Five.

To the Sweetest Boy I Know,

Today, I said to you, "I'm so happy that you're mine." And you replied, "I'm so happy that you're mine."  And that pretty much sums it up.  We belong to each other - the three of us.  Your daddy and I are so, so, so thankful that we get to be the ones that you call "mommy" and "daddy." 

I imagine it won't be long and you won't want to snuggle and you won't be calling us "mommy" and "daddy," and that's okay. It will hurt my heart a little, but I will take joy in remembering the blessing that it was to hold you from the time you were just a tiny baby....you have been mine since that moment we first saw you.  You have brought us more joy than I thought possible.  You are the sweetest little boy I have ever met.  I'm so glad that it was YOU that we were waiting for.  It all makes perfect sense now.

I simply cannot believe that you are five.  But we are SO proud of you and all that you are doing.  I know that God has amazing plans for you, and it is our joy to watch those plans unfold. 

Today is my favorite day of the year because we get to recall everything wonderful about you.  I could go on and on.  But just know this -- you are my heart.  That's what we say to each other to let the other know how much we love each other.  And "you are my heart," seems like the perfect way to tell you because it sums it up -- you mean the world to us.  You have taught us so much about life and love.  We love you more than words can say and every day, we love you more!!!

Thank you for being our little boy.  Thank you for making us a family.

And to Miss A - your birthmother - we remember her today (and every day) and we are so thankful to her and we love her so much!  We can never thank her enough for choosing life for you, and furthermore, for choosing us to be able to share your life.  What an amazing gift!!!!!

Disney Day 6 - Last Day

We spent our last day at Disney at the Magic Kingdom doing all of our favorite things.  They had extended morning hours, so we were there to watch the park open -- it's one of my favorite things to do there!

 Then, we headed right for the Buzz Lightyear ride.  There was no line, since it was 8 a.m., so we rode it and then got right back on it!

 We also rode the cars in Tomorrow Land.  Let's just say that Logan has a ways to go before he's going to be ready to drive!  It keeps you on the general course, but you have to press the gas and steer a little.  He hit his lip on the steering wheel.  I was glad when that ride was finally over!!

 Then Zeb and Logan did the teacups.

 We also rode Peter Pan and Under the Sea.  We had to stop at Gaston's for a cinnamon roll and another frozen apple juice.  We loved that apple juice so much!

 We went back to our hotel for Logan and Zeb to go to the pool while I did laundry.  We hate coming home with a lot of dirty clothes, so we like washing everything before we get home.

In the evening, we went back to the Magic Kingdom.  In Adventure Land, they have a new thing where you get a treasure map and search for a treasure.  They have clues all around Adventure Land and one clue takes you to the next, etc.  Logan LOVED this.  We did two hunts earlier in the week and promised him we would do one more before we left. 

Earlier in the week, he found a skull with a tiki on it.  He found this on his own and he just KNEW that it had to be a clue.  We were oblivious at the time.  But that evening, earlier in the week, when we left for our hotel, Logan kept talking about the "Tiki on the head."  And he wouldn't stop asking about it.  He would say, "Mom, what about the Tiki on the head.  I know it's there.  I'm telling the truth."  We had NO idea what he was talking about.  But he just kept saying it over and over and over (and OVER and OVER.)  We would try to ask him questions to figure out what he was talking about, but we could get no more information from him.  He wanted to know how that all fit in.  It got to the point that when he would bring it up, I would just laugh because that's what I do when I get frustrated/nervous, etc.  Poor guy.

So, Thursday, we did our last treasure hunt and the first clue led us to a tiki engraved on a skull.  He was hysterically happy.  He was SO excited.  And so were we.  It all made sense now.  So, we finished that treasure hunt, which was a little anti-climatic because when you get to the last clue, it just says, "Congratulations, you found the treasure!"  And for a little boy that's not very exciting. 

We ended our night with supper at the Polynesian hotel -- and we were so impressed we think we will stay there next year :)

It was terribly sad to leave on Friday morning.  We had such a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the time at Disney, but most of all, spending time together as a family. 

Disney - Day 5

Today was the nicest weather-wise.  Unfortunately, we had reservations at Chef Mickey's at 10:55 a.m., so we planned to take the morning easy.  I had time to do my hair and makeup, which pretty much never happens...not even at home!  And we had time for pictures.

 So, we were very excited about eating breakfast at Chef Mickey's.  They were running behind, so we didn't get our table until 11:30, and that was a disappointment.  We felt like we wasted our entire morning. 

 But the food was yummy and Logan loved the character meet-and-greet.  Mom and Dad were just in a bad mood :)

After breakfast, we headed to Epcot.  We rode Test Track and the boys rode Soarin'.  We went to the United States building and watched the show there...it was good!  Logan fell asleep during it, but Zeb and I liked it.

We just spent the time hitting some places we wanted to revisit or go again.  We stopped at France for a crepe. 

After that, we headed back to the hotel for a little rest.  I fell asleep.  I don't think the boys did.  We had late dinner reservations at the Wilderness Lodge at Whispering Canyon.  It was a fun night!  A boat took us from our hotel to that hotel, so that was different.  We were checking out that hotel to see if it was someplace we might like to stay in the future.  The food was good and we ended up back at our hotel around 10.

I do feel like we didn't get a lot accomplished today, but our feet are SO sore from walking, it was probably good that we took it a little slower today.  Tomorrow is our last day, so you can bet we'll be running around from morning until night.   Zeb has this crazy idea that he wants to try to be the family to open up the park in the morning (apparently, you have to get there super early and be entertaining and then they pick one family to open up the park).  He and Logan are SET on doing it, and I'm just not that into it.  I feel like I'm on vacation with Clark Griswold.

Disney Day 4 - Not So Scary Halloween

I

I had this post almost done and then I lost it, so blah, blah, blah, we did a lot today. 

We ate lunch at Be Our Guest.

We spent the morning at Magic Kingdom and then ate supper at Epcot at an Italian place (I'm too tired to look up the name). 

We went back to the Magic Kingdom for the Halloween party.



I don't normally post pictures when someone has their eyes closed, but this kid did it on PURPOSE, so I'm posting it.  Because it's probably the only picture of the three of us that we'll get on this vacation!

Logan picked out his costume here at Disney.  He's never seen The Nightmare before Christmas, but he is loving his Jack Skellington t-shirt.  We tried to talk him into several different things, but he didn't want anything else!

Disney Day 3 - Rain Out

We started out they day at Hollywood Studios.  The weather was nice. The first ride we rode was Star Tours.  It was a 3D....we LOVED it!  It was so great everyone cheered at the end of it!  After that, we headed to watch the Muppets 3D movie. 

 After the Muppets, we did a couple character meetings...I love that we are not wasting as much time on these this year :)

 

 

Of course, we had to ride Toy Story Mania!

Logan waiting to get on Toy Story.

Logan scoring points on the Toy Story ride.

After the Toy Story ride, we headed to Pizza Planet to eat lunch!  Logan had a great time playing the arcade games.

  After that, we headed back to the hotel for a nap.

By dinner, it was pouring rain.  We ate at Chefs de France in Epcot.  It didn't stop raining the rest of the night, but we didn't let that ruin our fancy dinner!  At the restaurant, the chef came out to meet us....

Yes, it's Remy from one of my FAVORITE Disney movies -- Ratatouille! 

It was really important to me that we enjoy this meal.  Logan woke up from his nap extremely grumpy.  So, I bribed him.  Yes, I did.  With two dollars.  I took out these dollar bills and his eyes lit up.  I don't believe I've ever bribed him with money, but I'll let you in on a little secret -- it worked.  He was excellent the entire meal and we enjoyed it from beginning to end.  In my opinion, it was money well spent!!! 

The BRIBE

The meal was delicious. Very French. 

French Onion Soup -- YUM!

Logan's appetizer - a cheese pastry.  Even the kid food was fancy!  Well, his main course was chicken tenders, so that wasn't fancy, but this pastry was!

Since we are at Disney celebrating Logan's birthday, Zeb arranged for a birthday cake to be delivered at supper.  What made it even better is that there were two other people within earshot that had birthday cakes delivered.  And Logan was hoping that each one was for him, and each time they delivered them to another table, he was disappointed.  After his cake arrived, he just kept saying, "You didn't have to do that!!!!!!"

And it rained.  And rained.  And poured.  So, we went back to the hotel.  Zeb and Logan went to the arcade in our hotel, and I just stayed in the room and caught up on some trashy investigative reporting shows.  The only time I ever waste my time on those in when I'm staying in a hotel! 

We are hoping tomorrow is sunny, but the forecast isn't too promising!!!

"The Eskimo Isn't Working" - Disney Day 2

We started our day by going to Epcot.  One of the things I regretted about our visit last time is that we didn't get a chance to do a lot in the World Showcase part of Epcot, so I wanted to make sure we did this time.  As soon as we got there, Zeb and Logan went to Test Track.  I skipped that, but the boys loved it.  It was something that we didn't do last year.  I shopped while they were doing that. 

My favorite part of the day (and maybe my life) was when Logan was studying my face and then leaned over to me and said, "Mom, you're gorgeous."

 Then, we went to Canada and watched a 360-degree film on Canada.  It was really cool! 

Zeb and Logan cooling off.

Today, Logan said, "Turns out, Disney isn't a rip-off!"

 Next, we headed to the United Kingdom.  We ate a quick lunch at Yorkshire Fish & Chips.  The fish was AMAZING, but we ended up not getting a table, so we ate on a park bench.  Logan ended up throwing most of our lunch to the ducks!

 After that, we went to France.  We watched a movie about France (I love).  And I just loving pretending we were really in France.  I told Logan that I have been to Paris and he said, "I didn't know that!"  I love that we get to know each other more each day.

After that, we headed to the Nemo ride, which was a favorite last year.  Then we had to do talk time with Crush.  Logan is so adorable that he is always the kid that gets picked out of a crowd!  So, he jumped at the chance to talk to Crush.  And he was star-struck.  When Crush asked him his name, he said, "Hey."  And then he asked him again and Logan said, "You don't eat sharks."  We asked Logan about it later and he admitted that it was just a case of forgetting everything because he was on the spot.  I laughed so hard.  That's my boy!  We ate supper at the Coral Reef.  The food was so-so.  The service was definitely not great.  Our waitress was good, but they forgot about making my meal and then we ended up waiting a long time.  Logan enjoyed his dessert though. 

You know you are really enjoying a cupcake when you get frosting in your hair!

 After supper, we headed back to our room at the 'Temporary, as Logan calls it.  The elevator wasn't working when we got back.  When we went to leave later that night, the escalator wasn't working and Logan asked, "Why isn't the Eskimo working?!!"

Magic Kingdom had extended hours, so we took a nap from about 6 - 8:30.  We woke up in time to watch the fireworks from our balcony.  Oh my.  We are LOVING our room/hotel.

After that, we headed to the Magic Kingdom.  We did a little shopping and then headed for the Buzz Lightyear ride (of course).  We all viewed the Carousel of Progress and then we rode the People Mover.  And then the People Mover stopped moving...for just a while.  But I think that's funny.  I don't know why.  Maybe because it's 1:30 a.m. as I'm writing this.

We had a few different snacks tonight.  Another chocolate croissant and frozen apple juice.  A pineapple float, and then we had a (literal) midnight snack at Casey's Hot Dog stand. 

Our hotel is super close to the Magic Kingdom.  But Logan didn't want to walk back, so we ended up taking a bus back to our hotel tonight.  Strangely enough, we had to ride a bus that took us farther from our hotel and then back. 

Now, we are all cleaned up and getting ready to go to sleep.  Hopefully, we'll sleep in tomorrow and have another full day.

Oh, I should mention that it rained.  But honestly, the rain doesn't bother me too much because we are too busy having fun!!!

"Disney is a Rip-Off" -- Disney Day 1

Imagine the horror when Logan said, rather loudly, on the plane as we were approaching Orlando, "Disney is a rip-off!!!!"  I guess Zeb was telling him something about Santa not being real and then Logan couldn't see Disney from the plane and ultimately, he was just upset.  It was hilarious!

 

So, we are back at Disney.  We've done things a little different this year.  We are staying at The Contemporary hotel.  Ummmm.  Nice. Oh, but let me back up.  We flew "business class" this time.  Are you kidding me?  They treat you so much better when you pay a little extra money.  I've never flown that way before, but I'm not sure I can ever go back to those cramped seats again.  The flight was uneventful and we arrived at Disney with no problems.  It's different when you've already been here!

 

 So, we also upgraded our hotel from last year.  We are staying in a deluxe hotel this year.  And let me just say that it's different -- BETTER!!!!  Instead of standing in line to check in and all that, someone met us as we were getting off the Magic Express and checked us in on her iPad.  We were chosen for the new Magic Bands and we love it.  Not that anyone at Disney is ever mean, but they are a lot nicer if you are spending more money :)

 The monorail runs right through our hotel.  And the above is a view from our balcony.  That's right.  It's basically the equivalent of having an Eiffel Tower view if you were staying in Paris.  We can walk to the Magic Kingdom. 

We were so excited to get into the park, so we quickly checked out our room and headed that way.  I love when you're just walking down Main Street and a parade comes by. 

 We first headed for the Buzz Lightyear ride.  I didn't ride it last year because I thought it would make me sick, but Logan and I made a deal that if he was going to ride the new Little Mermaid ride with me, I was going to have to ride his favorite ride - Buzz Lightyear.  So, I did.  And it was fun!!  I can't wait to do it again!

 Much to our surprise, Buzz himself was standing outside the ride.  Last year, we had to wait for about an hour to meet him.  This year, it was much faster!

 After the Buzz ride, we headed to the tea cups.  I don't ride those.  Throughout the evening, we also rode, The Haunted Castle, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Under the Sea.  We ate supper at Pinocchio's.  A little later, we stopped at Gaston's for a frozen Apple Juice drink and a chocolate croissant.  Yum!

This is the Beast's Castle.  How cool is it that it was dark and stormy looking when I took this picture.  Reminds me of the movie!

Logan and Zeb on Dumbo - that ride is too crazy for me!

The new Little Mermaid ride.  Logan wasn't too thrilled about riding it, but said he'd do it for me.  Afterwards, he admitted that he "really enjoyed the ride" and would like to go back.

This is Gaston's chair.  We loved the ambiance at Gaston's!

It's a Small World.  Yep.  We rode it.

We are SO tired from traveling a large part of the day and the running all around the Magic Kingdom, but we are SO happy to be here!!!!  We are already having so much fun and cannot wait to make so many memories over the next week.

Since we are here celebrating Logan's birthday, he gets to wear a birthday button.  Everyone says "Happy Birthday."  And he says, "You're welcome" back to them.  You know, because that makes sense :)  Last year, he was so good at saying, "Thank you!" in response to the "Happy Birthdays," so I'm not sure why he got confused this year.