The Animal Kingdom Photos

So here is a great tip for parents who are going to Disney World for the first time with two little kids. Leave the Animal Kingdom park for last. It's spacious, not a lot of rides so it is somewhat calming just to walk around. Lots of trees for shade. Safari rides and train rides that are long enough to just soak in whatever craziness you experienced over the last four days of your trip. We needed that sense of peace. Which is why we made Animal Kingdom our last park of our trip. It was easygoing, chilly in Florida standards so with a warm cup of coffee, we started our last day in Disney.

Were we by Mt. Everest? I liked to pretend that we were in the Himalayas just for a moment or two.

This was how Charlie got his naps on our trip. Either on the stroller or being held. 

Were we in Africa? Disney said yes. Charlie is in this stage where every animal is called "Doggie." He called out the giraffes, antelopes, lions, hippos all doggies. 

By the time this pic was taken, it was around 4 pm. The sun was casting a beautiful light on the animals. The boys were quiet and calm and I really did just sit on that safari jeep and soak in on what was an amazing trip for us. Plus I had a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar earlier so I was a happy girl.

The Disney Reveal

So my husband and I waited for maybe a good week and a half since we made our Disney World reservations to tell our soon to be 5 year old that we are taking him there. I just wanted to create a simple card, made out of construction paper in the shape of the Mickey head,and say Surprise on it!! God bless my  husband. He was racking his brain, thinking of bringing in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to come into our house and play " When you wish upon a star" to make the big announcement. Well, not really but now that you are reading this Brian, don't you wish we would have done that?  That would have brought waterworks to last for days.

He decided to place a whole bunch of balloons in a huge box, wrap it up so when Jack opens the box, the surge of balloons comes rushing out of the box.

The card was attached to one of the balloons, so Jack had to find it and read the card. Now here is where it got tricky. I made the card too small, so writing Surprise on it was sort of squished on the front. Then in making the card, I panicked a bit as I knew this was not just an ordinary birthday card. The message inside the card was " You are going to Disney World". I wrote it in white crayon and didn't come out as stellar looking as I thought it would look. It's crayon. What was I expecting?

As Jack read the message, we all looked at him with these huge smiles. As anyone knows, Jack is not the type of kid that goes  "WWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW" and goes nuts. Jack is the most laid back and relaxed kid that we know. So after reading the card, we told him again that he was going to Disney World. 

"wow"

Just a quiet wow. Then he said thank you and that was it. Fanfare over. It wasn't til we started telling him of what he was going to see in Disney World and it wasn't til he talked to his cousin Nathalie that the WWWOOOOOWWW came out. Now Jack knows and we are less than a week from our trip. 

Happy Birthday Jack. You deserve this and soooo much more. 

The New Fascination

This is all my fault. I truly blame myself for this 1,000 %. It all started about three weeks ago when Brian said the magic words of " Maybe we can take a vacation this year."

My mind immediately went to Disney World. It shouldn't have, since we are and always have been planning for the big 5th year birthday bash for Jack at Disney World. We wanted to have that year as his first year there, so he can remember it. So he can go on the rides. With us.

So I said to Jack, wouldn't you like to go to Disney World and see where Mickey Mouse lives?

Well of course any kid would want to go see Mickey Mouse. You want to see him today? Put on your shoes and let's go! My mind is spinning and obviously cannot wait for two little more years to go to Disney. I must, must,MUST STOP telling Jack what a wonderful place Disney World is. Because that is really all he ever talks about now. He wants to see Minnie, he wants to see Mickey, he wants to see Mickey's big house ( the famed castle that you see everytime you pop in a Disney DVD. God, what terrific marketing )

Update - I first wrote this post about two weeks ago. Since then, he hasn't really asked to take a Disney Vacation ( yes, he says it just like that ) but he does ask from time to time to go to the Disney Store. That is free and right around the corner. We can give you that much son.

PS - I wonder with all these Disney mentions, if we can score a great huge discounted trip. The power of the blog and the interwebs. Here's hoping.