Road Trips 2011 - Feb. 2, 2012

Well, since it's February already (crazy!), I think I am going to finally post about our road trips at the end of 2011. In case noone is reading this, I still want to write about it so I can remember that with all the struggles with all the small stuff, we had some fun times in 2011.

In the middle of November, we set off on a 2 week road trip to Florida. We left after school on a Friday, drove a few hours, drove all day on Saturday and arrived in Orlando on Sunday afternoon. We checked in to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (a special treat!) for our week long visit to Disney World and met up with our very good friend, Ashlie (Aunt Ashlie to Conner!) who met us there (from Texas). I'm not sure she knew what she was in for, but she was SUPER and amazingly helpful with the kids and it was so wonderful to get to spend a week with her. The kids loved her and Conner cried when she headed home! But in the mean time, we had a whole week with her...and with my dad, brother and nephew who also came with us. I haven't travelled with my dad and brother in a very long time (I think I was about 19 - so MANY years ago) so it was interesting. We were in 3 different rooms and we tried to catch up every day and have a few meals together, but mostly we did our own stuff.

Loved watching the kids hold hands!

The kids did great (pretty much!) in the car. Conner is a pro on road trips. Brennan took some time to get used to the new car and her new carseat. We switched her to a convertible seat and after a day or so, she did great. They also did great at Disney. We got a side by side double stroller (I recommend the Joovy Scooter x2 if you don't want to spend a ton on a double) and we weren't sure how much we would need it, but we REALLY needed it. By the third day, we needed it a lot. Conner was really excited and loved most of the things we did.

Ashlie and Conner

My dad loved showing Conner around Disney...it was a trip we took many times when I was young

 We bought these awesome headphones which drown out loud noise and they worked wonders and I'm pretty sure they made our trip as good as it was. I actually bought a pair for Brennan too, but we really didn't need hers too much. Conner wore the headphones on rides and they really made him feel much more secure. He wasn't scared of anything. After a few times, on some of the rides, he was comfortable taking them off. He could still hear stuff with them on, just not so loud. His favorite ride I think was the Thunder Mountain Railroad. I loved Toy Story Mania and we rode that one at least 5 times! He LOVED the monorail and the train at Disney. Conner loved watching all the fireworks shows (with headphones!) and he got to get made up as a pirate with his cousin and he had so much fun doing that too (he adores and really looks up to his big cousin!!). He loved meeting the characters from Cars and having breakfast with Chef Mickey at the Contemporary and with the characters in the Animal Kingdom. We also had breakfast with some of the Disney Junior characters which was probably Conner's favorite meal - Special Agent Oso, Handy Manny, Jake (from the Neverland Pirates), and Little Einstein's. He is super in to those characters. But really, he loved meeting all the characters (especially Peter Pan!).

We were at Disney for the Christmas decorations too. Although we don't celebrate Christmas, we did take advantage of the extra stuff they have going on at that time of year. The Osborne Spectacle of Lights was amazing (the kids slept through the whole thing!) and the Christmas parade had all the good characters with an appearance from Santa which Conner thought was so cool!

Brennan did great the whole week in the stroller and being carried. She looked around at everything and took a lot of naps! I know it wasn't ideal for her but she loved the fresh air and being around all of us. Next time will probably be a little more exciting for her. I took her to meet the princesses. She wasn't scared, but not too excited about it just yet. Conner slept through that whole experience.

got a little freaked out and started running when Lightning McQueen revved his engine!

I did have some concerns on the trip about Conner. Brennan got sick but Conner seemed fine. He just got pretty run down while we were there. It's hard not to overdo it when you are at Disney World because there is so much to see and do. But it was SO hot and Conner doesn't have great endurance. We did have a guest assistance pass and I thought that would be enough, but we did end up needing to use the stroller as a wheelchair in certain locations (mostly Epcot) because Conner just could not make it any further. He was exhausted.

We definitely learned lots of lessons for our next trip to Disney. But really, the kids were awesome and had a great time. We headed from there to south Florida to spend a week with my grandma. We got to have Thanksgiving dinner with her at a swanky hotel. It was a long week because we were all tired and ready to get home, but it was great to spend time with my grandma and for her to meet Brennan for the first time. Conner absolutely LOVED spending time with her. She let him set the table with her, help her cut up vegetables for dinner and looked at books with him. She would say "abba dabba doo, I love you" (which is what she said to me when I was a kid) and Conner has been saying that to Brennan ever since!

The day after Thanksgiving, bright and early, we started the long ride home. It wasn't bad at all - except we didn't get to do any Black Friday shopping!!

All in all, a great time with the family! I have a ton more pictures...going to probably make an album on some site and make a link (some day!).