Happy Halloween!

Mommy feels we have been celebrating Halloween for days. This past weekend Graham visited with both sets of grandparents and tonight Uncle Jared and Aunt Ginny came over to see our little lion. We had a surprise trick-or-treater too...Grandmother!

A Busy Bee Halloween

This morning Graham's class had a costume parade and this afternoon was his class Fall party. Mommy loves seeing all of the kids in their costumes. It was literally a zoo today! The party was pretty entertaining too. It definitely gave Mommy a new appreciation for his teachers. =)

Little Pumpkin

Here's our little pumpkin dressed in some of his fall pumpkin outfits. He has more than any one child should. =) Why are pumpkin outfits so hard to resist?

Old Baker's Farm

Some friends from church invited us to join them on a trip to Old Baker's Farm on October 15. Graham loved the animals and got to pet a chicken and a bunny. We then took a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch where we really got to pick our own pumpkin. We stopped and saw the baby calves on the way out and Graham wasn't too sure about them getting so close to him. He kept telling it "No". =) He did love riding the toy tractors though. Mommy had to pry his hands off in the end.

Disney Day 3

After the character breakfast, the rain cleared up so we all headed to the Magic Kingdom. The first thing we did this time was head straight to see Mickey and Minnie so we could record it this time. When we were next in line, we were told it would be a minute because Mickey was on a cheesecake break. The next thing we knew, there was a knock on the door and out popped Mickey! Graham got to hold his hand all the way into where the pictures are made. We're so glad we got to go back and record it. Plus, Nana got to see his reaction this time. Lindy continued to get autographs but we went to meet up with the others to ride the teacups. We rode the carousel this time, Snow White, and It's A Small World again. We then split off from the group and rode the train which Graham seemed to like. We then made dash to Animal Kingdom to catch the last showing of Nemo. (We had to take advantage of our park hopper passes we hadn't used yet, right?) It's a Broadway play type show with puppets. This required a ferry ride, a bus ride, and running through Animal Kingdom. We did discover that the ferry is a pretty sweet ride because you do not have to fold up your stroller. Graham napped through the journey and woke up in time for the show. He seemed to like it and clapped at all the right spots. We then made the mad dash in reverse to try and make the Electrical Light Parade. Keep in mind it has been raining off and on this whole time. We made it just in time to see the parade and the fireworks. Graham LOVED them both. He especially liked Pete's Dragon that blew smoke in the parade. He loved it so much that we met up with some other family members to watch the parade again. After dinner, we headed out with one tired little boy (and a tired Mommy and Daddy!) Lindy stayed for several more hours...until almost 2 am when the park closed!

Character Breakfast

On Day 3, we all had reservations at Cape May Cafe for a character breakfast. Luckily, this was at our hotel so all we had to do was take an elevator down. Since we joined the trip so late, our reservation was separate from everyone else and 10 minutes earlier. However, the rest of the family got seated before us and we were not seated until 40 minutes past our reservation. Graham was cranky and not happy about this at all. The only good thing is that we were at a table next to the rest of the family. The first character to visit was Minnie (Daddy had went to the buffet.) Graham was too busy coloring to pay her much attention. The next character was Goofy. Graham was pretty excited about him and stood up in his high chair to give him a hug. (Why didn't these high chairs have straps?) The third character was Donald. We walked Graham over to the other table to visit with him and the girls. Graham really loved Donald and kept patting him. That part was pretty entertaining, but all in all Mommy found the character breakfast to be pretty stressful. We preferred the short, calm wait to see Mickey at the Theatre!

Disney Day 2

On day 2, we were all exhausted from the first day so we slept in that day. Plus it was raining. Nana, Papa, Uncle Barry, Aunt Amy, and Lindy headed to Animal Kingdom early. We ended up heading to Epcot with Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Bob, and Ellie just before lunch time. You could walk to Epcot from the Beach Club where we were staying. Fortunately, we had gotten a rain cover with our rental stroller (Highly recommend Magic Strollers) so Graham stayed completely dry. The rest of us...not so much. The first thing we did was go ride Nemo since that was Graham's favorite movie at the time (We probably watched it at least 3 times on the ride down, 4 on the ride back, and numerous times in our room despite trying the Lion King and Lady and the Tramp. Graham always wanted "Nelmo". That doesn't include the numerous times he'd watched it the three weeks prior to the trip.) He loved the aquarium and Turtle Talk with Crush. We then went to the Land and ate at the food court and rode as many indoor rides as possible. We rode one more ride about the imagination and went back to the room for a nap. Graham had a special surprise (the stuffed Mickey we bought the day before had been delivered) when he woke up from his nap.

That night Aunt Charlotte got us reservations in Italy so we went back to Epcot for dinner. It was STILL raining! It never stopped that entire day. (The rest of the crew went to Hollywood Studios). I should back up and tell you that the night before we left for Disney, we bought rain gear. We ended up getting an entire suit when all we really wanted was the jacket. Well, that night we wore the pants too and it made it SO much more bearable. Why we didn't think to wear them during the day, I'll never know. Needless to say, there aren't very many pictures from Day 2.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

On the second night (first full day), we had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It poured down rain right before the party and we ended up trudging out in the rain to try and make the parade. It turns out the parade had been delayed due to the rain. It's a special Halloween parade and we're glad we got to see it. Graham really liked it! It was the first parade he's ever seen. Next they did special Halloween fireworks. Graham really loved those! He had never seen fireworks before either. After the fireworks, we rode the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also saw Timon from the Lion King before we headed back to the room. 11 p.m. is really late for a little boy. =) The rest of the family stayed even later!