Our Disney Days

This post has been a long time coming and was a long time in the making. I started it last Friday and finally finished today. Not gonna deny that I was a little overwhelmed about putting it all into one concise, yet picture-filled, post. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, cause here we go!

We drove down Friday afternoon. Eli was beyond excited.

After checking in at the hotel, we hopped on the bus, (which was a thrill in itself for Eli) and went to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping. While waiting for our name to be called at the T-Rex Cafe,

we just had to check out the Lego Imagination Center. Eli quickly found some blocks and started building....

and who could resist the WALL-O-LEGOS?!?!?

Literally, every shape, size, and color Lego piece imaginable on a huge wall. Eli couldn't help but want to stick his hand into each one and feel them all. You can guarantee that we didn't leave empty handed.

As we waited the final minutes for our table to be ready, Eli dug for dinosaur bones.

We thought Eli would LOVE eating here, but it was a big mistake. Turns out, our little sensory sensitive boy was a little too overwhelmed and scared of the dinosaurs. He had to sit as far away from them as possible, and even then he barely ate a thing.

While walking around looking at all the dinos, Eli would tell me, "Keep going, Mommy. They are too scary." I can't help but feel a little guilty for doing that to the little man. Who knew?

The next day was our day at the Magic Kingdom. We were all super duper excited and managed to get there a little before the park opened. We didn't know that they do a song and dance show to open the show. We got to see the characters come in on the train and open the park. What a treat!

Again, our little man was just a wee bit overwhelmed by it all. We knew he would be, but he warmed up quickly and had a blast all day long.

Eli truly was an angel all day long, and despite being up way past his bedtime, he managed to stay melt-down free all day. Yippee!

We slept in a little bit later on Sunday, but Eli was still too excited to sleep too late. Off we went to the Animal Kingdom for another day of fun. Our first stop was right outside the gate for some coffee and some hugs from Rafiki

and Timon.

Eli hasn't seen The Lion King yet because it is a little too scary at times, but he was ALL about Timon. So cute!

Animal Kingdom was a hit, but definitely didn't take as much time as the Magic Kingdom, so after Eli's nap (which we had to wake him up from each day so that he didn't sleep through dinner!), we decided to have a quick swim,

and then head back to Downtown Disney for dinner and fun.

Eli is quite the photographer these days!

Did you know that a 3-day pass from Disney is cheaper than 2 1-day passes? So, you know we just had to get the 3-day passes. Initially, we figured we would just skip Monday and not use the 3rd day, but as the time got closer we decided to head to Epcot for the morning and take in a few rides and shows.

Animal Kingdom put on an AMAZING Finding Nemo musical that we loved, so we just knew we had to do the Nemo ride and talk with Crush while at Epcot. Eli was having a low key morning, but he really perked up and got into the Nemo ride. After seeing Nemo and Crush, we got Eli his long sought after and desired Mickey Mouse ice cream. He'd been asking for one all weekend long. His patience paid off.

We got a kick out of watching him enjoy it. He was hilarious....he and I both ended up with it everywhere as it fell off the stick. Daddy saved the day with napkins, a spoon, and a paper dish.

After that, we did a quick walk around the countries only stopping for a couple of rides in Mexico and Norway, an awesome drum show in Japan, and can you guess which country we had lunch in?

A highlight of the day was the brief line that got us in to see 5!!! characters.

And finally, after being sure to stop by the "big golf ball" one more time (forgot to mention how smitten Eli was with the Epcot ball...he loved going inside it!), we made our way back onto the bus one last time to get back to our car at the hotel. We hit the road, and shortly after leaving Disney property, Eli was zonked until we woke him up for a quick dinner stop.

It was a whirlwind, jam-packed weekend full of fun, adventure, imagination, and excitement. Eli loved it and was sad when he realized it was over. We look forward to taking him back....maybe in a couple of years!

Guess!

Guess how many days are left until we go to Disney World!!!

We are ALL very excited! We trimmed off some of Eli's mop, and that kept him up past his bedtime. He had a hard time winding down. All he wanted to do was talk about Disney. "Talk to me more, Mommy!" Finally, I sang the classic Disney lullabye, "Baby Mine" from Dumbo, and he curled up, closed his eyes, and went right to sleep. I am willing to bet that he dreams about Disney tonight.

Only 2 more sleeps until we are Disney bound! Yippee!

Another busy week is slipping away, but I wanted to try to get a minute to put last month's pictures up. Remember that new lens I got?.....Well, I L_O_V_E it! Lots more pictures this month.

October's picture link

And just a couple of random fun facts about Eli lately:

• He has been working hard to master hopping on one foot....he's getting good!
  
• He is becoming more and more interested in language and letters. Loves to practice writing his name and pretends to write lots of other things too.
• Eli continues to love preschool. He even went on his first field trip with his class. (despite Mommy's near heart attack about letting him ride in some one's car!)
• The preschool class performed in the school's monthly community sing.
  

Adorable little bunch, aren't they? I bet Matt that morning that Eli wouldn't sing when he got up in front of the group...after singing it all week long at home. I was right, can't you tell?

• He also took a pretty big tumble on the sidewalk while playing at school. He has some scratches and knocked a couple teeth loose, so he's only able to eat soft foods or drink liquids. He has been a trouper!

I'm going to go relax on the couch with the hubby now. We have a fun and busy month ahead of us. First up....DISNEY! In 8 days! Eli isn't the only one getting excited.

Flashback

Last year, I made a collage of photos from Eli in with pumpkins and in his costume from his first two Halloweens. So, of course I had to add this year's pictures to it.

My how he's grown!

A Halloweeny Weekend

I'm still here. Sorry about being MIA last week. It was a rough week, to say the least. I received many blessings while working a weekend retreat for the high school youth of our church, but the one I wish I hadn't gotten was someone's cold. I was under the weather for most of the week, trying to keep up with all of the things that needed to get done in a very busy, over-scheduled week. But, I made it. I am still hanging on to the congestion from the cold, but feeling much better now.

One of last week's tasks included making Eli's Halloween costume. Eli has been talking about Halloween since mid-September. Originally, he decided he wanted to be an astronaut. I promptly found some impressive costumes (including the non-negotiable helmet) that came with an impressive price tag. The crafty side of me began daydreaming about ways to create this look for less. Fortunately, Eli changed his mind. He wanted to be a dragon or dinosaur. Again, I quickly Googled the costume idea and was disappointed with what was available. I was also saddened every time Eli said he wanted to be a dragon...he would say the word dragon in a very angry voice. I didn't want my boy to be a bad dragon! So, Mommy and Daddy decided he needed to be swayed. It was easy! Lately, Eli has enjoyed playing robot around the house using his toy containers and old diaper boxes as his make-shift costume. We cast the idea out there, and he bit. Yes! A costume we could make with a box and some odds and ends we collected from in and out of the house. And our ever-electrical Daddy even came up with a way to cut and rewire a string of Christmas lights to a battery pack so the costume would be complete with working lights. We stayed up late designing, painting, and creating the costume two nights last week to be sure it was ready in time for dress-up day at school, Thursday.

We were proud of our joint effort to create a one-of-a kind costume for Eli this Halloween. He loved it too.

With all that was happening going on last week, and my not feeling so great, I was seriously doubting that we were going to get to a pumpkin patch for any pictures this year. It broke my heart to think that we wouldn't get there as we have pictures of him with pumpkins every year so far. (All 2 of them, I know!) Eli had already been to the patch with his class for a field trip, but I didn't get to go with him, and therefore, no pictures! It rained some afternoons, I forgot a change of clothes another day, and then I heard the pumpkins were dwindling in the patches around town. OH NO! Finally, on Friday, Eli and I squeezed in a quick trip up to a patch that had just received a new shipment of pumpkins that afternoon. Grandma and Grandpap Carson had rolled into town a couple hours earlier, so Pap Pap accompanied us to the pumpkin patch for a few quick pics.

.....and my favorite of the bunch:

Pap Pap helped us pick a pumpkin that we brought home and carved Saturday morning.

Eli was NOT a fan of the goop and cleaning out the pumpkin, but he LOVED carving the face he helped design with his little pumpkin saw there. I adore the looks on his face as he works so hard and concentrates on carving the pumpkin's mouth.

Saturday afternoon, we had family over watching the Gators manhandle the Georgia Bulldogs, but had to leave at the half to meet up with our friends for trick-or-treating. Thankfully, we got scoring updates via texts while we were gone.

We had quite a crew this year.

....4 toddlers, 4 babies, all the parents, some dear friends, a dog, and Grandpa Snyder (not pictured due to being the photographer).

The kids knew what they were doing this year. It was so cute to watch them go door-to-door with excitement and anticipation.

Eli would yell "Trick or Treat" until the door opened and then he'd just stand there holding his pumpkin out for the treats. He would yell so loud that his friend Peter Pan, I mean, Kent would say, "Be quiet, Robot." Aren't kids hilarious? After a quick, barely audible, "Thank you," it was off to the next house.

We love trick or treating with friends each year. Our gang grows each year, in a wonderful way. Eli was tired when we got back to our house, but found enough energy to hit a few more houses in our neighborhood. Next year, we've decided our neighborhood is the place to be! And when I asked Eli what he wants to be next year, he said, "A robot!" as if, DUH, Mommy! We'll see.

So glad to have the Carsons here this weekend. Always a wonderful time visiting with them. Eli was very sad to say good-bye yesterday, but he knows that Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
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