Charlie the Elf

Charlie the elf started off Christmas right on time this year! He made his appearance on Thanksgiving when we got back from Mimi and Papa's house. The boys knew he would be here so they looked all over the place to find him . He was on the fireplace just smiling as they ran around. After about 10 minutes and some hinting in the right direction he was spotted!
I can not even begin to tell you how much we love Charlie. He really does bring in the Christmas season and helps with the boys behavior so much! I wish there was a Charlie for every holiday.
This year Charlie played a few tricks on the boys.
One night he colored on their Christmas picture. When Nathan woke up that morning you could tell he had mixed emotions. He is such a rules follower and I think he thought Charlie was going to get in trouble! h ah ah. Once we made it out like it was so funny he started laughing and saying how funny that Charlie was.
The boys would both talk to Charlie and tell him things to tell Santa. This is my favorite part of the whole thing. I Love hearing the things they say to him. It is sooo sweet.
Nathan for some reason came home one day and said that Rudolph is not real? I thought to myself well yeah he is. I told Nathan he was and he brought up a good point I had never noticed. In all the Christmas movies their is not Rudolph unless you are watching the actual Rudolph one! That night we asked Charlie to bring us a picture of Rudolph. The next morning Nathan came into my room bright and early to show me the picture that Charlie brought him of Rudolph! He was so excited and now knows there is definitely a Rudolph.
Another night Charile snuck into the boys rooms and colored their noses red! He left a note on the dresser to look in the mirror. Charlie did not plan very well because the face paint he used rubbed off and there was just a tiny pink tint on their noses. It was fine because they still thought it was funny and had no idea how dark it was before it wipped off :)
Charlie also got into some candy! Elves love candy so I guess he just couldn't control himself.
I think his favorite thing to do was swing from the fan and zip line across the living room.
When we went to Disney he also left the boys a note about how it was perfect timing becuase he was takign a vacation to see his sister Caroline. Perfect right?!
On Christmas eve he left them a sweet letter about what great boys they are and a special present . He got them the Nickelodeon Dance game because his favorite thing to do was watch the boys and all their cool dance moves.

We love you Charlie! See you next year.

Last Day!

This was our last day at Disney. Luckily our plane didn't leave until that evening so we had plenty of time to visit Epcot again. There were a few rides we didn't have time to do the first day so we headed back .
Kyle wanted to make sure he got to ride the Soaring ride so we went and got a fast pass for that one . We went to the Land and rode the ride through that tells you all about food and where it comes from. We rode through the greenhouse and got to see all the neat ways they are growing food that they even use in the resturants.
We stopped and ate some lunch and yummy dessert . When we were done it was time for them to go back and ride. Nolan and I waited for a bit and he started to get restless. The guy waiting next to us had been there for an hour so it seemed liek we had some time to kill. Nolan wanted to ride the escalators so we went up and down for what seemed like a million times. It kept him happy so hey why not.
The guys finally were done and told me how cool it was. Nathan said he sat in a hang glider and flew all over the world. Kyle said it was pretty neat and wished they had time to ride it again. We had to make sure we didn't miss our flight so we weren't taking our chances.
We decided to ride the figment ride which was fun. Figment was one of my favorites as a kid so I liked this one a lot. After we let the boys pick out a hat they wanted to take home. Nolan picked a woody cowboy hat and Nathan picked a Mickey Wizard hat that lit up at night. It is pretty fancy .
As the boys were paying I ran to Mexico to get us some goodbye Churros! After we decided it was time to go . We said goodbye to Disney and were on our way to the airport. I didn't take my camera this day so I have no pictures.
Nahtan asked Kyle to take his picture with the astronaunt in the airport so this is our fairwell to Orlando picture :)


On the plane everyone passed out. Seriously everyone was asleep except you know who! I looked in the row next to me and Nathan was spread out across all seats and passed out ontop of a sleeping Kyle. Nolan was not falling asleep so we colored and watched the smurfs. It was a pretty good flight and both boys were so good on the trip to and back.

It was an exauhsting trip but we had so much fun and the boys are still talkign about it. The best part is how different the whole place is as a parent . It was awesome to see how their faces light up when they saw their favorite characters or a cool ride.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

I was so excited when we planned out trip to Disney since we would be there during Christmas time and we could to to the party!
It is a special party after the park closes . They have special Christmas parades, hot chocolate, cookies. The castle is lit up with special lights and a firework show to top it all off.
When we got there we got a spot for the parade that was about to start. The boys were walkign around and playing when it started to snow!!!! They had snow falling all over Main Street. The boys thought this was so fun. The Parade was starting so we got our seats. There were tons of floats and characters. We saw all of our favorites including Woody, Donald Duck , and of course Minnie and Mickey Mouse. When the parade was over we stopped to feed everyone at Wild Bills. We then headed to ride all the rides we didn’t the first time we were here during the day. Our first stop was Peter Pan. We hoped on our boat and flew over Neverland. The boys kept their eyes open for Captain Hook. We finally saw him at the end trying not to get eaten by the alligator. NExt we hoped on the Dumbo ride! While waiting in line the fireworks started to go off and Nathan had his look of panic. The kid does not like fireworks. Turns out Nolan doesn’t either. We stood holding our hands over their ears for what seemed like 4 hours. It was probably 10 minutes. :) They were over just in time for us to get on the ride. IT was so cool to see the castle lit up as you flew by . Next we headed to the Snow White ride. Before we left Kathy told Nathan and Nolan that this was her favorite character so we had to ride it. The boys both liked it and even took pictures to show Kathy when we got home.
Next we went to ride the Magic carpet ride. The parade was going through again and we were kind of stuck in this area before we could leave. We just hung out to watch the show again.
It was such a fun night and time flies because it was almost midnight!

Part 5 / Epcot

Trip Part 5/ Epcot

Today was Epcot day! Epcot is my favorite park so this was going to be fun. Nolan had a much better night and was in a very good mood. The boys both got up and ate a great breakfast. Nolan had his usual breakfast on the balcony talking to the animals.
When we got to the park we headed to MIssion Space. Nathan loves space. I wasn’t sure how well he would do on the ride since he had a been a little scared of most things. Kyle took him on while Nolan and I waited and people watched. They had a bit of a wait but when he came out he was so excited! He told me all about how he went to space and saw earth! He is still talking about it to this day. Kyle said he did a great job and even got to control the spaceship.
Next to the ride was the Universe of Energy ride with Ellen! It was very slow but cool . It taught the boys all about the different ways we get energy.
We then headed to the Nemo and Friends area! Nolan loves Nemo so he was very excited. We rode the little ride that goes through Nemo’s home in the ocean. After the ride there was a huge area with lots of things to do related to the ocean. They had a show called Chat with Crush . Crush is the turtle from Nemo and it was such a fun show. The kids all piled in the front of this room and there was a big screen where Crush talked from under the sea to everyone. He was actually talking to kids in the audience! It was very cool . The boys thought this was so cool to really talk to Crush. Nathan is still saying “Duuuuuuuuuudddddee” like Crush taught them too.
On our way out we stopped by the Crash Test ride since we had a fast pass for it. I was going to ride this one with Nathan since Daddy got to ride the Mission to Space. We lucked out again and got his favorite red car! We put on our seat belts and were ready to be crash test dummies. First we went through brake testing then tested shocks, and how we held up against the elements. The final part was the outdoor test track to see how fast we could go! It was very fun and Nathan loved it. When we were done Kyle decided he wanted to ride with Nathan again while Nolan and I played in the exit area with all the cool games and displays.
We then decided to walk around the park and see the different countries. Nathan really loves Italy so we had to make sure to stop there. On the way we rode the Mexico ride which both boys felt right at home on. :) The next one we stopped at was the Norway ride on a Viking ship. We got to Italy and took a little stroll around . We pointed out all the landmarks to Nathan and snapped some quick pictures. We were trying to figure out where to eat and decided on Fish and Chips in England. It was on the whole other side so we did a fast walk through the rest of the countries. We got there and had the best fish and chips ever ! Delicious. As we were sitting and eating we heard some music playing. It was called British Invasion or something along those lines. Needless to say the boys loved it and started dancing in the streets! It was so funny how they just start to get down. Nathan wanted to do his “break moves” but I talked him into keeping his body off the ground for healthy reasons. ah ah ah. Nolan kept doing his famous ninja squat move and then finishes off with a leg lift. It is his go to move.
After a bit of dancing and singing we heard Tiger and Pooh were signing autographs in the place right behind us. We ran in before the line and got our pictures with them. The boys got to meet them and say hi. We loaded them up in the stroller to make our way towards the front of the park. On our way out we rode the Spaceship earth ride which is pretty much the same from when I was a kid but still awesome. :)

We had to call it a day because we were going to the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party that night and needed to be rested up since it went until Midnight. We decided to come back to Epcot the next day before we left for the airport since there was so much we still had not done.

Part 4 Magic Kingdom

We slept a little late this day since we had a late night before . We made our way over to the other hotel in the Animal Kingdom to eat breakfast. We sat out by the pool and stuffed our faces with yummy Mickey Mouse waffles and all the fixings. We then walked around and then hopped on a bus to the Magic Kingdom! When we first got there we were told the characters were off past the entrance . We saw a small line and thought oh who could that be? We got closer and it was Santa Claus! As we were waiting for our turn Nathan was going over his list with me while Nolan was quickly losing patience. Lucky for us the line was short and we were there in no time. Nolan was star struck. Nathan was very sweet and talked to him about all kinds of stuff. Nolan was really good with him too. He was chatting it up and was so excited to get a candy cane! Santa took their autograph book and drew a christmas tree and told them to color it in for him when they got home. It was so neat and Santa really spent a long time with them talking about all sorts of things Christmas.
That was enough for us to complete the day but we figured since we were here we might as well do some stuff. :)
We started to walk into the park and realized we were just in time for the parade. We hung out and watched the fun holiday parade. The weather was pretty nasty this day and we were just hoping the rain wouldn’t be to heavy. It stayed pretty light so we were able to do most things.
The boys wanted to climb through the Swiss Family Robinson house so we took a quick climb and look around. I am pretty sure Nathan now wants to move into a tree house.
We just sort of wandered around to see what we came across. Nolan was in a pretty bad mood this day so we were just trying to keep him happy. We saw the Pirates of The Caribbean ride and it was empty! It worked out great because Nathan would have backed out while he was waiting in the long dark line and Nolan would not have waited in any line at this point. They both really liked it and thought it was funny. When we got off they picked out a hook and a little wood gun ( I know, I know, a gun??? that is what they picked out of everything in the store ). Nathan and Nolan both play pirates at home all the time and love to be Captain Hook.
We stopped and ate some lunch and then went back on our way . Next stop was the Tomorrow-land Speedway! Nathan was very excited to drive his own race car! We waited in a long line for this but it was probably one of the top rides on Nathan’s list. Lucky for him he got the red car, his favorite color. The funny thing is I always thought these were pretty easy to drive. They are on a track but you still have a good 2 feet on each side to steer. I made the mistake of letting Nolan drive our car. I should have reconsidered when I saw he couldn’t see over the steering wheel. He had a great time but I am very surprised we didn’t need a neck brace when we left.
They have a fairly new Buzz Light year ride that we grabbed a fast pass for to skip the line. Since we had some time before our pass we went and rode all the classic rides like the Teacups and It’s A Small World. Poor Nolan was having a really hard time and was in a crummy mood. I know he was sleepy from his crazy vacation schedule. I felt so bad for him because he just couldn’t seem to relax. I know this is crazy but I decided to just cave in a get this poor guy a paci. He has been really good since he gave it up a while ago but he still asks for it every now and then. Kyle and Nathan went into the Monsters Inc. Comedy show while I ran to the front of the park to buy a paci.
I got there and Nolan heard me ask the woman for a paci and he let out a sigh. He unwrapped it and had it stuck in his mouth before I could even pay. This poor guy has a major addiction.
We meet back up with the boys who told us how funny the show was. Nathan was giggling and telling me jokes he heard in the show.
It was finally time for us to ride the Buzz LIghtyear RIde! We got into our little spaceships that had space blasters to get Zurg with . It kept score and at the end you could see your score and what level you were at. It was really cool and they liked it. Nathan was scared at first since it was dark and loud but warmed up about halfway through. After we rode some more little fun rides including Winnie the Pooh one. After we stopped for a snack . The boys and I picked some popcorn and daddy got a churro. We all really liked Daddy’s churro! ha ha ha. It was soooooo good.
On the way out Kyle tried to talk them into riding the haunted mansion. I said it was a bad idea but Nathan said he wanted to . Well Kyle forgot about the very beginning where they put you in a room and the lights go off and the room shrinks. Both boys flipped out and we had to escape out of the emergency exit. This was our cue to go.We went ahead and made our way back to the hotel . We thought it was be fun to ride the monorail so we hopped on . The problem was we got off at the wrong place to get back to the hotel . The kids were about to loose it so instead of riding on another two busses we finally got a taxi. After that little detour we were finally back and so ready for a rest. Now that Nolan had his paci he had the best nap ever.

That night Granny and Grandpa met us for dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. It was a pretty cool restaurant and the food was good .It was African themed which was different and fun to try in a place like Disney.
We walked around outside where they had a fire and the night goggles to see the animals . It was so nice and quiet and Nolan kept yelling for his Giraffes. He would say “ I see them , I see them, ........Noooooo”. ah ha ha. It was off to bed to get ready for Epcot and some more fun tomorrow.

Club Mickey

Here is a video and pictures from the little party with Mickey Mouse and friends.
It was one of the best things we did while we were there!

Trip Part 3/ Animal Kingdom

The fourth day of the trip we meet Granny, Grandpa and Cameron for some Animal Kingdom fun . We figured it would be one of the less hectic days since there is a lot of walking and not to many attractions.
We started by going on the Safari. We rode on a neat Jeep/Safari car ( pretty sure this is not the official name ) through the savannah. We saw zebras, giraffes, lions, hippos, and baby elephants! They were so cute and Nolan really loved them . We ran and got something to eat since the kids were starving. Poor guys were all off of schedule and their moods showed it. After a little refueling they were ready to go. We went over to the Dino Land area where mine and Kyle's favorite ride is. It is like a big carnival ride that is just cool! We were so excited to let Nathan ride it . We walked up and they said he wasn't tall enough! Can you believe that? All of the rides this guy can ride and this one that isn't even all that crazy he can't? Trying not to let him get disappointed we quickly changed to the flying dinosaur ride that everyone could ride. We played some carnival games and went to the new roller coaster ride they have. Granny loaded the boys up with bags of gummy bears and the rest of us got to ride . It was pretty fun and the boys seemed to have a good time watching everyone come down the mountain outside.
The next ride was a water ride that Nathan had considered going on earlier and then backed out. While we were on the roller coaster him and Granny had talked about it a little more and he said he wanted to ride it. Nolan was even tall enough to ride so it was going to be fun! Nathan of course needed to wear his poncho since there was a chance he would get wet. We got suited up and got in line. Halfway through he was starting to reconsider riding. We bribed him with a big Mickey Mouse ice cream when he was done. He was thinking about it when it was our turn. We just moved really fast and buckled him in before he could change his mind. Well guess what he loved it. Nolan did not. He was very mad he got wet. He was fine the whole time and then a big spray of water squirted him and he was not okay with that. The good thing is he didn't cry he was just mad. We quickly found an ice cream cart to make good on our deal . Both boys picked the Mickey Mouse treats . They of course melted all over but that is half of the fun right ? :)
We then walked to the camp Micky area where the Lion King show was and all of the characters. We were just in time for the show as we were rushing in the lights went down and Nathan panicked . It was a little frustrating because he isn't scared of the dark he is just so scared of unfamiliar things and the noise that comes with these shows. Well the sweet lady that worked there tried to talk him into going in . He finally got up to the door when the fire tossing started. Yep ...... he was out of there! As soon as Nolan sensed some danger he was also gone. ha haha ha. We all packed up and headed down to where the characters were. We saw Mickey Mouse, Mrs. Bunny, Daisy Duck ( Nolan's Favorite ), and Rafiki. Our of all the characters I thought Rafiki might be a little scary for Nolan but he acted like they were best friends with hugs and all.
We realized it was getting close to parade time! We found a spot to squeeze our group and double wide stroller into . Luckily there was a flamingo exhibit behind our spot. The boys spent the wait time hanging out with them. The zookeeper was talking to Nathan about flamingos and asked him if he knew why they were pink . My little man replied " because they eat shrimps"! She was very impressed, he then continued to say " I like shrimps too, but I don't turn pink when I eat them."
The kid isn't lying, he loves him some shrimps.
The parade music started and they settled in to watch the parade. Nolan didn't seem to really know what was happening. Once he realized he had the best expression on his face! They were both so excited to see all of the characters in neat animal floats! Since it was right before Christmas it was the Christmas Jungle parade complete with snow spraying from Donald's float! Nolan got so excited when he saw Donald Duck and kept yelling " It's Donald, It's Donald!" Nathan liked them all and would wave and say hit to them but I think Mickey is still his number one man.
After the parade we got out of there. It was so crowded and the boys were just in a grouchy mood. They needed some sleep . We said goodbye to everyone and hopped on the bus to the hotel. We got back and the boys and momma passed out!
When we got up we decided to head over to the Hollywood Studios for the special hours. They were open till midnight so we thought it would be a good time to check out some things we didn't get to see earlier and eat some dinner.
We got there and grabbed some dinner. The boys were ready for some action after those bellies were full. We were walking by and heard some music coming from the area that had the Playhouse Disney show from he other day. We walked in and it was a little dance club for the kids. It was so cool! They had the characters dancing with all the kids. They had Balloon animals, Confetti, even a real DJ. The kids had a blast! They danced with Handy Manny when we first walked in . After they warmed up a bit other characters came out. Micky and Goofy stole the show . At one point Nolan went up to Mickey and grabbed his hands and just started dancing with him. He cracks me up when he does things like this because he was acting so shy seconds before. After a few minutes he just let go and said by like okay Mickey thats enough. Nathan was behind him line dancing with Goofy. It really was probably the coolest thing they did out of everything on our trip . Of course I have NO pictures of it. Kyle has a video but it turns out some dorky mom was making these crazy faces and some weird gyrating trying to get her kids excited to dance. Some people should not leave the house . ha ha ha ha
We then walked around just enjoying the night. There is a little walk through deal they have where you can see models of Disney and learn about Walt Disney. I seriously feel like no one ever goes in this place. I worked there for who knows how long and NEVER even stepped foot in here. Well we went in . Turns out that Nathan really liked looking at all the models. We spent quite a while in here and even stayed to watch a movie about Walt Disney and his life. I feel a little guilty for trying to skip it and even whined a bit when Kyle wanted to go in. It was quite interesting. Next we went through another place that no one ever goes to. I learned my lesson from before so I did not object this time. It was the animation area that had lots of little things for the boys to do . Guess what? It was empty! ha ha ha.
One of the things was where you sang to the computer and it played it in the movie you picked. There was another that told you what character you were. Nolan pressed the wrong button at some point because he was Ariel. Nathan was Buzz Lightyear! We played around and colored some pictures on the computer before it was time to head out. It was rainy and late so we called it a night.
As I am writing these I think wow I feel like we never stopped. Kyle just informed me that we didn't mess around! ha ah ha. I do think he is right.

Oh MY!!! I almost forgot the highlight of the day for me! So as we were getting off the Savannah ride you walk through this big zoo like area . Well I heard someone say something about Doogie Howser. In my head I thought what the heck are they talking about because well I am nosy and listen to people all the time. Well then I look ahead and see Neal Patrick Harris!!!!!! Seriously ! I don't know if you know this or not but I LOVE him. Like LOVE him. I was so excited. I went into stalker mode but come on we all know I don't have those kind of skills. Here is the picture I took. I am pretty sure TMZ will not be requesting my services anytime soon. My mom was like Kellie go say something and I was like no way!!! It is NPH. I don't know if she realized the coolness we were dealing with here .
Oh and to top it off as I was trying to be stealthy my camera fogged up since it was like 90 degrees and humid as heck out there! Really camera.......... really?

Your jealous right? h ah ah aha ha .

Here are the other pictures of some celebrities I do know :)