When we last spoke, we had returned to the hotel and Leah was sleeping. She had to be awakened shortly thereafter to head for a dinner engagement, and this is what she looked like shortly before rising:
Day Zero – Getting Here & Value-Added Chicken
If you read my trip reports from last December’s Disney trip, you might recall this nugget:
This has really been a tale of two trips – the parts where Aly has “been a shit”, as my mom used to say about me with some regularity – sorry mom, but it’s true, you did say that about me a lot, and I’m sure deservedly; and the parts where we’ve been able to have fun as a family, where Aly has had lots of fun.
Aly turns 6 & has a puppy party
Aly decided that she wanted to have a birthday party this year (the first time she’s wanted one), so we tossed around ideas for a while before settling on “Adopt a puppy” as our theme for the big event. Keep in mind that our house is pretty small, and we invited 24ish kids, so we had to plan for both indoor and outdoor activities. Thus, we planned the party for Saturday, but had a scheduled rain date for Sunday, and we ended up needing it, because Saturday’s weather was low 40s, rainy, and windy. Sunday ended up as a beautiful day, weather wise.
Stranger Anxiety Pictured
Kids go though interesting stages, don’t they? Leah was very outgoing, even with strangers, until maybe October or so. Leah and I were shopping at the grocery store, she strapped into her car seat in the cart I was pushing. Towards the end of the trip, an old guy came up and started talking to her, and you could see her tense right up, but he kept his distance, so she was fairly mellow. Then the old guy’s wife comes out of nowhere (Leah couldn’t see her coming), pops in front of Leah and tickles her foot. It was instant screaming in terror, which of course caused me to have a good laugh. Here’s best part:
The old lady angrily turns to her husband and says, “Look what you did to that baby!”, grabs him by the arm, and drags him away. We’ve even seen the stranger anxiety thing with people who see her every week – it’s an interesting phase.
WDW December Day Seven – “Lean way in”
Leah, as part of her campaign for 2011 Goudie Baby of the Year, blessed us by sleeping until 7:30, which meant I didn’t have to freeze my arse off taking her around the Boardwalk this morning – it was 38 degrees or some such silliness. We got all our stuff packed up and I took our luggage to the car while the girls checked me out (of the hotel, you lechers) and then I met them at Kouzzina for breakfast.
WDW December Day Five – Test Track, Soarin & Princesses
After my pleasant (but too) early morning with Leah, we woke Aly up and got her ready for the Princess Storybook breakfast at Akershus in the Norway pavilion at EPCOT. Leah was already ready for her first nap, so she slept in the stroller on the walk into EPCOT and around the front of the World Showcase while Rachel detoured over to Soarin’ to grab fastpasses for later in the day (that’s the kind of pre-kids commando stuff we used to do all the time). Leah woke up right after we parked the stroller at Norway, so the timing worked out pretty well.
WDW December Day Four – MK EPCOT & Boardwalk Magic
We got our typical late start this morning (Leah up at 6:30, Aly must be waken at 8:00 and then takes forever to get moving – two kids is so much more work than one kid times two) and finally made our way to Magic Kingdom. Our original plan for today was EPCOT all day today, but after missing MK yesterday during World War Aly, we decided to switch things up. By the time we got there, it was time for Leah’s first nap. Poor thing, finally makes to the place with the magic and she’s conked out in the stroller.
WDW December Day Three – Tantrums & Lights
The day began with a DEFCON 2 Aly meltdown, so we ended up skipping MK this morning and giving her some down time in the room while I grocery shopped. I can’t believe we’ve been in Florida for three days and no MK yet, but such is how your life changes when you successfully (open to interpretation, of course) procreate.
WDW December Day Two – Animal Kingdom
We confirmed today that Leah’s not quite comfortable with characters yet, but had a fun trip to AK nonetheless. Check out her post-character pictures with Mickey and Thumper – she’s mad when they touch her. Aly loves them though, and she had eight of their autographs before 11am.
We had a great lunch at Yak & Yeti – lettuce cups, honey chicken, stir-fried beef & broccoli, and cream cheese-filled fried wonton dessert goodness. Should stretch out the stomachs nicely for ‘Ohana tonight, lol.
WDW December Day One – Getting Here
Our AirTran trip was great – Aly was in the cockpit for about five minutes before we left GRR, and again for another five minutes after the flight. Both pilots were great with her – thanks Captain Dave and Captain Patrick!
We had dinner at Chef Mickey’s and Aly loved all the characters. Leah, not so much. She’d get excited and start shouting at them when she spotted them, then clam up when they came near. If they touched her, instant tears (check out the two Goofy pictures). It was cute. Hopefully she’ll do better tomorrow.