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Animal Kingdom

February 11, 2016

We all woke up Saturday morning refreshed from a good night’s sleep – except opposite. Samantha decided to scream for a good 2 hours of the night. I guess she didn’t like being by herself in a crib in the same room as me, Robert, Maxwell and Spencer so she did whatever she could to get us to pick her up! Oh well, we survived and were ready for a fun day at Animal Kingdom….without her! GJ and Daddo nicely agreed to stick around the hotel with the baby so she could get some good naps in. They’re the best!

We took the bus over to Animal Kingdom and the boys were really excited to see some lions and tigers!

wdw

Robert and I have laughed at that picture because we both look like such dorks – but we were proud to be there! ha!

Our first stop was the safari and we got to see tons of neat animals. It was a nice, cool morning and all the animals were out and roaming! Unfortunately, there are no tigers in the safari (or really anywhere in Animal Kingdom) which greatly disappointed Maxwell! But, it didn’t totally ruin his day – there was plenty of other fun to be had!

wdw

animal kingdom

We made our way over to Dino-Land where I had fast passed the Dinosaur ride for Robert and Maxwell to do. Maxwell had been talking about this ride non-stop – ever since we went last time and he wasn’t tall enough to ride it! Well, Robert took him and I think it was a little scarier than any of us remembered! Maxwell made it through but has no desire to do it again!

dinosaur

Love that picture with his eyes shut tight!!

We then explored the carnival area of Dino-Land and the boys played all the fun games. It was pretty funny to watch – and because we were basically the only ones there, they won every game and we came home with about 8 stuffed animals!

animal kingdom

The boys also managed to walk out of Animal Kingdom with some purchased toys too – a stuffed lion and leopard and this cool cobra and green dinosaur!

animal kingdom

We then went over to Tusker House for brunch with some of our favorite characters! Spencer wasn’t so sure about them all but Maxwell could not have been more excited!

No love for Daisy…

daisy

even when she tried to give him a smooch!

daisy

Donald at least got a smile…

animal kingdom

but Spencer wouldn’t get near him.

donald

Maxwell was happy as could be though!

donald

Spencer was a little interested in Goofy…

goofy

but still couldn’t be convinced to go stand next to him!

goofy

Maxwell and The Goof were fast friends…

goofy

and Maxwell loved showing him his new cobra!

goofy

Spence then had a slight change of heart and did give Goofy a high five!

goofy

We then met the main mouse himself and Spencer decided Mickey was A-OK and hopped right up for a picture!

mickey

After lunch, we had fast passed the Lion King show. It was fantastic and really worth seeing! We called it quits after that and headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Except, when we got back, no one was interested in resting and so Robert and I took the boys to the pool. They started in the kid area where the Mad Hatter’s hat dumps water on you every few minutes. Spencer wasn’t quite so sure at first but then Maxwell convinced him to get in there and get soaked!

tea pot

tea pot

GF

We then headed over to the big pool where I took one for the team and got into the pool. The water was warm but the air outside wasn’t and I was freezing! It didn’t seem to faze the boys though. They were loving it and kept getting out to go get back in line for the giant slide. Maxwell was an expert coming down the slide…

slide

slide

and then Spencey came down like this!

slide

slide

hahaha!! That picture makes me laugh so hard. On his back – head first – here comes Spence!!

slide

After we dried off and warmed up, we went over to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner. It was fun to see another hotel. I can’t say I’ll go back but it was a good evening outing.

wilderness

wilderness lodge

We were all worn out from our day of animal and pool fun and were hoping for a good night’s sleep. Yet, again, baby had different ideas! No rest for the weary I guess! See you tomorrow!

Would love to hear from you! 6 Comments
Filed Under: Family, MBB, Robert, SKB, SPB, Travel

Disney!

February 10, 2016

We went to Disney last week and it was GREAT. The weather was perfect, the crowds were manageable, and the kids were excited! We really couldn’t have asked for better Disney conditions! We got up dark and early on Friday to catch a 6:30am flight to Orlando…

disney

GJ met us at the Orlando airport and were at the Grand Floridian by 10am! woohoo!

disney

We headed over to the Magic Kingdom and had a super fun day.

magic kingdom

Maxwell’s 2 things he really wanted to do in Disney were 1. ride the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom and 2. get his face painted! So, our first stop was the face painting area next to Space Mountain. They didn’t have the exact tiger and lions on the menu that my boys wanted but, as always, Disney accomodated!

disney

We had fast passed some of our favorite rides but were able to get in several others too because the lines weren’t bad at all. Our first stop was Dumbo!

dumbo

We then used fast passes for Barnstormer. It was Spencey’s first time on it and he loved it! Listening to him belly laugh through the whole thing was worth the trip!

barnstormer

We then took a train ride around the park…

train

train

Hit up the Astro Orbiter…

astro orbiter

and used our Fast Passes to drive on The Tomorrowland Speedway!

speedway

Robert and I then tried to use our Fast Passes to ride Space Mountain but we got to the front and they had to shut the ride down for technical difficulties. That was ok though because we got two free Fast Passes that Robert used to take Maxwell on Big Thunder! He thought it was AWESOME! We also went on the Haunted Mansion and a few other rides but, we also found plenty of time to just play…

wdw

wdw

and eat treats!

wdw

By about 5pm, my tiger and lion were worn out so we headed back to the hotel.

wdw

They were excited to find some new Lion Guard pjs waiting for them (Samantha got new Minnie pjs!) and then enjoyed room service! Fun!

room service

We all got tucked in for a restful night’s sleep – or at least that’s what we were hoping for! Samantha had other ideas!! See you tomorrow!

Would love to hear from you! 3 Comments
Filed Under: Family, MBB, Robert, SKB, SPB, Travel

Week in review

January 15, 2016

Around here the last week…

I had to go down to Naples unexpectedly last Friday. GJ had a little procedure but happy to report she is now heart healthy! There were no worries back in Birmingham because Robert held down the fort tremendously!

bham

bham

I got back into town in time to watch the big Championship football game on Monday night! We were dressed in our colors…

roll tide

and ready to cheer Roll Tide! It was definitely a good game and we were all very pleased with the outcome! Maxwell has especially gotten into watching football with Dad! He asks a LOT of questions…not sure how much Dad was enjoying all those questions during the first half of the game Monday! ha!

Also this week, Maxwell built the Lego Police Station he got for Christmas…

lego

and has been very proud getting all of his Legos displayed in his room!

legos

Spencer has had a little cold (KLEENEX!!) and stayed home from school Tuesday. But, he was feeling better by Thursday so got to go play with Jairus and Sebastian at school.

spencer

Samantha has been all over the downstairs in the walker we brought inside. Video here. She’s loved it!

That’s a wrap on a great week! Here’s to a long weekend ahead!!

samantha

Happy Friday!

Would love to hear from you! 2 Comments
Filed Under: Family, MBB, Robert, SKB, SPB, Travel

More after Christmas

January 8, 2016

After a good dinner with family, we all headed back to the good ole HIE in Searcy. Thankfully the kids all slept really well. Maxwell did come get in my bed around 4am but, considering I had a double bed all to myself, I was happy to share…and snuggle!  🙂  The next morning, we took the free breakfast by storm…

HIE

and made the lobby our own playground!

HIE

These kiddos can have fun anywhere!

cousins

So can these adults! 🙂

searcy

searcy

After breakfast, Robert and the kids and I loaded up and drove to Little Rock to see some of my forever friends. We noticed the traffic start to slow down around Jacksonville and thankfully Robert exited to take a service road and then some back roads allowing us to go around a section of the interstate that was completely flooded out! Had we not exited when we did, pretty sure it would have taken us double the time to get to LR and we would have missed lunch! Phew!

We met some friends up at Local Lime and had a great lunch. I so enjoyed getting to catch up with Laura, Erin and Laura and see their cute kids!

local lime

little rock

I don’t get back to Arkansas enough so I was glad we were able to make the trip, regardless of how short it was! After lunch, we hit the road back to Birmingham. The kids really were great travelers – thanks mostly to the boys’ new iPads with headphones! The baby did great too and even slept decently on the trip back. Still, after driving 12 hours in 2 days, everyone felt about like this by the time we pulled into our driveway Monday night….

little rock

Needless to say, we were glad to be home! It sure was an eventful and fantastic Christmas!

Would love to hear from you! 1 Comment
Filed Under: Family, Holidays, MBB, SKB, SPB, Travel

After Christmas

January 7, 2016

The day after Christmas the fun continued when my brother and his family arrived in Birmingham. The boys were anxiously awaiting Nate and Delaney…

bham

and we were so glad to have all the cousins together!

cousins

My brother especially loved getting to squeeze on Samantha. I think he wanted to take her home with him!!

keath samantha

The boys got spoiled all over again…

presents

and everyone loved getting to hang with the family…

gj and kids

even if we didn’t win big on the scratch-offs! There’s always next year!

xmas lottery

The next morning we all hit the road to drive 6 hours to Arkansas. We got there late afternoon and went over to John and Cara’s to see the Patterson side of the family! I was so excited for Granddaddy to meet Samantha. Even though her lip is stuck out here, she really did SO well all night despite having only slept about 30 minutes the entire car ride!

granddaddy

The youngest and oldest!  🙂

granddaddy

The cousins had fun playing together and Samantha checked out Tucker the dog.

searcy

All the cousins posed together…

searcy

and then we even got them to line up diagonally!  🙂

searcy

Delaney 6, Maxwell 5, Savannah 4, Nate 4, Spencer 3, Walker 2, Samantha (almost) 1!

We then made all the grownup cousins line up too!

searcy

We then gathered all the Patterson boys together…

patterson

and finally, the 3 Maxwells! Maxwell Banks, Audrey Maxwell, and Stephen Maxwell!  Quite the trio!

maxwell x 3

It was a great trip to see family! See you tomorrow!

Would love to hear from you! 4 Comments
Filed Under: Family, Holidays, MBB, SKB, SPB, Travel

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