Day 7 - Our last Day at Disney

I am so behind on this blog considering this post is more than a year old - trying to get some new material up soon

(from April 30, 2010)

The last day at Disney was split between Magic Kingdom and Epcot again.   We started the day at MK because there was a lot of kiddie things there that we had not done yet. 

We spent almost the whole time at in Mickey's Toontown, where the kids got to see Minnie and Mickey's house, go on mini rides, meet some more characters and finish with a ride back to the entrance on Mickey's railway.

On the way out of the park, we spotted The Pirates League and decided to check it out.   Ryan decided he wanted to be a pirate so "Captain Jack" and his crew transformed him in to one of them.   He got a new pirate name (Thomas Damploader), swore a pirate oath, and then sat down for the transformation!

Dylan was so patient while Ryan got his face painted and was content sitting with an apple - I love this picture of though because you can see he only has two bottom teeth then.

Half way through, Ryan said he loved it.   By the end he said "My face is kind of scaring me"

When the makeup was all finished, Ryan was given his "Pirate Booty" - a bandanna, earring and eye patch,  gold doubloons, and fake teeth.   He donned his sword and sheath and stepped outside to fight off all enemies!  He was invited to join the pirate parade that afternoon but the kids were napping and we missed it - I know Ryan would have been the best pirate in the parade though!

We really had a great trip and while the kids napped, we sat on a bench at Epcot and just looked out on the lake and talked about all of the fun we had. 

 The kids woke up and played together in this open area by the lake and watching them was one of my favorite parts of the trips.  For some reason (maybe the pirate scared them off), we had this whole area to ourselves and the kids were having the best time just playing with each other.  It was also very exciting because Dylan started to walk!

Our final stop was a playground in the Flower and Garden Showcase and this picture cracks me up every time I see it - although you can't tell by the picture, Ryan loved it but in this picture doesn't it look like he is thinking "Why doesn't anyone want to play with me?"  - probably because you look so freaky Ryan, lol.

On a side note, it took almost three days to get all of the makeup off Pirate Boy.

We spent a few hours at the pool on Sat before we headed to the airport.  

 When we got on the plane, the pilot asked Ryan if he would like to see the cockpit and when we said yes, the pilot said "well come have a seat then" - I couldn't believe it!! The plane was about half-full at the time and Ryan even got to make an announcement "Welcome Aboard Everyone".  I am positive I was more excited than Ryan.    We all had a great but exhausting vacation - Ryan is already begging to go back.

Disney - Day 6 - The whole gang at Magic Kingdom

(from April 29th)

Bright and early, we all headed over to Magic Kingdom for our final character breakfast at Crystal Palace.

 

 Crystal Place is HUGE and it was pretty crowded but the kids were very excited to see the characters and even Dylan had warmed up to them.   First up was Piglet and Ryan could not wait to get more entries in his autograph book.  By this point in the trip, as soon as he saw a character, he would run over to me to get his book and would flip as quickly as possible to try and find an empty page for them to sign.  Because we were on the early side for the reservations, Piglet spent quite a bit of time with the boys as the restaurant was still kind of empty. 

The breakfast was pretty long as we waited for all of the characters to stop by and we definitely ate our moneys worth of food, especially when it came to the Mickey waffles.

While I most enjoyed Piglet, Ryan's clear favorite was Tigger.

Please just look at his excitement, lol

When we finished breakfast, we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain before it got too crowded.  We were thinking we would get a fast pass when we met a woman who worked at Disney who told us she was a trainee and that she could take the whole family on the ride through the fast pass lane - Yippee!!! Ryan was so happy to go on the ride, especially when he realized it was a train and almost the whole ride, he held his hands up in the air (at the end of vacation, he said this and Splash Mountain were his favorite rides).  

Of all of the days, I took the least amount of pictures this day.   It was pretty hot out, the lines were the longest they had been and I put the camera away for the most part to enjoy the day. I did take a few of the kids though enjoying some rides - Its a small world and the Dumbo ride were two favorites of the day

In the afternoon, everyone else went back to the hotel and the 4 of us headed back to Epcot - finally, the kids got to enjoy the World Showcase a little bit.   In each country, there is a station for kids to decorate a mask and on the back of the mask, a "local" writes their name and gives them a stamp on the back of the mask.  Ryan got very interested in it and even brought the mask back to ny (who knows where it is now, lol)

When Epcot closed, we went back to Magic Kingdom to see the Spectromagic Parade and even got to see a few fireworks.

Yanks vs. Sox

Last night, the 4 of us had a picnic in the park and on the way home, Jay said to Ryan "When we get home, want to watch the Yankee game with me?  They are playing the Red Sox".  Ryan said "Daddy, I hate the Red Sox so much, I might vomit tonight"  LOL!!  After that game, I felt like vomiting too.

Dr. Kim, The Dentist

from April 15, 2011

As I previously mentioned, Dylan loves brushing his teeth.  Every morning, he literally begs to brush his teeth: "Mommy please please brush teef?".  He really doesn't brush them for more than 10 seconds - he smiles, stares at his teeth, and just sucks the water off the toothbrush.   Since Ryan was due for his next cleaning at the dentist, we decided to make an appointment for Dylan too.   It was decided that Dylan would go first and as soon as he saw the room, he hopped up on the chair.

Dr. Kim, like she did with Ryan, showed Dylan all of her tools and he was mesmerized.  She also brought out a big, stuffed alligator with teeth and asked Dylan to help her brush the alligators teeth and help her count them.   He happily said ok, grabbed the toothbrush and got to brushing. 

Once they were done doing everything to the alligator, it was Dylan's turn.  The doctor turned on an episode of Dora the Explorer on a tv in the ceiling to get him to lay back and distract him, but Dylan was amazingly cooperative and totally interested in what the dentist was doing.  To start, the dentist told him to open his mouth, which he did as wide as can be and said "aaaaahhhh"

Dylan did a fantastic job!!! He looked adorable in the chair and was very patient - he didn't try to get down at all , did everything the dentist asked and didn't even try to bite her, lol.  His teeth look great, he has no cavities and aside from having teeth that are close together (which is not a problem except they are hard to floss), they are perfect. 

Ryan went second and also did a great job - no cavities and nice, clean, healthy gums.

At one point, I thought that Ryan might fall asleep.  He tucked his arms behind his head like he does at night, and didn't move or make a peep.  Finally, I said "Ryan are you ok"  and he said "Yes, just watching tv and relaxing" lol

I am so glad that the boys like going to the dentist and have had positive experiences so far.  Our next visit is in six months.

Disney Trip - Day 5: Sea World

from April 28, 2010

We decided to take a break from the craziness of the Disney parks for the day and spent day 5 of our trip at Sea World.  As soon as we got through the gates, we were greeted by Shamu and neither of the boys wanted any part of him. 

When we first got to the park, it was not that crowded and all of the adult rides were right near the entrance - since there were no lines, Omi and Poppy watched the boys while Jay, Matt and I went on the roller coasters.  One of the rides called Manta was one of my favorite roller coasters I have ever been on - we rode in the front and you lie face-down (totally horizontal) and you basically fly through the ride although at one point you end up flat on your back.   It was pretty cool and unlike any coaster I had ever been on.

After walking around for a bit and checking out some of the exhibits, we realized that the Shamu show was about to start - one of us was not that interested.

Ryan was very disappointed that he did not get splashed during the show and I think the rest of us liked the dolphin show better.    After taking a break in the shade and some lunch, it was time for the kids to have some fun so we headed over to Happy Harbor, were Ryan finally got to go on his first coaster of the day, the Shamu Express.   He got to pick who he wanted to go with him and he picked Uncle Matt (who had a very hard time fitting his legs in to the seat meant for kids) and even picked sitting in the last row.

He absolutely loved the ride and I think he went on it three times in a row before we had to pry him out of the seat.    Next up was the Flying Fiddler,  which basically went up in the air and then did a free fall, bounce up and down thing.  Ryan looked so small on the ride, especially in between Jay and Matt but he loved it and laughed the whole time.  I think he cried every time he had to get off a ride all day.

While Ryan was on the rides, Dylan made a new friend and then headed over to the sand area under the pirates nets. 
 

Both boys played in the sand box and Ryan climbed in the nets for quite a while but while up in the nets, Ryan spotter the Squishy Fish  teacup ride and we headed over there.   Ryan was a pretty good helper in trying to spin the car but Dylan put his arms up and let the ladies do all the hard work.   We went on a few times at Ryan's insistence and by the end, I think both Omi and I thought we were going to be sick!

After all of that spinning, we needed a break and went to the arcade area to try and win a stuffed Shamu souvenir.  Now, I am a pretty competitive person, but wow - there was some serious game play between these five to try and win the first prize!!

While I love Ryan's technique, he was not ssuccessful at the "ring on the bottle game" and neither was anyone else (which is probably a good thing since the prizes here were about five feet long and I have no idea how we would have gotten it home).

Next up was Racing Shamus and finally we had the first winner of the day.

We played the games for a pretty long time and then decided to call it a day (it was almost 6 by the time we left i think). 

Uncle Brian came that night and we headed back to Downtown Disney to check out some things that we did not check out the night before - we didn't make it to far though.  Omi and I hit up the Christmas shop and the boys spent almost all of their time at the Lego store where they had a huge area to play and make your own cars - Ryan was super focused and although his car was not that fast (and didn't go straight), he had a blast.   He would have stayed all night, but we headed back on the early side so we could rest up for our early breakfast the next day at Magic Kingdom.