Magic Kingdom – Part 2

Since it was 10 am and we had three major rides done, we wanted to get one more big one out of the way early on.  We stopped in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride.  This one has a neat interactive line.  It was helpful but DJ was already on the point of a meltdown and she couldn’t really enjoy the fun activities they had set up for the kids.  Little games were throughout the line like gophers popping up from the ground and honey streaming down a screen that you could draw “art” in.  Sadly, this was probably our most disappointing ride of the day.  The ride itself moved very quickly and was a big jerky.  There were no songs that you could enjoy through the ride and just a lot of flashy stuff as you went by.  It was a very short ride and we weren’t really disappointed to get off.

Just after riding Little Mermaid.

Next, we headed over to use our Fast Pass on Peter Pan.  This ride books up quickly so we were happy to be able to walk right on.  Since GiGi and AL didn’t have a Fast Pass they found some shade and waited.   The ride went pretty fast but was really cute.  Flying on a boat and the entire ride you are looking down at Neverland and the various scenes.  DJ hasn’t seen Peter Pan so she’d didn’t really get it.

After that ride, we decided it was about time for lunch so we made the decision to try to head the “Be our Guest” restaurant at the Beast’s castle.  They said it was going to be a 40 minute on the bridge.  I loaded DJ up in the Ergo carrier and she finally put her head down and fell asleep.  The wait only ended up being about 25 minutes before we were placing our order.

Waiting on the bridge for lunch at Be Our Guest

Magic Kingdom – Part 1

We arrived at the park before it opened. After getting a locker we waiting for the welcome show at the train station. DJ was already a bit tired and cranky (asking for her pacifier) but once the singing and dancing started she got into it. She was jumping up and down when she heard the whistle of the steam train coming and even more excited when she saw all the characters riding and waving from the train. After a countdown from ten Mickey opened the park. As we went to go in DJ didn’t want to go and instead was asking to stay with Micky.

Once we distracted her enough to get into the park we booked it over to fantasyland. We saw that Peter Pan and Its a Small World was having a delayed opening for the day so we grabbed fast passes for Peter Pan. Then we continued on to our first attraction, Enchanted Stories with Belle.

The line was already 20 minutes but we jumped in and stood our place outside Maurice’s house. DJ didn’t really like the idea of standing in the line which was outside the house in the heat and sun. As we wrangled her we finally made our way into the house. In the first room we saw belongings of Belle and Maurice. Then we were welcomed through a magical mirror into the other house. Each kid played a part in a play for Belle and DJ was reluctant but joined in holding her dancing spoon and fork sign.

After a great experience at Belle we met up with Gigi and AL. We all jumped on and rode the horses on the carousel.
After that we headed over to the little mermaid ride. It was a other basically nonexistent line and the ride was wonderful. I was amazed that it was barely 10 am and we had three rides done.

Part two later!

Vacation Day 6 – Disney

Today we are off to magic kingdom.

DJ woke up about thirty minutes before the alarm went off but she was happy to see that dad had arrived and was jumping like a monkey in the bed. The extra thirty minutes gave us some nice family time because we have really missed being all together. Of course DJ was really concerned about where Mason was since dad was with us. It also meant we got to see sunrise over the ocean from our balcony.

She also was happy to have Js cooking back. He made her eggs and sausage. Her favorite! She eats almost two eggs herself plus a sausage link or two.

And by 6:50 am like all work days we were out the door. Our goal is to pick up our tickets and be there for the opening of the park with the welcome from Mickey of course!

Gigi and AL are joining us over here too which will be great to have the extra hands. Our stroller is loaded down with a cooler, snack bag, diaper bag, and extra clothes. We can’t wait, here we go!!

Vacation Day 5

DJ and I are on vacation this week in Cocoa Beach. We have had quite the adventure so far including a trip to Ikea lots of grandparent time and fun at the pool and beach. Today we have stuck to our normal routine and had lots of pool time with AL. J has been home working but after he gets off today will drive down and join us! We have really missed him and Mason.

Hopefully we have a quiet night as we prepare to leave for Disney tomorrow at 7 am. It’s her first visit to any theme park and we are going to try to be there from park opening to park closing.

Natural mineral based sunscreen for babies

Last summer, DJ wasn’t one yet but living in Florida required sunscreen/block. We tried our best with hats and shade but I’d rather be safe and not end up with a sunburned baby. So that started my quest for sun protection that I felt ok putting on her skin.

After research I felt like a mineral based sun block with zinc oxide and titanium oxide was best for us. It is hard to find brands that use these ingredients but I wanted to avoid harsh chemicals that are found in most other sunscreens.

These are the ones we bought, tried and like:

And to review the ingredients. I have posted in order of our favorites. Of course the most expensive is our favorite!

Neutrogrena Pure and Free Baby Faces

Banana Boat Natural Reflect Baby:

And lastly Johnson’s Baby:

Easter Basket

This year I went really simple with DJs Easter basket. We love the holiday to celebrate Christ’s resurrection but I want to keep this a lower key holiday. Honestly I don’t even know if we made her an Easter basket last year (she would have been about 7 months old).

So this year I picked out one fun toy, a craft supply which we needed, and a piece of candy.

The toy is shape sorter eggs and I think she will love them. At 18 months she’s getting better a matching and knows that eggs are supposed to crack open. So these eggs hopefully will be perfect.

The craft supply is some paints. Even though she does a craft project everyday at school it’s still nice to be creative at home.

Lastly for a candy I avoided the chocolate bunny or cross because she doesn’t need that much chocolate and neither do I. The other day she saw these mini m&ms at the store and wanted them. They will be a good treat in small doses.

We can’t wait to celebrate Easter with family!

Here is another picture of us enjoying the one afternoon of nice weather this weekend. We are ready for spring!

Goodbye Google Reader

I don’t know what I am going to do without my Google Reader but at the suggestion of another blogger, I am going to jump to Bloglovin.

You can follow me there if you would like.  I’m not sure if I will stick with it yet.  There are folder options and it imported everything from Google Reader correctly but there are limitations on some features (like giving a blog another title).

 

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5534355/?claim=esgbr7ved56″>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Spring

We are all itching for spring around here.  It has been a late winter but now its March and still cold.  I was cleaning out a spaghetti squash the other week and thought hmm, I wonder if I could plant these things.  Not even sure how to go about it, a quick google search told me to wash the seeds and put them in a baggie to see if they would germinate (sprout).  Sure enough, almost all of my little seeds had a few sprouts in just a couple of days.

Last weekend I dragged DJ out front and told her we were going to dig in the dirt and plant seeds.  She wasn’t too sure what it was all about.  She tried to help dig a hole but got frustrated with the dirt on her hands.  But, once I had a good trench dug, she was more than happy to help drop the seeds in one by one.  She had even more fun with the next step which was watering the seeds.  Every day since, we come home and she shouts “Seeds Seeds” and wants to water them!

And look at what popped up this week, our little seeds!

She loves to stand on the patio and pour the water onto the little sprouts.  At some point we will have to go through a biology lesson teaching her that now they are technically plants and no longer “Seeds Seeds”.

We are finally enjoying some warmer weather and hope that we have had our last cold snap!  Bring on the Spring!

Nursery

I just realized we never did a real nursery reveal. These are some bad quality pictures (cell phone at night). But I thought I would post for now. I hope I can get my good camera on her room soon and do a better job documenting.

Proud

I thought I understood the feeling of being proud.  I thought I was a proud momma when she rolled over.  I thought I was a proud mom when people told me how cute she was.  I thought I was proud when she learned new words.

Yesterday I learned a whole new level of being a proud mom.

I walked into DJ’s class to pick her up like any normal afternoon.  The class was sitting at the table waiting for snack.  Her teacher came over and said “DJ can’t leave yet, I was just about to give her a sticker because she was the only friend who helped clean up toys before snack time”.

I cannot tell you how proud I am that she is learning and CHOOSING to listen and to help.  I told her over and over on the car ride home how proud I was of her. We told J when he got home about how she helped and she got to show him her sticker.  I know its hard for her to understand at 18 months but I hope she can see and feel how proud I am of her!