Our Disney Trip and Useful Tips for Families with Small Children

We just got home from our first Disney World trip with all three children. We had a great time during our short trip and we learned a lot about flying with small children, Disney with small children and just traveling with small children in general.

Friday morning we surprised the children by waking them up super early and telling them we were going to Disney World and that we would be flying. They were so excited! We got to the airport with our three children, three carry on bags, three car seats, stroller and diaper bag. Allegiant Airlines kindly checked the car seats, carry on bags and stroller at the check in, free of charge. I had read several places online that it is okay to bring liquids in excess of the three ounce limit if it is for your child. I brought a few juice boxes and some yogurt for the kids. When we got to the TSA check point, I unzipped my lunchbox containing said juice and yogurt and showed it to the TSA agent, who was very nice. She asked if I was responsible for the contents of the lunchbox and I said I was. I then received a lovely TSA pat down. Apparently, that is required since the TSA could not test my kids' juice boxes and yogurt since they were sealed. This brings me to Tip #1: If bringing yogurt, applesauce, juices, etc. on board a plane for your children, make sure it is contained in something that can be opened. Otherwise, you may have the pleasure of really getting to know your TSA agent.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful except that it was a bit bumpy at one point and Cadence yelled "Are we going to crash!?!?" Tip #2: Explain the concept of turbulence to your children ahead of their first plane ride. Liam spent the entire plane ride tucked into my Ergo. I touch more on baby wearing in a little bit.

We arrived and had lunch with one of my mommy friends and her daughters. After lunch we tried to check in to the hotel, but there wasn't a room ready for us. We headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping and to meet Chris's aunt for dinner. When we got to Downtown Disney, Gabriel immediately went into a full blown meltdown because we "told him we were going to Disney World." I explained that Downtown Disney was part of Disney World, but he wouldn't hear any of it. He was curled in a fetal position in the floor board of the rental car sobbing. This brings me to Tip #3: If you are arriving in Orlando in the earlier part of the day and not planning on visiting the parks until the next day, either a.) change your plans and go that day or b.) make it very clear to your children that they will see Mickey the next day.

After dinner we checked into our room. Chris headed out to the store to pick up a few things. There are a few things that we always bring with us into the park. Tip #4: Pack an empty soft cooler in one of your suitcases. The night before going into the parks, put some water bottles in your freezer (Tip #4a: ALWAYS get a room with at least a kitchenette.). In the morning, pack your soft cooler with the frozen water bottles, some juice and some soda. Put some cookies and crackers in your diaper bag or backpack. Tip #5: Keep some beer in the fridge for after you return to the room.

On Saturday we went to Magic Kingdom. We brought the stroller, my Ergo, our soft cooler and our diaper bag. The Ergo was worth its weight in gold in the parks. Seriously, if the only two days I ever used it was this past Saturday and Sunday than it was a well worthwhile purchase.Tip #6: If you are a baby wearer, for the sake of your sanity and the sanity of your family, do NOT forget your carrier of choice. I was able to wear Liam on Snow White, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Aladdin's carpets, all of the show type rides, the carousel and many more. It was amazing! He was able to nap, undisturbed, through several rides. Best. Idea. EVER. The stroller ended up being more of a luggage cart than anything. I contemplated leaving it behind the next day, but it was a nice thing to have. We would basically park it in an area of the park and ride everything around that area. Then we'd get our stroller and move to the next area. It held our snacks and drinks and was great when one of the big kids got tired or we needed a portable time out spot.

Obviously, there are some rides that you cannot wear your baby on. For example, I would not suggest wearing a baby on Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc. ;) Tip #7: For those rides that your baby cannot go on, go visit a cast member at the entrance to the ride and ask for a rider switch ticket. One parent can take the bigger kids (or just go by themselves) on the ride. When he/she comes off, the other parent can take the rider switch ticket and go in the Fast Pass lane. The bonus to this is that a person with a rider switch ticket can have up to two additional people with them. Therefore, Chris could take Cadence and Gabriel on a ride. When they got out, I'd take Cadence and Gabriel back on the ride in the Fast Pass lane. It worked beautifully!

We were only in the parks for two days, so we did not want to spend a lot of time waiting in lines to see the characters. I highly recommend scheduling at least one character dining experience while you are there. Last time we visited we did two and this time we did one. I don't think the kids felt like they missed out.

We went to Epcot on Sunday. Tip #8: If you can, plan to spend two days in Epcot. We had to zoom through it since we had to do it all in one day, but we still had fun. Epcot is my favorite park, and Chris's too, so we would have liked to spend more time there. We got a table at the Rose & Crown about thirty minutes before the fireworks. Tip #9: The Rose & Crown has a private viewing area for the fireworks. If you get a table there, your server will escort you out to the viewing area just before the fireworks. It is well worth it! It was rainy and yucky outside and we were able to wait for the fireworks to start in the comfort of our dry dining room, sipping on a beer and munching on a cheese platter. Fantastic.

We thought we woke up this morning in plenty of time to eat our free hotel breakfast (another must for traveling with kiddos) and get to the airport. However, it took us about 20 minutes longer than anticipated and the drive to the airport took another 20 minutes longer than anticipated. Before I knew it, we were arriving closer to an hour before our flight took off rather than the suggested two hours. I was starting to worry. Tip #10: Allow yourself more time than you think you could possibly need in getting back to the airport. We dropped off our rental, checked in and got up to the gate about 25 minutes before our scheduled departure time. A few minutes later, an airline employee came over the speaker. I expected him to announce boarding. Instead, he announced that our flight was delayed for about two hours. Luckily, the airport had a kids' section that was showing kid-friendly movies. We watched movies for the next two hours and then boarded our plane.

All in all, it was a great trip. It was a little stressful, but we survived. We'll definitely do it again when Liam is a little older and can enjoy it more.

Here are a few pictures. The first is my favorite as it pretty accurately sums up the chaos of the weekend. :)

Evanescence

Disclaimer: I apologize for the terrible spacing. I copied this post over from Word and no matter how many times I put two spaces at the end of a sentence, Blogger seems to ignore it. So sorry!

A few months ago, it was announced that Evanescence would be kicking off their new tour in Clemson. Since they are my favorite band, I was stoked! I checked my calendar for the date - a Friday! I almost never go to concerts because they usually fall on work/school nights. This was great! I scrolled down my calendar a little further and realized that was a very important day - Chris was scheduled to undergo ACL reconstruction and meniscus repair. I immediately pushed the concert out of my mind.

Over the next few weeks Chris kept telling me that I should buy tickets. I refused. He even said that he'd be okay to go to the concert that night. I wouldn't entertain that idea at all. In the end, I didn't buy tickets. Three days before the concert, I was driving to work and listening to my radio. They were giving away tickets and meet & greet passes to the show. I figured I'd try to call in and, if I managed to win them, than it was just meant to be. I won!

I still was battling the idea of leaving Chris after his surgery to go to a concert but he continued to assure me that he would be fine. I decided that I would take Cadence with me. Although she is only eight years old, she loves Evanescence as much as I do. She is taking piano and voice lessons and wants to be like Amy Lee when she grows up. She knows almost all of their songs and can tell you what album and track number a particular song is if she hears it.

I bought Cadence an Evanescence t-shirt and she picked out some accessories from Charming Charlie's and off we went. Prior to the show, we attended the band's sound check and watched them practice about six songs. Cadence asked if there would be more people at the concert as there were only about 50 at the sound check. I assured her that there would be. After the sound check, the members came around to meet everyone and sign autographs. Amy Lee stopped and spoke to Cadence for a few minutes. She asked Cadence if she preferred singing or piano and Cadence told her that she preferred singing. She reminded Cadence that she needed to practice and also told her that she has a very musical name. Cadence was completely star struck.

Here are some pictures of the items we had autographed. We were not allowed to take photos in the meet & greet session; however, the radio station took some and should be uploading them to their website sometime soon. I'll update the post once they are up.

After the meet & greet, we grabbed some dinner and met up with John and Erin, who were also attending the show. We made it back to the concert and found our seats. They were pretty great - third row in the bowl. It was a little loud for Cadence being so close though and we were a bit cramped so we moved up to the upper bowl for the rest of the show. Cadence was completely happy up there. She got very excited when certain songs played but was disappointed that they did not play "Haunted" - Cadence's favorite Evanescence song.

We got home very late and Cadence slept almost all the way home. Chris was still curled up on the couch - Grandma and Big Jake to excellent care of him. Although I hate that Chris had to miss it, I think Cadence had a great time. It was an excellent first concert experience.

Camping, Apple Picking and Amelia Island

The end of summer and the beginning of the school year has brought a lot of fun activities our way. The air is a bit cooler and we are able to get out more. Recently, we took all three children camping for the first time at Jellystone Campground in Marion, NC. We had a wonderful time!! Unfortunately, I forgot the camera. :( It was awesome though!! I highly recommend it for families with young children. We spent Saturday afternoon swimming, going down the water slide and playing a family version of "Survivor." Gabriel and I also went kayaking. There was a dance Saturday night and Cadence was the center of attention. We left pretty early on Sunday, but the trip was awesome and we will definitely be back.

We also recently went apple picking with Jon, Christy & their kids. This has become an annual tradition for our families. The kids really enjoy picking apples. We went a few weeks early this year, so the selection was a bit slim, but we still stocked up. Of course, we took advantage of the wonderful scenery and took some pictures of the kiddos in the orchards. Thanks Jon for the first one. Amazing.

Last weekend I attended the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustee's conference at the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. Chris came down with me and, even though I was in class for a good portion of the weekend, we had a great time. I was really bad about taking pictures, so the first two are stock photos from the hotel's site.

When we arrived on Wednesday evening, our room wasn't ready, so they upgraded us to an ocean front suite. No complaints here, of course. :)

On Friday afternoon, it rained for several hours. We went up to our room to get ready for dinner. I stepped out onto the porch to call to check in on the kiddos and was barely able to make out a faint rainbow. We could see the entire thing. It was amazing. My point and shoot camera doesn't do it justice but, trust me, it was beautiful.

On Saturday afternoon, we went out with my boss and his family on their boat. This, of course, is when my camera decided to die. We passed a barge with a crane that appeared to be dredging the bottom for something. We passed the same barge on our way back in and on top was a small airplane! Turns out that it had crashed into the water the day before. The pilot is fine.



The weekend seemed to fly by. The classes were very informative and I learned a lot. The dinners at night were beautiful and we had fun meeting new people. I think my favorite part of the trip though was the mornings. We had to get up early every day and God painted us the most beautiful sunrises to watch while we enjoyed our coffee.

Our Summer

I have been very slack about blogging this summer - probably because we've spent so much time doing other amazingly fun things! Here is the recap.

For 4th of July, I made two sets of yummy grilling-out-themed cupcakes. One was corn on the cob and the other was hamburgers. They were a big hit!

The weekend after the 4th, we traveled to Canada to visit our family up there and to celebrate my mom, my aunt Judy and my step mom's birthday. We were so glad to be able to spend some time with everyone. We had a wonderful time relaxing at my dad's; visiting extended family and swimming at my aunt and uncle's house; visiting Marineland; and, spending the day doing the touristy things around Niagara falls. I even got to meet two of my mommy friends in person on the trip. One lived close to where we were staying and we detoured on our way home to visit the other.

Cadence rode her first real roller coaster on this trip. She LOVED it! I was so proud. It was a very nostalgic moment for me. When I was almost exactly her age, my mom coaxed me onto Dragon Mountain for the first time. At that time, Dragon Mountain was the world's longest and tallest steel roller coaster. Those titles have since been taken by newer coasters, but Dragon Mountain is no joke. It is over a mile long at 5500 feet. It has 4 loops, 2 tunnels and a cyclone. Cadence rode it three times!!

Liam is growing so quickly. It seemed like he started the summer as an infant and now he is thinking about growing into a toddler. I'm still not ready for that.

A few weeks ago, we took the kids to a Drive game. We told them that we were going and the first thing that Cadence said was "Do we get the room again?" Apparently we spoiled her by having a private box during her first baseball game. There was no box this time, but there was a playground nearby and that seemed to make up for it.

This was the first year that I let Cadence pick out all of her own clothes for school. She did really well and was happy with her choices. Hopefully, this will limit the arguments in the morning about what she wants to wear versus what I want her to wear. ;)

Over the last year or so Cadence has become very close to her friend Skylar. Cadence was very happy to spend the last evening of summer vacation at the pool with her.

The next day she was off to second grade. Gabriel starts kindergarten next year. I can't believe how fast they grow!!