JOY

We had some pictures taken by our favorite photographer Genya. I feel like as long as we live within a few hours of her-we have to take advantage and get her to take our pictures. The pics turned out better than we could have imagined. You know you're in trouble when you "favorite" over 45 images on her website. She is FABuLOUS. I just want to put her in my pocket and take her wherever we go. Here are some of the images...at least the ones that I could upload-some won't fit due to Blogger's size limit. The rest you will have to wait and see on our Christmas card. Speaking of Christmas cards, I vowed to only use ONE picture and keep things simple. Well, impossible. There were just too many pictures to choose from some I made another whopper card. I couldn't help it. Merry Christmas!

She picked the perfect location. Geoff and I vowed to get out to the beaches more and explore while we live so close.

I love how the boys are oblivious of us in this picture! So fun!

Funny. Baby.

The more these guys talk, the funnier they get. They keep us laughing. I was putting them down for their naps the other day...and I lingered and just looked adoringly at W (yes, I do...I can't help it)...and he said very seriously "bye bye mommy." Pause. Then "Close the door." I burst out laughing...then he tried to stay looking serious but burst out laughing too. Then J added (again for emphasis) "bye bye mommy!"
Translation: Get out so we can start playing!

The Animal Kingdom

We really didn't plan on getting to all the theme parks on our first trip to Disney.  But it worked out well since the boys can only do so much at each park.  On our final day we spent the morning at Animal Kingdom and then returned to Magic Kingdom after naps.  Another full day.

Here are J and W both making funny faces.  They just saw porcupines for the first time...maybe that is the reason for "the face?"

OK, so you have probably wondered "Where is Mickey?  Donald Duck?  Minnie?  Goofy?" Well, we never got close to any characters the first couple of days because I didn't think the boys would dig it.  At Animal Kingdom however, we got right next to a chipmunk....kind of by accident. 

Here are the boys upon first seeing the friendly chipmunk greeting and hugging other children:

What the?!?

 

"Watch out!  He is behind us!"

 

"Bail out!  Bail out!"

 

The poor Chipmunk...he must be used to it though because he kept his distance and high-tailed it out of there when he saw J and W get panicky.

On a lighter note, here we are on the Kilamanjaro safari:

And yet another sleeping picture.  I love them and have to get them while I have the chance:

J sleeping in his standard hands-behind-the-head pose on the drive home.  We are now back home and ready for all the Christmas craziness!

Epcot

We went to Epcot on Day 2.  The weather was fantastic...it was great the entire trip actually. The boys stayed in their stroller a little more than they did at Magic Kingdom to our relief. Geoff and I were both really sore from carrying them around a lot the day before.  

Here we are waiting for the bus:

 

On the monorail:

  

A pic at the entrance of Epcot:

 

We started out with the Nemo section of the park...the boys liked watching the real manatees the best.

Here they are watching the sea gulls shout "mine mine!"

Then we did a boat ride and watched a Lion King-hosted movie.  It was still loud but the boys managed to make it through the entire movie.  Then we walked around the World Showcase. The boys caught their second wind when they saw the big train in the America section.  

And again in the Germany section.  We probably stayed there about an hour.   OK by me...I couldn't resist a german pretzel while we were there.

In fact, W was so eager to watch the trains that when we needed to change his diaper he immediately laid right down on the pavement to get changed....so fast that a lady almost tripped over him!  

 

Finally we broke the boys away from the German trains to go bang some drums on our way back to the hotel.

 

 

 

J loving pushing the stroller around Italy:

 

W woke up after about an hour of his nap shouting "Train!  Ride the train!"  Then J jumped up with him saying the same thing.  I guess they were dreaming about trains.  Geoff had to bring W to bed with him and bust out the lotion bc he started itching really bad...it wakes him up a lot. That is why they are sleeping next to an open container of lotion...we go through LOTS of Cetaphil cream and Cerave lotion.

   

 

After naps we rode the bus to Disney studios and saw the million lights display-with music and fake snow-impressive!- and had some dinner.  Here are the boys being silly at dinner:

 

Laughing with daddy...on the way to catch the bus...it was COLD!

Back to the hotel.  I took J with me to the hotel store and he picked out two matchbox cars for him and two for W.  He was so excited to give them to W.  He insisted on carrying them the whole way to the room...and was very happy about it!

The Magic Kingdom

We are back home from three fun days at the wonderful world of Disney World!  We decided to take advantage of the low gas prices, in-state Disney park prices, the great weather, and the "free before three" policy for the boys.   We went to the Magic Kingdom on the first day and the boys probably would have been fine with just the transportation segments.  They were speechless when we rode the bus and the monorail train for the first time.  J instantly wanted back on the train.  We learned quickly that the main rides for them are "It's A Small World" kind-of-pace rides.  
On It's A Small World....

 

We attempted a 3D movie and we literally sat down...watched about 20 seconds...and then headed out the door.  It was a Mickey Mouse musical-type movie but it was really loud and W wanted out as soon as the second musical instrument came flying at him in 3D.

So we rode the train and the Magic Carpet ride and a few more things before heading back to the room for naps. 

 

And did the boys N.A.P.  We woke them up 3 1/2 hours later. 

Still sleeping.......

 

I didn't feel like we even did that much that first morning but obviously it was enough.  The hour time difference helped tremendously.  We were able to get back out and see the nightime parade and the fireworks above the castle that evening.  

I came out of a shop and saw the boys doing this.  They really might be mirror image twins.  Always doing the same thing...but opposite:

Here are the boys starting to get goofy on the way back to the monorail train.  J and W get really silly when they get tired...better than the alternative!  They don't  hit the grumpy stage until after about 3-4 days of being overtired.

W with the straw:

J with the straw: