Disney World Trip: Part 1

We surprised the kids at Christmas with a trip to Disney as one of their presents. We got back from Disney a few days ago, and here is my very long, multi-part, picture-heavy trip report. I was emailing my mom with details of our trip every night, so this is based on those messages, but as I got more tired later in the week, the reports got shorter.

Day 1: Saturday

We had a late afternoon flight, and started our trip to the American Airlines priority lounge at DCA (accessed because of one of Eric's credit card perks). OMG, why have we waited so long to be ableto do this. It made waiting for the flight so much easier--TV for the kids, private area to run around, snacks. I kind of wish I could just go there and hang out any time. 

We boarded the plane, and then it was off to Disney. 

We didn’t get to Orlando until about 5:30pm. We just rode the tram at the airport, the Magical Express to our hotel (Art of Animation), got dinner in the food court, checked out the hotel lobby, and went to bed. The best part of all this was that Disney texted us on our way to the hotel that our room was ready and we could go straight to the room without  checking in using our MagicBands as keys. 

Sunday:
We had a really awesome day. The kids had a bit of trouble going to sleep on Saturday night so they "slept in" until about 6:30am. We ate breakfast in the room and then rode the bus to Epcot.

  

We got to Epcot around 8:30am, and did Turtle Talk with Crush, the Nemo ride, character meet and greet with Baymax from Hero 6 and then with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.

  

After Turtle Talk with Crush, we had a lunch at Via Napoli, which we LOVE. So yummy.

After lunch, we walked around all the "countries" and then did more rides. Fletch and Deacon slept in the stroller for most of that, while Piper loved going around to the countries and getting her stamps. 

Piper being French.

We then had FastPasses for Test Track, which we riderswapped on, so PIper and Fletch got to ride twice.

After all that, we went back to the hotel around 5pm. We got dinner in the food court for the kids, and went back to the room so they could eat. After the kids were asleep, I met up with a friend who was also staying at AoA for dessert and then I went back and went to bed. A long but great day. 

Star Wars Day (and Christmas too)

While most December, we count down the days until Christmas, this year, we anxiously awaited the release of the new Star Wars movie instead. Since seeing the original movies was such a formative experience for Eric, I thought that we better commemorate the new movies here for posterity (and shoehorn a little Christmas too).

After many weeks of shielding himself from previews, spoilers, and other information about the movie, Eric along with Piper, Fletch, and me, went to see the it in the morning on Christmas Eve.

It was so good, although a bit intense for Piper and Fletch. But, it was such a good time to be together. Deke wasn't quite old enough to sit through the long show, so he spent the morning at daycare. We'll show it to him in a few years.

After that came Christmas. We had a great time. Opening lots of presents, playing with our new presents, eating yummy food, etc. Here's the day in photos.

And here was the aftermath.

So much for going lighter on gifts this year. In any case, everyone was happy with what they got, and now it's onto 2016.

Deke: 2.5 Years Old

This post is a bit overdue, but better late than never. Deke turned 2.5 years old about two weeks ago. He did great at his check-up, and the doctor said he looks fantastic (knock on wood). Here are his latest stats:

Birth: 7lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches

2 weeks: 8lbs 9oz (49%), 20.25 inches (32%)
1 month: 10lbs 8oz (66%), 21 inches (31%)
2 months: 13lbs 1.6oz (70%), 23 inches (47%)
4 months: 15lbs 13oz (61%), 25 inches (46%)
6 months: 18 lbs 9oz (71%), 27 inches (68%)

9 months: 21 lbs 15oz (85%), 28.5 inches (57%)

12 months: 23lbs 1oz (76%), 29.75 inches (43%)

15 months: 25lbs 0.9oz (81%), 31.5 inches (73%)

18 months: 25lbs 11oz (71%), 32.75 inches (63%)

24 months:  30.5lbs (87%), 36.25 inches (91%)

30 months: 33.5lbs (85%), 37.75 inches (90%)

So what's Deke doing and like these days. I think this picture about sums it up.

He's a combination of one part insanity, one part adorable, one part baby, and one part kid. He gets into trouble regularly but how can you get mad when two minutes later, he's walking around like this:

His favorite things in the world are playing dress-up (particularly like a pirate or superhero), Santa, reading books, playing with his Jake and the Neverland pirate toys, and his stuffed animals. 

Oh, the stuffed animals. I fear that Deke has picked up some of Piper's hoarder tendencies because right now, he sleeps with the following stuffed animals: Winnie the Pooh, Kermit, Tigger, Peacock, and Dragon. But, that's not all folks. He also has a Kristoff doll, a canvas picture of the aforementioned Peacock and Tigger, a pretend pirate sword, and a few other random items in his crib every night. 

Thankfully, once Deke gets all of his things in his crib, he sleeps fairly well--going to bed around 7:15pm and waking up around 6am, and he still naps 2-3 hours/day. 

In addition to all that, Deke is talking like crazy. Long sentences, hilarious thoughts, adorable sayings, etc. I just can't get enough of hearing him talk and having little conversations with him. I guess he's also quite the comedian at school because all of his teachers say that he has them laughing all day long. My dad would be so proud. :)

That about sums up Deke these days. 

Seeing the Big Man

It's been an exhausting weekend, between dance class, picking up a new-to-us stroller (after our old stroller was stolen while at the zoo :( last weekend), buying and decorating a Christmas tree, getting cookies for Piper's Girl Scout cookie exchange, me working, grocery shopping, etc.

Even with all that, we did manage to squeeze in a visit to see Santa. The kids were so good in line during the one hour wait (and that was even with arriving there 20 minutes before opening). And, they were so happy to meet him. Deke was most excited, which was just adorable. But, that excitement meant that no one could sit still long enough to get a pic of all of them looking at the camera at the same time. It still came out really cute.

Piper asked Santa for a holiday Barbie doll, Barbie house, hair accessories, legos, and a tree house. Fletch wants an Imaginext dinosaur and Iron Man hand. Deke wants "blue presents."

We just finished celebrating Hanukkah, and now we're slowly getting into the Christmas spirit here. This December is flying by.

Super Halloween

We had a super Halloween this year. Not only was it a super good time, but we also had a blast with our superhero themed costumes.

The fun started with the Fall Festival at P&F's school. They had games and bounce houses. It was terrific seeing all the kids that Piper and Fletch know already.

That was about a week before Halloween. On the Thursday before Halloween, my office was supposed to have a costume contest, and my coworkers swore they'd wear costumes that day. Here is what I wore.

Joke was on me though because I was the only one who showed up that morning in a costume, and I had no other clothes with me. Pretty embarrassing, but I survived and rocked the costume, and everyone got a kick out of it.

Finally, the big day arrived. We all went ToTing dressed like this.

I LOVED having a family costume. It was so fun, and made me feel like a kid again. And, isn't that part of why you have your own children--so you can relive part of your youth!?! We got a ton of candy, impressed lots of neighbors, and just had a really special Halloween. I can't wait to to do it again next year.

School Pictures

We got school pictures back from all three kids. Two of my kids smiled beautifully for the camera. The other one had a cheesy, weird smile. Can you tell which is which?

 

The best part of the pictures, the part that makes the exorbitant cost of the digital downloads worthwhile, were these awesome backgrounds that Piper and Fletch's school had to choose from. They are all amazing and crack me up every time that I look at them.

I'll end this here so you can all just keep enjoying those backgrounds.