USA Trip–Orlando (part 2)

After a day relaxing at the hotel and some shopping, our next day trip was to the Kennedy Space Centre. We enjoyed seeing all the huge rockets.

And we had fun playing in the water fountain. It was hot!

Tracie and the boys in the rocket garden – it was an impressive sight!

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Another day, we spent the morning playing Mini Golf. It was a first for Ben and Ethan, and they loved it.

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The next day, we took the boys to Lego Land, while Grandma and Uncle Graham went to Universal Studios.

We LOVED Lego Land. It was perfect for their age (and older), but there was only 2 rides in the whole park they couldn’t go on…. and I think we went on nearly 20 rides that day. We had a great time, and I would defiantly recommend it, and would love to go back one day!

One of our favouries was the Rescue Academy. We had to drive a fire truck to the fire, pump the water to put out the fire, then drive it back. The boys thought it was great, and they are very into fire fighting at the moment. They also enjoyed driving these cars

Tracie and Ethan at Boating School.

Ben on the Royal Joust

Ethan on the Royal Joust.

Driving Mummy around!

Driving Mumma around

We braved Beetle Bounce – a ride that pulls you up and drops you and keeps bouncing you up and down. They didn’t like it during the ride, but will now tell you they did like it!

Yep, we went on that roller coaster. Sal went on it twice, first with Ben, then with Ethan. Each time we sat in the front seat. That’s Sal’s arm you can see raised up waving.

And the carousel to finish off the day.

It was a great day at Lego Land!

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Our next day out was Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Tree of life. – Hard to tell in this photo, but it’s trunk is “carved” into many different animals. It’s an incredible work of art.

Kilimanjaro Safari (ride) is the highlight of the Animal Kingdom. You ride around in jeeps like on safari, looking at all the animals. They have a HUGE area of real animals, and they come very close to the jeep. We had to wait for this giraffe to get off the road so we could keep going!

Sal and Ethan on the Triceratops ride

Lunch at the Rainforest Cafe!

In the afternoon we headed over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The boys loved meeting Handy Manny.

And Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

 

But the best part was Disney Junior Live on Stage! It was a 30 minute show that was like an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. But with guest appearances from Jake and the Pirates, Handy Manny and Young Einsteins. The boys like all those shows, and LOVED seeing it live on stage!

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At Disney’s Epcot, we went on many rides, including Finding Nemo, which was very cute.

The flower festival was even more amazing at Epcot, with every Disney character you can imagine, made into topiary 

Days at Disney are EXHAUSTING!!

Graham and Tracie – Brother and Sister in the only photo we got of the two of them!

Orlando was PACKED full of adventures and fun. We had a wonderful time! The weather was hot, but perfect for swimming and fun in the sun. We were sad to say goodbye to Uncle Graham, but we are hopeful that he will come visit us in Australia one day soon!

USA Trip – Orlando (Part 1)

On May 2nd, we flew from Philadelphia to Orlando, Florida. We stayed the first 2 nights in Disney’s All Star Movies. We stayed in the 101 Dalmatians section.

As May 3rd is Ben and Ethan’s birthday, they were lucky enough to get a present from Mickey Mouse on their arrival at the hotel. They both got a balloon and a plush Goofy, and they were just so excited to be at Disney!

 

Another part of Disney All Star Movies is the Toy Story area. We took a walk to see the huge characters!

 

On May 3rd, (Boys 4th Birthday) we spent the day at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom! It was a truly magical day. The park was amazing, and what made it extra special was that the boys wore badges that let everyone know it was their birthday. All of the staff wished them a happy birthday, and everyone was just amazing.

Ben on the carousel.

 

Ben and Tracie on Dumbo

 

Ethan and Sal – on Dumbo

 

Sal and Ethan – On Mad Hatter tea cups

 

Ben, Grandma and Uncle Graham – Ben had been telling us for MONTHS leading up to this trip that he was going to take Uncle Graham on the cup and saucer ride and spin him so fast he gets sick! He did spin and spin, but Uncle Graham wasn’t sick!

 

Ethan and Ben with Goofy, outside Pirates of the Caribbean

 

Getting later in the day, all very hot and tired!

It was spring during our visit and the gardens were amazing.

 

Tracie and Ben – this is how we got around the parks

 

Sal and Ben – at the Speedway

 

Ethan driving Uncle Graham

 

After a long day at the park we went to Chef Mickey for dinner. Chef Mickey is a buffet restaurant where Mickey Mouse and his friends come to your table to say hello. It was one of the highlights of the trip. The food was great, and the boys were enchanted by the experience of meeting Mickey Mouse and his friends. The look on their faces was just priceless!

4 fingers – We’re 4yrs old today!

It truly was a magical experience at the Magic Kingdom!!

After another night at the Disney Hotel, we went to a 4bedroom town house in a resort style facility. It was nice to be able to spread out, have our own space, and especially to swim in the pool!

We floated around the lazy river

And went down the slide…

Again

and again

and againand againand again

I think we must have done that slide well over 100 times!

In the beginning, we were at the bottom to help the boys swim to the side, but after a while, they managed to swim all by them selves. We were nearby of course, but they were very good at swimming all by them selves. Many strangers commented on how well they could swim for their age

All ready for winter

Ethan: "I'm all dressed for winter"

(please excuse this photo with sunlight almost whiting out his chest)

Bag of onions

We were in a fruit and vegetable shop last week...

Ben: look mum, a big bag of onions
Me: yeah, that's nice
Ben: yeah! Grandma says we might get a bag of onions for Christmas.
Me: oh, really? That sounds good, I like onions
Ben: yeah, I like onions too
Me: would you like a bag of onions for Christmas
Ben: yep!


Ha ha ha ha!!
I bet his grandma didn't expect that reaction when she joked about giving him onions for Christmas. (For not behaving. Similar to getting coal etc)

I'm not sure when she said it, but it must have been ages ago, and he just have remembered!

Blogging absence ....

Sorry about my recent blogging absence. We've settled back into life after our big trip. We still have a lot of photos to sort through. I have culled down the Orlando to just over 100, but need to cull down further, and it's a job I keep procrastinating.... I'll try and do it soon, promise!

Life is good for us. The boys are happy, but have a bit of a cold at the moment. We had to miss playgroup and preschool this week, but they seem to be picking up over the weekend. Ethan still has a rattly cough, especially in the morning and evening. He's playing happily today, which is an improvement on spending the day laying down on Friday with a high temp. Hopefully they are on the mend.

We have been making some dietary changes since our trip to America. We ate so much more processed foods (out of need and convenience) than we usually do at home, and we noticed the difference. Over processed foods, especially those high in sugar, artificial colours, flavours, preservatives and other some additives really seem to effect the boys behaviour. Prior to America, we ate healthily, but I didn't worry too much about these additives. The boys had their moments, but we just assumed they were typical 3yr olds.

Going to America and eating as we did made it so much more obvious that the food affected them, as I guess the quantities were higher, so behaviour was worse. I think I mentioned before, Ben reacted to something (We assume macaroni and cheese was a big issue) and broke out in a rash and was extremely hyperactive and had difficulty sleeping.

Anyway, now we are home we are making more of an effort to check all labels, and choose brands that are free of the nasty additives. I think it's working! They have been sick, and that always means behaviour is harder to judge.... But i do think it's working :)

I have been making an effort to eat foods that are healthier too. Trying to choose foods that aren't nutritionally void and empty calories. I haven't lost any weight, but i do feel better for these new choices. I've also made some no added sugar muffins and a seed/nut slice. Ive been doing the simple things like drinking more water and been eating more fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts. It's all basic stuff that too often gets forgotten in these modern over processed times.
We are still eating some processed foods (tomato sauce (ketchup) and BBQ sauce are the next on the list to get some healthier alternatives.)

I think we might plant some new vegetables today the garden is empty since our trip!