Orlando: Day Three

It was another conference day for me while Andy and Max spent the day together. After a fun filled day of hanging around at the hotel park and pool yesterday Andy decided he needed new scenery, so they went to Epcot together. 

Max took a little snooze. By the way, this stroller was perfect for WDW! Max loved that he could get in and out himself and that he could easily take a nap. The stroller was also very travel friendly.

After Epcot they went back to the hotel to cool off at the pool and take another snooze. When Max woke up from his nap it was 5pm and my conference was over, so we all headed to Epcot for dinner and fun. We did the Nemo ride and Max LOVED all the fishies. After the ride we explored in the aquarium where we couldn't get Max to leave. He loved the fish, but his favorite was watching the "toord-le," or some might say turtle. 

We passed this big green space and Max decided to get out of the stroller and get crazy. We chased him around the green space as we were all giggling and just having fun being silly.

There were some ducks really close to Max, and let's just say he got really excited.

We headed to a French dinner (also only so-so as far as the food goes) and planned to stick around for the fireworks, but that didn't happen. During dinner a big storm came through and they delayed the fireworks. They kept delaying them, so we just decided to head back to the hotel because everyone was tired.

Orlando: Day Two

Day two was a long day for me since I had my conference all day. It started at 7:30 and ended at 9pm with me bringing home two marketing awards for my firm. Since I was busy all day it was a Max and daddy day...all day long. While I was stuck inside I was getting pictures sent to me of their day and I was completely jealous. 

After breakfast they headed to the hotel playground where Max giggled with laughter as he played on the slides. 

After that, daddy took Max to the pool for lunch and swim. Since Max just started saying "i pooped" when he farts and poops it made for an entertaining day. Andy said they were in the kiddie pool with other little ones and their parents when Max announces "I pooped" so everyone can hear him. Andy checked him to find out it was only a fart, but Andy was already embarrassed. Too funny!

They headed back to the room for a nap and then they went for a walk on the boardwalk to entertain Max. While I was at my gala collecting my marketing awards I was starving because they didn't have much for food, so I met up with Andy and Max for dinner at 9 (that is six AZ time). We kept Max on AZ time because it was just easier, so we ate dinner at nine every night and he went to bed at eleven and got up at 9:30. That worked out great because when we got home there was no adjusting to the three hour time difference. It was as if we never flew to the East. 

Orlando: Day One

The first day in Orlando we experienced extreme humidity and heat. It was around 95 degrees and 90% humidity everyday. My hair was a hot mess and I was constantly sweating. It was absolutely ridiculous. You will see that in all the photos I will be sharing. Besides the weather we did have a great time. I think we have well over 200 photos and I will have to pick and choose which ones to share. 

The first day we spent at Animal Kingdom. We started with the safari adventure where Max enjoyed seeing all the animals. To him it was just a large zoo that you experienced in 30 minutes from a big truck (aka jeep).

Following the safari we FastPassed over to meet Mickey and Minnie. Since Max hated the Easter Bunny we really had no idea how this was going to go. When we turned the corner and Max saw Mickey he "geeked" out. He was so excited he just wanted to go right up to them. This is the point where WDW started to teach my child about patience and waiting your turn. His eyes lit up big and he was antsy for his turn. By antsy I mean screaming and getting mad that he had to wait.

I was so glad the first character meeting went well because we had plenty more lined up. We took the train to the petting zoo, and that was a huge deal to Max. 

When we got there we ran into Chip n Dale. Again, Max thought we could go right up to them, but I had to explain the line and waiting his turn. He wasn't very happy about that. 

We also pet the goats and cow. Max was giggling like crazy over this. It was beyond adorable! I am not just saying that because I am his mom.

We had snacks and Max took a nap while we relaxed in the shade with a drink or two. 

We headed back to the hotel for some quiet time so Max would be all ready to go to character dining. We did this at the Contemporary and Max got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto (aka doooogyyyy). I learned that WDW is not known for their food as I don't think we ate any good food all week. We certainly paid good food prices but it wasn't good, and the Contemporary was no exception. We just reminded ourselves we are there for the experience and not the food especially when we saw Max's face light up like a Christmas tree. 

He kept his eyes on the characters as they made their way around the room. He was so excited that he didn't even eat his dinner. We found this to be a theme of the week. 

Day one was a success and we were all exhausted. It was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep because I had an early morning conference. 

Orlando: Travel Overview

I haven't blogged in a while because we have been gone. My annual accounting marketing conference was in Orlando this year and due to the location Andy and Max joined in on the fun. We flew out last Saturday for a 4.5 hour flight. We were both stressed about this flight ahead of time because that's a long time to entertain an almost two year old in a very small space. Plus, he's teething and has an attitude of getting his way at all times or he will scream his face off. Factor that into a 4.5 hour flight and you would be anxious too. To help with this, we bought him his own seat for more space and a Cars themed backpack that I filled with all new travel toys, ones he has not played with before. These toys entertained him for a good 1.5 hours on the way out and the rest of the time he played on the iPad and watched a movie.

Watching the planes while we wait for our flight.

Eating a snack while watching Cars.

On the way home we had a layover in Charlotte, yes, I know that is going in the wrong direction but it was our best option for the return flight. We flew for a total of six hours on the way home. Max slept for two hours and we had to entertain him the rest of the time. We used the new toys and the iPad for a somewhat peaceful trip back. 

On that flight home Max kept farting for a good three hours just stinking up the plane. At one point he announced "I pooped" (his new favorite phrase), but he confuses that sometimes with farting. He eventually let it all out and I had to take him to the super tiny bathroom to change him. If you know my kid at all, then you know he HATES his diaper changed. Changing his diaper is always an event with him kicking and screaming his face off while I perform crazy moves to change his diaper without getting poop on me. It's like wrestle mania. He's been this way since he was born. Once in the tiny bathroom I put him on the changing table where he started screaming bloody murder and kicking the wall. This was lovely. I could only imagine what the last row flyers were thinking. Once the new diaper was on Max was back to normal like nothing was wrong, like usual. Besides the poopy diaper issue Max was a really good traveler. We were expecting the worse case scenario since he is teething and he has the two year old attitude, but both flights went very well. I couldn't be more proud of my little traveler. 

Graduated to a Shower

How did it happen? How did Max get so big that he graduated to showers from baths? It's so depressing...but fun at the same time. This is just one example of the many that show Max growing into a little boy while I get a little sad over another new development. It's bittersweet I guess because all of the new developments are very fun, exciting and sad at the same time.

A couple weeks ago Max joined daddy in the shower and now he only wants to take showers with daddy. Daddy finds this hard to do because Max dominates the shower and leaves little room for daddy to wash up. Max finds this so much more fun than bath time. I now ask him to take a bath and he tells me "no, shower with daddy." He giggles and laughs the whole time.

Weekend in the Pool

It has finally warmed up enough to enter the pool. Our plan is to work with Max on swim activities to help with his swim lessons, but this weekend was a fail. It was hard to get him to do anything besides playing. We event entered the pool with no toys, but he still found a way to play and not do any instruction. Either way, I still got some cute pictures of him.

By the way, I am already apologizing for the amount of pool pictures I will be posting this summer. This boy loves the pool and it's a great way to entertain him when it's more than 100 degrees outside.