Animal Kingdom

Okay... I gotta get this finished up and have to talk about Animal Kingdom since we spent the most time there of any of the parks.   We really liked it.  The kids loved the animals of course!    It was very lush and overgrown,  more shade to walk in.   Lots of fun animal trails to trek on and see the different animals.   Dino Land which the boys loved and some good rides and shows.    In no particular order ....

Hunter watching the Lion King show.  This was a really good show and kept his attention.

He loved the tumble/jungle monkeys, they were a big hit.   He came home and was a "tumble monkey" for awhile : )

Triceratops ride in Dino Land.  The kids were and still are on a big dinosaur kick.  They loved Dino Land!

We got stuck midair on this ride for a minute because some kid jumped the fence and they shut the ride down while we were on it!

Trail in "Asia."    These trails were all really beautiful and overgrown.  Such a fun way to see all the animals and Hunter really wanted to see the Tigers in Asia!

He loved these "maps" with the animals on it to find.   These trails were a nice place to let the kids run free instead of being hulled up waiting in a long line somewhere.

Lots of bird maps and beautiful birds to find.

We took a train ride to part of the park only accessible by train.   It had a conservatory (a nice big air conditioned building!!), petting zoo and more animal trails.

The Bone Yard play area.  Hunter LOVED this but it was so darn hot and he would about overheat running around it.    It was pretty big and there was so much to climb on and into.   You had to go up to the second level and across a bridge and could find the dig site.   A big sandbox with dinosaur bones to dig in it.   He was so excited to find the dig site!

The kids were wet and sweaty.   We kept pouring water on them and in them every chance we could because it was so hot.  The play area also had some sprinklers in it too.

We watched the 3-D Bug Show that's in the center of the big tree.  It was a little scary.  Especially since we were sitting really close to the front and the giant scary grasshopper that popped up, Aidan about jumped out of my lap.   It was also dark and a little creepy, crawly for parts of it but the kids did okay.

Aidan did not keep the bug glasses on during the show.

He wouldn't for any of the 3-D shows, I wondered what he thought watching all these blurring shows : )

We did the Safari Ride twice.  The first ride of the first day we were there and the last ride of the last day we were there.   It was a good ride, so many animals and you just drive right thru all of them.   The elephants, giraffes, rhinos... all just right by the Safari bus.   So fun and close.  The kids just loved it.

Other hi-lights were taking Hunter on his first water ride.   He was just tall enough and I felt a little nervous but he was in a seat with an extra bar to keep him in.   It was one of those circle raft rides, Hunter and I in seats by each other.   We went down the water fall part at the bottom end and a wave of water went up and over Hunter and soaked him!   He could not have been more wet if we threw him in the water.   Everyone else on the ride was laughing so hard because he got so wet and he had no idea what happened or why everyone was laughing at him.   He was fine and thought it was funny and he was really, really wet!!   

If anyone is still reading this super long post, I'll finish up by saying it was a great, although super hot, trip!   Lots of memories and things learned.   There's definitely a learning curve to doing Disney.    

Our trip ended with our flight being canceled back to Milwaukee thanks to the heavy rain/flood.   Not before we woke up at 5 a.m. went thru check-in and security and then realized we had no hopes of flying out that day.   Not something you want to have happen at all but especially when traveling with a 3 and 1 year old.   Yikes!!   I will not be flying with little ones again for awhile if I can help it at all!!

I also realized that roller coasters are not for me.  Never really have been.  I'll stick to the kiddy coasters with the boys.

18 months is a tad young to do all of this.   Especially if the 18 month old is a super squirrelly,wiry little boy who fights to get out of your arms anytime you try to contain him.

My kids don't fall asleep anywhere no matter how tired they are, they can hold out a long, long time!

And Orlando is hot, super, super hot in July!!

Magic Kingdom

We did the Magic Kingdom on Day 2.  It was only my 2nd time there ever and Adam's and the boy's 1st time.

We went in later in the day and stayed til the fireworks.   This seemed to work best for us this week, sleeping in, letting the kids take naps and doing the parks later in the day and night.   It gets slightly (barely) cooler at night and helps when the sun isn't beating down too.   We went into the Magic Kingdom as the afternoon parade was going on so we got to watch that right away.   The downside was we were then trapped in a mass of people that you couldn't get around or through.   The Magic Kingdom was by far the busiest of all the parks!!

First thing we did was the carousel.  We tried to go in a with a bit of a plan of which rides we'd go on it worked out okay most of the time.

We took Hunter on his first roller coaster.  It's a kiddie coaster (perfect for me.)  I wasn't sure what he'd think or if it would freak him out but I knew it would be quick so I wasn't too worried.
It stopped and he said "WOW!!  I want to do that again!"   Ha, guess he liked it : )
It rained hard not long after this ride and the park cleared a little so he did get to ride it again with little waiting.

Buzz Light Year ride, I like this one because Mimi looks like she means business!   Little Aidan along for another ride... what he must of thought of all of this!

We also did Small World.  Although Adam mocked and protested it.   This was Hunter's face the whole time... mouth wide open staring at everything.   Both the boys loved it, so much to look at!

Like monkeys : )

Dumbo at night.   I have to say these rides have way to long of a wait time and are way to short!
But we did it.

We watched the fireworks sitting as close to the castle as you could.  That was just where the crowd landed us.   This night the fireworks were 1st and parade later.   The fireworks were great and it was fun sitting so close.   We had it for the day and decided not to fight the crowds for the parade and called it a night.

The kids did great.   The shows kept both their attention.  Hunter watched everything mouth wide open. 
Hunter rode the speedway with Adam and of course loved that.  Being in a race car and driving.  Again that was one of his favorite parts of the day.

Disney Day 1 Hollywood Studios

We spent our first whole day in Disney at Hollywood Studios.   We started out a little slow, trying to figure out show times and what we should do.   It was so hot!!! (I will probably repeat this statement many times.)

We did Playhouse Disney first, Studio Backlot Tour & the Lights, Motor & Action Stunt Show.   Playhouse Disney was cute and perfect for the kids.   The Backlot Tour freaked Hunter out a little.    He was on the outside seat on the ride part that moves and makes it feel like you might fall into the water and off the edge.  I had to keep telling him it's just a ride!    The Stunt show was one of his favorites.   It was a pretty good stunt show, lots of action, cars and motorcycles.  

We did Honey I Shrunk the Kids, which is just a big play area and they loved being able to run around freely.

Riding a giant ant.   Hunter also loved climbing in the big net/spider web because he said he was a spider : )

Waiting for Muppets 3-D.   This is one of the few things I remember from the only other time I came to Disney, back when Hollywood Studios was MGM.

Our only "meet & greet."  Hunter wasn't nervous to get close to Mater but didn't really want to get too close to the other characters.   That was ok since it meant we didn't have to wait in lines to see them.

We watched the Block Party Bash parade on our way out of the park. 

We went back to our hotel and let the kids nap and then went back into the park later that night.    We did the Toy Story ride which was one of my favorites.   In 4-D and interactive, so cute!   I rode it with Aidan on my lap shooting all the stuff that popped up during the ride :  )

It had a really cute wait line too, lots of giant toys and bright, fun things to look at.

Mr. Potato Head to entertain you while you waited.

Hollywood Studios was pretty fun.   We only did 1 day there and started to get the hang of the parks.   I think it takes a little more planning than the other parks because it's more shows than rides and you have to plan out the times but we managed to get as much in as we could ... with 2 kids and the heat!!

Cousins

Lots to talk about lately, going to try and do some catching up.

The boys got to meet their cousin Blake recently.     He was so much fun and melted my heart instantly when I met him and he reached his chubby little arms up to be held and squeezed my neck.   He was so friendly and outgoing and fun to play with!   He was not about to be left out of any of the excitement from his older cousins either.    The night was full of lots of laughs and happy screams and the boys playing hard!

Look at that smile, he's got the best smile and laugh!

Hunter loved him lots, Aidan looks a little stand offish in this picture.  I think he didn't like that his Mama didn't want to put this new baby down!   And maybe the fact that Blake outweighs him and is 7 months younger!

Kissing cousins!   Hunter seriously wanted to smother him in kisses!  It was too funny.   Poor Blake couldn't fight off all the love.

Sisters and their boys....   I know, I know, we look like sisters in this picture!  

Aidan and Blake becoming buddies and Aidan showing him all of Mimi's toys.  

Fun, fun, wish we would have had more time to play.   

Blake's a great little baby and we all loved getting to meet him!

Milwaukee Zoo

So the same weekend we went to a baseball game we spent the night and went to the zoo the next morning.  It was a beautiful day and we were really glad the weather was nice since we had planned this trip and were counting on good weather.   And since we planned it ahead of time we did not know that the day we were going happened to be a family free day.   Sounds great right?   Nice not to have to pay to get in however, this zoo only has about 5 free days a year and the next one is not until November!   And like I said the weather was really nice..... so, you can imagine it got a little crowded!   Crazy crowded!!   

We got there right when they opened and were able to park and get in and go thru a few buildings before it got too crazy.  

We actually managed to see almost everything before lunch.   After lunch I could not even believe the amount of people there!!   Hunter wanted to ride the train that went around the whole zoo but the line for that looked like it was at least a 2 hour long wait.    

And when we left in the afternoon... (when you could no longer even walk around outside because of the crowds!)   I couldn't even believe how many people were still trying to get in, it was seriously nuts!  Cars backed up for miles... I was very glad I was not one of them, especially with little kids in the car!

Anyways, we still had a really nice day and managed to see all the animals too!

The octopus!   

Why Hunter loves the octopus so much I'm not sure but we got to see him really well climbing up and down the glass.   Hunter loved it!

Silly giraffes!!

Hunter's first time seeing elephants!

It was a beautiful zoo with lots of fun animals.   Glad we got there early and enjoyed the day!  Of course, the kids loved it.   They were super tired when we left and of course like all super tired kids they managed to not fall asleep on the 2 hour drive home.  Of course!

Baseball Game

We took Hunter to his first MLB game this past weekend.    It was Cardinals vs. Brewers in Milwaukee.   Guess what.... Daddy's a Cardinals fan.    We got there early and had time to walk around and see everything.   We took lots of pictures and Hunter got to play around the kid zone.  

We went with Pa, he actually took us and we had really good seats!   3 rows from the field.   It was crazy to be so close.

It meant we were close for all the extra stuff, like the sausage race.  Hunter was really waiting for this!

I wasn't quite sure how Hunter would do since baseball isn't the most action packed sport.   But he really did good and was really interested in all the extra stuff and how big the stadium was.   It was a night game and we had already had kind of a long day so he was getting really tired by the end.   We ended up leaving a little early and the Brewers were winning and had been the whole game.   Sure enough we left and missed the Cardinals come back and win.      

Hunter woke up the next morning and said "baseball is fun"  so I was glad he had fun and it was a good night!