I can’t believe how tall Hailey is!!  She looks so grown up…

Hunter was not interested in standing to see how tall he was hahaha

Hay ride

Hay ride

After the pumpkin farm we went to the Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday with a yummy lunch.  Afterwards we came back to our house for cake and presents.

I couldn’t ask for a happier birthday

Our last day in Disney World   We slept in until 8am and then packed up most of our stuff.  Then we went and got some breakfast and ate it by the pool.  We all went swimming for a while:

I was getting nervous that we weren’t going to get everything packed up in time to go, so I went back to our room to finish packing while Hailey and Rich did some more swimming.

One last picture of the building we stayed in.

Once everything was all packed up I called and booked our bounce back offer (free dining).  We decided to stay at the French Quarter for our next visit.  It’s much smaller and we didn’t really like how huge Riverside is.  We stayed at French Quarter a few years ago and really liked it there.

Then we had some yummy lunch and I had a Magic Cookie with my lunch.  It was sooooo super delicious!!

There was a little time to play in the arcade before we had to go.

While we waited for the bus to come to take us back to the airport we looked for Hidden Mickey’s in our lobby and found several of them.  Can you find all of them?

My princess

Sad to be on Magical Express back to the airport.

When we got to the airport, Rich said we could just pick any security line to go through.  I told him I didn’t think so and we should ask someone first since we had never flown Southwest out of Orlando before.  He insisted he was right so we picked a line and waited in it.  Once we got all the way through the line we asked where to go for Southwest… and guess what- we were at the wrong end of the airport.  We had to go all the way to other end and wait in line to go through security again.  Do you know how much fun that is with a 5 year old and a very overtired baby?  Lots… We were able to go through the employee line and skip the longest part of the wait, so that was very helpful.  When we go to North Carolina we were just supposed to do a quick stop and then continue on our way without getting off the plane.  But, there were severe thunderstorms at our destination so we were delayed.  Ugh!  We finally arrived at our destination much later than we had planned.  Then all the buses that came to pick people up to take them to the parking lot were so full there was no room for any people on them, let alone us with all our luggage.  Finally Rich went and got on the bus and went and got our car while I waited with Hailey and Hunter.  It took well over an hour… not fun at midnight.  Then of course there was the 3 hour drive home, while Hunter screamed because he had not been in his car seat for 10 days and was not happy about being in it again, he did eventually fall asleep about an hour into the trip home.  So, the trip home was not a whole lot of fun…

We did have a wonderful trip to Disney this year!  It is certainly much harder to do with a baby but we still had a great time.  I really liked how we took it slower this year and didn’t stay until park closing every night.  It felt much more relaxing than usual.  We can’t wait to go back!!

Tigger with Hunter at 10 months old.  It was so hard to get a picture this month!

Hunter likes to play peek-a-boo using his bedroom door.

Hunter will use anything that he can to help himself stand.

I can’t believe he’s already 10 months old!

I think he’s close to walking!  He has started standing up and letting go, just standing there not holding on to anything.  He hasn’t tried to take any steps yet, but I know that’s coming soon enough.

Everything Hailey does, Hunter has to do too.  If Hailey screeches, Hunter screeches.  If Hailey makes a funny noise, Hunter makes a funny noise.  If Hailey plays the piano, Hunter plays the piano.  He sure does look up to her and wants to do everything she does.  When Hunter plays the piano he sings too- he’ll say “aaaaahhhhhh.”  He also does that when someone sings, he waits for the person to stop singing and then he sings back.

Hailey- 6 years old, Hunter 10 months old

New stuff from this month:

Hunter’s 4th tooth came in a day after he turned 9 months old.  He is now working on two more top teeth.

Hunter had a very busy month checking out our house since he is now a speedy crawler.  He started to crawl about a week before turning 9 months, so this last month he has been very busy finding anything and everything that he could possibly get into.  He is such a busy little boy!!  We have to keep the bathroom and bedroom doors closed to keep him out.  But now that he is standing up all the time he tries to reach the door knobs.  He also tries to reach the top of the gate at the stairs and he works hard seeing if he can get it open.

One of Hunter’s favorite games to play is- throw my toys down the stairs and see who will go get them for me   He also loves to be chased… he’ll crawl a little ways, then sit and look at me and giggle, then crawl again- waiting for me to chase him.  It’s just too cute.  He has just started to help clean up his toys- when I sing the “Clean Up” song, he will stop what he is doing and start putting his toys into his bins.  I love it!!  He doesn’t like it too much when I help- he’ll tip the bin and look for whatever I put in there so he can take it back out hahaha

Sleep has been a little bit better, but only because he sleeps with me and Rich.  For nap time I usually have to hold him while he sleeps (my facebook time) or lay down with him.  He immediately wakes up if I try to put him in his crib.  At night he’ll go into his crib for a little while, maybe an hour at most, then he comes and gets into bed with us.  It’s working for now and we’re all getting more sleep, so we just have to do what works.

Hunter is still not really doing table foods- for the most part he’ll chew and chew and then just keep the food in his mouth and not swallow it.  Eventually I have to take it out of his mouth.  There are some table foods he eats, but for the most part he’s still eating baby food.  He loves sweet potatoes and yogurt- I think those are his 2 favorites.

Hunter did not have a check-up this month so I don’t know his weight/height.  I think he weighs around 21 pounds.  I know he’s gotten longer but when I tried to measure him he was shorter than last month, so I don’t think I got a very good measurement hahaha.  He is now wearing 12 months or 12-18 month clothes.  He is still wearing size 4 diapers.

On our last day in the parks we had an early breakfast reservation at the Crystal Palace so we arrived at Magic Kingdom at 8:30am.  I love arriving in the park before it opens and walking down an empty Main St.

Last family picture at Magic Kingdom for 2012

It just doesn’t get any better

I just thought someday I might be interested in what the prices were back in 2012.  The first time we (just me and Rich) ever ate here was on our honeymoon in 2000- I would love to know how much it was then, but sadly that was before I took pictures of everything.

The Crystal Palace

I couldn’t ask for a better view while waiting for our table.

Our first visitor was Pooh.  Hailey gave him a big hug and asked him if he had enough honey to eat.  He shook his head yes and rubbed his belly.

Hunter just loved Pooh and kept laughing at him.

Hailey asked Eeyore if he was having a happy day and he shook his head yes.

We could see Piglet coming to our table and heard the announcement that the characters would be doing the parade soon.  So, when Piglet stopped at our table I could tell he was in a hurry.  He posed for a quick picture.  Hailey jokingly asked him if he knew there was bacon up at the buffet.  He just shook his head yes and gave no other reaction, which was kind of disappointing.

As he was walking away Hailey gave him a hug, but I think it’s obvious he was trying to rush off.

After the parade Hailey got to see Tigger… they did a couple of bounces together but he seemed to be in a hurry too.

I liked the food at breakfast at the Crystal Palace but I was really disappointed in the character interaction.  Other than Pooh it was pretty obvious that the characters were in a hurry.  I feel like if I have to get up at 6am 6 months ahead of time in order to get a reservation then the characters should be able to spend a little more time.  We said last year that we were going to skip the Crystal Palace on our next trip and I wish we would have actually done that.

Hailey posing by the wishing well.

One of our main goals to get done on this day was to meet Merida.  I had heard that her line gets very long through out the day, so we headed there first thing.

Practicing a little archery while waiting to meet Merida.

Hailey and Merida

Hailey asked me to take a picture of the bears, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have.  I’m glad I did, because I have heard that they are no longer there.

I don’t know if it’s because it was still early in the morning or the time of year but we only waited a few minutes to see Merida… and when we left there were only a few others in line.

Rich and Hailey rode on the Tomorrowland Speedway

Next we saw Alice

Rich and Hailey went on the Tea Cups… I can not do that ride.

Next we grabbed some fastpasses to go on Buzz Lightyear and then went to the Laugh Floor.  Unfortunately Hunter was not in the mood for the Laugh Floor, so I had to take him out.  When Rich and Hailey came out of there I took Hailey to see Stitch.

Next we used our fastpasses to go on Buzz.

At this point the park was starting to get a bit busy.  Since it was the day before Labor Day we had expected the crowds to pick up a bit.  We decided to head over to Splash Mountain and get some fastpasses.  On our way there we stopped and got a frozen chocolate banana.  They looked so yummy, but I hated it.  I just ate the chocolate off.

We went on Pirates of the Caribbean while waiting to use our fastpasses for Splash Mountain.  We actually had a 20 minute wait, which was longer than it had been all week.

When we came out of Pirates of the Caribbean, Hailey’s Tinkerbell stroller was gone.  There was another one there in the stroller parking, but it wasn’t hers.  It was much more worn out than hers was.  Since we bought hers right before our trip it was new and this one was definitely not.  I really wish that Disney did not feel like they had to constantly move the strollers around in the stroller parking.  The mix up (I assume it was a mistake) would have never happened if a Cast Member had not been moving the strollers around.  It was our last day at the park and we probably wouldn’t have kept the stroller anyways (it was cheap and she doesn’t need a stroller unless we are at Disney) but it was still annoying.

The view from the top of Splash Mountain.

Rich and Hailey rode Splash, then I rode with her, then Rich rode with her again.  We had our fastpasses we had gotten earlier, plus the ones that Hailey and I had gotten earlier in the week after we had to walk off of Splash Mountain.  We had saved them for our last day knowing the park would be busier that day. Then Rich and Hailey went on Thunder Mountain Railroad.  While they were on there I got more fastpasses for later for Splash Mountain.  While I was standing at the fastpass machine it just started spitting out fastpasses- I got 9 of them.  Woo hoo!

We went to Mickey’s Philharmagic one last time.

We ate at Cosmic Rays… Hailey was still not eating like herself (since being sick back on day 6), but promised if she could have peanut butter and jelly that she would eat it.  It ended up being the wrong kind of jelly (grape instead of strawberry) but she did eat it, just not very happily.

It was almost time to use our fastpasses at Splash Mountain, so we headed back over there.  Since we had 9 fastpasses and couldn’t use them all within the hour window we gave some of them away.  I waited next to the entrance (which had an hour long wait) and gave them to people who were getting into the line.  Hailey and I rode first, then Rich and Hailey and then me and Hailey again.  What a perfect way to end our trip!

While Hailey and I were on Splash Mountain for the last time, Rich saw this guy walk up like he was going to sweep the sidewalks.  Instead he started drawing with his broom.

The finished Mickey that he made.

The finished Donald Duck that he made.

On our way our we decided to stop for a Dole Whip… the line was pretty long but since it was our last chance we waited.  (Hailey had Cheetos, which she actually ate- yay!) While we waited for our Dole Whips, Hailey saw another child playing with a bubble gun and decided she wanted one.  We stopped on our way out of the park to see how much they were and I was pretty surprised when Rich let her get one for $12.  If you know how cheap Rich is, then this probably surprises you too :-0

Goodbye Magic Kingdom

When we got back to our resort we spent the evening relaxing and enjoying the pool.

Hailey’s favorites of the day: Ride- Splash Mountain, Character- Merida