Friday, May 28, 2010

Birthday Babies

May is my girls' birthday month. Lillie turned 5 on May 3rd (we were at Disney World) and Gracie turned 3 May 25th. It seems like yesterday I was just bringing them home from the hospital, and now they aren't even babies anymore. My how your life changes with the addition of little ones - changes for the better! They have been such a blessing to my life and I have to thank God that he is allowing me to raise such beautiful and sweet little girls.

I went thru a bunch of pictures and found one of each when they were between 6 and 12 weeks old. I can't believe they were ever that little!
Lillie Asriel

Gracie Elizabeth

Here they are on the day of the birthday party:

Lillie

Gracie

Being Goofy

Monday, May 24, 2010

"Fly Swatter"

Gracie and I made a trip to Walmart this evening. On the way there we passed a field with several horses. Gracie started talking about how they swing their tails and asked why. I told her it helps keep the bugs away.

Her reply, "Sissy doesn't like bugs. I wish she had a tail so she could keep the bugs away from her."

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Pretend Play

For those who don't know, Gracie has pretend kids. To be exact - she has at least 2 babies named Silas and Elijah, at least 3 boys named Phineas, Ferb and Chuck E Cheese, some girls and several teenagers.

We have taken them with us to different places and she randomly talks and plays with them throughout the day. She will also bring a phone to church, the store, or wherever so she can call them on the way there, when we are there, and on the way home to be sure they are being good and just to let them know what we are doing. They don't come with us because of their jobs, in which they don't make any money. I have even been asked to babysit them on occasion. It is interesting some days - to say the least! :)

Yesterday she asked me to play duck, duck, goose. I told her it was too hard to play with only 2 people (Lillie was at her friends house). She replied that her boys and babies are playing, so now we have more people. I agreed to play along - who couldn't with that logic.

She wanted to be the ducker and of course, picked me. After chasing her, I began ducking, even the pretend kids. I decided to pick one of the pretend boys. While running around the circle, Gracie was rolling because she was laughing so hard at me. I sat down and said, "Yes, I won!" While still giggling she replied, "Mommy, they aren't real!" ;o)

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Disney Overview

As posted previously - we had a great time at Disney World! This was my 2nd time to Disney, but Alex and the girls first visit. It was also to celebrate Lillie's and Gracie's May bdays. I am not sure who enjoyed it more - the girls or Daddy?!?!?

We choose to drive. We left at 3:30am and drove about 13 hours to Valdosta, GA and finished the drive the next morning (just over 3 hrs). It was a great drive. The girls were awesome and got along great.

It was so HOT the whole trip. The normal highs are in the mid 80's according to Alex's family who lives in Florida. The highs while we were there ~ 93-95 degrees. But we didn't let a little heat bother us, we just spent a lot of time in the pools at our hotel!

We went to Magic Kingdom the first day we were there and needless to say the girls were in awe. I loved the look on their faces the first time they saw Cinderella's Castle! I only wish I had my camera - I forgot it at the hotel. :( We also got to see Mickey and Minnie the first day! One of the funny things that happened to me was when I was going thru Minnie's house. A four yr old boy (I am guessing at his age) smacked me in the bottom and told me to move. When I turned around, he looked a bit embarrassed - I believe he may have thought I was someone else. So, I literally got hit on the first day! :o)

Alex's aunt and uncle from Ft Lauderdale came up Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was so nice because they have been so much that they new where to go and when.

We went to Animal Kingdom on Saturday. The Lion King show was pretty cool. Then we saw a bunch of characters - Timon, Pumba, and Simba at the show - then Goofy, Donald, Pluto, Pocahontas, Terk, Baloo, King Louie, Chip and Dale, Thumper and his girlfriend, Raffiki, and Jimny Cricket. Gracie was a bit unsure of the characters until we got to Pluto and Goofy. She literally pushed me away and informed me that she was not scared anymore. It was too cute.

Sunday we went to Hollywood Studios. Lillie only two things there she wanted to do - go to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area, and eat at Pizza Planet. We did go thru the rest of the park and watched a few shows. The 3D shows are pretty cool, but neither one of my girls liked them too well. It was a little too real for them. We saw several characters there too, even the elusive Daisy Duck - who I have heard from cast members is extremely hard to find.

Afterwards we went swimming (we did that everyday) and then to Downtown Disney. The girls had a blast playing in the fountains that sprayed. They also got to pick out a few souvenirs.

Monday was Lillie's 5th bday. (I can hardly believe she is that old!) She wanted to go to Magic Kingdom and see the princesses. We got to see Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. Plus we saw Pinochio and few others. My favorite that day that we saw were Tigger and Pooh. After getting pictures done, Tigger sat in Gracie's seat. Gracie hung her head and ran to Alex crying. Pooh came over and consoled her. Tigger did get up, and thankfully didn't break my friends stroller, and apologized to Gracie. Then he sat on her lap! It was cute. The girls also got their ears that day. After riding all the things the girls wanted to, we went back to the hotel for some cake for Lillie's bday. That night we watched the SpectroMagic Parade. It was so cool! The girls LOVED it. Lillie didn't stop moving her knees the whole time and I thought Gracie was going to lose her arm because of how hard and fast she was waving. We did not stay for fireworks any night. It was just too crowded and the girls were barely staying awake as it was.

We spent our last day at Magic Kingdom seeing the fairies and Mickey and Minnie again. We took our time and saw everything we wanted to that we had missed and then whatever the girls wanted to see again.
Our drive home was not as pleasant as the trip there, but we made it after a stay just north of Atlanta. Those carseats are not the most comfortable things to ride in for 15+ hours. I had brought plenty of surprises that made it somewhat better.

I have so many things I could tell you, but I will leave it at the basics and maybe share a story or two later on. :) We took almost 300 pictures, so I am only sharing a handful as not to bore you.

The girls and I have already begun saving for another trip to Disney! It may take a couple of years, but I am sure we will get to go again.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Our Disney Cost

We made it to and from Disney with no problems and we had a blast. I think that I will post a little about our budget/cost today and then pictures and more in a few days.

We booked our trip thru the Disney Site. Our trip included 5 days, 6 nights plus the quick service meal plan.

We stayed at the All-Star Music Resort in Disney making traveling to and from the park a breeze - we rode the Disney buses.

The total of the above was $1693.74 plus because we booked before march 27th, we got a $300 Disney gift card upon arrival. While at Disney, we spent less than $70 out of pocket!!!

I recommend the dining plan to whoever is going, it saves time and is pretty reasonable. Our dining plan allowed for 2 meals and 2 snacks per day per person. Since Gracie was under 3, she didn't count for this, but they give you so much food that she shared off everyone's plate happily (she is quite the mooch anyhow). If we would have purchased our meals, the bill would have been around $35 - two meals a day = $70 a day. Snacks could of easily cost us $20 a day. We brought stuff for breakfast and also used some of our snacks for breakfast items. I know you could bring your own food, but that means one more thing to prepare and think about when you are trying to have fun and relax. I, personally like the convenience of the dining plan.

We used our gift card to buy souvenirs for each of us. We each got at least one shirt (Alex and I got 2) and we also got a beach towel and 2 mugs. The girls got ears, necklaces, and stuffed animals, puzzles, and several other trinkets that they wanted. ALL purchased thru the gift card. The girls also got to pick out a toy from Grandma and Grandpa - who gave them each some money before we left. I would not have normally let the girls get so much, but since it was not out of my pocket, it didn't bother me. (All this doesn't include what Alex's aunt and uncle got them for their bdays)

Overall, after factoring in gas, hotels on the way to and from, meals when we were traveling, and misc items needed our total out of pocket cost would have been just over .................$2100.00 !!!