Lincoln's Latest Loves

Something you may not know about Lincoln - he loves to pray. We recently had to institute a rotation with who says family prayers because Lincoln wants to pray EVERY time. While he does have some funny slip-ups at times, (like saying "In the name of Ellie" or "It came to pass" or something similar) he truly says very heartfelt and genuine prayers. He mentions Ellie about 5 times each prayer. He will say what is on his mind and what he is grateful for - which usually includes toys. Tonight's prayer included...

"I am grateful for my tiny jets. I am grateful for my Spitfire and my German"...

Oh, another thing about Lincoln is that he loves WWII aircraft (hmmm, I wonder where he could have picked that up from??). Ryan bought a guide to WWII planes for himself, and yet it resides in Lincoln's room where he can pore over it at night. He knows which of his toy planes are American, English, German, Russian, or Japanese. He knows who is "good" and who is "bad" - at least during WWII, which is a bit problematic. (ie: "Japan is naughty, Mom!" - um, not very timely Linc!) Sadly, I think he could beat me on a WWII history test...well, I guess if he could read the questions.

Disney World, Part III

SUNDAY MARCH 13 - DOWNTOWN DISNEY

We went to Downtown Disney for lunch courtesy of the Disney Dining Plan - quick plug for the Disney Dining Plan: we LOVED it! Soooo much food and it's so nice not to worry about what or where to eat. Just check the list of restaurants for each park/hotel and you're set! Each person gets 2 meals and 2 snacks a day for the flat-rate daily price, plus a refillable mug that alone would cost $14! I thought we would be hungry with only 2 "meals" a day allotted to us, but we ended up with so much food that we couldn't even use it all by the end of the trip. Watching all the food ring up at the register, then go to $0 with the meal plan was so satisfying. Definitely recommend it to anyone going to Disney! Okay, back to the trip...

A trip to DisneyWorld wouldn't be complete without letting our kids run around in water fountains! (flashback to here) This time around, Ellie was able to get in on the fun too.









They were soaking wet for the bus ride back to the hotel, but well-worth it for the fun!

Disney World, Part II

SATURDAY MARCH 12 - ANIMAL KINGDOM & EPCOT

The fun continues!! On Friday we had a relaxing day at the hotel. There was a little "beach" area that the kids dug around in the sand, a fun playground, and a fantastic pool complete with waterslides and cannons that shot water. It was slightly chilly (70 degrees - not that I'm complaining!!) so we spent a lot of time in the hot tub.





Saturday we started out at Animal Kingdom. This is where we made the mistake last time of putting Lincoln on the 'Dinosaur' ride, which turned out to be way too scary for him and resulted in a lot of crying and ride-refusal afterwards. So, we avoided that part of the park and focused on the animals and, of course, more characters!

Ellie really enjoyed brushing the goats!


"I tried to catch a sheep, but it kept running away" - Lincoln


Pretty thrilled to meet Jiminy Cricket...whom they have never heard of, by the way.


Ellie warms up to Rafiki:








We park-hopped over to EPCOT in the afternoon. Lincoln's aunt gave him a miniature playset of the EPCOT "ball" and he wanted to see "the huge golf ball" in person. The kids loved the Nemo ride and the little aquarium. Lincoln was thrilled to find the manatees ("mommy's favorite!") and seahorses. We rode the monorail, and had a yummy dinner in the "Japan" part of the park.

Disney World March 2011

We just got back from a fantastic vacation to Disney World! Yes, we were just there 10 months ago, but since my sister Ashley is working there again we figured we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go again. And with Ellie being a year older this time around, both kids were able to enjoy all the fun.

THURSDAY MARCH 10 - MAGIC KINGDOM - LINCOLN'S 4TH BIRTHDAY!!!

A pretty cool way to spend a birthday, wouldn't you say?! Lincoln got a special birthday badge when he entered the park, which resulted in many "Happy Birthday!" wishes from cast members and characters. The workers at lunch even sang him a special song! The highlight: Woody wrote "Happy 4th Birthday Lincoln" in his autograph book and then signed his name. Linc was in heaven!! He kissed the book and was beaming ear to ear afterwards.

Riding the shuttle bus to the park:





Ellie loved the carousel - and EVERY ride. She will be our little thrill-seeker, I'm sure.


Lincoln attempts to pull the sword from the stone:


Tom Sawyer Island:


Linc meets his heroes - Woody and Jessie:




Jessie saying Lincoln is 4:


I think he has a little crush on Jessie:




Ellie is excited to have Mickey and Minnie's autographs!




Linc dancing with Goofy in the parade:


Linc collected all the streamers from the parade...and wore them.


It was really fun to do all the "little kid" things - watch all the parades, meet characters, ride the little rides - and make sure Linc had a great birthday. Just watching the kids smile and wave at all the characters made it worth the trip. It really was a magical day!