Thursday, March 30, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Cheekwood
On Friday I took the boys to Cheekwood. Right now it is "Cheekwood in Bloom" and they have 150,000 blooming bulbs. I think we've only caught the tail end of this in previous years because it was amazing this year. Carter requested tons of pictures so he could draw the flowers when we got back home. Next time we'll bring his sketchbook with us!
The boys had fun exploring and running around for a couple of hours. The model trains were running too which is especially fun for Gray. I asked Gray to smell the flowers sometimes to try to get a cute picture. He thought the flowers all smelled bad until the last one. This brought back memories to when we'd go to Crescent Bend in Knoxville for spring pictures (link to 2010 / link to 2011).
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Carter's Artwork
Since we've been back from Atlanta, Carter has been drawing a lot. Yesterday he did a self portrait. He's been working on aspects of the face in his art class.
Yesterday we went to Cheekwood and they had a million tulips and other flowers in full bloom. Carter asked me to take lots of pictures so he could draw some of the flowers.
Here is the picture he used as inspiration for the drawing above.
Yesterday we went to Cheekwood and they had a million tulips and other flowers in full bloom. Carter asked me to take lots of pictures so he could draw some of the flowers.
Here is the picture he used as inspiration for the drawing above.
Cinderella's Castle
Every time that we go to Disney, we've taken a picture in front of Cinderella's Castle. Here are our pictures from over the years:
And I was going through old photos the other day and found this one from 1984. That's me, Karey, and our dad!
February 2010
April 2012
February 2014
February 2017
And I was going through old photos the other day and found this one from 1984. That's me, Karey, and our dad!
Friday, March 24, 2017
Magic Kingdom
We spent our third day in Orlando (Tuesday) at Magic Kingdom. It happened to be Valentine's Day as well and the park was very packed (for February, at least). But we had figured out manipulating the fast pass system and were still able to go on most of the rides in the park with minimal waiting. I think the only wait that was longer than 15 minutes was Pirates of the Caribbean and that was 30-40 minutes.
As usual, we got to the park early and were let through the gates early but then had to wait by the castle until the official opening at 9am.
We had done fast passes for most of the roller coasters so we decided to do Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin first.
I think Gray randomly hit 2 targets because he did get a few points :)
We headed up to Fantasyland and knocked out several rides in that area next. Gray liked erasing the honey on the panels in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Gray just made the height requirement for Barnstormer (which is a kid's roller coaster) so we forced him to go on it. I think we went 3 times in a row because there was no line. Gray was never sure about the ride but never got upset. When asked if he wanted to go again he'd say yes so we kept going!
Dumbo The Flying Elephant is more Gray's speed though! Thankfully most parks we went to had one of these types of rides so that Gray had something he really liked.
The Mad Tea Party ...
We split up and Brian went with Rylan on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and I went after with Carter. Gray napped during our rides and then we ate lunch. We fit in a lot in a first couple of hours at the park.
After lunch we switched and Brian went with Carter on Splash Mountain with Rylan and I going after. Rylan doesn't even looked scared (though he was)!
While Rylan and I were on Splash Mountain, Brian and Carter took Gray on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (another Dumbo-type ride). And then we had a fast pass for Jungle Cruise.
We did the Enchanted Tiki Room and then headed over to do the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Gray was too short for that ride too so he got to do a few rides on Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.
Gray is going through a phase where he prefers to make funny faces instead of smile. He's learned well from Rylan :)
I was able to take both boys with me on Mine Train with rider swap. We all really liked this new ride - it was super smooth and fun!
Then we all headed over to Space Mountain. Brian went on it first with Carter while the rest of us went on Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. Carter loved Space Mountain and was able to convince Rylan he wanted to go on it with us.
Rylan came off the ride happy but said he did NOT want to do it again :) That's pretty much how he was with all the bigger rides. I'm super proud of him though for doing them. It often took a lot of convincing and promising there was nothing scary (which was sometimes a bit of a lie) but I think we were able to get him to go on every single ride he was tall enough for the entire week. And he usually was glad he went on the ride.
Brian took the big boys on the Buzz Lightyear ride again and I took Gray on Journey of the Little Mermaid.
Before heading out we had to get our picture in the same spot we've gotten in on every trip. Unfortunately, Disney has redesigned the area on this side of the castle and we had to do our best to get our own photo in a similar spot (they used to have a photographer set up here but we had to ask someone this time).
As we were getting our last pressed pennies of the day in one of the stores on Main Street, the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! parade was coming by so we sat down to watch it.
Sweet (and normally crazy shy) Gray waved to all the characters.
We took the monorail back to our car and it was already almost 7pm by the time we got there. We were worn out from another long day!
As usual, we got to the park early and were let through the gates early but then had to wait by the castle until the official opening at 9am.
We had done fast passes for most of the roller coasters so we decided to do Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin first.
I think Gray randomly hit 2 targets because he did get a few points :)
We headed up to Fantasyland and knocked out several rides in that area next. Gray liked erasing the honey on the panels in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Gray just made the height requirement for Barnstormer (which is a kid's roller coaster) so we forced him to go on it. I think we went 3 times in a row because there was no line. Gray was never sure about the ride but never got upset. When asked if he wanted to go again he'd say yes so we kept going!
Dumbo The Flying Elephant is more Gray's speed though! Thankfully most parks we went to had one of these types of rides so that Gray had something he really liked.
The Mad Tea Party ...
We split up and Brian went with Rylan on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and I went after with Carter. Gray napped during our rides and then we ate lunch. We fit in a lot in a first couple of hours at the park.
After lunch we switched and Brian went with Carter on Splash Mountain with Rylan and I going after. Rylan doesn't even looked scared (though he was)!
While Rylan and I were on Splash Mountain, Brian and Carter took Gray on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (another Dumbo-type ride). And then we had a fast pass for Jungle Cruise.
We did the Enchanted Tiki Room and then headed over to do the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Gray was too short for that ride too so he got to do a few rides on Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.
Gray is going through a phase where he prefers to make funny faces instead of smile. He's learned well from Rylan :)
I was able to take both boys with me on Mine Train with rider swap. We all really liked this new ride - it was super smooth and fun!
Then we all headed over to Space Mountain. Brian went on it first with Carter while the rest of us went on Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. Carter loved Space Mountain and was able to convince Rylan he wanted to go on it with us.
Rylan came off the ride happy but said he did NOT want to do it again :) That's pretty much how he was with all the bigger rides. I'm super proud of him though for doing them. It often took a lot of convincing and promising there was nothing scary (which was sometimes a bit of a lie) but I think we were able to get him to go on every single ride he was tall enough for the entire week. And he usually was glad he went on the ride.
Brian took the big boys on the Buzz Lightyear ride again and I took Gray on Journey of the Little Mermaid.
Before heading out we had to get our picture in the same spot we've gotten in on every trip. Unfortunately, Disney has redesigned the area on this side of the castle and we had to do our best to get our own photo in a similar spot (they used to have a photographer set up here but we had to ask someone this time).
As we were getting our last pressed pennies of the day in one of the stores on Main Street, the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! parade was coming by so we sat down to watch it.
We took the monorail back to our car and it was already almost 7pm by the time we got there. We were worn out from another long day!
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