Birthday Celebration

Zach's birthday was on Friday, and after work we went out to his parent's for supper.  His Dad surprised him by making crab legs, and they ate a ridiculous amount of them!  He also was kind and cooked steak for the girls who are not so seafood loving! :)  We sang, opened presents, and had Grandma Glenda's famous homemade angel food cake.  Soooo good.  

My parents came down on Saturday to watch Lyle, while Zach and I headed up to Wichita.  We had gotten tickets from my parents for Christmas to go to the Band Perry/Rascal Flatts concert, but it was cancelled.  Instead we went to see The Hobbit and out to eat.  

 Before the movie we were able to stop by my sister's and meet my new nephew Eric Robert.  He was born a week ago Friday, but with all the sickness in our house, we waited to go see him.  He is such a sweet baby!  He had just finished eating when we got there, and he just settled in my arms and fell right back asleep!  You forget how small and fragile they seem when they are newborns.  Although when I say "I can't believe Lyle was ever this small!"  Technically he never was that small.  I'm more referring to that newborn stage.  It is amazing how much they change in that first year.  

Happy 9 months Lyle!

A Disney Vacation (Day 8)

It was time to head home.  The end of vacation is always a little bittersweet.  No one is ready to go back to work or life's responsibilities, but at the same time you are tired and ready to sleep in your own bed.  We had breakfast at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom with Pooh and the gang.  Too bad we can't have a huge breakfast buffet prepared for us every morning!  Lyle slept through most of breakfast, so we had to find Tigger again once he woke up.  This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip.  He was so stinkin excited!

We went back to hotel and packed our bags, and did a little last minute shopping.  We flew out in the afternoon and made it back home to Harper about midnight.  Getting up for work the next morning was the worst.  It didn't help that in the next day or two Lyle started running fevers while he was getting in his top two teeth, plus a cold on top of it, and slept TERRIBLE.  We were some tired parents!  Glad to get life somewhat back to normal.   

A Disney Vacation (Day 7)

As the week went on, our pace slowed down quite a bit.  Zach, Lyle, and I slept in then headed over to Epcot to ride a few things we didn't have time for on our first day.  We rode Living with the Land-which was really cool, and the Test Track.  We met the rest of the family for lunch at Biergarten in Germany.  A little overwhelming with the smell of sauerkraut for me, but good all the same.  The desserts were the best part of the meal! :)  We rode the ride in Norway, then headed back to the room since it would be a late night.

After some pizza we headed back over to Epcot for New Year's Eve.  We staked out a spot to watch fireworks, then took turns exploring or getting snacks. It was crazy crowded and little claustrophobic, but at the same time it was fun to be somewhere like that for New Years Eve.  Usually we are sitting at home (which is fine with me too!)  I would never survive in NYC at Times Square.  Lyle slept through the fireworks show, but his stroller must have gotten bumped because he started crying like crazy as we were trying to leave.  It took a long time to get him calmed down, and people were looking at us like we were the crazy parents who kept their baby out past midnight when he was clearly exhausted.  Which is partly true-but he really was asleep most of the time! :)    

A Disney Vacation (Day 6)

Sunday was Universal Studios day.  We had heard before hand that the crowds were crazy, so Kodi and Kim did not get tickets to go.  Shawn ended up being sick that morning, so he stayed home as well.  Greg, Zach, Lyle, and I set out early, bundled up because it was freezing, and got there for park opening.  We headed straight to the back of the park to go to Harry Potter, since that was the whole reason for making the trip over.  They take counts for the Harry Potter section, and they usually reach capacity within a couple hours of the park being open!  We stood in line for a wand demonstration, picked out our wands, and enjoyed some Butterbeer.  We took a walk through the rest of the park, Hard Rock Cafe, then headed back to Disney for the afternoon.

Zach's parents took Lyle for a bit while we headed back over to Hollywood Studios.  We watched the Muppet Vision 3D show, then went to the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show.  Zach used a left over fast pass and rode Star Tours again while I watched the parade.

We met up with everyone at the Polynesian Resort to eat dinner at Ohana.  It is based on a Hawaiin restaurant, where they had someone singing and playing the ukulele, and brought you meat on skewers.  It was soo good.

Lyle riding "It's a Small World"

We went back to Magic Kingdom after dinner, and were able to watch their extra showing of the New Year's Eve fireworks.  Awesome. They had extended park hours for guests who were staying at a resort hotel, so we were able to ride several things without any lines.  We went on It's a Small World, and Lyle was fascinated with all the little people!  We rode Peter Pan, and Haunted Mansion again as well.

A Disney Vacation (Day 5)

Saturday morning we went to get massages.  What an amazing idea to do at Disney when you are so sore from walking 10 miles everyday. 

Zach, Lyle, and I went to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon.  We met several characters, which Lyle loved.  He thought they were great, and liked to pet their noses.  We took the safari ride, and loved how close and well you could see the animals.  I could finally see the hippos unlike the Wichita zoo where that water is so dirty looking!  We watched the Festival of the Lion King which is one of my favorite shows.  I would love to see it on Broadway someday.  Under the Tree of Life we saw the Bug's Life 3D show-it was cute! 

We met Kodi, Shawn, and Greg for supper at Jiko (Kim wasn't feeling very good) :( Most of our dinner reservations were for later in the evening, which was nice because it didn't break out day up, but Lyle was usually pretty cranky by then!  He would usually make it through about half of dinner (while someone was feeding him), then be done with it all!  After that he wanted to be held, and touch everything on the table, and subsequently someone's tea ended up in someone's lap.  So we would take turns standing with him while everyone finished eating. He really did very good for how messed up his schedule was.  Our one lifesaver was our stroller.  We rented a City Mini GT stroller from Orlando Stroller Rentals and it was amazing.  The best part was the back reclined all the way back, so Lyle could take a nap completely laying down.  We just gave him his blanket, put up the sun shade and kept him moving.  Definitely look into this if you go!

A Disney Vacation (Day 4)

Friday morning we slept in...which was much needed, then went to Hollywood Studios.  We used Fast Pass coupons (that we got several of each day they messed up our keys) and rode the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.  We ate lunch at the 50's Prime Time Cafe where they act like you are home with your family and tell you to get your elbows off the table. 

We rode Star Tours, then had VIP seats for the Indiana Jones show.  It was sprinkling by then, but we had tickets to see Fantasmic! the show on the water with fireworks and all the characters.  We shared ponchos, and really enjoyed the show!  We went on Toy Story Midway Mania! then ate supper at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, where your booth is set up like a car at the drive-in.

A Disney Vacation (Day 3)

This was the day we went to Magic Kingdom.  This was the day we were crazy and got there for park opening at 7 AM.  This was also the day we stayed until after the fireworks for a total of 18 hours at the park and 11 miles walked.  We being Kodi, Shawn, and I.  The rest were not quite as crazy as we were. :)  The temperature's were in the 40's most of the morning, which is really cold when you only brought a sweatshirt and no gloves or hat!

The nice thing about being at the park when it opens is you can ride several rides without a long line.  During the day most lines were beween 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours long!  So we rode Space Mountaing, Big Thunder Mountain, Barnstormer, and Splash Mountain.  The rest of the family was laughing at me after Splash Mountain.  On the big drop at the end I was ducked down covered up with my coat.  I was already freezing and was not about to get wet too!  lol. 

We stopped in the bakery for the most amazing cinnamon rolls and coffee, then met up with the rest of the family.  We stood in line to meet Pluto, then went to the barber shop to get Lyle's first haircut.  He kept looking back at the barber, but she had put a bunch of stickers on his shirt, so that kept him pretty occupied.  He got a pair of mouse ears that say "My First Haircut" and a certifcate.  He looks like such a big boy now!

We spent the afternoon seeing shows and riding rides including; The Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Country Bear Jamboree, and Haunted Mansion.  We went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor show, where they singled our group out because of our matching shirts. 

We ate dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table, where you get to eat in Cinderella's castle.  It was really cool in there, and we saw someone be proposed to! 

Kodi, Shawn, and I stayed for the fireworks and for the Main Street Electric Parade. 

A Disney Vacation (Day 2)

We started our day at Epcot by eating breakfast with the Princesses at the Akershus Restaurant.  It was so cute to see all the little girls in their princess dresses.  They were sooo excited!  Lyle loved the princesses too!  

We spent the morning riding rides including Spaceship Earth, Mission:Space, Soarin, and the Universe of Energy.  We walked around the World Showcase in the afternoon, and enjoyed looking in all the different country's shops. 

We ate dinner at Teppen Edo which is a Hibachi Grill...and was amazing!  I had green tea cheesecake for dessert, which I never would have picked out otherwise, but was so good!  We had tickets for the Candlelight Processional that evening.  It was basically like a Christmas Eve service, where they sang all the Christmas hymns (which are my favorite!) and have a celebrity narrator (ours was Amy Grant) read the Christmas story.  I loved loved this show.  It was pretty chilly since we were down by the water and the wind was blowing (Zach took Lyle back to the hotel), but we huddled together and the show was definitely worth it!

A Disney Vacation (Day 1)

Zach's parents went to Disneyworld for their honeymoon when they got married.  Since they are celebrating 40 years in January, they took the family to Disneyworld to celebrate!  We had such an amazing time, and I wanted to write down our adventures....mostly so I can look back and see all our great memories!

We flew out of Wichita early Christmas morning, and met Kodi and Shawn in Orlando.  We got checked into the Boardwalk where we were staying (with some difficulty-while they were entering our information they deleted our reservation, and it messed up our room keys and tickets for the whole week) and went to eat at the ESPN club while our room was being cleaned. 

Each person had been responsible for designing a t-shirt for the group to wear one day of the week, because where else other than Disney can you match six other people and everyone loves it rather than thinking you are crazy!  Watch the pictures in the rest of the posts to see our shirts!  It was so much fun!  So we distributed our shirts (which had been a surpise until then), then each drew a name for a gift exchange. 

We went to Downtown Disney to shop, but it was crazy busy down there, so we mostly fought the crowds.  We were a little worried it was going to be that crowded everywhere, since they say the week after Christmas is the busiest week of the year at Disney.  I would have to say Christmas Day and New Years Eve were probably the worst.  The rest of the time was busy but managable.  We ate at WolfGang Puck Restauarant, then headed back to the hotel.