First Week....

We all survived the first week of school. We fell back into our routine pretty quickly!

So, Ben... he started out the week super anxious about switching classes. As I predicted, after actually doing it on Tuesday, he was totally fine.

This year, he has the benefit of four different teachers, including the only two male classroom teachers at the school. (there is also an instrumental music teacher who is a man)

One of them is Mr. H. Every kid in the school from 2nd grade up knows Mr. H.. He's definitely one of those "cool" teachers who gets fourth graders, especially fourth grade boys. (he has four boys of his own) He wears funny ties sometimes and is big into sports and I always see the kids in the bus lines yelling things to him or high-fiving him.  He reminds me of the kind of teacher I know my dad is.

Ben has Mr. H for science. Now, Ben has always been a science-loving kid... he has studied (quite in-depth, I might add) everything from the solar system, to volcanoes, oceans, bugs, sharks/ fish on his own over the years. In the first few years of school, science and math kind of take a backseat to literacy, which makes sense. It's crucial the kids learn to read and write well first and foremost. But I knew Ben would really embrace school when REAL science came on the scene. And it appears it has. He came home the first day talking about fossils. The third day, he came home with a journal from reading class saying this:

Before school yesterday, he wanted to know more about electricity... where it comes from, where it goes... (OMG kid... I'm packing lunches...  here's the internet... ask Google!!)

Last night at dinner, he asked at least a hundred questions about DNA and genetics. He wanted to know what would happen if you just took DNA from one person and DNA from another person and put them together in a dish. I explained that that's called a "test tube baby" and we ended up having a little "facts of life" refresher. LOL.  Then he wondered what would happen if you took DNA from two different animals... "depends on the animal... sometimes you end up with a donkey." "Well how do you extract DNA? I want to do that!"  I told him I once took a genetics class in high school and we extracted DNA from fruit flies and made it so you could actually see it.  That blew his mind.

 (and, just FYI, that class was so over my head it wasn't even funny... Turns out, I somehow managed to accidentally take an AP class a year ahead of my own just because I thought genetics was cool... one of my classmates ended up becoming an actual brain surgeon... another became, no lie, a rocket scientist....)

Anyway, so I always knew he'd be into science class once it really got going and it seems I was right. And it also appears he has a teacher who already inspires him. So this is going to be a really awesome year for him!!!

He hasn't said much about Math, but I know he loves that teacher too and he's doing okay so far. They are learning about decimals and I've already been confused. THanks, math. I still hate you.

He has the same teacher for reading and writing and I've heard through the grapevine that she is a phenomenal writing teacher. When he feels inspired, Ben actually REALLY enjoys writing, and I think she'll be really great for him to really hone something i know he enjoys even though he doesn't always think he does.   In reading, they are getting ready to read the book "Wonder" and he's excited about that. Oh, and in case he needed an extra reason to love that class, he is seated next to his best friend. One of the positives of them shaking up the class levels this year meant this was a actually a possibility... never in a million years did I think they'd actually be seated together. But for now, they are... with a girl between them... who happens to be Georgia, a little girl who Ben went to preschool with and was BFFs with during their time there. How fun is that?

For homeroom, he has his reading teacher from last year. While I would have loved for him to have had her for reading/writing, I'm thrilled she is part of his fourth grade year even just for homeroom. She's a wonderful teacher and knows Ben well from last year. I love that he starts and ends the day with her and I think of it as his "safe place to land".

Really just seems like it will be a good year all around for him and he really seems to be finding his footing academically.



Simon ....

I was initially worried about how things would go. Simon can be a tough kid in the classroom... not with behavior... but in quiet ways. I knew he needed just the right teacher to make this a successful year.   I don't know any of the first grade teachers, so I didn't know what to expect; but as soon as he came home on the first day and said, "I think I have the nicest teacher in the whole entire school!!!" I knew it was going to be okay. He continued to talk all week about how nice his teacher is and how much he loves her.  :) Makes a mom's heart happy...

He is SO happy, loves going every day and has found friends in his class. He only has good things to say when he comes home! The little bit of classwork that has come home looks like he is putting forth his best effort too.

They haven't split into reading groups yet, according to him, but he did bring home two little take-home books "Cat Sat on the Mat"... that sort of thing... and he read them easily.. so the reading is definitely improving.

I haven't communicated with his teacher at all.  My teacher friends all told me to let her figure him out for herself. I was pleasantly surprised when she came up to me yesterday at pickup. She told me he's doing really well and that particular day had been FANTASTIC.... and to ask him about getting on "purple". Purple means he was a role model for other students. :) He reports it was because he was standing in line so nicely. So sweet....

She added that he is warming up to her, smiling at her now sometimes and just really doing a nice job in general. They had a little assignment where they had to come home and ask about where their names came from. She said he got right up front yesterday and explained everything we had told him about his name! Proud of him... I was praying for a really good classroom/teacher fit this year and it seems we may have gotten it.

Everyone did great in their specials.... no complaints... even from Ben who was dreading instrumental music. LOL.

So a great first week all around!!

Allergy.... or Not?

The pediatrician called last night to give me the results of Simon's bloodwork.

Strangely, he tested completely normal, which, as the doctor explained, means that he is no more likely than anyone else to have a systemic reaction to any food. He asked me again what happens when he eats shrimp and how many times it has happened and I told him... numerous times since he was about two or so and tried it for the first time.  Projectile puke... undigested shrimp.  Every single time. Fine immediately afterward. It's fabulous.

He said what it probably means is that he's sensitive to it... but the blood test means that he won't have an issue with hives or swelling (throat closing up or anything like that). So that's a relief. I don't have to worry when we go to restaurants that something has been cooked near or with shellfish (fried in the same oil, which happens a lot) or that some gets into his food somehow.

But , he said we probably want to avoid it just to avoid the puke thing. He did say we were good to try other forms of shellfish in small amounts and in a controlled setting with Benedryl nearby.

Gah.

It still kind of scares me even though it apparently shouldn't.  So we'll work up to that. I won't be making crabcakes anytime soon!!

Off to the Races....

It's official! School has started! My mom keeps asking me if I miss the boys... truly, I do love having them home but it was TIME. They needed the structure back and so did I... so the truthful answer is no, I actually don't miss them right now! Happy to see them when they get home, but everything is as it should be. Their little minds are being stimulated, they get to see their friends. Order has returned to my house. Win-win.

Ben came home yesterday and reported mostly negative things about fourth grade. I gave him some grace because I could tell it was mostly anxiety about things that were still unknown and different. He found out he has four different teachers throughout the day and subsequently, has to change classes four different times. This has ratcheted up the anxiety to levels I haven't seen in a long time. They didn't do the actual switching yesterday, so he just got to stew about it for 24 hours, which is never good.  To his credit, he pulled it together and walked into school this morning. I assured him it will only take a few days to get used to it and he won't even think about it. The switching is even all in the same hallway, so I'm not really sure why he's so worried... getting lost would be kind of difficult. LOL.  We will get to know four of the five fourth grade teachers this year! Craziness.

He is also REALLY worried to death about one teacher that, for whatever reason, he has it in his head is mean. She isn't. I hear a lot of things about teachers while standing in the parent pickup line  --  the good, the bad, the ugly... some true, some not... runs the gamut. But this one I have never heard a negative word about... in fact, several parents have raved about her TONS in the past. I heard she is a stellar writing teacher, which is what Ben has her for.  He found out yesterday he has her all afternoon so he was a wreck over that. I promised him what he thought was WAY wrong...   I think he'll be pleasantly surprised.  

He did find out his best friend Tommy is in those last two classes of the day, so that's fantastic for him. I'm really happy about that even though the two of them sometimes goof off and egg each other on. It's good for him to have a friend beside him. :)  (though, not literally because I sincerely doubt they will be seated together and if they are, it won't be for long) 

His other good friend Max moved away over the summer, which he didn't find out until yesterday. He was really REALLY sad about that... to the point that he almost made ME cry. The kid finally finds two little friends who really get him and like him and one leaves town. We don't even know where he went. In the long run, this is not a bad thing because the family was kind of a mess (dad in jail...restraining order...  that kind of thing) and the mom never returned any emails for playdates anyway... but still, I feel sad Ben has lost a good friend to pal around with at recess and whatnot... :(

Though Ben made the day out to be all negative, his homeroom teacher emailed to say he had a really great day, actually. In fact, he won a tootsie roll for being the only kid to unscramble a word on the board. Smiled all day, laughed, talked to friends, participated in everything. :) Wonderful news!

Simon shocked the heck out of me by being excited yesterday. He bounded right through the doors, with no hesitation and no bad attitude! The first words out of his mouth when he came out of the pickup line yesterday were, "I think I have the nicest teacher in the whole entire school!" That made me SO happy to hear that he thinks that. He talked about her all evening and how nice she is. He likes his class... two good friends from last year are in there with him. He loved getting to play on the big playground at recess and at gym. 

He earned some tickets for good behavior, but promptly lost them. I was happy to hear he had earned them though! :) It means he must not have had his surly face on yesterday. LOL. 

I am doing my best to not email teachers for stupid things this year, so I really haven't had any interaction with her yet, other than a quick hello on sneak-a-peek night.  I am taking the "no news is good news" tact and hoping it doesn't backfire on me.

So good days all around (even if Ben didn't really report it that way). I'm excited for a great school year! :)

First Day of School....

Fourth and First!!

This is my little sad sack of a fourth grader... he was so worried about getting a mean teacher. (he only knew his homeroom teacher going into it this morning)  I'm 99.9% sure his worries are unwarranted... more later.

Open House....

Yesterday afternoon was the open house at the elementary school.  It started at 3, but we arrived at 2:30 because yeah, I don't do that fighting for a parking spot nonsense. We met up with my similarly Type-A sister-in-law and niece on the playground and the kids all played until it was time to go into school.

The boys dutifully hauled their heavy backpacks in without much complaint while I sang "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and skipped. My children tolerated this surprisingly well.

Also? I rehearsed Simon before we went in.

"Hi Simon! I'm your teacher, Mrs. B! Welcome back to school...  and now you say....??"

Just wanted to make sure he wasn't going to hide or run away, growl or snarl.  He did okay. But more on that later.

First we headed to Ben's room because I knew I could leave him there and focus more on Simon. Ben's homeroom teacher is his reading teacher from last year and I have to say,  it was really, REALLY nice to walk into a classroom to a teacher we already knew. I know she only has him for homeroom, but even that will eliminate ONE round of explaining Ben to people this year. Case in point? His seat was right up in the front of the classroom. No accident, I'm promise you.

His room smelled like the Clorox wipes that come in the green can.  Best. Smell. Ever. (next to Clean Cotton from Yankee Candle) Ahhh... I love the smell of a squeaky clean school before it gets converted to a winter germ factory.

The classroom theme is Hollywood and the teacher had rolled out a red carpet for the kids to walk in on... so cute! I helped Ben put his things in his desk and then got him set up doing handprints in back of the room for the wall of fame. He said he was okay with coming to find us (he did this last year too and can I just say that having an "older kid" makes life so much easier?) and so Simon and I headed off to find his classroom.

Simon's classroom is very close to his kindergarten room, which is nice. He's less likely to get lost and wander aimlessly on the first day. It's bright and cheery, as first grade classrooms should be! :) We found his desk pretty quickly. I didn't get a chance to take a picture at his desk though because as soon as we got there, there was a checklist of things to to be done. He was busy filling out a star shape with his name and favorite things ("minecraft!!!")  while I put all the supplies away, signed some forms, put things in his locker, etc. His teacher introduced herself to him and he whispered his name and refused to make eye contact. I call this a raging success, meaning he spoke, which is lot more than I expected. He also didn't try to leave the classroom.... so yay for that!

His desk is in a pod of six and he's either right up front or all the way in back. I actually couldn't tell which end of the classroom was the front.  This is probably a good thing...  there's bright, learnin'- type stuff on every wall! ;) Also, in my defense, it was really chaotic and I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention.

The teacher's organization really impressed me (Love me some good organizational systems) as did her demeanor as I listened to her speaking to the other kids and parents. I'm really hopeful for a good fit and a good year in general for Simon.  He has quite a few kids in his class from last year, more than I initially thought... so that's good!

On the way out, I remembered the photo, but another kid was using Simon's desk so we settled for one at the classroom door.  I got a smile!!! And a pose? I think he was just happy we were leaving....

We also stopped by his locker and practiced opening and closing it. Took a couple tries. :)

Oh and interesting note about lockers -- in fourth and fifth grade, they apparently don't put names on the them. There are no cheery rainbow stars or peace signs or labels with adorably written names lining the older kids' hallway. It looks like... well... middle school, which I'm guessing is what they are getting them prepared for. Smart people, those 4th and 5th grade teachers.

Later, we doubled back to Ben's classroom --  after the deluge of paperwork in Simon's room, I wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten something in Ben's room because I left there empty-handed!. I was impressed that Ben knew which locker was his.  LOL. First off, I can't believe he thought to ask for (or maybe he just was the unwilling recipient of) his locker number when I wasn't there... secondly, he had already put his art smock and headphones in it while I was busy with Simon. Who is this kid?  I love it!

We stopped by to say hello to last year's teachers, although Simon hid from his kindergarten teacher. (sigh) And we stopped to say hi to Mrs. Terry in the library and take a picture in front of her "Read Box" (free rentals!) which is adorable. :)

So Monday is the big day! Off to the races with a 4th and 1st grader. Crossing fingers for a good day and a good year. :)

Was it Shellfish of Me?

So, we have suspected for about a year that Simon is allergic to shellfish, or at least, shrimp... not sure about the rest. But my brother is allergic to all shellfish in varying degrees,  so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Simon's turns out to be.

The pediatrician gave us a form for labwork at his well visit LAST YEAR. I never got around to it... mostly because the idea of taking Simon to get bloodwork seemed SO daunting and there was never a time when I felt like I could manage it.

At this year's well visit, the pediatrician brought it up, forgave me for my delinquency in getting it done and handed me a new lab form.

He asked me about it again at an appointment Jonathan had a few weeks later.

Then the office called me.

Then they called again.

Then they sent a letter.

So I sucked it up and took him today. Here's the problem. If I had told him what was going to happen, I wouldn't have been able to get him from the car to the lab. He's WAY too heavy and strong for me to carry very far, not to mention, even if I COULD manage that,  I also had Jonathan with me... so it would have been completely impossible.

So I decided not to tell him ANYTHING. I vaguely mentioned a "doctor's appointment" and since the lab is int he same building as our pediatrician, this worked well. He didn't know what was happening until he was in the chair with his arm out.

Then he freaked. I had to practically sit on him. Then they had to bring in a very strong lab tech to help me hold him still so the other lady could draw the blood.

By the end, I was sweating.

But it's done. And he's fine. We're just waiting for the results. Although he may never trust me again when I say he has a doctor's appointment.

First VIsit to the Dentist!

Jonathan went to the dentist for the first time today! He climbed up in the chair like a pro and said "ah!"  Got his teeth counted and cleaned and then checked by the dentist. :)

He joined the "no cavities!" club and got to spin the wheel and pick a prize from the prize box! (he chose a beaded necklace and a little airplane) ;)

He did a great job and will regale you with stories about the dentist's office if you ask. LOL! Success!

Potty Training Dropout....

Tried a last-ditch effort to get Jonathan potty-trained in time for school the second week of September. I realize I still have a couple weeks, but at this point, it's not looking good.

He's not mentally ready yet.... seriously, if you ask him "Don't you want to be a big boy like Ben and SImon?" his reply is, "No. I don't care."

What do I even DO with that response?!

So whatever. I'm happy to wait until he's ready. Diapers are easier anyway! I was giving it a go for the sake of his preschool teacher, but whatever. It's SO not worth the stress and tears (for both of us) that it's causing around here.

I'm 30 seconds away if he needs a change at school. I'm sorry in advance, Mrs. Poe. I tried. I really did!

I did realize a little while ago that Simon was JUST trained when he started 3s preschool. That means he was about three years, four months. He perfected the pee part around 3-1/2 and didn't really 100% get the #2 thing until closer to his fourth birthday.  p.s. This late birthday thing is for the birds! Do NOT have a baby in August if you can avoid it! Just keep your legs crossed until 9/1 and then you won't need to worry about nonsense like this.

So it's time to take a deep breath, step back, and wave the white flag on this.

Also, I need a gift idea for my soon-to-be three-year-old. His birthday is Sunday and I seriously keep forgetting this. Poor third child.

Disney 2013

I can't believe it had been 2-1/2 years since our last Disney trip. I really must have needed the break after our last trip because I didn't even give it a second thought that it had been that long.

Last trip was kind of a nightmare... Loud, annoying Brazillian tourists everywhere... traveling with a breastpump and stored milk.... having to take Jonathan (5 months old) to the Celebration ER  (which is not the happy, shiny place the name names it sounds like it would be) with RSV, getting stuck in Florida for an extra two days because of ice and snow at home. Trust me, while that last part sounds like a dream scenario, it wasn't... because of all the other aforementioned things.

So yeah... we let some time pass.

With the boys being 9,6, and nearly 3, I was finally ready to tackle it again... mostly. We booked it in the winter and I thought by the time August came around, I'd be mentally prepared.

August came and I still wasn't. What was I thinking? August? In Disney? With a toddler?! Can we cancel? Husband said no.

Travel day came way faster than I wanted it to. We left the house at 4:30 a.m. to pick up Tom's parents.  Ben is old enough to appreciate the payoff of getting up at 4a.m., Simon is almost there. Jonathan, not so much. He was very much, "WTH?" when I woke him up.

So off to the airport we went. Managed to get through security with all of our kids and laptops. Then we could settle in at the gate for awhile and stare out the window. Personally, I like to watch the planes take off and land because it reassures me. I'm what you might call... a nervous flyer. It's amazing... not a single one ever crashes while I am watching.  Then I have to hope that my plane follows suit.

The boys just like looking out the window.

We had seven people and since the seats are three across, we divvied up the children as follows:

Simon with Nanee, across the aisle Ben sat with Pap. Nanee and Pap had the easy jobs. Tom and I drew the short straw and shared Jonathan, who we strategically positioned behind Simon so he could kick the seatback to his heart's content and not anger any fellow passengers. 

It actually wasn't as bad as I anticipated. He didn't sleep, but he was quiet and well-behaved. His diaper got so heavy toward the end of the flight that I couldn't avoid having to change him in the airplane bathroom, which was an adventure and a lot of me saying, "Please don't touch that... or that.... don't touch that either."

Finally, after locating all of our bags and some kerfuffle over the rental cars, we were on our way. We reached the promised land around 1:00 or so, after having been up since 4:00a.m. Understandly, the troops were tired. Simon was the first one down.

Jonathan kept going until we got got into our villa after lunch... he passed out around 3:30 and slept until dinnertime.  I passed out with him! Tom took the boys swimming briefly and managed to leave the pool without any of their clothes or shoes. This is why I don't normally let him do this sort of thing without me. Clothes and shoes were eventually recovered, but I spent the rest of the vacation looking for sock matches that never turned up.

This trip was sort of kind of but not really for Jonathan's birthday. He wouldn't wear his birthday button and I didn't ever mention it, so he got no special treatment , cakes, candles or "the grey stuff" at Be Our Guest. I still think he had fun. After all, there were automatic doors galore and that's pretty much all it takes to make him happy these days.  We got a birthday button at the beginning of the trip from a cast member "earning her ears". Her name tag said she was from Columbia. (as in South America) Apparently this is how they write their "N"s in Columbia.

Y'all, I am not gonna lie. Florida in August is like, surface of the sun hot... it's a tropical sweatbox. (Why I even packed my flatiron, I have no idea. I wore my frizzy curls proudly the whole week. No other choice. ) In Florida in August, you really just need to wrap your head around the fact that sweat is going to be dripping down your back into your shorts all day and move on with your life.

We took a boat ride to Downtown Disney the first night... it was 7p.m. or so and still blazing hot. Check out the the red cheeks on the kids....(except for Ben, he always looks too cool for school... I don't know how he does it. He also never sleeps. I'm pretty sure he is not actually human.)

The next morning we were off bright and early to Epcot. While there, we met up with the kids' cousins, and my sister-in-law and her mom, who were staying until the next day.

They were so happy to see each other!  Ben LOVES Alek and Simon and Anastasia are best buddies lately. Everyone held hands the entire time. (commence chorus of "awwww!!!") 

Ben and Simon rode Test Track for the first time. Ben practically had an anxiety attack in line that involved him bursting into tears, insisting he was NOT riding and then throwing his Fastpass into the crowd, which I had to go chasing after. He buried his head in my lap the entire ride. When it came to a stop, he picked his head up and said, "Okay. I liked that. It was AWESOME."  Ben is weird.  Simon was nervous in line but loved the ride from start to finish! Here they are after...

Later that night, after naps and rest time (naps for Jonathan and me, Minecraft for Ben and Simon), we headed back to Epcot for dinner. Fish and chips all around!

The next day was Magic Kingdom day!  We had a tight minute-by-minute plan that would supposedly conquer the ridiculous August crowds and allow us to ride everything we wanted to. I had my doubts, but it WORKED. We hit nine attractions in the time from 9a.m.  - 1:30.  BEcause our kids are giant wusses, Tom had assigned certain attractions "Bravery Points". They were ones he thought they'd actually really enjoy if they could get up the courage to get on them. One of these was Splash Mountain.

Here's Ben right before we headed there.

Dragged both Ben and Simon onto Splash Mountain crying only to get kicked off before we rode because Simon wouldn't stop freaking out. I think they thought he'd try to jump out of the boat. I was relieved. I hate that ride and was only doing so Ben would try it.  Tom was NOT HAPPY WITH ANY OF US. We were briefly that family yelling at each other in the middle of DIsney World because "Darn it! We paid for you all to have fun and you WILL have fun!!!" Eventually, Tom finally dropped it and we moved on and had a great rest of the day.

Here is a photo of crowds on Main Street. The photo actually doesn't do it justice. Every once in awhile, I'd take a step back and just marvel... and wonder where I could grab the kids and hide if there was an emergency while those million people trampled each other...  because that's how warped I am.

Jonathan pondered his park options for later on the monorail ride back to our car...

Little known fact (or at least it seems little known), all Disney counter service locations give away cups of free ice water. We took advantage of this a LOT.... laughing and pointing at all the schmoes wandering around with water bottles and buying sodas. The thing they don't warn you about is that it is sometimes hard to actually FIND a counter service location that's open. During Animal Kingdom day I swear trekked nearly the entire park looking for one before I found it.  Luckily, they are easier to come by in Magic Kingdom, which is where I got these!

That evening, Nanee and Pap took the boys back to Magic Kingdom themselves (suckers!!!!) while Tom and I went on a date to Chefs de France in Epcot.  Now, I think it bears mentioning that I actually can speak and understand French kinda okay, but I played dumb because I'm self conscious about my accent. I couldn't even muster a "bonjour" or "merci". I ordered the salmon without even trying to pronounce what was written on the menu... may as well have said, "What's this froofy French crap? Bring me some chicken nuggets and ketchup!" So we were just a couple more dumb Uh-Mer-Cans  who the waiter probably went back and rolled his eyes about while he got our food.

We did get to see Remy from Ratatouille while we were there, which was sheer luck and was SO neat. Cutest thing ever!

After dinner, we had ambitious plans, but we were both exhausted. So we rode the ride in Mexico and called it a night.

The next day, we headed off to Hollywood Studios with a ridiculous plan that included getting Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania before they ran out and securing the big boys spots in Jedi Training Academy. It was crazy but we got it all done!

Jedi Training Academy was amazing. The boys nearly turned inside out with excitement. Really worth the craziness to get the spots and then all the baking in the sun while we waited for it to start.  They were in AWE when Darth Vader came out... it was priceless.

I was worried about Simon actually going through with it, because you just never know with that one, but he was into it!

I'm pretty sure Ben thought he was actually fighting Darth Vader. 

This one just beat the crap out of Darth pinata-style, much to the amusement of the crowd. The Jedi guy running it calls out lightsaber moves for the kids, but with Simon he gave up and just said, "Okay... freestyle!!!" 

That night was dinner at Be Our Guest, the new restaurant in Magic Kingdom. The plan was to hit some rides in Fantasy Land before dinner. There was some torrential rain and lightning that made it super exciting. Why do people (even the ones I was with) think that just because it's Disney World, you are immune from getting struck by lightning?! They all just wander obliviously with their Mickey bars and turkey legs. Me? I'm looking for the nearest shelter.

Anyway, so we also briefly lost one of our park tickets to a Fastpass machine, but eventually got it back and in the meantime, were given a universal fastpass for any ride in the park... unfortunately, when we got out of dinner, it was already 8:00, Jonathan was FRIED... so I'm embarrassed to say that, of all the amazing possibilities before us, we burned it on Small World, which had a wait for the first time ever in my dozen or so trips to Disney.

Here's another of my "holy crap it's crowded" pictures. Fantasy Land was the absolute worst. Frightening number of people. Frightening.

Here's Ben outside of Be Our Guest with one of the gargoyles. All of a sudden, he's awesome at posing for pictures. Love him. LOL. 

The next day was an off day, which was greatly needed.  By this point, we had nearly killed my husband's parents with our pace. They were pretty good about keeping up with us, but I could tell they were DONE. We had a character breakfast at Ben's favorite spot, O'Hana. (He LOVES Stitch)  Jonathan loved all the characters and ran up with each of them with big hugs. Simon hid under the table for most of them....

Simon finally warmed up a little when Mickey appeared.... 

After breakfast, Ben wanted to take a ride around the monorail track, so we did that. Made a stop at the Contemporary for some shopping, which is where Perry the Platypus (the egg-laying mammal of action)  joined our party, and then walked over to see the new Vacation Club villas over here.

I was meeting up with an old friend for lunch that day, so Tom took the kids to the pool. I was there long enough to catch Ben doing his signature move.  When I returned, Tom had not only remembered to bring back all their clothes this time, but also had Jonathan down for his first nap in two days.

Simon and Perry were also quite tuckered out.  Egg-laying mammals of action need naps too you know.

That night, after a somewhat disappointing dinner at Whispering Canyon (I know everyone has to earn their ears sometime, but our waiter kinda sucked), we came back for bedtime. Ben discovered a hidden talent -- dominoes. He won almost every single round. LOL!

The last park day was Animal Kingdom in the morning.

My husband FINALLY got to ride Expedition Everest after countless trips of not being able to because I was pregnant or we didn't make it to Animal Kingdom. I sat this one out. Not a thrill ride fan and I wanted to see what he said about it first.... turns out, I'd definitely hate it, so glad I sat out. This was when I ended up circling the entire park looking for ice water... with all three kids. Eventually we found our ice water and, bonus, CHURROS, which  Ben always says are his favorite food in the world. So, it was worth it. 

Somewhere in there we did A Bugs Life. It was Jonathan's first time and he handled it like a pro. Ben, who has done it like six times since he was Jonathan's age, whimpered and covered his eyes. (shaking head)

We did the safari and were briefly held up with a family of giraffes stood in the road. LOL. I took this picture when they finally moved and we passed them. 

Spent some time in the boneyard. It's funny the things Ben remembers from previous trips and can't wait to do. This is one of them. It's just a pit filled with gravel and sand toys. Great place to cool off and rest though. Not many people take the time to do it but it's nice to stop and rest.... and the boys love it! Nanee and Pap had completely bailed on us at this point and were just sitting on a bench nearby waiting for us to say we were finally leaving....

That evening, we went separate ways (I told you Tom's parents were done... LOL!) They went to a Vacation Club event and to dinner and we took the boys to Epcot to do Agent P...  sort of a "mission" game that involves a cell phone and things you activate in different Epcot countries. Last time we went it was Kim Possible and they loved it... now it's Agent P (as in, our friend Perry the Platypus, egg-laying mammal of action) and so much the better! They had a blast with this.

Get this. Disney is so smart. You only get one phone per family and just as I was thinking, "Holy nightmare... seriously?!" the guy told us there was a "sharing tone" that would go off every five minutes. That meant they had to pass the phone to the next kid. It worked like a charm. This is why I love Disney. THey think of everything!

After Agent P, we had dinner in Japan. I forgot that Japan is home to Pokemon....

The big boys both had a little money still left from what they brought and of course, we left with stuffed Pokemon.  (no, not those enormous ones they are holding)

We spent some time wandering the countries after that...

We got to Morocco and Ben wanted to recreate a picture we have from when he was a baby. I'm glad he grew into his head.

Time to pack that night. I realized we had no breakfast food left, so I was able to grab a last-minute reservation for the next morning at the Grand Floridian character breakfast.  Here, all three boys managed to dump syrup and juice all over their clothes and I had to dig through the already packed suitcases before we could leave for the airport. Next time? They go in their pajamas. 

After breakfast, we spent some time in the arcade. (again, Nanee and Pap were like, "Yeah... seeya. We're just going to go sit over here in the peace and quiet!")  Then it was back to the villa to make sure we'd packed everything.  We loved the Treehouse Villas. Perfect fit for our group and the boys had bunk beds. We'll definitely stay there again!

All in all, it was a better trip than I thought it would be. It was hot, but manageable (I thought). It was crowded, and that was probably the worst part. But we had REALLY good plans and they worked, so we didn't have to skip anything. We'll probably do August again sometime!

The kids are great travelers. Ben, especially, is SUPER into it now and all of our traditions. He wanted to stay longer and asked as soon as we got in the car for the airport when we'd be planning our next trip. Simon is getting there.  Jonathan was ready to come home, but he was great while we were there and really had a lot of fun too.

So, thus ends our adventure. Thanks for a great time, Disney! :) We don't plan on letting another 2 years go by before we visit again! :)