Walt Disney World! - Day One!! Downtown Disney

Sunday morning, July 13th Tate and I began our Disneyworld adventure.  

Our journey actually started 5 years ago in July 2009.  My cousin Marcus and his wife Gail had their twins 8 days before Tate was born.  We decided to take all three cousins to Walt Disney World the summer they turned 5!  I thought this day would never come.  But goodness time has simply flown by. When I think that my sweet baby boy is going to be 5 years old this Wednesday I am simply unbelieving. 

Five years old.  

Our WDW adventure began with Aunt Lindsey picking us up bright and early Sunday morning for our 8:45am flight!  Security here has been great so far when traveling with a child in his stroller, because yes, Tate was in his stroller...happily!  As we boarded the plane, Tate asked to see the pilots (at my suggestion with his latest fascination with everything Disney 'Planes')  They let him right into the cockpit to say hello! We took off right on time!  Tate did great on the plane, he enjoyed his little gifts, his snacks and a quick nap with his new Dusty planes pillow and blanket!

Ready for our DisneyWorld Adventure!

Meeting the pilots and introducing
them to Sven! 

We landed in Orlando and made our way to the Disney Magical Express bus which was taking us to our resort.  We didn't even have to get our luggage...it was wonderful!  About 45 minutes after we landed we were walking into the  Polynesian Resort at the Magic Kingdom.  The grounds were gorgeous and everyone was great.  We had been upgraded to club level service at the resort, so we were in heaven.  We received our leis and got situated in our room even though we were early.  The room was fantastic with a small balcony.  Our luggage wasn't due to arrive for 2-3 more hours, so we ran down to the quick service restaurant at our hotel, Captain Cook's, for some lunch.  We were starving.  

Loved our towel animal Mickey Mouse!

Of course I always worry about how we'll be accommodated with Tate's food allergies.  On the Disney cruise in October, it had been so nice and easy...I had been so impressed.  It was not that different here, except that each and every time we went somewhere I had to tell either our waitperson or person taking our quick service order about his allergies.  They would then call the chef (table service) or the manager (quick service) to help us.  This in and of itself would add 15-20 minutes to our dining time.  But we persevered and got us both something to eat.  Of all the meals we had this past week, this was by far the worst...so not a good way to start our trip, but I moved on.  We ate back in our room as we were waiting for our cousins to arrive as well as my dad and my nephew.

My dad had decided a couple of months ago that all children should get to experience Disneyworld.  My sister and her husband didn't have the funds to come themselves after saying they would.  So my dad opted to bring my nephew.  I've always known my dad is just quietly awesome...now everyone knows.  They arrived later in the evening and were staying off property.

My cousins had arrived just a bit after us, rented a car and were waiting for their room to be ready.  They stayed at the Art of Animation, a Disney resort, just not one very near to Tate and me.  We ended up not being able to meet up Sunday, but Tate and I had a great time together anyway.

We watched the last 30 minutes of the World Cup and were thrilled to see Germany win!!

Our luggage arrived, and I got us unpacked while Tate played with the toys I had brought along.  Then we were off to Downtown Disney via the Disney shuttle bus!!  Aunt Dottie and Aunt Rita had given Tate a very generous gift card for his birthday, and he was just dying to make use of it which he did almost immediately upon getting to Downtown Disney!  A happier boy you've never seen!  Almost immediately upon entering Downtown Disney we were able to use our rain ponchos and stroller rain cover...happy! happy! joy! joy! Not :)  This rain was just a sliver of a precursor to the rain that befell us for the next three days.  Tate, however, was not the least bit fazed.  We grabbed some dinner at the  Earl of Sandwich (which was super yummy!) together then headed back to the resort with his new 'Planes' toys!  

Happy Early Birthday!!

We made our way back to the hotel and got ready for bed.  He was asleep at his normal time, and I spent some time on the computer and organizing our bags for the following day's activities...Blizzard Beach and Epcot!!

It was an absolutely spectacular first day at the Happiest Place on Earth!!

World Cup 2014 Week Amidst Our Summer Shenanigans!!

The theme for Tate's soccer camp this week was 'World Cup Edition 2014'!  No surprise there, huh?  As our country rallied behind the awesome USMT, Tate was learning how to shoot, dribble and pass the soccer ball!!!  We are so very sad that the USA didn't advance, but we are in of the talent of Tim Duncan and the heart of all the men on the USA team!!!

I believed that we would win.

Sunday evening found us at my parents' for a few days.  I got everything organized for Tate including his last minute shinguards (I got an email that Saturday evening at 9:05 pm for Monday morning's camp instructing me that shinguards were a requirement...sigh).  I had his epi-pens ready, his snack packed up and my nerves on edge.  It's so very hard to trust someone else with the care of my child and his food allergies.  The camp didn't provide snacks, but they had a snack break.  In the email we received on Saturday evening they asked that the parents provide a peanut-free snack, but somehow that wasn't quite good enough for me.  Plenty of people don't take food allergies seriously, and so I became 'THAT' parent who emailed on Sunday asking if the coaches checked the snacks and if they were CPR certified.  I got a lovely response back that evening which I sooooo appreciated stating the coaches were all CPR certified and that they didn't check the snacks, but they would be sure to check the snacks of whoever sat next to Tate.  I was almost 100% relieved.  I posted on FB how annoyed I was with the last minute 'requirements' for soccer camp because I didn't have time on Sunday to be running around buying soccer stuff.  As always, my amazing friends came through.  My girlfriend, Allison texted me to tell me she had shinguards, cleats, socks and shorts Tate could have!!  WooHoo!!  Lifesaver!!  I picked them up on our way to the baseball game last Sunday!!!

We (my parents, Tate and me) were all up at the crack of dawn on Monday.  I got Tate dressed and lubed up with sunscreen and headed off to work!  Tate was thrilled to be wearing J's fast soccer shoes and his socks, shinguards (which were really ours as I bought a set of sock/shinguards at Academy worried Tate wouldn't like the separate guards and socks Allison gave us...turned out I was right...he refused to wear them on Tuesday, but I digress).  So he happily went with Grandmommy and Papa to soccer camp.

My dad was so sweet.  Late Sunday night as I was getting ready for bed, he got out of bed as I think he had been ruminating over this for the 2 hours he was already 'asleep.'  He told me that he was worried that Tate would get too hot at this camp, and if he got to the 'place' and he didn't see anything but an open field, that he was not leaving his 4 year old grandson there.  He was adamant.  I, on the other hand, just had faith that this camp is not new and that they know how to take care of the kiddos.  But my parents were doing me a huge favor driving Tate to this camp 15 miles away in morning rush hour for these two days and then keeping him until I got off work;  I decided that if they weren't comfortable they should just bring him back home.

I got a 'report' on my lunch hour :).  Tate had done really well.  His coach was actually one of the guys who's coached him before...his beloved Coach G.  Coach G was his coach at daycare his first session!!!  He's coached him a few more times, and Tate just adores him.  So I was over the moon ecstatic when Tate told me that afternoon on the phone that Coach G was his coach...he was so excited.  There are two groups of 10 in the session, and the other coach was Coach Rod!  Coach Rod has coached him this entire year at his Saturday classes when I go with him and at least two sessions at his daycare.  Once I knew these two young men were his coaches, I was absolutely confident Tate would be safe.

Ready for camp!

Definite bed-head hair!

Each day at soccer camp had a different theme.  Monday's was 'All About the World Cup' and the kids were to just roll out of bed with bedhead hair...no product, no brushing.  As this is our standard MO we were prepared.  (Do people do their sons' hair???)  At the end of each session the kids got an update to share with their parents giving a brief synopsis of what they learned that day as well as giving them a trivia question to answer the following day! I was really impressed.  Each afternoon I received an email update telling me the same info including some pictures from the session!!  I loved this attention to detail!!

Trivia Question:  What was the highest attendance for a World Cup match and where was it held?
Answer: 173,850 in Brazil (Brazil lost...it was in 1950)

Tuesday was wear your favorite teams jersey or colors, so I put Tate in red, white and blue as we didn't have a jersey.  Whether or not he answered the trivia question I will never know.  I repeated it to him several times, but the number was long and he's never recited such a number and it was alot for him to remember.  Who knows?  LOL!









































Trivia Question: Which is the only team to appear in every World Cup?
Answer:  Brazil

Work was insanely crazy Monday and Tuesday.  We were just slammed.  I have never been so tired after working a 2 day work-week.  This 5 day break was well needed and well deserved :).

I dropped Tate off on Wednesday, which was wear Brazil colors day,and headed off for a quick massage.  When I picked him up he was thrilled with his 'high five' for confidence!!

In his Brazil green and yellow!!

Trivia Question:  What is the only host country to have been eliminated in the first round?
Answer: South Africa


We headed off to the 'French Fry' place for lunch and then met our friend L and her son M at a snocone place!!  (crossing that off the bucket list!).  Goodness these were some awesome snocones!!  Yummy!!  We met another woman and her son on the patio after we joined them at their table.  The boys had a blast playing together 'in the snow.'

Starting our staycation off with a toast!!!

You should have seen the toothbrushing
he got that night!!!  :)

Thursday was USA Day, so they were to wear red, white and blue!!!

Poor little guy was sooooo hot!!

He was so excited that he scored TWO goals!
It was because he was wearing J's fast shoes he said!

We had lunch at home, then met some other friends at another snocone place.  The one the day before was MUCH better in my opinion, but Tate had just as fantastic a time!!

I've moved Tate's swim lessons to Thursday afternoons, so that he will already have a spot 'reserved' when school starts.  The after school slots fill up quickly, so I moved him from his 9:30 Friday morning spot to Thursday afternoon.  We've been in that 9:30 Friday spot since he was 22 months old, so this was hard for me.  It also meant that this Thursday afternoon would most likely be one of the last times I'll get to see him in swim lessons, because I'll have to have his babysitter take him during the school year (and no I don't have a babysitter yet!), as well as the rest of the summer, someone else will have to take him.  It is so hard to miss out on so much of his life.

Even worse, once we got there yesterday afternoon it started thundering and lightning, so they cancelled the lesson 2 minutes into it.  It took all I had in me not to start crying.

But we came home and snuggled in bed together.

Today was the final day of soccer camp.  Much to Tate's delight it was indoors as the rec center was having a 4th of July celebration outside.  Because yes it's the 4th of July!  And they had camp!  I dropped him off then came home to start our Disney trip packing and ran a couple of errands.  I arrived back at camp early enough to see the group getting their awards.  I love how proud he is of himself!!

That's Coach Rod in the middle and Coach G on the right! So today is the 4th of July.  America's birthday.  We've never really celebrated it;  I don't quite know why.  Last year he was in soccer camp as well.  We definitely don't go watch the fireworks as it's way past his bedtime.  My parents don't do bar-b-qs and never have, so it's just not been that big a deal.  That makes me sad.  We weren't invited anywhere today, so we just made our own special day.  After soccer we came home and he worked on his legos...over and over and over again.  He is completely enamored of this red lego train.  And I'm so proud of him for being able to put it together all by himself as the age range is 6-12.  It was a Christmas gift this past year!  We ended up riding our bikes over to our local FREE pool and meeting L and M.  Tate had an absolute ball in the pool!!  It was a lovely bike ride and I even got in the pool today which put Tate over the moon!  It was such a lovely afternoon!  My goal is going to be starting some traditions for me and Tate; remembering that though we are a small family of 2, we are a family.  We are an American family.  We might be small, but we are mighty.  And we are worth celebrating.  This land of the free has enabled me to create my family.  We will lift ourselves up in celebration! Then it was bedtime for my way exhausted little boy!  He was asleep within 5 minutes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!