So I started this blog as a way of keeping up with all our family adventures. Sadly, after my first section of posts about our Disney vacation in January/February 2020 and a few other adventures at the end of February, our world as we knew it changed drastically due to the Covid-19 quarantine and I didn’t feel like we had done much to be blog worthy. But after almost 4 months into the pandemic way of life, I feel like I need to document what life has been like.

March 13th was my last regular day of work. The following week was deemed an early Spring Break, followed by the actual week of Spring Break and the following week started virtual learning for the remainder of the semester. These weeks were extremely trying as I was at home full time with Grant and learning how to teach from home. I survived on very little sleep. I found the easiest way to accomplish my work was to play with Grant all day and stay up into the wee hours of the morning working for school. We played outside nearly every single day. My typical school hours seemed to be about 6 pm to 3 am every day. We went approximately 6 weeks with very little interaction from anyone else including my parents. Eventually I had to ask for help and my mom started keeping Grant for me some. These were a very exhausting, mentally draining, and scary 6 weeks. While I am very very thankful for the time I was able to spend with Grant during those weeks, I quickly saw that I could not sustain this for much longer. Grant had virtual pre-school with lessons sent home by his teacher along with PBS AMI. To be completely honest however, we pretty much did our own thing. We did attempt some of the same pbs shows but his age category was pre-k to 2nd grade and much of the content was over his level of understanding. So we worked on anything I could turn in to education. Including “writing”his name with cotton balls, doing science experiments, playing with moon sand, etc.

This time frame also was complicated by taking care of my ailing grandparents. Grandpa got sick immediately following Grants flu diagnosis 3 days after returning from Disney. Turns out he had a extremely bad UTI that required hospitalization for a week and then they made the decision to move to the nursing home. They were in the nursing home for around 10 days before the lockdown prevented us from visiting them except through the windows. I hate that we can’t physically visit with them, however, I am so very thankful for the care the have received. It has been 4 months since I have seen them in person. Unfortunately mom has been able to have a few visits because of ER trips. However life is for sure not the same!

So during my “Spring Break” I decided that I wanted to redo our master bathroom! I did most of the work myself for it. With some help from friends as well. I painted the vanity, ripped up the awful old tile and replaced it with beautiful vinyl plank flooring, replaced the toilet, and light fixtures as well. I love the way it turned out.

During quarantine, our town hosted a huge “bear hunt” to give the kids something to do! We went on quite a few bear hunt walks around our neighborhood.

We also participated in our very first birthday parade for Langley Stocker. Grant had such a good time. He has a thing for parades now! We’ve participated in several since the pandemic started.

We made “huggers” for our grandparents who we miss so much!

Masks made an entrance in to our lives when you couldn’t find any PPE, Clorox wipes, lysol, germ-x, or evening toilet paper.

We made a day of outdoor activities with some shooting practice at the farm

Another parade. This time we were spectators for a teacher parade with all of the Walnut Ridge teachers driving by to show their students how much they were missed

That’s all for this update. Next up….Easter while quarantined.

In keeping with this blogs purpose I need to document some of our winter happenings.

First up Grant had his first Valentine’s Day Party at preschool. He had a wonderful time after missing nearly 3 weeks of pre-k due to us making the decision to pull him from class for the week prior to our vacation because of the risk of Flu, then the week of our vacation, and the week following vacation he had the flu. He was so happy to be back at school with his friends.

Next up was Tripp’s 3rd birthday at the Main Street Church of Christ Annex

James and I were able to have a date night in the middle of February. We went to the Jason Aldean concert with Morgan Wallen and Riley Green at First National Bank Arena I’m Jonesboro. This made the 4th time I’ve seen Jason Aldean I’m concert. It was a great night!

This got us through February. We were starting to get a little bit of normal winter blues and cabin fever (little did we know 😳😳), so on the first chance we got we made a trip to Mammoth Springs to enjoy the park and lunch on the river. The The winter

This winter was unseasonably warm and we did not get any snow that I recall. Definitely not enough for a snow day. But what hit us in March was completely and utterly unexpected. That’s a whole post for itself….coming soon.

Next up was Tripp’s 3rd birthday party. It was held at the Main Street Church of Christ Annex. The boys had a blast playing ball!

On February 29th, James and I had a date night for the Jason Aldean Concert. This was the 4th time I had seen Jason Aldean live. It was a great concert with Morgan Wallen and Riley Green.

Tuesday, February 4th Disney Springs/Travel Day

This was the day we were leaving. We actually slept in a little on this day(8 am). We took all our luggage and checked it at the front desk since we weren’t heading to the airport until 2:45 but checkout was at 11. Then we went to the food court and all of us ate another round of Mickey Waffles for breakfast.

Mom wasn’t feeling the best so she decided to stay at the resort while James, Grant, and I went back to Disney Springs to pass some time before heading to the airport.
At Disney springs, we visited the Harley Davidson store and Grant had fun sitting on the Harley they had set up for pictures.

We also explored the HUGE world of Disney store. Then went back to the photo pass station for one last set of Disney Pictures with our memory maker.

Next we went back to Goofy’s candy shop to finish up spending our snack credits. Grant wanted an olaf sugar cookie and James and I shared a Mickey Mouse chocolate chip cookie. Grant had to check out the fun house mirror again and I grabbed some Mickey Rice Krispies and trail mix to take home.

Grant begged to go back to the Toy Story Toy Store so we went back there and he picked out a pirate Mickey stuffed animal to take home. This boy loves pirates!

Grant had one more ride on the train where he got to be the conductor and one more trip to the LEGO store then it was time for lunch. We ate at the polite pig. It was so good! James and I shared the butcher board which had a ton of different bbq meats, coleslaw and waffles fries. Grant had chicken strips and fries.

After this we walked to the entrance and grant played with the water feature for a few minutes while I ran in to the Vera Bradley outlet to look around. Unfortunately then it was time to head back to the resort to catch the magical express to the airport.

Grant fell asleep again on the bus ride and slept in the booth of the food court Once we got back to the resort. James wanted one more brownie sundae while we waited so that was our last snack credit of the 40 we had for the week. It was soooo much food. Next trip we will definitely downgrade our dining package.

When Grant woke up, James took him to the arcade to play games for a few minutes while mom and I went to pick up our luggage and wait on the bus.

We boarded the bus to the airport around 2:45 and headed out of Disney. Sad time. We were all ready to go home but so sad to be leaving the happiest place on earth. We got about halfway to the airport and our bus experienced engine failure. We had to stop in the middle of the interstate and wait about 15 minutes for a new bus to come get us. I think this was the universe telling us we weren’t supposed to leave yet lol! We unloaded the broke down bus and onto the new bus right in the middle of the interstate. This was a little nerve wracking for me but James carried grant with a death grip and I carried our backpacks and all was just fine.

Security was crazy at the Orlando airport. So many people were in this line. But it went much more smoothly this time with James knowing a little more what to expect. We made it to our gate, found our seat and dropped our luggage with Mom staying to watch it and then headed to the food court to get Grant some chicken nuggets in hopes he would sleep on the plane with a full belly. This didn’t quite work out the way I had planned. He was awake for the whole ride but he really did a good job for being just 4 years old. He’s a pro at flying now! We again had cheerleaders on our flight but I guess they were exhausted this time because they were very quiet. I watched an inflight movie on the Southwest app, Grant watched fuller house(his favorite show) on the downloaded Netflix app and James tried to rest but was too anxious with the storm we were flying in. Pretty sure he would have benefited from a drink!! Lol

We landed around 7:30 and found our way through the airport to where Ryan was waiting for us with my car. We finally made it home around 10:00. Coming back to the cold dreary weather after being in 80 degree absolutely beautiful weather was hard.

This was the absolute best trip ever!!! After years of saving, months of planning, days of counting down we finally made it happen! We walked over 40 miles while we were there and while I was tired at night, every day was so worth every single step taken! It was so much fun!! Everyone always says Disney is magical and it truly is! There were so many amazing moments and memories made. I am so sad it’s over but so so glad it happened. I have wanted to take Grant to Disney even since before he was born. My first trip was at 28 years old. And I felt just as giddy as a kid then. This trip was much the same except even better through the eyes of my own child. Months and months of planning really paid off. I already am planning the next trip and how to pay for it! This will definitely not be a once in a lifetime trip for us. Trips equal memories and I will do anything to make more memories with my family.

We didn’t focus on big rides for this trip as I truly wanted it to be about Grant and what he was in to. 4 proved to be the perfect age to take him on his first trip. If you are waiting till they will remember it..don’t. Just go! I know we will be talking about this for years! It’s so fun watching Disney movies with him now because he relates it back to Disney World. “Momma we saw that!”

Toy story land was our main focus and With the exception of not riding slinky dog dash I feel we nailed it. Originally grant was dead set on not riding slinky dog but once he saw it he begged to get on it. The line for it was always so long and we never were able to get a fast pass for it. None of us care about Star Wars so this was an easy pass for us that gained us some valuable time not waiting in these busy lines.

Must dos next trip:

downsize dining plan.

Consider a moderate resort(maybe port Orleans riverside)
Consider a sky liner resort.

Schedule a rest day

Bigger autograph board/book

After hours extra events

More time in Epcot-

get James and Grant on Soarin

visit the countries more

ride mission space

ride test track (it was closed this trip)

eat at the garden grill

Animal Kingdom

winged encounters

Navi River Journey

Flight of passage***

Rafikis planet watch

Up! A great bird adventure

Kali River Rapids

Expedition Everest

the boneyard

Finding Nemo the musical

Primeval Whirl

Dinosaur

Hollywood Studios

Slinky Dog Dash

Rockin Rollercoaster

Funnel cake from epic eats

sci fi dine

muppet vision 3-d (closed this trip)

mama Mel rose

desert party for fantasmic

Magic Kingdom

Splash Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain

Haunted Mansion

Peter pans flight

barnstormer

meet Merida

Mickey and minnies runaway railroad *not finished yet

Many adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Seven dwarfs mine train

parades

Disney Springs:Another silhouette T-Rex

Chef MickeysExplore resorts

Do again:

Frozen ever after

Festival of the Lion King

Rivers of Life Show

Frozen sing along

Toy story land

Be our Guest Dinner

Pack everybody’s outfits in ziplocks with the packing cubes

Wrap stroller handle for identification ease (this was a lifesaver more than once)

Mobile ordering!!!!

Monday Feb 3rd

Magic Kingdom day 2 (morning)

Epcot day 2 (afternoon)

We had heard news that the Chiefs would be coming to Magic Kingdom this day after winning the Super Bowl. This never crossed our mind when planning this trip. So we knew we were only going to spend half the day here due to crowds. We were disappointed we didn’t get to see as much of epcot as we wanted to on day 1 so we made plans to go back there for the afternoon.
As with the rest of our week we were on the bus headed to Magic Kingdom by 8 am. We got to the park before official opening so we shopped some of the shops down Main Street USA. We all got a new tshirt, Grant got a hat and a slap bracelet, momma got a photo album to store all our memories and Grant picked us out a lumiere ornament for our Christmas tree. We also went and got momma some Starbucks to wake up!

After this we headed left this time into Adventureland and used our first fast pass for The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Grant and mom rode in the seat in front of James and I. Grant also loves Aladdin so this was a great ride for him.

After this we tried to get on the jungle cruise but the stand by line went from 10 minutes to 45 minutes right when we got in line so we headed to our next fast pass a little early and were able to get on the ride early. Pirates of the Caribbean was a great ride. The animations were all so lifelike!! After the ride Grant got his picture made with some Pirate Princesses, one who had the most realistic fake snake. He kept his eye on that the whole time.

Next up we were killing some time so we watched the Tiki Room Bird Show. Not a favorite but it kept Grants attention.

After this it was time to head to our next adventure. The Pirates League. This is the boy version of the bippity boppity boutique for girls. I had been thinking about this for Grant the whole time we were planning our trip but just never committed to it. I had mentioned it to mom on the previous day and she was able to get the perfect reservation time so we booked it. I’m so glad we did. Grant absolutely loved it!!

And I loved watching him have so much fun! We started out by picking out his costume from the menu. He chose Captain Jack. After he had picked out what he wanted, he got to go in to the pirate ship and choose his new pirate name. His name was Captain Bart Singedskull.

Then we went to the changing room to put his costume on. It was adorable just by itself.

Next up came makeup. He had his own pirate princess to turn him in to a true pirate complete with ringed eyes, a beard,a hand tattoo, a bandana hat and a gold earring.

Then he had to repeat the pirate oath and promise to be a good pirate. He then was cloaked with a sword and sword holder and got escorted into the captains chambers to steal some treasure and sit in the throne.

After this the experience ended up in the gift shop where he convinced us he needed a pirate hook. Of course he got it. He got so many compliments and smiles from his costume the rest the day.

After the Pirates League we made our way into Frontierland to eat lunch at Pecos Bill. Mom ordered fajitas and James and I both got Chicken nachos. Grant wasn’t hungry but he chowed down on some of our tortilla chips. This was a good quick service meal for us.

After eating lunch we went back to Adventureland to fastpass the Jungle Cruise. On the way there, grant spotted a pirate spy glass in the gift shop and just had to have it to complete his look. He used it to point out all the Ivan and Ruby’s on the jungle cruise.

After the cruise, we headed through Frontierland into liberty square to get ready for our next fast pass, The Haunted Mansion. Along the way, we spotted a country bear and James found another Mickey pretzel and a memory maker spotted him eating it and snapped some pictures. We also got some pictures of Grant with his hook and spyglass.

Continuing our walk to liberty square, We came across a restaurant, Columbia Harbor House, that had chicken nuggets so I stopped to get Grant some lunch and mom went off in search of her coveted dole whip. We sat down beside an ice cream cart to let grant eat and when he was done with his nuggets he decided he wanted another Mickey ice cream sand which and James and I split another chocolate dipped Mickey ice cream treat. The line for the haunted mansion was way too long. Even the fast pass line was way over an hour so we decided to bypass this one and head towards the castle to the entrance.

When we passed the castle they were doing a character show so we stopped to watch for a few minutes. When we turned around to leave we noticed an airplane sky writing the word “Jesus”.

The time we chose to head to the exit was right around the time the super bowl parade was getting ready to start so there were people everywhere. I’m so glad we decided to park hop. Way way too many people for me!
Instead of riding the bus this time, we wanted to experience the sky liner. Grant says this is his favorite ride. Lol!! It didn’t directly connect to Epcot so we rode it to the Caribbean beach club and the transferred to a different car and were on our way to Epcot. We all loved riding the sky liner and all said we hope that it makes its way to all the parks and resorts in the future.

This time when getting to Epcot we came in the back way from the main entrance. On the way in there was a line for a meet and greet with Mickey Mouse. Grant was still halfway dressed like a pirate (it was too hot for him to wear the coat anymore) and the cast member had him sneak up on Mickey and scare him in his best pirate voice. This was too cute!! He loved it.

After this encounter we moved a few feet up and got in the line to meet Minnie. She gave me the biggest hug!!

After these meet and greets we continued on to the park into the World Showcase section. We walked through the international gateway, the UK, and Canada. Mom and I were on our way to fast pass Spaceship Earth which is located inside the sphere. We didn’t research this ride first and thought it was a big ride so we sent James and Grant back to the seas with Nemo while we rode. It was a calm ride that almost put both of us to sleep lol!

After this we walked to The Land in Future World West. Inside this building we all rode Living with the Land where we were in a gondola style boat and rode through all the greenhouses and fish hatcheries. It was an informative ride and Grant liked spotting all the fish!

Next was our final fast pass for mom and I. Soarin! This was my favorite ride!!! It was really amazing. It was a virtual reality ride through the world complete with different smells like the fresh sea smell and an African Greenland smell. Did I mention I loved this?? I tried to get James to go on it with me but he wouldn’t the first time since I couldn’t tell him what it was like. When we got off of it I immediately tried to get another fast pass so I could take both Grant and James on it but couldn’t get another one and the line was too long. Grant had actually fallen asleep by this point too so we called it a day and ended our time in the parks with this amazing ride.

James got one more Mickey Pretzel on the way out. Can you tell this dude loves Pretzels! We jumped on the bus where Grant continued to nap all the way back to the resort. He needed this long nap!

When we got back it was still somewhat warm enough to try out the heated pool so we went to our room to change into our swimsuits and down to the pool we went. It was still a little cool for me but Grant loved it so I endured. Getting out of the heated water and back to our room was pretty brutal. But it was worth it since grant had been begging to swim all week. I was super thankful for that preferred room that was close to the pool.

We immediately got in a warm shower and cleaned up to go eat dinner at the food court. We had pizza, salad, and breadsticks and Grant used a snack credit for some French fries. We also got another brownie sundae and a cheesecake. Man Disney and their snacks!!!
After dinner we went back to the room to start packing up our stuff. After some creative packing, we got all the souvenirs packed efficiently. Mickey had left Grant a special surprise for being so good this week. He brought Toy Story and all the Mickey Mouse clubhouse gang figurines. One final night in our happy place was quickly coming to an end.

Sunday2/2/2020Magic Kingdom Day 1

This was a day I have been waiting on since my last trip to Disney 6 years ago. I was so excited to see the castle and watch the fireworks and even more excited to see it through Grant’s eyes. We again got up early and headed to the bus line by 8 am. We had reservations at The Crystal Palace to eat breakfast so we could have Mickey Waffles. we changed our reservation from dinner at Chef Mickeys to this as we were over buffet dinners and had seen the Fab 5 twice already. While getting our fair share of those waffles we met the characters from the Hundred Acre Wood. Piglet, Tigger, Eyeore, and Winnie the Pooh Bear all had a parade through the restaurant that Grant got to join in on. Since we had an early reservation we actually got to see the opening ceremony from the restaurant.

After breakfast was over we headed to Tomorrow land to get on The Space Ranger Spin for our first fast pass of the day. Grant absolutely loved this ride. He rode with Mom and James and I rode together. It was a glow light interactive ride where riders shot at targets with laser beams to try to defeat Zurg.

After the ride was over we visited the space ranger gift shop and grant wanted to get his picture made with zurg in a cage. He also got to do some more penny presses with his daddy.

Next up we stayed in tomorrow land and got in line for our next fast pass: Tomorrowland Speedway. Grant and I rode together and James rode behind us. Mom decided to sit this one out. We got in a car that had the steering wheel on the right side and the pedal on the left. I operated the pedal while Grant took the wheel. The car was on a track but he didn’t mind one bit.

After this ride we were able to walk on the People Mover. This was a bucket list ride for Mom. It was nice to be able to get right on the ride when we did because later the wait was about 45 minutes at any given time. This ride weaved in and out of the rides in Tomorrowland. It was neat to get to be an outsider looking in at these rides.

Next we were able to walk straight in to Monsters INC laugh floor with no wait at all. This was a cute little comedy show featuring Mike from the movie. Mom was featured in a joke about a seatbelt because she had on a crossbody bag. It was a nice little rest before we headed back out to the park.

We then moved into Fantasyland and had to maneuver through tons of people to see Mickeys Philharmagic Show that featured Donald Duck chasing his hat through several classic Disney movies. This was a 3-d show and grant again kept reaching out to try to touch the things flying towards us!

Mad Tea Party spinning tea cups were next after Philharmagic. All 4 of us squeezed into one little cup. It was a tight fit but a fun ride! And the smiles and laughs coming from Grant were so precious! After this ride was over we spotted a memory maker and got a couple pictures made in front of the mad tea party sign and one special graphic one with the chesire cat.

We spotted Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters while walking to our next adventure. Their line was too long to wait but I did snap a few pictures as we walked by.

We stopped at Gastons Tavern to get a famous cinnamon roll. This thing was massive!!! It was very good! We also got a Lefou’s brew which was frozen apple juice! So so good!

After sitting down to eat this afternoon snack, we started walking to the Journey of the Little Mermaid. But on the way we found Gaston. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite so of course we had to stop. Gaston asked grant about his workout routine and if he could give him some pointers to help win Belle. We all got pictures made and an autograph signed. James had to have a picture flexing with him. While we were doing this experience Mom went on to get in the little mermaid ride. She wound up riding without us and then finding a frozen coke stand and had a snack.

After the meet and greet with Gaston we continued our walk to the Little Mermaid ride. This was the longest line we waited in since we did not have a fast pass for this ride. The line was about an hour long. Several cast members said the parks weren’t as crowded this time of year. I sure would hate to see them anymore crowded.

We hopped on the carousel after this ride where James, Grant, and I all rode on a horse. My horse was so high up I had to climb on Grants to get to mine. But I did it!

After this ride we fast passed a ride on Its a Small World. This ride is definitely not my favorite. The little dolls really creep me out. But apparently it is iconic and James wanted to ride it. I later found out it was because of a Rodney Carrington joke. Men!! We actually got stuck on this ride and had to listen to the song on repeat. Thankfully it was less than 5 minutes.

Mickey Ice cream was our next snack. Man did we have a ton of snacks. We had the middle dining plan that came with 40 snack credits for the 4 of us to share in 5 days! I am not typically a snacker so this was hard to remember to stop and try things. Grant wanted a Mickey Sandwich and James and I shared a chocolate dipped Mickey head.

After resting for a few minutes and finishing our ice cream we went to Enchanted Tales with Belle. Grant was picked to be Felipe for the show and James was a suit of armor. Both of my boys did so good! This was probably one of my favorite memories of the day because Grant was so proud of himself being in the show.

Mom and I were able to score a fast pass to space mountain. So while we headed off to ride that dark but so much fun ride, James and Grant took off to fast pass Dumbo the flying elephant. After space mountain was over I met James and Grant and got In line to ride the space ranger spin again.

We had dinner reservations at Be Our Guest where we ate in the Beasts castle. We were seated in the main hall and had a beautiful view of the snowing countryside outside.

This was hands down my favorite meal of the trip. I ordered the lobster bisque for my appetizer, James got the assorted meats and cheese selection and mom got the mixed field green salad. Next up was the main course. I ordered the herb salted pork tenderloin, James had filet mignon, and Mom got the Poulet Rouge Chicken. Every single one of these dishes were amazing! We didn’t have high expectations for liking this meal but it easily was all of our favorites.

Grant is such a picky eater I knew he wouldn’t eat anything off the menu so we had stopped and got him some chicken nuggets from a quick service restaurant, Cosmic Rays, that he ate on the walk to the restaurant. His belly was full and as soon as he got still at the table he actually passed out face down on the chair with his arms and legs hanging off. He dropped the phone he was watching and when I looked down to pick it up I noticed he was sound asleep. So cute. A very sweet waitress brought over another chair so we could prop his legs up and she covered him up with a napkin. It was so sweet.

We were a little short on time and all so full so our waiter offered to package up our desserts to go. It was a trio of the famous grey stuff in a white chocolate edible chip cup, a lemon jam macaron, and a dark chocolate truffle. We took these back to the hotel with us.

After finishing up with this fabulous dinner and grant waking up, we walked to the West wing to see the rose! We initially had requested to be seated here but we were glad We declined the 45 minute wait because it was so dark in that room! After seeing the rose, we made our way to the study to do a meet and greet with the Beast! There was a memory maker here to make sure we got some awesome pictures.

Our dinner reservation was at 5:45 and the fireworks show at the castle started at 8. We had just enough time to fast walk across the park to get a spot to see the show. Disney fireworks are the most amazing show ever. Grant was in awe the whole time and sang along with every song that came on. It made me teary eyed to get to experience this with my family!

I knew that I had one more must do on my Disney bucket list that I just had to get done. Lantern pictures at Rapunzel’s tower. James, Grant, and I trekked from the castle to the back side of Fantasyland to get to the memory maker before the park closed at 9. I was pleasantly surprised to only be about 5 people back in the line. These are my most favorite pictures from the whole trip. Grant loves Tangled so he was super excited about this too.

After getting these made, we happened upon a princess meet and greet with absolutely no line. We took advantage of this crazy opportunity and Grant got to meet Rapunzel and Tiana. If I had to pick 2 of his favorite princesses they would totally be it! He was once again star struck!

On our way back to the front of the park to find mom, we were able to hop on the tea cups one more time at exactly 8:59.

Good timing for sure!! On the way out of the park we found a memory maker and got family pictures in front of the castle.

We hopped on a bus and headed toward the resort to end the 3rd day in a row of staying in the parks from rope drop to closing. We definitely made the most of the time we had. Once we got back to the resort Grant begged for some ice cream. So we got him a chocolate cone at 10 pm at night. Time and sugar don’t matter at Disney right??

Even after the sugar he still crashed pretty quickly once we got cleaned up and in bed. This was a really long day but it was amazing in so many aspects.

Saturday, February 1stHollywood Studios

Today was the day I had been most looking forward to because this park had Grant’s favorite characters in Toy Story Land!! Again we got up early and caught the bus around 8 am getting to the park before it opened. We made it through bag check and the ticket line and headed straight for our first fast pass of the day: Toy Story Mania. It was so awesome bypassing the long line of people and waiting in a very minimal line. This ride was by far one of Grants favorites. From the minute we stepped in to the que he had the biggest eyes and was in awe that he was in Andy’s room. These are some of the memories that I will remember forever.

The car for this ride had little canons that you shot virtual balls at screens throughout the whole ride. It was a 3D ride that required you to wear glasses for and Grant thought that was so cool. He rode with me and I couldn’t even focus on aiming the canon because all I could see was his ear to ear smile.

It was cold and raining this morning (really most of the day) but we didn’t let that stop our fun. When it rains at Disney, you put on a poncho, straighten your tiara and keep going!! And that’s exactly what we did.

We were able to walk on to alien swirling saucers after about a 20 minute wait for our next ride. This day was also a big day for me professionally as well. It was Pomifera Launch Day! I was expecting to get to sign up at 10 am and I was hoping to plan it so that we could be on a rest break around that time. Well that didn’t happen so I decided to sit this ride out and try to get signed up as it was literally 10 am on the dot when we got to the front of the line. Very funny, world! Anyway the massive influx of interest in pomifera broke the internet and I wasn’t able to get signed up for many hours later but I’m so thankful for my awesome up line that helped me and my team out so much so that I could put the phone away and enjoy time with my family! I got some really awesome videos and pictures while sitting this ride out so it wasn’t a waste at all!

After this ride was over, I noticed a line starting to form so I jumped in it while Mom, James, and Grant were getting off the saucers. It was a meet and greet line for Jessie and it wasn’t long at all. It had stopped raining for a few minutes and they brought the characters out! We all had on Toy Story shirts and Jessie loved them! She pointed out my shirt, which was representing her, and also pointed to my red hair and her red hair. I feel we had a moment!

After this we made our way back to the Animation Courtyard to pass some time and get out of the rain by doing covered Character meet and Greets with Vampirina and Doc McStuffins. I was wearing a pullover that had a stethoscope around my monogram and Doc went crazy over it. She just pointed and pointed and jumped up and down clapping her hands. It was so cute.

Then it was time for our next fast pass: The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. This was a great show that Grant loved. I might be pretty partial to it too! and it was inside out of the cold rain.

After this show we headed to An Incredible Celebration Area and met Mrs Incredible in the street. Mr Incredible had just got called to a crime fighting emergency so we didn’t get to meet him till later. Momma needed some coffee to warm up since it was still nasty and rainy out and Grant decided he needed a Jack Jack Num Num cookie, yep you guessed it…Another chocolate Chip cookie. My boy does love his cookies! James got yet another Mickey pretzel lol and then we went to the Edna Mode character meet and greet. We also found a memory maker set up in this area too.

Next up we went to Echo Lake to use our 3rd fast pass of the day at For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing Along Celebration. I LOVED LOVED LOVED this show. Grant was so very happy watching it and literally sang every word of every song! It was a perfect memory for me! And again I was happy we were inside out of the cold rain. Yes I’m a wimp these days. But that didn’t last long because after the show we went outside to wait in the line to see Olaf. This was probably one the longest lines we waited in the entire trip. But Grant really wanted to see Olaf and give him a hug so we did it. It was worth it for all the smiles!

After this we passed back by Incredible Celebration Area and Mr Incredible had made it back from fighting crime so Grant got to meet him and take pictures flexing their muscles. Mr Incredible has nothing on my boy!

We were starting to get hungry so we got a quick service lunch. James and Mom ordered burgers from Backlot Express while I ran(literally) back to Toy Story Land and got Grant and I grilled cheeses from Woody’s Lunch Box. We sat at the Picnic Tables around Echo Lake and ate lunch and rested for a while.

Mom was able to snag us fast passes to ride tower of terror so we went on our way to sunset boulevard while the boys went back to Toy Story Land. They were able to walk on Toy Story Mania thanks to some Disney magic letting them go through the fast pass line even when they didn’t have one! Mom and I rode Tower of Terror and while we really liked it, it wasn’t nearly as scary the second time around as it was during our first trip 6 years ago. Still a fun ride though.

After we got off this ride, James called me and told me they were in line for Alien Swirling Saucers again. He knew how upset I was that I missed riding it with Grant the first time so he made sure we rode it again. I left the stroller with mom and literally ran as fast as I could from Sunset Boulevard to Toy Story Land. Boy did I get some weird looks lol. I made it just in time to (shhh) hop the line and make it to the last loop before they got on the ride. It was so much fun to ride this ride with both of my boys especially after I had to miss it the first time.

After we got off this ride we stood in line to meet Woody and Bo Peep. While waiting for them, we watched the army man parade. Grant loved meeting Woody and Bo! They both loved our shirts and Woody noticed my birthday button. He asked me if I was 21 and told me my face looked so young. Bo loved moms shirt and buddied up with her!

We got in line to meet Buzz next and while we were in line noticed a memory maker in front of the Toy Story Land sign so we left mom in the line and ran down to get some pictures made with the perfect photo prop for my Toy Story loving boy!

Meeting Buzz was definitely a highlight for Grant. He loved all the characters but he had the BIGGEST smile on his face when we got to Buzz. He gave him huge hugs, high 5’s, asked to press his reset button and Buzz let him. When Grant pushed it, it turned Buzz off and he fell over. Grant had to hurry and press it again to turn him back on. So cute and Grant was ecstatic that he got to turn him on and off. They saluted each other and buzz stamped Grants Autograph book.

We were able to score another fast pass to the Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage Show. So we hightailed it back to sunset boulevard and made it just in time for the show to start. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite movie and Belle is my favorite of the princesses so I really loved this show even though I saw it on my first trip.

After this show Grant fell asleep in his stroller and and on me when I had to take him out to get in line for dinner. He slept until it was time to go in at our 2nd character meal: Hollywood and Vine. He got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy and Donald again but this time they were dressed up in their very best outfits. This was a buffet style meal again with lots of different choices. Including the best cheesecake dessert and Grant enjoyed soft serve Ice Cream with sprinkles.

After dinner, as we were making our way back further on Sunset Boulevard we spotted a memory maker so we stopped and got another picture taken. Grant and my hubs were troopers with all my picture taking. I love pictures and I was all about making sure we got our money’s worth out of that photo pass package. Mom even obliged on some pictures too!

To close out our park time this night we again had VIP tickets From Hollywood and Vine to watch Fantasmic. This was a good show but not nearly as good as ROL for me.

We made it back to our resort about 10 pm. Again another rope drop to close day but my whole gang were troopers. James, Grant, and I went to the food court again where he picked out a brownie sundae to eat (yes at 10 pm) while we let Mom go get a shower.

Sleep came easy this night for everybody. We were exhausted after two very full days.

Friday, January 31st Epcot/Animal Kingdom

We got up bright and early and were so excited to take on our first true day at Disney! We caught the bus around 8 am and made our way to Epcot. We were super excited to see the iconic sphere, Spaceship Earth. After making our way through bag check and the ticket line, we headed to wait in line to rope drop since we made it before the park even opened.

Once the rope dropped, we headed straight to our first fast pass ride: The Seas with Nemo and Friends. We got a little turned around trying to find it but eventually made our way there. This ride was a perfect first ride for my little guy! Grant got a kick out of telling the “mine mine mine” screaming seagulls to hush. Disney’s theming skills are so spot on! We rode through the scenes of Finding Nemo in cute little coral reef styled cars. After this, we looked around the aquarium for a little while and Grant played through the glass with the scuba diver cleaning one of the tanks. Side note: aquariums are my very favorite places to explore! They are so calming! So it was perfect that it was one of the first things we did at Disney. Penny presses were also made in the gift shop.

After this we were able to walk on for Turtle Talk with Crush. While waiting in the que, we enjoyed watching sting rays in the tank. One even took a selfie with us. The show was super cute! Grant was the first kid Crush talked to. He was so sweet talking to him and not scared at all like I thought he would be.

After this attraction we got in a short line for our first character meet and greet with Pluto. Grant was so so so excited for this. I was very worried that he would not enjoy the characters because he is always a little hesitant at Silver Dollar City and Christmas parades. But he proved me wrong for sure. He gave Pluto the biggest hug and had the best smile on his face. We had Pluto sign our castle cut out and got pictures taken with the memory maker photo pass. I am so thankful we purchased the memory maker for this trip. We have so many wonderful pictures. All we had to do was scan our magic bands and we were on our way with pictures being sent to the app on our phones! Disney has things figured out!!

Next up came snack time for James. He got the first of 585000 Mickey pretzels lol. We purchased Grant a Buzz Lightyear bubble wand along the way to our next attraction and this provided so many smiles for him while we waited in lines.

We walked to the World Showcase section of Epcot and got in line in Norway to meet Elsa and Anna which was at the top of Grants bucket list for this trip. We waited about 35 minutes for this meet and greet which I didn’t think was bad at all. We found the nicest people in front of us in line to chat with while we waited. They had a 4 year old little girl who Grant shared his bubbles with. Best purchase ever! Once we got in to the Royal Summerhaus and saw the princess and queen Grant was so so star struck. It was so cute to watch him meet some of his favorite characters and be so in awe of them. Again I am thankful for our memory maker photo pass. Anna asked him if he would help give Sven a bath and when he declined she charged him with helping Kristoff with his ice business. Grant agreed he could do this job.

After this meet and greet, it was time for our second fast pass of the day. Frozen Ever After was an amazingly beautiful ride and definitely one of my favorites of the trip. I believe I enjoyed it more than Grant did! It felt like we were really in Arendale. Grant picked out a snack after this ride and got another Mickey shaped chocolate chip cookie…are you seeing a pattern here??

After this we decided it was time to head to Animal Kingdom since we were park hopping this day and it was already around noon. On our way out, we found a character meet and greet line for Goofy. This was such a fun meet and greet to end Epcot with!!
Looking back I wish we had planned a full day for Epcot because we didn’t even touch all the different countries or even get a glimpse of “The Land” We listened to the reviews that said there wasn’t anything to do in Epcot, but that was a huge lie! We loved it!! More on Epcot later…

Animal Kingdom.

We caught a bus and rested for a little while on the way to Animal Kingdom. When we got there we had to go through bag check and ticket lines again but before we went in we found a memory maker with a lion king back drop so I knew we had to stop.

We had a lot more time to explore this park. We stayed here until park closing so we had about 9 hours here. We made our way in to the park and I was on the lookout for the tree of life. It was so pretty! We took advantage of another memory maker opportunity here and then headed to find some lunch.

We mobile ordered for the first time! Such a nice perk to the Disney app!! We didn’t wait in any long lines. You order from the app and tell them when you are at the restaurant. They prepare the food and you pick up from a different mobile ordering pick up line. Best thing ever!!! Mom, James, and I ordered from Flame Tree BBQ. Mom got the Pulled Pork Sandwich and onion rings, James got the ribs and chicken combo and I ordered the baked Mac and cheese with pulled pork. I tried to remember to take pictures of all our food but I didn’t do so hot at this. Grant wouldn’t eat anything off this menu, so I trekked to the pizzafari while mom waited on our food and got him another pepperoni pizza which he scarfed down. Mom lost half of her sandwich to some very persistent and not scared at all birds lol! She wasn’t offering it, but he sure took it! This was some amazing bbq and we loved it!

We were so full after this we decided we needed to walk around and explore a bit. We made our way to our third fast pass of the day the Kilimanjaro Safari. This is an open air safari ride and was a nice way to see some amazing animals, although being on the back of the car made for a pretty rough ride. Grant loved spotting all the animals from the “menu” above our heads.

After this ride, we stayed in Africa for a while. Grant wanted some popcorn so we got him a souvenir refillable simba bucket. It is so cute! And it allowed him to have popcorn refills for $2.50! This boy loves his popcorn. We found a little park area that had lots of African musical instruments and he loved playing here while we rested for a few minutes. It had also started to rain this day but we just threw on ponchos and enjoyed the day.

Next up was the Festival of the Lion King show. Grant fell asleep while we waited in line so he was so surprised when he woke up in the middle of it. I wish I had his reaction on camera. It was priceless. Lion King is one of his favorite movies and this show did not disappoint. It was beautiful in the costuming and the whole setup was just amazing.

After the show, we made our way to our dinner reservation at TuskerHouse. Here we got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy(The Fab 5) in safari outfits. After getting our drink orders, I left the table to go to the bathroom and fix mine and Grants plate. Of course, during this time I missed Grant meeting Mickey for the first time. My sweet momma and hubby took lots of good pictures for me though and he did come back around to the table again later. I’m still a little bummed out about this but I learned my lesson for future character meals! This meal was a Buffett style meal and had lots of different African themed food! Our waiter saw my birthday button and gave me a signed birthday card from the fab 5 along with another free fast pass! That was a little more Disney magic for us!

After dinner, we walked in to the It’s Tough to Be A Bug show which featured characters from A Bug’s Life. James wasn’t too happy about the large spiders falling from the ceiling. But Grant didn’t seem to mind at all. This was a 3-d show and he kept reaching his little hand out trying to touch all the bugs! It was so cute.

After this we walked to the tree of life to get some sunset pictures. So so pretty! My camera did it no justice at all.

Next up was Dinoland. We got right on the Triceratops spin ride and Grant absolutely loved it. He hasn’t been a huge fan of bigger rides in the past but he did great on this trip! I was so proud of him.

After we got off this ride, we waited in a very short line to meet Chip and Dale in fluorescent dinosaur costumes. A lot of the rides in this area were already closed down for the day by the time we made it here.

To close out our first park day, we had VIP seating to the Rivers of Light:We are One Show. Second only to the fireworks at Magic Kingdom for sentimental reasons, this was one of my favorite things of this trip! It was truly beautiful. The main focus of the show were these beautiful lotus flowers. Lotus flowers have a lot of special meaning to me due to their ability to grow through the mud and become such a symbol of beauty. This show got me all in my feels! And it even kept Grants full attention the whole time.

After this show was over we made the long trek back to the buses to head home for the night. We passed by the illuminated Tree of Life in the darkness and it was magnificent.

This was long day number 1. We left the resort around 8 am and got home around 10:30 pm. Grant wasn’t ready to calm down just yet after a catnap on the bus ride so James and I took him to the food court to refill our mugs and explore the 101 Dalmatian area and the rest of the Fantasia buildings. Then it was time for showers and bed!

Thursday Jan 30- Travel Day

We headed to Memphis bright and early around 6:30 to make it through security and boarding for our 11 o’clock flight. Check in and security was interesting and a little hectic with a 4 year old and a husband that has only flown once before but we made it. We walked all the way to the very last gate on the B concourse and waited for our flight. We quickly learned that it would be a very full flight with 2 groups of preteen cheerleaders with tons of Pom poms heading to Disney to cheer nationals. It was a very smooth flight and we landed in Orlando about an hour and a half later. We gained an hour on the way there so it was around 2 pm when we landed. We made our way through the airport to Mickey’s Magical Express to take us to our resort. This was so exciting for all of us.
We made it to our resort, All Star Movies, about 3:30. We checked in and got Grant and James first Trip buttons and me a birthday button. I got so many Happy Birthday wishes with that button. After getting checked in we went to our room. We had a preferred room in the Fantasia building very very close to the pool and the food court. We dropped our bags, checked out our room, and headed out to explore the resort a little bit. Our first stop was the Toy Story Building. We were hoping to get to stay in this building but it worked out better being in the Fantasia section anyway. The Toy Story section had a kid size RC Car in the entry way followed by a door to Andy’s room that was so big it made you feel like a toy. There was also a larger than life Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Bo Peep, Rex, toy soldiers and their bucket for the stair case to the second floor along with huge blocks.
After we explored that area for a little while, we got on the bus and headed to Disney Springs. We visited a few shops including A jewelry store where we got a free Disney souvenir necklace, Under Armor, Ron Jon surf shop and the LEGO store. Grant really enjoyed racing the lego cars with a ton of other kids. They had life size LEGO structures of Elsa and Anna, Buzz, Woody, RC, The Hulk, a huge dragon in the water, and Cinderella. After playing here for a little while we made our way to the Disney Springs photo pass center and had some pictures made with our Memory Maker pass. Once these were done it was time for our first dinner reservation at The Rainforest Cafe. James and I ordered a primal steak to share and Mom ordered Bollywood chicken and shrimp. Grant had a pepperoni pizza. We enjoyed watching the rain storms and Grant enjoyed seeing “Ivan and Ruby” (gorillas and elephants) and all the birds and fish.
After dinner, we went to an open air dance party and let Grant ride the train and carousel. We also looked around at the toy store and visited Goofy’s Candy Company. Grant picked out a massive Mickey Mouse shaped chocolate chip cookie dipped in chocolate and found a carnival style fun house mirror to be the most hilarious thing ever. Before we headed back to our resort we stopped at the Ghirardelli store and got the most decadent chocolate brownie. We sat down to eat it and spotted the silhouette stand. This was the only souvenir I had my heart set on for this trip and let me tell you it did not disappoint. I’m not sure what I had in mind, but it definitely was not what we experienced. I had thought maybe this was a digital process. But I was so wrong. I sat down and held Grant in my lap while a very sweet cast member literally cut out his profile using a regular pair of scissors and did it completely by hand. She captured the most perfect image of my boy down to his super long eyelashes! My heart was so so happy in this moment. This was our first little bit of Disney magic. I knew we were going to have the most wonderful time. After finishing only half of our brownie, we walked back to the bus and caught a ride back to our resort. Once we got there we went to the food court to pick up our souvenir refillable mugs. Grant and James have a tradition of doing penny presses anywhere that has them. Disney proved to be huge for this tradition for them. They made a ton of them starting with ones in our resort food court. After that it was back to the room to rest up for our first park day the next morning.

So this is the first time ever writing for fun for me but I hope to use this forum as a way to document all the fun adventures we go on as a family.