Mickey Big Ears

For Christmas 2008 Ryan's sister and her husband gifted us and the rest of the family a stay in the Animal Kingdom resort at Disney World for this summer. At the time, Ben was 9 months old and Nate wasn't even an idea yet. The trip finally came!

Instead of Mickey Mouse, Ben called him Mickey Big Ears. It was cute.

We spent a week in Disney with Ryan's brother (Randy), his wife (Rebecca), and their six kids, (Wesley, Jeremy, Avery, Olivia, Justin and Valerie), Ryan's mom (Judy/Grammy), Ryan's dad (David/Grandpa), Ryan's stepmom (Mary Ann/Nana), Ryan's sister (Kelly) and her husband (Michael) and Michael's sister (Jessica). We were quite a crowd everywhere we went. In the parks we were at least 13 strong, sometimes more and we never lost anyone!

Traveling with both kids went better than we hoped! This is a mom thing, but I just have to post this for my memory... Nate only poops about every 3 days but when he does it is a full outfit change. I was really hoping he would go before we got in the car for a 3 hour drive and then in a plane for a 3 hour flight. On travel day we had the car packed up, Ryan grabbed Ben and I picked up Nate only to find Nate was covered in poop. Yeah. I got what I was hoping for. haha. On the trip home he pooped all over his stroller in the airport. I have learned to always have an outfit change for both boys (potty training can be equally disastrous) so Nate and I spent some time in the bathroom wiping yellow off everything and then I enjoyed my now-cold Starbucks!

We had a great time, but we were definitely exhausted. We were go, go, go all day long. The boys were in bed 1-3 hours after bedtime and Ben didn't nap for 5 days straight! I will print this blog to prove to the boys that they did go to Disney World!

I didn't get many good videos, but here are Ryan, Ben and Avery riding Dumbo but they didn't look at me, a group moment and Ben's first time in a big pool.

Our room was amazing. We could look out our balcony and see the animals in the savannah. This is without a zoom from our balcony.

We had a full living area and full kitchen and two bedrooms on either side. Our family of four shared the suite with Ryan's mom, Grammy.

As huge as it was, when you sleep two adults and two children in one room it looks like this! Ben slept on the sleeper chair and Nate actually got rolled into the massive bathroom every night.

One of Ben's favorite parts of the trip was the enormous bath tub. I told him he could have the whole bottle of body wash that the resort provided. We turned on the jets...

and found this. He was in heaven!

Another of Ben's favorite part was the big bus. We took the shuttle buses every day and Ben was a happy boy.

We spent a day at Magic Kingdom. Most of the pictures were taken on other people's camera so this is all I have from that day.

Ben and Ryan in line for the Dumbo ride.

We went to Epcot and loved it. All four of us could ride the attractions. Nate spent the better part of that day in the Moby. We both sweat bullets but he wasn't fussing so we were both happy people. I got a ton of "bless her heart" looks from people.

Ryan with his brother and mom.

We went to Downtown Disney for some shopping. Ryan and his dad bought matching hats that fit them perfectly - it says, "This is my happy face" and has a picture of Donald Duck.

Of course, Ben and I thought Grandpa looked best in this hat!

We spent some time hanging at the resort and splashing in the pool. Nate loved the water.

In Germany in Epcot.

Tired cousins. Valerie and Ben were best buds, tied to the hip. They rode in the rental stroller and another cousin would ride in ours along with Nate. They were so tired at the end of this day.

Olivia could not resist Nate. Wherever Nate was, Olivia was within an inch. It was so cute. He loves her too!

Typical toddlers - Ben and Val had a blast running up and down a small hill while we took a break for lunch.

If you can make out of faces in this pic, you will get an idea of a trip to Disney with little kids. Nate is fussing and Ben is grouchy and Ryan and I are trying to pretend we don't notice the gallons of sweat rolling down our backs. ha.

Hot and tired cousins, Olivia and Justin.

Nate loving his big ears.

Thanks Aunt Kelly and Uncle Michael!