WDW through an 8-month-old’s eyes &10m &13m &16m...New 10/30!

[Plaid Sheep]

Day 9 – Friday October 12th!

Anyway, we did some Disney practice this past weekend!! YAY! We went to a renaissance faire Saturday which was really fun! AND I nursed while there! LOL. That was a big feat for me, let me tell ya. We almost just left so I could nurse her in the car (no readmittance!) but I decided to just go for it (with a cover) and it was fine! She had a blast and enjoyed it all, no crying, she napped in the stroller, it was just perfect!

...

Delurking to say.. YEAH for the FAIRE!!! We are going in a couple of Saturdays.

 

[Imagineer5]

Day 10 – Saturday October 13th (Note: Not one picture in this update is my own, sorry LOL)

Well after a late night out, what better to start the day than an early morning breakfast?! LOL I guess I didn’t plan that very well. But we have ADR’s at Grand Floridian Café for 7:30 and then plan to spend the day at MK.

I might try: Maple Vanilla French Toast - Challah Bread dipped in Maple and Vanilla flavored Batter with Bacon or Sausage $11.99

And DH will have Lobster Eggs Benedict - Two Poached Eggs, Lobster hash, Asparagus, and Hollandaise Sauce $17.99

Then we will hop over to the MK. This is our last day. So nice that for once we have another (make that TWO) more trips planned so it may not be as bittersweet as it usually is. But that doesn’t mean I want to head back to reality, work, etc. It is always nice to get home though and see the dogs, cats, chickens, sleep in your own bed, etc.

Anyway, plans for the morning are – no plans. I’m sure we will ride PotC, peter pan, Space, Splash, etc. Spend some time running around TSI.

OH I finally got the courage to tell DH about the paintbrushes. I started out by saying

“I need to talk to you about something”. I think that got him really freaked out.

“I have some really bad news, they stopped doing the paintbrushes at Tom Sawyer Island”

his response –
“That’s not bad news, that’s HORRIBLE news. Now I’m really upset”

But he hasn’t mentioned it since so I guess he can’t be that upset LOL!

Anyway, we then have lunch ADR’s at LTT. I’m excited because this is another new restaurant for us.

I might get: Tavern Fried Cheese - with marinara sauce $5.99
And
Vegetarian Burger - House-made Potato Quinoa Vegan Patty topped with a fresh Vegan Tofu-Tzatziki sauce with fresh fruit or sweet potatoes fries $11.49
And have to get:
Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake - vanilla cake with a gooey toffee filling, vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce $7.49

DH is SURE to get:
New England Clam Chowder $6.99
And
Son's of Liberty Slow-roasted Pork Sandwich - Thick-sliced Bacon with fresh Greens and Tomatoes on a House-made Multigrain Bread $13.99
And some of my dessert hehe

The afternoon we will also keep pretty open, but we will probably head back and lounge at the pool.

For the evening , we have another new-to-us restaurant, and what makes this “last day” actually exciting to look forward to – we are going to OHANA!! We have a 5:20 ADR. I could have gotten it later, but I actually want to spend our very last evening ON MAIN ST watching Wishes from there. I am so excited about this evening. I am going to request a vegetarian dish at Ohana, and am looking SO forward to the bread pudding. YUM! It sounds so amazing.

I will certainly get one of these, which I have had before at the Tambu Lounge-

And this is the MAIN reason I’m excited for this meal:

Ok that is all for this update!

 

[Imagineer5]

Delurking to say.. YEAH for the FAIRE!!! We are going in a couple of Saturdays.

WOO I lured another lurker out of hiding!! It's okay, I was totally solely a lurker until I started this PTR! haha

That's awesome - we had a great time at the renaissance faire

 

[smile4stamps]

I read a review saying the Quinoa burger at LTT was not so great. Do you care about others opinions or want to form your own?!?!

Great plans! I wish we could go to the parks on our last day but I don't want to waste one of my husbands park days on only a half day...

 

[Imagineer5]

These posts will be out of order, because I haven't been able to get the photos off my camera. My work computer won't do it anymore (think it was disabled ugh) so camping pics (Fri-Sun) will come later. Sunday afternoon though we headed to the Newport Boat Festival. This day really showed me how AWESOME Aria is going to be at Disney. She was awake for about 4 hours, we had to carry her on and off the boats (went on 20+) and we didn't set her down in the stroller until we were through with the boat show. We also used the MacLaren for the first time. Basically, not one fuss from her and she was enjoying the day, heat, etc. It was just wonderful. She also only nursed 4 times total that whole day (down from her usual 5). She fell fast asleep as soon as we put her in the car seat, and napped the whole way home. It was just wonderful! I only had my cell phone (hence why I have the pics) but here are some pictures from the day.

Don't ask - sometimes it's tough to get smiles out of her and she usually smiles when I do that...LOL!

We took a rest here (WHY we didn't bring the Beco, I have no clue) and Aria had 3 teenage boys all talking about how cute she is!

Trying on more outfits...

 

[jenny105]

I love, love, love Ohana! Lapu Lapu - yum! Noodles - double yum! Bread putting - triple yum! I can't wait to eat there. Can you tell?

I've always wanted to try LTT but there are so many restaurants I never seem to squeeze it in! We'll get to it eventually!

 

[deedee2177]

Hey There! Thanks for another great update!! Your little one is so precious!

I wanted to know what are you planning to do about a stroller? We are planning on taking my little guy's stroller since the Disney ones don't recline, but it is a bit bulky.

I would love to be able to find a more lightweight one that reclines. Any suggestions?

 

[Imagineer5]

I love, love, love Ohana! Lapu Lapu - yum! Noodles - double yum! Bread putting - triple yum! I can't wait to eat there. Can you tell?

I've always wanted to try LTT but there are so many restaurants I never seem to squeeze it in! We'll get to it eventually!

MMMM I know I love the lapu lapu and I can just imagine how amazing the bread pudding will be!! MMM! The noodles I'm also really looking forward to. I think it is soooo fun to have this AWESOME ADR on my very last night - keeps me looking forward to something all the way til the end!

Hey There! Thanks for another great update!! Your little one is so precious!

I wanted to know what are you planning to do about a stroller? We are planning on taking my little guy's stroller since the Disney ones don't recline, but it is a bit bulky.

I would love to be able to find a more lightweight one that reclines. Any suggestions?

HI! We are taking our full size Baby Jogger City Select. I LOVE IT - it turns on a dime, easy to maneuver, huge basket underneath, huge canopy, basically just awesome. I'm worried about it on the flight (we will gate check it in a stroller bag). But we are not using Disney transportation. Depending on how the stroller is for our October trip, we MAY rethink its use for our December weekend trip, when we won't have a rental car and have to use Disney buses.

I do know the Baby Jogger City Mini is a favorite of Disney park goers. I think it's ugly...but I've considered getting it more than once. We will see. I don't like the Maclaren we have and it has a poor recline. It was a gift and I'm sad we didn't return it and get something different (it was $$$).

 

[CandleontheWater]

I have always wanted to do lunch at the LTT, just for the toffee cake alone! We have a dinner ADR there next week, do you think if I asked nicely, I might be able to get the toffee cake instead the other dessert they serve? Now that would be awesome! Otherwise, I'll just have to plan a lunch there someday!

Yum Ohana! You guys will love it and I always think having a good ADR to look forward too takes some of the sting out of the last day. The bread pudding is delish, and worth the ADR in and of itself. Its funny that you're going for my two dream desserts in one day! I am super jealous

Oh and I thought I'd throw my two cents in for a good Disney stroller. I just bought the uppa baby g-luxe to use on my next trip to Disney, and it is awesome!

I know this is a very maclaren-centric board, but the G-luxe has a full recline, pop-out sunshade extender, washable seat pad, open wheels (so you can use a stroller lock!), is only 11 lbs, holds kids up to 50 lbs, and has an ingenious stand feature, so that it stands upright independently when folded, plus it steers like a dream one handed. Uppa baby also has the best customer service of any company I have ever dealt with. I'd give it a look!

 

[deedee2177]

MMMM I know I love the lapu lapu and I can just imagine how amazing the bread pudding will be!! MMM! The noodles I'm also really looking forward to. I think it is soooo fun to have this AWESOME ADR on my very last night - keeps me looking forward to something all the way til the end!

HI! We are taking our full size Baby Jogger City Select. I LOVE IT - it turns on a dime, easy to maneuver, huge basket underneath, huge canopy, basically just awesome. I'm worried about it on the flight (we will gate check it in a stroller bag). But we are not using Disney transportation. Depending on how the stroller is for our October trip, we MAY rethink its use for our December weekend trip, when we won't have a rental car and have to use Disney buses.

I do know the Baby Jogger City Mini is a favorite of Disney park goers. I think it's ugly...but I've considered getting it more than once. We will see. I don't like the Maclaren we have and it has a poor recline. It was a gift and I'm sad we didn't return it and get something different (it was $$$).

Thx so much! I will check that out. We definitely want to get a lightweight one that reclines before we go. I think it will just be easier to travel with.

We are driving from NC and I am worried about space for all our stuff.

 

[deedee2177]

I have always wanted to do lunch at the LTT, just for the toffee cake alone! We have a dinner ADR there next week, do you think if I asked nicely, I might be able to get the toffee cake instead the other dessert they serve? Now that would be awesome! Otherwise, I'll just have to plan a lunch there someday!

Yum Ohana! You guys will love it and I always think having a good ADR to look forward too takes some of the sting out of the last day. The bread pudding is delish, and worth the ADR in and of itself. Its funny that you're going for my two dream desserts in one day! I am super jealous

Oh and I thought I'd throw my two cents in for a good Disney stroller. I just bought the uppa baby g-luxe to use on my next trip to Disney, and it is awesome!

I know this is a very maclaren-centric board, but the G-luxe has a full recline, pop-out sunshade extender, washable seat pad, open wheels (so you can use a stroller lock!), is only 11 lbs, holds kids up to 50 lbs, and has an ingenious stand feature, so that it stands upright independently when folded, plus it steers like a dream one handed. Uppa baby also has the best customer service of any company I have ever dealt with. I'd give it a look!

Thx for the stroller info...glad you chimed in. All suggestions are welcome. I think we might go on the cheaper end since we are planning to use it for just Disney cause we really like the travel system we have for around town, but for the purposes of traveling and packing we would like a smaller one.

This will be my first Disney trip as a Mommy so I am trying to think of everything for my DSD6 and my little guy!!

 

[Imagineer5]

Here's my camping weekend! Finally got to Facebook to add the photos, and now I can get them on here.

So we went down to Jamestown, RI to go camping for 2 nights. Friday afternoon DH got off work a little early, so we quickly packed up the car, attached the boat, and headed off. We got to the campground by 2PM or so, Aria was hungry and irritable LOL, but once fed she was her happy self again.

We have this soft sided travel crate for the dogs, that neither dog actually stays in, but it was perfect to place aria in with some toys and let her crawl around without getting dirt/grass/etc in her mouth. So she hung out in there quite a bit while we unloaded the car, set up the tent, etc.

Our first evening was very relaxing. It was so wonderful to just sit by a campfire and chat with Andrew. Aria was a doll, went to sleep a little after 7, and Andrew and I hung out with some smores and wine/beer for a while longer.

This is the stroller seat with the table connector I mentioned we might bring, if only to have a "high chair" in the room...

When we headed to bed, we brought Aria into bed with us thinking it would be getting really chilly overnight. And oh man that night was just AWFUL! It stayed hot and humid - leading to dew dripping on us all night long (apparently a new tent is in order). Campers thought 11PM was a perfect time to run around yelling, and just the sounds of the crickets/frogs/etc made neither of us sleep. Aria slept through it all but we just did not have a great night's sleep...

Saturday we were up bright and early - had a nice breakfast of pancakes with blueberry syrup and then decided to dry off during a nice long car ride. We saw some beautiful sights - these were taken at the park around the corner from our campsite...

Continued in next post...

 

[Imagineer5]

Continued from previous post...

The thing Andrew really wanted to do this day was spend some time out on the water on his boat, so we hopped in that afterwards. Found a private island - Dutch Island, which is an old trading post, and had lunch and hung out on a very rocky beach there. The dogs loved it and it was pretty neat to be the only ones on the island!

Then in the afternoon we headed to the closest beach to our campsite which was a gorgeous sandy beach and the water was pretty warm. Unfortunately you needed a resident sticker to park (not even an option to pay for parking) so we didn't stay very long. Dogs were allowed on the beach, and Aria was seriously having a blast crawling through the shallow water on the soft sand. She was giggling and smiling the whole time!

Can you see who is on my swim cover?? hehe

For dinner we decided to order from the local pizza spot, which was delicous. At that point, I suggested we quickly pack up camp so we can go home and sleep in our own bed - basically nothing was missed except for another evening of smores. It was sort of funny - once we agreed to pack up and leave, so many things fell into place making us SO happy that we did. Aria didn't seem to be feeling well, then a troupe of girl scouts showed up (like 20 of them) - at the next campsite over, then it started to sprinkle...it just was a great idea! LOL! I fed Aria around 7 and then put her in the car seat and she promptly fell asleep. The transfer to her crib at home went perfectly and she slept until nearly 8 the next day (and BTW was feeling fine the next day too). So it was just a huge success haha.

And that is the end to our camping weekend! Sunday morning we did like 6 loads of laundry somehow, plus went to the Newport Boat Show and then I enjoyed my early birthday gift - a 3D LED TV - we own (at the moment) 1 3D movie, Tangled, which was so amazing to see in 3D

Next up, we are only 13 days away from our trip, plus I want you to all meet the whole crew for our June trip, and I wouldn't mind some input on where to spend our final 2 nights in June. The house rental we have is Friday-Friday, and I plan to stay until Sunday.

 

[Imagineer5]

I have always wanted to do lunch at the LTT, just for the toffee cake alone! We have a dinner ADR there next week, do you think if I asked nicely, I might be able to get the toffee cake instead the other dessert they serve? Now that would be awesome! Otherwise, I'll just have to plan a lunch there someday!

Yum Ohana! You guys will love it and I always think having a good ADR to look forward too takes some of the sting out of the last day. The bread pudding is delish, and worth the ADR in and of itself. Its funny that you're going for my two dream desserts in one day! I am super jealous

Oh and I thought I'd throw my two cents in for a good Disney stroller. I just bought the uppa baby g-luxe to use on my next trip to Disney, and it is awesome!

I know this is a very maclaren-centric board, but the G-luxe has a full recline, pop-out sunshade extender, washable seat pad, open wheels (so you can use a stroller lock!), is only 11 lbs, holds kids up to 50 lbs, and has an ingenious stand feature, so that it stands upright independently when folded, plus it steers like a dream one handed. Uppa baby also has the best customer service of any company I have ever dealt with. I'd give it a look!

I will have to research the G-luxe after this trip if we decide our stroller is just too much. It IS heavy, esp for me to pick up. It would be nice to not have something so bulky, but i do love the huge basket and such.

I HOPE you get to get the ooey gooey toffee cake at LTT for Dinner! You will have to report back about that. It IS funny that 2 of my most anticipated desserts will occur on the same day. until my pregnancy I really wasn't into sweets, now I look at desserts menus first LOL!

Thx so much! I will check that out. We definitely want to get a lightweight one that reclines before we go. I think it will just be easier to travel with.

We are driving from NC and I am worried about space for all our stuff.

Mine isn't very lightweight so probably not what you want to go with. But I'm sure there are some great options out there! I think a recline is key of course, but large storage space and large canopy are just as high on my list!

 

[khertz]

It is always nice to get home though and see the dogs, cats, chickens, sleep in your own bed, etc.

I read this too fast and was totally wondering why you had dogs, cats, and chickens sleeping in your bed!

OH I finally got the courage to tell DH about the paintbrushes. I started out by saying

“I need to talk to you about something”. I think that got him really freaked out.

“I have some really bad news, they stopped doing the paintbrushes at Tom Sawyer Island”

his response –
“That’s not bad news, that’s HORRIBLE news. Now I’m really upset”

Sorry to your DH, but his response was so funny!

Love the pics of Aria on the beach. What a little doll! Looks like she had fun camping. That stroller/high chair thing is pretty awesome! I would have loved something like this last year at Bonnet Creek since their highchairs didn't have trays, but he was still too short to get pulled up to the table. Now that he is mostly feeding himself, we will have to come up with another solution for feeding him at the resort.

 

[oboedm]

Wow! I have missed a lot. Great pictures of the camping trip! I can't believe that your trip is coming up so quickly. Can't wait to hear more about the people joining you on the June trip!

 

[jenny105]

Did everyone go camping this weekend? My sister went too. I've never been camping. Nothing about it appeals to me LOL. Kris really wants to go though and since he's great with my Disney obsession, I'll go. But I'm not reminding him about it. He has to plan it LOL.

 

[Imagineer5]

I read this too fast and was totally wondering why you had dogs, cats, and chickens sleeping in your bed!



Sorry to your DH, but his response was so funny!

Love the pics of Aria on the beach. What a little doll! Looks like she had fun camping. That stroller/high chair thing is pretty awesome! I would have loved something like this last year at Bonnet Creek since their highchairs didn't have trays, but he was still too short to get pulled up to the table. Now that he is mostly feeding himself, we will have to come up with another solution for feeding him at the resort.

LOL! EW to chickens in the bed. They are gross! HAHA

The stroller chair clip on thing was sooo great for camping, it was really the first time it got any use. We're going to pop it in the car seat checked bag and hopefully use it at the resort. Only downside is that when we feed her, the stroller seat gets pretty dirty vs just the high chair LOL.

Wow! I have missed a lot. Great pictures of the camping trip! I can't believe that your trip is coming up so quickly. Can't wait to hear more about the people joining you on the June trip!

9 DAYS!!! Yep i'll get to that post soon i promise!!

Did everyone go camping this weekend? My sister went too. I've never been camping. Nothing about it appeals to me LOL. Kris really wants to go though and since he's great with my Disney obsession, I'll go. But I'm not reminding him about it. He has to plan it LOL.

Camping was 2 weekends ago! It was just Andrew, Aria, the dogs, and myself. It's really not that bad LOL but 2 nights (Well in this case 1 haha) is about our maximum. It's nice to just relax by a fire for an evening without the TV or other distractions. We only go about once a year (and didn't go last year) but it is fun. Andrew planned this weekend, since I had been wanting to go but just never planned anything.

 

[Imagineer5]

Well I can now do the SINGLE DIGIT DANCE! 9 DAYS!!

I did online check in for BLT yesterday morning - So exciting!! Andrew just didn't understand why it had to be the very first thing I did!

For my final disney day, it's a pretty sad disney day. We fly out at 10:10AM so basically no time in the morning except to finish packing, check out, return rental car, and fly home. It will get us in by 1 though which is nice. We have our friend who is staying at the house picking us up in our car, and then we'll spend the rest of the day doing laundry and unpacking.

BUT the day won't be a total bust - we are heading back to Disney in just 7 weeks!!

Coming up - a day at Edaville for some last-minute Disney practice!

 

[Imagineer5]

This past weekend we went to Edaville, which is a small amusement park 30 minutes from our house. It’s a glorified carnival, really, but the main attraction is a train ride that goes through the woods. They have 8 rides or so, most of which Aria was able to go on, and typically only open for special events – this weekend’s event was Curious George was visiting! Which means – she got some character practice as well!

The day started out great – Aria took her morning nap on the drive over there, I fed her in the car, and then we hopped out and started touring! It was COLD (like 55) and Andrew and I were in shorts thinking it was supposed to be warm, though it did finally warm up to 75 part way through our day. Aria was properly dressed and had blankets, in case you are wondering!

Our first ride of the day was JUMBO the elephant! LOL! Aria did great and we had a lot of fun!

From there, we hopped on the first train ride of the day which went through cranberry bogs. During December they have a light show which we might go back to see at night. They also host a “Thomas the Train Day” and a “Polar Express” Day which would be fun when Aria’s a little older.

Next we decided to ride some rides – Andrew took Aria on some flying spaceships and then we got to go on a ride together – the tilt o whirl – which IMO was a bit much for Aria LOL. They should have had a restriction for age, but she was fine and actually we saw quite a few smiles the first few times we were whipping around. After that though she got really quiet and the ride just went ON AND ON! We were glad to get off!

Afterwards we thought it’d be a good time for lunch. On our way over there, we saw Curious George had almost no line, so we jumped in. I was excited to see how she would do. Andrew took the helm of photo taking, and I carried her up there. She was really interested in who Curious George was, and he started bopping her nose with his paw and she gave him some really awesome smiles – of course Andrew didn’t get those pictures but overall it was very exciting! I’m excited for her to meet more characters, and so excited to have prepaid for Photopass!! LOL

Can you see the smile?! LOL

Anyway, back to lunch - Andrew got a chicken BBQ which almost looked like the WCC skillet it was so huge. I got a cranberry chicken salad wrap and a side of mozzarella sticks. Everything came to about $21 which I was impressed with! Aria sat in her stroller during lunch and we gave her some puffs to eat (and play with). After that we decided it was probably nap time, so we reclined the stroller and placed the SPF blanket over the stroller and she was out within 2 minutes without a fuss. We did a little shopping – got an Edaville Christmas ornament, a Curious George car racer for Aria’s stocking, and some candy. This is when Disney would be amazing – we got bored waiting around for Aria to wake up! LOL! There really isn’t much to do at Edaville for two adults with a sleeping baby. They have a main building where there is a gift shop, model train set, bathrooms, nursing area (!!), and the upstairs which is super cute and I’ll describe that later. So we ended up just sitting and relaxing in there. After an hour of sleeping, we got Aria up, I fed her in the nursing area, and we headed upstairs.

In this section, there was a ride for little kids, a huge ball pit, a birthday area, a maze, a play area with 3 playhouses, and a small cinema. We first put Aria in the ball pit, which she really seemed to enjoy. I’m going to a HUGE consignment sale tomorrow (Wednesday) night, and I’m really hoping to find a fun ball pit type of thing because she really enjoyed it.

After that though was actually the highlight of the day – we took her over to the play area to crawl around a bit, and there were a few young kids playing who just became enamored by Aria, and likewise Aria loved them as well. She had so much fun watching them and crawling around.

After the fun upstairs, we headed outside, which had warmed up considerably and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! I wanted to ride the Caterpillar with Aria, and Andrew wanted to ride the scrambler (which he had to do with a stranger – no single riders!). We checked out a few other things and then decided to call it a day. Andrew wanted to get home to continue working on the front steps, which he completed Sunday afternoon (replaced all the brick steps).

Andrew got close with a stranger...