The End of a Chapter

This is our final week in New York.  It is bittersweet to say goodbye, I have fallen in love with this city.  Would I stay if I could?  For sure.  I love it here, just love it.

Over the last couple of weeks, Brian and I have done a lot of reminiscing about our time just before we moved and all our thoughts and anxieties we had about moving to the city.  Neither of us had ever lived in the city so we really had no idea what to expect.  But we ended up in a wonderful neighborhood, Battery Park City, which is a perfect fit of us and our family.

Here are some of our thoughts from our time here:

Boot Camp- For the last 2 years I have been getting up for a 5:30am workout 3 times a week and I LOVE IT!  The workouts have been amazing and the sunrises spectacular.  You can't workout with the same women for the past 2 years and not be friends.  But it is a funny friendship because when we pass each other on the sidewalks later in the day we always do a double take.  We don't recognize each other all dolled up without our workout clothes on.  I will miss those women and our amazing trainer.

Elevators - Before moving to the city I had not thought much about elevators but they are a big part of my life in the city.  We spend a lot of time in them.  The elevators are a great place to get to know your neighbors and chat a bit each day about what is going on.   They have provided countless opportunities for me to teach my girls about what are appropriate questions to ask other people and what are things you don't ask.   At times the elevators in our building are so full of people it is like a clown car when we pour out on the ground level.  My girls still argue about who gets to push the buttons, it ever gets old.  Our building only has two elevators and when someone is moving in or out only one elevator is available for everyone else to use.  This results in long waits for the elevator, which at times makes me late for school pick up, it is the city version of traffic for me.

The Parks- Simply amazing.  We live withing 2 blocks of 5 different parks. They always provide instant play dates for the girls.  It is rare that we go to a park and don't know someone there.  I love that they are completely fenced in and that the swings always have their own area.  During May, the question of the month is "is the water turned on yet?"  Everyone wants to know which parks have turned on their spray areas and which have not.  I often feel like I live at the beach in the summer months with the combination of water and sand.  Our apartment always has a bit of sand that the girls have tracked in.  Sometimes I feel like we live at the park, it is not usually for me to spend 3-4 hours a day at the park.

Nannies - I have seen so many nannies during my time here.  What I have come to learn is that good nannies are out there but you have to work to find them.  In our time here there have only been two nannies that I have met that I would have felt comfortable watching my girls and parenting them on a daily basis. I have met plenty of nannies that I think are fine occasional babysitters but a full time nanny has a very different job in my mind.  There are few nannies that I seen that are actually doing the nanny job well.

Dogs - They are every where here in our neighborhood and I just don't get it.  It is down right gross at times, lots of times. But they are not allowed on the grass at the parks, which I love and they are not allowed in the playgrounds, which I love.   Also, there are park rangers that enforce these rules, which I love.  So I can't complain too much.

Doormen and Porters -  Before moving to the city I had not had much experience with doormen or porters.  Once I got use to the idea I came to realize how great they are.  The staff in our building are really nice and I have enjoyed getting to know them.  They are always there to greet you when you come back to the building and are always willing to help you out any way they can.  They change the feel of the building and make it have much more of a family/community feel to it.

Lower Manhattan Community Church - We have loved our church.  It is full of families with young children.  Our first year here Brian and I were in different community groups, so that one of us was always at home with the girls.  But this past year we hosted one in our apartment.   We would put the girls to bed at 7 and the group started at 7:30 it worked out perfectly.  I love being in a group with Brian again, and loved getting to know the other people in our group.  We will miss seeing them every Monday night, it was sad to say goodbye.

Our Apartment - 2 bedroom, 2 bath and less than 1000 sq ft but just perfect for us. I love our little apartment.  It takes me no time to clean it and it is never very far to return anything to where it goes.  It is tight when we have visitors but we made it work, no one had to stay in a hotel :)  I have loved the city views, that will be something I will greatly miss.  I am looking forward to being in a cooler place, the apartment is constantly warm.  I like to sleep with it cold and one time this past December I ran the AC at night, it is always warm in the apartment. I think we may have only used the heat a total of three times in the past 2 years.  Since we have such a small space we can not accumulate things, life is simpler in that sense.

Subways, taxis, scooters and walking - Love, love, love and love.  It will be hard to adjust spending so much time in the car.  I love walking.  The other day Rachel had a play date downtown.  She walked the mile to get there and then the mile home.  Both girls can walk, although Luna is still not a fan.  It never grew on her, one of the things she is looking forward to in WA is not having to walk every where. :)

Over the past two years the city has become my home, it is where I feel comfortable.  I know I will always look back at this chapter in our lives longingly.  It has been a life changing two years for us and one I would do again in a heart beat.   Thank You God for the blessing of these past two years, we were completely undeserving and feel so blessed to have had this experience.

Goodbye for now NYC!

More Funny Things Said

Rachel was wearing a pair of my high heel shoes.  She was walking around and they were making the click click noise as she stepped.  She looked at me and said "I like the way they sing."  I smiled and looked at her and asked "sing?"  She took a few more steps to make the click click noise and said "See, they sing."

Not sure if you know the song "I am sexy and I know it."  I don't love the fact that Luna has heard this song a few times.  But this is how she sings it "I am sixty and I know it."   Another song goes "hey sexy lady" but Luna sings it "Hey sixty eighty."  So innocent :)

On a cold and extremely windy spring day, Luna, Rachel and I are walking along a path through tear drop park.  There is no one else walking on the path but the three of us.  Rachel looks at me and says "I am scared."  I ask her why she is scared and she answers "because we are all alone."  I respond by saying "no you are not, I am here with you."  She says "I am scared because no else is here."  I  clarify by asking her "you are scared because there is no one else but Luna, you and me walking on the path?"  She says "yes."  Such a city kid, we finally have some space all to ourselves and she is scared!

At dinner, Rachel ask "what is brown and strong?"  Brian says "a bear."  Rachel said "yes."  Then Luna pipes in "and me."  We all got a chuckle out of that one.

One day we were playing in the park.  The park staff put a bunch of kids toys out on the grass for all the kids to play with.  Below is a picture of Rachel playing on one of the toys.

Luna was trying to move two of these half circle toys across the park to where we were sitting.  Brian and I are sitting watching Luna and Rachel and see this woman walking across the park toward us carrying one of these half circles.  We ask her "did she ask you to carry that over here?"  The woman says "yes."  We all laugh, Luna is still on the other side of the park trying to get the other half circle over to us.  As the women leaves she said "that girl is going places."

We have just gotten into the car.  This is the girl's first time in the car and in carseats in 5 months.  Brian speeds up and from the back seat Rachel yells "Woohoo" with her fist raised in the air.  (Let's see how long those feelings last).

We had just drove from NYC up to Massachusetts and headed directly to our old church in Framingham for a picnic with friends.  When I pulled into the church parking lot, Luna asks "why did they build a church in the middle of the forest?"  To which Daddy said "see this is why we have to get them out of the city!"

Luna's Last Day of School

Luna just finished her last day of school!  The year flew by.  Here she is with her teachers Alysa and Matt (they only go by first names at her school).  She continues to love school, just LOVES it.  Her favorite activity is "work time" as they call it in her classroom which is actually free play time :)  She loves the social interactions at school and the friendships.  She is going to miss all her friends!

Luna has thrived in school and in the city.  It is amazing how independent she has become which school has encourage and developed even more in her. If she ever got lost in the city I have no doubt she could get her self back to our apartment.  She knows how the systems work and how to get places.  It is amazing how quickly she picked it up.  When we have babysitters and when they ask me how to get to the library or a certain park so they can take girls, Luna will always tell them she can show them.   This kid is on it.  When we are walking down the side walk, she will yell across the street "Hi Henry's mom"  or "Hi Ava"  always seeing someone she knows.  The city suits her, at times it feels like she was made for the city.  So glad we were able to come and have these two years here.

Field Day

Luna's first field day was this week.  The k, 1st and 2nd graders were all together with organized games at Rockefeller Park.  It was hot, in the 90s and the kids were in the direct sun.  They had fun but at times the heat was just too much for them.  I volunteered to help out and was assigned 7 kids from  Luna's class and took them to the different station.  We were team orange, hence the orange piggy tails. But really what I did was constantly encourage them to drink water and poured water over their heads :)   

I had fun watching Luna play the different games.  Here are some photos from the day.

Egg on the spoon relay.

Taking a well earned water break.

Watermelon station, brilliant!

Whole Foods Tribeca

My regular grocery store has become Whole Foods.  Before moving to the city I had only shopped there a handful of times but now that it is kitty corner to my apartment it is my go to store.

Again since space is a premium here in the city the way Whole Foods handles the lines for check out is quite unique.  They had to figure out a way to handle a lot of people queuing up to check out.  Today I finally took a picture of the check out lines.  Basically when you walk up to check out there are six lines that are color coded.  In the photo below, you can see the colors on both the floor and the arrows hanging from the ceiling.  You pick the line that looks the shortest (they all move at the exact same speed).  When a check out register becomes available the number lights up on the computer screen in one of the color columns.  If you look at the photo you can see the number 21 in the green column.  So the person at the front of the green line goes to register number 21.  Then next number with come up in the orange/red column and then purple.  It is extremely efficient, the only trick is finding the shortest line.  Otherwise it is fool proof. Some times the lines are ten deep (especially at lunchtime), making that 60 people waiting in line at one time. Pretty impressive system I must say.

Rachel on the Subway

When we first moved to the city, Rachel was scared of riding the subway.  It was loud and scary to her.  She would cling to either Brian and I never smiling.  Above is a picture taken during our first fall in the city.  I love it, she is clinging on for dear life.

Last week, I took Rachel up to the Central Park Zoo just the two of us and snapped this photo of her on the subway.  Now she is a pro standing up, her feet in the right position and holding on to the bar all while singing songs and having fun.  What a difference two years made :) 

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day celebrating our special Daddy.  The girls each made something especially for Daddy.  Rachel worked on a tool box in class, she made it and wrapped it up at school. So it was a surprise for all of us and she kept it a secret no matter how hard I tried to get it out of her :)  She was determined not to tell anyone.   It was a precious gift, she was so proud of herself.

 Luna picked out a brownie recipe and made brownies for Daddy, she knows him well.  We all enjoyed that gift at the end of the day.

We had a nice breakfast and then went to church.  After church we spent the afternoon at Central Park.  Daddy read and the girls played in the play ground.  We loved celebrating Brian and what a blessing he is to our family.

Art in the Park

The parks in our neighborhood are really amazing.  May through October they offer different activities for kids Monday through Friday.   They have soccer, basketball, arts & crafts, games and gardening.  All the activities have staff that lead them but parents must supervise.  We go regularly to say the least.

 Last Thursday Rachel did art in the park in the morning while Luna was in school.  They were painting.  I would say they had at least 75 preschoolers come and paint over the course of the hour.  They are well equipped to handle all the kids with plenty of supplies and space.  It was great.  While we were there we ran into 5 kids from Rachel preschool so we had a play date afterwards with all her friends.  Then we all walked to one of the kiddos apartments for lunch at their private roof top garden.  It was lovely. 

Then, after we picked up Luna from school, both girls went back and did the afternoon art session which was using playdoh and beads to make art sculptures. This time two kiddos from Luna's class were there as well so they created together and then hit the swings.

After some swing time, they participated in the organized games.  They played with a parachute and a number of different type of tag games.  We stayed until 5:30 and then headed home so I could make dinner and the girls got a bath.  It was a typical afternoon in the park for us.  See why I love this place?

The girls playing with the parachute.

Lined up to learn the rules for the next game.

Mohawk

Luna rocking her mohawk!

Kite Flying in Tear Drop Park

Last weekend, Rachel and Luna went to a Birthday party of a friend from Rachel's class.  The party was held in the party room of her apartment building and then they took it outside to Tear Drop Park.  They provided the kids with kites.  Here is Luna flying hers. It looks like the park is empty but trust me that was not the case.  There were a couple of near misses and a few toddlers were knocked over but in the end everyone survived.  It was a lot of fun for the kids but not enough wind to keep the kites up for too long.

End of the Year Kindergarten Picnic

Last Friday, the Kindergarten classes at Luna's school were planning on having an end of the year picnic.  Just as the picnic was starting and everyone had settled onto the grass a massive rain storm passed through.  The type of storm that will completely drench you in 10 seconds.  We all ran for cover while some of the kiddos played in the rain, Luna included. Luckily she already had her bathing suit on, so she was ready to get wet.

It rained for about 15 minutes, enough to completely soak everything and the picnic was officially over.  To say the kids were disappointed is an understatement.  So when we got back to the apartment we had our own little family picnic.  The girls were happy and so were we. :) 

Rachel's Last Day of Preschool

Last week was Rachel's last day of school.  Historically she is not a kid that does well with transitions.  Once she is some where she is happy but to switch activities and move to something new is hard for her.  It is common for her to cry before school, saying she does not want to go, that she does not like her teachers, etc.  What she is really saying is that she likes what she is doing at that moment and does not want to stop for any reason.  So we often times get tears before school.  The last day was no exception but instead this time she was crying because she was not going to get to see her friend Thaddeaus any more since it was the last day of school.  :(  Moving can be so hard :(

Here is Rachel and "faddeaus" as she calls him, at the park one day after school.  They adore each other, two peas in a pod.

Memorial Day Picnic

For Memorial Day, we headed out to Long Island.  Brian's boss from work, Ari, invited it out to his house in Great Neck.  We took the train out and Ari met us at the train station with his daughter.  We spent a little while at his house and Rachel got to pet their bunny :)  Then we headed over to the community pool for some swimming and a BBQ.

The girls had a lot of fun in the pool.  They both jumped off the diving board a few times and had fun playing in the water.  Both girls are getting more and more independent in the water, as a parent it is fun to watch.  Then we caught the train back home.  It was a wonderful day outside of the city.

Funny story about Ari.  At school Rachel has a friend named Ari and Brian's boss is named Ari.  One night I was tucking Rachel into bed and she looked at me and said "you know what Mommy, both Daddy and I have Aris."

Bring your kids to work day

Last week the girls went to Daddy's work for "Bring your kids to work day." I picked them up from school at noon and then we took the subway up to Google.  The girls were really excited :) They spent their time coloring, building Lego robots and painting ceramic bowls.  They were kept busy and had a great time.  Daddy brought them home on the subway in time for dinner :)

Jenn and Ryan Visit

A couple weeks ago Jenn and Ryan came for a visit.  I love showing people our life here in the city and with Jenn and Ryan about to embark on their own journey to London they were looking at city in a different light from our other visitors. 

They arrived Thursday evening and the adults had a nice night out without the kiddos, low key just catching up on life.  During their time here we had some unusually cold weather.  On Saturday, it was cold,windy and rainy, I had Rachel in her winter coat!  We went and saw the outside of the Cosby house, although disappointingly the house was under construction and so we took some photos on the stoop next door :)

Sunday after church we headed over to Governors Island, one of our favorite places to visit on the weekend.  Again the weather was windy windy windy but still fun to be out and about.  They left Monday morning.  It was a wonderful visit.  We had lots of adult time to talk, which with small children does not always happen.

Thanks for visiting Jenn and Ryan.  We hope you love London and can't wait to visit you there!

Church Retreat

This past spring our church had an all church retreat at a hotel in Princeton, New Jersey.  I have to say it was amazing.  So many families from the church made it a priority to be there and we got to know many families that much better.  We took the train out.  Then a van pick us up from the train station and took us to the hotel.

For the entire weekend there were child care workers that came to provide activities for the kids during the day.  They also watched the kids in our hotel rooms at night so that the parents could enjoy conversations and games, such a treat.  We met up with the girls for meals and at night.  It was like camp for the kids.

This is a photo of Luna and a friend of hers that is in her kindergarten class and also attends our church.  One of the days they made this butterfly together.  They could not decide who should get it at the end of the weekend so they decided Luna would take it home first and keep it for three days.  Then Luna was to bring it to school so her friend could keep it for three days and just continue the cycle. I think it made it through one trade off :)

During one of the sessions, the childcare works took all the kids swimming!  The girls loved it!  You can see Luna in the blue swim cap and Rachel in the pink one.  Each night they were tired and had no problem going to bed in the hotel room with the sitter.  It was a wonderful week, such love was poured out on us.  Thank you Lower Manhattan Community Church!

Sarah and Andrew Visit

In May, Sarah and Andrew came for a visit.  They took a red eye, arrived early in the morning Thursday and stayed until Monday.  Thursday night we hired a sitter and went out just the adults.  We went to dinner and met up with the Lepines.  Then we watched Blaine perform with The Improvised Shakespeare Company.  It was a bit of a Bakersfield reunion night :)  We were home well after midnight and I must admit it was the latest I had stayed up in a long time :)

Saturday morning we woke up to an overcast day that was threatening to rain.  Our plan was to go on a double-decker bus tour but had envisioned doing so in the sun.   The weather report was partly sunny and in the 70s. So we decided to go out to breakfast and wait for the clouds to burn off.

By 1pm it still had not burned off and was actually getting worse, raining, we decided to just go for it.  So we spent about 2.5 hours on the double-decker bus touring Manhattan in our life saving plastic ponchos. Since we moved to the city Luna has always wanted to go on the double-decker buses.  She enjoyed listening to the tour guide (through headphones) and looking at the sites.  Rachel mostly just looked around.  At one point Rachel asked Daddy "Is that guy (the tour guide) talking?" Brian had not put on her headphones, so she listen for a bit.  It was fun, but cold, wet and windy.  We did not make it the whole tour but enjoyed the part we did experience.

Sunday night Sarah and Andrew watched the girls so Brian and I could go out.   Luna had been looking forward to this time.  For Christmas, Sarah and Andrew gave her an Easy Bake Oven.  She loves it and wants to constantly bake treats.  So we have a reward system with noodles for her to earn a baking session.  The week before their visit Luna worked hard to earn her noodles so that she could do an "bake it easy oven" with Sarah.  So they baked while Brian and I went out.   

Thanks Sarah and Andrew for visiting us.  We loved spending one on one time with you!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a few weeks back and we had a great day.  I was treated royally by my family.  The girls and Daddy made me a delicious breakfast.  Luna had made me a beautiful picture and a vase (out of paper) with some pipe cleaner flowers.  Rachel made me a pencil holder, painted blue (my favorite color).   I love their homemade gifts and the thought that went into them.

After breakfast we headed up to church.   Our pastor gave a nice light hearted Mother's Day message on Hell :)  After church, we grabbed a quick lunch at our favorite flatbread restaurant (Tribeca Flatbread) and then headed out to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.  The flowers were beautiful and it was fun to walk around enjoying all the vibrant colors.  We took the subway back home.  Everyone was tired from all the walking and were eager for bed (kiddos) or relaxing (parents).  I love that feeling of living a full day, it was a wonderful Mother's Day.

As real as they get

The other night Luna and I had an interesting conversation.  It started out with her asking me why Daddy and I look the same.  I asked how Daddy and I looked the same.  She went on to explain.  After some confusing comments she said your skin is the same and mine is different.

This is the first time she has wondered why Daddy and I had the same skin color and she had a different color.  I was not sure exactly how to explain this to her.  So I started to explain how Daddy's birth mommy (Gramma Laurie) and Daddy have the same skin color and my birth mommy (Grandma) and I have the same skin color.  Then I told her you have the same skin color has your birth mommy.  To which she quickly pointed out that her skin color is actually darker than her birth mommy's.  Which is true, we have a photo of her and Luna does have darker skin.  So then I mentioned her birth Daddy and how he probably had dark skin.  I quickly realized how all this is so confusing to explain to a 5 year old and I was not doing a good job or even an adequate job.  Being a parent can be so hard at times.

Then she asked "But you are my real mom, right?"  I knew some day she would ask that question but it is still hard to hear.  My response to my precious daughter was "of course I am your real mommy, I am not pretend am I?" to which she gave me a huge heart melting smile.

 This is a picture Luna drew of the two of us.  I love this sweet little girl.

Paparazzi

There are frequently movies, shows or commercials being filmed in our neighborhood.  This past week, Cameron Diaz was filming a movie in our neighborhood.  Her movie trailer was parked directly in front of Rachel's school.  Of course, where there are famous people there are often times paparazzi.  Here are a couple paparazzi hanging out right in front of door to Rachel's school and right in front of the movie trailer.  You can kind of, see their huge cameras over their shoulders.  They had just got into a bit of an argument with Cameron Diaz's security detail.  Oh the problems of the rich and famous ;)

Cape Cod

Back in January, we spent a weekend on the Cape with friends of ours from Massachusetts.  It was a wonderful weekend.  We love these families and any time we get to spend with them is a little gift of joy and encouragement to us.

Carpooling NY Style

Two different families from Luna's kindergarten class live in our building.  It is great, we see them all the time, most often in the elevator (have to love the elevators).

One of the families have twin girls, one in Luna's class and one in another kindergarten class.  Well one of the girls came down with the flu. So in the morning their Mom texted me and asked if I could take Luna's classmate to school with us.  I said "sure."  So when I left the apartment, I texted her to say we were leaving.  We got in the elevator and pushed their floor.  The elevator opened on their floor, and Luna's friend joined us in the elevator.  Then we went down the the lobby and walked the 50 yards to school together.  That is carpooling NY style, super easy to say the least :)

Happy 4th Birthday Rachel!

Rachel turned 4 this past week.  We had so much fun celebrating her and what a blessing she is in our life.  Her day was low key, just perfect for her.  In the morning Daddy took her out to breakfast for some 1 on 1 time.  Then he dropped her off at school.

The day before Rachel and I spent the afternoon baking and decorating cupcakes for her class.  It was a lot of fun.  She made each one with different sprinkles.   During her school day, I brought in the cupcakes for her class.  They sung her Happy Birthday and then I read them a book.

After school we went to the park with two of her friends from her class.  It was a sunny, high 70s degree day, so just perfect for the park.  Rachel had a blast with her friends.  They had fun with bubbles and playing in the sand.  One of her friends that joined us is her friend Thaddeus.  At the start of the year she kept talking about a friend named "Fabulous."  I could not for the life of me figure out who she was talking about and finally had to ask her teachers and they told me his name is "Thaddeus."  But I think Fabulous is a pretty awesome nickname :).  He is one of her best friends at school and he is only 2, she adores him and talks about him all the time.

After the park we headed back to the apartment and just relaxed.  For dinner, Rachel picked french fries and strawberries.  Brian and I talked her into adding some hot dogs and hamburgers to the menu :)  After dinner we did cake and gifts.  I don't think I have ever seen Rachel so excited.  The day we just perfect for her, low key but filled with the things she loves.

A glimpse of Rachel at age 4

You have an amazing imagination, seriously amazing.  One of your favorite games is to play Sid from the show "Sid the Science Kid."  Mommy always has to be Sid and you are a number of people either Sid's Mom, Lily, May or the pet dog.  You jump between characters all during the course of playing.
You are a great swimmer, spending more time under the water then above.  You are determined to swim on your own and do not like it when someone tries to help (unless you really need it).  It is hard to tell when you need a hand in the water and when you are fine.  Some times the life guard at the pool will ask if you are ok, so far you always are :)
You love to draw pictures and behind each picture is a complete story that you love to tell.  We love listening to your stores and the things you come up with, they always make us smile.  At night you love to make up your own stores for bedtime and they are complete with a start and end.
On your free days when asked what you want to do. It is either play at the apartment, go to the library to read books or go swimming.  Those are your favorite things to do.
You constantly say something and then will ask Mommy or Daddy for affirmation by saying "Right."  An example is "Doggie ran into that chair because he was tired. Right Mommy?"  Mommy of course has no idea why your toy dog ran into the chair but you want Mommy to say "right" and will continue to ask until Mommy agrees.
You are very easy going and for the most part you go with the flow.  You love 1 on 1 time with someone, once the group gets too big you start to play on your own.  If someone is willing to play Sid with you, they quickly become your friend.

Happy Birthday sweet little Rachel.  We are so blessed to have you part of our family.  You make us smile every day with your amazing imagination and delightful personality.  I love just listening to you and hearing what you have to say.  Please don't stop talking to us!

Easter

 

We had a very quiet Easter this year.  We returned from Disney the night before, so we were all tired from a full day of travel.  The girls woke up to their Easter Baskets.  Rachel's basket had a Finn car and Sargent Murphy stuffed animal.  Luna's basket had hot pink sparkly shoes and a Easy Bake oven cupcake mix.  

Luna was excited to wear her new Easter dress and pink sparkly shoes.  We walked to church and enjoyed the Easter service.  After church we had a low key Easter dinner at our apartment.  Then we decorated some crazy eggs.  It was a relaxing day after a very busy week, just what we all needed.

 

 

Disney World

We just spent a wonderful week down in Orlando, Florida.  Since we are on the East Coast and the girls had spring break we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to head to Disney World.  Gramma Laurie had the same spring break as us so she met us there, what could be better?

Our first "magical"day was spent at Animal Kingdom.  We were the third car in the parking lot and waited at the gates for the park to open.  Before we left I read about about Disney and the best way to avoid long lines during peak times (ie Spring Break) is to be there when the park opens.  Hence waking up at 6am on our vacation :)  Gramma was a trooper with the early wake up and the time change from the West Coast she was waking up around 3am her time!

Both Brian and my favorite ride of the whole vacation was the safari ride in Animal Kingdom.  We saw lots of interesting animals and one angry rhino.  We took Luna on the Everest Expedition roller coaster which she told us afterward that it was too scary.  I was glad to see she does have a threshold, sometimes it feels as though nothing rattles her.  Rachel was pretty quiet most of the day, just taking it all in.

 

 After our day at Animal Kingdom, we spent a day at our resort relaxing.  My folks let us use their timeshare for our stay and we loved the place.  It had three pools, miniature golf and 2 playgrounds. We had some cool weather but the pools were nice and warm so the girls got in about three hours of swim time that first day.

They also had activities for the whole family.  Below, Luna playing Bingo.  She won the "L" game and got a water bottle as a prize.  She was a happy kiddo.

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom.  Of course we were there bright and early, waiting for the gates to open.  It was down right cold, jeans and fleece weather.  We enjoyed many rides. Rachel loved Peter Pan and the Royal Carousal and Luna loved It's a Small World and driving the cars on the speedway.  

 

After spending the morning at the park, we headed back to the condo for an afternoon nap.  Everyone slept but Rachel.  She just played on her bed for the two hours!  Then we headed back to the park for dinner, more rides and the night time parade.  Gramma bought the girls Minnie Ears and had brought with her light up necklaces, they were perfect for the night.

The next day was another day of rest for us.  We swam and then in the evening we had dinner with the Weber side of the family.  My Mom (Grandma Broz) and her sister (Aunt Pam) were flying into Orlando to visit with their brother (Uncle Gary) and his wife (Aunt Josie) for the week.  They ended up spending one night at our resort so we all had dinner together.  It was a fun although very quick visit.

The next day, Thursday was our last day at Magic Kingdom.  We were up and there early but luckily it was not quite as cold as Tuesday.  Our first stop was Peter Pan, Rachel's favorite.  We spent the morning going on a number of rides and seeing some of the shows.  We watched the afternoon parade and then went on some of our favorite rides again before going home for the day.  The longest we ever waited for a ride was 20 minutes.  The key was being there early and getting all the popular rides done by 11am.  After 11am we saw wait lines for as much as 170 minutes for a 3 minute ride!  Crazy, I could not imagine doing that with a   3 and 5 year old. We were willing to get up early to not have to wait in long lines.

Thank goodness for Gramma.  She went on all the spiny rides with the girls!  We are so glad she was able to come on this trip it made it so much more relaxing for Brian and I.  The girls loved having her to play with.  

 We all had a great time.  Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us use your timeshare!  It was a fun spring break, can't wait for our next vacation :)