Big Boy!

Reese is in big boy undies now! His little buns are so cute running around in real underwear! Carson was actually really helpful because Reese wants to be just like him. They love taking turns at the toilet, totally boys! And if I remember right, the last time I posted a picture of my son wearing his first pair of big boy undies I also posted a picture of my twenty week belly shot.

This one is actually 22 weeks I think and completely unflattering (gotta find a better angle for belly shots, blah!) but I have to stick to tradition I guess!

Names

We've had a lot of people ask what names we have in mind for our little girl but Carson has come up with his own list of Baby Sister names:

• Krystle
• Glassy
• Gummy
• Little Mermaid

He's still pretty stuck on Little Mermaid but I think they all have possibilities! :)

Christmas Unwrapped, part 4

We spent our fourth day at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure. It was the most crowded and so we spent the whole day there. I think we got home at like 11 that night, but I don't think my family got home until 1 a.m. and we were there when it opened. That's why this was our last amusement park while we were in Orlando. At this point we were all so exhausted but this was definitely the highlight of the trip! I'm pretty sure it was everybody's favorite park.

We spent the first three hours standing in line for the Hulk ride. I wouldn't say it was worth the wait, but it was a pretty awesome ride. I would say comparable to the Rockin Roller Coaster for sure.  After that, we spent some time in the Dr. Seuss park and Carson was in heaven! He was big enough to go on all the rides and he loves Dr. Seuss. I think he went on the Cat in the Hat ride at least 6 or 7 times through out the day. We went to Jurassic park, working our way over to Harry Potter. We were hoping that if we waited a while, then the Harry Potter park wouldn't be so busy but we almost missed our chance to go!... more about that story later...

Reese thought all the dinosaurs were pretty awesome and Carson could identify most of what we saw but he could only go on one ride, the Pterodactyl Flyers.

  

At this point, we made our way over to the Harry Potter park and found out that you had to go clear back to the other side of the park and get a special ticket that would allow you go inside the H.P. park at a specific time.  So we got our H.P. tickets and right after we got ours (we had to wait like 4 hours before we could go in), they started turning people away because they were all gone. They were telling people to come back the next morning, pay another day's admission, and see if they could get a ticket in. Needless to say, there were a lot of really mad people! You'd be walking around and everyone was talking about how mad they were and how ridiculous it was. I'm sure they got a lot of complaints! It was really lucky that we got in! Come to find out talking to some other people in our hotel that they next day, they ran out of tickets by 11 a.m.!

Ryan and I actually had even better luck and found two tickets on the ground for an earlier time. So we actually went twice. We got in right before the sun went down so we were able to get some pictures. It.Was.Awesome! Just like the movies, totally made you feel like you were there!

Walking into the park...

Tons of people! It was shoulder to shoulder. You couldn't stop you just had to keep walking so sorry for the blurring pictures. It was the best I could do while pushing a stroller! They had all the shops like you were in Hogsmead. I didn't get pictures but there was Ollivanders, Flourish and Botts, Hog's Head, and a bunch of places to buy remembralls, broomsticks, wands, owls, robes. Everything!

And this....

was the best ride ever! Hands down the coolest ride of the entire trip! If you go to Orlando, this is the ride to spend hours waiting in line for! (and we did but not until later because we had the kiddos with us) But we went on the Hippogriff ride because Carson was big enough for that one. I think he went on that one about 5 times too. He's at such an awesome age for stuff like this because he gets it and he's not afraid to go ecstatic about it! When he loved a ride, he couldn't contain himself. He would scream/yell himself hoarse and start shaking from excitement. When we were standing in line, he couldn't not dance around and sing. It sure helped him to sleep good at night! :)

We ate at Three Broomsticks and had pumpkin juice and butter beer. 

Carson had a hard time sharing the butter beer... :)

The castle was awesome! They had it decorated just like Hogwarts. They had taking/moving pictures on the wall

There were classrooms set up just like in the movies and occasionally Harry, Hermione, and Ron would show up.

And right before you got on the ride, you got to have a little chat with the Sorting Hat

I think we waited in line for over two hours. By then it was like 10:30 and I was not feeling good. I could barely stand, I felt like I was going to pass out and throw up. But it was so worth it because the ride was amazing! It was like Soarin Over California and a roller coaster all in one! I'm bummed that we only got to go on it once but we did get the Elder wand as a souvenir so that's not so bad. The best part though is it has totally made my family Harry Potter nerds now! They weren't that into it before but the next day they bought all the shows and are totally hooked!

The next day, we were all really tuckered out so we decided to skip Sea World and just hang out at the hotel and go swimming. And the last day we were there we got a 3D ultrasound and found out we were having a girl and that was just the perfect ending to a great trip!

Christmas Unwrapped, part 3

Hollywood Studios was up next. 

We went on the Tower of Terror a couple of times but I have to say that I was a little disappointed. I remembered it being better. I thought it dropped you more then what it did and I found out that I don't really like that feeling of being dropped. Weird.

But the coolest ride at Hollywood Studios, and almost the best ride of the trip, was the Rockin Roller Coaster. You walk in and it's like you're in a studio with Aerosmith and they have to get to a concert so they invite you to ride in their stretch limo. And it takes off super fast, it totally took my breath away every time! That's the face I made in the top left picture, I couldn't help it! Super fun!

Beauty and the Beast show was actually kinda lame, definitely not as a good as the Lion King, but it was nice for some down time. And this was also when my battery ran out so all the pictures from here on out were on my mom's camera (p.s. mom, I'm going to get you a better camera. No offense, but that one just doesn't cut it!).

Later on, we went to a stunt show that was really cool and Carson loved the explosions! His favorite part was when the bad guy caught on fire at the end, should I be worried?

Christmas Unwrapped, part 2

The next day we spent at the Magic Kingdom. I'm pretty sure that it was the boys' favorite kingdom because it was made more for families and they could go on pretty much everything. And yes, we are bundled up in multiple layers and winter coats. That day was the coldest, I think, 32 degrees with a windchill of 26. It wasn't so bad once we got inside the park and the buildings shielded us from the wind but it was still chilly!

 

We hit up the famous "It's a Small World" first.

 Then we went on the Peter Pan ride (that was both of their favs) a bunch of times and Reese kept requesting to go on it throughout the day. Next to the Peter Pan ride was Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show that Carson loved and laughed through the entire show.

Our walk through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. I was actually kinda surprised they still had this. Kids nowadays don't know the Swiss Family Robinson but I guess it's more for nostalgia. Still pretty cool though.

And of course the classic Pirate of the Carribean! They added Jack Sparrow here and there to update it so it would be more like the movie. 

The ride on the Jungle Cruise was pretty cool too, even though the animals weren't real like at the Animal Kingdom.

We didn't actually buy Mickey ears because they were too expensive for something we'd never use again and I didn't think they'd make it home in one piece, so we just got a picture of the boys in them. And Carson requested the Minnie ears even though it looks like he doesn't want to wear them, he just didn't want his picture taken. :)

As I watch this video, I still bust a gut laughing! I took it when we were riding the Tea Cup ride. It's hilarious how Carson is having the time of his life, looking a little like a special child, and Reese looking like he's coming off a bad high. Classic! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! (because it took freaking forever to upload!)

 

Christmas Unwrapped, part 1

This year we spent the Christmas break with my family. We drove down to Firth and a couple days later we flew to Orlando but don't think it was that easy. We left Firth at midnight, drove to SLC to arrive at the airport at 4 a.m., flew out at 6 a.m. and landed in Orlando around 4 p.m. It was not the most pleasant trip but when we did finally get to our destination, we had a blast! Traveling is just really hard with kids especially with a 2 year old!

We were hoping to avoid some crowds so we decided to spend Christmas day at Animal Kingdom.

 Even though it was Christmas, it really didn't seem like it because there was no snow. They did have these big Christmas trees and some decorations in all the kingdoms and occasionally you would hear Christmas music but it was probably because we away from home that made it feel weird. I don't know.

There was a gorilla exhibit that was really cool. Carson kept asking about the gorillas and once we got there, he fell asleep and missed all of them but one!

 

 Everyday, in every park, Disney has a parade. I really liked this parade because of the different floats, they were really cool and creative!

Carson's reaction when he first saw Mickey was priceless! He was so excited! 

Sorry the focus is off! I know I'm supposed to be a "photographer" but I asked Ry to get me a point and shoot for Christmas specifically to take on this trip because I didn't want to bring my big SLR around everywhere. And I'm so glad because there was not enough room in the suitcases and most of the time I had to keep pushing a stroller and just hurry and snap a quick picture while walking. The little cam did pretty well but I stupidly forgot the charger and it died the last two days!

The safari ride was really cool too! Lots of cool animals that you don't get to see everyday or ever. A rhino and her baby came right up to the truck even!

 

Best picture of the day down below!

 

Little petting area that the boys liked...

 

It was a big day!

 

This is the mountain to the new yetti ride. It was pretty fun, but not my fav of the trip, I'm saving that one for last! 

This was the one and only time the boys actually met Mickey. The lines were really long for just about everything the entire week and I figured waiting in line for a 1/2 hour to see Mickey was enough. 

The Animal Kingdom had two shows, the Lion King and Finding Nemo. The Lion King was really cool and everyone's favorite.

This was just the first day and already this is a long post! It's going to be quite the ordeal getting the rest of the week on here, we'll see if I make it!

We're having a GIRL!!!

 
Our last day in Orlando we couldn't resist getting a 3D ultrasound, the suspense was killing us! We were pleasantly surprised to find out we are having a girl!!! We had mentally prepared ourselves for another boy just in case. Ryan and I both had our hunches that we this one was a girl but we didn't let each other know because we didn't want to get our hopes up. :) I don't think we would've been disappointed if it was a boy, it would've just seemed like old news since we've already heard it twice. But in all honesty, I do feel a little relieved because now I don't feel pressure to keep having kids until we get a girl (which was Ryan's plan). At this point, I'm totally fine having three kids but we'll see if I get the baby bug again...