Rock Climbing

Blake and I are members at our local YMCA! We love it... mostly for the pool and my yoga classes. However, as Blake is getting older, we are finding more things to enjoy at the Y!

Recently we tried out the rock climbing wall. I wasn't sure if Blake would feel adventurous enough for it or if he would be too scared. He tried it the first time and was very cautious. Then he realized that he could get a little more daring and he wouldn't fall. The lady that was working his line was also very encouraging and nice. In typical Blake fashion, he got really into it and very competitive. He must have done that one track for about 15 times! He got about 3/4 of the way to the top! I was so impressed. I was more of a chicken and didn't make it that far, but it was still fin to do it together!

Blake has really started to be adventurous during his 6 year old phase! I think it will only get more intense from here. I am so proud of him and I love keeping up with him. :)

Disney Day 5: Animal Kingdom

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but we still had to visit the Animal Kingdom Park. It has rides and things, too, but it is also kinda of like the Disney zoo. It even has "The Tree of Life" in the middle.

We were able to go on a morning Safari ride and saw some amazingly beautiful animals! Of course I loved the giraffes!

 We also got to see a really awesome Lion King production. Lots of singing and dancing and energy. It was pretty cool to watch!

 There were also some pretty cool rides at Animal Kingdom. We went on a fun simulation ride at Pandora/Avatar that made it seem like we were flying on the back of a Banshee. That felt SO real!

 We don't have pictures of it, but Blake also rode one of the biggest rollercoasters at Disney called Everest. It actually kinda scared me alittle bc it goes pitch black and you ride backwards in one part. MAde me dizzy! Blake loved the action, but he wasn't thrilled when one part of the ride made it look like a Yeti was going to attack. He was so brave though on all of the rides! He is an little advneture seeking boy for sure!

This was our last day at Disney and we ended it with a bang! Blake got to eat and hang out once more time with his favorite characters!

Hakuna Matata and thanks for the great memories, Disney!!!

Disney Day 4: Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios is the park that significantly changed Blake's life. I thought he would be more interested in Toy Story Land... but nope, he went to The Dark Side!

We started off the day with breakfast with Blake's favorite Disney Junior characters. He has been watching these shows for about 2 years. He has about "grown out" of them, but I am glad he got excited one more good time about them! He loved Jack the Pirate!

Blake was more importantly fully immersed in Star Wars all morning and he loved every minute of it!They had lots of little mini stage productions of Star Wars things and they also had the march of The First Order through the Hollywood Studios streets. Blake was fascinated.... specifically with Kylo Ren and Darth. Good thing I got him the right shirt at Target!!! Haha.

He even got to meet some pretty cool Star Wars characters... and I am not sure, but I think he sold his soul to Kylo Ren. He was pretty pumped ( and maybe a little scared) about it. Haha! He also thought of the great idea to paint our ponchos black so that he could look like Kylo Ren. Ponchos.... Yes, we still had those things. Florida rain/storms are awful!

 Finally, we got to see the brand new Toy Story Land!!!! This part of the park opened up about 5 days before we arrived. There were 3 hour wait times for the Slinky Dog Rollercoaster! Yikes. Thankfully we had a Fast Pass for it and we only had to wait about 10 minutes. Blake loved  this ride and we even brought home a Slinky Dog toy (and a few Star Wars things...). This park was my favorite part of the day!

Disney Day 3: Epcot

The 3rd day of Disney was spent at Epcot! Epcot isn't known for it's exciting rides, but it is known for its learning opportunity. There are lots of world learning experiences - specifically about the world (space and oceans) and also the different countries of our world. We loved"traveling" the world today.

My personal favorites were France (notice the little Eiffel Tower) and London. To me ese places represent excitement and adventure and romance. I loved sharing them with my little love! Maybe one day we will be able to actually travel to those places!

Blake also saw some really cool other places like Spain, Morocco, Japan,  and more! He even had a little passport where he got it stamped at every country that he went to. He loved the adventure.

Oh, and did I mention he got to meet one of his favotire characters Baymax?! Oh yes!

Unfortunately it rained and stormed at the end of the day, so we couldn't get a good firework show, but we did get to see some of them before rushing back to the resort. Another good day! 

Disney Day 2: Magic Kingdom

On our second day at Disney, we explored the Magic Kingdom and it sure was magical! I have to admit it was one of my favorite parks of the week,,, and also the busiest! We knocked ourselves out!

This was Blake's first real encounter with rides and rollercoasters ,... and HE LOVED THEM!  We rode Big Thunder Mountain and, my favorite, 7 Dwarfs Mine train. We also waited out a few lines and enjoyed some of the smaller rides. We did the traditional Dumbo ride, the Spinning Saucers, some Buzz Lightyear rides, and Blake also loved the Aladdin Flying Carpet Ride. He loved that ride because there was a fake camel that would "spit"  water every time the ride went around. Blake tried to get my side as close to the camel so that I would get sprayed. He thought it was hilarious. :)

In addition to the awesome rides, we also got to meet many of Blake's favorite characters. Blake even got to dance with one of his favs, Frozone, in the parade. He was a show stopper and impressed everyone watching. I loved seeing his little outgoing personality having a blast! This was also my little moment to enjoy the princesses! Short lived, but worth it!

Finally we enjoyed a 4th of July celebration. It was technically only July 3rd, but in typically Disney fashion, we celebrated big all week!

Disney Day 1: Animal Kingdom Lodge

Surprise!!!! We went to Disney World!!! WOW! It was seriously an amazing week of happiness and memories. The next few posts are going to be about our trip from last week.

Day 1 was a travel day, so we didn't actually go to a Disney World Park, but we had a blast exploring our resort area at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Waking up at 4:15 for a flight was not so fun, but it was worth it to see all of these amazing animals at our resort. And yes, GIRAFFES! Those were obviously my favorite part! We also saw zebras, gazelle, flamingos, and even our resident ostrich. I didn't get a picture of him... to be honest, he kind of freaked us out a little. Haha.

The day was also perfect for swimming. Animal Kingdom Lodge had a nice large pool. Blake is sometimes hesitant around water, but he loved this place. He especially went wild when he got a swimming vest on and felt more confident. They had a pretty fun kids water slide. I went down the slide first and convinced Blake to come down after me. That was the start of a million slide rides - ok, maybe only 20, but it was still a lot! Blake LOVED the slide!

Later that evening we cleaned up and traveled to a resturant called Chef Mickey! Blake was able to get hus buffet on with some of his favorite pals! This was a hit and really put the week into perspective. Blake was so excited to come in contact with Mickey and his friends!!! He was also wearing a Donald Duck shirt that day, so I think he became Donal Ducks favorite kid, ;)