It's Cold Out! (February 2012-2013)

February 2012:
This month was spent huddled inside until it got warm enough to peek our heads out. We also had fun at Grandma Bunnie's annual Valentines Day brunch. We ate ourselves sick and then ate some more.

Mouse got fitted for her first helmet (anyone ever make a mold of a head?) and she didn't enjoy it. The helmet came about a week or so later and she was surprisingly fine with that. She actually slept through the night the first two nights she had to wear it, which she hadn't done previously.

Panda celebrated her Third birthday and had a lot of fun riding around on her new scooter (so cute to see), eating a snowman cake, meeting Chuck E Cheese, and playing on the rides. She also worked on potty training this month and was motivated by the princess castle chart that her daddy made for her. Plus, she got her first haircut from my lovely friend and it turned out super cute. And she can do the splits.

Monkey has been busy with school, gymnastics, and being a crazy kid. He also got to dress up as an old man for school, which he thought was funny.

February 2013:

February was pretty fun, although it turned out to be horribly girly which can be a little hard for me to take. :) The girliness started with Grandma Bunnie's annual Valentine's Day brunch and concluded with a fairy bonanza.

Tigger and I actually went on a date. I know you are shocked and amazed. We've been getting better at that lately, but back in February it was a big deal. We went to see BYU's production of Phantom of the Opera and it was really good. I was amazed at how they were able to portray a lot of the really technical scenes. It was cool!

Mouse is growing like crazy and getting into everything. Luckily she's cute enough to get away with it.

Panda celebrated her Fourth birthday and had a lot of fun eating fairy cake, going to a fairy tea party, and having a fairy birthday party with her friends. I think that she likes fairies. 

Monkey lost his first teeth. He had a new one growing in behind and so the dentist had to pull out his two front teeth.

Quite a few years ago I got in an accident and almost died on February 15. Since that day, our family has celebrated Alive Day every February 15th (it's way better than Valentine's Day). As luck would have it, I got a call on this particular Alive Day and was informed that my test results were back and that I was BRCA 2 positive. In layman's terms, I had an 84% chance of getting an aggressive form of breast cancer due to my genes. I had been expecting this news, knowing before the test that I had a 50-50 chance of being positive. So it wasn't a shock but it does play a large part in how the rest of my year went (cliffhanger…..gasp!).

2012-2013 Years in Review - Countdown to 2014

So I told everyone that I'd post more and that I'd probably even review 2012 while I was at it. Well, I don't want to be a liar so here goes.

January 2012:
January of 2012 was one of the hardest months of my life. There were definitely some good moments (warm enough on January 2 to go miniature golfing, fun snow, fun times with my kids, etc.) and a really great moment (the blessing of my beautiful baby). But it also brought surgery for my beautiful baby and the death of my sweet dog, Flash.

My doctor was concerned about my baby's (Mouse's) skull an ordered an x-ray but told us not to worry too much about it. The x-ray revealed that Mouse's skull had fused prematurely which would restrict her head from growing in width. After he got the results he called Primary Children's hospital and by the end of that day my baby was scheduled to have surgery on her skull by a neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon before the end of the month.

Handing my sweet, little 3-month old baby over to the anesthesiologist and walking away was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It still makes me tear up just thinking about it. The surgery removed a section of her skull in the middle of her head. They ended up making two incisions, one at the front and one at the back, and using an endoscope to remove the section of skull. (They had to shave  her long hair in those two spots.) And she would end up having to wear a special helmet for most of the year.

In addition to everything that was going on with Mouse, at the beginning of the month our dog Flash was having seizures. We took him into the vet and got him put on some medication. The first few days on the medication were awful for Flash as his body got used to it, but then he seemed to get better. On the day before Mouse's surgery Flash seemed to be back to his energetic self (I took that picture of him that night). On the night of Mouse's surgery Flash passed away. I had stayed at the hospital and didn't find out until the next morning when Mr. Tigger came in with cards from the kids and a video that he had taken of the small funeral they had given Flash. It was a hard day.

January 2013:
The contrast from 2012 to 2013 was huge. This last January was one of the best months ever. We were able to escape the horrible coldness of home and run off to wonderfully warm Florida and we had so much fun as a family. My husband and I had trained hard and had a really good Goofy race (half marathon plus a marathon) and the kids really enjoyed their races. Then we rewarded ourselves by spending the week going to amusement parks and DisneyWorld.

Everyone had their own special moment. Monkey got a magical wand directly from Ollivander and got to see some of its magic in action. Panda got to hug Mickey and then hold hands with him as she finished her race (plus she got to meet Rapunzel). Mouse got claimed by Sleeping Beauty with a huge kiss on the forehead and loved running around on the beach. And Tigger and I got a lot of medals and the best vacation as a family that we've ever had. Overall, it was magical.

Surfs Up

On our last day we went to the beach. There had definitely been some warmer days during our trip that would have been better for the beach but Mr. Tigger was ecstatic that it was overcast...no burn.

We went to Cocoa beach and it was beautiful. The kids were so excited to see a real, live ocean.

Everyone attempted to boogie board, some more successfully than others.

This is how Panda preferred to board...less water in the mouth and up the nose.

This boy absolutely loved the ocean. He spent more time in it than anyone, mostly just running around. He also loved boogie boarding, chasing sea gulls, and collecting shells.

My baby loved the beach. All that space to run around in! She also really liked chasing the sea gulls.

We had a lot of fun on the beach. It was a fun and relaxing day and the perfect way to end our vacation.

The next day we woke up, packed, got on two airplanes, and returned to our beautiful mountains.....and all that crap beneath them. Inversion anyone?

Our vacation was so much fun. It was everything that we'd hoped it would be. Our kids had a blast and truly had a magical time. Disney World and Florida definitely lived up to their billing. Can't wait to visit  again. January 2014?

Do You Believe in Magic?

Saturday we went to Magic Kingdom. It's a huge park and the only park where I felt like we didn't even see half of it. But the parts that we did see were great. Plus, my brother and his wife and their little boy were able to join us which was a lot of fun.

One of the first stops was at the race track. All of the little kids got to drive and, judging by the faces of the adults, I think I'm in trouble once my kids turn 16.

By this time in our trip Panda had figured out how the height measurements worked, so she marched right up to the height requirement of Space Mountain and felt with her hand above her head. She felt that there was a gap between her head and the requirement and her face just melted. She ran back to me sobbing because she wasn't big enough. It was so sad. Monkey was big enough and was super excited to ride on Space Mountain. He might not have been so excited if he knew it was a big roller coaster. Oh well, he survived.

For once we didn't pack a lunch and instead ate at the Be Our Guest restaurant. It's the new Beauty and the Beast restaurant inside Magic Kingdom. It was a really cool experience. You cross a stone bridge to enter, walk through castle halls filled with suits of armor, and are finally seated in one of three rooms (the West Wing, the Ballroom, or the Library).

We chose to eat in the West Wing and I think it was the best room by far. My camera makes the room look a lot lighter than it actually was. It was quite dark with a candle-lit look. There were torn-to-shreds tapestries, the torn prince picture, and the mirror alongside the enchanted rose. While in the room it felt as though there was a thunderstorm outside. You could see and hear the rain and the rumbling of thunder. The rose was holographic and about every 15 minutes it would lose a petal. Once the petal hit the table a large clap of thunder and burst of lightning would happen and the torn prince picture would change to a torn picture of the beast. It was a really cool experience.

So much fun in one location. How does Disney do it?

It was our last day in the parks so it was a good thing that we finally met Rapunzel (number one on Panda's must-see list). We also saw Aurora and Cinderella in this room, but Rapunzel was definitely number one. My question...why is Rapunzel's hair still blond?

One of our favorite stops of the day was Tom Sawyer's Island. Most people might think it's a waste of time, but we love it. 

The kids get to explore the island, play on forts, go through caves, and just run around like crazy and the adults get to go with them or sit in a nice, white rocking chair on the dock. I chose to go with the kids. I just think the island is really cool and too much fun to miss exploring.

The day was really fun. We rode on the carousel, saw great characters, watched the Disney character parade, tried to pull a sword out of a stone, visited Gaston's tavern, went on a haunted ride, etc.

We ended the day with awesome fireworks and the magical electrical parade. A great way to end our visit of Disney World.

The Circle of Life

Oh, back to the drudgeries of normal life...laundry, work, dishes, snow, etc. Definitely time to post some more Florida pictures. On Friday we joined the animals in Animal Kingdom.

Since Thursday had ended on a cold note, we were more prepared for the weather this time.

First we visited Dinoland to go on a few rides, including DINOSAUR! The ride includes several carnivorous dinosaurs attempting to eat you and, once again, Panda loved it and wanted to go again. Monkey tried it out once but opted not to go on it the second time.

We also saw the famous Tree of Life. It has all kinds of animals carved into it and is really impressive up close and personal.

Another highlight was the Safari. We got to ride around and see the kinds of animals you would see on an actual African safari. Probably more so since Disney has them corralled into specific viewing areas.

The kids loved it, even my little one. I know you can't tell from this picture, but that brown thing in the water is a hippo. Don't worry, I got better pictures of the hippos.

We also got to go to the petting zoo. I was so excited to pet all sorts of wild creatures (snakes, tiger cubs, giraffes, etc.), so you can imagine my disappointment when the petting zoo consisted of goats and sheep. That's right, goats and sheep. I could walk down the street and pet those things. Stupid petting zoo.

The rest of the things in Animal Kingdom weren't a disappointment and we all had a fun time.

For lunch my brother took us to this fabulous Indian restaurant in one of the Disney Animal Kingdom resorts. I can't remember the name of it, but it was one of my favorite experiences of the trip. The food was amazing, the atmosphere was really fun, and you couldn't ask for a better view.

Here is the window next to our table (yes that is a zebra out the window).

These pictures were also taken during our lunch. The window made them a little hazy. For some reason this restaurant isn't that well known so it isn't crowded at all. Can you imagine? It was amazing!

We cut our trip to Animal Kingdom a little short due to rain, but that didn't end the fun. My brother, knowing Mr. Tigger's infatuation with superheroes, took him and the kids to a really cool comic book store. My little Mouse and I took a much needed break and caught up on one of my guilty pleasures, Once Upon a Time. My sister-in-law is also a fan so we watched it while the boys were out.

It was another fun day.

Around the World in a Day

It feels weird to be posting about our vacation now because we're already back home. But I've started and I'm determined to finish. So onward we go. 

On Thursday we went to Epcot. And the first person we saw was Goofy. This was actually pretty lucky because we didn't see Goofy in any of the other parks and he was on our must-see list.

We also ran into Mickey again (another must-see) and a bunch of other characters. I think that if your kids want to meet the characters, then Epcot is the best kingdom to go to.

Our kids were really excited to meet all of the characters, but they were especially excited to meet Mary Poppins. They love that movie and Mary Poppins exceeded expectations. She talked to our kids for several minutes and then told me that our picture was "practically perfect in every way." Such a Mary thing to say.

We decided to ride on the Nemo ride and were surprised with an entire undersea world after the ride. There were a ton of real aquariums with sharks, rays, manatees, dolphins, etc. There was also a cool interactive show with Crush (the turtle from Nemo) and a bunch of sharks that let you pose with them.

Why such excitement?

They were in the line to ride on Soarin. And they loved it. They went on this ride twice and it was the favorite ride of the day.

In France we ran into Aurora.

We also ran into some French pastries. That was the look on all of our faces.

I'm not sure if Mouse's expression here is due to the yummy pastry she just ate or the fact that Princess Aurora claimed her with a kiss.

Near the end of the day we found Donald. He was the last character on our medal list. (Mickey, Goofy, and Donald. Check, check, and check.)

The day got colder after lunch (rain and lots of wind). You can see Belle trying to warm up our cold little kids. We probably would have been fine if we had worn jeans and had a jacket, but when the day starts out in the 70s you just don't think to wear that. The countries were still a bunch of fun. We got to eat a lot of great food, hear fun music, and wear funny hats.

The day ended as it should in Epcot...with a treat!