Rachelle arrived on Friday evening to spend the weekend with us. The boys were very excited for her visit!

She came with the hopes of seeing Nicholas play his first Tball game on Saturday but our coach canceled our game due to his own conflict .... but that could be a whole other subject. Daddy had to work in the morning on Saturday so Auntie Rachelle and I decided to take the boys to the playground. Benjamin threw a fit in the hall while I took my shower and ended up screaming himself to sleep. So while I stayed home with the sleeping Ben (yes still in the hall) Nicholas led Auntie on a 1.5 mile walk through the backstreets of our neighborhood - he truly does have a great sense of direction and remembers routes he has traveled before very easily. Just as they got back Benjamin woke up and we all headed to the park - Panthorn Park in Southington which we all love. We spent about 1.5 hours and then were all hungry for lunch and so headed home. Daddy got home from work just as we were finishing up our lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon at home hanging around and after dinner Auntie Rachelle and I went out to see The Back-up Plan - a very cute movie that we both enjoyed.

Today Steve came over this morning to go golfing with Jon so we all went out to breakfast at a local dinner before they had to head off to the golf course. Rachelle, the boys and I headed home with a quick stop to Home Depot to pick up some weed control for our veggie garden. We all went outside and they decided the weed spraying I was doing was boring and they headed off to the school playground / track. I am sure the 2 boys are keeping Auntie hopping!

Life is a Circus

especially with 2 little boys in the house! But today we took the kids to see the real Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey's Circus at the XL Center in Hartford. Nicholas loved the whole thing while Benjamin seemed indifferent to it, actually asking when it would be over. I thought it was a great show. After the show we went to PF Changs for some very yummy Chinese food, Nicholas loves Chinese food - no kids meal needed there for him.

I realized today I have had my minivan for 4 years - we bought it Mother's Day 2006 when I was pregnant with Benjamin. Today I spent the later afternoon cleaning out 4 years worth of accumulated toys, trash, dirt, crumbs ....etc out of the car .... amazing what 4 years and 2 kids (ok and 1 mommy) can do to a car - LOL!

Beautiful day in NY

We headed out this morning to Poughkeepsie, NY where we walked the Walkway Over The Hudson - an old train bridge that has been redone and converted to a pedestrian walkway. It is approx 2.5 miles total, from Poughkeepsie to Highland and back again. It was a perfect day for it too! We were joined by Mike & Deanna Sweeney and thier dog Mattingly, Mike's sister Kathy and her 2 children, as well as Andrew & Theresa Pleva. After the walk we were joined by Andrew and T for lunch at Mahoney's in Poughkeepsie, the kids like it there because it is at the train station, so while we eat they can watch the trains out the window.

By the time we finished the walk and lunch it was 3pm. From there we headed to a nice visit with Nonna who is recovering nicely from hip surgery. The kids had fun running around with a frisbee (their "plate" from the restaurant). Our next stop was a visit with Pat, Jodi, Danny, Sean and Connor Hickey where all the boys had fun playing together. Finally we dropped by to visit with Matthew Pleva and Heidi Abrams for a few minutes before heading for home @ 7:15pm. A long and busy and incredibly FUN, NICE day!

Dragons

We took the boys to see How To Train Your Dragon today (we went with the regular 2D experience rather than the 3D). Benjamin cuddled up with Jon, ate some popcorn and fell asleep - waking up in time to see the end of the movie. Nicholas seemed to enjoy it - he was on the edge of his seat during the exciting parts. Although I think part of the ending may have been a bit scary as he climbed into my lap, but he never stopped watching, and the very ending was happy so all was good.

Got the call about T-ball earlier this week and Nicholas' first practice will be this coming Tuesday (Jon's birthday) - he is very excited about that.

A little disappointment

When we got our mail yesterday from all of vacation we received the results of the Magnet School Lottery held on April 7. We had applied for Benjamin to begin Pre-K at Rotella (the school Nicholas attends) this fall. Unfortunately he is #33 on the waiting list. Having a sibling in the school does not guarantee admission. Every 4th spot in the lottery is reserved for siblings but there must have been many siblings this year that applied.

The plan for now is to have him remain at daycare for another year and then reapply for the Kindergarten lottery next year.

Happy Anniversary

Jon and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary today with a nice dinner at home .... with 2 crazy kids running through the kitchen chasing each other and pretending to be puppies - LOL!!

DISNEY!

Day 1 - Sunday April 11
Our day began with a "mystery ride" for the kids which brought us to the airport and "mystery ride #2", the flight to Florida. The boys did as well as a 6 and a 3 year old can do confined to a small area for 3 hours on the flight. When we were taxiing to the FL airport Jon showed Nicholas a picture of Mickey Mouse as a hint to our final destination. Needless to say he was a bit excited! We got on the Magical Express to our hotel, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort where we were given our room in the Martinique section and a Finding Nemo themed room. We dropped off our carry-on items and headed over to EPCOT. Nicholas loved the "big golf ball". We went on Spaceship Earth and The Seas with Nemo & Friends before heading over to the Canada section of the World Showcase to watch Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, EPCOT's evening water, laser and fireworks show.

Day 2 - Monday April 12
Our room was located very close to a shuttle bus stop which was very convenient for us. There were buses running frequently to all the parks. The kids had seen the Monorail the night before so rather than heading straight to Magic Kingdom we took an EPCOT bus and transfered to the Monorail over to Magic Kingdom. We were joined by Elizabeth Uppenbrink and her children Clare and Luke for the day. We all had a great time together and went on tons of rides including Mad Tea Party, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Tomorrowland Speedway, Monster's Inc Laugh Floor, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, Donald's Boat and the Walt Disney World Railroad before Liz, Clare and Luke had to head for home. After they headed out we went on Dumbo the Flying Elephant and The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm which was a small rollercoaster that even Benjamin could ride on and because it was getting late we were able to ride it a couple of times before finding a good location to settle in and wait for Wishes, the Magic Kingdom evening fireworks display.

Day 3 - Tuesday April 13
Part of our package was a dining plan and our day included a character breakfast called Donald's Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House in the Africa section of Animal Kingdom. When we arrived there was a short wait so Jon and Benjamin waited with the buzzer while Nicholas and I took a walk around Africa - during our walk we used our passes to get Fast Pass tickets for the Kilimanjaro Safari. A Fast Pass gives you a specific 1 hour window during which to return to the ride and bypass the regular line for the ride thus getting on the ride much quicker. Breakfast was a nice buffet and the kids got to meet Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy up close and personal which they loved! We were pleasantly surprised with how well Benjamin, our very shy guy reacted to the characters - he loved giving them hugs and high fives! Nicholas loved when they took breaks from walking around to go to the middle of the room and dance with the kids! After breakfast we walked right onto the safari ride and the kids liked seeing all the animals. From there we went on to the Wildlife Express Train which brought us to a petting zoo area with some sheep and goats the kids could pet and brush. Next stop was the DinoLand USA section where Jon and Nicholas went on Primeval Whirl, a rollercoaster. Benjamin was too little for the coaster so he and I went on TriceraTop Spin several times while waiting for them. Then the kids spent a good amount of time in one of the playgrounds scattered throughout the parks which was wonderful for kids who are tired of waiting in long lines for rides - lets them get out some energy. Next we went to see It's Tough to be a Bug, Nicholas was not too thrilled with the scary parts. After that as we walked up to the main street one of the employees was blocking off the road for the parade, it was perfect timing for us - we pulled the stroller right up to the rope and the kids had a front row seat for the parade which began within 2-3 minutes, they waved to all the characters on the floats and gave high fives to any walking on the street that came over to our side of the street. Once the parade was done we headed to dinner at Yak & Yeti restaurant in Asia and by the time we finished it was time to head back to the shuttle buses as Animal Kingdom closes at 6pm. We got back to our room changed into our bathing suits and headed to the main pool for the hotel, we were there from 7-9pm! Nicholas loved the slides into the pool! Benjamin played for a little bit in a small water park for little kids and then snuggled up with daddy and fell asleep. Walking back to our room from the pool we were able to see the EPCOT fireworks over the pond at our hotel so we stopped to watch them before heading in for the night.

Day 4 - Wednesday April 14
We headed back to EPCOT for a full day of fun. When we arrived Daisy Duck was greeting us and the kids got to go say hello. Nicholas wanted to go back on Spaceship Earth and from there we headed over to Journey Into Imagination and then went to get Fast Passes for Soarin' and went on the Living with the Land boat ride. From there we went to an early lunch at Coral Reef where we sat right next to the aquarium so the kids could watch all the fish, sharks, giant sea turtle ... while we ate. After lunch we began our journey through the World Showcase. We stopped in Norway to ride Maelstrom. We thought we would never get Nicholas away from the trains set up outside of Germany - he loved watching them ride around their little village and was running back and forth across the walkway that goes over them. We continued our journey and arrived back in time to walk onto Soarin', Nicholas got to ride twice as Benjamin was too little, although we all agreed he could easily have gone on the ride. While Nicholas and I went on first Benjamin fell asleep with daddy, he took naps in our arms almost every day, then we switched and Jon got to enjoy the ride listening to Nicholas' running commentary on what was coming next! Next we took a short boat ride back across the lagoon and walked back to England where we left EPCOT and walked to The Boardwalk where we had dinner at Kouzzina, a Greek restaurant. While we were there we ran into the kids' pediatrician, Dr. Linda Mathew who was on vacation in Disney with her family as well! After dinner we took a boat back to EPCOT and Jon and Nicholas ran to Test Track while Benjamin and I made our way there a bit slower. By the time we all caught back up again the evening fireworks were starting again, we half watched them as we walked to the shuttle buses, another long, fun day in the parks coming to a close.

Day 5 - Thursday April 15
After breakfast at the hotel Nicholas found a map for Hollywood Studios our stop for the day and before we even got on the shuttle bus he knew where he wanted to go first, Rock N' Roller Coaster. He and Jon went on while Benjamin and I waited outside and played together. This turned out to be Nicholas' favorite roller coaster all week because it had a loop-de-loop and he went upside down! From there we went to get Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania, we probably got there @ 11am and the return window for that ride was aleady 6:35-7:35pm - thankfully Uncle Craig had tipped us off to this new ride and we knew to get the Fast Passes (at one point during the day we walked past this ride and the wait time was 120 minutes!!!). Throughout the day we went to Studio Backlot Tour, Muppet Vision 3D, Star Tours (Jon & Nicholas), Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure (playground), The Great Movie Ride and Playouse Disney - Live on Stage which Nicholas really got into dancing with the characters. For lunch we had another character buffet this one at Hollywood & Vine with Playhouse Disney characters JoJo, Goliath, June and Leo; Nicholas barely remembered JoJo & Goliath a show he used to watch all the time when he was 2-3, the other characters both boys knew from Little Einsteins. We ended our day at the Toy Story ride - it was a blast and we were very grateful for our Fast Passes. We decided to skip the evening show, Fantasmic opting instead for an earlier night back at the hotel for a change.

Day 6 - Friday April 16
Our last full day at Walt Disney World. We arrived at Magic Kingdom in time for the opening ceremony where all the characters ride into Main Street train station and welcome everyone to the park. We began our day with a character breakfast at The Crystal Palace where the kids got to meet Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. From there we ran over to Space Mountain to get 2 Fast Passes for Jon and Nicholas then back to the other side of the park to get 2 more for Thunder Mountain, both for 11:30-12:30. While we waited for that time frame we were able to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, walk through Swiss Family Treehouse and ride the Jungle Cruise. After that we split up, Jon and Nicholas headed off to do the 2 roller coasters and Benjamin and I waited in the line for The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We all met back up at Goofy's Barnstormer for one last Benjamin friendly roller coaster ride. We ended our park time with a quick walk through the Main Street shops for a souvenier and then headed back to the hotel for more pool time. The hotel had life jackets for the kids which was perfect, allowed Nicholas to be all over the pool (with one of us nearby but without him having to wait on us to get back in line for the slides) and it allowed Benjamin to feel comfortable in the pool - especially in the shallowest part where he could walk on his own. For the evening we headed over to Downtown Disney where we enjoyed dinner at Wolfgang Puck's and then wandered around near the shops for awhile. The kids loved the huge Lego store. They both crashed on the shuttle bus back to the hotel - a sure sign of a long fun filled vacation!!

Day 7 - Saturday April 7
We said goodbye to Disney very early as we had to catch a 7am Magical Express bus back to the airport. We had a wonderful vacation and the kids loved Disney!