Bath Time

Mia and Lennon are in the bath right now and they are being so cute. Lennon is pretending to be - and I'll try to get it right, but I might mess it up a little - Earthling cowboy, lost in space who cannot find his way back to Earth because he has lost his car. Mia is a space alien octopus who is directing Lennon home by suggesting he take a left at north wander. I think they were inspired by Toy Story 3 yesterday. Gotta get back in there now.

DisneyWorld Day 3

We headed over to Animal Kingdom super early today to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours which turned out to be very well worth it. Mia rode Expedition Everest maybe seven times in total that day. Lennon wasn't big enough, but he kept a smile on his face the whole time waiting for the other riders to come down the big hill.

Poor little guy was also not big enough for Dinosaur another awesome ride, but he had tons of fun riding this Triceratops Spin ride over and over again while others rode Dinosaur.

Lennon won a big orange shark which he named Sharky at a carnival type game while Mia was on yet another ride he was not yet big enough for and when she saw it she wanted to play a game too. Luckily, she won and then they both had a little stuffed thing to bring home from the park that day. And all for just about 5 or 6 bucks. Just the cost of the games. Probably the cheapest souvenir you could get at any of the parks.

My wild man playing inside the fountain while everyone else rode a Raging Rapids type ride.

Mia thought it looked like a bubble. She thought it was cool that she could still breathe with her head in it.

After we left Animal Kingdom around lunch time Lennon and Shelby took naps while Mia and I went over to Epcot for some shopping, strolling and a few rides.

We also saw Donald again.

We didn't feel like spending the time in line to meet Alice, but Mia still wanted her picture with her, so we kind of cheated and took this picture.

Mia in front of a sign that says Tudor Lane. Gaga's maiden name

Mia made this mask inside a shop in England

Being silly on Spaceship Earth. I think we rode it twice in a row today.

Our faces on the screen at the end of the ride.

Dinner in France, can you guess what Mia is doing here? Blowing out candles. That's right.

DisneyWorld Day 2

I almost want to say this was my favorite day, but I can't. It's too close to call. We'll just leave it at this. It was as close to perfect a day as anyone could hope for with small children at DisneyWorld. A sweet character breakfast, super fun AND productive morning at The Magic Kingdom, naps and relaxing in the afternoon, touring the countries before dinner and delicious Mexican food at Shelby's favorite Disney restaurant.

Breakfast at Cape May Cafe on hotel property. We got to meet Goofy, Minnie and Donald Duck. The kids were so excited. Poor little Reagan was scared and had to leave the table and go up to the room, but the rest of the kids had a ball.

Mia and Peyton celebrated their 8th and 6th birthdays repeatedly throughout the week. Mia almost never let a meal go by that she was not treated to a birthday song and cupcake. She didn't eat all the cupcakes, but most of them!

Peyton as usual, trying to "see through" Minnie's costume to find the "real" person

Some of my best memories at the parks are from standing around with Lennon and sometimes Peyton while they played in fountains because they were too little for whatever ride the rest of the crew was on. This is a sprinkler at Magic Kingdom in Adventureland. Everyone else was riding Big Thunder Mountain.

On our way into The Enchanted Tikki Room. Mia had been dreaming about this lollipop for about the whole last year.

We even let Lennon have some. He was pretty into it.

Outside the restaurant in France playing in the fountain. We didn't eat there here until the next night. It was pretty much impossible to get all four kids smiling at the same time.

Granmommy and Grandaddy in front of the Eiffel Tower

Meeting Belle dressed like a fairy

We got to Epcot with some time to kill before dinner so we had some free time to roam around The World Showcase. Here we are listening to a traditional Japanese childrens story.

Reagan making friends with a duck. This was before the infamous duck thievery.

The whole family strolling along World Showcase.

Looking like a Greek goddess in Italy

Watching the trains in Germany

While the rest of the kids waited to meet someone we ended up giving up on in the end, Lennon and I played in the grass.

Once again, celebrating her birthday

About to ride The Tres Cabelleros

Francis Family Disney Trip 2010

Day 1: Thursday, June 17, 2010

Lennon and Mia waiting excitedly at the airport while Daddy buys our customary airport breakfast of breakfast sandwiches from Dunkin' Donuts. We left the house at 4 AM. The kids were fantastic all day!

The first thing we did after a short dip in the hotel pool was head to Epcot. It started pouring rain almost the second we stepped foot in the park, but that didn't stop us. We went straight to Spaceship Earth (it was Mia's favorite from our '06 trip with Papa and Nana.) Then we did Journey into Imagination with Figment for the first of what would be many times during the week. Pictured above is Lennon on Spaceship Earth for the first time. He loved it.

Our first dinner was a Grand Gathering: Safari Celebration Dinner. After a bit of confusion we started out in an outdoor theatre in Asia at Animal Kingdom then headed over to a Safari ride with no wait. Mia wanted to sit by Bethany (almost all week!) Aunt Bethany was a great tour guide pointing out all the animals to Mia.

Hippos: Up close and personal

Very happy kiddos after meeting Rafiki and Timone from The Lion King, dancing to some African tunes and eating a yummy African themed dinner.

Most of the fam at our table during our first dinner together.

Genetics?

Okay, I know Shelby and I are each strange in our own ways, but sometimes I just wonder - where did this little boy come from? And how did these bizarre thoughts get into his head? And really, he's going to not only think that, but say it out loud for the rest of the world to hear about the crazy stuff that he is thinking about in his head all day? So, here is not even probably the strangest, but at least most recent "very weird Lennon moment."

We're in the car on the way home from somewhere.

Lennon: I need to pee.

Me: Well, we're almost home so you can pee when we get upstairs.

Lennon: No! I will pee outside and then I will lick it up and it will go in my tummy so that I turn into a bad guy and then I will kill people.

Me: (thinking I know I have not let him see this kind of stuff on tv or anything) Lennon, that's gross. We do not kill people. That's sad. We're not going to talk about killing people.

Shelby: That's horrible Lennon.

Lennon:Daddy? (short dramatic pause) Did you say horrible or ADORABLE? (big grin)

Really? Really.

TIny Impromptu Family Vacation

Before you freak out, yes, Disney and four weeks of Texas are coming soon. First, however...

Our friends, Nick and Katie got married last May and had a party with a "hint of ceremony" at Nick's parents house last Saturday to celebrate. It was in Connecticut and at the last minute we decided instead of driving down more than two hours for a party that started at 4 to just turn around tired from a long day and drive more than two hours home, that we would just get the cheapest hotel room we could find and make a little vacation out of it. So, saturday morning we hopped in the car first thing in the morning and headed out to get coffee and pao de qejo (Brazilian cheese bread.) Then we were off the the zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. It's not really on the way to Connecticut, but we had fun and it wasn't too far out of the way. We got to the zoo, which is about an hour away right at park opening and stayed until just before lunch when we left and split a couple of cheap sandwiches from Subway for lunch on our way to check in to our hotel in Vernon, CT. We stayed at a Howard Johnson. We were only there for about half an hour. Just enough time to get cleaned up and ready for the party/wedding. Then we only had about a 20 minute drive to the party where we ended up stayed until way too late. The kids ended up having so much fun! The next morning, the kids were up bright and early and we wasted no time before scarfing down some breakfast and heading to the pool. After which, we went to Dinosaur State Park just another 20 minutes or so away from our hotel. It was really cool, but we were all pretty exhausted and headed out for home at about 4. Just in time for some rain. The kids were so excited that we were staying in a hotel.

In front of a swamp at Dinosaur State Park

Lennon as a Triceratops

having some morning cuddles in our hotel room

Lennon had us set up his pack n play right in between the two hotel beds.

Shelby and Mia being silly

Waiting for the ceremony to start. Lennon shushed me a few times during the ceremony and later said it was his favorite part of the party.

Mia, of course, made fast friends with all the kids there. Most of which were family.

Mia with Madison, her new bff, Nick's neice

Looking at fish in a pond at the zoo

We were trying to get a picture with this waterfall, but apparently I missed it.

Feeding the fish. At one point something huge poked up out of the water and Mia and I both thought for just a half second that it was a crocodile. We are such nerds. It turned out to be a really big turtle.

This baby giraffe was just two weeks old.