Day 3-4 at Disney

Day 3: Thursday morning in Disney brought a huge surprise - Emily's third tooth broke through. You would think it would be one of her top two front teeth but nope it was her upper right tooth to the side. Emily kind of looks like Thumper with the rogue tooth off to the right. I now call it her Disney Tooth.

Thursday, we decided to head to Animal Kingdom. Our first stop was the safari ride. Jenn managed to obtain Fast Passes in advance so we basically cut the line and was on the ride in no time. We saw every animal there was to see - hippos, rhinos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, tiger, bongos and so much more.
I love this picture. As the elephants were walking along, I caught a glimpse of the baby walking so close to the mommy - it reminded me of Emily and I all trip since I had been carrying her in the sling.
This is a white rhino which was only a couple feet from our truck. Per the safari guide, white rhinos weigh more than 3,000 pounds so basically, we could have been dead meat.

We then headed over to the Lion King show, since we were on the late side we had to stand at the top of the arena which was not air conditioned. All the parents had to hold up the kids so that they could see the show and boy, did we sweat it out. Gold stars to the parents. Connor and Garrett didn't stop talking about the show, the music and the acrobatics performed by the actors who played the monkeys.

There was a small section of the park which was set up with carnival games. My boys love these types of games and we found a particular game which I now refer to as Connor's game. There is a game where you throw a wiffle ball into a board of cups and if your ball lands in a colored cup you win. Simple enough. However, we watched as parent after parent forked over money and their kids just didn't win. Every time Connor stepped up to play - he won. At one point, there was a little girl crying because she just couldn't win and Connor walked over and gave her a stuffed animal. Garrett liked this idea and he did the same for another little girl. Our boys still walked away with 3 or 4 stuffed animals each.

As we walked past the roller coaster Mt Everest, the line was extremely short so Andro and I ran onto the ride. While we were on the roller coaster, the kids walked over to see the rapids ride which they thought looked fun. Once Andro and I finished riding the roller coaster (which was great), we met up with everyone. The park was about to close but in a last minute decision Brian and Jen took all the boys on the ride (actually Aidan was a little to short to go and boy was he happy afterwards). I was wondering why they wanted to go on this since they don't like to get wet too often. Well, we finally see them coming off the last rapid and Brian is screaming to me to buy clothes. The only problem is that the whole section of the park we are now in is closed. As they disembark from the ride, here comes all of them soaking wet. Garrett, Connor and Daddy are all upset - Daddy only because he doesn't like to see his boys sad. After a few minutes, we find a store and buy some sweatshirts and new clothes for everyone. At the time, not so funny but looking back on it - it was a very funny moment.

Here is Daddy holding up his soaking wet shorts and he is sporting his new Mickey Mouse pajamas. We learned another valuable lesson that night - it is hard to find a food place open after 8pm. We finally found a place and after a little bit of food the boys fell asleep on the benches as we ate. Except Garrett, who was having a blast in the hallway outside the restaurant. He made friends and managed to learn the whole life story of a couple from Connecticut. He even got the man to play pretend football with him in the hallway. When the rest of the group emerged from the restaurant, he continued to perform his stand up comedy routine and had us laughing the entire way to our room.

Friday, our last day, we headed off to Hollywood Studios to have breakfast with some characters from the Disney channel.

Emily wanted to have a quick bite before we left.

Here are the boys with their autograph books getting Super Agent Oso's signature.

This is June from the Little Einsteins.

Of course, Leo was there too.

Hello Handy Manny!

Here are our boys - the bananas are laser guns in case you didn't know.

Next stop, Radiator Springs to meet with our favorite cars. Unfortunately, the Star Wars attractions were not open but we will get to see them next time.

We went to the Studio Stunt Show which had racing cars, stunts and showed us how movies are made. It was very impressive and kept the boys attention the whole time.

It was another hot day so we thought it would be best to head back to the hotel for some pool time. We still had several fast passes left, so with 30 minutes before Hollywood Studios closing, Andro and I ran back to the park to ride the Aerosmith roller coaster. By the time the kids had ice cream at the pool, we were already back. Definitely worth it.

That night we ate pizza on the porch and said our goodbyes to Jenn, Andro, Luka and Aidan. We had to be up at 4:30am for our 7am flight which was very early. We had such a great trip and our way home was uneventful since we all took a nap.

Shortly after our return (March 28th), Emily started rolling.

Ready or not, here I come.

Tada!!!!

Here is a great picture of the Disney tooth. Emily, you are beautiful!

MIC-KEY M-O-U-S-E!!!!!!

In a spontaneous move by Daddy, he planned a vacation to Disney for the family from March 14 to March 19th. Daddy's primary motivation was to get out of the winter weather. When he told the boys we were heading to Disney, I think their excitement made all his trouble worthwhile. On Monday night (right after work), we headed off to the airport to catch a 7pm flight. The kids were so cute with their backpacks and luggage. We were a family on the move and the plane ride down was completely uneventful. The kids were so well behaved on the airplane - we are very lucky to have three kids that know when they really need to be good. We finally arrived at the hotel around midnight and in the spirit of Disney who hires internationally, the front desk attendant didn't speak English very well. We really had to laugh at how long it took us to check in but by 1am the room was set up and the kids were all set for bed. Thank goodness we all slept in the next morning. Once we did wake up and get organized, it was off to breakfast. This is when we first discovered Emily's love of fruit. While in Disney, she ate part of a banana by herself every morning. Emily just finished breakfast and is in her bath suit and cover up ready for the pool.

As we emerged from breakfast, the boys went crazy because Jenn, Andro, Luka and Aidan had arrived. After a quick minute to change, we were all off to the pool. The boys were so cute together - they play extremely well together and I believe having them there was the best part of the trip for the boys.

First time, Emily is in the pool - guess who loves the water?

The pool was fantastic for the kids. It was only two feet deep and had sand at the bottom like a beach. For the adults, it had food service and a bar - enough said. The perfect place to relax and enjoy the gorgeous weather - a huge change from the 20 degrees back at home.

The boys loved being tossed around the pool.

Connor in the middle of transferring sand from the middle of the pool to the edge of the pool. They were creating a factory.

Emily loving being out of the cold and into the warmth.

Emily sat in the baby pool and splashed around. Everyone was having a great time. We all had so much fun at the pool but decided we had to at least get to one Disney park by the end of the day. We got ourselves cleaned up after a little siesta (nap) and headed off to Magic Kingdom to see if we could find Mickey Mouse.

Disney definitely has transportation figured out - we waited about five minutes when our bus arrived. How cute is my family!

Magic Kingdom - we have arrived!!! (Emily and I loved the sling and we manged to go on every ride and do every experience as a family)

Disney has a light show parade every night and the boys love parades. They managed to wiggle their way to the front row to get the best seats on the parade route. Connor stood with Garrett in front of him and kept his arms around him to protect his little brother. That moment alone made the trip worth while. During the parade, we saw all the Disney characters - the seven dwarfs, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and so much more. The kids were in awe of the whole parade.

So now it is 10:30 pm and we just won't give up. We went to the magic carpet ride which we rode twice and the kids loved getting water spit on them by the camels. As we were on the ride, the fireworks were going off over the castle and we had the perfect view. We then hustled over to the other side of the park and were able to go on two of the best rides of the whole trip. The first was the Laugh Factory based on Monsters Inc. which was actually really, really funny - there are live voice over comedians who pick on the audience. Then, we headed over to the Toy Story ride (Buzz Lightyear to be exact) where you get to shoot the bad guys. A great time.

The boys ended the night in jail - as you can see they are still full of energy and it was past midnight. We finally did head home.

Above is Garrett walking to our hotel room at 1am. He was playing a game on Brian's iPhone and was the furthest thing from tired.

The next morning to our surprise everyone was bright eyed and ready to go.

Look at this cute duo!

Off to Epcot which was a very short walk from the hotel. Look at these flowers and to think Boston was covered with two feet of snow. Ahhhhh! This is more like it.
Emily was loving being able to sit on the grass.
After the Figment ride, the boys loved jumping on the boxes to make the musical instrument sounds.
Lightning McQueen and our photo op.
Back to the pool to cool off before dinner.

The picture says it all.

How do you make four boys very happy while on vacation? Just give them an ice cream cone. Andro and I got some strange looks as we brought all the boys to the ice cream parlor. Everyone was trying to figure out how we had four boys all about the same ages...then they saw them while eating the cones and everyone couldn't help but laugh at the cute messy faces.

Jenn had planned a special dinner for us all at Epcot which included an evening show and then a special pass to view the fireworks.

The kids went up on stage during the show.

Are we not cute or what!

So far, that is only the first two days of Disney. You are correct in thinking that we didn't get much sleep. Two more days to go which will be in the next entry.

Basketball & More

From December to March, our boys played basketball every Saturday morning. They showed commitment and really had fun each game. Although Garrett sometimes had to be coaxed to hit the court - nothing the promise of a few munchkins couldn't handle.

Garrett's team - The Ray Rays (named after the Celtic Ray Allen)

Connor's Team - Shaq Pack (named after Shaquille O'Niel)

Garrett going for his shot.

Mid-season Connor's coach hurt his ACL so Daddy was asked to step in to coach. Daddy did a great job coaching all the boys.

Garrett's favorite part of practice was running suicides on the court (line to line). He could turn up the speed whenever he decided - boy is he fast.

Connor loves basketball and basketball loves Connor. He is a great shooter and even understands defense. Connor's team was so good that they learned how to spread out and really play defense. Connor is such a great listener and can put everything into practice. Great job Connor!

Our last day of basketball, we were lucky enough to have a cheering section. The Bunetas were in town and cheered on the boys.

Garrett received a medal for his excellent play but I think he was more excited for the munchkins.

Daddy had the honor of handing out the medals to Connor's team. They were all so excited.

My basketball stars have every right to be proud - they played hard and had fun. Congrats on another season completed!!!

We had a full house this weekend because all the girls came up to go to a bridal shower. That left 7 children at home with the men and we are happy to report that the house is still standing and we all had fun. The boys loved having Luka and Aidan to play with and especially because we were going to see them in a few short days in......DISNEY!!!!

The Buneta boys were fascinated with Emily - who wouldn't be? Emily is a smiling and laughing baby - no one can resist her charm (she gets that from her mother).

Garrett's Art Work

So on Friday night, Garrett gathers Brian and I together. He tells us to stand next to each other...we actually had to be shoulder to shoulder. He then tells us he has a surprise for us. (At this point, he is making it a huge deal and I have no idea what he is up to.) He then presents the picture below to us. When we asked him, what does your drawing represent he says "It is Mommy and Daddy's big fat faces." Well of course - can you feel the love.