Birthday Party

Since we had just returned from vaction, we didn't plan a separate birthday party for Will's 4th birthday.  Instead we took cupcakes to school and had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings with Will's three favorite people! (No offense grandparents, but you know Uncle Ryan outranks you!) 

Uncle Ryan gifted Will with the globe he had as a kid.  It plugs in and glows!  We had a quick geography lesson to show where our families live in Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana, as well as where Disney World is in Florida.  

After donning Blackhawks gear for game 7, we packed up the rest of the toys to open at the restaurant.  Since the hockey game was just starting, we almost didn't get a seat and used our waiting time to open presents.  He got an awesome race car set from his best friend, Liam, who was kind enough to bring him the gift at school that morning.   We were at Liam's house for his party two weeks earlier, and he had one that Will played with non-stop.    

Mommy and Daddy got Will a Cars space shuttle named Roger and Spaceman Mater who rides in the cargo bay.  He also got a soccer ball and some water guns to replace the ones he had to leave at Grandma Joni's and Grandpa Roger's.  

Four Already?

 

Wow, has it already been four years since I got up early on a Friday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, to go have my baby boy?  His daddy and I were in love from the start!

 This boy is full of personality!  On his actual first birthday (a Saturday), we loaded him up for his first professional photos.  He was a cutie with his big bald head and ear to ear smile!

Will still wears this same size 2T blue jacket that we bought him when he was almost 2.  The sleeves are too short now, but we haven't had time to find a replacement. Besides how much I love playing in cars and trains and in the dirt, the jeans, polo, blue jacket dress code makes having a boy so perfect for us!

I found this photo in the archives:  it was fall when he got his first bike, so he had to do practice laps in the basement.  Pants optional indoors.  That's still the rule.

Our 3 year old surprised us Fourth of July weekend last year by reciting Little Red Caboose word for word!  He was so proud, and so were we!  He still calls us out when we skips words in stories. 

And now at nearly 4, he has transitioned to VanMeter family favorite:  Scrabble!  He doesn't really play, but he'd sure like to!

I can't believe how wonderful the past four years have been, or how fast they have flown by!  We sure do love our little family of three!



Disney Dream

After our four days at Walt Disney World, we took a three-night cruise on the Disney Dream sailing from Port Canaveral to Nassau and Castaway Cay,  Disney's private island in the Bahamas.  It was a fun way to relax after the hustle and bustle of the parks. 

We booked an oceanview, but not a balcony room.  Our porthole had a window seat and was tall enough for Will to stand in!  Will slept next to the window in a Murphy bed that the cabin steward made up each night.

Thursday was the Sail Away party.   Will enjoyed his first stop at the Mickey water slide.  As we learned from our first Disney vacation, Will is a huge waterslide fan.  We very briefly got into the Mickey pool, but the two family pools on board were tiny and cramped, and frankly, I was grossed out in a pool with so many people.  

Dinner the first night was at the Royal Palace restaurant.  It was a pretty room and the food was good, but we started dinner with a tantrum outside the restaurant, and it didn't get much better once we realized we were seated with another family of three at a six top.  We've never shared a table on a cruise and it wasn't a good trip to start.  The match probably looked good on paper, as the other family had a 3-year old boy, as well, but it was a mother and grandmother instead of another couple.  Only the mother spoke English, and the boy was even crankier than Will.  His mom gave him a baby bottle of juice mid-way through dinner so he would lay down and sleep. 

Friday was at port in Nassau, but we didn't get off the ship.   Will went to the Oceaneers Club and played in Andy's Room and other Disney themed areas for several hours while Jason exercised and I went on the AquaDuck water roller coaster.  We picked up Will in time for the afternoon showing of Iron Man 3 at the movie theater.  He didn't wear his 3-D glasses and acted a bit disinterested, but at the end said it was really good.   Before dinner we donned our Pirates In The Caribbean head scarfs and newly purchased swords for a Captain Hook and Mickey party on the pool deck.

Dinner that evening was in the Animator's Palette, and Crush from Finding Nemo was interactive with the guests.   He talked to Will and asked him his name and where he was from.  After dinner was the conclusion of the pirate party complete with Captain Jack Sparrow and fireworks!

Saturday was at port at Castaway Cay, so after a hearty breakfast of Mickey waffles, we dug out the beach toys we brought along and went ashore.  We played in the sand, splashed in the sea, and took the plunge down each of the water slides.   Will was tall enough (barely) for both slides, but we were worried how he'd do at the end since the drop was so big off the end that he was guaranteed to go completely underwater.   He came up smiling and laughing (and spitting out salt water) both times!

We were all exhausted (but luckily not very sunburned) after the day at the beach.   Will and Jason played a few games of mini golf while I napped, and then Will napped through most of dinner.  We changed tables the last night at the Enchanted Garden, so we enjoyed chatting among ourselves while Will slept on my lap.  Here Jason is thrilled that our new waiter brought him both desserts he was debating between even though he only ordered the one.

After dinner was the See Ya Real Soon Party in the lobby atrium where Mickey and his pals and the princesses were available for meet-and-greets.  Will briefly wanted to hug Pluto at Hollywood Studios but backed out once we started waiting in line.   On the ship he said he definitely wanted to hug him, and so he was our first stop!

Then once he realized that wasn't horrible, he said we should meet Mickey, too.  Since it was close to the end, the handlers were doing the pictures to get the families through faster which meant the entire family could be in the shot. 

After one last stop with Goofy (yes, this is my new computer background) we retired to our room to sleep.  The ship was very rocky the entire trip and the motors to dock were loud versus what I remembered on earlier cruises, but Will never mentioned it. 

Hollywood Studios

Our last day at Walt Disney World was Hollywood Studios.  We had a full day planned (8 a.m. rope drop through 9 p.m. Fantasmic), so we had the pool day and early dinner on Tuesday to rest up.   This was the day I had most been looking forward to, since it has all of our family's favorites:  Toy Story, Disney Junior, Star Wars, roller coasters, and fancy cupcakes!

Our first stop was the very popular Toy Story Midway Mania.  The queue is a giant version of Andy's Room from Toy Story and the game is a 3-D shooting game. 

For Will we also saw a Little Mermaid stage show; a Disney Junior interactive show starring the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Gang with cameo segments by Sofia, Doc McStuffins, and Jake and the Pirates; and Lights, Motors, Action stunt show. 

For Jason and me, we took turns on Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith.  I LOVED the coaster.  I thought it was better than Space Mountain, and maybe better than Expedition Everest (although I need to do a comparison on the same trip). 

We hoped to get Will onto the Star Tours 3-D ride, but he was a half inch too short.  While he and I waited for Jason to ride first, we got to see part of the Jedi Training performance before it started raining AGAIN.    We sat in a covered area eating cupcakes.  Will's lunch dessert from Mama Melrose's was a "spaghetti and meatball" chocolate cupcake, and I got the famed Butterfinger cupcake from Starring Rolls.  I picked out a Darth Vader chocolate peanut butter cupcake for Jason.  It must have been good; he didn't save me a bite!

After waiting out the rain a little more, we all enjoyed the Muppets 3-D Movie and then our only character meet-and-greet at the parks:  Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater!

Around 5 p.m. we finished our list at Hollywood Studios and decided to walk to EPCOT.  We had to snap this picture of the Sorceror on our way out.

At EPCOT, the Test Track single rider line was only 10 minutes so we each took a turn.  Of course, somehow this whole process took an hour, so after each riding once, we got dinner in Norway before walking the mile back to the Studios for Fantasmic.  This is a picture of the happy birthday boy with his bag full of new blasters.  The Zurg Blaster is way cooler than the Buzz Blaster, but you have to get the good guy one, too!

 We left the hotel at 7:15 and got home at 10:45.  A super long, super fun day!

Wilderness Lodge Pool Day

 This trip we stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge which is in the Magic Kingdom area.  Transport to Magic Kingdom is either by ferry boat or by bus.  We chose boat each time!  After two days in the parks, we slept in on Tuesday morning and then hit the hotel pool for dozens of rides down the water slide!

 We could see the geyser and Bay Lake from our hotel room balcony!

This waterfall originates in a "hot springs" in the lobby.  Will found a dime and decided to toss in into the lobby fountain before we left. 

Of course no room is complete without Mickey theming.  Like the other "deluxe" hotels, the Disney theming in the rooms is present, but very reserved.  We had the Mickey towels and the red pillow had Thumper from Bambi. 

Ironically, the coolest day of our trip was our planned pool day!  Will warmed up after swimming before getting lunch from Roaring Forks.  I ate first while the guys were swimming and learned my lesson that the birds like sandwiches, too!

 For dinner we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge to dine at Sanaa.  We spent some time before and after dinner watching the animals on the savannah.  The animals that live on the hotel grounds are different than the ones at Animal Kingdom Park.   Sanaa was mostly Indian cuisine: chicken and bison curries for me; lamb for Jason; and cheese pizza on Naan for Will.  We all enjoyed it!  The dessert was awesome!  I got the sampler that included a chai pudding and a chocolate cake.  Will's dessert was the coolest though:  "Milk and Cookies."  The milk was strawberry lassi (after we already had mango lassi for dinner!) and the cookie was a design your own sugar cookie with orange frosting, M&Ms, and jelly beans! 

Back to Magic Kingdom

Since the rain and travel exhaustion slowed us down on Sunday, our original Monday plan of lunch at Magic Kingdom followed by a day at EPCOT was exchanged for another mostly full day at Magic Kingdom so we could hit the rest of the rides.   First stop was Astro Orbiter which is Will's #1.  The line was long but we had to get it done!  We did our own version of child swap and stood apart in line so Will could ride with me, and then join Jason when it was his turn 5 minutes later.

 

Monday was also very hot, so we bought our first "souvenir":  a mister bottle.  While Jason and I traded off on Space Mountain, Will detailed his stroller.

It was so hot, in fact, that Will didn't want to ride any of the New Fantasyland rides:  he wanted to run around in the Splash Pad.  Luckily I had packed his swim trunks (although I'm not sure why because I wasn't planning on this stop), so he changed clothes and ran around for quite awhile before lunch.

Lunch was my choice:  the new Be Our Guest Restaurant themed after Beauty and the Beast.  The wait wasn't too long (25 minutes) but it was so hot that we were all cranky once we got inside.  The food was some of the best I had all week, but the kid's selections weren't kid-friendly.  I knew that in advance but hoped Will would at least try his meatloaf and peach applesauce.  Nope.  He drank chocolate milk and pouted for most of lunch. 

After lunch, we rode Barnstormer, It's A Small World, and the Carousel before finally heading to the monorail and EPCOT.   Sadly, it started storming again just as we got to EPCOT around 5 p.m.  We pulled FastPasses for Soarin' for after dinner and waited out the rain and grumpy boy for awhile before hitting up Nemo's Reef, Turtle Talk with Crush and the fish tank.   We had dinner reservations at Coral Reef Restaurant where the server brough Will a new birthday button (those are Mickey dotted "i") since his other one was out on his wet stroller. 

I laughed when I requested Splenda with my coffee and got this sweetener selection.  There is pink, blue and yellow like you would expect, but they are all NutraSweet! I used the white one, since I think that was sugar.   After dinner, I ran to use my Soarin' FastPass, but the line was still long and I barely made it before closing.  Unfortunately that meant Jason did not get to ride with his, since we had to ride separately due to Will being too short.  I caught the last few minutes of Illuminations fireworks from across the park, but Jason missed those, too, trying to get onto Soarin'.   So, we'll have to make those a priority on our next trip!

Magic Kingdom

We loved our quick trip to Walt Disney World so much last fall that we made it our family vacation destination this year.  It was also an early 4th birthday celebration for Will. Day one started VERY early.  We arrived in Orlando at 9:30 a.m. and took the Magic Express to Disney's Wilderness Lodge.  I was very impressed with all of the little touches of "magic" that Will got because we registered our visit as a birthday trip.  Mickey and Minnie left him a voicemail that was waiting for us when we got to our room.  And the second day, "Mousekeeping" left a card from Mickey.  And throughout the week, he got lots of birthday greetings when cast members saw his button.

After lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe and a quick wait out of a rain storm, we took the ferry to the Magic Kingdom to start the fun!

Due to the earlier rain, the parade route was flipped, and we walked right in to a great spot in front of Cinderella's Castle only 10 minutes prior to the start.  Will LOVES the parades and waving at all of the characters.  This is his version of meet-and-greets.   He doesn't want to meet/hug/talk to/get a picture with the various characters, but he waves and yells hello to everyone in the parade. 

I had a good view of Tomorrowland from the parade stop, as well.   That's Will's favorite land since it has the Buzz Lightyear ride, Astro Orbiter that you can see here, and the Tomorrowland Speedway.  

Since we didn't get to the park until 3 pm, we were able to make it through to the Main Street Electrical Parade.   We also had a good spot near the castle for this parade.  Afterwards, we made a quick dash back to New Fantasyland to walk on the Under the Sea with Ariel ride before dashing back to see Wishes fireworks show.   

I had never viewed either or the evening shows at Magic Kingdom.  Wishes was amazing!  I'm glad we stuck it through to 10 p.m. to see it!