Turning 30...What to Do? Go to Disney, Of Course!

Disney~Part 1
This month, I had the distinct pleasure of turning 30. It was something I dreaded for a whole year, but once it got here, it was ok...not nearly as bad as I thought. Of course, I may just still be in denial, who knows? For my monumental birthday, I was given a fabulous weekend trip to Disney to spend with two of my favorite boys, Channing and Tristan. We went last year (and the year before) but last year when we went, Tristan got sick and missed a couple of days of fun. It was so sad, so we really wanted to try to get him back there this year.
Here we are the morning we left. This picture was taken before 5:00 in the morning. Yeah...really early! Despite the early morning, Tristan was really excited!
Here is Tristan on the plane. He was enjoying his newest gadget, the Fisher Price kids' DVD player. This thing is the greatest! It was such a hit in our household, both boy had to have their own. Oh yeah. It's that great.
This trip, we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in a villa. The hotel was amazing! Here is a shot from inside the lobby:And Tristan's favorite spot...the lobby t.v. The child loves a cartoon. Every time we went down to the lobby, he had to stop, sit, and watch a quick segment of whatever Disney cartoon was on. Seriously, we were at Disney, and our son wanted to watch t.v.This is a shot of the view from our balcony. The pool was made to look like a lake. Behind the pool was a fence, and behind the fence were flamingos and other beautiful birds.A different angle from our balcony. Over our shoulders, was an area with all kinds of animals: giraffes, kudu, wildabeast, zebras...I forget what else, but it was so cool!Our first day there, we spent our time at Animal Kingdom. I didn't take a lot of pictures the first day because this was one of many visits we've made to Animal Kingdom, and I just didn't feel like having tons of repeats. I probably should have taken more, though. I made up for it the next day. I did, however, have to take pictures of what our son enjoyed most while there his first day. Was it the safari ride? No. Was it seeing the hippo swim right in front of us? Nope. The tigers??? Guess again. It was Dino Land...where we have to pay for him to play carnival games. GREAT! That's my boy!Our first night there, Channing and I planned a big surprise dinner for Tristan. He loves dinosaurs and has for the past couple of years, and prior to heading to Orlando, we found out about a new restaurant in Downtown Disney. It's called T-Rex, and it's owned by the same people who own The Rainforest Cafe. Instead of rainforest animals, this restaurant is all about dinosaurs. We knew it would be cool and that Tristan would be excited, but we didn't realize how cool it would be and just how much Tristan would enjoy it. It was FABULOUS! If you have kids who are into dinosaurs, and you are heading to Disney, you have got to make a point of going to this restaurant. Oh, and on a side note, I had the lasagna, and it was AWESOME!This dinosaur was HUGE and was right at the front of restaurant. It was a t-rex that moved and roared. VERY cool to a four, almost five, year old.This little dinosaur was at the foot of the giant t-rex. Tristan spent some time roaring back at it after it would roar at him. Good times. I'm pretty sure he freaked out a woman nearby with a baby. I think she thought my son was a total weirdo, but little does she know. One day her baby boy will be roaring too!Here is Tristan showing off his dino chicken nuggets. We were in the ice age room, or at least, I think that's what it was called. It was cool because the room looked like ice and would change colors every five minutes or so.Another shot at our table. Behind the boys was a big skeleton of a t-rex.The t-rex:Tristan watching more dinosaurs:The baby wooly mammoth:The next morning, we had a character breakfast at O'Hana. We dined with Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, and Mickey. The food was SO delicious! We've tried most of the character breakfasts at Disney, but O'Hana, by far, has the tastiest food. My fav breakfast spot!
Here is Tristan with Mickey:Lilo:Tristan thought this was hilarious! Pluto came and sniffed him as soon as he got to our table. He napped on a guy at a table across from us. We love Pluto!A family shot with Pluto:Us with Stitch:My sweet boy with Stitch:A shot, minus the yummy fruit, of some of our breakfast. It was so delish!Tristan serving himself. This restaurant is family style. And that juice is amazing! At O'Hana, they call it Stitch juice because "Stitch makes it every morning". At the Tusker House it's called something else, which has totally escaped me at the moment.All in all, our first day at Animal Kingdom and T-Rex was FANTASTIC! Our Saturday morning breakfast couldn't be beat! Stay tuned for more of our trip from Disney.

I am trying to get back to posting about my family. They were the main reason I started blogging. I blog because I don't scrapbook. This was my way to document their lives, yet I haven't done a very good job of it. This is Tristan's third trip to Disney, yet this is only the first time I've posted about it. My poor kids! I've got to get better at scrapbooking or something.

FLASHBACK:
Here is a shot from Tristan's very first visit to Disney World. It was the New Year's before he turned three...two years ago. I was preggers with Asher. Channing and I realized on this year's trip that now all three of our kids have been to Disney at least once. Tristan's first visit was at age two, Asher in utero (and then again last year), and Rhiannon in the womb. Very cool! If Rhiannon never gets to go again, I can always tell her she's been once. ;)