Day 1: Chef Mickeys

One of the best decisions we made this trip was to book the meal plan dining option with our reservations. This allows you to travel around the property with your "Key to the World" card instead of cash. Everything is prepaid. Our plan included one quick service meal and one sit down dinner each day along with snacks. The character meals are a table service meal, so I made sure to book one character meal a day. In my opinion, dinner was the best time to reserve a table service character meal because you aren't rushing to get back to all the rides & events We really enjoyed Chef Mickey's diner on our first night. I reserved this meal as we didn't have park tickets that day and this was on property at the Contemporary Hotel. Miller was in awe of boarding the monorail to cruise right into the hotel. Nothing like viewing the park at sunset from way up high...truly magical. It was all about our different modes of transportation this trip that held Miller's interest. Bus, monorail or on daddy's back he was happy as a clam to be moving from place to place.

Our waitress filled us in on the character dining protocol. There are Disney rules to these reservations one must master. We soon learned that it's important to stay near your table. You don't want to miss the character rotation schedule as they hop in a strategic pattern to greet you. The characters come to you, instead of eager kiddos swarming for their turn. Miller learned that he must be ready at a moment's notice to hop up, hand the character his sharpie, point to the page, give hugs & high fives, and then pose for a picture while smiling. These meet and greets have etiquette rules to follow. 

 

Miller still laughs at Pluto resting his special book on his puppy dog nose to sign it. I can only imagine how awkward it is to sign your character name with all that puppy padding:)

 

Mickey Mouse greeted us next is his chef costume looking oh so dapper in his hat. Somewhere in the mix of our celebrity sightings, the characters got the crowd involved in a festive song involving twirling your napkin way up high over your head. In the spirit of participation, Miller took full liberty to spin his cloth napkin like a helicopter over his head with all the kids. It really was cute!


Then Minnie Mouse came quickly after her man. Now Minnie was a little more diva-ish to work with. She did not like to have an arm around her to pose. I'm sure it's because her feet hurt crammed into those yellow shoes of her. Beauty is so painful.

 

Miller was so in love.

 

Between all of our smiling & posing, we managed to enjoy the buffet. Chef Mickey sure knows how to cook up a delicious meal. The shrimp cocktail was a family fave. Miller chowed down on the Mac & Cheese.

 

 Even Poppy got into the character greetings. Handsome Donald sported his red and white apron!  Mickey and friends were such great hosts on our first night on property. It was the perfect way to kick off our vacation. We called it a night around 9:00pm. Our little mousketeer needed a good night's sleep for his upcoming magical day at the park.

Day 1: Carribean Beach Resort

Are we there yet? That was the theme of our road trip to Orlando. Miller was jittery with excitement as we were finally able to let the details sink in. We decided to book a newer Disney story book pirate room at the Caribbean Beach. Since this trip really was ALL about the birthday boy, we thought he'd like this resort the best.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/planning-guides/in-depth-advice/disney-story-rooms/

At check in, Miller received a pirate balloon & "First Trip" and a "Happy Birthday" button. He was thrilled when he saw his ship bed complete with lights on the hull. The carpet resembled wooden planks that you would see on deck. He was in little swabby heaven. So much so, that he named our room the "Pirate House". He asked if we were going to stay there "for all day"-which means a long time in his little world. We changed really quickly and hurried Miller to the resorts mini waterpark feature & pool. This is what really confirmed our decision with the resort. The splash area with water slides was so much fun!

Miller met a buddy at the slides with matching red and navy trunks.It was meant to be:)

I honestly think that he thought this was Disney World.   

Miller loved to stand underneath the swash bucket to let the water pour down on his head every five minutes or so.

 

Then he got really brave and journeyed over to the adult pool with its larger twisting water slide. If you squint really closely you can see our pirate making his way into the deep treacherous waters below. Since we haven't had a swim lesson refresher yet , I wanted him to wear a life jacket....just in case. Once he warms up to his rusty swim strokes from last summer, I'm sure he'll be good to go!

Miller was thrilled to find a new washcloth animal each time our room got cleaned with a card from the maid. There was a surprise hiding behind every corner on this trip! 

birthday send off

 

For months, the whole family has kept a surprise Disney trip under wraps for our fifth birthday boy. Sure, I exposed him to the whole Disney idea this past fall with our free preview DVD that I ordered from the park. But, this mousketeer had no.earthly.idea that he'd be packing his bags for his first Disney World trip in mid-March.
It takes a lot of planning these days to get together a trip. There are character dinners to book, accommodations to research, meal plans to research, park decisions, special outings that need booking etc. I had no idea what I was in for until I took the plunge planning our trip in early January.... only 90 days from our departure mind you. Disney recommends 180 days to plan. I manage to take the reigns on trip planning and pulled it off though advice from friends and an awesome blog planner.

I crafted a cute little autograph book for our little man with the Waldograph font. I found the cutest character decals on each page to reserve spots for special friend meetings. I saved room for a picture of Miller and each character to enjoy for years to come. I downloaded some Disney activity pages for Miller to entertain himself on the road trip. In the front, I included our resort map and park maps for him to study. My favorite page is his little Q & A to record pre Disney dreams...His answers were precious!

 

Omi and Papa came into town to watch Eliza Kate for our family. Such a gift! I wavered back and forth whether or not to take her almost Terrific Two year old self. Even though we had an extra set of hands, she's just not at a golden age to enjoy herself. With her little personality in full bloom combined with her aversion to strollers, I knew it would distract us from the birthday boy.

Now onto the surprise breakfast.... Miller was greeted the morning of our departure with a family birthday Disney send off. His face of shock coming down the stairs to our smiling faces with a decorated tablescape was priceless. Omi and Papa kept with our theme of Disney gifts for the trip.

His gifts included Disney t-shirts, a CARS Leapad game, a light up gifty for the parade, and a special wallet with souvenir cash from the park from Omi and Papa. Miller was overwhelmed! As he was opening gifts and noticing a trend to the packages, Landon announced our surprise trip...but it still didn't fully sink in as he's never been before!

It meant the world to his momma that my frosted Mickey muffins got a thumbs up. Such an exciting adventure for our family celebrating Miller's half decade with us.

More Disney posts to follow on our journey to the Happiest Place on Earth....

Disney Reveal

girls like trains

While this one has a passion for all things girly & pink, she's really taken to the train table lately. We bought this toy for Miller around 18 months, so it seems fitting at 2 that she's now interested. Eliza Kate loves to take the Thomas engine and make him "slide" down the tracks over and over just like a child would do on a playground. She repeats"weeee" with excitement each time Thomas zooms down her slide.

She plays with the train set in her own girly way.

Miller is past the train phase. So, for a brief moment I considered purging the playroom of the train table to make room for all the larger girl toys. I'm glad we've kept it for a little while longer to enjoy and use when guests come over.

Surprisingly, Miller does take an interest to the set when he knows his sister has hijacked it.

As long as she doesn't request Thomas the Train underwear when she's potty training, I think we're ok with this new creative play;) After all, big brother has been known to play daddy with the dolls.

It's a new phase of trying collaborative play with these two. I'm hoping as Eliza Kate ages, this will get easier.

muddy play

The spring like showers have made Grant's backyard a soaked mudslide. These two had a big time mud wrestling after school on Friday afternoon. Boy mom's will tell you that sometimes you just gotta.....well, let boys be boys. It's part of the wild boy adventure... getting dirty that is.  When the sun is shining, these tow beg for outside time. They were picking up handfulls of mud and throwing it off the playscape like fireworks. There was lots of rolling in it too. I almost had a panic attack when Miller was hanging head down on the swing twirling his hair in a pile of goopy mud. Oh well!

 

I stripped Miller man out of his Friday uniform  in the garage and it was straight to the bath for this messy boy. Here's to more roll in the mud, hug your friend kind of days!

full swing

 

T-ball practice season is in full swing for Miller man. Our first soccer team sport was a great experience last fall, but we wanted to try T-ball for Miller this go around. I was a little nervous adding a practice during the week to Miller's 4 year old schedule. Our Wednesday and Thursday evenings are busy this spring. Dinner is rushed on these nights and we're lucky if everyone makes it out the door fed & wearing matching shoes and socks.
I'm stuck in the traditional line of thought that he is still very YOUNG. I don't want him to be over scheduled and our family stressed out with weeknight busyness. Whatever happened to impromptu baseball games on weeknights in the neighborhood?  No coaches, just peer problem solving. That's how kiddos use to learn the game.


 Our Thursday night practice session has proved just the opposite of stress. Miller is excited to burn off his rambunctious energy out on the field. Now that the weather is pretty, we all enjoy our field time as a family.

 I can already tell that his goal is to meet and make great pals being the social butterfly that he is. He's already bonded with a couple of  new friends on the team. One of the things that I love about Miller is that he tries new things without anxiety. Unlike his momma at this age, he can walk into a room or team as a stranger with confidence and very little social anxiety. I think I know where he inherited his little confidence from;)
We signed him up for the 5U Upward T-ball at Grandmama and Poppy's church. It's proving to be a great decision. It's not intensely competitive for this age group, and I love that the program incorporates scripture & a closing devotion time with the coaches. Love that!
There's not a huge focus on who wins the game. Landon doesn't like that aspect of the program as much. But, I assure him that there will be time for competition & winners and losers in the future. My goal this season is learning the game in a fun way.

Our little slugger practicing grounders. Since it is instructional t-ball, the boys truly are all beginners. No Major League scholarship players yet. Every movement is thought out and they're working on hand eye coordination to be able to play the game.

 

Miller's doing a great job hitting the ball. He needs to work on throwing and catching. I foresee many catching drills in the backyard now that it is still light outside after dinner. Thank you daylight savings time.



He thinks he's a hot shot with his new glove and gear. We've just got to find him some black cleats as I end up scrubbing off his shoes after practice to get out the caked on GA red clay stains. I find great satisfaction from effective stain removal though.
 The coaches labeled their practice shirts with tape and their names. We've only had two practices so we are all learning names.

Miller standing on base with his hands on his knees in ready position. This helps him focus on watching the ball!

A little strategy session with Coach Landon on first base...

So far, Miller is taking direction from Assistant Coach Landon very nicely. And, Coach Landon is being very patient teaching the game to the boys. I wasn't sure if Miller would share his daddy, but he's really maturing in that department the older he gets. Directions get very confusing with a "little Landon" player on the team;)

 

Miller is really over the moon to share this experience with his dad. I had to laugh during their team huddle when Miller was climbing all over his daddy. We're off to a great season so far. Counting down the days to the first game!