Monday, November 30, 2015

Mommy Mondays: Paisley Jean is 11 Months Old

I can't believe that Paisley's last month birthday before she turns ONE has already passed!  I missed writing about this milestone while we were in Disney, but I still had to share!  Better late than never!

It was really hard to get Miss P to sit still for her 11 month pictures!  She is seriously on the go - crawling, walking, climbing!  She's doing everything she can to keep up with her sisters! 








At Eleven Months Old Paisley Jean:
*says Mama, Dada, Baba, Matt, Elmo, I Love You, Nana, Pop-Pop
*blows kisses
*waves
*points to something when asked (for example, if you say "Where's Minnie" she will point to her Minnie Mouse doll)
*feeds herself all table food - she is down to just 2 bottles a day
*climbs up the stairs
*stands up and takes 5-6 steps at a time
*plays peek-a-boo and so big
*celebrated Thanksgiving - her last "first holiday"
*has 3 teeth - her bottom two and her top side tooth...we are going to call her "Fang"...it's adorable 



Paisley Loves:
*Minnie and Mickey Mouse
*blueberries and strawberries
*Elmo
*snuggles
*climbing the stairs
*Lacie and Blakely
*being outside
*her pacifiers - she won't be giving those up anytime soon
*baby dolls and stuffed animals - she really doesn't have a favorite, she loves them all
*bathtime (remember how she hated it last month...well she's back to loving it!)

Paisley Hates:
*getting her diaper changed

That's seriously it!  I know I keep saying it month after month, but Paisley is the happiest baby on the block!  Seriously she was the MVP of the Disney World trip!  I never expected her to go with the flow and be as happy as she was when I put her completely out of her element and off her schedule!  


Here is a side by side of the three girls at 11 months! 


Saturday, November 28, 2015

Disney World Day 6

Since I shared all the magical details of our vacation with you, I thought I should tell you about Day 6!  This was our travel day home, but I did plan for a very special breakfast at Chef Mickey before we left.  This restaurant is inside of the Contemporary Hotel (so you don't need a park ticket to eat there) and it's supposed to be a short Monorail ride away from our hotel...


We had early reservations - 8:45am - which should have given us plenty of time to eat and get back to the hotel to catch the Magical Express bus to the airport at 11:10 for our 2:20 flight.  We got on the monorail nice and early.  Immediately after we got on, we noticed that it was making very strange sounds.  Squeaking.  When it stopped at the Magic Kingdom they made an announcement that it needed to stop for routine maintenance.  30 minutes later we were still sitting on the monorail waiting and were now late for our breakfast reservation.  When the monorail operator walked by our cabin I asked him how much longer this was going to take.  He explained that they were waiting for someone to come and give it the all clear.  However if we wanted, we could take the walking path to The Contemporary...it was only a seven minute walk.

Yeah 7 minutes not so much...

Because at this point we had already turned in our rental stroller before we left the Polynesian and the kids were walking...

And it was hot!  And far...

But I wasn't missing this breakfast!  We finally made it over 30 minutes late for our reservation.  The hostess who checked us in was very nasty about our being late despite being assured by the monorail operator that all restaurants get notified when they breakdown because it makes everyone late for their reservations.  


After we got seated, (which took another 15 minutes despite a restaurant full of empty tables because the monorail was broken) the girls and I waited to speak to the chef while everyone else got their food.  The chef was great and walked me through the whole buffet to tell me what was and wasn't safe for Lacie.  The only thing that wasn't safe was the yogurt and granola toppings...but let's be honest,  she just wanted Mickey waffles and bacon!

While we were eating, Mickey and friends came to our table!

We saw Goofy!

And John and Matt got to recreate this picture from 1987!

 We saw Minnie and Mickey!  They were hands down Paisley's favorite characters of the entire trip!





We saw Donald Duck, who we hand't met yet!

And Pluto!

After breakfast, which would have been delicious if we weren't racing through it so we could get back to our hotel on time, we hopped on the monorail which had started running again about halfway through our breakfast (it runs right above you through the inside of The Contemporary Hotel)! 

We got back to our room and threw everything in our suitcases and hopped on the Magical Express Bus.  We got to the airport at the correct time 2 hours before our scheduled 2:20pm flight!  We made it through security with no issues and headed to our gate to wait.  

The girls pulled their suitcases again!



I called my Dad to let him know what time we were leaving so he could pick us up in Newark.  As I'm telling him that our flight is on time, I look at at the board to see that it is now not taking off until 4:30pm. 

About five minutes later they delayed the flight again - now we wouldn't be taking off until 5:30pm.

That's 5 hours in the airport with 3 kids under the age of 5.  

Wonderful.

And every flight after ours was getting cancelled. 

At this point I was terrified that we were going to be spending a night in some airport hotel...

Somehow we managed to pass the time.  Jet Blue gave us food vouchers and my children ate fast food for the first time in their entire lives.  Burger King french fries and chicken nuggets.  I wish I had pictures of their faces - they loved it.  It's never happening again.

John and I got a Starbucks!  Thank the Lord for Starbucks! 

I have to say that Lacie and Blakely were pretty good throughout this entire ordeal!


When we finally boarded our plane, I breathed a sigh of relief that we were actually going home! 





In an effort to see good in even a bad day, the delayed flight had my girls so tired that they fell asleep before we were even in the air!  And they stayed asleep until the last 30 minutes of the flight! 



We got off the plane around 8pm.  Everyone walked ahead towards the baggage claim area.  I waited at the gate for our stroller, which we gate checked.  When the man handling all the gate checked items brought me my stroller.  It was soaking wet.  And broken.  As in the entire wheel was broken off.  Thanks Jet Blue.  We will never ever fly on your airlines again.  In case you're wondering, that is an extremely expensive stroller.  I filed a claim immediately.  And I've called 3 times.  No one from Jet Blue has resolved this issue yet.  They haven't even been remotely helpful or friendly.  




I would say up until this very last day, we had the perfect vacation!  John just informed me that even my typing sounds angry.  Maybe one day we will be able to look back at this and laugh, but that day isn't here yet!  


Even in light of our last day, the rest of our vacation was full of happy memories that we will always have!  If you want to read about all of the wonderful and magical details of our vacation, you can do that here:




Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Disney World Day 5

Today I am recapping Day 5 of our Disney World Vacation!  This was our final day in the parks, and it was a Magic Kingdom Day!

We woke up and headed to the Magic Kingdom for breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table!  For those who don't know, this is inside the castle!
INSIDE THE CASTLE!!!
It doesn't get much more exciting than that for little girls with big dreams of being princesses!

As soon as we got to Cinderella's Royal Table, we went inside and were greeted by Cinderella of course!



Cinderella chatting with Paisley about how she lost her slippers!  

After the meet and greet with Cinderella, you get to walk up the castle staircase into the dining room!  Lacie ran up those stairs and was so excited when she got to the top!


Princess Lacie has arrived!

I loved this breakfast!  The food was delicious and the kids allergy menu was great!  Each girl got a wand and a wishing star at the table.  During various parts of the meal, everyone would be asked to wave their wands, make wishes on their stars, and say "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!"  They really enjoyed this part of breakfast!




While we were eating, other princesses would come to our table for pictures!  We got to meet Aurora, Snow White, Ariel, and Jasmine!  The girls were really excited that Princess Jasmine was at breakfast because we hadn't met her yet!  Paisley loved meeting Snow White! 






After breakfast, it was time for a lot of RIDES!  We got right onto the carousel because it's outside as soon as you leave the back of the castle!  Paisley was napping in the stroller at this point, so she didn't get to do this ride.


Next up, we had fast passes for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!  This is a fairly new roller coaster that I was really excited about.  When we got up there, Blakely was too short to ride.  She was really good about not being able to do it.  Lacie went on with Uncle Matt, Grandmom, and Grandpop!

After Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, we had a fast pass for Peter Pan's Flight!  Then we hopped on It's A Small World!  I love those two rides.  Paisley slept on top of me during It's a Small World.  I think she would have loved it if she had been awake!

After those rides, John's parents and brother headed back to the hotel to rest.  We stayed in the park for more rides!  

But first we got a Starbucks!  How cute are the Mickey Ears on the "I" in my name?!?  And the spelled Lindsay correctly...this almost never happens!


Our next ride was the Teacups!  You have to ride the Teacups in Disney! 

After the Teacups, we had fast passes for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh!  This was a really cute ride!


After that we all needed a snack to hold us over until dinner!  The girls got Mickey Mouse shaped pretzels that were bigger than their heads!  John and I got churros!  I think this was the only time we used snack credits on something other than Starbucks or Dole Whips! 

After snack, we headed to Dumbo which in my mind is another classic Disney ride.  We couldn't leave without the girls riding Dumbo!



Right by Dumbo is a ride called the Barnstormer.  It's a Goofy roller coaster that you had to be 35 inches to ride!  Blakely met that height requirement so she got to ride her first ever roller coaster!  She was really excited about that!  She went with John and I hung with Lacie and a sleeping Paisley!



After Blakely went on the Barnstormer, John went back on with Lacie!  Then we headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle!  This was a long wait, but it was worth it in the end.  They tell the story of how Belle and the Beast fell in love, and all of the kids get a part in the story!



At this point it was almost 5pm and we had dinner reservations at The Plaza on Main Street at 5:15.  This is where things went downhill a bit.  It had rained while we were inside Enchanted Tales with Belle, so the strollers were soaked.  I carried Paisley and held Lacie's hand while John held Blakely's hand and we each pushed a wet stroller with our free hand.  Matt was meeting us at the Plaza.  Somehow we got there at 5:10.  Now it became clear to me when I gave the hostess my name that they were running behind on reservations.  

By 5:30 the kids were getting impatient.

By 5:45 I was annoyed and asked to speak to the manager.

When we finally got seated after 6pm I was beyond aggravated.  I don't get mad easily but when I do watch out.  John calls it the "Lindsay 'tude."  I made these reservations 6 months ago...this is something the restaurants in Disney deal with everyday...there is no reason for this kind of wait...especially when people have hungry kids.

Needless to say they offered to comp our meal which would have made no difference because we already paid for it with the dining plan.  So I got two fast passes.

Sigh.  The food wasn't even that good.  It was definitely my least favorite Disney Meal.  

Also it was not the most allergy friendly meal which added to my frustration.  Instead of sending a chef to talk to me, they sent a waitress who was trained to handle allergies.  She said they sent her because the chef was on a break.  But they came out with Lacie's food pretty quickly after that so I wonder who made it if their allergy chef was on a break.  

They  did make Lacie a cute sundae for dessert.



Every night around this time, Paisley was so overtired that she became super silly.  We played a lot of Peek-A-Boo with her which was so funny!


And kisses!!!

After dinner, we decided to use one of our free fast passes for Space Mountain!  John and Matt went on first while I stayed with the kids, and then Matt and I went on!  


Right outside of Space Mountain was a DJ and a dance party.  I swear this was Lacie's favorite part!  She got out of the stroller and danced for an hour!  B and Paisley were sleeping!



 Finally, we walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean, and John and Matt took Lacie on that while I stayed with the two sleeping beauties!  Lacie loved it and told me how scary it was!

After that, we headed to the Monorail to go back to the Polynesian!  We got to see some of the Main Street Electrical Parade on the way out!


In Case You Missed It:






LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...