Sweet Cadalyn

Last weekend, Dean and I went to visit Ethan and Cherrylynn and their new beautiful baby daughter, Cadalyn Jane. She is such a cutie and a really good baby. It was so much fun spending time with their family and I was also spoiled by an entire day spent with Dean. On Sunday we all spent the day at home watching football, never even leaving the house! I can't recall the last time I spent an entire day "at home" with Dean, so that was a treat.

I had a hard time putting Cadalyn down and definitely hope the old adage that you can't spoil a newborn is true, because otherwise Cherrylynn and Ethan are in trouble! We love Cadalyn and miss her so much...we love her mom and dad too!

Last Call

We had a wonderful last day of vacation. My boys slept over 11 hours, and by the time they finally woke up I was starving so Benny and I ran to get breakfast. It was pouring down rain so we were bummed, but still looking forward to a great day. It continued to rain while the three of us got dressed and was still raining when we boarded the bus to Magic Kingdom (our favorite park). The rain amazingly stopped about 10 minutes after we entered the park...or about 3.5 minutes after Dean gave in to the weather and bought a poncho!! It figures!! The skys were overcast all day (which made the temperature so much cooler than the days prior), and though there was always a threat of rain, it never did come down and we had our best day of weather yet. We did some shopping and then headed to Tomorrowland to visit the Buzz Lightyear ride one more time (probably Ben's favorite, though it is hard to tell as he is SO excited after each attraction and the minute it is over says "let's do it again!"). We then went to Fantasyland and enjoyed visiting Mickey Mouse's house and Minnie Mouse's house, rode Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventure, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Next, after some lunch, we moved onto Adventureland where we paid a visit to Jack Sparrow on the Pirates of the Carribean ride one more time, and Ben finally agreed to ride the Magic Carpet Ride with me. We did some more shopping and then boarded the Monorail to go to Epcot one last time, for one ride...Finding Nemo. Ben and Daddy rode the ride while mommy sat outside with our many shopping bags, and they had a great time and deemed the trip back to Epcot as worth it! We then boarded the bus back to our hotel for about 20 minutes before getting back on a bus to MGM where we had dinner reservations. We ate at the Sci Fi Dine-In Theater where we ate in old fashioned cars and watched old black and white movies. It was pretty cool. Ben was desparately trying to delay the inevitable and avoid leaving the park. He kept trying to come up with things that we should see and do while in MGM, but alas the park closed at 8:00 p.m. tonight and we headed back to our hotel, where we are now playing with some of our new toys and packing. We truly had a magical time on our Disney Vacation and can't wait to visit again. It is always nice to go home after vacation, but I am really sad to see this trip come to an end. We have had such a great time and really enjoyed each other. Ben has been unbelievably well behaved and Dean and I have loved watching his reaction to all that we have seen and done the past several days. I am so very excited for this baby to arrive in 10 short weeks and feel so blessed that we are able to grow our family, but I am feeling something kind of like sadness that it will no longer be just the three of us. I am unbelievably blessed to share my life with Dean and Ben and I love them more than I could ever sum up in words. I am so glad we were able to take this vacation together...one last time as just the 3 of us. I know our next trip will be even better when our new little person joins us. We think Ben was the perfect age for our first trip to Disney, so we imagine our next trip will be 3 years from now when the baby is about his age and Ben is 6...2010 here we come!

Yo Ho Ho, A Pirate's Life for Us

Day three started out with a character breakfast at MGM. Ben was delighted to sing, dance, eat Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, and hang out with the PlayHouse Disney characters Jo Jo and Goliath, and Leo and June from Little Einsteins. After breakfast we walked around MGM and saw a ton more characters, including Woody, Lightening McQueen, Sully and Mike Wozowski from Monsters, Inc., several Power Rangers, Remy from Ratatouille, and a couple of Incredibles characters...we have never seen that movie, but Ben insisted the rest of the day on calling Dean and I "Incredible Mommy" and "Incredible Daddy" and he, of course, was "Incredible Ben." We also loved playing at the larger than life "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" Playground area. After MGM we headed back to the hotel for a swim in the huge hotel pool, complete with waterfall. Ben also liked playing in the kiddie pool area with the built-in sprinkler system. We cleaned up after swimming and boarded the bus to Magic Kingdom. Once again, Benny passed out on the bus and slept through the first half hour. Dean and I did some shopping and sight seeing while Ben snoozed. After Benny woke up he we rode "It's a Small World" (because you really must when at Disney World, right?) and then headed back to Adventureland to ride the Pirates of the Carribean ride. After Pirates we rode the Jungle Cruise and then visited with Captain Jack Sparrow. We then headed over to Tomorrowland for some more fun with Buzz Lightyear. We also went to the laugh in theater and saw Mike Wozowski and ended the evening with Ben and Daddy racing around the track once more in the racecars. Another great, but long and exhausting, day at Disney World. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we are able to enjoy a couple more hours at the Park tomorrow. There is a storm front coming through and a 70% chance of rain on and off all day tomorrow. We know we'll fun regardless and have packed the ponchos just in case. Good night!

Disney Take Two

Today was another great day at Disney World. We all slept wonderfully and even slept in by our standards, waking up at about 7:45 a.m. We headed to Animal Kingdom to check out the animals. It was an extremely hot and sticky day and I was pretty uncomfortable, but we enjoyed Animal Kingdom nonetheless. We liked seeing the Disney characters Stitch, Rafiki, Pochantas, and Jiminy Crickett. We went on a train ride and saw some cool birds and even some dinosaurs. Benny and I even went on the Triceratops Spin ride. We had so much fun! We headed back to Epcot for lunch and were on a mission to see some more characters...definitely Ben's favorite thing about Disney World so far. We went on the Imagination ride and then walked through part of the journey around the world and then went to a special area where Ben got to meet Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Chip & Dale, Pluto, and Minnie Mouse (there you go Aunt Sissy!). He was thrilled and it was definitely worth the 45 minute wait..the longest wait we have had for any one "attraction" thus far. We headed back to the hotel where we all took a quick nap and then cleaned up for dinner. We boarded the bus and decided to head to Magic Kingdom. We had such a great night. It was a relatively cool evening and there was no wait for anything in Tomorrowland, which is where Ben spotted Buzz Lightyear! To say he was thrilled would be an understatement. He chanted "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz" while we waited in line. We also rode the Buzz Lightyear ride 3 times, ate some dinner, rode a train ride around Tomorrowland, and Daddy and Benny raced a real race car around the track a couple of times...Ben even got to drive and only crashed once he said! We were so excited about the fireworks at the end of the night....until they started. Ben's review of the show is that he "liked the fireworks when they were quiet, but when they went boom he didn't like them." They were beautiful and pretty spectacular considering they go off every single night. We are all tucked in bed and ready for another big day tomorrow. Good night!

We Love Disney World

Our first day at Disney World was an overwhelming success! We had a great (but long) day beginning at 4:30 a.m. Our flight departed Indy at 7:00 a.m. and Ben did great, as usual, on the airplane. He loves flying and enjoyed his first time flying without a carseat and also his first time going potty in an airplane bathroom. Good times! We arrived in Florida and took the Disney Magical Express to our hotel, the Disney All-Star Resort Movies. Our room wasn't ready yet so we headed straight to Magic Kingdom, arriving in the park by about 11:00 a.m. Ben promptly fell asleep upon sitting in the stroller and missed the first 10 minutes of our adventure in Magic Kingdom and missed seeing Pluto, one of his absolute favorite characters. We took a picture of sleeping Ben with Pluto and had him sign Ben's autograph book so Ben would know that he had "seen" Pluto when he first arrived at Disney World! Ben woke up shortly after our arrival and it was so much fun watching him take in all of the excitement! He was truly amazed and overwhelmed. We saw so many characters, including Jasmine, Aladdin, and the Genie, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, Pluto of course and many others while we walked through Magic Kingdom. It was extremely hot and humid and a highlight of our afternoon for me included lunch in an airconditioned restaurant! Ben absolutely loved the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and really wants to go on it again so I am sure we will be making a trip back to that area. We also saw the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Cindarella's Castle, and Tom Sawyer Island. We headed back to the hotel for some rest (though only Mommy napped) and then boarded a bus to go to Epcot where we had dinner reservations. Dinner was cool because we were in a rotating restaurant and Ben got to visit with Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Chip & Dale. He was hysterical and talked their ears off...mostly about Pirates and how he thought Pirates were "kind of mean but he likes them." After dinner we went on the Finding Nemo ride...twice, and then saw the Turtle Talk show with Crush the turtle. It was so cute and Ben really enjoyed both attractions. We decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night...17 hours after our day had begun. We had a psycho bus driver but made it safely home and are now in bed and trying to settle down. Ben fell asleep on the bus so he is a little restless now. I will post pictures as soon as I get home, but wanted to share our adventures with you now while the day is fresh in my mind. Sweet dreams.

School Days

Ben started preschool this Wednesday and I was a little nervous about how he would transition back into the school year. He really struggled last year and cried hysterically (seriously, hysterically...he would break out into hives!) when I would drop him off at school (which is at our church). Adding to my anxieties about the beginning of the school year, was the fact that the following conversation took place between myself and Ben about a week before school: me (with much enthusiasm and a cheesy grin plastered on my face): "Hey, do you know what you get to do next week? You get to go to SCHOOL and see all your friends." ben (looking very uninterested): "Umm, yeah, I'm not going." I was so amazed and proud of my big, brave, boy, however, when he popped out of bed Wednesday morning ready to go and singing our "going to school" song that we made up last year. He was so fired up and when I dropped him off he headed off to play with friends and barely said goodbye. He is getting so big! He had a great day at school, both Wednesday and Friday. No drama at drop off either day (Daddy even took him on Friday) and his teachers said he was well behaved. I'm so proud! One funny story from school on Wednesday, however, that proves that Ben truly is my child. The following conversation took place via the rearview mirror as we drove home from school on Wednesday: me: "So tell me about school? Did you sing any songs?" ben: "Yes, but I sang very quietly. Can I sing loud now though since it is not nap time?" me: "Uh oh! Let's talk more about nap time...did you sleep?" ben: :No." me: "Who did you nap next to?" ben: "Nobody . I had to sleep in the hallway because my teacher didn't want me to talk to anybody!!!" me (laughing inside and cringing because I am imagining similar conversations that surely took place between my mom and I 26 years ago): "Benjamin, were you talking during nap time?" ben: "No, I wasn't...but all my friends were." me: "Benjamin. All of your friends were talking. You were not, but you were the one who had to go to the hallway?" ben: "Yes." Likely story! Poor Ben, he comes about his talking gene honestly and I predict his mouth will get him in trouble many, many times over the years (much as his mommy's mouth did, and sometimes continues to, get her in trouble). One more Benny story. Not so funny, but nonetheless...Soccer started up again on Thursday. This time Ben goes on the field by himself and parents watch from the stands. Ben was doing an awesome job and really listening well and having a blast when, long story short, a bee flew into his shirt and stung him 3 times! Poor little man! Ben was very upset (understandably), but he rallied and went back to the field for the rest of class after getting himself calmed down. I was really proud of him for being such a big boy and continuing to work hard and have fun even after he was hurt. The best part, aside from the fact that we have confirmation that Benjamin is definitely not allergic to bees, is that Ben now yells at every bug we see "Don't sting me bee, I'm not a flower, I'm Ben!" We are off to Disney World next week so I am sure there will be many pictures and stories to come. Love to everyone and have a great week.

Pony Party

A couple of weeks ago Ben went to a 3rd birthday party for our friend's Kevin and Lisa's daughter, Chloe. We love going to Kevin and Lisa's house...they have an awesome 2-story playhouse Ben loves, a swingset, and a swimming pool. As if they aren't already the coolest parents, they also had a pony at Chloe's birthday party. A real, live pony! Poor Ben, his parties will never measure up...though we are banking on the fact that we will be able to convince him for a couple of years that all the fireworks that are held on his 4th of July birthday are presented to him, with love, by his parents!!

Ben was not interested in riding the pony, but he did feed her a carrot and enjoyed petting her. He did, however, love Sawyer and Chloe's 4-wheelers.

CHICAGO TRIP

My college roomate, Kate, is getting married this winter and her bridal shower/bachelorette party was in Chicago Labor Day weekend. I was so thrilled to get to enjoy a rare weekend away with girlfriends. I only see my college roomates about once or twice a year (depending on how many weddings there are!) so it was such a treat to spend time with them. Kate is going to be a beautiful bride and I hope I am able to make it to share her big day...she is getting married about 10 days before my due date so we shall see.

Here are some pictures of my lovely ladies.