Mickey's Not So Halloween Party and Disney Trip #3

The second week of September we made our 3rd trip to Disney with our season passes. I had some awesome co-workers that allowed me to get off work a few hours early so that we could start our journey sooner. So, Sunday night we started off toward the happiest place on Earth, Disney World. We arrived at the hotel at 5 am and we went to check in. They just so happened to have a room ready for us so we went ahead and unpacked all of our things before heading to the Animal Kingdom. We usually choose to go to the Animal Kingdom first because they have extra magic hours. That way we can go do some of the more popular attractions with little to no wait. That way we can use our fast pass selections later in the day at a different park.

Family picture and some of the many animals that you can see around the park and on the safari. The Animal Kingdom is literally like a combination of a zoo and amusement park.

Landon recently got a new pair of shoes and the large soles just happened to put him over the height requirement of 38 inches which allowed him to ride a few new rides including Kali River Rapids. Landon loved it and wanted to ride it again. Unfortunately, the second time around Landon and I got completely soaked! The little guy still loved it.

We also took a little time to play at the Bone Yard Playground. They had some huge slides and some rope bridges that all of us played on.

We then packed up the kids and headed over to Hollywood Studios where they happened to have an open spot for the Trials of the Temple Jedi Training. Brinley told them that she was brave enough to fight the dark side. She was so brave and learned the ways of the Jedi and then fought the Seventh Sister.

Tuesday we relaxed and just took it easy to start our day. We spent a few hours at the swimming pool and tried to make the kids tired in hopes that they would take a nap because we knew that we were going to have a pretty long night. We were set to go to Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party and it was scheduled from 7 pm to midnight. Unfortunately the kids didn't take a nap so we just put on our Halloween costumes and headed on over to the Magic Kingdom for the big party.

We wanted to wear themed costumes this year so after much deliberation we decided that we would all be characters from Landon's favorite movie, Wreck it Ralph. Jennifer had been working on our costumes for a couple months in her spare time. It would have made more sense for me to be Ralph because he is a large guy who is bigger that all the other characters. However, Landon really wanted to be Ralph so I had to be the other main male character, Fix-it Felix. Brinley was Vanellope Von Schweetz who is the main race car driver and Jennifer was another one of the racers, Taffyta Muttonfudge.

Here are the pictures of the characters that Jennifer modeled our outfits after. I think that Jennifer did a pretty awesome job and our outfits were a huge success! A lot of people recognized us and called us by our character names, including the real Ralph and Vanellope in the night time parade. 

I thought these pumpkin lights were pretty cool. They were on all the lamp posts throughout main street.

We rode a few rides before heading to the back of the park to get in line early to meet one of the specialty characters that were going to be out for the party. One of the most popular meet and greets at the park for the Halloween party are the Seven Dwarfs. This is one of the few times that you are able to meet all of them and get a picture with them so we wanted to be sure and meet them. We got a spot in line underneath a tent and then the weather took a turn for the worst. It started lightning and thundering and we were informed by the Disney employees that the dwarfs were not able to come out in the bad weather. So, we patiently waited for our chance to meet them. The problem was that the weather didn't cooperate and the dwarfs didn't come out to start meeting guests for another 2 and a half hours. This was a huge disappointment for us, but we decided to stick it out because we were informed that all the other characters would not be out meeting people either. We didn't want to get out of line and lose our spot.

After 2 and a half hours waiting we were so excited to meet and greet with all seven of the dwarfs.

We ran around like mad people and tried to see as many characters as possible, but unfortunately we ran out of time before we were able to see everyone that we wanted.

We were so excited about the Boo To You Parade! However, due to the weather the first one was cancelled and they had to have a slightly modified parade. The part of the parade that I was sad that we didn't get to see was the headless horseman that runs through the park at the beginning. 

The highlight of the parade was seeing Wreck It Ralph. He looked over at Landon and jumped up and down in excitement to see someone dressed up like Ralph.

Brinley even got to see the character that she was dressed up like. Vanelope gave her a big wave and even blew her a kiss!

They also had a special fireworks show that was themed more towards the villians. Landon happened to fall asleep prior to the fireworks starting so I woke him up and that ended up being a huge mistake! He cried through almost the entire fireworks show. I didn't want to ruin the experience for everyone else so I wondered around as much as I could so that no group of people had to listen to Landon's cries for an extended period of time.

The fireworks show was really neat, but I just wish that I could have heard the music better if Landon hadn't been crying in my ear.

After spending the whole night running around we got one last picture with Cinderella's Castle. This was taken well past midnight and Brinley was out, but Landon caught a second wind.

Heading back to the hotel with a wide awake Landon and a sleepy Brinley.

The kids with their candy that they collected at the Halloween Party. There were 13 trick or treat stations and this is the candy from just the 3 stations that we visited. I can't imagine how much candy we would have got if we went to all of them.

The next day we made a return trip back to Hollywood Studios and we went around and met all the Star Wars characters including Kylo Ren, Chewy, Jawa, and the Stormtroopers.

Landon sat and watched his sister participate in the Jedi Training and he loved every second of it. I knew that he would love to do it, but unfortunately you have to be 4 years old to participate. Not one of my best decisions as a father, but I told Landon if he told the people that he was 4 then he could fight the bad guys. He was so excited when they said he could do it! Afterwards we had to have a talk and I told him that we were just pretending and that he was really only 3 years old.

Brinley fighting Darth Vadar and Landon fighting the Seventh Sister. Both kids were so excited to be fighting the bad guys.

Landon standing in line and then riding his first BIG roller coaster, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This little man has no fear at all!

There was a dance party out in front of Cinderella's Castle. The kids didn't really want to dance, but it was pretty cool to see Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps from the movie Zootopia.

I just love it when the kids wear their Mickey ears. They were a lot more excited about it this trip than they were in past trips. I really like the shadow picture of Landon with his ears on and up on my shoulders.

One of the last things we did before leaving to come home was to watch the new show that they perform at the front of the castle. It was good and it was neat to see more current characters involved in the show. The only bad part is that there is no shade in front of the castle and I began to sweat profusely during the show.

Landon just got to be tall enough to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and he absolutely loved it! So now this is both of the kids favorite ride.

We usually only wait in lines that are really short for character meet and greets unless the kids really want to meet someone. We met Olaf twice and Anna and Elsa are always big hits.

We also had to met a few favorite Disney Junior characters. We also had a few friends photo shopped into the picture. The longest line we waited in was the line to meet Joy and Sadness at Epcot. Jennifer waited about 45 minutes while I took the kids around to ride a few rides.

Everybody with their favorite treats. The kids would eat just about anything that was Mickey shaped and my absolute favorite Disney World treat is the Dole Whip. It is so delicious and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Brinley had her own little photography sessions on Main Street.

We decided to get a few pictures as we were on our way out of the park and Landon was not feeling it. He had such a little pout face and the photographer was trying so hard to make him smile. Nothing was working so he told us all to look sad and Brinley couldn't stop smiling. This is normal life for us! We have trouble sometimes getting both children on the same page.

It was a really great trip and in the past couple of weeks since we got home both kids have been asking when we were going back to Disney. I have a feeling that when our season passes expire the kids are going to be really upset. It has been so much fun going to Disney and seeing it different times of the year. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Swimming at the Lexington Public Pools

This summer we got season passes to the local pools. This turned out to be a lot of fun for both the kids and myself. We tried out all 5 of the pools that had kid areas and our two favorites were Southland and Woodland. The kids still haven't figured out swimming yet, but they both get around pretty good in their floaties. The kids only made it about 2 hours each time, but that proved to be more than enough time for the kids to get worn out before heading home. Here are some pictures from all of our adventures at the pools this summer.

Sliding down the pirate slide.

Drying off after a fun day at the pool.

My favorite swimming buddies.

Fun at Southland pool

Mommy and Landon swimming.

Brinley just hanging out on the big crocodile.

Landon trying to get up on the crocodile.

Sometimes the pool can be too much and it is just the perfect time for a nap with mommy.

My little girl.

Little man climbed up on top of the big turtle.

Riding on my daddy's back.

My favorite little people.

Some of the kids favorite time was the 10 minute break when all the kids had to get out for a break. The kids enjoyed this time off to eat some snacks. I took advantage of the kids being out of the pool to swim some laps and jump off the diving board.

Later on in the season the pools were almost deserted. The kids took full advantage of having the place all to their selves. Here they are enjoying some time up on the big crocodile.

Landon working on his swimming technique.

Brinley going down the pirate slide.

Landon going down the pirate slide too!

Landon getting ready to jump off the stairs into the water.

The kids and I getting ready for the big bucket of water to fall on our heads.

Having the pool passes turned out to be a great investment. Now we just need to get the kids into some swim lessons so that they can stop wearing their floats and they can go on the big slides and the diving board when they get brave enough. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Holiday World

At the beginning of summer my parents mentioned something about going to Holiday World for just a nice day vacation. Things just never worked out until just a few weeks ago when our schedules and the weather both gave us the all go. I had worked the night before, but I figured that I could make it as long as I didn't have to drive to the park. I knew that as long as I was busy doing something then I would be able to stay awake. The thought of taking a nap on the 2 hour drive crossed my mind, but the kids had other plans. On the way home from work I grabbed some donuts so that we could have breakfast on the road.

The kids enjoying their breakfast.

Our first stop of the day after getting through the gates was the kiddie rides. They had some up front that brought back memories for my parents because it was some of the same ones I rode as a little child.

Riding some more rides with the kids in the kiddie area.

Riding the Flying Eagles. The girls rode together and you can see Landon and myself right behind them.

The kids and grandparents both really liked the Turkey Caller ride. You ride through and shoot targets to help call out all the turkeys so they can get ready for Thanksgiving. The kids liked shooting the guns and the grandparents enjoyed being in the cool shaded indoor ride. We took advantage of this and while the grandparents were watching the kids Jennifer and I rode a few roller coasters.

The kids as scarecrows and ghosts.

The next few hours were spent playing in the water at Splashing Safari. The kids both had so much fun playing in this little Splash Land that had about 7 or 8 little kiddie water slides. We even got to take both kids on their first big 4-seated water slide.

Landon enjoying a little Dole pineapple whip and strawberry twist. It was pretty good.

The wifey and I enjoyed having a little time to go ride on some of the rides together while grandma and grandpa watched the kids.

My favorite ride of the day was the log ride. I have always enjoyed this ride and it was the first time that Landon was getting to ride something like this. (Brinley had rode Splash Mountain at Disney World) I knew that Landon would love it and he did! We rode it twice and the second time he put his arms up in the air on the big drop.

A little known fact is that Santa spends the majority of his off time at Holiday World. So, the kids went by to tell him hello. Jennifer and I settled for getting our picture with the big Santa statue.

As we were leaving we spotted Holidog and we just had to meet him. We also got a group shot of the whole crew with the big Santa statue.

We had so much fun at Holiday World for the kids first visit that I am sure we will be back again. Holiday World is so family friendly with its free soft drinks, free parking, and free sunscreen. If you haven't been then I would highly recommend it. The kids really enjoyed getting to see grandma and grandpa the whole day. The kids were having so much fun and I really don't remember anybody getting upset at all. After leaving the park we grabbed a bite to eat and then started on the drive home. The kids were quick to fall asleep, but I actually stayed awake and talked with Jennifer. It is amazing that I was still even functioning at all after being awake for over 24 hours. Thanks for reading and God bless!