Shaow! What a week.

{shaow: pronounced SH-ow; a Jack Jack exclamation; meaning “Whew!” “That was a close one.” or “Man, that stinks!” (figuratively or literally).}

Just when I think I’ll be consistent in my blogging, a busy week creeps up. Quietly. At this rate, you guys will know all about our trip in about a year! Shaow!

Well, Day 2 started out grand. Like monkeys from The Jungle Book, we quickly swung into our new morning routine:

Tim hops out of bed, rarin’ to go. I moan and roll over. Jack pops up from a pile of sleepy stuffed animals and immediately begins to chat us up. “Munin, Daddy! Hi, Mommy! Dis bed is niiice. Daddy, I watch Mickey Mouse? Daddy, I go on walk?” Cue Cole waking up and clawing the side of his pack ‘n play. Jack climbs in. “Munin, Cole! Hey, Cole!” Jack attempts to hug Cole, but ends up smothering him in some sort of wrestling hold. Cole whines. I moan again, signaling to Tim some sign of life. Slowly, very slowly, I get out of bed. Tim is dressed, teeth brushed, hair perfectly foe-hawked. He quickly changes Jack and walks him down to the Roaring Fork to warm a bottle and get some hot water for Jack’s morning bowl of oatmeal. Upon his return I’ve gotten Cole up and dressed. I hand him off to Tim, who feeds him his bottle while I brush my teeth and hair and apply a little life to my face. Next, we triple-check our diaper bag for all the essentials of the day, still forget something important, and then all four of us head down to the Roaring Fork for some sort of breakfast. Yes, in case you didn’t catch that, Jack has already had a bowl of oatmeal. It’s now time for his second breakfast. He eats like a hobbit. All day.

This is how it went every morning. I thought I would give it to you in detail the first time, so you can get the whole picture, and so I will never have to do it again. Lets call it our NMR–New Morning Routine.

Tim’s NMR breakfast was a croissant, mine, a cream cheese danish. So good. So bad.Then it was off to the boat dock for our ride to the Magic Kingdom.

We made it there with about 15 minutes to spare before the opening ceremony. We love going every year in the fall. We just love all of the fall decor.

{Jack lovin’ that thumb and Cole lovin’ those fingers.}

{Lucky little lizard. See him?}

“Good morning! Good morning!” That opening ceremony never gets old. It’s always exciting. We saw it three times this trip, and each time they had someone different lead the show. Once it was the fire chief, once it was the train conductor, and once it was just a canned voice over.

With two kids and a limited amount of time before naps, we had our morning planned out. When those happy gates opened, we headed straight for Town Hall to meet the main mouse.

This was Cole’s first encounter with a 5ft mouse. We were jumping right in, and hoping his reaction was a good one.

He. Loved. Them. Kicks and giggles the whole time.

Yesssss.

Then it was time for Jack to see the castle! All he had said the past few months was, “I wanna go to the cass!” He was so excited. We were there. We were at the cass!

We walked straight through the castle, via 2-year-old request, and took in some of the new Fantasyland expansion. The new castle walls looked amazing! I can’t wait to see it when everything is finished. We took a few minutes to ooo and ahh, then we jumped on some rides. Winnie the Pooh, the tea cups, Dumbo; both of the boys loved every minute.

We had a fantastic first experience with the new Dumbo attraction. There was no one in line, so there were no pagers to give out. Jack and Cole were able to play to their hearts content. So cool.

{The new wait system. It’s similar to waiting for a table at a restaurant; when it’s your turn to ride, your pagers goes off.}{Empty.}{What moms get to do while kiddos play.}

The Casey Jr. water area was amazing too! We came so prepared for Jack to get wet. We brought his bathing suit and a plastic sack to put his wet clothes in when he was done playing. However, he didn’t want any part of it. Ugh! He loved the water all summer. Now, when we’re in Disney World at a water playground, he won’t have any part of it. Oh kids. They will make a liar of you every time.

{Trying to persuade him that it is okay to get wet.}

If you forget your suit and towel, they’ve got you covered…for a small fee, of course. We came prepared in our attire, however, we did buy one of those spay fans at this cart. Souvenir numero uno.

At about that time, we were reaching the 10:00 hour. We knew that squeezing in the 10:30 castle main stage show was a non-negotiable. We made the walk back towards the front of the park, whipped out some pre-packed snacks, and staked out our spot (which was a pretty great one, considering the crowds were light and we got there about 10 minutes early).

I sneaked away to get a couple of fun pictures of the hub. Jack loved the show and couldn’t stop talking about it throughout our whole trip. Cole slept through much of it until mean old Maleficent woke him up. He enjoyed the last few minutes. After the show, we grabbed a quick chili cheese dog from Casey’s Corner. YUM! We just love Casey’s Corner. There was absolutely no line, seeing as it was only about 11:15, and Jack and Tim ended up being able to see part of the Move it! Shake it! Celebrate it! Street Party, while Cole and I chilled at a table inside.

After that we headed back to the room, where the boys crashed just as hard as they did the previous day for naps. Tim and I sat out on our quiet balcony and recharged, as well. Tim and I will pretend all day long like nap time was just for the boys, but in all honesty, we really loved getting that couple of hours to go back during the heat of the day to relax and enjoy our resort. Some of those times ended up being some of my very favorite. Just thinking about it gets me a little homesick for that balcony, a cold Coke Zero from Roaring Forks in my hot pink refillable mug, a box of Whales, and DVC conversations with my hubby…sigh.

My folks vacation with us every year, so they were making the drive down that morning. By nap time, they had arrived and were waiting for their room at All-Star Movies. Once they got all settled in and unpacked, the boys were awake and it was time for us to head back to MK for our dinner reservations! My parents met us right in front of Town Hall. We walked around a little bit, and then headed to our reservation at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant.

We ate at Tony’s two years ago when Jack was only 3-months-old. We loved it. The food was great and our waitress was incredible. This time was just a tad different. The food was good, but honestly I felt I could get a better chicken parmesan at our local Carrabba’s. Tim got the steak and said it was delicious, so maybe I just ordered the wrong thing. Our waitress, however, was nothing to write home about. She was slow and forgetful; two things that you don’t want to be in the food industry. Our meal was a long meal, which is not the most desirable experience when you’ve got two kids two and under. Yes, Jack did have to have a “trip to the bathroom”, if you know what I mean. There were several other kids in that restaurant who could have used one too.

{See that man behind Cole? He was Cole’s best friend. Cole would not stop looking at him, smiling at him, reaching for him…I have no idea why.}

We did not get pictures of our entrees, probably because we were starving by the time they arrived, but we did manage pictures of our desserts.

{Tiramisu}{Spumoni} {I don’t know. Ha! Cheesecake is on the menu, but this does not look like cheesecake. It was my sister’s dessert. She loved it.}

After dinner, we rode a few rides back in Fantasyland again with my parents. We also went into Mickey’s Philharmagic, one of my favorite attractions there. Come to find out, it’s not one of Jack and Cole’s. Oops! Jack did not love the 3D effects and Cole did not love getting splashed with water in the Sorcerer Mickey scene. They both took turns crying throughout. Then, at the end, Donald gets blown out of a tuba and an animatronic of him appears in the back wall, as though he was actually blown across the room and into the wall. He wiggles and kicks in an attempt to get out, but only succeeds in falling deeper into the wall. This upset Jack to no end. He still talks about “Dongal” getting stuck in the wall. It’s 50% cute and 50% annoying, since we have to keep reassuring him that “Dongal” is A-okay!

From there, Tim took the boys back to the resort for baths and bedtime. As if he is not the best husband in the world for changing diapers and feeding bottles, he let me stay in the park with my folks for a few extra hours while he took care of the boys. Amazing, right? Oh how I love him. He knew that the past three years, for one reason or another (mostly because of pregnancy), I have not been able to ride all of my favorite rides, so he let me have that opportunity without having the kiddos to worry about. My dad and sister actually ended up heading back to their resort, as well, to swim and turn in early, so my mom and I were able to speed walk where we needed to go. We squeezed in Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain in very little time. We had a blast. What a great “souvenir” from my hubs.

Elrod WDW Tip: For little to no wait times, hit rides and attractions during parade times and fireworks. My mom and I literally walked on to Splash Mountain during the Main Street Electrical Parade.

{Tim introduced the boys to co-bathing. Obviously, it was a hit, and much more efficient for vacation bathing.}

I headed back to the resort around 8:45 and was able to catch the Wishes fireworks display on my boat ride back to the Wilderness Lodge. It was a great ending to a great Day 2.

I’d say see ya soon for Day 3, but how about I just say, “See ya when I see ya!”

With love, Malorie