Move In Video

I never got around to uploading this video from the afternoon that the kids got to come in the house for the first time.  I forgot how excited they were!

Piper's Snack Poem

As promised, here is Piper saying her snack poem:

"We hold our hands, we close our eyes and think some quiet thoughts inside.  At work and play we've done our best, now it's time to eat and rest."

Piper Shakes It

This video is too funny not to share. We were leaving the pool to walk back to our room and as we came over the bridge, the song that they were playing just got to Piper.  She had to stop and break it DOWN!  One of the funniest moments of the week, actually, and I managed to get it on video.

Disney - Day 2

We got moving on Sunday morning to get to Animal Kingdom but not as early as I would have liked.  It definitely helped having breakfast in the room but since we hadn't gotten our Disney routine down yet I was scrambling to pack my backpack and get everything ready to go.  Plus the kids were in usual excitement mode and not very good at focusing on things like eating and getting dressed.  I definitely think that if we had gotten there earlier the day might have been a little different.  But we learned from it.  

This was the first time in Animal Kingdom for all of us.  Neither Jason nor I had ever been since it opened after the last time we had visited as teenagers, so we were looking forward to it.  Right at the entrance w stopped and the older kids bought their Disney head gear (Piper had gotten her Minnie ears the night before).  Caroline picked out the springy Mickey antenna and Bryce went for the classic Goofy hat - similar to what I had when I was ten.  The kid wore it like a champ all week!  We finally got into the park and first stop, photo in front of the Tree of Life.  Caroline quickly figured out that it was NOT a real tree and that the leaves weren't real.  Skeptic.

Then we headed to the Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition since we know that gets more crowded as the day goes on and more animals tend to be out in the mornings.  I finally had some really good subjects for my zoom lens and was so excited to get such close up shots of a lot of the animals.  I absolutely love giraffes and we saw a lot of them. They are just amazing animals.  

These dudes were just chillin' by the road - loved it!

Is that you Pumba?

I really thought this was an amazing ride because they are real trucks, not some ride on a track.  I was surprised how much you bump around too.   But when it's a real truck that kind of thing happens - we loved it!

Then we headed out and started exploring.  We saw the Nemo show, got fast passes for Expedition Everest, rode the Triceratop Spin, and then stopped at the Boneyard.  They all three LOVED that.  And while I do too, it's a little unnerving that you can't see your kids all the time.  Piper surprised me by how much climbing she did and wasn't afraid of.

Next up was lunch at Yak & Yeti!  So delicious.  After such a good dinner the night before, I wasn't sure what to expect but I'd heard from friends that it was good (along with reviews online).  It certainly did not disappoint but the kids were a bit worn out and weren't exactly having a great time at first.  Piper started her "I DON'T KNOW!" response to anything you'd ask her followed by crying.  Caroline was a little rude to the server and Jason and I quickly nipped that in the bud.  Bryce was mostly fine but kept trying to sit on my lap and cuddle with me.  Note to Disney visitors - the restaurants can be cool after being out in the hot sun so having a sweater/jacket in your bag isn't a bad idea if you have sensitive kids.  I made do by throwing my "catch all" towel over Piper (an old hooded baby towel I kept in my bag for all kinds of uses - definitely helpful, so glad I had 2 to use through the week!!!)  However, as the meal went on, things got better.  I think they cooled off and their blood sugar was raised and moods improved markedly.

However, I credit Bryce with "saving lunch" that day.  When it came time to order, Bryce couldn't decide between a hamburger or an eggroll.  At the last minute he went with the hamburger and for some reason Piper chose eggroll.  I tried to caution her (because I know how she is!) but she was in a bad mood at that point and she was insisting, so eggroll it was.  When the food was brought to the table, she took one bite and declared she hated it.  Bryce took a bite or two from his hamburger and asked for a taste of her eggroll which she gave him but Piper was starting to melt down.  And then Bryce asked if he could switch lunches - Piper agreed!!  Boom - instant happy kids on both sides.  Jason and I both told him how much we appreciated it.  I had the Miso Salmon as my entree and it was out of this world!  We both had the wonton dessert which was amazing - no wonder all the staff kept recommending it.

Feeling better, we all headed out to ride Everest.  Jason and Caroline had no interest, so they hung out with Piper in a cool spot while we rode.  This was Bryce's first roller coaster and he loved it!  I think it was my favorite coaster of the week too.  I would have loved to have ridden it again. But alas, that didn't happen.  Since the moment we had arrived at the resort, Caroline had been bugging us to swim, swim, swim!  While she was happy when she was actually on a ride, she was less than enthused the rest of the time.  Finally, we gave in.  The line for Kali River Rapids was too long to wait so Jason, Piper, my mom, Caroline and I started to make our way out of the park with the understanding that we would be stopping at the Tough to Be a Bug show.  Bryce decided he wanted to do more and stayed with my dad and Kevin/Kelly.  I was jealous, I admit.  There were so many more things I wanted to see and do in Animal Kingdom.  (Bryce rode DINOSAUR and several other rides while he stayed with them but unfortunately was just a hair shy of 48 inches to ride the Primeval Whirl.)  He also saw the parade and had a great time!

I'm glad we stopped to see the bug show though and Piper promptly passed out in her stroller and then Jason carried her as we waited to go in:

Magically, Caroline was all of a sudden in a GREAT mood because she had gotten her way and knew we were going back to swim so she posed all through the line with the amazing animal carvings.

Piper woke up just in time for the show and we all enjoyed the surprises throughout!

We made it back to the resort and in just a few seconds, the girls were ready for the pool (Piper was suddenly revived - no nap for her!)  Port Orleans Riverside has a bunch of "quiet" pools peppered throughout the sprawling resort but in the middle is the Old Man River pool which is much bigger, has music playing, water falls, and a slide.

I realize now I didn't take any other photos at the pool (because I was swimming and didn't want to have my camera to worry about, but I did take my little video cam and took this quick video so you can see.  It really is a cool pool and I get the kids' attraction to wanting to swim there but we didn't come all that way just to swim!  So the girls both tried out the slide and had lots of fun splashing and swimming around.  Bryce got back just as we did and was so upset that he missed it that my mom took him back for half an hour - thank you, mom.

After everyone had their swimming time and we got dressed and ate a quick dinner at the resort, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the parade and fireworks.  I doubted our decision to do this the but the kids insisted they wanted to.  It was 8:30 before we even got to the park because of crowded buses - the MK had extra magic hours until 3am that night!!!!  The parade was at 9pm so we were getting there pretty late and didn't get great viewing for it.  Piper hung out on Uncle Kevin's shoulders for the best seat.

The Electrical Light parade is one of my favorites because it's something I saw as a kid when we visited Disney in 1982 and 1987.  We had a cassette tape with the music on it and listened to it over and over when we were kids.  I was so excited to hear that it was back and couldn't wait for the kids to see it.  Caroline was less than enthused though but I think a lot of that had to do with our lackluster seats.  My mom and I vowed to see it again later in the week with better seats (we did!).  After the parade was over, Piper and Caroline clearly had hit a wall.  I realllllly wanted to watch the fireworks and to ride some rides but that was not in the cards.  I was learning the drill for being at Disney with younger kids.  Thankfully, my parents and Kevin/Kelly were staying though and Bryce, who wanted to stay, got to.  The four of us headed back to the resort and the rest of them stayed.  My parents and Bryce stayed until after 11pm and had a grand time.  Bryce rode so many rides.  Kevin and Kelly stayed until after 2am and said that they just kept getting on rides and had such a good time.  Color me jealous!!

Even though I was feeling a bit frustrated after our first full day in the parks, the rest of the week improved in terms of how much more Caroline and Piper.  I also think we became less likely to indulge them and we powered through and they sucked it up and dealt with it.  Again, just something learned as we continued to get oriented to the Disney experience with younger children.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Here's a video of the kids, Jay and I riding the Mad Hatter's Tea Party (aka the Teacups) the first day we were there. I hope you don't get motion sick.

GOAL Playback

Here are two short videos from Uncle Jesse of Bryce's goal last week....the goal is only 6 seconds so Jesse just managed to get it!  The second is all his high fives to his team.  Just so cute! The expresion on his face is priceless.  Thanks to Jesse for capturing this!

A Few Minutes with Piper

I decided to try and get Piper to sing "Someday My Prince Will Come" so I could video it and the only way she would do it is if I told her it was for Gretchen. So Heather, make sure Gretchen gets to see it. I was only supposed to be of her singing but then she kept talking and doing funny little things so I kept recording. She was cooking for me and kept wiggling and dancing around the whole time just being typical Piper. I like how at the end you see her start to wiggle and off she goes to the bathroom. YAY Piper!

Argh!!!

Well, we finally were able to take the kids to Urban Pirates for Bryce's birthday outing.  Thanks to Irene for changing the date from 8/28 until this past Saturday.  We would have done it the next weekend except that was the date of the VERY annoying Grand Prix in Baltimore (plus my SIL and her husband wouldn't have been able to come).  So thankfully, everyone was able to make it and Urban Pirates were wonderful about rescheduling!

The boat departs right out of Fells Point.  You get there, they get you all on board and dressed like a pirate.

Piper was the one that got into it the most.  Caroline wouldn't do anything other than get a tattoo.

The boat takes off and away you go.   I was amazed at how the captain had us weaving in and out of the little areas of the Inner Harbor.  And yes, we made quite a ruckus!  There was dancing, yelling, and even a little pirate story telling.  I have to give the crew a lot of credit, they really stay in character!

The most fun part of the trip is when the sneaky (bad) pirate comes and harasses you.  Everyone mans the water cannons and shoots him.  Bryce especially loved this part!

It was a fun afternoon and we ended it with some ice cream at Maggie Moo's.  Even Caroline who didn't dress up and didn't really participate in all the fun said she had a good time (and she hadn't even wanted to go).  Big thanks to my parents, Jay's parents, Chrissa, Kelly and Jesse for coming along for the fun!

Underwater Video

Underwater video is fun!!!!!

Caroline:

Bryce:

Piper:

Giraffe Feeding

Here's the video of Bryce feeding the giraffe.  Sorry about all the Piper crying - poor thing chickened out right after Bryce fed the giraffe his leaves. 

Lots of Talking

I posted this on Facebook, but for those of you who haven't seen it, I thought you'd enjoy it.  Bryce had been talking for about 10 minutes before I started recording and he probably would have gone on longer had he not figured out that I was videoing.  But this is just an example of how Bryce can talk, unprompted, for very long periods of time. Usually his topics are all over the place, but this video is mainly focused on the size of dinosaurs.

He's with me at work today and, man, he's already talked more to me than Caroline did the whole day yesterday. Love this kid!

Skating Video

Here's a cute little video of Caroline from Sunday. You can see how hard she's trying. I just love this!

Piper Kicks

This little girl never ceases to amaze me. She's always been a tad ahead on physical development so I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. Not having any natural athletic ability myself, I'm amazed that any of my genetic offspring would have any physical talents.  We were out playing in the yard tonight and Piper started kicking the soccer ball around.  The first thing she did was stand there and just do static kicks with one foot.  She kept saying "One foot!"  Then, she put the ball in front of her and said, "Two feet!" and I had no idea what she was going to do, but she put her feet together and did a hop and kicked the ball with both feet at once.  I laughed so hard at her ingenuity.  She did it a few more times and then when I went in to get the camera, she wouldn't do it anymore.  But, she did let me get a video of her doing a little dribbling although not as good as the first few times she did it.  It caught Jason's eye too.  So maybe she has some natural talent.  Not that I would know.  She's a good little runner and swimmer too.  Who needs speech, right?

Who's Johnny?

The kids were rocking out to some forgotten 80's songs last night and this was their little dance line that erupted to Who's Johnny? Yes, that's right, from the movie Short Circuit. Totally awesome!

Flippin' Bryce

Lately, this is all Bryce has wanted to do in the evenings....turn on music and flip.  A few times he's done a rather good handspring but mostly they're just sort of cartwheels.  I'm impressed at his ability to do them over and over and over and over.  Not sure what motivated this new move but I like his shirtless attire.  And nope, never had one lesson.  ;)

Interview with Per-pie

I Like Garlic?

Just my first video upload to my blog from my new digital video. Piper was singing and it sounded like "I like garlic" so we asked her if that was what she was saying and she said it was. Then you get a little bit of her talking to my aunt and then, of course, hugging Lola.

Deck Fun

I posted this on FB last week but I know not all my readers are on FB so I thought I'd post it here too. I giggle every time I watch it.  Piper is quite content being the hanger on.

The Amazing Swimming Piper

I can't remember if I've talked about this or not but Piper is a water baby! She loves to swim and has no fear. Here's a little video my dad put together of her swimming in their pool along with the pool at the beach last week (low res, but you get the idea). She's doing actual strokes now, the only issue is getting her head above water to take a breath. Once she is doing that, she'll be swimming like crazy!  You also get to see at the end of the video, Bryce swimming.  This child would not swim without his swimmies a month ago and now he is a bona fide pro!  He said he wanted to swim under water so we told him to wear goggles, showed him the strokes and he did it.  Crazy!

Dance Time

I was trying to get some videos of Piper dancing but when you turn on music at our house, everyone dances. Well, maybe not Jason. Excuse the playroom in it's usual state of complete disarray. But doesn't stop the dancing.