Anniversary Trip to Disney World

 Sean and I have been married for 10 years as of May 4th and several months ago we started talking about taking a trip somewhere to celebrate.  I was pretty determined that we were going to Disney World and I guess I won Sean over to the idea because that's what we did!  I had several reasons for wanting to go on that particular trip.  First, neither he nor I had been there in 20-25 years.  Second, it was probably our last chance to go to Disney World ALONE without Kaelyn noticing.  Third, if we were able to go alone, we would be able to do what WE wanted to do when there and not worry about you know who!

So we very briefly planned the trip.  By that I mean I got on the Disney website, booked a hotel, flights, and meal plan.  That was the extent of our planning.  We had dates and the essentials and that was about it.  As the time drew near, friends and family that had been recently and frequently gave us tips and that was helpful.  OVerall, we just looked forward to exploring and seeing what we could.

 Leaving Kaelyn behind wasn't easy, even though I knew she'd have fun with my parents.  When I put her down for her nap the day we were leaving, she didn't want to let go of my hand.  She said, "Mama hold your hand sleep?" which mean she wanted me to hold her hand while she slept.  She NEVER does that.  It was heart wrenching to tear myself away.  I almost just held her hand and skipped the flight entirely. :)  But I knew she'd be fine and she was.

We spent the rest of that afternoon/evening flying and traveling and finally got to our hotel and settled in at like 1am.  WAY late for me.  Let me tell you, though, Disney has quite a slick system.  A bus to take you from the airport to your hotel, buses to take you to all the parks and so on.  Our room key was also our park ticket and our meal ticket and our credit card for if we wanted to buy anything.  All very convenient.

Anyways, we spent the first day at Magic Kingdom.  We rode Space Mountain first.  We totally should have bought the picture because my face was hidden by my hat but Sean's showed and it was one of shock and surprise.  Very funny.  Neither of us liked it, though.  It was total darkness!  I normally like roller coasters but I didn't like being in the dark.

Then we went to Monster's Inc the comedy show, which was very funny.  They made Sean get up and dance and they said I was hiding a third eye under my hat.  We also rode IT's a small world, the Pirates of the Carribean and all of the other favorites and classics.  We were surprised not to even have to think about fast passes because we pretty much walked on to all of the rides.  We enjoyed the shows and parades and  saw everything we could.

That night, we didn't get a good place for the lighted night parade so we planned to come back later in the week.  At least we could see the fireworks.

 The second day we went to Hollywood Studios, which we both thought would have even MORE for us to do.  We first rode the new Toy Story ride, which was SO much fun.  It was like a big video game you got to play.  The line was short so we just rode it but when we were done, we got Fast Passes to go back later.  We then went on the backstage tour, which we both remembered parts of from when we were there decades ago.  There were a lot of shows at Hollywood studios and we spent a lot of time in 30 minute sessions here and there.  Toy Story ended up being our favorite ride of the trip.  We went to Fantasmic, the night show there that evening.  It was okay but not as good as I was hoping.  Especially after we waited SO long to see it.

The third day we went to Animal Kingdom, which neither of us had ever visited since it opened way after we had last been there.  We didn't think it would have as much for us to see but we were wrong.  The park is HUGE.  We heard all of the other three parks would fit inside it and have 30 acres to spare.  HUGE!  So it was a lot of walking.  We really enjoyed the Finding Nemo Show and the Lion King show was cute too.  We both liked the Bugs 3-D show a lot and the safari ride was worth it (especially with a fast pass and no wait!)  We were able to see what we wanted to see and leave by 4 so we could get back to Magic Kingdom so catch the lighted parade from a better angle.  When we got to Magic Kingdom, we went to Mickey's Magic 3-D show that my niece recommended and it was cute.  Then we had supper and claimed our spot by the train for the light show.  We sat there for 2 hours, but it was worth it.  We had a perfect view and even got to see the fireworks again.

The last day we went to Epcot, which was largely what we remembered as kids.  Not nearly as fun as the other parks! :)  The entrance area was cool and had several space rides that were fun.  The one in the big globe was my favorite because it took a picture of us at the beginning and then put us in a little show at the end.  IT was funny because Sean had his mouth open in surprise and half of my face was completely missing because of my hat.  It looked very interesting. :)  We got to see the Michael Jackson Captain EO 3-D show, which we both slightly remembered seeing when we were younger.  We walked all the way around the World Showcase, which didn't impress us much.  I guess we're not into shopping and culture. :)  The Finding Nemo Ride was cute, though.  IT took longer to walk around all the rails then to go on the ride, even though there was no one in line.

We did miss out on Soarin, which is supposed to be the best ride there.  We should have gone straight there and gotten a fast pass but we didn't and when we got there, the fast passes had times of 8-9pm for return and the actual line was 90 minutes long so we didn't bother.  Maybe next time.  We watched the fireworks there that night, our actual anniversary.

The worst part of the trip was the exhaustion!  I guess we're not used to being up and going like that ALL day everyday!  I thought Kaelyn was tiring!  I felt WAY older than my 31 years on the trip.  About halfway through day 1 I started having back issues and spent the rest of the trip in mild to severe pain because of it.  Even though it was 90 for most of the days, I had a heating pad on it at all times and was popping asprin like candy just in the hopes of being able to walk.  It wasn't pretty and now, a full day after we're back, I'm still hurting.  We also found that we got up later everyday.  The first day it was like 8:30.  The second day 9.  By the last day, we didn't even make it to the park till 11!

It was a great trip, though and I can't wait to take Kaelyn back when she's a bit older, easier to manage, and would enjoy it all.  She'll have a ball and be just as tired as we were.  Hopefully. :)

As for Kaelyn, she did really well while we were gone.  I think she had a blast with Nana and Gramps and didn't really notice we weren't there until we came back.  When we drove into the driveway, I jumped out of the car before Sean could pull it into the garage because she was swimming out front and she came running over and threw herself at me and gave me a big hug.  I was so glad.  I thought she might ignore me and just keep playing. :)  She does that.  But she didn't.  She sat in my lap the rest of the afternoon, wrapping and unwrapping her Mickey stuffed animal.  She looks so much bigger!  Is that possible?  That I'd forgotten in just a few days?!  I guess so!  We're back into the swing of things today, though.  I think the break was good for us because I'm finding her games really amusing again.  Though I was glad for her nap today so I could try to catch up on some things.  Which I should probably go do now! :)

Now Sean and I know what all is at Disney so that when we take Kaelyn back, we'll know what she might like and what to avoid.  IT'll be a fun trip when it arrives.  I'm glad we went alone this time.  We saw enough kids melting down to be VERY glad it wasn't us!  And it was nice to get away just the two of us.  That hardly ever happens these days.  Now we'll have to start talking about our next big anniversary trip... hmm....

Kaelyn is 3!!!

 Kaelyn turned three at 12:01am on April 24th, 2012.  When she woke up in the morning, she was already officially three!  To celebrate, I had asked her several days before what she wanted to do.  She told me to go the zoo.  Off we went!  Actually, it was a bit of an ordeal because my glasses broke that morning and because I could not see, I couldn't fix them.  We had to stop by walmart for a little help on the way, but eventually, we made it and I was able to see the animals as well!  We were a little late, but we still got to do most of her favorite things.

 Her all time favorite thing right now is to feed the ducks and fish.  We took a TON of bread we had been saving up so she got to do that for a good long time.  We also saw the baby giraffe and this little gorilla, which was born the same year she was.  So they're kind of cousins or something.  :)  After the zoo, we met daddy at the nearby McDonald's, which has a play center inside.  We ate and she played until she was done.  Then we went home to draw a hundred more chalk bodies on the driveway before her nap.

 She must have known it was an exciting day because she didn't nap all THAT long.  It was warm outside so we went out to our little plastic pool on the porch and did some serious swimming.  For two hours!!  She had a great time doing that.  Once daddy got home, we made supper and she had her brownie for dessert and we opened presents.  We gave her a little talking Thomas train, a Furr Real duck, an angry birds shirt (which she wore the very next day proudly!) and then Sean gave her a styrofoam plane.

 The plane was similar to one my nephew had gotten at Christmas and Kaelyn really liked it.  The difference was that hers broke on the very first use.  And it only got worse from there.  The plane, within about 5 minutes of throwing it around in the back yard, was in about a dozen pieces.  I think Sean was more upset than KAelyn.  She didn't really care and happily threw the pieces down the slide for the rest of the evening.

My parents had called earlier to sing and she cordially listened. When we finally came inside, Sean's parents called and Kaelyn wouldn't really talk much.  She had already asked to go to bed.  We finally wore her out!  Then when my sister called even later and sang, Kaelyn said "all done" when their song was over.  She was tired of that song! :)

When I put her to bed, I sang it to her again anyways and when I was leaving the room she said, "birthday again?!"  I think that means she had a good day.  I told her we'd do it all again next year!

Kaelyn's Second 3rd Birthday party

 Kaelyn's second 3rd birthday party took place just two days before her birthday.  We planned to have the party at her favorite park and we hoped and prayed there would be nice weather.  Otherwise, we were going to move the party to our house.  The weather was a bit cold and very windy, but it didn't rain so the party went on at the park as planned.  We had Sean's parents and brothers and their families as well as our friends from church, Katie, Kyle and their kids and my friend Andrea and her kids.  Renae, Kaelyn's neighbor friend from down the street and her mom came as well.

 Kaelyn loves Thomas Train right now so we had Thomas napkins, but Mickey was in the decorations as well.  She likes the variety and the Mickey toothpick decorations made the chocolate cupcakes easy to decorate!  The only problem with the park party was the bathroom was locked.  Luckily, there were no emergencies and everyone made it just fine.

Kaelyn got lots of nice things like a Thomas game, a big play doh set, a Thomas book, some Minnie clothes, a singing fish card and plenty of other goodies.  She seemed to like the card the best but she has played with it all since that time.

Kaelyn had to skip her nap for this party...something I normally NEVER let happen.  The party was 1-3 so it was RIGHT over naptime, but she did really well.  She played and ran and jumped and slid and opened presents and ate cupcakes and had a great time.  She never slowed down.  After the party, we went to Texas Roadhouse with Sean's family to eat.  We were home by 6 to simmer down a bit.  Kaelyn was VERY overtired by bedtime, but she had done a great job all day long.  She had fun.  Her second 3rd birthday party was a raging success.

We also had a fun day the day before when we attended her friend Logan's 4th birthday party at Amazing Pizza MAchine.  We rode a little train and carousel and even tried out the go-karts.  What a weekend!

Kaelyn's First 3rd Birthday Party

 Kaelyn had her first 3rd birthday party two weeks before her actual birthday at my parent's house.  My parents and sister and her family came to the party, which we started at 4.  Kaelyn had just gotten up from her nap, but she quickly got into opening presents, as usual.  After that, we had some time to play before supper.

 My mom made a big cookie cake and she actually painted Thomas the Train on it in icing.  It turned out really cute!  Kaelyn got a fun Thomas/Diesel track, some clothes, a little big wheel/bike thing, a Thomas train and a Thomas book among other things.  She just threw the clothes when she unwrapped them, but she really did like them.  She has picked out the Elmo outfit to wear several times.

It was kind of a rainy/stormy day so we had to mostly stay inside, but it was rather entertaining anyways.  After supper, the biggest portion of the entertainment was playing ping pong.  Kaelyn likes to throw handfuls of balls across the room, but that was not even the highlight.  The kids started stuffing balls into Gramps' mouth and he would spit them across the room.  HE had 4-5 in there at a time sometimes!  It was rather entertaining and everyone was giggling pretty hard.

Kaelyn is pretty lucky to have so many birthday parties every year!  Her first third party was fun and a success!  She requested fish sticks, cheetoes, and garlic bread for her meal and she got them all!  Among other things... :)

Funny Things Kaelyn Says and Does

Kaelyn is almost three and the things she says and does are more funny every day. I decided I better start recording some of them or I'm going to forget and these are things that I just never want to forget! The thoughts I will write in this blog will be very random. They will just come out as I remember them! No particular order.

Some of the funny things Kaelyn says are things that I say all of the time. I now know what I say all of the time based on what Kaelyn says back to me.

Often, when I go into Kaelyn's room in the morning or after her nap, I'll say: "Hey pretty girl!" She has recently caught on to that phrase, but she doesn't use it correctly. In fact, the other day, she walked up to Sean and said "Hey pretty girl!" Um, yeah. That's just not right! :)

One of Kaelyn's favorite games now is what we called "Surfer Girl." She has a pick car with a handle on the back and she'll stand on one side of the driveway and I'll stand on the other. I fling the car across the driveway and she jumps on and rides it the rest of the way across as it comes back towards me. She has found a variety of ways to ride, many of which look as if she's gotten hit by a car and is kersplatted against the front of it. She giggles the whole way and can play the game for hours on end.

Speaking of games, whenever Kaelyn wants to play something, she'll say "Play THAT game?" Often, I know what THAT game is based on what room we are in or where she is heading. There are also times when I have NO idea what game THAT game is and I do not even really know where she got the phrase.

Kaelyn has a way of letting me know what she wants ME to say. I often say, as I have realized through her "I can do that." She will ask me to get her some milk or put her shoes on or whatever and I'll say "I can do that." I must say it enough that she caught on and now when I DON'T say it, she does. And she will KEEP saying it until I say it. So whenever she is repeating something over and over again, I know that means I am supposed to say it. After I do, she stops. :)

Her favorite word still seems to be okay, which is much nicer than no. She agrees to plenty. Though she doesn't always mean it. And she DOES know the word no and gets more emphatic with it on a daily basis.

Lately, Kaelyn has quite a pattern in the morning. She gets up, puts her ducks in the chair, then wants to go make breakfast, which is toast and a breakfast bar. Then she wants to get BACK into her crib and look at My Little Pony, Thomas Train, and Care Bear books. After she "reads" all of those, with my help, hands sticking through bars, we have to snuggle all of the animals in her room. After that, an animal throw fight breaks out. Once that is over, sometimes she will get out and we will pile all of the animals on her as she lays in the chair and then she will roll out and they will attack her. Sometimes I even get a turn. Other times we will play with the Thomas mat on the floor.

Kaelyn is in love with cookies and other "special treats." If she eats a good supper, she'll get to choose a treat. She often gets RIGHT in my face while we're eating and starts saying "cooookiiie? Special treat?" She also asks for a special treat every time she poops when we are home. She gets a couple of Smartie candies and is very happy. I have to wonder if we'll be giving her treats to poop until she's a teenager. But whatever! :) I thought eventually she would forget, but so far she has not!

When Sean leaves in the morning if Kaelyn is up, we have to watch him drive away at the window. As he drives away, she'll talk about how daddy's going for a ride and he's going to go to the big bump, which is the bump we hit going over the railroad tracks that lead out of the neighborhood. Recently, she wants me to open the window and she also yells, "Come back here daddy!"

We just cleaned out all of our kitchen cabinets the other day and discovered plenty of things we didn't know we had. One item was a small fish teether, I'm guessing. I think it's supposed to go in the freezer because the body end of the fish is soft plastic with water in it. Well, I laid it on the stairs to take upstairs and box up, but Kaelyn commandeered it. She's been sleeping with it along with her two ducks every night and every nap since.

We went through a phase recently when Kaelyn would wake up, but want time alone in her room before I was allowed to come in. She would lay in there for an hour or more sometimes and sometimes I would try to go in and get her. She would say, "Mama go away!" Well fine then! So I would go away and come back when she called. The last few days, she still tells me to go away, but she quickly changes her mind and says, "Ready to get up, Mama come in!" just moments after I leave.

When we go to the zoo, her favorite thing to do right now is feed the ducks and fish under the big bridge near the sea lions. This bridge is one of the farthest things from the entrance, but we always have to go there FIRST. When I tell her we're going to the zoo, she starts rambling on, "Ducks, fish, toast." She feeds them the rest of her toast from the morning and then whatever other bread we have scraped up around the house. She often will talk about the ducks and the fish on other days when she's eating her toast as well, just hoping she'll get to take them the leftovers, I guess.

Kaelyn likes to watch videos of herself. She's cute and she knows it. I often take videos on my phone and then she will watch them before her nap and sometimes before bed. The funny part about this is that once she has seen a video of herself, she will start to reenact that video later. For instance, she had a wooden plane for a few days that got TOTALLY torn up. When she saw that it was broken, she told me to get new batteries to fix it. That was hilarious so I got out the camera and started taping. I said, Kaelyn, what did you tell me to do to fix your plane? OF course, all she would say at that point was "Mama fix it! Throw it!" etc over and over again. The video lasts for a minute or so and she loves watching it. After a day or two of watching it, I noticed that whenever she ran across the broken plane, she would say EXACTLY what she says in the video. And she would even say my lines, "Kaelyn, what did you tell me to do to fix your plane?" and so on. She does this for a lot of different videos, even some of the ones from when she was really little. She laid down on the floor one time, starting kicking her legs, chewing on her hands, and making baby noises. We have a video EXACTLY like it.

Kaelyn is definitely a little parrot. If I say something, she'll say something. So I have to watch what I say! Not that I ever really say much bad. I did drop something, her bowl of toast, I think it was, upstairs one day and I said "Crap nuggets!" So you can guess what Kaelyn said in return. :) Luckily, that one didn't catch on and was just a one time thing.

Kaelyn seems to be mostly over Elmo now. She now loves Thomas Train. She likes to watch him, play with him, and wear him. We have a few books featuring him and she knows all of the characters, somehow, though we don't generally read the books, we just look at pictures. I didn't even know the big green one was Emily, but she informed me that was her name. And when I paid closer attention to a video later, she was right!!

Before supper, I'll let Kaelyn watch Thomas or whatever youtube videos to keep her out of my hair while I cook. When she wants to do that, she'll ask to watch wideos. It's one of her favorite things to do, but I reserve it for special times. She'd probably sit there all day if I'd let her. That would be no fun for me! :)

There are so many little Kaelynisms I know I'm forgetting plenty. But I'm hearing a wideo reenactment through the monitor now and I know she's going to tell me to come in soon. I'll have to start taking notes when funny things happen. She makes me laugh out loud on a daily basis for some reason or another, that's for sure!

January and February

Kaelyn and I had a really fun January. It was a pretty nice month and we're used to it being rather cold so we were glad for the change. We spent a lot of time at the zoo and even at parks, believe it or not!

One of the highlights of the month was a trip back to the city where I went to college and some high school. We met up with some old college friends and had some fun. When we arrived, it was lunchtime so we met a gal who went to a different high school that me. She was a friend of a friend and she and I had connected on facebook. She has a daughter many years older than Kaelyn, but we thought it would be fun to meet with her. She was fun to chat with and it was nice to have lunch with another mom!

Then, Kaelyn and I headed to our hotel so she could nap. We had two queen beds so I put pillows all around one and she went right to sleep. She was tired from our big morning, I think. That gave me hope that the overnight hours would go well too. After her nap, we headed back to the mall to meet our college friends. The kids played at the play area and we chatted a bit, then went to supper at Red Robin, yum! After that, Kaelyn and I went back to the hotel and went swimming, which she was WAY excited about. We did that for well over an hour, then went back to our room to simmer down. I simmered. She didn't so much. :) It took her quite some time to go to sleep. I'd say two hours. Then she woke up and sang and chatted from midnight to 3am!!! I couldn't believe all of the songs she knew. And she had WHOLE conversations with herself. "I had a toot, you did? Yes I did. Well that's good to know, thanks for telling me." And on and on. ALL her. I was trying to ignore her! I think she would have done better had I not been in the room with her. She knew I was there and wanted to entertain me, I guess. But I wasn't exactly going to get two rooms just for that!

When we got up we went down for breakfast and enjoyed the continental layout. Kaelyn was excited and talked NONstop. We then went swimming again for at least another hour. She liked throwing her ducks in and jumping in after them. She also liked just wading around and watching the other kids swim and be crazy. AFter that, we went back to our room and relaxed a bit, then hit Kohls for a few minutes before meeting my professor friend at Texas Roadhouse. Kaelyn was hard to corrall there, but that's to be expected, I guess! It was a really fun trip and I was glad we went since Sean was on a business trip anyways and had we stayed home, we would have just been alone!

Kaelyn is more funny as every day passes. Yesterday, I went in to get her from her nap and she said, "I had a good sleep in my bed!" And she'll say things sometimes that's like, where did you GET that?! She picks up on things, that's for sure! She often will say something because she wants ME to say it. She'll say, "Mama, race trains! I can do that!" That means that she wants ME to say "I can do that." So that's my job. To say what she tells me to say. :) And I do it well.

Speaking of trains, that is one of Kaelyn's favorite games right now. We have three trains and we race them. Sometimes, she lays down on the floor and we race them into her face. :) Trust me, she likes it!!! She also has a Hot Wheels car track and she spends a lot of time racing those cars too. Her other favorite games include a bunch of paper balls in the guest room being thrown around and hanging out in her crib throwing her animals in and out. The best games are those that make her giggle so hard I worry she might crack a rib. :) When she's well rested and fed, she can giggle with the best of them.

It's so hard to get in every little detail about her. I don't want to forget any of it, but I know there's no way to remember it all. I try to cherish the precious moments like when I carry her to the bathroom and she wraps her arm around my neck and tucks her face in under mine. She's my little buddy.

She'll be 3 in April!!! I can't believe that. That means she could go to preschool next year. I still haven't decided if I'll be able to do that or not. Academically, she doesn't need it. But I know she could use some social aspects that being around other kids could help. I'm planning to register her, since I have to by March 1st and then drop her out later if I decide not to go ahead with it. So far, all signs point to me NOT putting her in, but I don't want to change my mind this summer and then not have the option. I go back and forth. All I want to do is keep her close, but will it really be any easier to let her go when she's 4? I'm not so sure!

She's fully potty trained now except overnight and her nap. She probably COULD do it at her nap, I just don't want to ruin a good nap! Overnight, she's always totally soaked her diaper. Probably because she drinks like a gallon of milk before bed. :) Gonna have to stop that habit someday. Otherwise, she's really good about telling me she needs to go during the day. Though when she poops, she just makes this cute little noise with a sheepish look on her face. That's her sign. Other times, she just says, "go potty!" and off we go!

We're looking forward to spring so we can hit the zoo etc yet again! Music class is one of Kaelyn's favorite indoor things to do. She doesn't always participate much, but she soaks it in. When we get home she'll sing and act out all these songs I didn't realize she knew. IT's pretty fun. She also LOVES bounce houses, the children's museum, and even walmart. And I love spending those hours with her!

Christmas 4

The whole family Christmas party on Sean's side took place on New Year's Eve day. The family gathered for lunch (Kaelyn and I missed that part due to her VERY necessary nap, we joined the fun by 3) and continued the rest of the day. Once Kaelyn and I arrived, the started doing presents. Sean's grandma is so sweet and gets presents for all of her great grandchildren and grandchildren. There are a LOT. She got Kaelyn a Catch me Kitty and a Thomas the Train book, both of which she loved. She got Sean and I kohls gift cards, which we love!

The name exchange presents were next. That's where everyone in the family gets one other person's name for a gift. Sean's aunt Denise had Kaelyn. She got her a little plastic Minnie doll/birthday set. Minnie has five different dresses, bows, shows and accessories that snap on and off. Kaelyn LOVES it. She calls her Minnie when she has a bow on and Mickey when its off. She has changed that thing thousands of times already. Sean got golf stuff and I got lotion stuff.

The idea was for it to turn into a New Year's Eve party, but Sean's dad just had surgery a couple of weeks ago so he was really tired. Around supper they started to clear out. Kaelyn and I stayed and ate because I had decided I couldn't take another bad night like the one before. I was going to drive her home. I was sad that I had to spend New Year's Eve alone, but I felt like I needed to do what was best for her and that was get her (and me) a good night of sleep.

So after we got done eating she and I drove the hour home. We got home and got cozied in and she said "I'm so lucky," to me. She's right, she is! I drove her a whole hour just so she could sleep! And sleep she did. For 12 hours without much of a peep. The next morning, we got up and I threw some clothes on her and headed back to Sean's parents house to continue the fun. Sean and his sister-in-law have birthdays early in January so we had to celebrate those.

Kaelyn got to watch the guys run their remote control cars around for awhile, then we had lunch
and ice cream cake. Most of the family cleared out and she napped and Sean and me and his parents played more cards. When she got up after sleeping over 2 hours (in the real crib again) she was having fun playing so we stayed until just after supper. Then we headed home and unloaded. We had Monday together to unpack and decompress after a whirlwind Christmas #3 and 4.

The holidays are so great. They spoil us. Not just because of the gifts but because of the time we get to spend together. It always goes too fast, but Kaelyn gets used to having her daddy around and getting all that attention and having all of those new things to do! The good news is, this year, it's still 60 in January. So here we come zoo! :)

Happy new year!