Niall's Birthday, Part Two - Legoland

We headed down to Legoland for the first time today, as part of Niall's birthday (he skipped having a birthday party to do this). I had a hard time finding good, solid info ahead of time, so I was really worried about how it would go, but it turned out awesome.

We got there a little late. We were just getting out of the car at 10am, and we had to stop to pick up our homeschool tickets (an amazing deal, btw, if you homeschool). We were going to do Lego City (Driving School and Boating School - Flying School was closed), but the maps suck and by the time we found ourselves in the Technic area, we decided to just do those rides instead of doubling back. We rode Project X twice (walk-on both times), Wave Racers twice (didn't even get off the after the first time), and only waited through one cycle for Technicycle. 

Then we went into Lego City (oh, after stopping to buy flip flops for my Fiona, as hers broke). It was probably close to 11 by that point. There was no wait for Boat School or the Jr Driving School, but we did have to wait about 10 minutes for Driving School. Rescue Academy was the first ride we weren't too thrilled with (though it was a walk-on, at least). Way too much work for just a simple ride!

The Jr Driving School was too hard for the littles, and the regular one was too boring for the big kids, so we'd probably skip those again.

We went into Land of Adventure next, and rode Coastersaurus, Safari Trek, and Lost Kingdom Adventure (skipped Beetle Bounce). Fiona was really scared about riding Coastersaurus, but went on anyway and did great.  I will note that as a bigger woman, Coastersaurus was uncomfortable and my husband had to actually help push in the restraint enough for it to unlatch when the ride was over.  Super embarrassing, and made me appreciate Disney all the more.  The kids also played in Pharaoh's Revenge and had an awesome time. The only thing we had to wait for was Safari Trek because it loads so slow, but that was only about 5-10 minutes.

We got food at Castle Burger. OMG, is the food there overpriced.. even moreso than Disney. We read up beforehand and saw that you can bring snacks into the park, so we brought a small cooler with Gogurts, cheese sticks, and granola bars to cut back on our food spending.

After eating, we rode the Royal Joust, played at the Forestmen's Hideout, then rode The Dragon (Fiona and I skipped it), and Merlin's Challenge. The Dragon was the only ride that had a wait - maybe 10-15 minutes. After that, Doug took the big kids to do Quest for Chi while I took the littles to Duplo Valley. They still play with Duplo a lot, in addition to regular Legos, so my littles LOVED Duplo Valley. We rode the train, played in the barn (oversized Duplo stuff to climb on/play in), and rode the tractors. 

My boys showed up part-way through, completely drenched. They wanted to ride Quest for Chi again, but Doug didn't, so we sent them off on their own. We took the littles over to the splash pad and THEY got drenched, while the big kids rode the Chima ride four more times. At least one or two of the rides, they were the only people in their boat. We spent about 10 minutes in the big store on the way out, and were back in our car around 4:40.

So.. we skipped most of Miniland, though we saw it a bit while walking through. We also didn't do any of the shows or other non-ride attractions, and we skipped Flying School (it was closed), the carousel, Beetle Bounce, and Island in the Sky. We didn't even go into the Imagination Zone. However, all they wanted to do was ride rides (and play at two of the playgrounds), and they got to ride several of them multiple times. Since we're local, we'll be able to go back and check out the other stuff another time, especially with that homeschool discount.

But I can't imagine doing everything in the park in a single day. However, if you've got bigger kids, you could easily skip the younger stuff to make room for the shows and Mindstorms thing.. and if you've got littles, you'll have plenty of time to do the stuff geared toward them. Trying to fit every single thing in one day, especially if you go on a busy day, seems too stressful to me. We had an awesome time, though.. got lots of stuff done without rushing, and spent very, very little time waiting in line.

Niall's Birthday, Part One - Hollywood Studios

My baby turned five, can you believe it?  Such a strange mix of feelings with that.. lots of nostalgia and bittersweetness, but also just lots of sweetness.  Look at this adorable little guy!

Our day started out with chocolate chip pancakes, of course, and then we stayed at home until around 4pm or so.  It felt weird not going out and doing something during the day, but he was so happy to just get to play in the sandbox and have screen time.  I'm proud of myself for consciously letting Niall do what he most wanted to do, regardless of what I felt like we "should" be doing to celebrate his birthday.

Mainly that was because we did have a big evening planned!  We got to Hollywood Studios (riding the tram, above) maybe an hour and a half before our dinner reservation.  Niall wore his birthday buttons - I made him two (one with Spiderman letters, and one with a train).  We did MuppetVision 3D which we hadn't seen before.  It was alright.. some of the kids liked some of it, but I don't think we'll be in a hurry to see it again any time soon.  Doug met up with us then, and we rode Toy Story Mania, which we hadn't done since our vacation in September.  After that, it was dinner time!

For Star Wars Weekends, Hollywood and Vine has been having Star Wars character meals, where you can meet the classic Disney characters dressed up at Star Wars characters.  Pretty fun, right?

The character interaction was pretty awesome.  Goofy, being so tall, was a little intimidating, but he was really sweet, tousled Niall's hair, etc.  We got into a funny on-going conversation with Chip, Dale, & Donald when we asked Chip if they could take Donald in a fight, since the Ewoks beat the stormtroopers in Return of the Jedi.

Obviously, Donald did not like hearing that, and nearly got into a brawl with Dale, right in the middle of the restaurant!  You couldn't get the characters' autographs, which was okay with us because we weren't planning on getting them anyway.. but given the price of the buffet, I'd have been pissed if I was on vacation and they wouldn't sign.  The characters all came around twice, so I don't understand why they wouldn't have time to sign an autograph at each table.

The food was alright.  Nothing to complain about, but nothing fantastic.  Maybe Applebees quality.  The kids absolutely love buffets, though, so that's where the value came from for us.  They were thrilled with it.  Everything was labeled with some sort of Star Wars name, which added to the fun, too.

The dessert station was over the top and really fun.  There was a Light side and a Dark side, and all of the desserts were themed accordingly.  Niall got a bunch of cupcakes and cookies, but I think his favorite was the plain old soft-serve.

Fiona couldn't figure out where to start, or where to put it all!

We gave Niall the option of staying for Fantasmic, but he didn't want to.  So after dinner, we rode Star Tours, then headed over to one of the gift shops to get his birthday present.

He has wanted one of these Disney World trains ever since we started coming to Disney World.  The reviews say they're not that durable, so we tried to hold off as long as possible.  This year, the ONLY thing he asked for was this train, though, so we gave in.  He was beside himself when we got it.  Look at that face!  How could you not buy this kid whatever he wanted?

We got home pretty late, but we had a cake waiting for us.  Niall requested chocolate cake, Nutella frosting, and sprinkles, M&Ms, and chocolate chips on top.  We only ate a little bit, but it wouldn't have felt complete without a cake and singing Happy Birthday.

Niall had a pretty awesome birthday, I'd say.  We all had a lot of fun, too, and the dinner was only slightly appallingly expensive.  Considering we will never wait in line to meet these characters at Star Wars Weekends, the price felt somewhat justified, especially since we got better interaction with them than we would have at a regular character meet and greet.

The birthday celebration will continue with a trip to Legoland!

First Lessons

Man, will I ever NOT worry about socialization?  If it's not my poor, sheltered, un-socialized homeschooled kids (joking!), it's the puppy.  Just like with children, socialization is crucial for puppies.  Unfortunately, at 8 weeks old, Luna isn't fully vaccinated and isn't technically supposed to leave our house and yard.  But I'm certainly not waiting for two whole months to socialize her, because that critical fear-imprinting window will have closed by then.  Thankfully, there are ways to get around that.

Luna has come with us to Lowes, Petco, and Petsmart, riding in the cart while we shop (usually taking a little longer than we would otherwise, because we get stopped a lot by fellow shoppers).  She gets to see different, unfamiliar things, and meet different, unfamiliar people, all from the safety of her towel-lined cart.

We've gone through the drive-thru, even though it wasn't quite lunchtime, just so she'd have the experience (and yes, we did get a cup of water just for her).  She usually naps on the way home, 'cause shopping is tiring.

Some socializing we do at home.  We've spent time wearing large and/or funny hats so she won't be scared of people in hats.  We usually listen to a recording of rain and thunder as we fall asleep, so there's thunder taken care of (though I did read a suggestion to rub your dog with a dryer sheet if a thunderstorm is approaching, because most of the time, they're freaked out about the static electricity in their coats rather than the noise).  We've spent lots of time out back listening to the birds, and out front, we watch lots of different types of cars drive by.  We even got to see Tru-Green spraying a neighbor's lawn, and a front end loader doing some work across the street.

This evening, we went to a farmer's market and just carried her the whole way (so no pics, sorry).  She got lots of pets from a wide variety of people, saw a 3 month old puppy (no contact, though), and heard plenty of car horns.  Tomorrow we're having friends over.  I have a few repeat and prospective dog-sitting clients who I need to do meet-and-greets with, so we'll hopefully set those up next week or the week after, so she learns to accept other dogs into our house.

Whew.  I forgot how much work puppies are!  I've got to look up puppy classes, too.  Petsmart does them starting at 10 weeks, but honestly, I'm not thrilled with the idea of a Petsmart trainer.  Although, it's the puppies I care about, not so much the training at this point.  We'll see.

First Vet Visit

Luna is a riot.  Like most puppies, she is a complete goofball, clumsy and enthusiastic.  The kids think her little manic-puppy episodes are hysterical, and thankfully, she's only dashed head first into the sliding glass door once.  They don't really care for how often she pees in the house, despite walking her all.the.time (Lachlann texted my dad and told him that he walks Luna 50 times a day).

Just look at how little she is, though!  This is our coffee table she's sitting under, which isn't any higher than other coffee tables.  She's just minuscule.  Fiona is especially entranced with her.  When Luna is napping, Fiona will just lie down next to her and stare at her, occasionally looking up at me and whispering, "When will she wake up?"  Like all animals everywhere, Luna adores Lachlann.  I don't know what it is about Lach, but Luna just loves to climb all over him and lick him like crazy.  

This is how Luna sleeps.  Look at that puppy belly!  She always chooses to snuggle up to a stuffed animal (provided a human is not available).  Speaking of bellies, I called and pushed up her first vet visit because her belly was pretty distended, while she's practically skin-and-bones elsewhere.  She's also fond of rubbing her butt on the grass, so I suspected worms.

The vet was super nice, as always.  We'd just brought each of the cats in for their vaccines, in three separate visits.  We were a little reluctant to go back to the vet where we'd brought Maddy to be put to sleep, worried that it would be too emotional.  But it's the closest vet, and more importantly, everyone there was just incredibly sweet and supportive when we brought Maddy in.  Sure enough, I got choked up a few times during the first visit, and cried on the way home, but I've been okay since.  Our vet really loves cats, it was pretty sweet to see.  He especially likes black cats, and thus spent several extra minutes playing with Indy.  He was complimentary on the health of our kitties, and was positively impressed with their size.  I wasn't aware that our cats are bigger than average, but he said his three cats are all about 8 pounds, and ours are all around 16 pounds.  He didn't say they were fat, he seemed to think it's all muscle (as he put it, "My cats wouldn't stand a chance against yours!").

Anyway, back to Luna.  He checked her out and agreed that her belly looked wormy.  However, the test came back negative, so he decided to do a quick scan, free of charge, just to make sure it wasn't fluid in her belly.  When he came back, he said it was 'all stomach' and nothing to worry about, that she'd grow out of it - or into it?  I dunno.  But he gave us de-worming medication to be on the safe side, especially now that she's not one of fourteen puppies, eating each other's poop.  Ick.

Welcome, Luna!

Ever since we had to put Maddy to sleep in December, we've talked about getting a puppy.  At first, it was, "We'll definitely get a puppy, but in a few months, after we've had time to heal."  Then it was, "Ostara would be a good time to get a puppy."  Then the grown-up and kid voices diverged a bit.  The grown-ups started saying things like, "Well, maybe April would be better than March.." and the kids were more like, "But Daddy, I'll just die if I don't get a puppy.."

So there was a little bit of tension for a few weeks, but finally we started looking more seriously at shelters and Petfinder.  We saw that one of the rescue groups that we liked had a litter of fourteen lab/pointer/boxer puppies, so we made plans to head out to see them on Sunday.

The rescue group has a storefront in a run-down mall about a half hour away.  They're only there on the weekends, from noon to maybe 5pm.  We got there a few minutes before noon, but the group was a no-show until almost 1pm.  It was torture sitting there waiting, but boy, did our patience pay off.  They started carrying the puppies in a few at a time, and they were so tiny and adorable.  After they got settled, we spent a while watching the puppies play with each other to get an idea of their temperament.  After narrowing it down to a few choices, we started taking them out one at a time and doing 'puppy tests.'

There were several other families in there checking out the puppies, and a few of them were clearly intrigued by what we were doing, and started trying it on the puppies they had out.  It was kind of funny, because they clearly didn't know what they were looking for.  Monkey see, monkey do.

So we finally narrowed it down to a boy and a girl, then after some more snuggling with the girl, we decided to go with her.  We were a little worried about the application process, mainly because our property management office is closed on the weekends, and we didn't know if the rescue would need to call them.  I was also keeping in close contact with my sister (our reference), to make sure she'd answer the phone if they called.  Well, I filled out the application, the rescue person looked it over briefly, asked if the kids knew how to be gentle with puppies, and then took our payment.  It was the least strenuous adoption process I've ever been through.

Before we knew it, we were in the car with our new puppy!  We headed over to Petsmart to pick up a few things:  dog food, some bones and toys, a collar, etc.  I can't get over how tiny she is (6 lbs!), we had to get an extra-small collar and make it as small as we could.  We hadn't had a chance to order a big crate from Amazon, so I'd been worried about where she'd sleep for the first few nights.. but she easily fits in the cat carrier, so we can put off purchasing a big crate for a little bit.

We started tossing around names on the way home.  Niall liked Iron Man and Trainette.  Fiona liked Elsa and Cutie.  The rest of us liked Mabel, Daisy, Daffodil, Luna, Lilo, Minnie, and a few others I'm probably forgetting.  Finally by bedtime, we had it narrowed down to Mabel, Daisy, and Luna.  We couldn't choose, so we wrote the names on paper, crumpled them up, and tossed them to her, to see which one she'd pick.  She started chewing on Luna, so Luna she is!

Where Did Two Months Go?

I can't believe it's been two months since I posted last.  Bad, blogger, bad!  To be fair, the last month (literally, it's been four full weeks), I've been knocked out with the flu and then a lingering, really unpleasant head cold.  It's all I can do in the evenings to zone out in front of the TV, with my cough drops and Kleenex on my lap.  I've also made some other big changes - I decided working at Downtown Disney is just not for me (mainly the hassle of the construction/commute and the torture of standing still for six hours) - so I managed to get another job, and for the last three weeks, I've been working two jobs (yes, while sick - maybe the reason I haven't been able to kick this cold?)  Five day work week, can you imagine?

So, I'll try to go back and recap the last two months, with a few photo highlights.

The biggest event was my parents' visit.  They were here for ten days and we had a fantastic time.  We did a little bit of everything, from ice creams at the Twistee Treat...

...to a visit to Palatlakaha Park, complete with lots of photography...

...to mini-golf at Fantasia Gardens (a much better experience than the last time we went)...

...to a fun dinner at Friday's, where I caved and allowed myself to be photographed...

and even to a trip to the Polynesian Village Resort for dinner, then a boat ride to the Grand Floridian Dock to watch Wishes, then a monorail ride back to the Poly.

We also took my dad to Animal Kingdom Lodge to photograph some of the animals (Mom wasn't feeling well, so she stayed home).  Fiona brought a notepad so she could draw the animals.

We stopped at the Mara for snacks and silly selfies.  Most everyone opted for the peanut butter brownie...

But I went for the Zebra Domes.  Mmmm.. so, so yummy.

After my parents left, we went to the Magic Kingdom to cheer ourselves up.  This was our first trip to MK with just one adult, and I goofed.  I got us Fast Passes for the Barnstormer, among other things.  When we got there and started scanning our Magic Bands, the Cast Member asked if we had another adult to ride with the littles.  The cars only hold two people, and both Fiona and Niall are too young to ride by themselves.  I realized right away that I had screwed up and waved Colwyn and Lachlann through, telling them I'd meet them by the splash pad (the kids had worn swimsuits to try it for the first time).  Fiona and Niall were super good about it, didn't whine or fuss or anything, but their faces fell and they just looked so sad.  The CM felt bad and asked if someone was joining us later or something, and I said no, that it was my mistake, not a big deal, we'd go do something else.  Well, she told us to hold on a minute, then gave us one of these babies.

With this magical yellow slip of paper, we would get to ride any one ride as a Fast Pass, for all five of us.  She was also quick to point out that this would work at the Mine Train (which is very difficult to get Fast Passes for), and that they would let Fiona and Niall ride next to each other, with me right behind them (it has a similar set-up to the Barnstormer, but for some reason they'll allow that on the Mine Train).  So we got to ride the Mine Train!  Oh my god, the boys were so excited.  Fiona was nervous because she had never ridden it before, and Niall balked at the last minute because he wanted to ride with me, but we managed and everyone had a good time!  Oh, and the splash pad was pretty fun, too.. we'll definitely have to do that again.

The next day we went to Epcot.  Ho hum, right?  Well, we also got to meet up with some of our very best friends from Beverly there!  We did a few things on our own (Test Track, where Lachlann lost his phone for a short time), Ellen's Energy (which we'd never done before, and which freaked Niall out.. guess he won't be riding Dinosaur any time soon!), and Spaceship Earth.  We met up with them in Sunshine Seasons so we could have lunch.  We let Colwyn, Lachlann, and their friend Jack ride Journey into Imagination by themselves while the littles and I hung out in the gift shop, and while our friends took their littles to World Showcase to try an Agent P mission.  We spent a few minutes at the playground, then checked out the butterfly house, then met up with our friends at Club Cool.

We were all hot and tired by then, so we drove back to their resort, Port Orleans, to go swimming.  I know, I know.. resort guests only and all that.. but it was pretty quiet and nobody minded that we were there.  The boys had an amazing time swimming with their friends.

Fiona and Niall swam a bit, too, but then Niall got tired and actually fell asleep on a lounge chair for a good long while.  When he woke up, he and Fiona just watched videos on my phone.. they were too tired to go swimming again.

It was so wonderful to see our friends, and such a bummer to have to go back home!  But we'll be heading north in August, we hope, so we'll get to see all our old friends then.

In other news, this is Whitman:

No, he's not ours.  He's one of the dogs we pet sit.  I found this awesome site that connects pet owners with dog sitters, and even includes insurance for each booking.  We've watched a bunch of dogs so far, and had a couple of repeat clients.  It's such an easy way to earn money, and it's lovely having a dog around again.. even if just for a short while.  We are planning on getting another dog soon.. probably after finishing our next pet-sitting gig.

So.. this new job that I'm doing.  It's a night chaperone job for student groups.  Basically, I show up to a hotel around 11-11:30, introduce myself to the tour group, and wait for their chaperones to get all the kids in their rooms for the night and make sure everyone is where they're supposed to be.  Then they go to sleep, and I make sure the kids stay in their rooms.  I get to position a chair where I can see as many of the rooms as possible, and read or play on my phone (or however else I want to entertain myself), and make rounds as often as necessary.  Sometimes, if I'm watching multiple floors that I can't see, I do rounds every 15 minutes.  Sometimes, if I'm just watching a small number of rooms that I can see easily from my chair, I just walk around once an hour or so.  Around 5-5:30, I go home and go to bed.

It's really not a bad job.  It pays better than Downtown Disney, I get to sit and do pretty much whatever I feel like.  I can have snacks/drinks, and I can use the bathroom when I need to.  I'm a night owl anyway, so it hasn't been difficult to stay awake.  The kids are old enough that they'll let me sleep until 11am or so, maybe later, with minimal interruptions.  I told Colwyn and Lachlann that I'll pay them $1 each for every hour I get to sleep without getting woken up.  I can pick and choose whatever days I want, so I've been doing 2-3 days per week.  We'll see if I like it over the longterm, but so far, I like it a hell of a lot more than Downtown Disney.

And last but not least, today the boys started free homeschool classes at the Microsoft Store at the Florida Mall.  They opted for the Minecraft session first, mainly to see if they like the set-up.  Hopefully they'll do one of the coding ones next.

The littles and I explored the mall.  I am not a mall person by any means, but we had a good time.  The highlight for Fiona was definitely finding the American Girl Doll store.  She was in heaven!  Even as we were just entering the store, two women coming out said, about Fiona, "Now that little girl is excited!"  We also checked out the Disney Store, Gamestop, Claire's, a toy store, and Children's Place.

The class was from 11am-1pm, so despite giving the kids granola bars on the way there, the littles got hungry.  I'd told the kids that we'd get fast food after class (a rare treat), so I figured we might as well go crazy and split an ice cream at noon.  Fiona and Niall were very impressed.

We also found a little play area that the littles really liked.  I think next week we'll spend more time there, and less time browsing shops.  We're also going to have to reassess lunch, because stopping at three different fast food places on the way home was ridiculous.  Packed lunch it is!

Hollywood Studios - W(here)TF is the Hat?

We enjoyed our morning at Animal Kingdom so much that we went to Hollywood Studios on Friday morning.  The boys had been begging to ride Rock-n-Roller Coaster, so it was time to give them what they wanted.  It was really, really cold in the morning, though.  We actually had to bring hoodies (though we did take them off around noon).

We got there a little late, though, and had to wait in the huge lines to get through the tapstiles.  That meant we had to skip Toy Story Mania in order to get to our First Time In Forever:  A Frozen Sing-A-Long (or whatever it's called) Fast Passes.  This was a concession to Fiona, since she didn't get to ride much at Animal Kingdom, and she'd also have to skip RNR, too.

While we were walking in, though, the kids were amazed to see that they were dismantling the former park icon, Sorcerer Mickey's hat.  Doug and I had heard/read about it, but I guess we had somehow neglected to mention it to the kids.  They were totally bummed and insisted I take a picture of them in front of it, looking depressed.

On our way to the Frozen Sing-A-Long, we stopped to take a picture with the giant Coke bottle (which was not misting, obviously), and also stopped to check out the golden coach from the new Cinderella movie.  Fiona was enthralled.

 The Frozen show was, at first, a disappointment.  The first time we saw it, the 'historians' were the CMs who have done Hyperspace Hoopla in the YouTube videos we've seen, and they were amazing.  Obviously, they can't do every show, so I wasn't surprised that the CMs playing the historians were different, but it was a little disappointing.  However, like last time, the show was surprisingly good.  This was mainly because the male historian got a major case of the giggles and blew a significant portion of the show.  I know, not very professional, but I enjoyed it immensely.  The kids also learned a new Frozen joke, so.. win?

RNR was next, and after making sure they got into the Fast Pass line properly, the littles and I went into the gift shop to wait for them.  Niall saw this awesome Aerosmith hat and insisted on trying it on.

It was a little big.

The boys got through pretty quickly, so we let them ride again while the littles and I sat outside and ate Fruit Loops (well, they did, I didn't).  We enjoyed hearing people scream from the Tower of Terror.

We all really want to meet Baymax and Hiro, so we got in their line next.  Unfortunately, Baymax needed more than the 'usual' 15 minutes to recharge, so we had to get out of line after waiting for a good 20 minutes, otherwise we were going to miss our Star Tours Fast Pass.  Oh well, we'll try again after Winter Break is over.

Star Tours was awesome, of course, and afterwards we headed into the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.  It was MOBBED.  I've never seen it like that before, it was bonkers.

But we managed.  I showed the kids where I was going to wait for them, then watched them spend about 20 minutes playing in this giant spider web.  Kids.

Niall was not happy to have to leave, but again, the promise of a tram ride got him out of there.

That evening at storytime, the kids got out our Imagineering Field Guides and had fun looking through them.  The highlight was Niall, looking through the Hollywood Studios book, saying, "Oh!  We have to go to Hall of Presents tomorrow!  It's at Animal Kingdom!"