Family Week = Disney Week

What do you do when your husband goes to China? Have a party with your family of course! Luckily Tyler's trip coincided with my brother's October break so I got to spend 5 days with my parents and brother last week. Jackson is finally getting old enough to that he remembers his family and is excited to see them. It took no time to warm up to them, he was in heaven when he woke up to see them Wednesday morning.

We started out the trip with a bang and went to Magic Kingdom that morning. We just got our Disney passes renewed so Jackson had gone a few times recently but is still so excited to go each time. I have pictures of us on most of the rides, but we also rode Dumbo, Small World, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, and the kids rode the People Movers.

Having a little too much fun on Buzz- our first ride of the day

So excited to drive a racecar! @ Tomorrowland Speedway

He wanted to ride with Grammy on most of the rides.

Getting ready to head off on the Barnstormer Rollercoaster.

Grandad kept buying Jackson treats and drinks

Say Cheese on Winnie the Pooh

Ste and I rode Splash Mountain and apparently I was really excited although I have no memory of raising my arms or making this face.

I couldn't help myself and snapped this picture while feeding Abbie. Love those thighs!

After Lunch & The Jungle Cruise the park got crowded so we peaced out.

We headed home for some much needed naps, then ventured back out to Epcot and the Food & Wine Festival. We tried some cheddar cheese soup, spicy sausage, pork sliders and finished the night off with crepes in France. Steven and I rode Soarin while my mom braved the Aquarium alone with Jackson and Abbie.

Outside the Nemo Aquarium

 I don't have any pictures of Thursday but it was much more chill. Jackson went to joy school in the morning and then we headed up to Winter Garden Village for shopping and lunch. That night we went to Downtown Disney and Jackson had a total meltdown... maybe that's why I have no pictures...

But Friday got better when we went to Hollywood Studios!

Waiting intently for the Mickey Mouse Show to start.

Cute little Abbie always happy to be along for the ride

Happy after being fed and facetiming with Tyler - love technology and wifi at disney.

Abbie turned 6 months old, and it was also Tyler's birthday in China that day.

Steven, wearing the bright blue shirt in the middle, was a baller and rode Tower of Terror alone.

Abbie getting ready to ride Toy Story for the first time

After riding with Grammy

OK so these scores aren't impressive until you reazlie my mom (1) had Jackson on her lap and I (2) had Abbie on mine.

6 month photo shoot

Saturday we went over to Blizzard Beach! It was mid-October but in the high 80s so it was a perfect non-crowded day to be at the water park

Loving life going down this slide by himself.

Smiley baby girl

The boys in their matching suits.

His first time riding this tube slide!

Ste, so hot right now.

Jackson was spent after running and swimming all day, he took a mega 3 1/2 hour nap and didn't wake up til after 6. So that night we kept in simple and went to Chick-fil-a for dinner.

The next day was Sunday and the last day of their trip. It was so great to have such a fun week with my family and have them help out with the kids too! Luckily we will see them in less than 2 months for Christmas break :)

I had a birthday

So it's been a week but I had a birthday! It honestly seems like forever ago but I haven't  had time to post it until today.

I turned 27 and dang I don't like how that sounds. 25 was ok, 26 was upper twenties and now 27 just has no ring to it, I kind of have started forgetting how old I am. Well not forgetting, more like I just have to think for a second before I answer the question. That is still kind of pathetic I guess, I'm getting old. But the weekend of my bday we had fun. 

We went to magic kingdom on friday night and once we started driving we noticed the rain clouds... We were hoping they'd go away but right as we got on the monorail it started pouring hard. We debated not going in, but we ended up just hanging out in the shops on main street until it passed less than an hour later. We didn't have a ton of time but we hung out in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.

Abbie's first ride on dumbo, loving my diaper bag strap

The boys had the elephant in front

Tyler and short hiding Jackson rode the Barnstormer and he loved it!

Sleeping Beauty at her castle while the boys rode Small World

The next morning we went to Blizzard Beach and I even took a few photos! It was a really fun time because I actually rode some slides this time! We got there right at 10 and Tyler was nice enough to drop me off while he unloaded the car and got the kids in the stroller. Meanwhile I rushed in the park with no bags, kids or worries :) and was able to rush up to do a couple slides before they even got in the park. I was actually the first person on the toboggan racers and was there alone, so I went down alone even though it's normally an 8 person race. But wow I hadn't ridden that one in years and I forgot how much I love it!

Tyler and Jackson on the ice burgs

The boys going down the slide

We also floated around the lazy river as a family and rode the big tube slides with Jackson. He rode with Tyler twice and me twice. Super fun day and pretty empty being September although the weather was still hot!

That night we dropped Jackson off at a friends house and Abbie came with us to Epcot's food and wine festival! It's crazy that this is our fourth year here ...

We have gotten this every year - the sausage in a pretzel roll at Germany.

New item this year, lamb chop with a mint pesto sauce -so good!

 We also tried food in Singapore, ravioli in Italy, Mongolian Beef in China, Hawaiian Sliders, a Greek  gyro, cheddar cheese soup in Canada and School Bread in Norway.

We ended the night at the Beach Club Resort (where we parked) for a ice cream sundae for dessert.

 My birthday was Sunday and the first treat was sleeping in til 9! Then Tyler didn't have meetings and was able to help get us off to church at 11.

Abbie fell asleep like this in Young Womens ... random girl!

 That night we had some friends over for a dessert party, we made cake, they all brought dessert and the sugar intake was a little out of control haha

The only picture of the event ... there were lots of babies and toddler as you can tell in the background

 Jackson helped me blow out the candles at the party and after everyone left we recreated the event again and again and again. Tyler took the photos below of the process. He got so excited each time :)

 Totally didn't plan it but Abbie and I matched with our coral and cream colors :)

Sick

Testing Testing ... is this thing on? Well I feel like our blog has been turned off for a while. Labor Day seems like a year ago, yet it's our last post. OK maybe I'm being dramatic, but I had all these fun little blog post ideas in my head (including Abbie turning 5 months!) until last week happened. Dang last week was awful. We were all sick, and I had it the worst. I don't think I've been that sick for that long in years. Last Sunday, Tyler and I started feeling a little off and for the next couple days we had what we thought was food poisoning. I honestly could not eat anything and felt terrible stomach cramps and nauseous. Tuesday night I was starting to feel a little better with high hopes for tomorrow. Then I don't know how but Wednesday, I got worse. Pretty sure it turned into the flu. No more cramps, just pure exhaustion - still no appetite and nauseous though. It was really bad and lasted Wednesday and Thursday. I didn't leave the house until Friday morning. But Friday Jackson and Abbie both started getting the sniffles and Jackson ended up with a bad cold and Abbie had a double ear infection. I think one of the reasons it has taken me so long to recover is that I've been up in the nights with Abbie.

Bathtime Buddies

But now we're in a new week, I finally can say I'm back to normal health (while my appetite is still not all the way there). Tyler and Jackson are pretty much better too and I think Abbie is getting there. She finally had a good night last night (only fed her once) and I think the medicine is helping her ears. It just is the worst feeling that a whole week went by and I accomplished nothing! There weren't tons of important activies going on luckily but I still had something every day that I cancelled or missed. The main thing was joy school was supposed to be at our house for the first time on Thursday, but that couldn't happen. Throw in a lunch playdate, ward playgroup, a YW Presidency meeting, temple babysitting swap, a baby shower dinner and dinner plans with the McKinnons and there is the week that should have been...

If nothing else this week made me appreciate good health. How lucky am I to have perfect health 99% of the time. My kids are super lucky too, this was actually the first time I'd taken Abbie to the doctor for a "sick visit" and the first time we'd taken Jackson in over a year. I was helping to throw another baby shower for my friend Semra on Saturday afternoon and it was my goal all week to make it to that shower! Luckily I made it, but I ended up needing a lot more help with the food since I wasn't up for making my original planned items (and I wasn't sure if people wanted to eat food coming out of my kitchen anyways).

Other than being sick, there was one item of really great importance that occurred last week, my sister Paige had her baby!! Little William John Lewis was born on September 17th weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces. Her due date had been September 18th but then they changed it to September 28th, so we were not expecting him quite this soon! But he is such a sweetheart and mom and baby and doing well and adjusting to their new lives together.

William with Mom

This past weekend Tyler also had school, so I feel like those are always the more low key weekends anyways. We went to Disney's Art of Animation Resort on Friday evening and went to downtown Winter Garden with a Pizza Dinner at a park on Saturday night.

They opened 2 new wings, Lion King and Little Mermaid

 

Abbie & Jackson waiting for the doctor

We didn't get out of the house much ... but at least Jackson has his new favorite toy aka box to entertain himself