Snow Much Fun!

Somehow we managed to make it into Newark, NJ on Thursday during a blizzard. We thought for sure our flight would be cancelled. Jetblue did a great job of getting us here ontime and safe. I will say coming down to land was very scary, the plane was getting thrown around quite a bit.

When we landed SJ got off the plane looked out the window and YELLED, SNOOOOWW!! It was so cute there were HUGE snowflakes coming down

My dad lives in the Poconos and it was a dangerous, scary drive home. The roads were icy and snowey. It took us 2.5 hours to get here but we did safely. Then we got to relax and watch the snow come down and boy did it come down, over 2 feet!

The 1st time we went to go out, SJ saw the snow come up past my knees and said MOMMY ITS TOO DEEP

PopPop pulled out the big guns and cleared him a path then he started enjoying the snow

Epcot Days

We actually spent the next 2 days in Epcot.
We started in test track, SJ rides this ride everytime but hates it every time. R was nervous to get on. Well as expected they both hated the ride. They were both in tears by the time we were to get off, the poor kids who were about to get on looked terrified. They did like looking at the cars in the showroom though. i wanted to bring the CTS and Camero home but I didnt have enough souviener money.
We went to Nemo in the morning and this building was a big hit with the kids. We went to see turtle talk with Crush and SJ got picked 1st. He was so cute talking into the microphone. Crush kept calling him SJ DUDE and he said no Im just SJ not dude. It was funny everyone laughed when we were walking out he said Mommy why were all those people laughing about me?
Crush also chose R to ask a question. R asked him how watered breathed? Ummm crush was just as confused as you are reading this. LOL
We then rode Soarin SJ and my dad LOVE this ride. We ended up riding 3 times in 2 days. Be sure you get a fastpass for this ride, the line can become long very fast.

We went into the countries to look for something to eat but ended up eating in the american pavillion.
We were headed back to the hotel when SJ spotted the character connection and wanted to meet the fab five so we did not to bad 30 min to meet 5 characters. Unfortunetly my camera started acting up and I didnt get any good pictures.
Some shots from the countries



Tuttu Italia dinner Innovations fun
we learned about velcro then got to make a frog to take home for free!

An interactive game in the big ballDevons Epcot Top Picks
-Soarin
-Test Track
-Turtle talk with crush
-dining Tuttu Italia
-Illuminations

Publix Gift Card Giveaway

I love following deal finding blogs and this morning when I went to mojosavings.com i found a contest for a $25 giftcard to my favorite grocery store Publix! go here to check it out and enter yourself.

Magic Kingdom Day

I love the magic kingdom, growing up in FL I have been more times than I can remember and every time has been as special as the last. I have gone with my mom, my school, my dad, my grandparents, my friends and now my son.
We conquered fantasyland first
.Then we headed over to toontown for barnstormer right when we got off, the train pulled up in ToonTown so we jumped on and hopped a ride over to SJ's favorite rollercoaster Big Thunder Mountain! Last time we rode it in November it was raining and not so fun. This time it was perfect!He dressed himself up after the Pirate of the Carribeans Ride.




SJ was really into getting Character Autographs this trip. We waited along time to Meet Jasmine and Alladin but they were totally worth it! It was so cold Jasmine had to wear her jacket.
We had dinner at Cinderellas Castle oh how I love eating in the castle. When we were finished with dinner both the castle and fantasyland were closed and we were the only ones in the hallway it was pretty magical.
We then picked a spot for Wishes and Spectromagic right in front of the castle. I did not think this was a good spot but i was outvoted and that was where we stayed.
SJ had a blast playing with the lightup toys papa got him and playing with the CM's in the street. For the record I was right, we should have gone further down main street alot of the fireworks were blocked by the castle but there were some beautiful shots I was able to take.
We then waited for Spectro to start SJ got lots of love from the characters.

Devons Magic Kingdom must do's
Big thunder mountain
wishes
spectro magic parade
move it shake it parade
buzz lightyear
hall of presidents (made me proud to be american)
resturant: cinderellas royal table

Animal Kingdom

We spent day 2 of our vacation at Animal Kingdom. We were exploring dinosaur land and my aunt sons are dinosaur lovers so she insisted that we go on the ride Dinosaur. I had never been on since I had been forewarned it was very scary especially for young children like SJ, but against my better judgement I decided to go on and take SJ too. Let me tell you people are right this ride is scary! Both SJ and R were scared to death and I have to admit my heart was pumping pretty fast. Neither of the boys wanted to go on again I cant say I blame them.
We of course rode Expedition Everest and it was loved by all, SJ is still about an inch to short to go on it which is a shame because he really wants too. When we were up at the top instead of closing my eyes I actually took a minute to look around and enjoy what you can see from up there, it is pretty incredible.
We of course took the 2 week Kilamanjaro Safari ride this baby giraffe was pretty close to us. And I finally got to see the lion awake. I have been on this ride at least 10 times and never seen him or her awake, this trip they were both awake.
We then found these bats I forget their name but they actually are awake during the day, the cm's had just fed them and they were very active, flying around, eating and cleaning themselves.

We had to leave early due to impending rain and we had a luau to get to for dinner!

Devons Animal Kingdom Must Sees
Kilamanjaro Safari
Everest
Lion King Show
Resturant: Tusker House

Another New LO

Hollywood Studios

We only spent 1 day at Disneys Hollywood Studios. The 1st day i arrived.
I love this park I dont know why since there is not a ton to see.
My favorite ride is Toy Story Mania and we always go right there to secure a fast pass for later. This ride is definitely the most popular at Hollywood Studios. Unfortunately I was put in a broken seat and the ride was very boring. If we were not a group of 7 the cm's would have let me back on but I did not want to choose which child could go on again. I have to admit I left with a bad taste in my mouth :( The other members of our group loved the ride and the waiting area is not to be missed it is so cute!
I dont really know how SJ knows about the power rangers but he does and he loves them so when he saw them out meeting people it was a must stop for us. We met the yellow and red rangers this day.
We were going to go back to the hotel for a break but after waiting 30min for a bus we decided to just stay and stick it out. So we found a spot on the curb for the move it shake it parade. Last time we were here it was slightly raining and that made the parade never stop and party so it was pretty lame. This time it stopped and did its fully show! We were by the its a bugs life section. SJ was not shy at all and got out into the street and danced with the performers.

We had dinner at Mama Melrose for the fantasmic dinner package. The food and service were both just ok. not great but not horrible either.
SJ was excited to see Fantasmic! He calls it the show with Mickey and the dragon.
After Fantasmic we fought with the crowds and made our way back to our room where we all fell asleep pretty quickly.

Devons Hollywood Studios Must do's
toy story mania
little mermaid
fantasmic
restaurant 50's primetime cafe
Osborne Spectacle of Lights if you go during christmas season

Home from 5 nights 6 days at Walt Disney World

Yep that is right I was lucky enough to go to Walt Disney World again! This time I was joined by my beautiful son, my dad, my aunt and uncle and their 2 children. R and C. R is the same age as SJ and C is 2.
We had connecting rooms at the Caribbean beach resort. A moderate resort on WDW property. We were in the pirate rooms! Disney did not miss anything when theming this room, the carpet looked like planks, the fridge was hidden inside a barrell
Here is a picture of the 2 beds.

SJ steered us to sleep every night.



The good:

1. the rooms were themed great
2. the rooms were always clean
3. we were right next to the bus stop which made it very convenient
   
4. Very friendly staff

The not so good:

1. we were far away from old port royale and never really enjoyed it
2. the buses were not running as smoothly as past trips one day we waited 45 min for a bus to the magic kingdom as we waited we saw 3 empty buses going to animal kingdom.
   

all in all the resort was fantastic and we will go back again but next time I dont think I will be getting a pirate room. I like a room closer to Old Port Royale.

Stay Tuned I willl be doing a review of every park we visited!

*these opinions are mine and mine alone, no one paid me for any part of this vacation*

Christmas Eve

Proud Mom Moment

SJ has finally gotten really into letters and writing. FINALLY! We were Skype-ing grandpa the other day and he said I know how to spell Oso (from agent oso on the disney channel) and said O S O then he said wait and went and got his magna doodle he started with the S on the bottom to show he could write a S. Then he said wait I can WRITE OSO and then wrote his very first word. OSO I was so proud he did it all by himself.

now we need to work on getting him to write his name.