Easter pictures

Every year we have gone to see the Easter bunny and have a few pictures made. The place that we go also has real bunnies too. We went the other day and had trouble with Landon cooperating. We didn't get really any good pics of both kids, so I decided to show a few pictures from the past 3 Easter pictures.

Brinley was around 11 months old for her 1st Easter and she had no problem with the Easter bunny. This is Easter 2013.

She loved petting the bunny.

The next year we had two little ones to try and make happy and smile for the camera. This proves to be a very difficult task. It always seems like when one child is happy the other one is not.

Easter 2014 Landon is about 9 months old in this picture and Brinley is a month shy of 2 years old.

Landon got so excited that he ended up puking on the Easter bunny.

Landon did not like the real bunny at all.

Then he got happy. Brinley showed no emotion, but she loved petting the bunny.

Then both kids decided that petting the bunny was fun.

Which brings us back to this year.We went to meet the Easter bunny right before lunch time because we thought the kids would be in a good mood since it was still a little bit before nap time. However, we couldn't have been more wrong about Landon. For some reason he was in the worst possible mood. Also, it was disappointing that the lady taking our photos didn't know what she was doing and quite a few pictures were not in focus. We did get a few pics that turned out.

Both kids look like "Why are you making us do this again?".

Brinley was so happy to see and pet the bunny. I can't believe how well she acted while Landon was being crazy.

We tried everything to make him happy. We even took off his shoes because we thought he didn't like them. Nothing worked and he just stood in the background pouting. Kind of reminds me of something that I would have done in my younger days.

We even tried to cheer him up with snacks, but instead that turned into Brinley feeding them to the bunny. I hope bunnies like veggie straws!

At least he isn't crying.

Wait, there he goes again. As soon as we left he was in the best mood. We still have no idea why he was so upset during the photos.

Maybe next year we can get both kids to cooperate for pictures. I think it is fun to see how much the kids have really grown in just a years time. We don't always see the changes because we see them everyday, but they are truly changing all the time. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Hollywood Studios

Our fifth day at Disney started out like all the others. We got up early and drove to the park and arrived before they opened the gates. Today we were going to explore Hollywood Studios, which was formerly known as MGM. Jennifer once again made us all shirts for the day. Since we were going to see Mike and Sully from Monsters University we all wore shirts from the different fraternities in the movie. I was Oozma Kappa, Jennifer was Python Nu Kappa, Grandma was Eta Hiss Hiss and Grandpa was Roar Omega Roar. Jennifer got a lot of compliments on the shirts and people told her she should sell them on Etsy.

Mickey Mouse from Fantasia at the park entrance.

We had a couple fast passes for some shows to start the day. One of the park employees mentioned that we should head into a nearby room to see Minnie Mouse before the lines got too long. So we headed right on over.

Brinley and Minnie Mouse. She didn't seem all that excited, but she had just woke up.

Grandma didn't make it back from the bathroom before it was our turn so we went ahead and got a picture with Minnie Mouse, which she had told us to do.

Turns out she had wanted to meet Minnie after all. 

Next we went and saw the musical The Little Mermaid. Both kids really enjoyed it. When we walked out the doors we immediately spotted the characters Sophia the 1st and Jake from the Neverland Pirates. We got in line to meet both of these people.

Brinley really liked meeting Sophia.

Heflin clan with Sophia.

The Heflin's with Jake.

Next we used a fast pass to see Disney Junior Live. We were really excited about this because the kids love all the shows on Disney Junior. However, it was a puppet show and we were sitting in the front row and the kids didn't really get a good view. They both just wanted to run up the stairs to get on stage. 

We made our way over to the ride Toy Story Mania to use our last fast pass. Unfortunately the ride was broken and closed for repair. We were informed that since our pass expired and the ride was closed that we could come back at anytime during the day once it was operational. We walked a little further and happened upon a couple of characters that we couldn't wait to meet: Mike and Sully!

Brinley and Landon both loved meeting these 2 monsters. They both love to scare people with their roars!

Mike and Sully with a some of all the fraternities from Monsters University.

We just so happened to be visiting Hollywood Studios when the carriage from the new Disney Cinderella was on display. 

We then made a trip to see the Indiana Jones stunt show. The kids were pretty tired at this point, so they got a quick nap in while we enjoyed the show.

The show had a lot of fighting and explosions, but thankfully the kids slept right through it. Maybe next time I can volunteer to be one of the audience participators. 

Lunch was next. We ate at Hollywood and Vine and it was a character meal. The real reason why we signed up for this meal was because this was the only way that we could meet Doc McStuffins. This is one of Brinley's favorite characters and she even has her own doctors outfit. We also got to meet Handy Manny, Sophia, and Jake. The kids barely ate because they were so excited about seeing everyone. We were able to get some good pictures and I even got some selfies with the kids.

Jake with Landon and I.

Brinley and Doc.

Brinley with Handy Manny.

The Heflin's and Doc McStuffins. 

The kids loved Doc.

Brinley was so excited. Doc kept pointing to Brinley's headband and her doctors coat.

Jennifer, Landon and Sophia the First.

Brinley and Landon with their buddy Jake.

Brinley, Landon and Manny.

Brinley holding hands with Sophia.

Family picture after lunch.

 After meeting all our new friends we decided to ride The Great Movie Ride. Then we noticed that the Toy Story Mania was back up and running. We jumped in line and waited our turn. The ride was definitely worth the wait. It was a 3-D carnival shooting type game. I am not quite sure how much the kids were able to see because they weren't wearing their glasses, but Brinley said she had fun. Jennifer said that it was her favorite ride from all the parks.

Brinley and I after riding Toy Story Mania.

Brinley with one of the army men from Toy Story.

Next we headed over for the live production of Beauty and the Beast, which was just like the movie. We all enjoyed it. The kids enjoyed the show and I enjoyed the quick nap.

Some of the characters from Beauty and the Beast.

Picture with the Hollywood Tower.

I talked grandpa into riding the Tower of Terror. He was a little scared, but I had to talk him into riding it during or turn in the line. He even told me about a few family heirlooms in case he didn't make it.

Picture of us on the ride. He is saying that he only thought it dropped once. It didn't! It went up and then free fell about 4 times.

Only one thing left for the night was to attend the fireworks and light show which is called Fantasmic. We had a little time to spare, so Jennifer and I took the kids and walked across the park to see the Muppets 4D show while grandma and grandpa saved our seats at Fantasmic. As we were walking back to Fantasmic Brinley asked for ice cream about 20 times. We kept telling her that we would get some when we found grandma and grandpa. So, after we got to our seats Jennifer went on a search for ice cream and popcorn.

Grandpa and the kids enjoying their snacks before the show started.

Showboat full of characters that is being steered by Steamboat Willie Mickey.

Mickey saved the day and got rid of the evil dragon.

Everyone enjoyed the show. Landon couldn't even take his eyes off the show for a picture.

 It was a really fun day at Hollywood Studios. We weren't running around like crazy because our day was filled with lots of shows. This was a much needed break since we had been going non-stop for a full week. We were ready to get back to the hotel to rest up so that we could enjoy our last day at the Magic Kingdom the next day. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Magic Kingdom Part 2

 The second day at the Magic Kingdom started out early as we once again got to the park before it opened. We got some pictures in front of the castle while walking towards our first ride.

Daddy's little girl.

It was upsetting that they had a huge crane in the background of the castle. It messed up all of our photos with the castle.

Everyone was in shock that Tinkerbell landed in Brinley's hand. Brinley wasn't that amused.

Heflin's at the Magic Kingdom.

This time upon entering the park we went straight to Adventureland and rode the Jungle Cruise first. There was hardly a minute or two wait before boarding. This is a water cruise where you see many animatronic animals and hear some of the silliest jokes of all time. Most of them the kids won't even get, so maybe they are for the parents. The kids liked it so much that we hopped right back on for a second tour. After the Jungle Cruise we took a ride on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. This again is the standard kiddie ride. You fly in a circle and can move the carpet up and down in the air.

Jennifer and Landon rode in a carpet with me. 

Brinley rode with Grandma and Grandpa.

After riding on the magic carpets we waited in line to see Jasmine and Aladdin. We don't own this movie so the kids have never seen it.

The whole Heflin crew with Jasmine and Aladdin. I wish that the genie or Abu had been there.

Brinley took another ride on Pirates of the Caribbean with Grandma and I.

Next we headed over to Frontierland to ride on Splash Mountain. We all had fast passes, but the kids were not tall enough to ride. Thankfully there was a little playground near the exit to keep them entertained.

A Disney photographer stopped by the play area and snapped some pictures of the kids. Here is Brinley ready to go down the slide.

I know what you are thinking - why does this kid have a bottle. Well, he was getting sick before our trip and hadn't really been drinking well. I didn't want him to get dehydrated and he never has a problem drinking from a bottle. So, we regressed and let him drink from a bottle.

Grandma and Grandpa rode first and Grandpa ended up getting soaked. 

Jennifer said that the people behind us were probably ticked at me because I held up my hands. They really aren't able to see their face at all.

Next we hopped on the Disney World railroad and rode around to the front of the park. We got off and were thinking that there was supposed to be some kind of show. Come to find out it was at the castle. 

The grandparents taking a break with the kiddos. 

We made our way up to the castle to see the show. Brinley watched while up on my shoulders. I will never get tired of this. As long as they will let me there is always a spot on my shoulders.

Mickey and friends performing in from of the castle.

While the show at the castle was finishing up it started to sprinkle. We decided to try and do something indoors and the closest thing was the Hall of Presidents. After getting inside the majority of us fell asleep. When the show was over it had turned into a downpour outside so we did the most logical thing. Head back in for another show. And again! When the third show was over the kids were done napping and were getting restless so we decided to figure out something else.

I ran over to see if we could get in line to meet Tiana. The line was actually closing so Brinley and I just went up to say hello. I told her that New Orleans was very important to me because Jennifer and I got engaged there. I also told her how much that we love beignets.

Since it was still raining we got on the Riverboat because it was covered. Next we ran over to Fantasyland and used some fast passes to meet some of the Disney princesses.

Meeting Elsa was something that Brinley was really excited about. As you can tell, Landon did not seem to be a big fan. For some reason he preferred characters that didn't look real.

The Heflin clan with Elsa. 

Brinley's new best friend Anna.

Brinley and Anna holding hands. She told us that Olaf was out playing today with his snow flurry.

Heflin clan with Anna.

Brinley with a Minnie statue that was dressed in an Elsa outfit.

Next princess to meet was Cinderella. Not exactly sure what these two were talking about here.

Heflin clan with Cinderella.

Brinley looks mesmerized by Rapunzel. This was a picture of her signing our autograph book.

Heflin clan with Rapunzel. We thought Landon would really like Rapunzel because Tangled is one of his favorite movies, however he had no interest at all in meeting her.

After meeting all the princess Jennifer and I went to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train again because the line was short due to the rain. The kids went with Grandma and Grandpa to ride It's a Small World, which they actually rode twice.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in the rain. I somehow lost a poncho that I never even got to put on so I just embraced the rain.

While we were at trying to select another fast pass Jennifer and Grandma rode the carousel with Brinley. We discovered while talking with a few of the employees that there is actually a talking Mickey Mouse character. This sounded amazing because so far all the dressed up characters just had to use hand gestures to communicate with the kids. We headed off to grab some dinner before our fast pass time with talking Mickey.

What would a trip to the Magic Kingdom be if we didn't ride Buzz Lightyear. I told Jennifer I would ride with Landon. Too bad he didn't really want to ride. We both ended up giving up and just enjoying the ride.

The kids had been acting tired so we actually rode this slow moving ride called People Movers. The first time around Landon had fallen asleep so we just rode it again. The second time around Brinley fell asleep so we went for a third time. We needed to get to our meeting time with talking Mickey so we had to cut their naps short and headed to see Mickey.

We stopped here in the rose garden to get a picture with the castle. This was the only time that we had noticed that the crane was down.

Brinley loved talking Mickey. It was so cool to finally hear one of the characters talk. The only problem is that none of us are able to recall anything that Mickey Mouse actually said to us.

Brinley really enjoyed meeting him. 

Landon was a little scared of him.

Family picture with Mickey Mouse.

Heflin clan with talking Mickey.

Mickey Mouse was more that we could have imagined. Landon didn't want anything to do with him until we walked out of the room. Then he wanted to wave to him and blow him kisses. The last thing for the night was the Electrical Parade and then the fireworks show. The kids loved the parade and were waving at all the different characters. The fireworks left a lot to be desired because we weren't close to the castle and there was some fog/clouds that were ruining the great view.

Grandpa was so cold that he put his poncho back on for the walk and tram ride back to the car. As you can see Grandma got a pretty good laugh from him.

We didn't let the rain ruin our day at the Magic Kingdom. We had to get back and get some sleep so that we could get up in the morning and head to Hollywood Studios. Thanks for reading and God Bless!