Monday, June 30, 2014

Pool Day


OK. Here is the last post for our May trip to Disney World. One of the the main ways we pick a hotel is always by how fun the pool looks.

The pictures we saw of the pool at the Caribbean Beach Resort really made us want to spend lots of time there.

We spent two days in the pool.
It had a "zero gravity" entrance, which means it gets gradually deeper like a beach.
Rosie LOVED being able to walk around so much by herself.

Obi was pretty happy to be able to walk around by himself too. Although he kept forgetting he wasn't as tall as Rosie and kept trying to follow her.

Obi is always happy to be in water.





The theme for the pool was a pirate theme. They had canons and towers all around.

 They also had a separate kiddy area that had a shallow wading pool and slides. We were really surprised when Rosie decided to go down the slide by her self.
 Obi of course had to try anything his big sister did. But he didn't like it as much as she did.
 This is the ship wreck area that was set aside especially for smaller kids. Every 10 minutes the bucket on top would fill up with water and then dump out all over the ship wreck, and any one who was under it.
 We spent most of our time in the big pool because there was less splashing and the kids could float around. Obi loved floating and kicking his feet.
 Here are my babies walking in the big pool all by them selves. They were very proud of them selves.
 Obi was very comfortable with his Nana in the pool. I thought he was going to take a nap.
 Nana and the babies. Behind them you can see the water in the ship wreck area dumping out.
 Me and my beautiful babies.
 Obi just hanging out
 Any time we go to Disney World we make sure to plan on spending at least one full day (usually two) in the pool. Actually, the day we check out of our hotel is usually a pool day. We check out and then go hang out in the pool. Disney hotels have locker rooms and showers in their pool restrooms so we use those to clean up when we are ready to go. When the kids are good and warn out we get in the car and start our drive home.  It's actually a really fun way to end a Disney vacation.

 Disney pools are always wonderful and usually have fun games going on throughout the day.  Sometimes they play fun Disney music too. At one point the entire pool sang the song from Frozen (you know which one).  It was quite funny.

We are of course looking forward to our next trip to Disney and more fun days in the pool.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Our Day in the Magic Kingdom

Well we have had a crazy busy week around here with Vacation Bible School last week... but I'll tell you about that later.

First let's get back to our wonderful trip to Disney World. Remember, this was a "quick trip" so we only went to the park one day.

Of course by "the park" I mean The Magic Kingdom.  That's our favorite.



We were all very excited and all dressed up in our own way. Obi was very happy to dress up as a pirate. But he was also very serious about being a pirate.

Both my babies looked fantastic in their costumes and were greeted with "hello Princess" or "hello Pirate" everywhere we went.













Obi usually answered with "AAARRRR"


Rosie had a whole list of things she wanted to do, but our first stop was everyone's favorite. The carousel.  Both kids had been talking about riding this for weeks.

Next we had a Fast Pass (that means you get to skip the hour long line) to visit Ariel. She's Rosie's current favorite and Obi was very serious about meeting a real mermaid.
Rosie was so happy to talk to Ariel again and get lots of hugs.
 
Obi was very serious the whole time he talked to her but then finally went and gave her a smile and a hug.
Then there was lunch at Gaston's Tavern. I'd been really looking forward to checking this out.
The kids got special drinks in special cups.
Actually the drinks were so good that no one wanted to share with me and I ended up having to go get my own.

We also go pork shanks for lunch. We got two for the four of us because they were huge. It was by far the best thing I've ever eaten in the Magic Kingdom. It was fabulous and I can't wait to have that again.  I seriously can not even tell you how flavorful and tender and just amazing it was.
The view from Gaston's is Beast's Castle.
After a trip to Splash Mountain we stopped and watched the parade.
It was a fantastic parade and we had a spot really close to the floats so got to see them really well.
Obi was so tired but so fascinated at the same time that he propped his head up against mine to keep awake. This is how he watched the whole parade... with one exception of when he saw Pluto. He got really excited for Pluto.
Trying very hard not to fall asleep...
almost as soon as the parade was over he passed out in the stroller.
After nap time back at the hotel we went back to the park for our visit with Mickey.
I already told you about that magical experience but here are some cute pictures from it again.


The castle at night is always lovely. 

Evenings are wonderful in the Magic Kingdom. The lines are generally shorter and the temperatures are lower. Also, everything is all magically lit up.
We skipped the fireworks (neither of my kids like the noise it makes) and rode rides instead. We went on Small World a couple times and on Ariel's ride, and of course the carousel a couple more times. We also did some shopping of course.
And the very last thing we did... RIGHT as the park was supposed to be closing was visit Enchanted Encounters with Belle. This is an interactive visit with Belle in the her Castle where you get to act out her story with her. It's very fun and very popular. I've never seen the line shorter than 30 minutes long.  So we decided to give it a shot. 
Right as we were walking up another mom asked us if we would join them because apparently you have to have a least 20 people for them to run the thing and our group made exactly 20.  Of course we said yes and then all ran into the cottage while the cast members at the entranced argued weather they counted 20 or 18.

The show started and Rosie was chosen to play Chip. He's her favorite so that worked out.
I got to be Mrs. Pots. I was quite excited about that.
Then we all go to parade around the room with Belle and sing "Be Our Guest"
And finally we all got to take pictures with her.
Rosie loves Belle.
Obi was, of course, very serious about meeting a princess.
On our way out of Fantasyland, the kids finally got to try to pull the sword out of the stone. This is usually quite popular with the kids and always crowded. It was nice to have it all to ourselves for a few minutes.
Naturally, Obi was very serious about it.
He tired really hard with all his strength.

The castle at night and my babies with my mom.
Happy happy babies (a nap is key).
Because the park was basically closed when we left, we got to exit through the castle and lingered on they draw bridge for a while.
It was a wonderful, magical day at the Magic Kingdom. It wasn't what you would call the most productive day. We didn't do everything and we did take a break in the middle for naps and dinner at our hotel. 
But everything we did we very much enjoyed. 
And you know, we'll be back again soon.
Mickey invited us.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Our Disney Pirate Room

 In the past when we've gone to Disney World we've stayed in Disney's All Star Music Resort. It's one of their budget hotels and we really love the pool. (you can see pictures of our pool day there from last year HERE.)

This trip, however, we wanted to try something new. We had a discount so we decided to stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort.

It. Was. Fabulous.



My mom surprised us by booking a themed room. So here are some picture of our Pirate Themed hotel room.

The kids were so happy to be out of the car and in a space big enough to wrestle. There was lots of wrestling in the boat shaped beds.
The beds looked liked pirate ships... but much more comfortable.
In true Disney fashion, every detail of the room was pirate themed. The TV stand was a pile of shipping crates. Each crate was actually a drawer that opened and had lots of storage space to unpack all your belongings and treasure.
The nightstand and the fridge were barrels.
There was a sea chest that also opened for more storage space.
The kids enjoyed the boat beds very much. They were actually quite comfortable.
but mostly they liked driving the boats.
Even the carpet was boat themed! It looked like wooden planks. 
I really want this carpet in our play room at home.
The kids thought it was great fun sitting on the sea/treasure chest.
Here's a picture of Obi showing off the barrel that opened to reveal our fridge. Both the kids loved opening this all the time. I kept having to tell them to keep it closed. 
We kept a lot of food in our room and saved money on food that way.
There was a curtain that divided the bathroom and sink area from the rest of the room for some added privacy. The kids liked the "scary pirate" on the curtain. Here they are saying "AARRR" like pirates.

This picture from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride hung in the room. My mom really liked it.
Here's Obi and my mom posing in front of the picture. You can kind of see the sink area behind them with old fashion light fixtures over the sinks.
The room was absolutely amazing. Spacious and comfortable. We really enjoyed just hanging out in our room and relaxing and letting the kids play. There was plenty of room to move around and even enough extra floor space for them to spread their blocks out that we'd brought. 

This was the area outside our room. We opened our door and stepped out to this. It was so peaceful and beautiful.


This room was a wonderful birthday surprise and one of our best trips to Disney World so far.