Days 6-9 -More Gymnastics, Hanging out at Grandma's, Travel and Snow

Day 6:  We had another fun day at my moms work. Tavish is showing off his new skills he learned while going to gym with my mom.

Callen was not too sure about the pit at first but after he saw how much fun we all were having he started to climb in himself.

Day 7: As you can see Hockey has really had an impact on Tavish.  I think I might have a future hockey player on my hands.  I hopes ride with Callen to LOVE soccer, then again Tavish is only 3.75.  I'm sure all I need to do is take him to a soccer game and I'll win him over.

Here is just a cute picture of Callen, all he did today was run around my parents house causing destruction but how can you get mad at this face.

Day 8 - Travel day

One thing that makes traveling with kids easy is child friendly airports.  While the Grande Prairie airport is really small they did think about kids and have a few small play centers set up.  Small centers like these make parents lives so much easier (come on Toronto even Grande Prairie is doing a better job than you).

 The Edmonton Airport is by far the most child friendly airport that I have been too.  Even the US customs side had an area for kids.  If you are flying local through Edmonton and you have time you should take your kids to the playground, it really helps kid blow off some energy.

 I can't really say much about how child friendly the Chicago airport is (I know 3 planes in one day is so much fun), as we only had 50 minutes and had to change terminals.  It was a long travel day but having Callen in his own seat though really made my life much easier.

Day 9 - Finally at Home

Not much snow in Alberta but it was snowing here.  Let the panic begin.

Angry Birds - Tavish's new favorite game but not on the iPad but with blocks and stuffed birds and pigs.  It only works though if we can build the blocks faster than Callen can knock them down.

A New Year and Day 1 Photos - On The Road

I had hoped to start off the new year with a few photos as I plan on doing 366 days of photos but I have some how misplaced my camera so until I find it there will be no photos.  I really should make a resolution to be more organized. 
While 2011 was a busy travel year for my family (most of which I never got around to blogging about - sewing diapers took up too much of my time), 2012 looks like it will be almost as busy.  Especially with my husbands work travel being much more significant too.

We started 2012 off with a small road trip from Edmonton (where we were watching the World Jr Hockey tournament) to GP.  I will be spending the next week here and praying it won't be too cold before I take the boys back to Virginia.

I'll add photos of the boys from our road trip when I find my camera but despite a packed car (two kids, my parents, brother, and myself all in the truck) it was an uneventful 4 and a half hour drive.  I am so thankful that my boys travel well.

I really hope to keep working on this blog and not let it slide as I usually do but I have just started my own Diaper Shop so we'll see if I can handle both as well as being a stay at home mom.  Wish me luck and I hope you all have a wonderful new year.

Edit:
Found my Camera
Day 1 Photos: On the Road

 Tavish kept entertained by playing games on the iPad.  While I'd never buy one for him, having an iPad loaded with kids game will keep most kids entertained on long road trips.

Keeping a 1 year old entertained is a bit more challenging (I really don't want him playing with an iPad yet and I don't trust him with it anyway) but he did find Tavish's headphones amusing for a bit even though they weren't connected to anything.

Prince William Forest Park Camping

Our first camping trip of the season was over Easter weekend (yes I am terribly behind in my blogging) and we headed to Prince William Forest Park.  We had a bit of an adventure getting there as traffic was terrible and the clouds were getting pretty dark.  We did have a bit of rain and had our first meal in our tent trailer but the rest of the weekend was quite nice despite a wet forecast.

This was our first camping trip of the season and our first camping trip as a family of four and what amazes me most is how well of a packing job we did (considering how disorganized I've been).  We only missed a few things (one being chocolate for smores but I'll get into that in another post).

Callen's first camping trip was super smooth with no major sleeping issues.  He did get up a few time in the middle of the night but he was in our bed so it was easy to calm him back down or feed him if needed.  Camping with a baby in a camper is really easy.  Hopefully we'll have lots of trips this summer.

 Supper Inside

 Yum (Callen's 3rd day of solid food)

 Chilling outside

 Best Camping Chair Ever (KirstiG)

Pepper anyone?

First Flight

On our way home from DisneyWorld my husband drove our car back and I flew with the boys.  This Callen's first flight and my first time flying with both boys.  I think we did really well.  I was not too stressed even though I had very little time to buy snacks (I did manage to get some, so crisis averted).  I choose to bring both a stroller and a wrap which worked out great and next time I fly in July I'll do the same.  Using both the stroller and wrap gave me lots of options of holding stuff, boys or both.  When people ask me when flying with kids should they bring a stroller or carrier I always say both.  When you are in an airport with lots of stuff it's nice to have a place to hold your stuff or your kids.  The carrier is great for when the stroller needs to be folded (security or pre-boarding), or when the older child decided they want to ride in the stroller.  I found it easier to have Tavish in the stroller while in the long security line as he can play with a book or game while we wait and this way he's not trying to run around or pull on the ropes in the line (one of his favorite things to do, I don't know how many times he's knocked it down).

All in all we had a great trip with very little issues (aside from bad timing for Callen's digestive movements) but the real test come in July when I fly with them both to Alberta.

 Waiting to get on the plane

Ready for take off

Quick flying tips for flying with kids:

• bring lots of food/snacks - keeps kids occupied and happy (if you can't bring snacks with your make sure that you leave time to buy food while in the airport)
• bring lots of toys and "special" toys or games - we have a Tag which we only use for travel, we also let my older son play with new cars and games on my iPod Touch (while I'd never buy one for my 3 year old, it makes a great toy while traveling and keeps him occupied for long periods of time)
• bring a headset - works great for in flight movies (if there are any) and any loud games (iPod, Tag, DVD player)
• bring new books 
• let kids run around the airport
• bring extra clothes for both you and your little ones (especially if you have a baby prone to blowouts and spit-up
• give yourself lots of time so you can get to your gate, have kids go to the bathroom or changed before your flight and so you won't stress
• bring both a stroller and a carrier so you have lots of options 

Final Day in Orlando

So our final day in Florida was a bright beautiful sunny day and we were heading off to what was suppose to be my highlight: Island of Adventure - HARRY POTTER.  I was SO excited to go here; I love Harry Potter.  So we got up nice and early so we could be at the park at least an hour early.  But things were not to be, I am thinking this trip was cursed.  The line up to get into the park was HUGE.  It turns out that today was the day resort guest get in an hour early (something we try to avoid) and because the weather sucked for most of the week I'm sure every resort guest was in that line.  Harry Potter is a huge draw on the best of days but with the nice weather and early entry today was going to be nuts, not to mention this was during one of spring break.  It was going to be insane.  We always try to avoid the early morning day at Disney and we should have been more organized to avoid it at Universal.  With a very heavy heart we decided to skip Islands of Adventure and head back to Universal Studios instead.  I think this was a good decision as this park was not nearly as busy and we did have a good time.

We rode must of the same rides and then decided to call it an early day.  We went back to our hotel to enjoy the sunny day, the swimming pool and play a round of mini golf.  While it was not my Harry Potter experience but I know I'll go again soon, while Kyle does not want to go back to Disney for a few years maybe I can convince him to do Universal Studios and Sea World instead.

 Up and around we go

 Nana and Papa having fun: they are the first two people in the picture

 Photo's with Donkey

 Tavish sized roller coaster 

 Universal Photo with random girls in it

 Fun in the pool

 Callen doing a back float

 First time under water

 Not too sure

 But now he's having fun

Funny photo of Tavish, not sure why his tummy is so distended.

Disney Hollywood Studios AKA Our Hotel Room

So as many of you have read previously this was not the wonderful trip to Disney that I was expecting, there were some high points but this day was by far the worst at least at the beginning.  The two days before had been really good.  I think this day would no have been so bad had we had an accurate weather forecast, initially there were suppose to be thunderstorms in the morning and then clear up in the afternoon.  Nope, we had major thunderstorms all day and the time for the storms to stop kept being pushed back further and further.  Had we know the day was going to be a write-off we would have planned something to do, like go shopping.  Instead we just waited and waited.  Thankfully we had a two bedroom hotel room but still when there are three bored adults (Kyle had work to do) and only one kid who wants to be entertained it makes for some odd moments.  I just hid in one bedroom with Callen most of the day and while I love spending time with Callen this was not really what I had in mind.  Finally in the afternoon once we put the boys down for a much need nap, we send my mother and father-in-law to go shopping (they had an extra day in Florida so they would not be wasting a Disney day).  Around three when the boys got up Kyle and I figured we'd brave the rain and head into DHS anyway.

We really did not do much, we cheated getting a fastpass for the Rock'n'Roller Coaster (I felt a bit bad cheating the system to get the pass but not that bad).  Karma did get me though as I jumped to the single rider line which I thought was faster but was not and then the ride broke so I went back in the rain to find my boys.  We finally found that the Prince Caspian attraction and it did not have a long line.  We'd never seen it so joined the cue.  This was the biggest waste of time ever, starting with the Cast Member who tried to get us to stand in a waterfall of rain while waiting in line (yum no I won't stand there moron) and then the attraction is just a 15 minute re-cap of the movie.  If I wanted to see the movie I would have gone to a theater to watch it.  So if you find yourself in DHS and you see Prince Caspian DON'T do it, biggest Disney Disaster ever, don't waste your time.  After Prince Caspian is was time for dinner, we had reservations at Mama Melrose, dinner was okay the worst of our dinners at the Parks but it was not terrible.  After dinner I finally got to ride the roller coaster before we decided we had enough rain and headed back to our hotel but at least now I was in a better mood.

 Rock'n'Roller Coaster in the Rain

 At least someone was having fun

 Catching rain on your tongue is fun 

 Our map got a little wet

 Want to share some Spaghetti with me?

Best Ice Cream EVER

Epcot - A really magical place

I love Epcot and I'm always surprised when people say they don't like it or that it's not a good place for kids.  Alright I will admit that the World Showcase is not that kid friendly but do a lap ride the Mexico ride and Norway ride and go back to Future World and then hit the innovation buildings they are great for kids (and somewhere where I really need to do more exploring.

We started our morning with a few Character photos at the Photo Spot (near the fountain, go early and there is no line and if you are the first group there you get a photo will all the characters) while Kyle and Papa got some fast passes for Soaring and Test Track (not everyone was rideing and we could use kid swap so we were able to double up on fastpasses).  After the photos we rode Nemo a few time (a favorite of Tavish's) before Turtle Talk with Crush (super cute).  The weather was remarkably good and Test Track was open so we decided to ride that (Kyle stayed with the boys while the rest of us rode).  Kyle and the boys hung out in the test track building while the rest of us went for a second ride (Kid swap rules, always use it even if someone in your group is not planning on going on the ride).  Inside the building there are lots of interesting concept cars that can keep young kids happy while the older people ride.  Test track is one of my favorite rides but it can be really unreliable so get a fastpass for it early and make sure you ride it early (after it shuts down even the fastpass line can be long. Another tip for this ride is when things are running smoothly this is a good ride to go into the singles line as the ride sits 3 across which lends itself well to single riders).

We moved from test track to Mission Space while Kyle took the boys back to Nemo.  I don't know why but I suck at mission space I alway fail to press my button at the right time, I guess that is why I'm not an astronaut.  Kyle also had quite the adventure with the boys as Callen was having digestive issues and Kyle learned the hard way why it's important to always bring a spare shirt for the adults.  Good thing that Disney has lots of gift shops as we were able to find him a new shirt.

Next we decided that it would be a good time to ride Spaceship Earth but the line was really really long.  I remember from last year that this ride gets really busy in the morning because it's the first ride people see when entering the park so they want to ride it first. But later in the afternoon the line is almost empty because people have either already rode it or forgot about it.  So we decided to try again later.  Our fast pass for Soaring was coming up so we headed to the land and rode Living with the Land boat ride (quite interesting really) before heading to Soaring.  This was my first time on the top level of Soaring and it really does make a difference not have someone feet dangling above you.

It was getting near lunch time so we decided to find some food.  Tavish loves sushi so we headed into Japan for some. Tavish loved the sushi but I had the Udon noodles which were not very good (I had a sausage from Germany instead).  At this point we decided to split up from Nana and Papa and spend some alone time with the boys.  We headed towards Norway so we could ride the Maelstrom but the line was really long we we picked up a fastpass and headed into Mexico.  The Mexico ride was quite short and I must say that it was nice to just be inside away from the humidity for a bit.  We ran into Nana and Papa while we were there so Tavish rode the Mexico ride again with them while Kyle and I took a break.  After Mexico we headed back to Norway, Maelstrom is a great ride and it was too bad that the line was so long or we would have rode it again.

Tavish's highlight of the Day was Ellen's Energy Adventure this is a long ride (45 minutes) but if you have kids that like Dinosaurs than this is a great ride.  While I don't think he got much of the energy talk he sure loved the Dinosaurs.  Next, we figured that it would be a good time to check out Spaceship Earth and see if the line and had died down and we were right there was pretty much no line at all.  This is another interesting ride and Tavish did much better than the last time we had gone when he cried the whole time (not for kids who don't like the dark).  Our final ride before heading to dinner was Figment in ImageWorks.  While the ride is a bit hokey the activities they have after are really quite interesting, as long as there are not lots of people (hit either early in the morning or late in the afternoon).  But we sure did have bad timing with the weather as a huge thunderstorm soaked our stroller (even though it was covered - DisneyWorld could do with some more covered stroller parking).  We all got a little wet on our way to dinner.

Dinner was at the Coral Reef Restaurant.  I must say that I was quite annoyed that we had to wait more than 30 after our reservation time to eat but we did have a good dinner (not the best in Disney but okay).  Tavish really enjoyed watching the fish and we even got to see some scuba divers.

I love Epcot, and while writing this I realized how much of it we missed.  I am really looking forward to going back as long as I can convince my husband.

 Callen sure like Mickey and Tavish was so excited he had to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming

 Giving Pluto some love

 But Minnie is his favorite 

 Group shot with Donald

More hugs for Goofy

 I don't like this car

Tavish did NOT want this hat - he loves Cars and we would have bought it for him but he hated it so we saved ourselves $20 

 This is where they grew Cinderella's pumpkin

 We just love Nemo

Animal Kingdom

I love Animal Kingdom, I must say of the four DisneyWorld Parks it is one of my favorites.  I know lots of people who hate this park (I think it's because they assume that it is like Magic Kingdom, which it's not).  Animal Kingdom is much more relaxing and calm than Magic Kingdom and while many tour books say you can do it in a day, I disagree.  We only had one day here and we missed so much, we did get the highlights but we could have easily spent another day wondering around.  I'm sure you could see and do everything if you rushed about but then you would miss out on all the wonderful things this park has to offer.

We started the day a bit late as we did not finish our breakfast until 9:30, which worked well as it was when our fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari were ready to use (park tip: if you are at the park of opening, I highly suggest getting a fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safari and then ride Kilimanjaro this way you can go on the safari twice and by the time your done you'll only have a few minutes to kill until you can use another fastpass).  Riding Kilimanjaro in the morning is ideal as the weather is usually a bit cooler and the animals are more active, it's fun to ride both in the morning and afternoon to see the difference in animal behaviors (this could just fascinate me as I was a biologist and I'm interested in these things).

We were not using the Unofficial Guide book today but rather just doing the things that interested us but I highly suggest this book to those who want to make the most of their day.   As we had been to Disney World a few years ago I really wanted to see the shows that we had missed. Our first trip we were more into the rides and this time we were more into the shows and in my opinion the shows are better than the rides.  We did pick up a few fastpasses while we waited for the shows.  The first show we saw was the Lion King which was great.  Tavish loved the gymnast monkeys and still talks about the man playing with fire.  The next show of the day was the Nemo Musical but we had time to ride Dinosaur before (this ride people either love or hate and I quite enjoy it but it's bumpy).  The Nemo Musical was amazing and I suggest going early to get a good seat, the theater is huge but some seats are better than others.  Nemo was not a simple musical by any means, it goes above and beyond most of the other Disney shows that I have seen (there are still a few of the major ones that I have yet to see so I can't say it's the best Disney show).

After Nemo we had some lunch in Dino Land USA and then we had time to go to It's Tough to be a Bug before staking out our spots for the parade.  A Bugs Life is NOT suitable for young kids, and I should have known this as we saw it a few years ago (I think Tavish slept though it) but now that he's three he understood more of what they were saying and the extra effects really scared him.  Callen also hated the spraying of water, so at one point we had two screaming boys.  As an adult I quite enjoyed this 3D movie but I won't be taking my preschooler to see it next time.

It was getting time to stake out our parade spots (I really wanted to see a parade as we were rained out of the Magic Kingdom one), once we found our spots I held down the fort while my in-laws took Tavish to play with some of the hands on activities that Animal Kingdom has all over the park (you don't notice these if you are rushing from ride to ride).  We found a great spot at the beginning of the parade route so when the parade was done we could ride Kilimanjaro Safari again.  The parade was great and so was the safari (not many people in line as most were watching the parade).  

The last thing we did that day was ride Everest which is the third best roller coaster in DisneyWorld in my opinion (Rock'n'Roller Coaster and Space Mountain are better).  We finished the day with dinner at the Yak and Yeti, which was really good.   

This was my favorite day at Disney, we figured out what went wrong at Magic Kingdom and the weather did not suck (always a bonus).  I can't wait to go back as we missed all the jungle treks and we never went on the river rapids.  This is a great park especially when you take the time to enjoy it.

 Black Rhino

 Elephant

 White Rhino

 No Butts about it the safari is fun

 "Mom make the Rhino say roar"

 Tavish with some Character (don't know who this is)

 The monkey's from the Lion King

 Chip or Dale at the parade

 "Mom it's Minnie, it's Minnie"

What at me?