You haven't heard the last of Disney!

Just when you thought you were done reading about our family Disney adventure, here I go, surprising you with some more pictures! These are the Photopass pictures that they take for you at the various parks. We splurged on these, mainly because it isn't often we can get a family picture taken OR feel comfortable enough to give someone our camera to take a clear picture of us.

Most of our pictures were edited to add the special effects (like what you see in the corner in the picture above.) Seeing these photos makes me wish I was back there again....
Ronan didn't really look at the camera all that often. He was much more enthralled with all the happenings around us, but this morning at Epcot, he cooperated and finally looked at the camera. This is probably my favorite picture of the two of us from the entire trip.
I could always count on Riley to get in a Photopass picture with me. To get my money's worth, I swear, I made us stop at every photographer and get some sort of picture taken. I figured that I might as well, because I know not every picture is a keeper.
Doesn't this chick really look like Snow White, or what?This was a cute family picture at Animal Kingdom. Riley was hesitant to do any sort of "acting" so when he asked her to "pretend" to hold a baby, she looked at me nervously. I assured her it would be a cute picture and seeing the end result proved me right! I just hate it when I'm always right.

I love this picture because of how good Ryan looks in it. He will totally deny this, but he is definitely making love to the camera. Work it.

And lastly, this picture was during the Pirate & Princess Party. There was no line to wait for it and taken at night, this picture turned out to be very cute.

Such an awesome vacation....ahhh....which is why we have to go back just one more time before our season passes get blacked out for the summer! Yea! We get to go back for one night this weekend and I can't wait. Ryan and Riley were going to surprise me with the news on Saturday morning, but considering that I have to be the one to pack for all of us, they had to clue me in, I think. So exciting!!! I'll definitely post more pictures when I get back from the mini-trip! (No photopass pictures this time...)

Ignorant Mother: UPDATE

Even after my blog post, I was still upset and so I decided to take some advice from friends and write an email. I changed the names again...but you will get the point. Afterwards, I will sum up what the response was.

Dear Other Mom,
I just wanted to let you know that I was slightly offended yesterday after talking to you at gymnastics. I'm not sure if you meant it to be rude, but your comment about how 'Susie* does in one day what Riley has to do in two days' was very hurtful and something that should not have been said in front of Riley. I understand you were questioning why Riley was moved up and why Susie was not. I don't know the answer to that. We never asked for Riley to be evaluated and when we were called about the new class, we were excited to know Riley was making some sort of progress. I really felt as though you were making it sound that Riley didn't deserve to move up and wished that the conversation would have happened when she was not there.

Please understand I am not trying to be confrontational. I am not looking for an apology. I just felt awful after our conversation and thought you should know how I felt. With that being said, we probably won't be coming back to **the activity we were involved in** next year. It's not because of this situation or what the other mother said about Ronan. I think that it may be too much for her next year and we want her to be able to try other activities she might enjoy.
Take care,
Maria

Abbreviated response I got via voice mail message:

She basically said that it wasn't what she meant and that her daughter has been taking gymnastics for over a year and here Riley was already all caught up, blah blah blah.

My take on that:
Unfortunately, I can only take it with a grain of salt because what she should have done was apologize and left it at that. And had she had any tact, she would have just said in the very beginning that she was proud of Riley. Oh well. I'm not going to lose sleep over this. I am going to stick with surrounding myself and my family with genuinely nice people and walk away from those that don't care.

Oh no she didn't....[insert 'z' shaped finger wave here]

Do you ever say anything you regret? Have you ever said anything and a minute later thought, 'man, I should not have said that' and then begin apologizing profusely?

For some reason, I have been the victim of having things said to me that I just wished they wouldn't have said...and even after of sleeping on it for 12 hours, I'm still upset about it.

This is what happened:

Okay, so Riley was evaluated in gymnastics about 2 weeks ago and they called us up and said they wanted to move her up to the next level. There would be a change in her schedule, but it was nothing that would stop us from moving her up. We were so excited and proud of her and decided to go for it and change her from her original schedule of Thursdays and Saturdays to Mondays and Thursdays (an hour later.)

Yesterday, Riley and I arrive at 4:25 p.m. and sit down and another mom -- whose daughter was in Riley's original class -- was there and this is how the conversation went down:

*Names have been changed to protect me from getting even more upset...



Other Mom (OM): Well, you guys are a little late.

Me: No, Riley got moved to the next class, the one that starts at 4:30.

OM: Why?

Me: Oh, well she got moved up to the next level. I guess they evaluated her a couple weeks ago and said she could move up.

OM: What? Well Susie* didn't get to move up. I don't understand. Why did Riley get evaluated?

Me: I don't know. I didn't ask for it. I guess she's just doing well.

OM: Well, when did Riley start?

Me: July of last year. We are just doing this for fun, though. I just want her to get exercise. That's why she goes twice a week.

OM: Well, Susie's been here longer than that. I don't know why they wouldn't move her up. I mean, Susie does in one day what Riley has to do in two days.

Me: (completely floored and dumbfounded) Uhhh, well, we are extremely proud of Riley and hopefully she'll want to keep going because we might put her in three days a week.

OM: Oh, that's a lot. It's okay though, I didn't want Susie moved up anyway because her friend is in the class now and she joined because of us and I wouldn't want to move her up and out of this class.

Me: (silent but thinking that some expletives should have been used had RILEY NOT BEEN SITTING RIGHT THERE ON MY LAP!)



This lady had the audacity to say this in front of my daughter (who can be very shy and not confident sometimes) and question why she was moved up? I was furious. I had to stop talking to her. She then started to ask Riley if she wanted to move onto the team (gymnastics competition team) and Riley said yes -- not even sure what it was, I think.

I couldn't believe it. I am still hurt by it because this lady is someone we actually are involved in another activity with and have gotten along with relatively well. I was just in shock that she didn't catch what she said and had no idea that what she even said was out of line. Luckily for all parties involved that I'm not a confrontational person or else it could have gotten real ugly, real quick.

The other situation happened a few months ago, but to this day, I still get upset about it and I'm sure anyone who reads this one will be equally as appalled as I was: (Have a seat, this is a good one, too.)

I was at another one of Riley's activities she was involved in, chatting with a few moms about Ronan -- telling them about all his allergies, his lack of eating and how he is a little behind on the speech thing. The one mom begins to question me about his allergies and his speech and says to me:

"Sounds to me like he might be autistic."

What the freak do you say in response to that? I am already neurotic about the health of my children, extremely conscious about Ronan's progress and here I am being told by a mom (who has an autistic son) that my child is displaying everything her son did and is probably autistic.

I left that meeting in tears, called Ryan who told me to never go back, and since then have had Ronan checked. He is fine. He's perfect, except he may have a speech delay. Nothing I can't get have taken care of with help.

Unbelievable, right? I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm on candid camera and someone just wants to get a reaction out of me, so they say these ludacris things to get me to respond. But it's not candid camera -- it's real life. It just so happens to be other moms who have no tact and don't seem to care about what they say and what others would take away from it.

I have learned a lesson through these two events, though. I will never go around and diagnose another child's behavior or situation because I am not a doctor (at least not one with a certificate or diploma -- but webmd has been very very good to me....) and I will always think twice about what I am going to say because I would never want another person to feel like how I felt when that mom degraded my daughter's progress to make herself feel better.

Okay, I feel better. I had to let that out. Thanks.

My Doctorate Thesis: Bingo Halls are the Microcosm of American Society

Alright, I'm not really writing my thesis on bingo halls and come to think of it, I'm not even going to get my doctorate (at least not on Bingo). But, my experience last night at Jackpot Bingo in Brandon, FL, was definitely one for the books -- and as Shelley suggested, a possible documentary we might need to put together for the Discovery Channel.

Before I left for Bingo last night, Ryan told me that he didn't want me to get addicted and I laughed at him. I mean, come on, how could I possibly get addicted to this game? I never win and let's be real, I only have 2 daubers. If I were addicted, surely I would have more daubers than that AND a bingo-themed chair pad for my butt AND a bingo-themed bag to carry all my daubers and lucky charms and tape and garbage bag. The list goes on and on.

I met my friend, Shelley, for dinner and planned to meet up with my other friend, Nikki and her friend at the Bingo Hall. We arrived at the Bingo Hall and as I looked into the window and saw the bingo boards hung up on the wall, I got this little tinge of excitement that ran up my spine. As I took a deep breath, held it as I walked into the smoky hall, I really had this feeling that tonight was my night. Yeah, tonight was going to be the night I was going to come home with the big money.

And then, this husky voice came from a lady behing the counter telling us to get into the back of the line and I snapped out of my daydream and realized I was in for some serious bingo playing. This isn't like your momma's bingo with the little bingo chips -- this crowd had one mission and that was to win and win it all. Still dozing in and out of fantasyland, I was mesmerized by all the different daubers. There were little ones and normal sized ones (all about size, I know) and ones with metallic lids and some with glittery lids. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Since I didn't need to add to my dauber collection though, I passed on the daubers and asked for 36 cards and paid my $21 to play for the night.

I looked around the room and there wasn't one smiling face in the crowd. I went from the nostalgic feeling I got at church bingo, to this "oh my gosh, what did I get myself into" feeling and wondered if Shelley and I were going to be safe. It was apparent that we were Bingo Hall virgins and looking like lost souls, we longed for some guidance and someone, anyone who would take us under their flabby bingo arms and point us in the right direction. We wandered into the "non-smoking" (and I use that term LOOSELY!) looking for two seats next to each other plus room for our friends and wouldn't you know that not one person offered to move over an inch to hook us up!

We finally found a spot where Shelley could sit across from me and as I started to set-up and ask questions to the lady I was about to sit next to, she gets her stuff, starts packing it up and moves to another table. It was almost like it was out of a movie. New girl sits down at popular kids table. Popular kid gets disgusted at new girl and popular kid gets up and moves. So to make the best of it, I smile and think to myself, "oh goodie more room for me and now the other two girls can sit next to us when they get here!"

My friend finally arrives with her friend and as I'm showing her where she is going to sit, the little old lady sitting diagonally from me tells them they can't sit there because that is all her stuff and she wouldn't move it. Let's just say I was slightly shocked and not all little old ladies are nice. (I'm being polite by saying that.) Needless to say, we didn't get to sit with Nikki and her friend. Keep in mind that bingo hasn't even started yet.

We played as many bingo games as we could, bought a couple extra games here and there and unfortunately, I left a loser. But, I didn't leave without taking away a few thoughts about what I saw last night.

Bingo Halls are filled with the most diverse people. Much like American society, people come in all different shapes and sizes and from various financial backgrounds. The Bingo Hall was no different. You had people in there that looked like they walked right off the street with what donations they could get from the corner of the highway trying to win the big jackpot. Then you had the newcomers, like us, who just wanted to go and have a good time -- and maybe win some money while we were at it. Then there was Ruth, who comes everyday - through sickness and health (she was vomiting midway through the night and had to leave...and she was sick the night before at bingo, too...nice of her to share!), has her seat reserved with her butt cushion and was helpful during every game telling us what to do if we fell behind. You've got the mean old ladies who are just plain old mean. You've got the younger old ladies who had plastic surgery and wear tight sweaters embroidered with their names and a bingo board and don't forget the ladies that cash their social security checks and spend it all on one night of bingo.

But you can't beat what I saw to be the biggest sacrifice I saw last night. This is a lady who truly loves bingo. She was the lady that was attached to a nebulizer, sitting in the non-smoking room that clearly was still smoky, and doing breathing treatments all night while she played her 45 cards. Talk about a love for the game.

I couldn't help but feel slightly bad last night for some of these people. To many of them, it's probably their way of life. This is the way they lose their money. This is the way they win their money. Are they gambling their retirement away? Is this all the money they were left with after their spouses passed away? Is the root of all evil actually bingo because it really made some of these people so darn mean?!

I had to think about how lucky I was last night...even though I didn't win. I mean, I got to play bingo as a leisure activity. I went to try and have fun. I wasn't there to try and make a ton of money. I was looking for some "therapy" and to have a good time. There were so many miserable people there, I wondered why they would even go if they were going to get so upset over someone new sitting near them. Oh well, fooey on them. The meanest thing I could probably fight back with was the hope that they wouldn't win anything!

So now, my entrepreneurial blood began to flow and bingo is such an untapped market! We should really position it as a sport -- create bingo jerseys with numbers like 'B-4' or 'O-69'; have pants that already have padding built in; customized dauber cozzies that keep your dauber nice and cool while you heat it up playing bingo; glittery bags for daubers; maybe a bingo athlete to help promote products like ointments or something...this could be such a moneymaker! Who is with me?

Oh, and can we just talk about the fact that they took the fun out of calling "bingo" because now, these fogies just raise their hands. If I ever win at that place, call and ambulance because I'm gonna give those people a heart attack when I scream "bingo" at the top of my lungs and maybe I'll even do a dance to accompany it. That's how I'm gonna roll.

Blogging Hiatus?

I haven't gone this long between blogs since I started and frankly, I'm disappointed in myself! I've got lots to catch everyone up on...so get ready (hopefully I'll get it in the right order):

Okay, so last week, my favorite sister-in-law (actually, the only sister-in-law I care about and is worth mentioning--I could go on forever about "my in-laws are worse than yours" stories...but, I digress) turned 30! Sorry, Courtney, if you wanted to keep that a secret! She invited me to celebrate it with her in Virginia Beach and unfortunately, I couldn't go...I'm completely bummed about it still, but I'm looking forward to beaching it with her at the end of July...hopefully I'll be able to make it up to her then! I don't have many recent pictures of us together, mostly because we live so far away. But the picture I do have is from a ghetto wedding we had to go to in September of last year (at least the two of us had a good time together...): Happy Birthday, Courtney!

(I look like I'm naked in that picture. I'm not, trust me. I don't think that Courtney would have stood so close if I was. I don't know, maybe she would have...)

Speaking of birthdays, Riley and one of her best friends, Hannah, share the exact same birthday, July 8th! We discovered this one day during a Steeler Sunday football game at Hannah's house and Riley and Hannah have been "twin's from a diff'rent mutha'" ever since. They have played together too many times to count, and surprisingly, I haven't really taken any pictures of them -- but on this day, I couldn't resist the opportunity to get Abbey (Hannah's lil' sis), Hannah, Riley and Ronan all together for a group shot.

We also had our weekly Dinner With Shelley and this time, it was at Shelley's house. My mom is in town visiting, so she came with us and Shelley went all out with the food -- making sure we left her house STUFFED. The best part of being there for the kids was not the food, but it was Shelley's pool and water features. It took Riley all of 5 minutes to decide to get in and stay in for almost the entire time we were there. Ronan was hesitant to jump in the pool this time around and spent most of the time wasting Shelley's water, hosing everyone, including himself. Our friend, Joni, was there and joined in the fun with Ronan.

On Friday, Ronan hung out with Ryan in the morning -- going to Gymboree and then to Sports Clips to get his hair cut. He came back with the best haircut...a MOHAWK. We love it and he looks more like a trouble-maker now than he did before. The only thing is that I have to remember to put styling product in it or else it looks like he had a really bad haircut.

Hmmm, what else?

Okay, so you know those times that when you become more aware of something, you notice that they happen to be everywhere? Like when I was pregnant, I swear, everyone I saw around me was pregnant. Or, when we first bought our Honda Civic, I started noticing that they were everywhere. Well, Ryan is going to Sin City this upcoming weekend for a bachelor party and I kid you not, ever since he decided he was going, that's all I see anymore. I notice there are more Las Vegas re-runs, all the Food Network shows happen to be in Las Vegas, the Ashton Kutcher/Cameron Diaz (What Happens in Vegas) movie came out last weekend and it feels almost like it's being thrown in my face. I'm jealous he is going. Totally envious. At first, I had this sick feeling in my stomach that he was going to the one place where their tagline is "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas." The only picture I had in my mind was Ryan being surround by strippers and well, you know...but now that I'm somewhat over- but not really - that aspect, I'm just jealous he gets to go on a bachelor vacation while I am here, changing butts and listening to screaming....I will get over that, too, I guess. At least I have bingo.

While I am on the bingo subject, is it bad that I would like to go at least once a week? Does that mean I have to go to some Bingo-holics Anonymous meeting or something? I need therapy, I think.

Here are some random photos of Ronan...they are from last week. He is just so irresistable sometimes.

And I have to give Riley a shout-out this week, too. She was moved up in her gymnastics class to the next level, had her first class yesterday and did awesome. It's so great to see her making progress and she's become so much more confident in the gym. We are so proud of her! I'll make sure I take some pictures at her next class and post those.

What We Did to Stimulate the Economy with the Economic Stimulus Check!

While some people went out on shopping sprees or paid off credit card debt or put their check toward a lavish vacation, all I wanted to do was spruce up the backyard a bit...maybe add a couple bushes (yes, I said bush), some flowers and ideally, a nice pond -- you know, for some ambiance...

Our back yard is pretty pathetic. Grass is dead. No nice trees for shade, no flowers for color. It's just dead grass and a fence. So, I asked Ryan if we could maybe try and put a pond back there or some sort of water feature. He agreed! So off we went to Lowe's to check it out. We found it, exactly what we were looking for. We looked at what we needed and it seemed easy enough. The labor would make us sweat, but that's what we wanted...and here's what it looks like:

But then I got overwhelmed with it all, the kids were screaming and the more I thought about whether or not we could accomplish it, the more frustrated I got...so we walked away from the idea. And now, this is what we get to look at:

So, what did we do with the check so far? Well, since we pretty much axed the idea of the pond, we opted for a different water feature:

And for atmosphere, we get to hear this:

Thanks, Georgie, for the money. I'm sure you can see from our two purchases, we have used it wisely.

Dinners with Shelley

Every week, we try to do dinner with our friend, Shelley. It's not only been great for me (having to cook, for a change!) but it's done wonders for our kids. When Ronan first met Shelley, he was very hesitant, but after Shelley brought Elsie (her 3 pound chihuahua) -- Ronan has fallen in love...with the dog, of course!

Riley has always been drawn to Shelley -- maybe it's because Shelley never ever says no to her and lets her have 2 scoops of ice cream -- and she looks forward to our dinners together because now Shelley brings her 'Entendo DS' (Nintendo DS) for Riley to play.

And Ronan, as you can see, has adopted Shelley into the family! On this night, Riley sat on Shelley's lap and Ronan got jealous, so he had to back his big ol' butt onto Shelley's lap, too...


Speaking of 'Dinner with Shelley,' we've got one tonight! Whatcha cooking for us tonight, Shelley?

Happy Momma's Day!

If it weren't for this: I wouldn't have them:

I'm so blessed. No matter how tough the days seem, how loud the cries are, how stinky the diapers and how I often feel more like a referee than a mom...I feel so lucky that I have all that...Thanks to my precious family for letting me have this holiday. Love you!!!

And Happy Mother's Day to all the cool moms I know out there!

Surprise! Or not...

Riley told me yesterday that on Monday, they had started a project for Mother's Day. She said she couldn't tell me what it was because it was a surprise. I agreed to not ask any questions and left it at that. Riley, however, had other intentions at the end of that conversation...

Riley: I can't tell you anything else, because it is a surprise.
Me: Okay, Riley, that's cool.
Riley: We put a hand print on it. It's a card.
Me: I thought you weren't going to tell me what it was.
Riley: Oh yeah, I forgot, it's a surprise. Are you mad at me?
Me: No, Riley, I love you.

Then today, she gets into the car and says to me:

"You know how I told you I made you a card with my handprint on it and I'm supposed to get it on Friday to give to you? Well, I was just kidding."

Hmmmmm.... slightly shady, don't you think?

Makin' Bacon

Get those heads out of the gutter, people!



We have made some progress with Ronan and today, I'll mark that progress with 12 bites of my cinnamon raisin bagel and his current munchie - a crunchy slice of turkey bacon!



Since we've been back from Disney, I've basically made the same breakfast everyday -- a bagel and a few slices of turkey bacon. Each day, I offer it to him. Each day, he shakes his head no and turns me down. Today, he actually grabbed the bagel half I offered and started taking bites when I wasn't watching.

So that might not look like a lot (it was 12 bites I saw!), but anything other than chicken fries, french fries and popcorn is a step forward!

I know, I know...it doesn't seem like much to get excited about, but considering how hard it has been to get Ronan to venture out into the culinary world, I'll take the bagel and bacon as a victory!

Happy Birthday!

to my niece, Maggie, who turned 3 on April 13th and my nephew, Conner, who turns the big "6" TODAY!

Love you guys and miss you much! Can't wait to see you in a couple months!

Four Things

Four things you may or may not have known about me in no particular order -- directions are at the end:

• Four Jobs I’ve Held: Brand Rep at Abercrombie & Fitch, Public Relations Account Coordinator at Mullen, Nail Technician at La Pomponnee and Administrative Assistant at Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.
• Four Movies I would watch over and over: Dirty Dancing, A Few Good Men, High School Musical, and Pretty Woman.
• Four Places I have lived: Pittsburgh, San Diego, Tampa and uhhhhh, that's it!
• Four TV Shows That I Watch: Hell's Kitchen, Grays Anatomy, Top Chef and Survivor.
• Four Places I have been: The Big Texas Steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas; World Famous San Diego Zoo; 2 different Super Targets and Walt Disney World!
• Four of my favorite foods: Anything Mexican, pasta, chocolate desserts, and fondue.
• Four Places I would rather be right now: Tanning by the pool, somewhere frolicking along the beach in Hawaii, on a tour of Ireland, or in a hot jacuzzi tub -- soaking my worries away!
• Four Friends I think will respond: Ginger, Shelley, Lori and Jill
• Four Things I am looking forward to this year: Seeing my sister-in-law Courtney and family at the beach, starting work, Riley's 6th and Ronan's 2nd birthdays, and celebrating the 1st anniversary of my 30th birthday.

Here’s what you are supposed to do: Hit forward (or copy and paste) and delete my answers and type in your own. Forward this to all of your friends including the person who sent it to you. You will learn a lot of things about the people you know. Have fun.......OR, just enjoy reading the answers I posted

Riley-ism #308

Riley: Momma, what is a-minimum?

Me: A Minimum?

Riley: Yeah, a-minimum.

Me: Riley, can you use it in a sentence? I have no idea what you are talking about.

Riley: Like in recycling. Recycling a-minimum.

Me: Oh, you mean "aluminum"????

Riley: That's what I said. Aminimum.

Me: No, Riley, Ah-loooom-eh-num.

Riley: Oh. Yeah, so what is it anyway?

Pressed Pennies: The VERDICT

You're dying to know, I can tell. You're wondering right now...did she use the new ones? Did she go with the old ones?

Well, I went with the old ones. They turned out great. Yes, there are a few that are dirty looking, but with a little elbow grease, they should come out as good as new. I bought a pressed penny album that holds 64 pennies, but unfortunately, I am 9 short from completing that album. I stopped at every machine I could find, but I know there were definitely several I missed. I guess it will give me something to do on our future trips to Disney.

Magical Vacation (Final Day, Part 7)

All good things must come to an end, so they say. And this morning, it was definitely different than all the other mornings -- not only were we exhausted and missed our reservations for Chef Mickey's, but it was sad to know we were leaving...*tears of sadness*

I woke up at 6:15 am and had to walk around (while Ryan and the kids slept), to soak in the last morning. We were always up with the hustle and bustle of all the other guests, but it was nice to get up and see the calmness of the resort. I had to take a picture of the Volcano Pool -- it just looked so serene -- and to think that just a few hours later, it would be packed with tons of people.

The next two pictures are of us inside our room with the view we had. You can sorta see Cinderella's Castle in the distance, but from our window, it was clear as day. We left the resort and had to stop at Downtown Disney to use up the rest of our snack credits and have lunch, so we ate at Planet Hollywood Orlando and got Ronan his final box of Disney Popcorn before heading back home to Tampa, a whole 80 something miles away....
It was such a wonderful week and now that I'm back to reality, I definitely miss having had 7 days with just my family and no worries in the world to think about. Even though I'm sad it's over, I'm looking forward to planning another Disney trip in the fall and a beach trip with my sister-in-law and her family this summer!

Magical Vacation (Part 6)

Today went much like the days before...lots of eating, lots of playing, lots more eating, some more playing...but it ended like no other day -- we went to the Pirate & Princess Party at Magic Kingdom!!!!(This is a picture of Ronan on our way to Magic Kingdom via the ferry boat. He was in the best mood and so happy to be on it!)


Before we left for the trip, I was pretty much against going, mostly because it was an additional $150 in tickets for us to go. I figured we would have already spent enough time at the Magic Kingdom and I couldn't justify spending more money, just to be there at night. I was completely wrong! We decided the night before to go ahead and splurge, considering it was our last night on vacation and it was probably the best $150 we had spent on this vacation. They basically sell separate tickets for this event, so even if you were there all day, they require you to buy a new ticket to stay. So, the park practically cleared out and there we were, able to jump on 9, count 'em, 9 rides within 2 1/2 hours. Ryan and I were even able to walk onto Space Mountain (I literally did not wait. I walked through and sat down and was off the ride within 5 minutes!) It was such a fun night and looking back on it now, I'm so happy we did it because we have the best memories from that evening.

The fireworks were spectacular that night. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I was in the moment, enjoying them. They looked like they came from all over the park and it had to have been the biggest display of fireworks I have ever seen.

Still makes me sad to think that the Pirate & Princess Party was our last night there....

Magical Vacation (Part 5)

This was the morning I was really looking forward to (and I think Riley may have been slightly excited for it as well!) It was our breakfast with the Princesses at Akershus in Norway (Epcot). When you walk in, they usher you right to where Princess Belle is, and they snap some photos and then point you toward your table. It felt really rushed -- I guess it sorta has to be with all the people they have going to it -- but it was very cool and the food was the delish! Riley met with Belle, Aurora, Mulan and Jasmine. She seemed a little disappointed that Cinderella wasn't there and come to think of it, I don't think we saw her once during our stay!

After breakfast, we walked around Epcot for a few minutes before realizing that Riley was exhausted and miserable, so we left the park and drove to Downtown Disney to get a change of atmosphere. We ate lunch at an Irish bar/restaurant called Raglan Road and all really enjoyed our meals...even Riley ate all her fried shrimp! We shopped around for a bit and went back to the resort for a little swim.

For dinner, we decided to try out Restaurant Marrakesh, a Moroccan place in Epcot -- and I was very disappointed, despite the positive reviews it got. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing, but nothing I had was very good, so after dinner, I opted to stop by France and get some pastries to snack on later that afternoon. We left Epcot and went back to the Magic Kingdom and were able to ride the Tea Cups, Haunted Mansion, Snow White's Scary Adventure, the Carousel, "it's a small world," and Stitches Great Adventure. The greatest thing about being able to go on all those rides was seeing how chill Ronan was. He would be screaming the one minute and then get on the ride and be completely relaxed and delightful.

This night I also realized that our vacation was almost going to end and even though I had an awesome day, it still was such a bummer to think we'd be heading back home a few days later....

Magical Vacation (Part 4)

The Grand Floridian is such a beautiful resort and luckily we had a chance to visit it when we went to breakfast at 1900 Park Fare on our fourth day. Riley met Mary Poppins (I have a picture, but she creeped me out a bit, so I'm not posting it), and both kids were able to meet with Tigger. Food was yummy -- typical breakfast foods (bacon, eggs, sausage and fruit) but everything seemed more fresh. Not sure if it was the atmosphere or our imaginations, but something about that food seemed different than any other breakfast we had been to up until that point.



We went back to Epcot for lunch at the San Angel Inn (located in Mexico) and after walking around for a while, we headed back to the resort where we decided to rent a surrey bike and take the kids out for a jaunt around the resort. It was fun, but it felt like exercise, too (something I was not prepared to do on my vacation!) We didn't have a huge route to take, so that was slightly disappointing, but the kids were laughing and smiling the entire time -- worth it.

The evening wouldn't have been complete without yet another meal -- DINNER -- at 'Ohana. Man, were we stuffed! They serve you family style there, bringing you tons of grilled food and I am not kidding when I tell you that I truly had a belly that resembled one of a 5-month pregnant woman. Even Ryan said he had never seen my belly like that after a meal.

There was no way I was going to bed after that meal without a walk, so we decided to check out Animal Kingdom. It was nice and we went on a ride in Dino Land, but the kids weren't at all interested in it. I'm sure Ronan would have been, had he not been on the prowl for a box of popcorn, but there weren't any rides suitable for Riley (slow-moving and not a rollercoaster).

Although it was not a super-exciting ending to our fourth day, we all still had fun....not looking forward to it ending anytime soon, but still fun!

Magical Vacation (Part 3)

Whoever said vacation is supposed to be relaxing never went on a Disney vacation! I'm kidding, it was relaxing, but for our third day, it sure was packed with activities. This morning was another character breakfast at Cape May (located at the Beach Club Resort). There, we got to meet Goofy and Minnie (who Ronan swung at, so she didn't stand anywhere near him for the picture); and we saw Chip and Dale (the chipmunks, not the strippers).
After this breakfast, we ventured to Epcot, which I really enjoyed. Maybe it's because it wasn't super crowded and felt more open -- so Ronan could run around and not be confined to the stroller.

You also would have thought that we hadn't eaten breakfast yet, from the way Riley was asking for something to eat, or as she would say, "Can I have a snack please?" So, where else can you get away with giving your kid a chocolate covered Mickey ice cream popsicle at 10:20 am? Epcot. That's where.

This was the only morning that was slightly chilly out. I had to buy the kids some sweatshirts to keep them warm...
We had lunch at the Kona Cafe (at our resort) and put on our swimsuits for another jump into the pool. Of course we fit in a nap immediately afterwards. We were beat.
With 7:30 pm reservations at the Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom, we decided to head over there a little earlier to see if we could get onto a ride. There was not a wait for the Carousel, so we tried that out and for such a simple concept, the kids really enjoyed it. Ronan had never been on a merry-go-round before and I thought he would be scared, but he was eating it up. Riley enjoys anything that doesn't go too fast, so this was right up her alley. I must be getting old, though, because I was slightly dizzy after getting off this one.
The Crystal Palace is huge and you wouldn't know it from looking at it. It was another character buffet and although we were in the very back of the restaurant, we still were able to meet a few characters. Ronan is a complete animal lover, so he was in awe of Tigger and Piglet. Riley was happy to get a few more autographs in her book, but definitely ready to go back out and try some more rides.



This night, we got right onto Pirates of the Caribbean AGAIN and called it a night. This was also the first day that WE DID NOT BUY ANYTHING, even after Riley asked us, "Can I buy something?" at every single store, boutique, and stand we walked by or stopped at.