Disney Day 1: Be Our Guest!

It's Disney Week here on the blog! Well, it won't take the full week, but I do want to recap our spring break Disney trip over the next couple of days. We had so much fun!

Prior to our trip we were in St. Petersburg for Ellie's birthday party, so we departed from there. We woke up the morning of March 17th to great news that my cousin Molly had her baby in the wee hours of the morning, and there's nothing like a new little niece to jumpstart a fun few days, right? We got everybody up, loaded up the car and hit the road around the time E.J. was due for his morning nap, in the hopes that he would sleep in the car a bit (he did).

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom with just enough time to get parked and into the park before our first FastPass of the trip: meeting Mickey at the Town Square Theater! The kids loved seeing him as much as ever and this was a perfect way to kickstart our Disney vacation.

Hugs for Mickey!

Let's do this Disney thing!

After visiting Mickey we hustled out to Fantasyland to make our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest. Eric did a great job of securing this reservation for us, and we were very excited to eat in the Beast's castle! We were able to place our food order online ahead of time, so when we got there, we checked in and were given a buzzer (in the shape of a rose, naturally). We walked in and quickly checked out all the dining rooms before ultimately settling in at a table in the Ballroom. As soon as we were seated, our food was delivered to our table!

Exterior of Be Our Guest, with Beast's Castle up on the hill

Inside the restaurant

The Ballroom, where we had lunch

Looking up at a chandelier from our table

Eric and I each ordered a different entree so we could share and try a couple of things. We got the Braised Pork and Croque Monsieur, plus a children's grilled cheese for Ellie (which went largely uneaten). It was all quite tasty, although the Braised Pork was by far the best.

Lunch!

Enjoying our meal

For dessert, we ordered a Triple Chocolate Cupcake and "The Master's Cupcake" (complete with "gray stuff," a la the song the restaurant is named for). Both were very good, though we were quite partial to the gray stuff.

Yummy cupcakes

The gray stuff - it's delicious!

While we were finishing up, Eric walked around to take some pictures of the other available dining rooms: the West Wing, and The Rose Gallery. There were some very cool touches in each!

The West Wing

The Rose Gallery

After lunch, Eric and Ellie were off to visit Elsa and Anna. We were only able to get one FastPass for the Frozen duo, so Eric and Ellie went alone while I hung out by Cinderella's castle and nursed E.J. As usual, Ellie was thrilled to meet those two. She showed Elsa her Thomas the Train temporary tattoo, and chatted it up with Anna about how they were "braid friends" (thanks to an Anna baseball cap with faux braids we picked up at Bed, Bath and Beyond the day before). She was so happy!

Showing Elsa her tattoo

So excited to be talking to Anna

Twin Annas!

When we reunited, we did a little waiting around for the Fairy Godmother, who was supposed to make an appearance near where I was sitting momentarily. Unfortunately we kind of got the run-around and our waiting was for naught, but we re-grouped. E.J. was ready for a nap so we had Ellie vacate the stroller so he could snooze, and she got to ride on my back in a Toddler Tula we borrowed from my local babywearing group's lending library. We spent some time walking through Frontierland and Adventureland while E.J. napped. Ellie liked watching the geysers near Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Ta-da! A new way for Ellie to enjoy the Magic Kingdom!

Resting up for more fun

We watched this thing forever.

Watching the rollercoaster go by

We wandered past the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and Ellie expressed interest in riding. We were able to make a quick switch of FastPasses, giving up something we were going to pass on anyway, in order to get Ellie and me right on the ride while E.J. continued his nap. It was fun to ride something with just my girl!

On the Magic Carpets (or, as Ellie called it, "riding the pillows")

Aladdin and Jasmine were scheduled to make an appearance soon thereafter, so we got in line for that. E.J. woke up during our wait, and Eric went to get us some cool refreshments because it was very hot and we were tiring out.

Nothing like a little frozen treat to revive you on a hot day!

The wait was worth it, as we were able to see Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie. All were great with the kids, and we got a nice family photo!

Aladdin having some fun with Ellie and totally making Jasmine jealous

Jasmine greeting E.J.

I wonder what his three wishes will be?

The whole gang!

As I mentioned, we were growing pretty tired, so we slowed things down a bit. I stopped to nurse E.J. in Adventureland, then we moved on to Main Street and let the kids stretch their legs in the grass with the castle in the background.

Staying hydrated!

Relaxing

The cutest.

You can't not take a family photo on Main Street when you go to Disney, no matter how OVER IT your kids may be.

We were pretty ready to call it a day, but we had one remaining FastPass. The one was my extra, since Eric used his third to take Ellie to Anna and Elsa. My last one was used to take Ellie to see Tinkerbell. She seemed tired in line, but waited patiently to get Tinkerbell's autograph and then perked right up when her turn came.

Marker at the ready!

That's my Ellie!

And that was it! We left the park and caught the ferry back to the parking lot.

With E.J. on the ferry

We stayed at a suites hotel not far from the park that was not nearly as nice as the place we stayed in January, but still perfectly serviceable with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen. We got checked in, settled, and put E.J. to bed as soon as possible. We had pizza for dinner with Ellie and then put her to bed, too. Eric and I relaxed a bit then crashed ourselves. That was a long day, and we had more fun ahead of us in the morning!

Mr. Chomp

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a tooth! E.J.'s first tooth officially popped through his gums a little over a week ago, at 9.5 months old. Ellie was eight months old when she got her first teeth (she did two at once, at the same time she started crawling, on literally the very day that we FLEW ON A PLANE TO MOVE TO FLORIDA, because she likes to really keep things interesting) so E.J. was a bit slower on the uptake here, but that's quite alright with me. Ever since I noticed the tell-tale little sore on his gum I have been mourning the impending loss of his precious, gummy, trademark E.J. grin.

Sadly, you won't find said grin in this post, because not only is that pesky tooth making his adorable gumminess a thing of the past, but the only way I could grab a good picture of it thus far is to snap it while he's crying. So I give you a very sad baby who is actually much less offended by this tooth than it seems.

His mother, on the other hand, will just be over here crying about how fast he's growing up. Don't mind me.

Seeking Our Next Steps

Today I wanted to take a little break from all my recapping to just touch briefly on what is going on in life for us generally, or, more specifically, in terms of Eric's career. As you may recall, in fall 2013 Eric started teaching high school through Teach for America. His commitment was for two years in a classroom, and now we're quickly approaching the end of that two years. So, it's time to figure out just what comes next.

If he wants to, Eric could continue teaching at his current school next year. His temporary teaching certificate is good for another year, and it sounds like the administration at his school would happily welcome him back. If you would indulge me as I brag on him for a moment, he has done a phenomenal job in his two years there so far. Naturally, it has been a challenge and certainly has been a learning experience. He was thrown into teaching with no real experience in a very trying situation. He had to learn a lot about the kids he was trying to reach (not to mention the class content) and he is constantly evaluating and re-evaluating his methods and working to adapt to better serve the specific kids in his classroom. He has spent countless hours scouring the internet for new and interesting ways to teach the subject matter, while also trying to teach greater life lessons (from things as small as "don't curse in the classroom" and how to give a proper handshake to bigger themes about perseverance, hard work, self-control and determination). He was elected chairman of the Shared Decision Making Committee, involved in a couple different athletic groups and, most impressively (in my opinion), is currently a finalist for Teacher of the Year at his school—and this is only his second year in the classroom!

Eric has worked really hard and I have been so proud of his efforts. I know it has been discouraging at times and has really tested his resolve, but he feels passionately about what he's doing and has remained focused. His teaching and class management has improved greatly since last year, and presumably next year would be even better. And, of course, each subsequent year will always be better than the previous year. It would be a constant learning experience for him and I think he would be very up to the challenge should he decide to make teaching a permanent career choice.

However, at this point, Eric is wondering if his skill set might not be better suited in another area of education reform. If so, now is the ideal time to try that out. If given the option, he would like to work for an education non-profit here in Jacksonville, be it Teach for America or another organization. The available opportunities thus far have been somewhat limited, although a few things have popped up that have piqued his interest and he is in the process of pursuing multiple opportunities of interest. Of course, it could still be some time before we know if anything comes of those things but we are hopeful. And, if they don't pan out, teaching another year is hardly an undesirable option.

Through this whole Teach for America stint we have really talked at length about where Eric sees his career going. There have been a myriad avenues we felt we could explore and it has been quite a progression to even get to this point—and we're still fairly uncertain, to be honest! Eric is a very smart, capable and dedicated man, and I have faith that he will end up where he is most needed. I say it a lot during our conversations: in retrospect, every step we have taken in our lives seems to have been destined as the right thing for us. I have no doubt that God is guiding our steps and He will place the right opportunity before us. It is simply our (Eric's) job to do our due diligence and fill out the applications, submit the resumes, keep our minds open, say our prayers and trust that we will be led down the right path. Eric will end up where he can be the most useful. I really believe that.

Of course, in all this talk, our location has been an underlying theme. I mentioned above that we want to stay in Jacksonville. And that is true, for at least another year. I can't say that it's permanent, but we do like Jacksonville. Our opinion of Jacksonville was much improved with our move to our current house in a walkable neighborhood, close and easily accessible to downtown. It's much more our style than our old apartment's neighborhood was! And, generally, it feels like Jacksonville is really on the verge of a sort of revitalization. There seems to be a lot of work being done to improve the downtown area, for example, and really make Jacksonville a cool place to be. We have found lots of things to do here, we like our neighborhood, and the idea of planting our roots here does not sound crazy in the least. We like living in Jacksonville.

However, despite all that, we recognize that it is entirely possible that opportunity could lead us elsewhere and we are certainly not opposed to following the right job, wherever it may lead. In that case, our preferences would definitely be for another big east-coast city (New York, D.C., Chicago, Boston), but the right situation could certainly sway us to the west coast or elsewhere. Really, nothing is off the table.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit anxious to know for sure where our next steps will take us. I also have to be honest with myself that even though I do like Jacksonville, my heart still resides in New York. When I let myself think about it, the homesickness is still painful and heavy. I wonder if that will ever go away completely? It's just...different from any sort of feeling I've had for a place before. For example, I absolutely loved living in Washington, D.C., too, and I would be thrilled if life led us back there again. That would be really great! But, if that is not what life has in store, I'm okay with that. I'm much more at peace with the idea of never living in D.C. again than I am with New York. I worry sometimes if I will ever really feel fully at home someplace new, when I feel like I already found the place where I fit.

However, everything I've said all along remains true: the most important thing is finding the opportunity (both job and location) that is right for our family. I know that we will make a home wherever we are, and we will have a great time doing so. Should we end up leaving Jacksonville behind, I look forward to exploring a new city with my family and making it our own. Should we end up staying in Jacksonville indefinitely (or, dare I say, permanently?), I look forward to continuing our enjoyment of this city and all it has to offer, and really cementing ourselves into this community. Frankly, there really is not a bad option here, so long as we're together and happy.

Hopefully in the next couple of months things will start to fall into place a little bit, so please keep us in your prayers as we seek the right next step and direction for the future. The last three years or so have been quite a ride, and we're hardly done yet.

My One-Legged Scoot Crawlers

If you think back to Ellie's days as a wee crawling babe, you might remember that she crawled with a pretty distinctive style. Instead of crawling on all fours, Ellie pulled one knee up and used her foot (flat on the floor) to propel herself around. We coined it her "scoot crawl." I had never seen this crawling style before, and frankly it was a little goofy, but I loved that it felt so uniquely Ellie.

9-month-old Ellie scoot-crawling as fast as her little leg will propel her to greet Daddy after work

VIDEO: Ellie's One-Legged Scoot Crawl (December 2012)

When E.J. started crawling, he was a pretty avid army crawler. As the months wore on (because unlike his sister, who started crawling at eight months old, he started purposefully moving forward between five and six months, and his mother wept), he dabbled a little in the traditional all-fours technique.

However, in the last month or so, he seems to have found his preferred method: the one-legged scoot crawl!

Well, this looks familiar!

VIDEO: E.J.'s One-Legged Scoot Crawl

So, it seems E.J. is following in his big sister's footsteps! Oh, sure, there are some slight differences in form. Ellie tended to keep both hands on the ground and I'd say it was more of a crawl with her, whereas E.J. tends to only have one hand down (usually because he has some toy, DVD box or other random item clutched in the other) and it's a little more of a scoot. But the overall concept is the same!

VIDEO: My scoot crawlers side-by-side. Like sister, like brother!

It just struck me as so odd that both my children would adopt this somewhat uncommon crawling technique. Don't you think that's strange? It's almost strange enough to make me want to have a third child, just to see if he/she crawls the same way.

Oh, great. Now I have to have more babies. IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE.

Our Three-Year-Old

Ellie is three years old!

Now that we've discussed Ellie's party fun and details, let's talk about her actual birthday weekend. The Saturday before her birthday (March 28th - my sister's birthday!), we decided to take her out for a little birthday shopping treat. We started at Barnes & Noble, where we picked up the Tangled book she had been asking for and redeemed her Kids' Club free birthday cupcake in the cafe.

Birthday cupcake!

She stopped eating her cupcake to read her book. That's serious!

Then, we walked over to the Disney Store to spend a gift card she received from friends at her party (Thanks, Cathy!!!!). It just so happened the Disney Store was celebrating its 28th birthday that day, complete with party hats and a 30% discount on the entire store. When we mentioned to an employee that it was also Ellie's birthday, she gave her a "Happy Birthday" pin and put her "name in lights" on the video screen while the store played the Mickey Mouse "Happy Birthday" song. Fancy!

Partying at the Disney store

She's famous!

The celebratory discount allowed Ellie to really stretch her gift card and she used it to purchase a Rapunzel wig and Anna doll, both of which have become fast favorites in our house.

That big ol' Disney Store bag and THAT'S the face I get?!

Modeling her new Rapunzel braid

My dad came into town for the weekend, and he arrived that afternoon. The kids were thrilled to see him and we walked with him to the park, then called it a day and he went to check in to his hotel on the beach.

The rest of the day was mellow, though after the kids were in bed Eric and I enjoyed some alcoholic refreshments that my sister brought me from Japan in honor of her birthday. We also decked out Ellie's bedroom door: we blew up balloons and attached them to the door with tulle (I meant to use party streamers but forgot to buy them), so that when she opened her door in the morning, the balloons would fall down on her.

Happy birthday to Heather!

Ready for Ellie's birthday morning!

The next morning, I went in to get Ellie out of bed when she woke up, and after helping her change into her Rapuznel dress (naturally), she opened her door and got her balloon surprise. She was quite pleased (to quote: "Balloons! Balloons in my room! I'm so surprises [sic]! It's my birthday! I love my birthday!"), and actually just enjoyed the balloons for a few minutes before the "bonking" of baby brother commenced.

Balloon attack!

She loved it!

Bonk!

My dad came back over that morning and we all went out to Hemming Park for the Hippity Hoppity Easter Bash (see the post about it here).

Ellie and Papa on her birthday

That afternoon, the adults hung out while the kids napped. When they got up, we set up Ellie's new basketball hoop outside and had some fun playing with that.

Slam dunk!

What fun is having a little baby if you can't put him silly places?

Then we let her open up her birthday gift from us: Doc McStuffins' Mobile Clinic. She LOVED it.

Happily standing by her present

Checking it all out

We also made her a "Big Book of Boo-Boos" to color in

E.J. and Ellie giving alligator a check-up

For dinner we had pizza (Ellie's favorite!) and then sang and had cake.

She blew out all her candles by herself!

VIDEO: Happy Birthday, dear Ellie!

The next day, Eric was back at work but my dad was still in town so we took him to the zoo to show him around. We had a nice time, and Ellie didn't want to leave!

Checking out the rhinos with Papa

Group selfie!

When we got back home it was naptime for the kiddos and my dad left to head home, thus ending a very fun birthday weekend for Ellie. She seemed to really enjoy herself, and I'm so glad. She is the coolest three-year-old, and every day she impresses me, makes me laugh, and tugs at my heartstrings. She is really a very special little girl, and I hope she could feel how loved she is on her birthday (and every day, for that matter!). Happy birthday, bug!