Downtown Disney

After Ohana, we took the bus to Downtown Disney to window shop for a few hours until it was time to get ready for our evening at Magic Kingdom. 

I was bound and determined that on this trip we would get at least one picture for a Christmas card. I'm happy to report that Disney got several via PhotoPass, but I tried to capture some myself, as well.  Below is one of those opportunities.  Will is clutching his shopping bag with his Lightning McQueen Christmas ornament.  He and I both picked a favorite ornament as a souvenir.  

 

Downtown Disney is basically just an outdoor mall.  It's got shops, restaurants, and bars.  It has the world's largest Disney Store and a Lego store.  We stopped at the Lego store, but ironically the guys never made it inside.  They were building little cars outside the store while I did a lap through the Disney store.  When I went to find them I realized they hadn't moved yet.  I went inside and found these full size Buzz and Woody characters made from Legos.

And on the river there was this dragon that reminded me of the one at our hotel.  Behind it you can see the water taxi.   They went only to the two Port Orleans hotels, so we did that instead of a bus when we were done shoppoing.

This is probably a good post to throw in something about MagicBands.  These are Disney's way to make you spend more money!  You can link everything to it: room key; theme park tickets; credit card for purchases; food credits if you're on the dining plan; Photopass account; and Fast Passes.  You use it throughout the property and parks to make purchases and to get you in everywhere.   I never had to take my wallet with me anywhere.  You attach a pin code to it for identification purposes that you have to enter everytime you make a purchase.  There has been a lot of discussion on Disney blogs about how they don't work consistently from a technology standpoint and that by loading your FastPass on in advance it's ruining the spontaneity of the trip.

We had zero problems from a technology standpoint.  The bands worked every time we wanted to buy something; everytime we wanted to get into a park; and everytime we wanted to use our Fast Pass.  As far a spontaneity, I don't think a Disney vacation lends itself to that.  I am perfectly content to make my ride selections 60 days in advance; I know what my favorites are that have long lines that I want to skip.  We even had some ride reservations we chose to skip because of other plans, and I just got on my phone app and rescheduled for a later time.  It was no problem at all.  It may have been easier since November is not very busy at the parks so we could walk on to lots of rides without much wait, but in all, no complaints.

Ohana Breakfast

We had another first on this trip: character meals.  Will has historically been afraid of the characters, but he was warming up to them on the cruise, so we decided to try it at the parks.  Character meals are a great way to do a meet-and-greet because they come individually to your table, so there is no waiting in line.  Plus there is food to keep you occupied!  Friday morning we slept in and had brunch at the Polynesian Resort at Ohana's Best Friends Breakfast which is a Hawaiian themed restaurant featuring Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch.  

Lilo was up first and she was very funny which helped break the ice.  She signed Will's book and then gave him a high five, low five, and then knuckles.  Will was laughing so hard by the time she did knuckles that he couldn't even do it.  It's amazing how you can interact with these characters that don't talk!

Next up was Stitch.  In the picture he's pretending to lick Will which was also the source of tremendous laughter.   He was much better than I was expecting.  I must admit that I'm not a fan of the Lilo and Stitch movie.

Pluto is Will's favorite.  I was really looking forward to watching Pluto sign the autograph book because he usually rests the books on his nose.  However, since the book was open on the table, he just left it there and signed that way.  He signed his name and drew a dog bone.  Is it weird that a dog can write his name?

Last up was Mickey; we were one of the last families in the restaurant by this point, but we didn't have anywhere to be, so we waited our turn for Mickey.   We got some pictures with just Will and a few with all of us.

I was a huge fan of the Kona coffee, POG juice (pineapple, orange, guava) and the Mickey waffles. Will had a great time meeting and collecting signatures.

Port Orleans French Quarter

We stayed at the smallest of the moderate resorts: Port Orleans French Quarter. The hotel property was nice, and our room was fantastically located overlooking a river and near the pool and main building.   We learned our lesson in May about trying to get to Orlando too early on travel day and wearing out.  This trip we took it easy and got there late afternoon with our only plans being to swim and get a late dinner.  The swimming lasted all of 20 minutes since it was only in the 70s; overcast; and windy.   Will and I each did a few trips down the dragon slide and then we went to the food court for a snack of beignets.   

My great plan was to bus to the Magic Kingdom and then take the monorail to the Grand Floridian for a late dinner.  Unfortunately the resort monorail was shut down due to a switch problem.  We ended up taking a ferry from the park to the hotel.  When I booked the trip and the restaurant reservations, I was hoping the deluxe resorts would already be decorated for Christmas.  Although the hotel had their Gingerbread House up, the rest of the resort wasn't decorated yet.  None of the hotels really were, and only Magic Kingdom had up a lot of decorations.  The other parks had giant Christmas trees, but no other decorations that I really noticed.  I think this next week leading up the Thanksgiving is when the transformation happens.

After dinner, we walked to the Polynesian Resort and sat on lounge chairs on its beach to watch the evening fireworks at Magic Kingdom.  It was just as beautiful as I was hoping!  

Our ride back to our hotel was less beautiful, as it took over and hour and two buses to get there.  At least we didn't have to get up too early on Friday morning!

Disney World

We just snuck in a quick, but fun-filled trip to Disney World!  Yes, again!  This trip was different than our other two, though: Will was finally big enough to ride the 40 inch rides!  That means he got to experience Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, and Dinosaur all for the first time.  He LOVED Big Thunder and Star Tours and rode each of those multiple times.  Pretty sure we won't see him raising his hand for Tower or Dinosaur anytime soon. . . .
I will be back blogging to catch up on our three days in the parks once I get some pictures downloaded and once I get a few business trips behind me. 

Management Material

In order to get the shrubs ready for Christmas lights, Jason had to trim some down.  I thought this picture of Will standing inside the window to supervise the process was pretty awesome.  

Dentist and Soccer

Will and I had our regular dental cleanings yesterday.  I just can't resist a picture of him in the chair each visit!  We've had great luck on this and all our prior dentist visits.  He's very well-behaved; participates appropriately, and isn't afraid.

I wish I could say the same about his behavior during soccer lessons.  Tuesdays are the best day at school:  soccer AND show-and-tell.  Unfortunately, Will and some of his friends have been getting rowdy in soccer.  Yesterday Will (not sure about the friends) got kicked out of soccer lessons for misbehaving.  The daycare director even called Jason to tell him about it, and let him know that Will only has one more chance.  If he misbehaves again next week, he can't come back to soccer anymore.  He'd better shape up because I know he really loves playing soccer.

Fall Leaves

Fall is here!  Last weekend when Jason and Will were at the farm, I took Rachel for a Sunday afternoon walk and enjoyed seeing all the beautiful leaves in our neighborhood.  This weekend was raking all those leaves!  Thankfully, the city comes by with vacuum trucks and picks up all the leaves that you pile in the street, so we don't have to bag them.  Below Will is doing a photo op in the 3 foot tall row of leaves we raked and hauled on a tarp from the back yard.  And when I say we, I mean me.  Jason was working on Christmas lights and Will was mostly playing inside.  It took three loads over the course of several hours.

My neighbor sent me this picture of the one tree we have in our back yard.  She took it early in the week, and almost all the leaves are out now.  We also get a lot of leaves from the trees in our neighbors' yards, so the grass was blanketed with leaves as of this weekend.

  

 

Rachel was a lovely walking companion.  Now that she is 12 1/2 she doesn't pull on the leash as much.  Certainly no squirrel chasing or going crazy about motorcycles.    We went right by a motorcycle on our walk, and nothing.  I don't think she hears them anymore.

Halloween 2012

As I was blogging about Halloween 2013, I went back and looked at 2010 (Monkey), 2011 (Giraffe) and 2012 (Giraffe - year 2).   Only. . . there was no 2012 post!  I just put a bunch of pictures on Facebook apparently and didn't post them here.  We decorated two pumpkins from our garden.  It was a fun painting project that we did on our new (to us) picnic table.

When I asked Will what he wanted to be for Halloween, he pointed to last year's costume hanging in the closet and said his costume was a giraffe.  Reuse last year's?  Awesome!  The costume was a little short, but he was so darn cute for the second year in a row.  We did a lot more houses this year than in the prior year.   Something about a 3 1/2 year old and candy?! 

Jason was traveling for Giraffe (year 1), but for Giraffe (year 2), we both got to see the cuteness in action.  So much fun to watch!

 

Farm Fun

Will and Jason made a quick trip to Grandma and Grandpa's farm this weekend.  They left me home to work, but I did sneak in a nice Sunday afternoon walk with Rachel.  Will was very excited to go for several reasons:  he got to take his new winter coat and boots; he got to sleep in his sleeping bag; and he got to see all of Grandma's animals.  They have three indoor dogs that Will refers to as "Buddy, Gabby, and what's that other one's name?"

When they left on Saturday afternoon, Will was wearing his K-State jersey, and when he got home on Sunday evening he was wearing his Bears jersey.  I knew dressing boys was much easier than girls, but this weekend uniform thing makes is SO easy!

Photos courtesy of Hilary.  I can't help but wonder how long boy and dog stayed lounged like that.  I don't think they're staring at a TV, and Will's eyes aren't closed, so I'm guessing this was just a perfect photo op.  Will is SO excited for show-and-tell at school today to show off the new toy he got at the "Farm Store."