HIking Anthony's Nose

We took our first family hike on Saturday and had an amazing time.   While it was a little on the cool side, Jay and I decided that we wanted to get in one more fall activity before it got too cold so we decided to take in some foliage by going on a hike.  The kids were SO SO excited about it but I realized that they really didn't understand what "hike" meant and I was sure that 100 yards in, they would want to go home. 

We took the kids to Anthony's Nose (a place we went on field trips in elementary school) near Bear Mountain.  The mountain is about a 3 mile hike up and back and at the peak, it is about 900 ft. above sea level (800 ft up from where we parked the car).   When we got out of the car, we walked along the highway until we saw the trail marker and off we went.

The first part of the hike is a very narrow trail and is very steep - most of the first .5 miles is climbing up  rocks that are kind of like a winding staircase.   It didn't take long before I was getting winded (clearly, I am seriously out of shape).   The boys on the other hand were well ahead of me and having a blast!! They did not complain at all and excitedly looked for walking sticks, interesting rocks and leaves as we climbed and had fun talking to the people that we meet along the way.

We stopped a few times along the way for water breaks and in less than an hour, we were at the top.  Our hard work was so worth it because we had a great time along the way and the view at the top was beautiful!

When we got to the top, we sat down and had a picnic and just enjoyed the view.  The boys loved it up there and Dylan cried when we told him it was time to leave.

It was really a wonderful family adventure and we had perfect timing - 2 days after the hike, a cold wave came in and it was about 40 degrees out.   We are already looking forward to our next hike in the spring. 

Disneyworld 2013 - Day 1

I don't even know where to start in talking about our August trip to Disney World - we had such a great trip, one that was jam-packed with activities and adventures from the minute we got to Florida! I also have almost 1000 pictures from the trip so it will be tough to narrow it down. 

 Jay and I decided to surprise the kids so we didn't tell them until the day before we were leaving that we were going on vacation to Disney World. I had planned the trip for months (and almost spilled the news on numberous occassions) coming up with what I hoped to be the perfect meal and park schedule and we couln't have been more excited to go (unless the rest of the family came too!).   Grandma took us to the airport and off we went.

 

We were picked up by the Disney Magical Express because we were staying on a Disney property and watched movies on the bus until we got to our hotel.  Our hotel, the Port Orleans Riverside, in the early afternoon so we did a little hotel exploring before heading to Downtown Disney.   I really liked the resort and would definitely recommend it - the grounds were really pretty, the kids thought the pool was great and we found the transportation to and from the parks very convenient using the hotel buses.    Our bags were delivered directly to our room from the airport so when we arrived, we quickly checked in, changed in to bathing suits and headed to the pool - it started thundering after an hour so we went back to the room, changed again and took the bus downtown for dinner. 

(Ryan would not take a picture with the "red lady" because "she is super creepy") I think that it still didnt really hit the kids that we were at Disney because we hadn't gone to a park yet, but once they saw the LEGO store, they both decided this was going to be a really fun vacation! (I think they would have been happy just spending a week at the LEGO store). 

We didn't even make it into the store because the kids saw the race track and immediately started building their cars. 

When it was time to do to dinner, the kids had a SERIOUS meltdown about leaving the Lego Store, until they saw where we were having dinner: T-Rex (plus we promised to go to the Lego store again another day).  The kids begged to set in the "color changing ice cavern" because the waitress told them that is where they would have the best view of the "Meteor Shower" every 20 min - the boys had a blast and while we ate, we talked about some of the things we wanted to do on our trip.   

After dinner, we headed out back to the Dino Dig site where the kids used brushes to uncover fossils.  

 As time went on, we began to hear thunder so we decided to head back to the hotel (plus it was already 10:30 at night!).   As we were heading to the bus, it started pouring!! Luckily, we somehow finagled our way on to the first bus back to the hotel.  We were all pretty wiped out from our first day, a day that was probably the most relaxing of the week.    

The next day, we needed to get up bright and early to get to Hollywood Studios so it was off to bed as soon as we got back to the room. 

stay tuned for Day 2...