This blog is almost 3 years old and I think this is the longest I've ever gone with out an update. Sorry, life has been a little, well, I'm not sure what the word would be to describe our life lately; basic-daily-survival is the best I can do.
The good news is that I am now 16 weeks pregnant and the baby seems to be developing and growing on schedule. So, no matter how miserable life seems to be right now, we're grateful for the misery.
As most of you know our family was lucky enough to win a free trip to Disney World, thanks to our wonderful daddy who took the time to enter! We finally took our trip on September 29th through October 3rd. I was pretty nervous about the trip, with how sick I've been, but I'm happy to report that we had a wonderful relaxing time. Unfortunately, I'm not so happy to report that our pictures from the trip aren't that great. We decided to take our small point and shoot camera instead of dragging around our big expensive camera. In hindsight I wish we'd brought the good camera. Our poor little point and shoot used to take decent pictures but for some reason it wasn't working so well. All our pictures came out slightly blurry and weird looking. Luckily Arnold took several with his phone that turned out Ok...but oh well.
Ya get what ya get!
At the airport getting ready to board our plane! Reese is very excited...she had no idea what she was in for.
Preparing for take off...Reese was obediently following along with the emergency information! Reese was actually really good on the flight there. She watched movies and played with her toys. The flight went much faster than I thought, so I was very happy!
We arrived in Orlando and went straight to our hotel. We were greeted by the Orlando CVB (they gave us the free trip). We checked in and found out that the CVB would also be paying for our meals while we were there. They also gave us $300 spending money, which we had not expected. This truly made everything about our trip FREE! Not bad at all!
Our Hotel turned out to be a condo. It was 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, living room and dining room. It made our stay that much nicer.
This was Reese's favorite part of the condo...the big jetted tub in the master bedroom. She took hour long (some times longer) baths every night.
This is the building across from us. It was identical to ours. We were staying on the top floor. You can't really tell, but our balcony was about the size of the entire main level of our house.
This was the pool at the hotel. We spent a lot of time at the pool.
Reese loved hanging out on the balcony looking down at the pool. I'm telling you this kid has no fear what so ever.
We had to get up pretty early that day...Reese was a good sport!
Doesn't Arnold look cute in his yellow poncho?
Reese and I tried to participate, but we were on a roof top, in direct sunlight, under plastic... After about 5 minutes I had to throw up and I thought I was going to pass out. I decided this wasn't the best activity for a pregnant lady with morning sickness, so we bailed out and watched from the sidelines.
Just a few of the other "Orlando Makes Me Smile" contest winners!
Obviously the highlight of our trip was Disney World! We had a lot of fun, but honesty we probably only saw about one tenth of everything we could have seen. We were in no hurry and took our time. We only made it to Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom. Disney World is really a week long event...but there's not way I would have made it a week even if we had the time.
This was Reese's favorite ride. Too bad you wait in line 45 minutes for a 2 minute ride.
Reese liked Animal kingdom, but I thought it was just a glorified zoo. I kind of wish we'd gone to Hollywood Studio's instead...but oh well.
On our safari, we got to see quite a few animals up close. I didn't want to include a bunch of boring pictures of animals, so I just chose what I thought was the cutest...this baby giraffe. Reese loved him.
Getting ready to go into "A bug's life". How cute is she in those glasses?
I would say the highlight of our day at Disney World was the big show in front of the castle. Reese was squealing and laughing as she watched all her friends (Micky, Minni, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Pluto and a million more) perform.
Reese loved meeting some of her favorite characters, but she seemed a little puzzled and frustrated that they wouldn't talk back to her. It was pretty funny and cute!
Her favorites, of course, were Micky and Minni. She gave them both big hugs and kisses!
When we told Reese she could pick out anything she wanted from the gift shop, we had no idea her first choice would be a "Reese" size minni. Fortunately there was no way we could fit this in a suit case, so it was a big "no".
We had a lot of fun at Downtown Disney as well, Reese was in love with all her Toy Story friends!
Bottom line, we had a great time...that is until the trip home. The day we left, I was not feeling well and Reese was less than cooperative.
We managed to catch one shot of her 30 minute nap on the plain...proceeded by a 20 minutes screaming fit. Let's just say, I could not have been happier when we pulled into our driveway. It had been a long day.
A big thank you to the Orlando CVB for giving us a FREE vacation that we really needed!
However, next time, I'd love a free trip to the Bahama's :)
Most importantly it's a healthy baby girl! This has been a rough pregnancy. I've been feeling a bit like Jonah lately. Just when I feel like one torturous symptom ends, another begins. But honestly I'm just so grateful this little person has hung on as long as she has and we're eagerly anticipating her healthy arrival.
