Disney and Beyond

It's been way too long since I've had the time to sit down and upload some pictures and write a journal entry.

Life with Alex continues to be a joy and a delight. He's such a happy baby and we're so grateful to have him in our family.

Alex is now walking full tilt about 95% of the time. He often looks like a drunken sailor, but he's actually pretty darned good at getting around on two feet now. We bought him the cutest pair of sandals for our trip to Walt Disney World, and once he got used to wearing them, he's been doing great walking around outside as well.

Chris and I had been busy for the past few weeks working on plans for Alex's upcoming Tol (first birthday party) as well as our trip to Disney with Kathy, Steve and the girls.

We just got back last night after spending 5 days at Walt Disney World (WDW) and we had a great time.

We had gone down to Buffalo the night before our flight because of the potential delays at the border. Our crossing went pretty smoothly as we had all of Alex's paperwork with us. He was great in the hotel and slept through most of the night and was ready to get going to Disney early the next morning.

The flight down was a dream, with Alex falling asleep about 5 minutes after take-off on the first leg of the trip and he slept right through the flight and stop-over in Baltimore and only woke up about 30 minutes into the flight to Orlando. He was great on the flight and kept the people around us entertained by flirting with them and giggling lots.

We arrived in WDW after a long day of travel and checked into our hotel and quickly met up with Kathy, Steve, Jennifer and Sarah for a light dinner at our hotel. After a short walk around the grounds, we headed off to our room around 8:30 to get settled as it was to be an early morning at the Magic Kingdom the next day.

With Kathy's expert planning and knowledge of the parks, we headed straight to ride Dumbo with Alex and the girls (pictures in the latest photo album), and then also got to go on Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh's Big Adventure and It's a Small World. Alex LOVED them all and spent the time clapping to the music or gazing around at all of the sights in the rides. From there, we were also able to have Chris ride Space Mountain with Jennifer twice, and also we got to go on Splash Mountain with Jennifer (Alex was asleep in his stroller and being watched by Kathy at the time), and then we went to have lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

The lunch was lots of fun, if a bit chaotic at times, and we then headed out to see Mickey's PhilharMagic (3D movie) and then went to get Alex's hair cut at the barbershop in Disney before doing a bit of shopping on Main Street. We'd read about the barbershop online and learned that they would do a baby's first haircut and also give us a keepsake certificate and give him special "first haircut" Mickey ears, so that was one thing on our major "must do" list.

After that, we headed over to Kathy & Steve's hotel for an afternoon of relaxing in the room and swimming in the hotel's amazing pool. From there, it was out to celebrate Jennifer's 10th birthday at a nice dinner before taking a boat across the water to MGM Studios to ride the Tower of Terror with Jennifer.

After that busy day, we got back to our hotel room and pretty much collapsed.

The next day was much quieter as we spent it at Epcot doing only a few of the new or big rides. We got to ride Mission Space with Jennifer (Kathy and Steve were off with Sarah in another area of the park and Chris and I used Disney's amazing 'baby-swap' process to be able to both get a chance to ride, while one of us stayed with Alex in a play area). We all LOVED that ride and it's a shame that it tends to make so many people sick as it's a lot of fun. From there, Jennifer and Chris went onto Test Track and then we headed over to the new "Soaring" ride they just opened up at Epcot. The ride simulates a hangliding trip through different areas of California and it was lots of fun for everyone.

From there, we went back to check into our hotel (both families had switched hotels for the last two nights so we could all stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge) and went for a swim and had a nap before having dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the hotel. Unfortunately, before we could even really start our meal, Alex got a bit sick so we took him back to the room and had a quiet night in. Alex had a fever on and off that night and wasn't hungry at all, but overall he was doing pretty well. We stayed in all of the next morning to be sure Alex was okay and then headed over to the Animal Kingdom Park for an hour to do two rides (the Safari and River Rapid ride). From there, it was back to the hotel for a nap or swim for everyone, and then we headed over to the Polynesian Resort for our last Disney dinner.

After dinner we walked around the hotel's grounds and Alex got to play in a fountain/splash pad and he had a great time getting soaked. After that, it was another pretty quiet night with lots of packing and organizing for both families.

We had time the next morning for a breakfast with the nieces and a final swim together before they had to head out for their flight home. Chris and I relaxed a bit more around the hotel before heading out for our own flight home that afternoon.

It was a wonderful trip, but it was certainly nice to get home and to be able to sleep in our own beds again.

We now have a few weeks before Alex's first birthday... the time seems to have just flown by and our little baby already seems like he's more little boy than infant. We're having such fun with him and enjoying all he's learning to do, but it's also a bit overwhelming to think how fast he's growing up and changing. I'm sure all parents feel that sense of time speeding by, but perhaps it's more acute when you've already missed so much of their first year before they were home with you.

I'll try to be better about posting pictures more regularly and writing more frequent updates. Bye for now.