Brookelynne is starting gymnastics!!

Today Brookelynne started gymnastics! I was so excited to get her involved, especially with a gym as close as this one. I contacted them a few weeks ago and they put together a two-year-old class because they had several people interested. I took that as a sign :-) the best part? Brooklyn's friend Kalea got to be in her class too!

She didn't love it at first, and was very hesitant about the teachers but she warmed up after a little while and really enjoyed herself! Their lesson for the day was to learn to do a straddle. And I can tell you for sure that she learned it. :) they also got to walk on the balance beam (one on the floor, not raised :) ), hang from a bar and start learning to do a handstand! I am so proud of her!

B&B's First Trip to Disney-world: Day 2!

On Tuesday morning, we got up early and went to our first character meal. It was a Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy meal at the Beach club resort. We had made reservations the day before and only waited a few minutes once we arrived. We sat down and before we could get our food, Donald Duck was there to see us! This was the first character that the kids had seen up close. (they had seen several characters in the parade the day before, but none of them tried to get close to B or B :) ) Donald walked right up to Braxton, in his high chair, and started heading his head :) I have to admit, I winced when I saw him get close to Braxton, anticipating a scream or cry, but my little man loved it! He was grinning from ear to ear :-). Brookelynne was less sure about Donald but went right up to Minnie when she arrived a few minutes later ;)

After finishing breakfast, we headed to animal kingdom! This was my first time in that park, and I was surprised at how pretty and "earthy" it was. It was about 10 AM at that point, so we headed straight to Minnie – Mickey camp. When we got there, the lines to meet the characters were practically non-existent. We jumped in the line to see Minnie right away. Mitchell saw that they were signing autographs books for the children and wanted our kids to get autographs too. I had already decided against autograph books, because I don't like the idea of getting someone's autograph, and idolizing them. It's one thing to have them sign something significant, but just to sign their name to a piece of paper, like they are more important than other people kind of bothers me. but Mitchell was insistent, and I was resourceful, and we came to a compromise that I am very Very happy with. Instead of having them sign a piece of paper, we pulled out our Mickey Mouse Clubhouse books and had the characters sign next to their picture in the book. That way, when we are reading our books (which we would do anyway) we can see their signatures and remember the time we met them at Disney World!

We went and saw Minnie, Goofy, and Mickey before heading into the lion King show. The Lion King show is in Minnie - Mickey Camp as well, and starts every hour on the half hour mark. It is a very good show, very entertaining and interactive. It was a little longer than my kids would have liked, but still a great show to take them to.

After that, we went to the Africa area and rode the safari ride. The kids enjoyed seeing the animals, all so Braxton slept through most of it. We then went over to the petting area and the kids got to pet some goats. They really enjoyed that, as well as seeing some pigs up close and personal. We then headed over to the A's loop and did the walk through attraction, with birds, tigers and bats. :) by the time we finished that, the kids were down for naps! We found a place to watch the parade and parked there until it started. :) once again we got a pretty good spot, in the shade, to watch the parade and the kids woke up just as it started. Brookelynne got up on daddy's shoulders, and all the people on stilts would come over and speak to her, it was so cute! :) once the parade was over, it was about 415 and we started back to the hotel.

They have a great time on this day as well and their favorite part was definitely getting to meet the character!

More soon!

B&B's first trip to DisenyWorld!

So Mitch and I had talked about going to DisneyWorld a while back and wanted to wait as long as possible, so that Braxton would be old enough to enjoy it, but that Brookelynne would not have turned 3 yet. Of course we were concerned with the heat, and weather as well as price so when we found out about the Wild for 3 Passes for Florida residents which were $99 for 3 days, and the fact that they are valid through the end of May, so we decided to go as soon as we could get everyone off at the same time. :) That is what brought us to our Late-April Trip.

When deciding what parks to go to, I did some research and picked parks that the kids would get the most out of, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, and it worked out perfectly! The kids had a great time at Magic Kingdom, both days, and it was much easier the second day! :) I had gotten several different things that the kids could have as 'gifts' and us not have to pay for them at the park. Here they are getting their surprises on day one.

The first day we went to Magic Kingdom, and Brookelynne
was so excited to be at Mickey's house. We headed straight back to fantasyland, and rode "it's a small world". The kids were immediately in heaven :-) they loved all of the puppets, the singing, and the lights!
Here is a picture of me, Brooke, and Mitchell heading into the first tunnel.

We rode on Dumbo, the tea cups, and Peter Pan while in fantasy land. We also got lunch on that side of the park. I was very surprised at how busy it was, I thought that Monday would be less crowded. It wasn't horrible but there definitely were lines at each ride, and it was slow going trying to maneuver through the park.

Braxton fell asleep around one, and was completely out. We rode a a few different rides with him in our arms, and he didn't even stir.

Around 1:40 PM, we put Brookelynne
in the stroller with Braxton and walked around until she fell asleep. Since Braxton was so out, we decided it would be better to have Brooke nap at the park too, instead of going back to the hotel and Braxton and her sleeping at completely opposite times.

About 2:00 PM, we found a place in the shade on Main Street, and settled in to wait on the parade. The kids woke up right as the parade started at 3 PM. And they absolutely loved every bit of it. The characters kept coming up to us, and we were in the shade so it was easy to see everything, and not hot at all. After the parade we went to the "country bear jamboree" and then got in line for the jungle cruise. I can honestly say that getting in that line was the worst decision of our whole vacation. It said the wait was about 35 minutes, but after an hour and 20 minutes we were still in line. Mitch, the kids, and I stuck it out and rode the ride. It was not worth the hour and a half. :) after that we made a decision to go out of our way to get fast passes if at all possible. Lol. (which for the record usually required me to walk about a mile as fast as I could to go get them and come back while the rest of them road a ride without me.)

We headed back to the hotel around 5 and were all pretty exhausted. I picked up Olive Garden to go, while I was out getting Braxton's ear infection medication. (did I mention that Mitch and the kids were sick? soml )

All in all, day one was great! And the kids loved it! I will post about day two and three and four ASAP. :)