Hollywood Studios!

Sunday morning we left our resort at 8:30 to spend the day at Hollywood Studios. It was a first visit for six members of our family; I had been there about 30 years ago when it was called MGM Studios. Our first stop was the 15 minute "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" show. Then we rode the 22 minute long "Great Movie Ride" before riding the "Star Tours" ride. Oliver was too short for that ride, so Grandma watched him while the rest of us enjoyed the Star Wars themed ride. It was Ian's favorite ride of the day, and so we rode it again in the evening. Next we watched a 25 minute Muppet 3D show. We wore 3D glasses many times yesterday! The "Honey, I shrunk the kids movie set" playground was supposed to be our next stop of the day, but it was closed for the day. We enjoyed the Toy Story ride next (a shooting game similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom). It was Nadia's favorite ride of the day; she wanted to ride it again in the evening, but without a Fast Pass (we had used one to ride it in the morning) the wait was over an hour long so we passed on taking a second ride. While Paul and his parents ate lunch (with Oliver in tow), I took Nadia and Ian to meet a few characters (Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jake the pirate, and Sofia the first) and see the 24 minute long "Disney Junior" show that incorporated characters from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Sofia the First tv shows. The kids enjoyed all the things that were showered down on us during the show such as real snow, bubbles, streamers, and gold paper circles that were supposed to represent doubloons. 

Around 12:45 it started raining (pouring much of the time), and it continued to rain for about 4 1/2 hours. We were watching a Frozen sing-a-long show at 5pm, and I was ready to call it a day after the show (and eat dinner outside the park since the food at Disney is so expensive), but it finally stopped raining. Every day the forecast has been pretty much identical (around a 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms), but of the days we've been here so far, Sunday was by far the rainiest day. It didn't rain at all yesterday. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow when we're at the Magic Kingdom. One upside to the rain on Sunday was that the temperature really dropped and it was much cooler the rest of the day. Also, I think that some people left (we had NO wait for our second time on Star Tours, for example). Aside from the unpleasantness of getting wet (we didn't have any ponchos or umbrellas with us although there were umbrellas in the van), the main downsides to the rain were that the Lights, Motors, Action show was cancelled (first they just delayed it so we sat in the bleachers for 30 minutes before we found out it was cancelled) and my wet sandals rubbed my foot in such a way that I developed a painful sore that was bleeding. Yesterday I walked barefoot around the resort when headed to the swimming pool. I put on a band-aid for dinner and miniature golfing (so I could wear my shoes). Hopefully the band-aid will make walking all day at Magic Kingdom tolerable tomorrow.

After the Disney Junior show Paul and I took Nadia and Ian on the Tower of Terror ride. They weren't keen on it. It was a little too intense for them. Next we saw the 25 minute long Beauty and the Beast show, which was VERY well done (Broadway caliber). After the show we went to the Magic of Disney Animation, but we didn't really do much there aside from the kids meeting Mr. Incredible. After we found out the stunt show was cancelled, we saw a 20 minute long Frozen sing-along show and then the boys got their picture taken with Lightning McQueen and Mater. We ate our very expensive pizza at the Pizza Planet Arcade (looked like the set from Toy Story), rode Star Tours a second time, and went through the One Man's Dream exhibit and watched the 15 minute film on Walt Disney. Oliver fell asleep part way through that movie, and he slept for an hour. Paul and I took the kids to the 8:00 showing of The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow, and then we all watched the 30 minute Fantasmic show at 9:00 on the water. On our way out of the park, we stopped and watched a fireworks program at 9:45 that was set to music from "Frozen."  Ian fell asleep soon after we were in the van, but Oliver and Nadia were awake until we put them to bed at 10:40. It was definitely the latest that I'd ever let any of them stay up, and it was Oliver's first time seeing any fireworks. 

We did the vast majority of the rides and shows in the park. The ones we missed were the American Idol competition (too young), Indiana Jones Stunt show, the playground (because it was closed all day), the other stunt show that was cancelled due to the weather, the studio backlot tour, and the roller coaster (all our kids were too short). There were other characters they could have met. They weren't interested in some of them. The only ones we missed that Ian really wanted to meet were Mike and Sulley. All in all we had a very memorable day. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I usually do at an amusement park due to the rain and also the fact that this park has far more shows than rides. I assume I'll take more pictures tomorrow! I am grateful that Disney allows food and water to be brought in the park because the only $$ spent on the kids and I during the day (not counting the expensive tickets I purchased ahead of time) was our dinner. The kids and I ate food we brought to the park for our snacks and our lunch.

Oliver woke up at 6:11 yesterday morning. Paul was really hoping he'd sleep in a bit later in light of the fact he went to bed MUCH later than usual. Nope. Ian did sleep until 7:45 (very late for him), and Nadia slept until 8:40 (very late for her). All I could think of yesterday morning was how very grateful I was that we weren't heading to another park that day. I have no idea how parents take their kids to amusement parks four days in a row. We needed a couple of days off in between our park days. The kids can't wait for our day at the Magic Kingdom. Hopefully it won't be as rainy of a day, but I'm sure we'll bring our umbrellas along just in case!

23 Months Old

This is my last month of being a mother of a one-year old. Sob. This will probably also be my last "x months old" post after having written at least one a month for 6 years. Everyone says you take more pictures and such of your eldest child. I don't think there's much of a difference in terms of the quantity of pictures between my three children (certainly the quality went up when I bought my DSLR camera) although Nadia and Ian were definitely taken to photo studios more often, mainly because Picture Me and Sears photo studios closed when Oliver was an infant. However, I did keep writing these posts the longest with Nadia, shorter with Ian, and even a little shorter with Oliver. After his big 2 year old post next month, I'm going to start doing his every three months like I have been doing lately with his siblings. At some point I will probably switch to every six months for all three of them, but for now I think every three months will be just right for me.  Here's a description of what Oliver is like right now:

1. I knew I wouldn't be able to weigh him today, but on July 1st he weighed 27lb 3oz, which put him at the 63rd percentile! I think the pediatrician will be shocked when they weigh him for his 2 year appointment!

2. It was so sweet to watch him interact with Grace for nine days. They are 8 months apart in age and called each other "baby." Oliver initiated many hugs, but sometimes that knocked her over as Oliver is bigger and more stable when

standing than Grace is. He felt very badly whenever he accidentally knocked her over.

3. He's still a great eater, although he's not a big fan of fruit. He is drinking out of open cups, but he still hasn't fully mastered that skill. He calls both water and milk by the same name - "milk."

4. He sometimes remembers (without any prompting) to say "thank you." He only says "p(l)ease" when prompted to do so.

5. He is no longer noticing basketball hoops all the time (hopefully he'll still enjoy the one I got him for his birthday). Now he is always noticing vehicles. He's had a LOT of practice pointing out airplanes and helicopters in the sky here in Orlando. They fly by many times a day. He also often points out cars and trains. His favorite toys to play with right now are matchbox cars, small trains (from Ian's train table), and a little plastic figurine of Cookie Monster (he loves to pretend to feed him). "Cars" is

definitely one of the top five words he uses each day.

6. He seems to be ready to start potty training. One example would be that he now announces when he has pooped.

7. His favorite sounds to make are "moo,' "quack," and "choo choo."

8. He continues to be a great climber. His climbing skills far surpass his siblings' skills at this age.

9. He's gotten a lot braver with swimming and enjoying the splash pad. In fact, he has no fear (which means he needs very careful supervision).

10. He usually gets up between 6:15-6:30 every morning, although on this vacation he's gotten up as early as 5:30. The kids went to bed REALLY late last night, but he was still up at 6:11 this morning. He normally goes to bed at 8pm, and his afternoon nap is usually between 1-2 hours long (with 90 minutes being the average).

11. He still mostly just uses one word at a time, but sometimes he surprises us with longer phrases. The other day when he was playing in the pool with a shark, and as he let it go he said, "3, 2, 1, go". He said it more than once! Another favorite word these days is "buckle" because he insists on having a seat belt buckled when he's in a booster seat or high chair.

12. He's very generous with sharing food. His siblings take advantage of this somewhat. I have to remind him to give himself some too.

13. He loves books and really enjoys being read to, and I mean actual sentences not just naming objects on the pages. YAY!

Enjoy your last month as a one-year-old, Oliver! From August 7 through December 12, my kids will be 2, 4, and 6 years old.

Splish Splash!

Oliver woke up at 5:51, but he went back to sleep. Ian was up at 6:45, Oliver woke up again at 6:55, and Nadia got up at 7:15. Around 9:00 we headed back to the pool with the big water slide. Ian is about one inch too short to go down it. Last year Nadia went down it with her inner tube; this year she goes down it without any flotation devices. We stayed for two hours and then came back to our unit for lunch. After lunch we headed to the pool with the pirate ship (that has four small water slides). They had live Caribbean steel drum music for about three hours in the afternoon.

Nadia and Paul also participated in some contests. Nadia was in a relay race (in inner tubes) across the pool. She kicked REALLY fast (especially considering she was much younger than most of the kids who participated). Paul participated in a contest to see who could make the biggest splash (it was only for adults). He was ranked in the top three of the men's category (but not 1st place) for his two big belly flop jumps. Nadia's team didn't win in the tug-of-war competition, but Paul's team did win in the competition for adults. Altogether we spent six hours in the swimming pools today! It didn't start raining until a little after 4pm. I went and picked up dinner at Subway and brought it back to eat in our unit. After dinner we went to see a magic show at our resort. The magician was very funny. Tomorrow we'll take a break from swimming to spend the day at Hollywood Studios!

Happy Birthday, America!

Yesterday afternoon we all arrived in Orlando. We were supposed to arrive at 12:30, but our flight was late because we sat on the runway for 45 minutes before taking off in Baltimore. Oliver had a very hard time with the concept of sitting for almost 3 hours on an airplane. He wanted to get out of my lap and walk up and down the aisle. Last year it was much easier to fly with him, and next year it should go back to being much easier. I remember that this age was when it was the hardest with his two siblings also. This was his third time on an airplane, and his fourth time next week will be the last time he is able to fly for free. Both round trip flights were to Florida. Last year we flew to Jacksonville instead of Orlando. We had to wait in line awhile to get our boarding passes, and then we breezed through security (didn't have to remove shoes or take laptops out of bags or anything!). The only slow part of the security process for us was they had to do a bunch of stuff to the stroller because it couldn't fit on the conveyor belt. I'm so grateful that we went through the screening so quickly because by the time we got to our gate, they were almost totally done boarding our plane. Next time we fly from BWI we need to leave my parent's house earlier than we did yesterday. We brought toys, coloring books, a dvd player, iPad, and food to entertain the boys. Ian did fine the entire trip. Oliver did fine for part of the trip, but it lasted a bit too long for him.

To pass the time while waiting to be picked up at the airport, Oliver and I made many trips up and down two escalators. Who needs rides at Disney when you have an escalator? Oliver finally fell asleep in the van on the way to the resort. We arrived at 3pm, which was one hour before the official check- in time, but they gave us our parking pass for our van and we (not including Paul's parents) changed into our swimsuits and spent about 90 minutes in the pool. After we changed back into dry clothes in our units, we drove to Denny's (less than 2 miles from the resort) for dinner. Since kids' meals are free there after 4pm, I actually ordered three kids' meals! I never order a meal for Oliver, but since it was free, I got him his own meal. On our way back to the resort after dinner we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some milk, bread, fruit, etc. for our week here in Florida. I had packed some food in the van from home (cereal, pretzels, oatmeal, crackers, etc.). I also brought along some homemade banana bread and homemade chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. Paul's parents are staying in an efficiency a couple of doors down from us, and we are staying in a two bedroom unit. Nadia and Ian each have their own queen size bed in the 2nd bedroom. We put Oliver's pack and play in the second bathroom (where it's nice and dark for him), and Paul and I are in the master bedroom.

Oliver and Nadia were the first two up this morning (6:30) and Ian slept until a little after 7:00. We were at the pool at 9:00 and stayed for two hours before coming back to our unit for lunch. After lunch we attempted to head to the pool party, but we missed the first half of it, and the second half got rained out. We waited under shelter until the eating contest. I was thinking it would be a pie or hot dog eating contest, but it was a contest to see who could eat a popsicle the fastest. Nadia entered the children's contest, and she was awarded a "sand dollar" (one of the tokens they give here that can be redeemed for a prize) for participating, but she definitely was not any where close to winning that contest. By then the rain had stopped and so we swam until the 2pm show put on by an employee from Gatorland. It was very well done. We learned about scorpions, tarantulas, alligators, and boa constrictors. Some children and adults held each of the animals, and everyone was invited to have a turn to hold an alligator at the end. Nadia was the only one from our group who held the alligator. Pop Pop and Oliver had been in the unit since lunch so that Oliver could have his nap. After Oliver woke up, they came down and joined us in the pool for a little over an hour before we headed back to get dressed and go out to dinner. If the kids were older, we would have gone to see fire works last night, but in light of the two nights we will probably be up past their bed time at Disney (and can see fireworks there), we opted to put them to bed at 8pm last night. If we had been at home, I would have taken them to fireworks. We are very thankful to live in the USA and pray that as our children grow up they will continue to be able to enjoy the freedoms our founding fathers fought for many years ago.

Florida, here we come!

Yesterday morning we left our house around 9am and after running a couple of errands stopped at a mall so that Ian and Paul could see the Lego Movie at a theater for $1 while Oliver and I did a little shopping. It was Paul's first time being in a movie theater since 2004, and it was Ian's second time, as I took them to see Despicable Me 2 in Maryland last week. After getting some food from Dunkin Donuts drive thru, we drove for three more hours to my parent's house. Amazingly neither boy cried! Typically, Oliver cries (and sometimes Ian does as well) when we drive any longer than 2 hours, and that is with a dvd player to help. They didn't watch any dvd's today! We listened to music, fed them some food, handed them toys, both took a nap at one point or another, and Ian had the iPad for a little. I am thankful! Paul's parents and Nadia spent last night south of Savannah, GA. We are leaving for BWI around 9:00am for Florida.  I can't wait to be reunited with my daughter! It sounds like her first road trip is going well. She hasn't had any car sickness, and she is enjoying swimming in the indoor pools at the hotels.

Adam (age 7) gave us a cello recital on Monday night

Not exactly the easiest audience

Rachel feeding an animal on the safari at Lake Tobias

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Susie holding a hornworm larvae at the Natural History Museum.

Rachel in the paper airplane contest at Air & Space. Susie made it to the third round of the competition!

Nadia was a volunteer in a demonstration at the Air & Space Museum.

Lake Tobias

Susie was a volunteer in the Forces of Flight demonstration.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Nadia, Ian, Rachel, Susie, Uncle Maurice, and I had a great time at the Baltimore Aquarium and paddle boating in the harbor on Thursday.

2. Paul, Nadia, Ian, Rachel, Susie, and I enjoyed riding the Metro, spending time at the Air & Space and Natural History museums, and having dinner at Chick-Fil-A on Friday. The planetarium show and the live butterfly exhibit were two of the highlights of our day.

3. All eleven of us enjoyed our time at Lake Tobias on Saturday en route from my parent's house back to our house.

4. All of us (except for Paul) enjoyed swimming at our pool on Sunday afternoon. On Monday afternoon Drayton  and I took the oldest five children back to the pool so they could enjoy a longer time at the pool (Wendy watched the youngest two at home so they could have their naps). Adam, Susie, and Nadia made MANY trips off the diving board (with Drayton in the deep end), and right before we left on Monday, Rachel also jumped off the diving board once. Susie and Adam learned the art of catching a football that Drayton threw to them while they were jumping off the diving board.

5. I haven't mentioned it, but I have been LOVING my new lens. I am so glad I upgraded my kit lens. I *think* I won't be needing any more new lenses for awhile (which is a good thing because the other lenses that would probably interest me next cost a LOT more money). Of course my 50mm lens is still my favorite when I have more control over the distance. I took LOTS of pictures over the past week, so it will take me awhile to post the ones I want to share. I didn't take my camera to Six Flags last Tuesday, and I have to say I felt VERY strange without my camera!!!

6. Paul's mom is going with us to Florida! This didn't seem very likely a few weeks ago. They haven't gotten the results of her cat scan from eight days ago yet; hopefully no news is good news. She had her monthly IVIG treatment yesterday for the MRSA. Hopefully this will boost her immune system so that she will not come down with pneumonia while we're in Florida. Nadia and Paul's parents started the drive in our van this morning. Paul's dad made their hotel reservations for the road trip, and he found out which McDonald's had play lands along the way too. He is prepared! Hopefully they will have a very smooth trip. Paul and I will fly down with the boys on Thursday morning. We're driving to my parent's house tomorrow as we're flying out of Baltimore.

7. Wendy and her family left our house this morning. It was fabulous to spend the past nine days with them. I can't recall the last time I had that long of a visit with them. I'm hoping that Adam might do another cello camp there again some year in the future as I'd love to go on more "field trips" with Rachel, Nadia, Ian, and Susie again (and Grace and Oliver could join us when they are older)! There are so many neat things to do in that area. We only scratched the surface last week. It was also nice to spend time with my parents and my brother. I don't take those times for granted. Hopefully the kids are making lots of memories.

8. Last night I made a salad that was very similar to Panera's strawberry poppyseed salad. If I had pecans, it would have been identical. It was very tasty! It's not something that Paul or the kids would enjoy, so I was glad that Drayton and Wendy liked it, and there was just enough left over for me to finish it for lunch today.

9. The kids seemed to do much better around my mom's cat during this visit (in terms of their allergic reaction - Oliver still needs a lot of work in learning how to be nice to their nineteen year old cat). Paul's visit was short enough that it didn't bother him either. Yay!

10. I was already thankful for our new little picnic table for the kids, but it came in VERY handy the past couple of days when there were 11 of us eating at the same time.

Rachel, Adam, and Susie enjoyed driving Nadia's car! Ian's car is not functioning right now, unfortunately.

Nadia was reading to Susie (who is an avid reader).

Rachel and Ian are 7 months apart in age.

Rachel's very first jump off of any diving board!