We got invited to head over to Saint Arnold Brewery in Houston on Saturday to spend some time hanging out with Ryan's friend Seth and his girlfriend Tanya. They told us it was kid-friendly which we were curious about…but hey why not?? Brittany was going to come too, but Ethan had a cold so they stayed home to rest.
The boys got some "be hoppy" stamps along with the adults
Basically you pay $8 and get a small beer glass and like 3 or 4 beer tokens to cash in at the "bar" to fill your glass. There's unlimited free root beer for kids, which the boys loved!
There were long tables and benches but apparently unless you get there early they get taken over by large groups, so we had been warned to bring some chairs, and we brought the boys stroller so they would have a place to sit too if need be.
You can bring your own snacks and food, and I guess people just hang out.
It was great, we played Cranium, and the boys hung out and colored, ate snacks, and drank TONS of root beer.
The next morning we headed to Animal Kingdom because we had a lunch reservation at Donald's Tusker House at 11:30. Animal Kingdom is my least favorite Disney Park…..don't get me wrong, I don't dislike it, but I find there isn't that much fun stuff to do with small kids.
I would rather go to Magic Kingdom and ride the teacups 1000 times with them :)
I was excited to try out the "Wilderness Explorers" activity for the first time though(It's brand new). If you've seen Up, you'll get it. It's basically the movie's version of Boy Scouts, and now when you go to AK you can become a Wilderness Explorer!
To be "initiated", you have to say the oath and do the hand motion and everything:
"The wilderness must be explored. Caw! Caw! Rooooar!!"
There are stations set up around the park where you go and complete the activity to earn your sticker "badge". Super cute and the boys had tons of fun. We learned about bugs, and music, and other cool stuff.
Here they are, trying to find us a new location to earn a badge.
Please notice the map is upside down, LOL!
Earning their music badge
Before you get seated for your reservation, you get to pose for photos with Donald
Lunch was yummy, and you can read more about it here.
posing in front the the big tree on our way out
I had read about a 5:30 marshmallow roast/campfire at our resort (Saratoga Springs) so we decided to keep it low key that night and "stay in" at the resort.
The boys had an absolute blast and I loved being able to chat with the cast member who was running the activity. She was super nice and told me about the free craft activities at the resort's Community Hall, which was located right where we were, so after roasting a million marshmallows, we headed over there to color.
That "washable" marker took 3 days to come off his face!
While there, we were able to color some coloring pages, magnets, and even made a few keychains!
The next day was our final day of vacation, so we spent the day over at Magic Kingdom so we could ride lots of kid-freiendly stuff.
I also knew I had to get the boys some "Duffy the Disney Bear"s. They had been watching this bedtime Duffy story on the resort's in-house channel each night and both asked for one so I decided I would wait until our last day and get them.
In love with Duffy already
Duffy got to ride on Aidan's shoulders to see better
We took "The Duffies" as I've dubbed them, on every single ride that day!
The boys even requested we go on the "ghost ride" again (aka The Haunted Mansion), which surprised me since it is definitely spooky for their ages. They did fine when we went with Krysta & Daddy, but they were definitely spooked a bit this time around. I did double and triple check with thyme to make sure they really did want to ride it and they said yes though…so…..
I got to try my first ever Dole Whip too, which was absolutely glorious, and worth the long wait in line. I got a pineapple/vanilla twist and Aidan got the orange/vanilla twist. Since it contains milk we went to another stand and got Mason a popsicle, which he was happy with too.
I have been wanting to try one since they brought them back , and never got around to grabbing one this past february. I will never miss another chance again! Soooo good!!!!!
So to sum it up, we rode everything the boys wanted to (including waiting over a damn hour for The Flight of Peter Pan, argh), and left the Park around 615 since it was closing up at 7 for Mickeys Christmas Party anyway.
On the way home the boys fell asleep in the car hugging their Duffy's, so I swung through the drive through to grab some dinner for myself.
The next morning, before Aidan had even opened his eyes he started crying saying he didn't want to go home.
Normally I would agree, but shit kid, we were here for 8 days!! Time to sleep in my own bed!
I'm looking forward to the Disney Princess Half Marathon in 2015, but Ryan and I may just sneak out to Disney next Fall to run a half marathon together before that…we'll see ;)
Monday morning Krysta and I had the chance to go to Animal Kingdom kid-free, thanks to Ryan's generous offer to stay back with them so we could have a girl's morning out.
Krysta had never been to AK (besides running through it during our 5k), so we did the Safari first and totally had to do Expedition Everest, and even It's Tough to be a Bug!
3-d bug glasses! We were honorary bugs!
About to take off on Expedition Everest! Yikes!
]
The view on the way up
We're stopped. And about to go backwards. Double yikes…..
Phew! We survived!
Once our fun was over it was time for Krysta to catch the Magic Express back to the airport. SAD FACE.
We were planning on hitting up the pool when she left and since the pool is right next to the Magic Express pick-up, Krysta joined us poolside for a Farewell Cocktail.
We had a blast and it was sad to see Kre have to go :(
Uh, that's not how it works, Mase
Later that night we had dinner at our favorite restaurant at WDW: in the Canada Pavilion there's a super yummy steak house called Le Cellier. I love getting their Filet Mignon with truffle butter and mushroom risotto.
Mmmmmmmm now I'm drooling and want one again.
Anyway since I knew we would be out as a family and dressed on the nicer side of normal Disney Attire I made sure we got a family photo since the last time we went to le Cellier it had been with only Aidan and we had taken a family photo that night too…...so we needed a new photo with Mason too.
So you know I was prepared. I had my camera and my speedlight and was going to hand it all to the park photog to take the photo for us.
Then I left it in the room.
We were in a frenzy before leaving because we decided to drive and I couldn't find my damn car keys! (they were tucked in the stroller …)
So I paid $15 for a digital download of the PhotoPass one from the park photographer's camera. Ugh stupid me.
(you'll see the photo once I mail out Xmas cards ;) )
The food at Le Cellier is very yummy and the atmosphere is pretty cool. You're supposed to get the feeling you're dining in an old castle wine cellar. ;) Aidan chose to get the kid's menu salmon entree (which he told the waitress was better than Mommy's), and sadly for Mason, they only had grilled chicken on the kids menu…no fried chicken of any variety. We tried to convince him to eat it anyway, but it was a no-go. He did however eat some pretzel rolls so I guess he wasn't starving when we were done ;)
(My favorite roll is the one coated in sunflower seeds, YUM!)
The next morning Ryan had to head out to catch his flight to NY to go on his hunting trip, so while everyone was sleeping I ran off to pick up some breakfast so we could all have breakfast together at the Villa before he left. Pancakes/waffles always taste so much better when they're shaped like Mickey, right?
Once Ryan was gone I decided to drive to the parks instead of taking the buses. I don't know if you've ever tried to fold and carry a double BOB jogging stroller onto a crowded bus by yourself with 2 small children….but it ain't fun.
I managed to pull it off the first day we arrived before Kre & Ry got there but was so not willing to keep doing it after they left. It was so hard to get my arms around to pick it up and once I think I even smacked the driver with it.
Oooops.
So after Ryan left we loaded up the car and drove to Hollywood Studios where we had a blast!
We saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid for the first time, which is a short live action stage show…and the boys loved it. Then we walked out of that literally just in time to walk right in to Disney Junior Live on Stage. Once again, the boys had a blast popping bubbles and catching gold doubloons!
When Krysta and I had gone to HS a few days prior the times guide ( a weekly listing of times/events at each park) stated that Santa Goofy & The Festival of Dancing Lights were on Fri and Sat nights only. We managed to catch the christmas light show because it had been saturday but the line for Santa Goofy was so long I said screw it.
mason trying to catch the fake snow
Now the times guide listed both those events as being nightly! Woo hoo! So we headed home for nap/lunch, I threw some nicer clothes on the boys, and we went back to see Santa Goofy…I mean I just HAD to have a pic for our Christmas card! I had even brought their mickey santa hats.
You didn't think I was going to spoil the surprise and show you that photo did you?
You'll just have to wait until after the christmas cards are mailed to see a sneak peek!
We did get some other cute holiday photos that day though:
there's Minnie again…always at Mason's side
I promise only one more installment of disney fun coming your way…..
