Checked in.

We've arrived!  

Today we checked into our resort.  We are staying at the Port Orleans Riverside.

The Magical Express (disney shuttle) picked us up at the airport this morning.  Its a service offered to anyone staying on a Disney property.

We arrived and checked in around 9am.

The grounds here are spectular.  Making you feel like you're in New Orleans with the magnolia trees (in among the palm trees of course) all the rooms are located in various mansions spread across this massive resort. 

We are staying in a Royal Room located in Oak Manor.   It's a slight upgrade from the standard room and well worth it.  The decor is all things Princess and the Frog, along with a print of Aladins Magic carpet on the floor.

Very Royal and princessish. Even the taps are shaped like Aladins Magic lamps.  Disney knows how to make those special touches noticeable to the little ones.  Christopher kept saying 'hey, this is from beauty and the beast.  Hey this is from Cinderella' 

The main selling feature for me was how close its located to the lobby. 

After unpacking we headed to the pool Aka old mans island.  A nice sized pool with a waterslide.

The kids really liked this.  

We headed back to our room around noon to get changed and ready for lunch.

Our resort has a water taxi service to Disney Springs.  (This used to be called Downtown Disney) It's about a 20

Minute boat ride.  We opted to take this vs the bus as it's such a beautiful day here today.

The boat comes every 20

Minutes so there isn't really a wait.

Disney springs is basically a huge shopping district with quite a few varieties of restaurants.  There is no admission and free for anyone and everyone. I thought Chris would like the T-Rex restaurant as he loves dinosaurs so much right now. 

The reviews were right.  It's was incredible.  VERY busy which is probably why it took me 6 weeks to get a reservation here.  The kids ate the staple pizza and French fries (we even allowed small sodas today as a treat)

And because we have the Disney Dining  Plan Jason and I opted for the most expensive item on the menu.  Steak.

:)

Oh my goodness, heaven and earth it was amazing.  For desert we combined our desert credits and got this mammoth concoction of 4 giant brownines, ice cream, whipped cream, caramel, fudge sauce and butter finger bits.  I don't need to say anything else. Lol. The 5 of us couldn't finish it.

We finished up and wandered back to the water taxi.  Stopping at the Lego store and various other Disney shops to "window shop". Along the way. Everything is incredibly expensive and overpriced.  We will let them pick out something special later on in the week so for down we just look. 

After we returned to our resort we decided to check out the smaller pool located next to our building. 

Our social 6 year old clAims she met her new BFF at the pool :). 

We Swam until dark.  

After we changed into our PJs we walked back through the winding paths and over the bridge to the main lobby to refil our resort cups with ice water (Jason loves ice water at bedtime) and browse the mini store. (Crazy overpriced)  

On the way back we noticed Alice in Wonderland playing on the outside movie screen.  Cast members (aka resort staff) 

were handing out towels so we sit on the grass and enjoyed the movie as a family. We didn't quite make it through the movie when all three kids started getting dozy.  Off for some rest.  Another fun day planned for tomorrow. 

Disney 2015 - take 2

Here we are again.

In March we took our first WDW vacation.  It was so much much fun we decided to do it all over again, but this time closer to Christmas.

The kids knew a trip was happening but didn't quite know when.   We started our journey by driving to Syracuse Thursday night.  After a quick dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and a breif stop at a very busy Walmart we ended our day at the Marroitt where we all crashed for the night.

I had so many last minute thoughts racing through my head I didn't sleep much.

Re: first flight with kids, excitement of Disney,  did we remember everything?

Friday morning we ate the standard 'free'hotel breakfast then made our way to the airport.   After unloading our gear in the underground parking we decided it was time to tell them.

All along we had told them we were headed to a new Aquariuim. :)

As an emotional me told told them,

All three jumped for joy! 

Christopher "why are you crying, Mommy?"

Security and boarding was super easy at Syracuse airport and we will do it again in a heartbeat.

Sophia and Christoper were seated in front of myself and Charlotte.  Jason was in the row across from us. (Lucky)

Basically it was me  #team3 and trying to keep #team3 from bothering other passengers.

The excitement of taking off into the air quickly passed.  It was not a relaxing flight for me whatsoever.  I already get motion sickness so trying to stay focused, answer questions, keep the iPads connected to the i-fly, manage the never ending flow of drinks and snacks, answer more questions and remind my kids there are other people sitting around us so not to kick the seats. 

Of course smiling and thanking everyone that mentioned Charlotte's hair. :)

Flight decends and we arrive into the sunshine and Palm trees of Florida.

We make our way to this subway like shuttle service to the Main building.  We opted to spend the night in the fancy Hyatt located inside Orlando International airport. 

This hotel is like none we have ever stayed in.  Beautiful, HUGE and probably the best service.  We dropped off our luggage only to notice they had us in a King room.  No extra bed.  

A quick stop at the lobby and they switched us up to a king suite with pull out couch.  (For free) (bonus) When we came back from dinner they had come in and set up a roll out bed.  Immediately causing a fight between the older two of course as to who was sleeping on it. .  Nonetheless it was an amazing gesture and all three kids had a nice generous space to sleep in.

Bedtime was 6:30 pm for all of us.  Tomorrow we jump on the magical express and head to our final destination.

Thanksgiving 2015.

What a great day to celebrate Thanksgiving. The perfect fall weather and dinner with the family. Come home to watch Charlie and the chocolate factory with Sophia and Christopher only to have them fall  sleep shortly after from all the fresh air today. I'm so blessed to have healthy kids and a amazing group of friends and family!

Happy Thanksgiving 2015.

Now that I'm 6.

Ever since Sophia turned 6 she's been totally interested in things that Are age appropriate to her.  Starting each sentence with:  'since I'm 6 can I ...?'

And then letting her siblings know that's she's older because she's 6.

July 4th 2015

Today is July the 4th.

Started out celebrating Kylans 4th birthday at the Frankford splash pad.  Many of Christopher's nursery school friends were there.  What a beautiful

day for it.  

After the party we headed to

Quinte Isle to meet up with the Bouffards and the Cowies. 

Of course we stopped at Shroaders bakery on the way for some fried donuts. 

Had a great visit catching up.  It's so nice to have like minded friends.   Talking about homeschooling and parenting.  We are so lucky to call these families our friends.

First Family Camping Trip

This past weekend we decided to pack up and try camping.

We ended up booking at Wellsley Island State Park for two night.  For about $20.00 a night we thought it was an amazing deal.

Friday we arrived and Chris was in full helper mode.  He's such a good little boy.  We unpacked and unwound by the fire. 

Indulged on copious amounts of marshmallows and chocolate. 

That night it was rough getting the kids to sleep as there was no way to block the sun.  By 10pm they were sound asleep.  

Up at 6am we had coffee and breakfast on the cookstove.  I was able to catch a quick power nap from 8-10 am.  :). Jason  took the kids for wood.

We headed to the marina to rent a boAt for a few hours where we tried fishing and exploring the beautiful thousand islands.   Charlotte smiled the entire time. At first Chris was terrified.  Terrified of sharks and big fish.  With a lot of talk we convinced him he was safe.

We ended our boat ride with a water fight.  It was freeeeeeeezing but the kids loved it.

We headed back to the camp and changed into bathing suits and headed to the man made sandy beach.  The water was brutally cold so we only last about 15 minutes. 

Back to the site where Jason and I quickly showree she changed.  

We decided to take the kids to the local go kart track in Alexandria Bay. It was so much fun. Even Charlotte had the opportunity to go around the track with daddy.  A last-minute decision we ended up heading to Watertown for dinner at the Cracker Barrel. It's my favorite place. After which we headed to target for some shopping and of course alcohol pit stop at Walmart.  We then headed back to the campground.

It was around 9 PM so we started a fire just sat around and chatted before heading to bed around 10 Pm.

It rained pretty hard that night and we all woke up soaked.  We quickly packed up everything and headed back home.

So fun and we can't wait to go

Again.