Vacation 2010 Part 1

I've been meaning to get back here to record our vacation memories, but I had a very important job that had to be completed first. It's done. I'm here. You'll hear all about it soon, and see the pictures.

Let me start by saying that Jake is a great traveler. This is the third time we've vacationed with him, and each time we've been amazed at his stamina on travel day. This was the first time that he actually understood that we were going on a plane. We bought him a cute little plane in the airport gift shop, and he played with it on and off throughout the flight. He enjoyed sitting on Daddy's lap to look out the airplane window during the flight. Speaking of "Daddy", on this vacation we noticed that Jake started referring to Dan more and more as Daddy instead of Dee. For a very long time, we were Mee and Dee. I graduated to Mommy, but Dan was stuck with the one syllable address. I am not sure what happened to cause the name change, but it seems to be sticking.

   At the Orlando airport, Kate asked if we could stop to take a picture with Snow White. I have flown into this airport countless times and never noticed her. We stopped and got the shot. Jake's expression and reaction cracked me up. He is really trying to figure out what the deal is here. He probably said hi to her since he's so darn friendly, and he can't figure out why she isn't responding!

We got to our hotel (Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary) and were pleasantly surprised to find we had a washer and dryer in our suite. Jake was beside himself with excitement. If you know Jake well, you know that he is obsessed with washers, dryers, and laundry. He wasn't too thrilled that the washer was a top-loader...too hard to see inside. We had trouble tearing him away from it, and he was disappointed to learn that we wouldn't actually be running any loads until our last day there. (We spent 3 nights here before leaving for the beach.)

We settled into our suite and then went over to the Contemporary for dinner at California Grill. We had to make a pit stop at one of the Contemporary gift shops. Jake couldn't settle for just one spinner. He had to have both. This was just the beginning.

This was our first time eating at this restaurant, and we loved it. The view is awesome, and the food was delicious. As usual, after ordering Dan takes Jake for a tour of the kitchen area. We try anything to kill time until the food arrives. Mommy was happy when the wine arrived. :)  Oh...forgot to mention...we took Kate's boyfriend, Richard, with us.

Here is the first of what would be many birthday desserts for Jake. We were celebrating 3 big events actually...Jake's 3rd birthday, and Richard and Kate's graduations.

 After dinner, Richard and Kate left for Magic Kingdom. The boys and I spent some time on the observation deck outside of this top floor restaurant. We were told we could come back later to view the Magic Kingdom fireworks from there. There was no chance of that. We made a point of having Jake asleep before the very loud, 9pm fireworks show and making sure his ears were covered with his cozy!

I took almost 900 pictures on this trip. I have to say that I was really pretty pleased with my SOOC (Straight Out of the Camera) shots. This is the first time I can say that. It was fun to get all of this practice in so many different lighting situations. Of course, all these shots have been edited, but I did a pretty darn good job on my own.

This next picture just had to be taken. I walked into the bathroom that first evening and noticed this. Does this crack you up as much as it cracks me up? Are you sensing a problem here?  I give my perfectionist husband credit. He keeps his mouth shut.

This is the end of day one, folks.

Kate and Richard spent day two park hopping. We decided to head to the pool. Our suite was facing it, and Jake asked about it non-stop. We made a quick stop at Walgreens for some kind of flotation device for him. He decided he needed sunglasses, too. He ended up wearing them all of the time on this trip.

Well it was a good thing Jake had a flotation device. He is too quick for us. In fact, we were both walking with him towards the pool when he took a detour into a fountain! My camera was securely zipped inside my bag, and I was so shocked that I pulled him out as quickly as I could. It would have made a funny photo.

This pool happened to have a gigantic slide. I mean big. It was big and wavy and circled around and around. I thought we would take turns going down with Jake on our laps. Nope. It wasn't allowed. Only single sliders were allowed. Jake did not hesitate. It was hilarious. Of course, that first time I was panicked. What if he fell backwards and went down with his face under the water line the entire way? What if? What if? Well, let me tell you. He was a water slide fiend.  I think he probably went down at least 20 times. He would have done it 40 times, but the walk up the stairs to the top pooped all of us out. We took turns walking him up there because the steps were steep and slippery. 

There were a lot of these on this Florida trip.

This second evening, we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian for dinner at one of our favorite Disney restaurants, Citrico's.  Special menus had been printed for Richie and Kate, and Jake enjoyed yet another round of Happy Birthday!

After dinner we spent the evening in the arcade. These children take after their father. If I hadn't put an end to it, we might all still be there.

Ok...2 days are recorded. Are you still with me? If so, thanks for reading and looking!