Disney World

Emma enjoyed the fountains in Savannah, GA.

Emma and Mommy at the foutain in Forsyth Park. One of many memories Emma slept through.

Emma's 1st Day of Disney outfit.

Emma running away from Phineas.

Emma and her Pop Pop watching the Mickey show at Magic Kingdom.

Emma loved the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride.

Big girl can ride the carousel all  by herself.

Emma's new friend Minnie is as big as she is.

Emma getting ready to pet Mickey.

Emma petting a goat.

We are back from vacation. It was incredible. When we started planning our trip I thought there would be very little that Emma would be able to do. So not true. She enjoyed the Dumbo ride, It's a Small World, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, countless shows and other rides along with the petting zoo at Animal Kingdom and the safari ride. But the things she loved the most were the simple things. While waiting in line to meet Phineas and Ferb she grew restless- go figure. Fortunately the quick thinking folks at Disney World know how to handle restless kids- give them sidewalk chalk and let them draw. Emma had a blast doing this and threw a fit when she had to meet P and F. (More on characters in a minute) Then we went to a few shows where bubbles were released. HUGE HIT. She loves bubbles. Finally, on Epcot day I knew we were going to letter her play in the fountains like they have at Stony Point. The kid became the show with countless families (mostly European oddly enough) stopping to watch her and a few even took pictures. When the water disappeared she'd look up and hold her hands out and say "Where water go?" It was adorable. Mike has video of this so I'll try to get that from him tonight. Now on to the characters. Our girl was all about meeting some characters and kept telling us she was ready that is right up until it was time to say hello to Mickey or Minnie or Goofy or Daisy or one of the others. Even her favorite Pooh was not enough to overcome her shyness. Of course after we left she cried POOOOOOHHHHHH and HUUUGGGGG. But it was too late. Perhaps next time she'll be excited but at least she didn't cry or scream and just generally stood there and petted them. I'll take that.

Let me tell you what wasn't fun about our trip to Disney. The car ride. Yes in the interest of saving money we decided to drive. Now mind you we drove the Dodge Ram and spent $400 in gas. In retrospect it would have been cheaper to fly and probably less stressful. But we like our stuff and I insisted on taking the jogging stroller so there you go. Fortunately, we brought along our old school portable DVD player and Curious George on DVD. Between that and Toy Story our sweet girl did great. She did not like being in a car seat for 11 hours but with frequent stops and lunch somewhere she could play for a bit she did just fine. Me not so much...that's 10 hours too many for me in a car. LOL.

Vacation and Schedules

We are one month away from our Thanksgiving vacation to Disney World. I am filled with excitement and a little bit of terror about how Emma will do. We are still struggling with the sleep thing though it has gotten better recently. Napping is still a problem. So much so that the school has even started to comment on how hard it is to get Emma to nap. They literally walked the halls with her on Friday until she was too tired to walk anymore and was ready for sleep. All that being said, Mike and I have discussed "the plan" for Disney and we are going to try letting her nap in her stroller and getting her home at a reasonable hour and put to bed. I rented a crib so that we won't have the pack and play battle. If plan A fails, plan B is to go in the morning for a few hours, leave and come back to the house so Emma can nap, then go back to the park and stay for as long as she holds up. I am guessing that we will be doing a little from plan A and a little from plan B resulting in Plan C. Still with me?

Now we have a full house of people going on this trip, Nana and Pop-pop, Uncle Bill and Aunt Jen and cousin Kara as well as Uncle Nick. And there is another family of four staying with us that I haven't met. So, I asked for the room upstairs as far away from the noise and excitement as possible. Hopefully this will help. I think there are a few people who think I'm completely insane to even expect Emma to stay on some semblance of a schedule. I am not crazy. I know that the schedule will be very loose and probably won't look anything like her regular schedule but I also know that my child doesn't do well when she is tired. I have no interest in suffering through some show or fireworks or what have you with a child that is overly tired and grouchy. That doesn't make for a fun vacation for mommy, daddy or baby Emma. So I'm going to try my best and know that that is good enough and really try to ignore the neysayers and have a great vacation. I'd love tips though from parents who have travelled to Disney with young toddlers!