Disney Birthday Adventures

We headed to Disney on Saturday with Aiden for our traditional birthday celebration. Aiden got to chose the whole day and Felicity stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Jen. 

He was so excited to do the things that he really loves and get to chose where we eat. We started our day at Hollywood Studios and made it to the gate before we realized Aiden didn't have his magic band! A semi-quick stop at guest relations got us a hard ticket and our free birthday pin. Tip: This one is pretty well known but just in case if you stop by any ticket counter or guest service counter and are celebrating ANYTHING they have a pin for it. First visit, birthday, engagement, honeymoon, anniversary, family reunion, or just a celebrating pin. Sometimes they have them in the stores too at the check out counters you just have to ask. 

First on our stop was the Animation Station inside The Magic of Disney Animation to draw a picture with the help of a Disney artist. We drew Winnie the Pooh and it's cool what a birthday pin and dimples will get you if you ask! Tip: You get to keep the drawing that you do. It's a cute little memento. I wouldn't recommend this attraction unless you have older kids. Aiden enjoyed it but I ended up helping him through most of it. 

Then we were off to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Aiden loves this area and I feel safe picking a spot near the entrance/exit and letting him run and play. A nice 1 hour plus wait for Toy Story Mania (get fastpasses if you can! We already had Magic Kingdom ones so we couldn't) and onto Aiden's favorite place to eat Pizza Plant. I on the other hand don't usually care for the Plant of Pizza since their red sauce tends to upset my belly digestive tract. But it's Aiden's day so I get brave and ask for my pizza sans sauce due to my "sauce intolerance." Not a problem he says and I am awarded a pager and a slip of paper. I had to wait an extra 15 minutes for mine but look at that cheesy-veggie goodness. Worth the wait and I didn't feel sick later in the day! 

From there we headed out to Magic Kingdom! If you follow me on Instagram (mommyrudolph) you saw what happened! Sleepy boys! 

Once the boys had a siesta in the car we head off to meet Tinkerbell. No kidding that is what Aiden wanted to do first - I won't lie he loves all the Tinkerbell movies! 

A little ice cream break and strict orders "don't even think about it!" as we walked by the Starbucks were given as we headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle. This is probably my kids favorite thing to do at Magic right now. Aiden practiced the beast part while we walked in and was chosen! 

Our next stop was Tom Sawyer Island which is a favorite of Jesse and Aiden. 

They love to explore the caves, cross the barrel bridge, shot the riffles and just run and play. It's one of the less busy places at Magic so we take our time there. 

Then we headed to dinner. A few months ago we had dinner with our sweet friends Josh & Jill while they were visiting from Iowa at Whisper Canyon inside the Fort Wilderness Lodge - this was during the time that Aiden didn't really eat but on that night he was so entertained he cleaned that plate! So he was so excited to go back. They have Lincoln Logs (cause we don't have those at home!) to play with while you wait for your table. We were given a not so great time in the "library" so I kindly requested my husband go and ask for us to be moved to the main dinning room where the action is. I mean we booked it for the excitement and we even told them it was Aiden's birthday. No problem Disney magic took over and we were given prime seats and Aiden was in hog heaven. This isn't your typical dinning experience. They are sarcastic and have a good time with you if you so chose. Aiden was loving it...also ALWAYS ask for ketchup! Tip: While the all you can eat selection is $30 a person it is worth it! We didn't order that this time but we did the previous time. You will not be disappointed.  

A boat ride back to Magic and one more trip to Enchanted Tales with Belle. Someone else got picked for a part! By that time we were done! Aiden was asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot! 

I am so glad that we are able to do these special things with the kids - it was a great day! 

Ps - We celebrated Mother's day I promise with all my favorite things: a trip to the spa with my bestie, Target, and Outback (@home) Jesse got my gift a few weeks ago - a new to us car! I am pretty much in love with it - 2015 Ford Explorer in Grey - swoon :) 

Weekend Update on a Wednesday

You know it has been a week when it's Wednesday and you are just getting around to blogging. The students are on Spring Break so I thought I would have time to get a lot done but work has been stressful with no one there and issues popping up. Add that to runny noses and coughs and late nights and it's Wednesday! But we had a great weekend and I want to share it.

Aiden and I started Friday was yummy treats from the bakery down the street - we were so good we only ate half of each. That was just enough sugar to convince him to go to Goodwill and we did a little damage there before heading home for dinner and playing outside in the extended sunlight.

Saturday we headed to church for family fun day and Felicity and I did a great job supervising all the fun relays! Aiden loved it and was so excited.

We figured since we were already sweaty we might as well give my car a much needed bath and a good vacuum and then reward ourselves with Sonic!

We came home for showers and put the finishing touches on a dinner for friends in our core group who have a new snuggly baby at home.

Peanut Butter Cookies

After we dropped dinner off we headed to Target for our weekly trip.

I taught a wild sweet room of 3 & 4 year olds about Jesus at church on Sunday and then we headed home.

Grandpa & Grandma came and picked up Aiden and Felicity for a fun day at the pool while Jesse and I headed out for a Disney date. It was a wonderful day and the park wasn't too full. We had some disappointing moments but over all it was good - the mine ride was down, which was the whole reason we went :( . We then headed to Downtown Disney for dinner nachos and a movie with my best friend and her hubs.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! 

Weekend Update

Friday was the typical Rudolph movie night with Cinderella showing. I am just gearing up for the new one opening this weekend! *Did someone say date night?

Saturday Ellie and I road tripped to Fleming Island for a friend's bridal shower and totally forgot it was Bike Week! ugh traffic was awful but we made it and had a great time.

We then rewarded ourselves with a little shopping here!

On our list: pizza dough, waffles, chocolate covered almonds, and corn puffs! We still both had cookie butter so it didn't make this list. Yummy!

Sunday was so nice we just enjoyed the day even with losing that hour of sleep! With our usual stop here.

with a little Starbucks too!

While the kiddos played outside, Jesse and I cleaned out my car - I pretty sure we collected a trash bag worth of trash out of it! But at least we can see the crumb covered floors now!

Oh well on to a fabulous week here! It's the week before Spring Break for my students and Aiden's the following week so let the craziness begin.

Weekend Update

What a weekend we had!

Friday we headed to Disney for a little fun in the dark!

This cutie got to play the beast at Enchanted Tales with Belle and he was awesome! Felicity even joined in the fun as a salt shaker. 

Then we waited in a shorter then normal line to meet these lovely ladies! 

Honestly these sweet moments made my whole weekend! I know we did other things like clean and a Target trip, some church and some cooking, a little laundry but these were the real highlights.

Have a fabulous week!

Weekend Update & a Disney Adventure

Friday was Rodeo day here in Osceola county and I was at the ABHE Annual Meeting so Aiden got a Mimi day. By the time I got home it was bedtime. 

Saturday: We all slept in and then enjoyed the warmer weather outside. 

Then we loaded up and headed to Oviedo for a co-ed baby shower for Jesse's brother and sister-in-law. We are pretty excited for Baby Emma to make her debut.

Jesse won 3rd place (copper bottle) in the bottle chug challenge! He was pretty proud - excuse my side pictures I was competing with the big cameras and I only had my iphone :( 

My kids know how to party. 

She loves her Uncle Jake! It must be a red head thing. 

Sunday we headed to church. 

Someone picked out her hair bows, socks, and shoes by herself. It was a little over kill but she was happy.

We headed home for lunch and changed and headed to Animal Kingdom for some afternoon fun.

But first Starbucks!

The Festival of the Lion King was our first stop. This is one of our favorite shows. 

So excited to see our favorite characters. 

Then we headed to the Safari. 

Clearly they are really excited!

The animals were pretty active. The safari can be hit or miss but this was probably one of the best ones we have been on. 

Here's my Disney tip of the week - Each park has a baby care center - inside the baby center they have nursing rooms, changing tables, and a room with seating and a disney movie or show on and it's air conditioned!! We stopped in to fill up our water bottles - they also have water dispenser and ended up staying for a quick snack and A/C break.

We headed home and got the kiddos in bed by 8 - I am so glad they can't tell time yet! Then Ellie came over and hung out with the sleeping kids (aka - watched our Netflix) while Jesse and I had a grown-ups only grocery trip to Target. {ps - Yoga pants are $10 this week!!}

Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Weekend Update

Valentine's Weekend was a great weekend. 

 We spent Friday night per normal - pizza and a movie - we picked up Alexander and terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day - it was so funny both the kids liked it and we all shared some great laughs. 

Yummy heart pancakes for breakfast. 

Lots of playing and a Chick-fli-a lunch with our little valentines before they headed off to Grandpa and Grandma's for a sleepover. 

Jesse and I make a quick stop to Ikea - thinking about a new dresser for our room. 

Then we made our way to the AMC Dine -in theater at Downtown Disney. We saw Jupiter Ascending -enough sci-fi for Jesse and enough flirting for me. 

A little sleeping in for us and we headed to church and then a parents only trip to Target which was wonderful! Then our sleeping children came home and stayed sleeping! Holy cow the things I got done! 

Once those sweet kiddos woke up we headed to a fun night at the fair (it's so nice we just walk across the street.) We stayed up too late and ate too much junk food but it was wonderful. 

Felicity spent the first 20 minutes like this

but once the animals were introduced she was totally on board. 

They did a little 4-wheeling. 

I love that these college kids just love my kids-Felicity stuck to sweet Macie like glue and would call for her. They were playing fish and it just melted my heart. 

We came home and fell into bed. 

This sweet man sent me flowers at work and I heard a rumor that a new Alex & Ani was ordered - he sure is a keeper

Here's to a great week ahead! 

Weekend Update

This was a weekend that I didn't want to end. It was hard to leave it.

Thursday afternoon Jesse and I left work early and headed to downtown Orlando and checked into the Aloft Hotel. Jesse had a work party there a few years ago and we always wanted to visit so we thought this was a good time. It's an office building that was turned into a hotel so the rooms have interesting features. We changed and head across the street for dinner at The Boheme Restaurant. They had me at nutella lava cake! It was a wonderful meal with my cute guy. We then headed to the new Dr. Phillips Center to see Disney's Newsies. The show was AMAZING! I could not take my eyes off the stage. If it comes to a stage near you...GO!

Friday we slept in! We even missed breakfast it was glorious. We headed to Mall of Millenia to return a few things and pick up a new pair of jeans. I settled on the girlfriend jean at Gap, they had a darker wash in store that I chose. I had some Gap cash to spend. We had a nice lunch at P.F. Changs and then headed to Epcot for a little fun on Test Track. We also looked for the new coffee cups but found out they had been pulled. We grabbed a tea and hopped on the monorail for a ride over to Magic Kingdom and I was very lucky to get one of the last three tumblers they had in stock thanks to some very nice ladies who decided they didn't need an extra one - made my whole day. I also picked up the coffee mugs because my cabinet of coffee mugs isn't already over flowing. ;) We then checked into a hotel off Disney property. We did a little outlet shopping before we headed to Downtown Disney - which is still under construction, it is going to be really cool when it is done but right now it's a little bit of a nightmare. But we parked across the street and walked over. We decided to do a flashback to our newlyweds days and catch a movie and popcorn for dinner. We saw Into the Woods and we absolutely loved it. If we go to Downtown Disney we must go to the Lego store (according to Jesse and Aiden.) Jesse has been saving his Lego points to purchase the Star Wars  Red Five X-Wing Starfighter (aka Luke Skywalker's ride) He was pretty excited to finally add it to his collection.

Saturday we meet my mom and the kids at Magic Kingdom and had a day full of fun. The park was a little busier than I would have liked but the weather was beautiful and we made it work. We finished off the night with Logan's Roadhouse for dinner (peanuts and hot roll always entertain the kiddos.) Then we all fell into bed.

Sunday we slept late and mommy woke up sick (oh allergies and sinuses how I loathe thee) so it was a pretty slow Sunday for us. We made a quick trip to Target for the basic groceries.When we came home Felicity and I took naps and then we headed to the Big Game Party we(Student Life) were hosting for the students. There we a ton of students there and plenty of food and it was a great night. I honestly only watched the last 4 minutes of the game but those were the ones to watch! I was on the Seahawks bandwagon but mostly because I like their uniforms (if it's not SEC I don't really watch!)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and beginning of the week (these allergies have been kicking my butt all week.)