Halloween 2012

We had a great Halloween this year.  Harrison had the homemade costume this year, going as Harry Potter.

Grettle made him that amazing scarf, in record time, after a last minute request by me.  It really made the costume.  I was most proud of the patch I made, by using this method to print directly onto fabric.  I'm thinking I'll figure out some other uses for this new found discovery.  Oh, and that black hairspray?  Yes, it's very hard to wash out.   And yes, it does make a  huge mess in the shower when you attempt to do so.

Olivia has lots of dress ups, and so dressing up is nothing new for her.  It was pretty funny, at the church Halloween party, she seemed surprised that everyone came in costume.  I guess she's used to being the only one dressed up!  She picked out her Rapunzel dress on Halloween night, but declined to wear the wig for more than a few minutes.

Noah found this iron man costume at costco, back in July, and wears it every chance he gets.  Loves it.  Not sure where his love of Iron man comes from.

And Levi was the cutest little tiger ever. I just love this kid.

Downtown Disney

We made it to Downtown Disney on our first and last days at Disney World.  Downtown Disney is a big shopping area, not a theme park.  But it's still pretty magical.  I think if I had to do it over, I wouldn't have gone that first night - it was kind of crowded, and we were all exhausted, but it was a fun place to go, and The kids really loved it. Olivia was so excited to see these princesses flocking the doors to the huge World of Disney store there, and requested her photos with them:

The boys headed straight for the Lego store.  They had a fantastic play area, and the boys made their first purchase of the trip - the exclusive set "Brickly" a model of the lego dragon that is in the water outside the lego store.

 Exhausted, we headed back to our villa for the night.

On our last day, after the Animal Kingdom, we wanted to go back again.  The boys wanted to do some "build your own minifigures," and Olivia wanted to pick out a souvenir at the World of Disney.

Here's Olivia outside the Lego store with some of the amazing lego creations they have decorating the outside:

She thought the little girl dressed up as Cinderella was Cinderella, and needed to give her a hug.

I wanted to eat dinner at Wolfgang Puck's express, a restaurant I had read about before the trip, and it lived up to my expectations.  So good.  And the restaurant was near empty, and we had amazing service, no waiting. If you ever go to Disney World, I highly recommend this as a place to eat.

Here's the kids enjoying their dinner:

We also picked up the last few pressed pennies that Harrison had been collecting to give to his classmates.  He ended up with about 37 pressed pennies in all, so each of the kids kept some as souvenirs also.  I think at 51 cents it's just about the cheapest souvenir you can come by. And the kids really liked cranking the handle to press the penny.  And it was fun for Harrison to have something to pass out to his classmates when he got back.

The Animal Kingdom

I think the Animal Kingdom was our favorite day of the trip. Getting there when it opened was key, and it was the first time we took advantage of the extra magic hours, where only those staying in a Disney resort can go before the park opens to the public. Sam and the little ones headed over to Expedition Everest to get fast passes, while the older boys and I went on Dinosaur.  Then we stayed in dino land, where we got to ride Triceratop Spin twice in a row without getting off the ride.  It's another version of the Dumbo ride, a favorite for all the kids, but especially Olivia.

Noah discovered Primeval Whirl, a "wild-mouse" style ride, and declared it his favorite of the day.  Levi decided to nap in the stroller, which was so nice.  I think one if the reasons I really liked this park is it was quieter than some of the others, which allowed everyone to feel calmer. Here's Levi after a nice nap:

Expedition Everest was a great roller coaster - it stops in the middle, and takes you backwards for a while, which was really fun.  Again, we used fast pass and rider swap to our advantage, Harrison rode it 4 times, and Sam and I each got to ride it twice.

Another highlight of this day was the show, Festival of the Lion King.  Amazing costumes, acrobatics, dancing, singing and a fire dancers.

The Safari ride was also really fun (despite the fact that I think it was our safari drivers first time driving that ride...)  Harrison took control of the camera, and got some great shots of the animals.  I've been to some really good zoos, and the wild animal park in San Diego, and this ride got me better views of lots of animals than I had seen in all those trips put together.  They did a really good job of making it feel like you were on a real safari in the wild.  Here's some of Harrison's pictures:

This was the easiest park to meet up with extended family members too.  We rode the Safari with Dave, Kate and Maizy, and the Andersons, which was fun.

We were also able to go with cousins on Expedition Everest, and Grandma took Olivia on Triceratop Spin. A bunch of the cousins hung out and played in the Boneyard too.

We had to leave the park by about 3, but we really felt like we saw and did almost everything we wanted to.  We did miss out on the live Nemo show, which I had wanted to see, but since it only showed every couple hours, it didn't work out.  We had to rush over to Downtown Disney, and then catch our shuttle to the airport.

We had a really wonderful time at Disney.  If we ever do Disney again, I think we will plan it when we don't have an infant.  And I would really like to check out Disneyland, to see how it compares.  In our research we read that you could go to Disney World every single day for an entire year, and not experience everything there is to experience there.  It really is a wonderful and magical place.

Epcot

Epcot was the first day we managed to get to a park when it opened.  We took advantage of this by heading straight to one of our "must-dos" that didn't offer fast passes.  Sam took the boys to the Sum of all Thrills, while I headed to Soarin' to get fast passes.  The boys loved the Sum of all Thrills.  It was a design-your-own ride, which you got to ride in a motion simulator.  There was no line at all, so they did it twice.  Here's a video of the boys riding it.

While me, Livie and Levi waited, we hopped on Living with the Land, which had no line also.  It was really interesting to me, and I knew Sam and the boys would like it also, so we went again.   I think Disney is great for how many attractions Levi was able to go on.  Then I took the kids on Soarin' while Sam sat with Levi.  All the kids really liked Soarin'.  It's a ride that makes you feel like you are hang gliding through California.  They have wind and smell effects to go along with the video and motion simulation of the ride.  Very cool.

Olivia and I had reservations to dine with Princesses at Akershus Royal Table by the Norway Pavilion, so we split up again, this time Sam took all the boys and headed to find delicious food in the world show case.  Olivia LOVED her time at Akershus.  She got to meet Snow White, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Cinderella. The food was also really good.  Even though this meal was a bit of a splurge, I think it was well worth it.  It was the best meal I had the whole time at Disney, and it was great atmosphere.

Olivia waiting to go into Akershus.  She was so excited!

At this dine, they take a photo of you with Belle as you enter, and then bring you an enlargement during your dine.

We also had a special character greet at Epcot - a perk of our Disney Chase Visa.  I got an offer for this credit card a couple months before our trip, and I'm so glad I did.  They gave us $250 in Disney gift cards with our first purchase, which covered all the food we ate out while at the parks.  And as a bonus we got to meet with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, in a private location without very much of a line.



Again, the character actors at Disney are pretty amazing.  The masked characters do not speak, but they interact so well. Here, Minnie mouse was doing peek-a-boo with Levi.

We called it a day about 4, and headed back to the villa.  We had to start to pack and get ready to check out the next morning before heading to the Animal Kingdom.  

Hollywood Studios

Day 2 was a lot slower paced.  We spent it at Hollywood Studios, and the must see list at this park was a lot shorter.

The boys all wore Star Wars shirts on this day, even Levi. I made him a cute iron on that had Darth Vader and the sub-title "Who's Your Daddy?"

We had kind of gotten our "Disney feet" under us, and figured out the best way to navigate the park as far as fast passes and rider swap goes.  So we headed straight for Toy Story Mania to get fast passes.  It was a good thing too, because our fast passes were for 6 PM that night, and would have run out if we'd waited much longer.  We didn't stand in any real lines during our whole stay at Disney World. Fast passes and rider swap were a life  saver!

Next, Olivia, Levi and I headed to watch the Beauty and the Beast stage show, while Sam took the two oldest boys to the Indiana Jones stunt show.  With our kids interests and ages, splitting up was the best way to keep everyone happy.  Olivia enjoyed the show, but was a bit intimated by the Beast, who she doesn't like to see in cartoon, let a lone in real life, but I think seeing Belle sing and dance on stage made up for that.  Next, we headed to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, while the boys went to Star Tours.

The boys inline at Star Tours.

Again, Olivia was upset, this time by the mist that got us wet, and then later by Ursala, but she made it through.  I was very impressed by both shows, and happy Levi was able to sleep through the Little Mermaid show for the most part.

Harrison had read through many tour guide books on all the parks, and was well versed on each ride and attraction.  Anytime we would mention a ride, he would spew out several facts about the ride.  It seems that for him knowing a lot about a ride is very helpful in getting him to ride the ride, in most cases.  He did decide to chicken out on the Tower of Terror, deciding at the last minute that it was indeed, too terrifying. But he mustered up courage to ride the Rock'n'Roller Coaster, which was a our next Fast Pass for the day. We all met up, and we took advantage of rider swap, so we got a pass to use later that day.  I really thought this was the best roller coaster at the parks.  It was fast, but smooth.  And very creatively done, just like everything at Disney. I ended up riding this one 3 times, never waiting in line.  And Noah came on it too, and loved it as well.

After this we grabbed some ice cream.  We learned pretty quickly that you were going to spend a lot on food, but there were good choices, and bad choices.  Like, you can get a "Mickey Bar" for $5 (which we did at one point, and it was fine), or you can get a "ice cream sandwich" at an ice cream shop, which was 2 huge delicious cookies with more ice cream that 3 kids could eat for the same price.  Or a huge brownie sundae.  Sam bought 3 different ice cream treats at Hollywood Scoops, and the 5 of us couldn't finish it all.  At this point we headed back to the resort, to give everyone a break, and it was our night to cook dinner at the villa.

After a few hours break at the villa, Sam was ready to head back to the park with the boys, with some fast passes for Toy Story Mania and the Rock'n'Roller Coaster. Just before they headed out, Levi woke from a nap, so I was able to nurse him, and hand him off to GG (thanks!) and head with them.  It was super nice to be able to spend some time at a park without a stroller.  And on our shuttle ride there, there was a dad and girl who were going home for the night who passed off their Toy Story Mania fast passes to us, since they burned out before their time came up.  So we were able to go on it twice, no waiting!

Here's us looking terrified in front of the tower of terror.  I regret not going on this one, but the boys could not be convinced:

This was outside Toy Story Mania.  

Toy Story Mania was lots of fun.  I liked it better than Buzz's space ranger spin.  We headed back to the Villa again, as Levi was tired and not sleeping again (read - he was crying), the the boys were also pretty tired.  It was time to rest up for our big day at Epcot!

Magic Kingdom

We spent our first full day at the Magic Kingdom.  We headed there with James, Regent and their two girls Naomi and Lily.

Here's a cute shot of Olivia and Naomi as we were waiting for the shuttle.

Here's some shots of our magical day in the magic kingdom.

  The happiest place on earth, right?

Even though he didn't sleep as much as I would have liked, he was a trooper most of the day.  Such a good baby!

Noah at the Indy Speedway

Olivia met several princesses, and was in heaven!

Olivia and I happened to be walking by during one of the shows in front of the castle.  We stopped to watch, and saw lot of princesses, Mickey, Minnie, Peter Pan, and lots more.  Olivia was very worried anytime a villain made an appearance.

We hit all the must rides on everyone's list: space mountain, big thunder mountain, it's a small world, the carousel, winnie the pooh, dumbo, jungle cruise, tom sawyer island, mikey's philarmagic, buzz lighter's space ranger spin, monster's inc laugh floor, to name a few.

My one piece of advice for people is to learn about the fast-pass system and rider swap.  We hit all these rides, several multiple times, and I think the longest wait was ~20 minutes.  For the big attractions, we only waited like 5-10 minutes because we only went with fastpasses.  The boys were able to go on the Buzz ride four times, and never waited in a line.  We are also really strong advocates of getting to the park on time.  The boys (Sam, Harrison, Noah) rode 5 different rides between 9 and 10 am.

One thing we did do while at the magic kingdom was get silhouettes of the kids done.  This was one thing I remember getting done when I was kid at Disneyland (I need to find mine next time I'm at my parents house).  It's pretty amazing how they do it - they just cut the silhouette right from paper while you sit there.   And you get 2 copies mounted for $8, which I think is a steal.  And while we were having them done, the kids enjoyed watching the glass blower in the shop next door.

 The Magic Kingdom was amazing, but a bit overwhelming.  I think if we ever go again, we will try and spend more than just one day here, and take it a little more slowly. But since we were only there for four days, we did a park a day.  We had a great time, but we pushed through all day, and by the end of it all we were even more exhausted.  Here's a video of Olivia in the evening.  As you can see, she was having a ball.  And, yes, I did spend $15 on a Tinkerbell balloon, but I don't regret it at all.  It was the only thing she asked for all day, and it surprised us by lighting up when it got dark.  It became a great toy all week as it floated around the villa, and we took it home (sans helium, folded up in our suitcase).  It now hangs on Olivia's wall in her room.
 Levi lost it there at the end, and so we left just as the fireworks were going off.  Harrison was disappointed  but we could kind of see them as we waited for the bus.  Someday I'd like to see what Disney is like without an infant...


 Levi didn't sleep much during the day, so I was hoping he'd crash that night.  No such luck.  We had another sleepless night, and then headed to a much calmer day at Hollywood Studios.

Disney World

We had an amazing opportunity this fall to join with all of Sam's family at Walt Disney World.  The accommodations were given to GG (Grandma Grettle) by a friend, our flight was taken care of with frequent flyer miles, (thanks to Sam's travels and scoring some huge bonus points on our Delta Gold American Express accounts) and tickets to the parks were provided by GG and Grandpa.  What an amazing trip it was.

First of all, staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge was amazing.  We stayed in a Villa (there were 2 villas for the entire family, and we had just the right amount of space.)  They were HUGE.  3 master suites - each with it's own full bath + an extra full bath.  It was 2 stories, with a large living area down stairs, including a kitchen with a large table and bar area.  Upstairs also had a good sized living space, with a pull out couch.  Our kids slept here, so Sam and I were able to have a room to ourselves.  Levi slept (well, he didn't really do too much of that, but more on that later...) in a pack'n'play in the bathroom (Yes, the bathroom was that big) which was really nice that he had his own space.

Here's Olivia hangin' in the Villa.  

 It was also so nice to stay on site - there were shuttle buses to take us to all the parks and Downtown Disney  as well as a airport shuttle to take us to and from the airport.

Our flight out was great - no delays.  We had a really tight layover - 50 minutes I believe, and we ended up having to de-ice in Pasco, so I was pretty worried that we would get stranded in Salt Lake for extra time, but by some miracle our connecting gate was adjacent to where we came in, and we had no problems making the flight.

Levi on the airplane.  He didn't sleep much, but he didn't cry too much either.

 At the airport we got right on the "Magical Express" which took us to our resort. When we arrived we could see giraffes, zebras and big horned ankole cattle out on the savannah outside our room.

Having been up since 4 AM that morning, we were all pretty exhausted, but decided to try and check out Downtown Disney.

That night the kids did a good job of going to sleep, but Levi could not settle down.  He's usually an excellent sleeper, so we were not prepared for this.  We would rock him to sleep, put him down, and then just when we'd drift off to sleep, he'd wake up screaming again.  This went on until 4 AM.  We were planning on getting to the Magic Kingdom the next day when it opened at 9 AM, but needless to say  that didn't quite happen.  We had a quick family picture in the morning with everyone that was there that day - we were only missing John, JaNae and Charlie as they had to leave Sunday.  But here's most of us:

I'm going to do a post on each park we visited, but for now, I'll leave you with this.  This is a book I put together to thank Grandpa and GG for the wonderful trip.  We really did have a spectacular time, and made wonderful memories.

Click here to view this photo book larger

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