When in doubt, smile.

Since we had to drop Liz’s friend Jessica off at the airport at 7am this morning, my mom suggested that we find someplace around Disney to have breakfast (we also had to upgrade our tickets). We took a chance and called Disney to see if they had any openings for a character breakfast. We totally lucked out and ended up with reservations at the Crystal Palace, for a breakfast with the Pooh characters! So this morning we were out the door by 5:45 am, and made it to the Magic Kingdom just before 8am. Ella was so excited. I took her over to get a birthday button while Liz and mom rented a stroller for the morning. Ella wore her button the entire time we were at the park, and everybody kept wishing her a happy birthday .. she loved it.

The Pooh breakfast was magical. We were part of the very first seating, and it was pretty empty when Pooh came out. Ella, Liz and I were picking out food from the buffet when we heard my mom whistling. When I turned around, Pooh was sitting at our table waiting for Ella to come back! Liz and Ella ran over and hung out with Pooh, while I snapped some pictures

Then came Eeyore

And Piglet

Then there was a parade, and Piglet came right over to Ella, who helped lead the parade.

Then there was Tigger

They even brought Ella a cupcake and a card signed by all the characters!

After breakfast, we went over to Adventureland. Ella saw the magic carpet ride and got all excited, “I want to ride that!” .. so Liz, Ella and Grandma rode on the carpet, she had a blast. 

Then we rode Pirates, Liz hasn’t been on it since they added Jack. Ella just put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes when she didn’t like what was going on. But she know’s the yo ho yo ho song, so she perked up a bit when the singing started. Then we took the train to Mickey’s Toontown. Mickey and Minnie greeted a special guest, and escorted them to their house, and we followed right behind. When it was Ella’s turn to see Mickey and Minnie, they noticed her birthday button and started to conduct the happy birthday song, I started to sing along and everybody else in line sang too! It was awesome, and Liz has that on video!

Then we made a stop to see Donald, Pluto and Goofy before heading over to the Pooh ride. She seemed to like it, again covering her ears and closing her eyes when she was scared, but she had a big smile on by the end of the ride. Our last stop of the day was the big carousel.

She wasn’t too sure about it at first, but when it was over she started crying because she didn’t want to get off. The attendant let her ride a 2nd time because it was her birthday. This time she started pouting before it ended because she knew it was almost over. But we made it out of the park without any goodbye tears

This is going to be a very tough birthday to beat! [See all the pictures here!]

Also - now I’m a proud owner of a Disney seasonal pass, I’m excited we’ll be going back more often. 

Liz actually beat me to uploading the 2nd half of our Disney pics You can head over our Kodak Gallery to see them all, but here are a few of my favorites.

Here we are on our way to meet Nemo

Ella watching a sea turtle 

Dory, Marlin & Nemo!!

And this is where Ella turned 5 years old right infront of our eyes 

 
This morning Big Pup didn’t eat his breakfast .. so we went to the vet this afternoon where they discovered a ‘bug’ in his stool. They gave him some fluids under his skin (so he looked like a camel for a bit) and some meds to help with the stomach problems. Daisy also got some of the same medications, just in case. Hopefully all will be back to normal tomorrow

As for the fires, that update I got were that the fires were 40% contained. That surprises me because I cant see any plumes out there, although the horizon is all together very gray.

We’re spending a lovely Mother’s day with Mickey Mouse This morning we headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to check out the Playhouse Disney show & jump on a couple rides. 

We’re taking it easy as its 90 + degrees here. Luckily there’s a strong wind that kept us cool this morning. We came back to the hotel to cool off and take afternoon naps. Later on this afternoon we’ll be heading back to Epcot for dinner and hopefully the Nemo ride at the old living seas. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day, whether you’re a mother or not
 

Yes the afternoon boost came through, or I just got really bored of being in bed, either way I got up, took a shower, started another load of laundry (one day I’ll be finished right?), cleaned the kitchen and now I’m cooking dinner. I’m feeling pretty good, if I have just the slightest bit more energy tomorrow I’m going to ask for steroids rather then antibiotics for all my future sinus infections. Seriously, my congestion cleared up yesterday, I had a few headaches through this afternoon, but that’s nothing compared to 5 or more days of terrible congestion and sinus headaches while waiting for antibiotics to help. I wonder which is worse for my heath in the future.

Anyways .. to keep busy today I surfed .. I might have surfed alot. But pretty early on I met this blog - iambossy.com. She’s on a 3 week road trip, shacking up with other bloggers who have invited her to spend a night, and I’m sooo totally jealous. I would love a road trip right now. Its a strange craving, but ever since Sean and I went across country 2.5 years ago (geeze has it been that long) I’ve always wanted to go see stuff that I missed. So I’m going to try to list some places I’d like to road trip to someday (in no particular order):

New Orleans, Sedona, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Lake Tahoe, Devils Tower (close encounters anyone?), anywhere in montana, I’d love to drive through the north east, even going to Canada, visit more of PA and upstate NY, and NYC, of course I would have to go through MA. I’d love to go back to DC and see all the Smithsonians .. but especially the cherry blossoms. Man I know there are a ton of other places, I have a few road trip books, but I’d like to get one of those weird usa books or a book full of roadside attractions if I ever get to drive across the states again.

In the more immediate possibilities for a road trip, I’d love to find a field of wildflowers in florida .. I’ve googled for one and haven’t been able to find anything. So if you know of one, let me know!

Okay now that I got your mind spinning on where you’d like to visit .. share it!! (You should be able to drive to all destinations )

I held off on this post so that I had some pictures to share with it This weekend was AWESOME. We all had a great time, especially Ella. I was amazed to see her play maracas with bongo players, hug and give high 5s to Disney characters, kiss sheep, shake hands with giant dinosaurs and dance for crowds. Even when Ella went back to the hotel for a nap .. mom, my Aunt Linda and Uncle Terry and I continued the fun with rides on Everest and Soarin’ .. unfortunately the day was just too short to do everything. Dad, Liz and Ella met back up with us for dinner in the UK, champagne and dessert in Paris, funnel cakes from the US and fireworks in front of Japan. It was a magical day, and one I hope to never forget.

Some of the highlights for me were moments that only Ella and I shared, as she was a little restless during dinner. She and I hung out and watched a Beatles cover band, went to visit Pooh and Eeyore for her 2nd time that day, and then watched the band again, this time she performed her dances in front of a little crowd, with many of them dancing along with her. She also clapped and yelled so enthusiastically every time a song ended. The best part was when she saw her Puppah and started to dance like crazy! She dances with him nightly, so she was so happy to see him while the band was playing. Because we kinda left the restaurant quickly, I didnt grab a camera, so I have to remember those moments in my mind (or here).

On our way back to the car after the fireworks, Ella asked me to carry her rather then ride in the stroller. I asked her if she had a good time that night, and she said yes (of course) but then said “Erica I’m happy” .. later on she said that her baby was happy, and mom even witnessed that, so I think she really did say it Seems like a pretty big concept for a 20 month old to grasp though.

Sunday I was amazingly sore .. I did more walking, lifting, carrying, and pushing then I’ve done in MONTHS. When I got home to Sean and the dogs, they were all super happy to see me, as I was to see them. Eventually the dogs pinned me down on to the couch and fell asleep on me within 20 min of me walking in the door, so I took a good nap with them. Perfect way to end a great weekend.

[Disney Weekend Pictures Here] [Safari Pictures Here]

But as of this moment .. there are no sub positions available in the system for me .. boo!

ps. Liz has caught a cold from Ella .. had a fever last night .. so she hasn’t been able to post pictures or video yet. But I uploaded some pictures from our ride on the Animal Kingdom Safari to tide you over. Enjoy!

… from Mt. Dora this weekend [see all here]

Looks like I’m heading up to Savannah, GA this weekend to help Arielle photograph a wedding this weekend Pretty spur of the moment, but I’m glad I had a free weekend. So Friday I’ll be driving to Hilton Head, SC (the only place I could find a decent hotel this weekend), checking that island out Friday and Saturday I’ll meet up with Arielle and see some Savannah sights with her Wedding is on Sunday, and depending on when every thing happens, I’ll probably drive home monday. I’m really looking forward to getting away this weekend and getting some good photo experience Plus if the weather looks nice, I plan on taking the convertible!

I am a true procrastinator.. This week Sean and I somehow managed to finally buy a new vacuum (a dyson!), hang the blinds in our bedroom that I bought 2 months ago and have been sitting under the window the entire time, and hang curtains in our living room to replace the wood sliding panels liz had that kept getting stuck on the carpet. On top of that I did some laundry, cleaned out my closet and Sean made a trip to good will with stuff that’s been waiting to go since we moved back to FL last year. I really felt like I didn’t do much this weekend, but reading that list, I think we got alot done.

We also had a mini vacation at The Atlantic hotel down on Ft. Lauderdale beach. The hotel is amazing, if you’re ever looking for a place to splurge. We helped ourselves to the mini bar & room service, I enjoyed an awesome bubble bath, and we were both up to watch the sunrise over the ocean (stupid red bull & vodka kept me up all night, and I really only had 1 & a half weak glasses). Unfortunately because it was so spur of the moment I didn’t bring a camera, I wont make that mistake again We checked out early, there’s nothing like napping a whole Saturday away in your own bed.

Sean surprised me with a quick get away to St. Thomas! Wednesday night he booked a flight that left at 7am then next morning .. I packed the bare essentials (swimsuit, sunscreen, camera, laptop & clothes for the trip home) and we headed to St. Thomas for a day in the sun. We made it to St. Thomas around 11am, rented a Jeep .. and drove down the coast to find a place to stay. The tricky thing about driving in St. Thomas .. is that they DRIVE ON THE LEFT!!! The really weird thing about driving there .. is that their drivers are on the left .. and they drive on the left .. so like your passenger side is up against (or more often, crossing over) the double yellow line .. in Europe drivers sit on the opposite side, just like in the US .. but St. Thomas had to go make things difficult and use US cars! Anyways .. driving through curvy steep hills .. with natives going 50 mph, when I`m barely comfortable going over 20 .. was such a crazy experience. We drove off down the coast looking for a place to stay, finally finding Bluebeard`s Beach Club. We booked a room, threw on our bathing suits and headed out into the ocean. After a quick splash, we headed into the pool and swam up to the pool bar. Around the pool giant iguanas were hanging out .. warming up .. and hoping somebody would drop a yummy piece of lettuce for them. They were soo neat! Not afraid of humans at all. Sean even fed one a french fry! I had the best chicken philly there. After a few hours in the sun and water .. we were both ready for a nap. I ended up waking up around 7ish and managed to snap some pictures .. but by then all of the iguanas had gone to bed. The next morning we were up early .. caught our flight (after a short delay at the customs counter .. who knew that you can get into St. Thomas without a passport .. but you need one to leave .. heh), and headed home.

Such a short trip, just to get a taste of St. Thomas .. I`m sure we`ll be back for more one day