first family vaca: disney part one

Back in October we took our first official vacation as a family of three. If it had been just the two of us again, we would have most likely opted for our annual cruise. But since Matthew is still too young to go on a cruise (yes were missing our annual Thanksgiving cruise with my family this year, boo!) we decided to go to the next best place we could think of: DISNEY!!!

Luckily we only live about a 3 hour hour drive away, so we thought it would be a great first go at the whole "traveling with a baby thing." We decided it would probably be easiest to go during a time that Matthew would normally be sleeping. So we waited until both of us got off work on a Thursday night, fed Matthew, and hopped in the car. He cried for about 2 mins and then as soon as we hit the highway, he was out! (because you know, my child only enjoys being in his carseat if the car is moving. Hit a red light? be prepared. lol) Things seemed to be going pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, even though we remembered to feed Matthew, we completely forgot about dinner for ourselves. So we stopped off at a fast food place before we got on the FL turnpike in Ft. Pierce. We were hoping that Matthew would just stay asleep, but we werent so lucky. I let Matt eat while I changed and held Matthew, figuring I could eat in the car as Matt drove.

We finally got to our hotel, Disney All-Star Sports, at around 11pm. My sister, nephew, and niece were already at the hotel and had an adjoining room to ours. We setup the pack and play, fed Matthew again, and went to sleep. We knew we had quite a long day ahead of us the following day, as we were going to try and tackle 2 parks with 1 sick baby and 2 children. Oh did I forget to mention that my child was sick? Yes, the day before we left, I opted to take him into the drs office because he hadnt been feeling so great. Turns out he had bronchitis, and a normal babys blood count should be at 13, his was a 29. Meaning pretty close to pneumonia. My dr knew we were leaving for Orlando and told me to make sure he was kept cool, hydrated, and that he got all of his meds and he should be fine. He gave him a antibiotic shot to speed up the recovering process and ordered us to do breathing treatments at least 3 times a day. Before we left I also made sure to grab a stroller fan (lifesaver!).

The next morning we woke up bright and early, no more sleeping in on vacations now that we have a lil one :( and started the day off with some breakfast in the hotel cafeteria, some playtime for the kids in the themed resort areas, and a quick morning nap for Matthew. I love that all the Disney budget hotels are themed. We've stayed at movies, music, and pop century before, but this was our first time at sports. Although Matthew couldnt really enjoy the themed part this year, Im sure if hes anything like his father, or cousin for that matter, hes going to love the sports resort the most as he gets older. There were giant football helmets, basketball quart, surfboard, etc throughout the property. Even my niece enjoyed the sports theme!

 

 

 

Once the time came to head to the parks, I realized it wasnt going to be as easy as I thought. We were prepared, maybe even a little bit too prepared. You see, the number one reason I like to stay on Disney property is because you dont have to worry about transportation to and from the parks. They have free shuttles that go all day long to all the parks and hotels. So I packed up everything I thought we would need for the day; the stroller, the baby bjorn, the diaper bag (packed with all the essentials) and the camera. I figured since we had the stroller it wouldnt be a big deal because we could just put everything in the bottom basket and strap the diaper bag to the handlebar. So yeah, that plan went well until we were standing in line for the shuttle and someone informed us that you have to fold the strollers up in order to get on the bus. :/

So now we have to figure out a way to bring everything, plus hold the stroller, plus hold the baby. All I have to say is thank god there were multiple hands available with my sis and her kids being there! Somehow we figured it all out, and it really wasnt that bad. People were even nice enough each time we got on the bus, to get up from their seat and allow for me to sit with the baby, opposed to standing and holding on to the rails. And i knew it would all be worth it, especially when we finally made it to Magic Kingdom. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside, although hot, but thats to be expected in Florida. Since it was only about a week before Halloween, the parks were all decorated with pumpkins and everything else fall. (this is when I got the idea to do my mickey pumpkin by the way)

Since Matthew was only 4.5 months I knew I wouldnt be taking him on many rides, if at all. But my sister isnt really into all the rides anyways, so I figured I could at least take my niece and nephew on a few rides. The first place we stopped was at the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. Am I showing my age here? I used to love Swiss Family Robinson, and yet my niece and nephew had no clue who they even were. lol.

 

 

Also, something I definitely recommend for anyone going to Disney with an infant, and something I am so happy i brought with us, bring the baby carrier. It was actually the first time we had Matthew in it facing out. We tried with him facing in like we normally do, but he was just too fusy. So when my sis suggested having him face out, we figured why not. Now I personally didnt like it because I couldnt see what he was doing (smiling, spitting up, sleeping, etc) but he seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. And thank god we have the Synergy version of the Baby Bjorn because 1) its made our of mesh so its breathable, a definite must in the heat (i mean look at my face in the pics, im beat red lol) and 2) it has additional back support, which is also a definite must because umm hello my child was 4 months but weighing in at an average size 6 month old, and carrying him around the park for that long def put some strain on my back.

 

 

Well,  I think I overloaded this post with enough pics. Ill leave the rest for another post. Until then, i hope you all have a great weekend!

show & tell: gobble gobble

This weeks show & tell is about Thanksgiving Traditions

 
1. Tell us about your family traditions for Thanksgiving
Well for the past couple of years we've actually made it a tradition to go on an annual family cruise. I remember growing up my dad always hated the holiday, not necessarily because it was a holiday. I know he enjoyed all the family and friends, but he always hated the preparations, stress, and mess all of it caused. I also remember him always suggesting that we go on a cruise instead of Thanksgiving or Christmas. For which my sister, mother, and I always responded "Absolutely NOT!" Well flash forward to us being adults and we jumped at the opportunity to be a cruise ship in the islands with our family. You mean someone else will prepare a Thanksgiving feast for us? And we dont have to clean up afterwards? Say what? COUNT ME IN! But, and there is a big but, we absolutely, most certainly, will never skip Christmas, so, if you want to do this dad, it will have to be Thanksgiving. And from then on, we've spent Thanksgiving on a cruise. (well except for 2010, when Matt and I got married 2 days after Thanksgiving). This year is also an exception. You see, the minute our lil Matthew was born, guess what my father asked me? "Did you apply for his passport yet?" Ummm hello dad, im still in the hospital, i just pushed out an 8lb 9oz baby out of my vag, no sorry I havent applied for his passport yet. lol. Plusalso, Royal Caribbean has an age policy for infants and matthew didnt make the requirements in time for this Thanksgiving. (Dont worry my father is already in the works of planning a spring break cruise to make up for us missing this one lol)

2. Tell us about your favorite foods
Umm did you see this post? sweet potato casserole, drool. But really, all the traditional thanksgiving items are my list, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, turkey, ham, green bean casserole, you name it, ill eat it ;)

3. Show us a picture that reminds you of this holiday

This was our Thanksgiving Cruise 2011. I was pregnant with Matthew at the time. (You can read about how we told some of the family we were pregnant on Thanksgiving last year here) And I think I might have cried a little on the way home from dropping all of them off at the port today to board for this years thanksgiving cruise. :(

4. Tell us, do you wait to decorate for Christmas before or after Thanksgiving?
I wish I was more prepared and able to decorate before Thanksgiving, but honestly I normally end up doing it the first week of December.

5. Tell us what you are thankful for this year
I am thankful for many things this year, but most importantly I am thankful for my family, specifically my husband for helping me create the most precious thing in the world to me, my sweet matthew. I am thankful we have a place to call our home. Food to eat every night. A great extended family who helps us whenever they can. For friends that are close enough to be considered family. For a career that helps me support my family. And for all the little enjoyable things everyday that make it so worth all the few hard times.

Dont forget to link up with Becky

fridays letters

Ive always thought that Ashley's Fridays Letters posts were so cute, simple, and sweet. Yet I never joined. So this week Ive decided that I am going to commit to Fridays Letters ;)

dear hubby, would you please stop calling me and asking me if Ive received an email about our iphone 5 preorders, as Ive said multiple times, i will let you know when I know anything. dear matthew, i love in the mornings when you wake up and are in the best moods and smile and coo, do you think we could maybe switch it up one day and have you be in a good mood at night time? dear animals (yes all of you, Ruger, Belle, & MJ) can you please get along, stop shedding, and basically take care of yourselves? ok yeah. dear me, its time to stop procrastinating and get back to exercising, matthew is now almost 4 months old and there is no excuse, we want our prebaby (well technically prewedding) body back and SOON! dear best buy, why do you take so many preorders when you know youre not going to have nearly enough iphone 5s to give out on launch date, and then whats up with this crappy letter you send out to us saying it may take up to 28 days? :( dear fall, i know its officially fall in the rest of the country, but it would be nice if you could give us south floridians some cooler weather, maybe even some leaves changing.... dear epcot, I cant wait to see you in just a few short weeks, it will be matthews first time at disney, can you please be not so crowded so we can enjoy our first family vacation? and dear hubby & matthew, because you deserve two, i love when i catch random moments of you having daddy & baby time, it absolutely melts my heart, your daddy thinks that you understand football already, and I think he actually might be right, you watched both the FSU & Dolphins games together and you both seemed to enjoy it, even with Carpenter ruining the game for us and letting the jets win by a field goal. oh and dear bloggy friends, because i cant forget about you, I will of course leave you with a photo, because what would a post be without a cute photo, but will you please do me a favor? a girl could use a couple likes :)

camping, tubing, and lots of other fun

Okay, so I promise this will be the last post about our crazy long fun-filled entertaining road trip. If you havent been following along with all of the posts you can catch up by clicking on these links: roadtrip, Tennessee, CT Wedding, and CT Wedding 2.

To recap real quick we started off by driving to Tennessee from South Florida. In Tennessee we stayed on our friend Billy's parents farm mountain property. We were there for 3 days which included the 4th of July. Then we drove from Tennessee to my family's property in New Jersey. It was a quick visit, just for the night. Then off to Connecticut for our friend Michele and Wills wedding.

So next on our trip was camping. See the bride and her family every summer rent a spot at a campgrounds to put their trailer on. Instead of heading off directly on a honeymoon the bride and groom decided to make the weekend fun filled by hanging out with friends and family while camping. (yes, for those wondering, they are still going on a honeymoon to Lake Tahoe I believe next week). Hubs and I decided that we wanted to do the whole real camping thing. Meaning we brought a tent and an air mattress and slept outside. However a few friends rented a trailer so there was a shower and bathroom nearby Thank.God.

Surprisingly the tent was pretty comfortable. I was kind scared at first because Im used to camping in South Florida where the humidity makes it absolute hell. But in CT it was actually a lil chilly at nighttime. We brought a portable battery operated fan and didnt even have to use it (except during the day when it was hot). And because there is a bunch of different sites that the group of us had rented we got around by golfcart, which we just so happen to deck out with "Just Married" decorations for the bride and groom.

So after pitching the tents, we decided to blow up some tubes we had snagged at a local store and take advantage of the lake that was at the campgrounds. It was overcast all day, but we didnt let that ruin any fun we had. And Ill have to say is the water up north is waaaaaaaay colder than the water down by us. But with a few beers in us I dont think any of us really noticed after a few mins.

The boys then decided that they were going to try using the tubes to go down a river that flowed behind the campsite. And yes my friends, you do see an air-mattress being used as a floatation device. (lowers head in shame, we are truly a little redneck at times.....)

After the boys ventured through this I decided I would be the first brave girl to test out the river and brought my waterproof camera with us for the ride.

Once the rest of the girls realized it was safe and fun, we proceeded to go back to the store and get more tubes for everyone to have fun. (we may have also but a slip and slide.....)

Our 2 nights at the campsite were filled with food, laughter, a little bit of rain, and alot of fun. We had a cookout with the rest of the brides family, followed with some good old rope swinging. We also cooked smores the last night we were there.

We may have taken another ride or two down the river. Oh and since the pics may be a little to hard to see I thought it would be nice to let you know what the guys shirts said in the one pic:

Lohse's Shirt (red): "Choose Wisely" (from Super Mario Bros, standing on the tunnel)

Billy's Shirt (green):  "Life is Crap"

Chad's Shirt (black): "Im the Designated Passenger"

So to sum everything up, we had an absolute awesome time. I wouldnt suggest being the only girl in the car on such a long roadtrip (note to self either fly or convince a girlfriend to go with me), but according to my boys, they no longer consider me one of the girls.......great......

And the PARTAY continues . . .

Continuing on with my road trip posts, this one is all about the PARTAY! (aka wedding reception for Michele & Will). Ill start with the decorations. I have to give some major props to Michele. See the bride and groom both live by us in south Florida, but the bride is originally from Connecticut. She managed to get everything organized for such a large wedding in a completely different state. And on top of that, all the decorations were not only perfect, but so meaningful too! (oh and total photographer fail, i forgot to get a pic of the ballroom all decorated before anyone went it. oops)

And because they were all so meaningful, I have to explain these pics to you.

1. birdcage envelope box - no special meaning that I know of, but it looks cute

2 & 3. little lollipop favors that are supposed to look like flowers in pots (so cute) that have tags used as place cards for which table your supposed to sit at.

4. the groom used to play on the Rutgers football team in college, so instead of a guest book they had a helmet for everyone to sign with their picture on it ( i know clever huh?)

5. picture frames with collages used for the table numbers. The table number corresponded with the a seperate picture of each of them at that age. We sat at table 15 (right next to the dance floor was perfect) and the pics were of them each at age 15.

6. (Now this is my favorite and it is the story I promised in this post) Ill start off with the story of how the lovely bride and groom met. Michele, as originally stated, is from Connecticut. Which means she doesn't really have the knowledge of all the neighborhoods in south Florida. After living several years with different roommates in apartments, she decided it was time to purchase a place of her own. Us native south Floridians tried to warn Michele of certain areas to not buy in. But Michele refused to listen to us and bought a beautiful townhouse in a gated community right smack in the middle of Lauderdhill, ahem "ghetto" for those of you who arent familiar. Because she did have 2 extra rooms she offered 2 friends to move in with her. So boxes, beds, tv's, and lots of makeup were brought into this "bad" neighborhood. Well fellow inhabitants of the area must have been steaking out the place seeing that it was 3 beautiful young women who had moved in. Ill give you 3 guess on what happens next, and the first 2 dont count. A few days later one of the roomates comes home to the door wide open. No one else was home, so she immediately called Michele who quickly left work to go home and call the police. Insert Knight in Shinning Armour, Officer Will. As Will pulls up in his Lauderdhill police car, the 2 girls immediately notice the attractive man in uniform. Needless to say the rest is kind of history as the two exchanged numbers and quickly started dating. Turns out Will just happen to grow up in the same neighbor hood as the rest of us so we already knew him. Ok back to the point, so this little decoration (#6 scroll up again so you can see) was a surprise from Will's Police Department back home who sent this up to the wedding. Its a figurine of Will in his uniform carrying his princess Michele, who also happens to be holding a football. Now you might ask what is that plastic bag with a brick in it behind the figurines? well that my friends, that is the evidence bag from the station with the brick that had went through the window to break into Micheles house. Now do you see why I love the story? :)

7. At last, but certainly not least, the bride and groom decided to honor the brides brother who battled cancer, with a donation to the Make a Wish foundation as their favors for the wedding. (i know my heart melted a little too)

Some things you may see here: the beautiful bride. First Dance. One of the bridesmaids actually sang the song for their first dance. It was absolutely beautiful. Father Daughter Dance. Mother Son Dance. And the last 2 pictures are absolutely epic. The MOH (aka brides sister) had been joking the previous couple of months that she was going to rap at her sisters wedding. Michele thought she was kidding. This was not the case. She told a bunch of us (bridesmaids, groomsmen, close friends, etc) that she was going to do this and she would queue us all when it was time. She literally made up this entire song of Michele leaving CT, partying in SoFL, moving to the ghetto, getting her house broken into, meeting will, getting engaged,.... i think you get the point. The best part was it went along with the background music to Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It was absolutely hilarious. I believe there was a video camcorder, so when someone finally shares the video of it I will def share it with you all. 

And then of course the infamous cake smashing in the face cutting. Not Surpirsingly it was the bride who started this little mess. I love how I captured the actual moment she smashed it on his face. 

PRICELESS!!!

Next came the bouquet and garter toss. It was actually kinda weird for me and hubs. It was the first wedding we had been to that we were "allowed" to go out on the dance floor for this part.

The rest of the night went by pretty fast. But I guess thats what happens when you combine friends + liquor + music + family + liquor + dancing = good times :)  Unfortunately I didnt get alot of said dancing pics, well, because I was dancing :D

All in all, the night was beautiful, everyone had fun, and we couldnt have asked for two better people to begin their happily ever after together.......

p.s. I think the bride enjoyed the night too, she was totally exhausted by time it was over ;)

a wedding fit for a princess

So our road trip began with our first stop in Tana-See, but the real reason for this escapade was to get to Conneticut for our friend Michele & Will's wedding.

Technically, we did have one small stop in between Tennessee and Connecticut, but it was just for one night so we wouldnt have to pay for a hotel. We decided that we would stop in New Jersey at my Aunt & Uncles house and leave before lunch the following day to make it in time for the rehearsal dinner.

It was a relatively quick visit and really only consisted of a bite to eat down by the jersey shore, some ping pong games, and a little bit of ring toss at my family's picnic facility up there. As I said, we had to get back on the road the following morning to make it to the hotel in time for the rehearsal dinner. Surprisingly the trip from NJ to the hotel in CT was only about 2.5 hours (relatively short compared to the 16hours we drove the previous day).

So the wedding festivities began that night with a buffet style rehearsal dinner and of course a few glasses of wine. The bride and groom were nice enough to also make us some absolutely appropriate munchies for later on that evening (aka popcorn, m&m's, and marshmallows in a cute little bag) that my husband kept on stealing from all the tables to take with us.

You might notice that all the wedding festivities pictures will start to look sooooooooo much better in quality. This might be because I kinda stole the newlyweds brand spankin new DSLR camera they got from the in-laws. Let me tell you something. They almost didnt get this little puppy back after the wedding, I think I might have fallen in love again (sorry babe).

The next morning (or shall I say afternoon for those of us who drank a lil too much wine) is when the bridal party starting getting ready for the big day. Although I was not in the bridal party, Michele had plenty of girls (8 to be exact) who would be standing by her side up at the alter. Ironically, when I went to go check on her all the ladies had disappeared to get their hair done at a local salon and Michele was left by her self to get her makeup done. So what did I do? I whipped out aforementioned stolen camera and started snapping away.

Once her makeup was done, the bridal party started to slowly trickle in. Mimosa's were poured. Dresses were put on. Smiles were shown on all. And it seemed like everything moved pretty quickly from there.

Isnt her dress gorgeous? Once the bridal party was on the bus, and the beautiful bride was in her limo, all headed to the castle (yes you heard me, they were married at a castle) for photos, it was time for the rest of us to get ready and head to the ceremony. There also might have been a few pre-graming shots of baby Guinness and of course a lil bit of Captain.....

Isnt my hubby handsome? Everyone kept saying you could for sure tell he was one of the Floridians, as he sported his Sperry TopSiders with his suit.  He thought he was a stud, Id have to say I didnt disagree ;) Sorry, of topic, back to the ceremony. As mentioned, they were married at a castle, St. Clements Castle to be exact. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and the ceremony had a to-die-for view overlooking a waterway with mountains. Truly, it was like it was right out of a childrens story book; a princess marrying her knight in shinning armor (Ill share their story of how they met in my next post, and youll totally understand where Im getting that form).

I do have to admit, although I think I captured the entire ceremony beautifully through the camera, I feel kind of like I didnt get to actually watch them get married. I dont know, maybe other photographers feel this way too? Or is it just me? Like I was there, but not really there. I was behind the camera capturing the moment, but not in the moment.

So, I think thats enough pictures for today. Im going to save the actually wedding reception for another post because literally I think in total I snapped like 450+ photos with this camera. (I wasnt lying when I said I fell in love, babe; this is your subtle hint, new camera wink wink)