Xander turned 5 in December, so he missed the cutoff for Kindergarten. He has been going to preschool two days a week for almost 2.5 years, so he is ready. Entering full time school in the fall is part of the reason I decided our June trip to
Disneyland would be his last trip in a stroller. If he is old enough to get up each day, go to school, walk all over the school, etc, he is old enough to walk at Disney. Our next trip is not planned until October 2013. If we throw in any extra trips between the two, he will walk! I am glad you found Minnie.
I love that you took all three kids into the park by yourself while DH worked. If I am lucky enough to get a daughter on our next try, I will have three kids. DH always jokes about getting a job at Disney. I am all for it, because I would take the kids all the time while he worked. That doll you spotted is adorable. Her grandparents must have had a lot of fun carrying her through the parks. I went into the American Girl store in LA (in hopes of a future daughter). After seeing those prices, I would not let the doll out of my house either. Thanks for sharing the pictures of rope drop. In all of our trips to Disney, we have never seen a rope drop. Yay, Simon got in there with Rapunzel. Seeing the interactive queue at Pooh makes me sad. Xander loved the Pooh playground. I am glad they moved the pieces to the ride but wish the playground was still intact.
It is cool when you keep running into people, so seeing the lady in the Rapunzel line is neat. There were people staying at our hotel last trip who we ran into three times. (<<<Spell check wants me to change the who in the previous sentence to that, but I do not think that is right). You took them on Small Town again. You are a patient Mama. I love the picture of Gabbie and Zachary on the PeopleMove when they went through Space Mountain. People are so kind when they see a Mom needing help. How nice of that man to grab Zachary off the PeopleMove. Xander received a lanyard with pins in his gift basket. He loved the pins and did not want to trade them. It is cute that your kids do the trading. We forgot to ride the train on our last trip. It was not on our must list, but Xander does love trains. Glad you go to ride it longer than everyone else (I will remember that tip).
Zachary was really into the castle show. It looks like Mickey had a lot of fun with Zachary’s doll. I love the look on his face. You got some great shots there. There are a lot of princesses in that meet and greet. It is like CRT only Belle actually has on her beautiful yellow dress. I can hardly talk DH into the princess meals. He is not going to let us do any princess character meets until I have a girl, I bet. Looks like Simon enjoyed the carousel. You rode Small Town a third time. Wow, you are the most patient Mom ever. Riding it once each trip is more than enough for me. Kids love that ride though, and I am glad Crap and Xander rode alone the second time.
Xander loved those mini carts when he was little too. Simon looks adorable behind it. The Children’s Museum in Tampa is neater than the one we have here. Looks like all of the kids had a good time at the aquarium. I adore the picture of all three of them sleeping in the car afterward. A Mom can dream for moments like that. It is rare when two sleep at the same time, so they must have burned off a lot of energy. Looks like the kids enjoyed dinner. Lots of smiles all around.
Looks like everyone had a great time at the zoo. I love that you posted the picture of the bat upside down. It is official that you are the most patient Mom ever. The last time I had strep, I could barely get out of bed. My temp was 104.6. Luckily, Xander was in preschool that day, so I only had Connor. DH had to leave work at 3pm to care for the kids. It was also our wedding anniversary, but we spent our evening at Urgent Care rather than the fancy evening he planned. He brought Connor into me for feedings and took him away. You took your kids to the zoo!
We once got into a cast member line at AK pre-opening (never saw a rope drop though). The park was scheduled to open at 9am. It was already a couple minutes after that when we arrived, but the lines had not moved yet. By the time we realized we were in the wrong line, the regular lines were super long. Around 9:15, the park opened (not sure why they were late). We did not enter until almost 9:30. Glad you did not have to move your car. You got fastpasses and rode Toy Story with no line. That is awesome. Way to plan, Mom. How cool to see an empty Buzz and Woody line! It’s awesome that you were first. Crap and I thought the interaction was awesome there too. I am bumming big time that we did not do all of those character stops early in the morning like you guys did. Being the only one in line for Lightning too is pretty awesome. It seems like we spent our whole HS day moving from one character line to another. I am learning what to do from your report. Thank you.
The more I read, the more I am tripping. You did the same Playhouse Disney and Voyage of the Little Mermaid like we did. Our days are so similar so far only you did some of the characters we waited forever for while we were in line for Piglet. I should edit mine to say do read your day for what to do and mine for what not to do. Sorcerer Mickey and the kids is a great picture. It is nice to see that the Photopass photographer took more than one picture of your family with Pooh. I think the Muppets show is still the same although DH did not want to watch it last trip, so I cannot be sure. Glad Gabbie did better this time. It has been a few trips since I rode RnR, but I like it more than I like California Screamin. Glad you had a good time.
We have not seen Lights Motor Action since Lightning was added. That is so cute that Zachary thought he was real. Love it. You are making incredible timing again. Thanks to all of the long character waits, we never got to do the Great Movie Ride. You even managed to get in a parade (which we rarely watch) before riding Toy Story again with your Fast Pass. Amazing. I am laughing that you got more done at HS than I did, and still had time to spend the evening off site with your in-laws. How nice that you had that time with the family.
Looks like you had a great time at Downtown Disney and everyone enjoyed the ice cream. I love your professional photos. We did that (have not written about it yet), but our pictures did not come out great. Ours were not done in the park either, so I think it is fine you waited for your in-laws. One day, I would love to get a drawing from the Art store for our home. They are all beautiful. I want them all too.
You got a lot of excellent PhotoPass pictures. I love that there are some where all five of you are looking at the camera. That does not happen often with such a short shoot. Thanks for sharing all of the recap pictures from previous trips. The one of Zachary with Lighting made me think of Xander. I love the smile of Gabbie’s face when she was a baby with Belle. Gabbie as a youngster on Small Town is a magical picture.
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful family with us. I really enjoyed reading (and learning what to do).