Buy One Get Two Free!: May 2018

We just got back from our Florida vacation, and it was a blast! This is the third year we have headed south for the kids to enjoy the Disney magic and spend some days on the beach. This year Auntie Cathy joined us for the whole trip and we hit the road in the RV Thursday morning. We arrived in Virginia and had a nice visit with the Lalimes and the kids got to play with their cousins and burn off some energy. The next morning after a nice family breakfast, we took on the second leg of the drive and made it to the Florida/Georgia line before camping out for the night. Our goal was to spend Saturday in St. Augustine, but the coast was cloudy and rainy, so we drove our last 3 hours to Orlando where it was nice and sunny and checked in to Vistana Resorts and swam and played at the pool. Our condo was gorgeous and the resort was very nice.

and we're off!

hanging with our cousins and some neighbor kiddos, and Pippa the dog of course

a little tablet time to make quiet time for the adults lol

enjoying the pool

Auntie Cathy got us frozen lemonade drinks!

Grammie taught them how to shoot water out of their noodles

my water boy

Sammy and Auntie Cathy

Danny and Elsie with Daddy

Elsie and Sammy waiting for Danny to get back from the ER

eating pizza with Grammie

sharing her lemonade with her brother

Sunday we spent the day at Magic Kingdom, and this year we decided to try to stay all day. We had a good run to the parade at 3, then made our way back to the RV, let the kids take a nap for an hour, and headed back into the park and stayed till the fireworks at 9. I can't believe how good the kids were. No meltdowns or complaining, just pure excitement all day. The ride home they were a little punch drunk, but we made it work. They loved the Buzz Light Year ride, The Ariel ride, the Speedway race cars, It's a small world, and Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Well, Elsie didn't like the Pirates ride because of the pitch dark flume drop, but the others were all about it.

I think she is excited

the girl on the back of the tram said to hold onto your hat and glasses

they took it literally

I wasn't going to bring strollers, but I'm glad we did. They didn't get tuckered out from all the walking

the Magic Kingdom crew

love this selfie of Auntie and Danny

he loved the Buzz Light Year pew machine ride

using the pew pew machine on the Buzz Light Year ride

so hard to get a great shot sometimes

on the speedway

our annual Dumbo selfie 2018

2017

2016

with Grammie on the Ariel ride

Auntie and Sammy

waving to Ariel

as soon as we got on the tram to go he grabbed his hat

love that smile

meeting Rapunzel or Zapunzel as they call her. They were ecstatic

Mommy and Elsie on Ariel

Monday was an adventurous day. We planned a day by the pool until Miguel's flight arrived, but Danny managed to smash his chin on the side of the pool when he was jumping in and off to the ER we went. Grammie stayed with Elsie and Sammy poolside while Auntie Cathy, Danny, and I took the ride. The good news is they used dermabond and steri strips, so no stitches or shots. Which is good because Danny told the doctor that shots weren't his favorite. We got out of the ER just in time to go get Daddy at the airport, and played outside for a bit in the evening.

luckily it only bled for 5 min

looking worried - this was right after he told the doctor shots weren't his favorite

after the doctor told him we were going to glue it instead of stitch it

dermabond the gash, then dermabond the steri strips over the gash. good plan

good plan until he had a reaction to the steri strips and i had to pry them off. luckily we were on the 3rd day so the wound was fairly secure

We changed our itinerary up since Danny couldn't go in the pool for a few days, and headed to Hollywood Studios on Tuesday. We saw a bunch of our favorite Disney Junior friends, and met Buzz and Woody. We did a character lunch for the kids which was a big hit, and saw the Beauty and the Beast show. The kids had just watched the movie for the first time the week before we left and it was a hit. The height requirement for most rides was 40" and the boys are there, but Elsie is legit 39 3/4" and was turned away from Star Tours. Every other 40" ride she managed to pass, but this cast member at Star Tours was more than thorough and ultimately turned her away. She has mentioned several times how next year she will go on the ride. You got it girl.

we don't get enough family pics, I'm glad vacation makes us get more

Mickey Mouse clubhouse

she got to meet Sophia the 1st!

character lunch

look at the way she looks at her

we took a break midday for a nap in the RV

this was the highlight of Hollywood Studios for Elsie. She saw a girl at Magic Kingdom with her face painted and from that moment on that was all she talked about. The only problem was the girl was at MK on a hopper and spent the morning at Hollywood Studios where she got her face painted. So to explain that to Elsie and tell her she had to wait 2 days till we went there was the least desirable answer she wanted to hear. As soon as we got to Hollywood Studios she started asking to get her face painted. Needless to say she was ecstatic when it finally happened.

Sam went with Buzz Light Year

love that smile

Danny went with a pirate of course

To Infinity and Beyond

Sam with his 3D glasses

Wednesday we headed to Clearwater to enjoy the beach and visit with friends Dan and Elaine. We managed to find a killer parking spot on the street right across from the beach, which is pretty impressive with a 32' RV. Then we enjoyed a nice dinner at a local pub and headed back to the condo.

it doesn't get better than this

Daddy helping the boys dig for buried treasure

he loves to wrap up in a towel after swimming

relaxing with some sand castles

Danny said he wanted me to take a pic of his feet too

this boy loves snuggling

trying to figure out the right consistency for the perfect sand castle

she then decided to make sand angels

Sammy joined in making sand angels as well

this selfie would have been great if I got all the words lol

dinner with Dan and Elaine

luckily a woman nearby offered to take our picture

Thursday was another pool day, and Daddy headed back home later that night. Then our friends Eric and Kristina came to the condo for dinner and the kids did some night swimming and playing at the playground. It was great seeing them, we look forward to our yearly visits. Grammie got a pretty big sunburn hanging by the pool all day, even though she was in the shade and applying sunscreen, so we decided to skip the pool Friday and head to Universal Studios.

after Daddy left to come back home, the kids pointed out that they could all fit in my bed to snuggle. Needless to say I didn't have much room.

like my spot was to the left of Danny where his spiderman bear is.

Universal was great. We decided to do the park hopper so we could ride the Harry Potter train, and also got the fast passes for all of us. I cannot tell you how worth it those fast passes were. We were able to do every ride we wanted (Elsie got in all the 40" rides here no problem thankfully) and still be home for a late dinner. The best. The kids held up better because they weren't tuckered out from standing and waiting in line all day. I tell you, I will save extra all year and sacrifice other amenities to do that again. So worth it. The kids met Spiderman and Captain America, played in the Jurassic Park area which was a huge hit, enjoyed the Cat in the Hat rides, Minion Mayhem, and the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster.

got her 3D glasses on ready for Minion Mayhem

riding with Mommy

Grammie and Danny

Auntie Cathy and Sammy

The kids were so excited to put their faces on Scooby Doo characters

This was our longest wait of the day....10 minutes...to ride the Harry Potter Express to Islands of Adventure

We used it as a snack opportunity

They loved all the Dinosaur stuff

a little worried about the Spiderman ride

Meeting Captain America

He's asking them to make a muscle, Elsie and Sammy are all over it while Danny is all cool guy

Next we met Spiderman

trying to do the shooter fingers. Notice Danny is all over this now. This is his superhero

riding Dr. Seuss

on the carousel

Saturday we packed up and headed to St. Augustine for another beach day. We love Anastasia State park. The beach is gorgeous and they have a campground for all the RV stuff before we head back. We stayed and played till late afternoon and then started driving. We got home Sunday evening after an uneventful drive. The kids did great this year on the drive. They did OK last year, but this year was much better. Looking forward to our next RV adventure!

Hoping to make this an annual picture. They look so much bigger than last year

this is last year. same place.

Sammy loves the beach

Danny likes to find buried treasure so Elsie collects shells and then buries them for Danny to dig up and find. She really can be the best sister.

back in the RV and heading North

In other news this month, Sammy got glasses. Sammy has had Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) and been seen continuously by a pediatric ophthalmologist since leaving the NICU. At all the appointments, the doctor keeps telling us how great his eyesight is considering. He has not needed glasses and is a little nearsighted. At this last appointment, his left eye was falling behind the right eye, so the doctor wanted us to try glasses to correct this and get both eyes on the same level again. So we hit the store with Daddy who also needed new glasses and picked some out. He looks like a little Buddy Holly.

first night trying them out

he likes them!

red sox opening day!

Sammy also quit sucking his thumb this month. We had to put a band-aid on his thumb because he had a wart the dermatologist took off, and the first day he complained and asked us to take the band-aid off, but I told him we couldn't. Minimal complaining the second day, and by the third day when the band-aid came off, he never went back. I won't lie I was a little stunned. I didn't think it would be that easy. We talked about it on Day 2 and I told him instead of sucking his thumb, just snuggle his 'snuggie' a little tighter. Apparently that worked. So kudos to Sammy!

It was bittersweet watching Sam take off his glasses, fold them up, put them on his lap and fade off to sleep without sucking his thumb. Where did my little boy go?

new bathrobes! Thanks Grammie!

Elsie is really into song lyrics. She sings every song and really tries to learn the words. The boys like to sing also, but only their favorite songs. Sammy's favorite is Meet Me in the Middle by Maren Morris, and Danny's is Finesse by Bruno Mars. They are also dancing a lot and playing instruments like they are in a marching band. Danny tries to be a one man band and has 3 or 4 instruments going at once.

We got to have a nice lunch with Monica and Finley last month. Elsie got to hold Finley and she was over the moon about it!