Life Lately

Lately, the boys have been best friends...

It warmed up just enough for us to go to the park...

But we've still spent lots of time indoors hiding from the cold and being bored...

...so we try to stay busy inside with chores and games and being silly...

Charlie started eating solid food. This is what a month's worth of food looks like...

Charlie always wants to try what we're eating... here he is chowing down on a lemon wedge. 

I started home school with Jack

We cleaned our carpets with our new shampooer.

Jack fell out of bed in the middle of the night and bust his lip open...

...and we took more pictures at church again.

We celebrated Valentine's Day late... We went to an Irish restaurant in town. 

Gordy went to Utah to do a recruitment dinner for the law school and got to spend some time with his family.

Charlie likes to sing in sacrament meeting.

The Drive Home

After Disney, we went back to my Nanny's house and stayed the night. In the morning, Nanny took us to see my Grandpa Jack who is in an assisted living facility because he has advanced Alzheimer's.

The last time I saw him, Jack was a baby. I'm glad I got to introduce Charlie to my Grandpa Jack. He didn't say anything, or even lift his head or open his eyes, but he did kiss Charlie on the hand, and when Nanny told him Jenny-pooh was here, he repeated his silly nickname for me. 

Gordy and I went to lunch with Nanny, then we headed back up to Lake Butler. Once we got back, we spent the rest of the day packing all of our stuff up. Then in the morning, we headed out. Driving during the day was so, so much harder on the boys. We persevered through and made it to our favorite pizza place ever, which is in Atlanta. Antico's is seriously the best pizza you will every eat. 

 

Then we went to my cousin Jonathan and Rachel's house and spent the night in their beautiful home with their cute little family. It was so nice of them to host us for the night, because our boys could not take one more second in the car. We were up when it was still dark outside and hopped in the car while the boys were still asleep. We were probably the worst house guests ever because we didn't even say goodbye, we just got in the car in left. We were all terrified that we were going to have another awful day of driving and we needed the boys to sleep through some of the drive.

Thankfully, we were able to drive for almost two hours while they still slept. After that, things got hairy. We were all snippy and grouchy and ready to be home. It was not a pleasant ride...

We had to stop and get out a lot. Like a lot, a lot.

By some miracle, Jack fell asleep for the last hour and a half of the drive. It was seriously a tender mercy because we were all pulling our hair out.

Needless to say, it was oh so wonderful to pull back into our parking spot at home. 

Disney World

The day before we went the most magical place on earth, we drove down to Lakeland to spend some time with my Dad's side of the family. It was so fun to have a big family dinner and to see everyone there. Jack had so much fun playing with the big kids, and he was so wired, that we couldn't get him to sleep until after 11 P.M. That already made me nervous because I knew that we were going to have a long day ahead of us.... I had no idea how long it was going to be, when Jack decided he was ready to go to Disney World at 4 A.M. Aye, aye aye!

We sent him downstairs to hang out with his Gramma and Grandpa at that point. 

The rest of us were up, dressed, and ready to go by 8.  Thank the lucky stars that Gramma was able to woo Jack into falling asleep on the hour long car ride there. We sat in the parking lot for a while so both of the boys could sleep. When they woke up, we were ready to put them in the stroller and book it into Disney World.

Little did we know that you have to completely disassemble your strollers in order to get on the trolly which takes you to the monorail which takes you to the park. Sheesh, that's a lot of setting up, taking down drama. We were all sweating by the time we got to the ticket booth. 

While we were waiting for our tickets, in typical Gordy fashion, he started screaming, "OH MY GOSH! WE'RE FINALLY HERE AT DISNEY WORLD!!!". Everyone standing around us thought that it was hilarious. 

When we got inside the park, we saw the castle and walked straight to the carousel, which Jack rode with Gramma and Grandpa. Meanwhile, we tried to let Charlie pull the sword from the stone. He wasn't quite strong enough...

We were at the right spot at the right time, because the disney cast members came and started doing the skit where they have someone pull the sword from the stone. It was amazing because they ended up calling Gordy up. It really was the highlight of my day. This was probably one of two times I have ever seen Gordy blush. The lady just kept talking about his big muscles. haha. So worth it for me. 

After that, it was time to feed Charlie, so Gordy and I found a spot that wasn't occupied by one of the thousands of people there. Charlie was a champ all day, usually he is very picky and hates my nursing cover, but somehow he knew that he needed to be extra good today. He really was a champ. Meanwhile, Jack got to race cars with Gramma and Grandpa.

After that, we grabbed some fast passes and headed over to the Buzz Lightyear ride. Jack got to meet Buzz, which he was really excited about. He kept saying, "To infinaby and beyond". The Disney photographers were laughing so hard. 

We rode on the people mover and Charlie ate some lunch, then we headed on over to Space Mountain. 

Adam insisted on trying one of those giant turkey legs they sell there. I'm so glad he did, because it was amazing. Disney World really is a magical place, I don't know how they do it, but they somehow make turkey taste like bacon. It was delicious.

We had the best day riding rides and just being together. Gramma and Grandpa took the boys on the Pirates of the Carribean ride. They loved every ride, but somehow that one totally freaked them out. 

Jack refused to take a nap, Charlie napped three times, per usual...

Finally, at dinner time, Jack crashed in the stroller. It was a miracle that he lasted so long on so little sleep... He got a little bit of sun, even though the weather of absolutely perfect. 

When he woke up, Gramma bought him his very own Woody doll. He was thrilled.

Then we took Jack to Rapunzel's tower, then we went on to Dumbo and the Tea Cups.

You can tell in this last picture that Jack is just completely exhausted by this point, but we made our way to main street for the electrical parade. I loved this part of the day. I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was about at this point that Jack started to ask if we could go home... Sweetest little guy. I guess even two year olds know their limits... On the way out, Gramma bought Jack a big balloon that he'd been asking for all day, and we watched the fireworks as we exited the park and got back on the tram.

When we got home the next day, we let Jack's balloon "fly back to Disney World".

It's been weeks and weeks since we went, but Jack still asks about every other day if we can go back. I guess that's the true test of how magical a day was. 

Thanks Gramma and Grandpa for an unforgettable day! It really was so much fun!