Tornado Warning

We live in the mountains. We're not supposed to have tornados in the mountains. Only flat places like Texas, Indiana, and Kansas get tornadoes, right? Apparently not. Though Blacksburg didn't have a tornado yesterday, a very close town only about 8 miles away did. And baseball sized hail.

Last night was crazy. I didn't wake up to the booming thunder or lightning that was occurring every half second. I heard Ethan wimpering. Heard him through our wall in the room next door. Crazy how your ears get tuned to only certain frequencies during the night. But when I woke up I saw Braden standing at the window looking out at this crazy storm. Although we didn't know it at the time, I think we were both actually woken by the tornado siren that went off at VT only a couple miles away.

So we stood there...should we go to the basement? Wake all the kids from their slumber and go to the basement? What a pain! I went to get my phone so I could check the radar from my weather app. We were in a tornado warning until 1:55am and it was 1:35am. My brain was still asleep so I still stood there for a bit trying to decide. But it's better to be on the safe side. So, we woke all of the kids.

As Blythe was walking down to the basement she told me, "it's a tornado and if we stay in our rooms we will die". The power of fear to make them do the right thing!

Brynn was quite confused, but fell back asleep on me as we waited in the basement. Blythe and Ethan climbed into the guest room bed down there and went back to sleep. Once the tornado warning was over, Braden stayed down there and slept on the couch so the kids wouldn't freak out in the morning when they woke up. I took Brynn back upstairs and went back to sleep (eventually).

Braden woke me at 5am when he left for morning practice and I took his post on the couch in the basement. What a crazy night! Hoping not to have to do that again ever (though glad we do have a basement to go to).

As a side note, when Blythe and Ethan woke up this morning, they didn't see me on the couch and they were not the slightest bit concerned. Ethan seemed a little confused, but Blythe reminded him they were in the basement because of the tornado. They were busy jumping on the bed and trying to play with the treadmill in no time (while I laid on the couch and listened).

Party at my crib

6:30am

Be there or be....asleep. Like everyone else. 6:30 is TOO early.

Play Ball!

T-ball season is officially in full swing.


Yes, Blythe and Ethan are playing on the same team. It's supposed to be for 4 and 5 year olds, but Ethan is "almost 4" (at least that's what he will tell you). Really he just turned 3 not too long ago. The difference between 3 and 5 in running ability is huge.

(Excuse the shakiness...Brynn was trying to grab the camera the whole time).




We signed Ethan up because we knew he couldn't sit on the sidelines and watch Blythe play. Plus, Luke was playing too (though he is 6 months older, so at least closer to being 4). And Ethan can hit better than Blythe and throw the ball as good or better. But running? No contest. And yesterday I learned another big difference between 3 year olds and 4 year olds. Ethan cried while playing outfield because the ball never came to him so he never got to throw it. Luke cried also for the same reason in the second inning. None of the other kids cried. But oh well, they all had a good time and they got their snacks at the end (because, let's face it, that's their motivation for getting through the game).

Ethan's ready for Easter

Ethan's class was having their Easter egg hunt at school today. I went to the basement to dig out the Easter baskets and couldn't really remember who's was whose. They all looked girly including the one I pulled out for Ethan which was pink and yellow. Whatever...all Easter colors are pastels and therefore girly.

When Blythe came downstairs she saw the basket and said, "is Ethan using MY basket?" "Why can't he use his own Elmo basket?". Ah yes, Elmo basket. That's right. Now where the heck is it? Fortunately I found it and all the problems of the world were solved.



Ha, ha...Ethan looks funny. How about a photoshopped version?

Long torso.

Short legs.

Chunky butt.


No wonder she wears 18 month onesies and 9 month pants.

Epcot

We didn't think we'd end up going to Epcot because we had heard there wasn't much for little kids to do. But we had a 5 day pass and still had a day left and had basically seen everything else we wanted to see. So today, we headed on over to Epcot. Personally, I really like Epcot. Lots of technology and science, which is cool to a dork like me. And speaking of dorks, we went to Target and got all matching shirts and we all wore them today. Disney dorks!!

When we got to Epcot, Ethan saw the big silver ball and said, "There's Apricot!". I think we finally figured out the Fast Pass system pretty well, so we worked the system just right and ended up riding basically everything we wanted to without waiting in lines. Our 2 favorite things at Epcot were "Soarin" (where you feel like you are in a hang glider flying over California) and "Turtle Talk with Crush", which is actually not a ride, but an interactive show with Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo. It's too hard to describe, but was totally amazing.


Another hit was Test Track (you race in a car going 65 mph). Not a hit - that Ethan is only 38.5 inches tall and most cool rides (like Soarin and Test Track...both of which Ethan would love) have a 40 inch minimum. And they definitely check. And Ethan definitely tried (he stood up very straight. On his tiptoes). Poor guy. Guess that's why they say Epcot is not great for the little ones.

So our 5 days of Disney are over. We have 1 more full day of vacation, which we will spend swimming and relaxing and maybe even getting a "tan" (or sunburn).

Hollywood Studios

Blythe's favorite rides now are Space Mountain and Tower of Terror. She clearly does not get her thrill-seeker sense of adventure from me since:
1. I never rode a roller coaster until I was 12 (and even then, I didn't really want to...never underestimate peer pressure).
2. I was too chicken to ride Tower of Terror. Blythe rode it 3 times.
3. I was too chicken to ride in the front on Space Mountain. Even if I had wanted to, I would have had to fight Blythe for the front (she rode in the front both times she rode it). Braden did try to ride in the front the first time and she faught him and won.

Ethan however probably gets his wimpy attitude toward rides from me. He may be even more extreme than I was when I was little. He was scared during the "Disney Junior Live on Stage" show because Big Jet created a little bit of smoke when trying to race against the rocket from Little Einsteins. I'm pretty sure he has gotten scared on just about every ride except Dumbo, Swiss Family Treehouse, and It's a Small World. Oh, and Buzz Lightyear at Magic Kingdom. He loved that ride (pretty sure it's been his favorite one).

Princess lunch for the Princess

Tuesday was our rain day. We might have chosen for that to be our "off" day, but we had a date with the princesses at Cinderella's castle. Turned out to be a good thing to have plans at Magic Kingdom and not take that day off. Rain stopped around 12:30 and then the park was not crowded at all.

The original plan was for all of the girls to attend the lunch, but last minute we decided to leave Brynn with the guys. The lunch ain't cheap, so why risk having a screaming infant (although Brynn has been great on this trip and has hardly cried). Plus it allowed Blythe to be our princess and get ALL of the attention. She of course had a blast. Had her picture made with Cinderella and then got to meet Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty. I think her favorite part was dessert. She got a HUGE cupcake with purple icing. There were 3 cups of toppings so she could decorate her own. She used every bit of every topping. Ate everything EXCEPT the cake part of the cupcake. It was definitely the most expensive meal I'll probably ever wear flip flops, jeans, and sweat shirt to, but it was SO worth it.


Before the lunch we went to see Mickey. Character sightings here are not like what us old people remember them to be (where they would show up out of nowhere and a hundred kids would mob the character). It's much safer now for the characters. Now, you have to wait in a line to see the character and get your picture made. Some of the lines can be quite daunting. The line for Mickey actually has a fast pass. So anyway, we went to see if Mickey, but were not all that optimistic. HOWEVER - NO ONE was in line. So we basically had our own photo shoot with Mickey that lasted a good 10 minutes. Good times!


After the lunch, we met up with the guys. They had come later and they too went to see Mickey. They did have to wait in a line, but it wasn't too bad. Plus, they got to see Minnie too. Now, mind you, Ethan is and has always been deathly afraid of characters. We were hoping the overexposure to characters here at Disney would help him with his fears, but no such luck so far.

All of that changed with Minnie though. Minnie helped him overcome his fear. And now he is in love with Minnie. He even said Madeleine isn't his girlfriend anymore. Minnie is now. He also saw Minnie the next day at Hollywood Studios and practically made out with her. Hugging her. Kissing her. Kissing her some more. Totally, totally adorable.


Later in the day we met with up with Chip and Dale at a dance party and Ethan was all into it.

Other than seeing and dancing with characters, we got to ride LOTS of rides due to the lower number of people there. We stayed all the way through the light parade that started at 9pm. It was a great show...glad we did one nighttime activity. But all 3 kids fell asleep on the short drive back to the house.

Magic Kingdom

Yesterday we headed on over to Magic Kingdom...the "real" Disney! We went on a Monday, so it wouldn't be so crowded...ha! Fast Passes and signs that tell you how long the wait are are VERY convenient. The original plan was to walk down Main St to Cinderella's castle and then head on over to Thunder Mountain to catch a Fast Pass. But since all of the THOUSANDS of other people who arrived at the exact same time as us seemed to also have that as their plan, we decided to instead catch the train over to Frontierland, which dropped us off right at Thunder Mountain. We rode it with minimal wait AND got a Fast Pass and then rode it again. So far, it's Blythe's favorite ride. Ethan is 2 inches too short to ride it, so after that we needed to find some stuff he could ride. First up...Haunted Mansion. Braden and I had to TOTALLY downplay it otherwise he would have freaked. He did scream in the room before the ride when the lights went off. But he made it through alive and now claims it's his favorite ride.


Other rides we hit up were It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Dumbo, and the 3D show "Mickey's Philharmagic" (which was excellent and almost no wait).

Actually Blythe and Ethan rode Dumbo while Gommy, Poppa, and I took Brynn on It's a Small World (she was sleeping the first time we rode it). She loved it!

And hats off to Braden's parents and my parents who have traded turns staying with Brynn and/or Ethan when they can't ride something.



We ended the day right around the time for the parade, which makes getting out a challenge. We ended up back over in Frontierland and hopped on the train again. Perfect timing actually as we ended up at the Main Street stop just as the parade was there and we were able to see everything and then get the heck out before the masses of people that were also watching the parade.


Yesterday wasn't our only visit planned to Magic Kingdom, so we didn't feel the need to push it and try to fit everything in. We're basically done with Fantasyland (aka StrollerLand), so thank goodness for that. Next up is Tomorrowland (Space Mountain!) and Adventureland (Pirates of the Caribbean!).

Disney!!

Well, after a "quick" 11 hour drive with 3 kids under the age of 6, we made it to Disney World! Okay, so it wasn't so quick and involved an overnight stay in Savannah in a small room with 2 double beds. We all slept SO well. Not. Oh well, it was a means to an end.

We got here too early to check into the house, but we were able to use the neighborhood clubhouse and go swimming, so that's what we did. How refreshing after leaving a SNOWY Blacksburg behind.

After Poppa, Gommy, Laura, Grams, and Peep all arrived, we headed out to our first Disney experience...Downtown Disney. Pretty cool. Like a Myrtle Beach "Boardwalk at the Beach" on crack. We're pushing the envelope a little with Ethan this week (making him do stuff that might terrify him just a little), so we went to the T-Rex restaurant and experienced some very real looking dinosaurs and some frequent "meteor showers". It was pretty intense. Pretty late too, as we didn't finish until about 9:30. I don't think Brynn has ever been up past 8pm, so she was tired, but she was a trooper. Needless to say, the kids were WIPED OUT!

So for our first FULL Disney day, we headed out to Animal Kingdom. As soon as we got there, we went to the Everest Roller Coaster ride to get a "Fast Pass" and ride it later. But there was only a 15 minute wait, so we decided to ride it then. The height requirement is 44 inches and just so happens Blythe is exactly 44 inches tall. So her very first ride experience at Disney was a full blown roller coaster, complete with high speeds, going backwards, complete darkness, and even backwards in the complete darkness. But she LOVED it!

Her second ride experience was a much more toned-down dinosaur version of "Dumbo". Ethan could ride this one too.



After a quick photo op with Pluto and Goofie (that Ethan completely chickened out of), Ethan went to play on a giant playground and Blythe went with Poppa, Laura, Gommy, and I to ride "Dinosaur".

After that ride, Blythe said, "Mom, I don't ever want to ride that again". I had thought she was having a great time, but apparently she was terrified.



Have you ever seen a look that says "utter terror" more than that in your life? Hilarious.

Before lunch, we hit up the Finding Nemo show, which was AMAZING. A really, really great show. Brynn was enthralled and everyone in our party enjoyed that show.

Blythe begged and begged to have her face painted, so after lunch we found a place. I have to admit, it is pretty adorable.


We did a safari ride through Africa, then finished off with a 3D show of "It's Tough to be a Bug". We ignored the signs that it might "terrify young children", because our kids are pretty tough right? Not Ethan. Screamed and screamed at the pretend 3D bugs trying to get the audience.

And how did Brynn do at the park? She quite liked her stroller and took 2 good naps in it. She seemed like she loved the park, don't you think?