Bluegrass babies: 2015

We made it through our week at the Happiest Place on Earth - Disneyworld. Let me just start this blog by discussing what happened the night before we left. We took a bike ride to dinner Sunday night because the weather was so lovely.

We got home from Scotty's and were getting the boys ready for bed, sure enough Grayson started vomitting all over Owen's bedroom floor, he had no other symptoms and he slept through the night that evening without getting sick again and woke up seeming fine. I actually thought maybe it was because he got ahold of Owen's milk at dinner and drank quite a bit of it. Due to his milk allergy we don't typically give him milk.
Anyways I sent him to school Monday morning, which now looking back was a bad choice, but I really thought he got sick because of the milk. Owen told every person he saw at school drop off that he was going to fly on a plane and go to Disneyworld. He was VERY excited.
We picked the boys up, and went straight to the airport. Exploring the airport was a lot of fun for these little ones...

Then we were ready for takeoff.

Grayson fussed a little at the beginning of the flight because it was well past his normal nap time but before long he fell asleep just like this...

While on the plane Brad said he didn't feel well and thought he just needed to eat. I didn't really think a lot about it because we didn't eat a great lunch. However when we checked into the hotel and Brad got sick in the hotel lobby bathroom, I knew we were in for it.
Brad only got sick one time but didn't feel great and went to bed as soon as we checked in. I got us all unpacked and the kids to bed. Then I woke up in the middle of the night vomitting. Since we always put the pack and play in the bathroom I had another hurdle to jump, this just meant I had to vomit in the trash cans until Grayson woke up and I could use the bathroom. Fun times! I continued to get sick until 2:00 in the afternoon on Tuesday. Thankfully Brad felt good enough to care for the boys the entire time I was sick in bed. It was a rough day....

We stayed at the Gaylord Marriott Resort in Kissimmee. It was such a great place and kept the boys busy while I was in bed that first day.

When I finally rolled out of bed the day was nearly over and it was almost bedtime...

The next day we took a shuttle to downtown Disney to explore a little.

The boys loved the lego store...

And we ate at the coolest kid friendly restaurant - the TRex cafe...

The boys could dig for dinosaur bones in this giant sandbox while we waited for our food...

The next day we headed to meet the famous Mickey Mouse..

Since we flew to Florida and did not rent a car, we assumed we would use the shuttle services to get around to the various parks at Disneyworld. But because our hotel was off the Disney property (15 minutes away from Magic Kingdom), each shuttle made a stop at every park. If you were the going to the last stop - Magic Kingdom - it would take almost an hour to get there. With two little ones that don't have seat belts to keep them locked in it was a little stressful to be in a shuttle for an hour. Brad and I had to be strategic and take the shuttles home from the park because we were the last stop but take a taxi to the park in the mornings and/or after nap time. This is one of the downfalls of staying off the property, however for the amount of money we saved by staying at a Marriott we could justify cab rides.

These photos sum up our days at the park. Day 1 was a little chaotic there was so much to see and it was blazing hot. Therefore the boys were grumpy after our hour long ride on the shuttle when we first arrived.

Day 2 went much smoother from start to finish for all of us.

We thought by going the first week of November we would beat the heat and the crowds. However it was 90 degrees and crowded both days we were at the parks with lines going anywhere from 15 to 70 minutes. I can't even imagine going to Disney World in the summer. The first day we planned to stay from park open until after the electrical parade at 7:00 p.m. It was a pretty lofty goal and we were okay with going back to the hotel if we needed to. However it ended up being a good day. We still had some minor temper tantrums and one bathroom accident but all in all the boys did okay on our long day. They did even better the second day when we went back to the hotel to take a nap.

The boys loved riding the rides...

Well sort of...

Owen loved It's a Small World - so much so that he had to ride it twice.

We rode most rides together as a family but there were a few rides that Owen could ride and Grayson could not so we split up. Grayson is very attached to me right now and is at the stage where he will not let Brad do anything for him so I always rode with Grayson and Brad always rode with Owen.

The castle was really my favorite part of Disneyworld. It really was magical - especially at night.

Knuffle bunny enjoyed this Drapp family vacation...

The parades are pretty incredible and it was a great opportunity to take a break from walking. So here we are waiting for the afternoon parade to begin...

and chasing Grayson around - waiting is difficult for a 2 year old...

All four of us thought the parades were really amazing but Grayson was especially excited to see all of the characters. He danced and clapped and mimicked all of the people in the parade. He is such a ham.

On our first long day at the park, both boys took a much needed afternoon nap in the stroller which allowed Brad and I to have a quiet dinner - almost like a date and definitely our only time alone all week...

We did not plan any character meals - I know it is a great way to see all of the characters at once without waiting in line. However this trip was so last minute that the character meals were pretty much all booked. I am sure I could have found an opening if I really wanted to but a friend of mine just returned from Disney and said that the meals are so pricey and she didn't feel like her little ones enjoyed them as much as just being in the park. I was able to get a fast pass to see Mickey Mouse so we didn't wait in line at all and got to meet him.

The characters are pretty fantastic! They really take time to interact with the kids. Mickey had Owen and Grayson bouncing like Tigger and playing with them for a good 3-4 minutes. It was really cute!

Grayson and I did wait in line to see "Pooh and Tig Tig". He caught a glimpse of them and wasn't going to leave without giving them a hug. We waited 45 minutes, it was a little frustrating for Grayson to wait so long but I knew if we walked away he was going to throw a fit. Owen didn't care to meet them so Brad and Owen went to ride one of Owen's favorite rides a second time, the Buzz Lightyear ride...

Here is Grayson with his favorites. It was well worth the 45 minute wait - he still talks about meeting them to this day.

Grayson didn't know much about the Disney characters before our trip and now he loves them all. This is "Mickey's woof"...

Then we stayed for the spectacular lighting of the castle. This was my favorite part of all the things we did at Magic Kingdom. Anna, Elsa and Olaf put on a little show at the castle while Elsa lit it with her "ice and snow". We are now big fans of the Frozen characters...