Vacation!

We had a week off from babysitting Landon, Jason had a week off from call and we had a Southwest ticket voucher from canceling a trip last May when we were having so many troubles with Joanna. The stars seemed to align perfectly for a vacation. We had never taken a family vacation. In fact, Jason and I never even took a honeymoon. Joanna had been sleeping decent lately and she has been pretty easy to manage during the day so the time was right! 

Now, we just needed to decide where to go. Jason and I went to Disney World a while back and had an amazing time! Part of that could have to do with the fact that we got engaged while we were there so we were on an all time high, but how can you not have the time of your life with Disney magic all around you?! So there we go, decision made. Disney it is! I found a wonderful travel agent who took care of planning our entire trip, including dinner reservations at 4 delicious restaurants that were incredibly allergy friendly so Joanna was able to eat at them too!

In the month building up to the trip I started talking to Joanna about Disney World and everyone we would meet there. We got some Disney character stuffed animals, figurines and books and even attempted to watch some of the movies (of course she had no interest in any of the movies except Pocahontas). But she did develop a love for Minnie Mouse and her eyes would light up whenever she saw Minnie anywhere.

I know that Joanna is only one year old and probably won't remember anything that happened on this trip, but watching her excitement as she experienced the "Magic of Disney" was even better than experiencing it for myself. I can only imagine what she thought when we woke her up at 1:30 in the morning to get in a car, followed by bus, followed by moving walkway, followed by plane, and another bus and then one more bus to finally arrive at Disney World. This new and exciting place where there were so many fun things to look at, touch, smell, taste and explore.

On this trip, I saw Joanna experience emotions that I didn't even realize she was capable of having! I saw excitement, happiness, curiosity, goofiness, and even fear! I watched my little girl grow up before my eyes this week and I caught my hormonal self tearing up on almost an hourly basis. If that is what parenting is all about, than I don't ever want it to end because that was the best feeling in the world.

Of course, in the typical Jason and Kate fashion, we took about 1000 pictures on this vacation. I deleted about half of them (because do we really need 12 of almost the exact same picture?) and narrowed it down to about 100 to share on the blog. I'll split them up into a few posts and hopefully share some good experiences and stories as well!

Cars, Busses, Planes and Strollers: Disney Day 1

Traveling to Florida itself was a huge adventure filled with new experiences for Joanna. We had a 6am flight out of Midway so we pulled Joanna out of bed at 1:30 in the morning to put her in the car. She slept the whole way to Chicago. When we got there, we woke her up, put her in her stroller and put the stroller right onto the airport shuttle bus. The look on her face was priceless and best described as pure confusion.

Check in and security went quickly so we stopped and changed Joanna out of her PJ's and we got to our gate just in time to board early under the families with young children category (Southwest doesn't do assigned seats so the earlier you board the better!). We got on the plane and Joanna ate a snack while we waited for take off. Once the plane departed from the gate, I threw Joanna under my nursing cover and she had her milk and slept for about half hour, which was as long as I could handle sitting still and nursing in a very uncomfortable airplane seat. When she woke up, she ate some more snacks and watched Pocohantas on the computer. Changing her diaper in the airplane bathroom was quite a challenge but it was a stinker and my pregnant nose was not going to be able to smell that for the rest of the trip! No tears until the landing so overall, she did really well! 

Once we landed we took the Disney Express Bus to our hotel. (Disney Express is awesome by the way, we didn't even have to pick up our bags from baggage claim. They all got delivered to our room that afternoon!) It was about a 40 minute ride but Joanna loved looking out the huge windows (and of course, ate another snack!)

Once we got to the hotel, we had some lunch and packed up to head over to Magic Kingdom. Joanna was ready for a nap so she took a nice snooze in her Daddy's arms while we waited for and rode the shuttle over. 

She woke up just in time to head into Magic Kingdom. Joanna loved her stroller on this trip. I was worried that she would get sick of it and whine to be held but she was great in it! When we were in the hotel room and she wanted to leave, she would even go grab her shoes and wait by the stroller. Despite being completely exhausted (explains the lack of pictures compared to other days), we had blast in Magic Kingdom. We did It's a Small World (definitely her favorite), Winnie the Pooh (she got a little scared on this one, it was pretty creepy though), Under the Sea and the Tiki Room. 

We ate dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern which was delicious family style American classics. Joanna loved the sweet potatoes the most but tried turkey, green beans, and bread. She also got a raspberry sorbet for dessert with fruit (she preferred the fruit but definitely liked the sorbet too!). 

Overall, it was a fun, but VERY exhausting first day! Everyone was in bed and asleep by 9!

Animal Kingdom: Disney Day 2

On Day 2, We went to the Animal Kingdom. This was one of my favorite parks the last time we went to Disney World and it was this time as well! 

My studly husband rocking his Diaper Dude diaper bag!

I don't know what it is about Disney World that makes kids sleep but I have never seen Joanna sleep so much in my life! I am hoping she learned a thing or two about sleeping that will carry over to sleeping at home! :)

We started off the day with a safari ride. This was super exciting for Joanna. She got to see all the animals in real life with no cages or gates around them. No matter how old you are, this never gets old!

One of the coolest parts was the giraffe that was literally standing on the side of the road. You can see in the picture how close the vehicle in front of us was to him.

That's my head in front of the giraffe. I would say it was about ten feet away, tops!

The giraffes were so fun for Joanna because her favorite toy is Sophie the Giraffe and she has never seen one in real life before. She was so excited about them!

For dinner in Animal Kingdom, we ate at buffet called Tusker House in "Africa." Before entering, they take your picture. This was Joanna's reaction to getting her picture taken by anyone other than Jason and I the entire trip. Talk about stranger danger.

The cool thing about our meals that the travel agent set up was that they were "character meals" so different disney characters would come up to the table while you eat. Joanna loved seeing the characters from afar and would laugh and point at them but when they came up to the table, she got very shy!

Daddy loves to take pictures of Joanna eating! At this restaurant, the chef came out and walked through the buffet with me to tell me what Joanna could and couldn't eat. There were lots of options at this restaurant but as usual, fruit was her favorite! She did get to try different types of rice, coos coos, plantains and veggies.

They even brought out a plate of special cookies for Joanna! She liked the cookies but again, preferred the fruit! 

After lunch, we had a fast pass (meaning we didn't have to stand in the full line) to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Joanna was not a fan. I think she was charactered out at this point!

The next thing on our plan for the day was to meet Pocohantas (Joanna's all time favorite) and on the way there, this happened. I woke her up once we got towards the front of the line but she was totally out of it the whole time.

Still half asleep! I wish we would have put this off until later in the day :(

After Pocohantas, we saw Finding Nemo the Musical which was fun (but a little long to sit still for Joanna) and then went to play in the Boneyard Playground. This was fun for Joanna because she got to get out, walk around and explore a little. Here she is going down a slide with Daddy (after a failed attempt at getting down it with 6 month pregnant Mommy!)

She also played and splashed around in a little water fountain. This is when I knew she was ready for the pool! 

After this, it was mid afternoon and we were all pretty tired so we decided to head back to the hotel and hang out there for the night!

Marshmallows and Sandboxes: Disney Day 2

After Animal Kingdom, we went back to the hotel, took a little nap, had some dinner and decided to explore the hotel a little. We went to the pool area where they were having a campfire so I roasted a marshmallow and gave Joanna a taste. 

I think its safe to say she loved it!

Joanna watched some kids play in the pool and I decided that we would come back in the morning to go in since I was exhausted from all the walking that day!

So instead of the pool, Joanna played in the sandbox (another first!). As always, she was hesitant when I first set her down in it but quickly started playing with the toys and having a blast! We also face-timed Papa and Mimi from the sandbox!

Joanna sitting in the weird Florida grass telling us how old she is!