Celebrate, Good Times!

Our family had a lot to celebrate in March…Dad turned 70, Nick turned 3, and Chris finished his PhD!  We were fortunate enough that schedules aligned, and we could all be together this past weekend to properly toast these milestones. Clearly, Nick was the star, but we threw the other two Anderson men a bone (or a pie anyway—rhubarb for Dad and lemon meringue for Chris).

Saturday was super busy starting with Lainey’s swim lesson with special guests Uncle Chris and Uncle Sean. They gave her major motivation to show off her skills—it was her best class yet! Afterwards, we hustled back home to color Easter eggs and decorate the dining room for Nick’s lunchtime birthday party, complete with party hats (at Nick’s request) and an Incredible Hulk cake, which I don’t mind saying was indeed pretty incredible (pat on the back to me). After everyone had a piece, Nick was allowed to “SMASH it!”—he even let Lainey get in on the fun. Then it was presents, presents, presents—the clothes quickly tossed to the side in favor of his new trucks, giant building bricks, and A LOT of suckers that Grandpa regifted from his 70^th—what three-year-old doesn’t need 70 dum-dums? (Some may or may not have made their way to my office yesterday). 

Not bad, not bad  at all!

 

Time to blow out the candle

Post-SMASH!!

Tuckered

After we had the kids properly riled up on sugar and new toys, it was time for the grown-ups to gussy up, leave the kids with the babysitter, and head downtown for dinner at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab, where we properly toasted Dad and his 70 years with a second toast to Chris and his academic accomplishment. Thanks to Uber XL we were safely chauffeured down and back and we were able to enjoy cocktails and wine without a worry!

Happy Belated Birthday, Dad!

The weather on Sunday took a surprise turn for the better with sunshine and warm temperatures. We had a successful egg hunt in the backyard and then the crew shuttled the kids off to the park to run off their jelly bean highs and allow me some peace and quiet to bake pies and prepare Easter dinner. It was a nice treat for me to have some time to myself in the kitchen. I really do love baking and cooking—just a little less so with two kids under my feet and vying for my constant attention. The meal came out well (and on time), and we had the evening to relax and eat all that delicious pie.

It was a very fun, very exciting weekend and the kids were very sad to see everyone go home. They are already counting down until Lainey’s birthday in June.

Now just a little under two weeks until we have Nick’s birthday celebration number THREE in Moline. This time he has to share the limelight with Eleanor…stay tuned for the adorableness!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Nick!

Make a wish!

With every birthday, I say it..."I can't believe you're x years old. It went so fast!" And I say it again today. I just can't believe it's been three years since Mark and I heard the doctor say, "look what he has!" and we both burst into laughter. Our son had arrived!

Nick, you are such a delight and a gift to our family. You remind us to have fun and be silly, to play hard and get dirty, and to always remember who we are. You are Nick. And you are wonderful!

So, happy 3rd birthday to our little buddy with a mischievous smile that makes us laugh when we should be stern, hound dog eyes that melt our hearts when we should be tough, and full body hugs that crush any thoughts of discipline. 

Nicholas, you play us like a fiddle, but the music's so sweet!

A Boy's Room

I'm in love with this quilt!

With all the Disney rigmarole, I never got around to posting about Nick's new and improved room! We finally put together the IKEA bed and dresser and ordered some new bedding. You can't see the sheets here, but they are airplanes in bright primary colors (plus green). Super cute and cheerful. We still need to order a rug and get some art on the walls, but after almost three years of life, Nick finally has a real room! Now our guests will be staying in Nick's room versus Nick sleeping in the guest room. 

The Magic Continues!

Truly Magic...
a family picture with all four of us looking at the camera and smiling!

The second half of our trip proved as fantastic as the first half! One bummer that started our day on Tuesday was a bright sunburn on Lainey's face. Despite many applications of sunblock, her fair skin just couldn't take all that Florida sun--just like her mom. Meanwhile, Nick's skin looked perfectly creamy as always--just like his dad. Nick definitely pepped up after Monday, but he was still kind of hit-and-miss as far as ride enjoyment and overall energy level. But, (other than the sunburn) Lainey was in love with every minute. We were truly amazed by her stamina and determination to go, go, go! As I planned and envisioned the trip, I saw the four of us together the entire time and even crossed out rides Nick wasn't tall enough to ride. But, in the end, it ended up more a Mark/Nick and Kylie/Lainey adventure, and that's okay. Everyone had more fun that way! Well, maybe not Mark, but I did all the planning, so I figured it was fair for me to reap the biggest rewards!

Getting ready to fly with my girl!

We spent Tuesday morning at Hollywood Studios and Wednesday morning at Animal Kingdom. We decided to skip Epcot in favor of returning to the Magic Kingdom both evenings. Hollywood Studios fell a little flat, because the focus is more on shows than rides, and the kids just weren't that interested. Lainey didn't even want to do the Frozen sing-along, which was the main reason I worked Hollywood Studios into the trip! However, there was a really great Toy Story ride, and a terrific "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground. Mark took Lainey on the Star Wars ride, while Nick and I headed to the playground. I think it was the most fun he had! And he and I finally got some quality one-on-one time together, since he was glued to Mark all day Monday. The other great thing about Hollywood Studios was the ease of character meet-and-greets. To meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom is a 45-minute wait, but we walked right up to see him at HS. We also got quick meets with Jake and Sophia, and saw lots of Storm Troopers (but, didn't manage to nab a photo).

Animal Kingdom was really great! They have a safari experience that was so fun. It was also nice to be completely off our feet and out of the sun for 20 minutes. We also took in a fun Lion King show, and Lainey went on  her first true-blue, "are you really sure?" roller coaster, Expedition Everest. She just met the height requirement for this one. The coaster goes forward and backwards and is half in the dark. It was a little much for her and, unlike the Seven Dwarfs ride, there were no requests for a  repeat ride. Afterwards, we played some carnival games, where I, not Mark (although he was playing at the same time), won Nick a stuffed dinosaur  at a game of Whack a Dino. Then I promised Lainey to buy her the Simba to match her Nala. When I told Mark the deal, he rolled his eyes. I said, "What? He has two things now...Pluto and the dinosaur." Then Mark reminded me she also got Mouse Ears. Oh yeaaah. So, when the time came to buy Simba, I bought Nick a Mickey Mouse. What? It's Disney World!!!

Family picture in front of the Tree of Life

Lainey believe Tinker Bell actually landed in her hand, and she just missed it. 

As for our other adventures at the Magic Kingdom, Lainey did hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and took Mark on Splash Mountain. After each drop she told him, "that was a big one, Daddy, but not the big one." On the last ride of Tuesday night, we took Nick on the Barnstormer--this was one of those misses I spoke of earlier. He did not enjoy it. At all. Oops. Wednesday, I nabbed a FastPass for prime seating for the Electrical  Parade, which was awesome, and we stayed for the fireworks.

Just I was saying to Mark during the fireworks that this was the perfect way to end our stay, Lainey asked to sit in her stroller, because she didn't feel well. We get back to the room and she has a fever of 102.3. We gave her Tylenol and put her to bed. At 3am she woke with a fever of a whopping 103.8. With each tenth-degree uptick, I said, "Oh no, Mark! Oh no," and willed it to stop before 104 degrees. She was doing okay this morning, but her fever rose again on the plane ride home and is blazing tonight. So, not the best way to end things, but at least she didn't fall ill during the action. Fingers crossed this is just a quick virus!

So, those are the main deets on our Disney World/first family vacation! Going into this whole thing, I really believed  this would be a one and done kind of trip, but now I don't know. I could definitely see us going back when Nick is a few years older--say around the time the new Star Wars section is finished, perhaps? That may be just enough to get Mark back on board!

The Most Magical Place on Earth!

Wow! Disney World is intense! But, once we got over the inital hustle, bustle and "where is what" shock, we are having a blast! That's not to say there haven't been outbursts and tantrums, but you see some other parents struggling with their kids about every 30 feet, so you don't feel so bad about it.

I'm happy to report that the kids did great on their first flight and the entire airport experience was pretty low stress. We got to the hotel around 2pm yesterday and headed straight to the Magic Kingdom. We knocked out quite a bit, hitting some of the tamer rides to see how the kids faired. They really loved the Tea Cups--best quote from Nick, "Daddy, I can feel the wind in my hair!" The rides may have been great, but the winners of the day in the kids' eyes were the giant lollipops.

The winner of our day was our hotel. Such an amazing location and much bigger than I was expecting. We sprung for a condo (although at a very discounted rate through the DVC Rental Store), so we have a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and Mark and I have our own bedroom. But, it also has two bathrooms and the kids each have their own pull-out bed. We were able to have groceries delivered to our room while we were at the park yesterday, so we were all set when we came back last night. Awesome!

Nick had kind of a tough day today, because he got shorted a bit on sleep and the poor boy hadn't pooped in almost three days. But, everything is righted in that department now and he is happy as can be. He wasn't really into the rides today (and who could blame him, given how uncomfortable he must have been), but he did enjoy some of the shows. His big moment of the day, however, was meeting Pluto--who would have thought?--but, he was really into him. Lainey chose to hang in the stroller for this one, because she was not into Pluto. No biggie, she got to bask in all the princess glory at our breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table, where Snow White, Aurora, Aerial, and Jasmine also stopped in for a visit. Lainey was GLOWING!!! We were worried after she completely melted down over being in arm's reach of Belle Sunday night, but she was nothing but smiles and twinkling eyes this morning.

Another awesome event today was the Fantasy Parade, because we got excellent seating through a contact I have. We were on benches in the shade right at the start of the parade route. The kids got to directly interact with all of the walking characters, including high fives and a belly tinkle from  Mr. Smee for Nick. And they could hear the characters on the floats shouting to them. It was pretty great; even Mark seemed to really enjoy it.

Final note, before wrapping it up for the night, is Lainey is a dare devil it seems. She LOVED the fast rides and was so enamored with the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride that she said, "I don't care what it takes or how long I have to wait. I want to ride it again!" But, that ride has a 90-minute wait (we had a FastPass to jump to the front of the line for the first spin), so we were NOT waiting for another turn. She accepted Splash Mountain as her consolation prize and loved it even more than the mine ride. So, it seems we'll have to hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before this trip ends.

Ah! I was worried I was going to regret the investment we put into this trip, but so far it has been well worth it. Even with the tantrums and the crowd stress, we are making some awesome memories--that perhaps (most likely) won't stick with the kids, but will stay with Mark and me forever.

The Big Reveal

Mark didn't think I had it in me, but I managed to keep our Disney World trip a secret until this afternoon. Nick reacted exactly as I expected...not enthused. Lainey was excited, but seemed almost annoyed that we're going to Cinderella's castle for breakfast. My dear daughter, this will be the most expensive breakfast you'll ever have in your life...so get pumped.

Regardless of the kids' excitement level, I'm brimming with it! Orlando here we come...