Florida Trip part 4

Our last day at Disney we did Disney's Hollywood Studios (still getting used to that name change) and the Magic Kingdom. This was really the only day we saw any characters. It was pretty crowded, so we didn't want to wait in character lines, and Christopher certainly wasn't asking to see anyone. He's seen 'em before and he'll see 'em again. Mostly we only saw characters at all because we went to Playhouse Disney Character Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine at the Studios. Christopher loves the Mickey waffle, and I knew they had that, and thought it would be fun to do the Playhouse Disney thing. He loves the show at the Studios, and Cast Members from the actual show come out every little while and dance and sing with the kids. Most of these pics are from that...

First to stop by our table was Goliath from JoJo's Circus (I haven't even seen this show on for a while. Maybe really early in the morning....)
Then JoJo herself. Christopher would only take the pictures if one of us was holding him. He was a little tentative around characters this trip. Another reason we didn't try to see many of them.Then came Leo and June from Little Einsteins.....We had lunch on the dining plan at Mama Melrose at the Studios. It's kind of italian themed and was really nice. C even liked it. Here are my boys coloring and doing the activities in the kids' menu. They like to do those together. When we left the restaurant it was pouring rain! It rained almost everyday we were there. But usually just enough to make it even more muggy!And here they are with Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars.

The ONLY thing Christopher really wanted to do at Magic Kingdom was "drive the car." So, here they are after finishing up that ride. He loved it and even got a fake license.

We met up with my cousin Becky, her daughter Audrey, and our friend Robin and her daughter Ella at the Studios, and briefly with my friend Melissa and her friends later that day at Magic Kingdom. It was especially helpful at the Studios, because Joel got to go on a couple of the thrill rides with Becky and Robin while I watched the kids for them. I really don't mind at all, our whole attitude is that we'll be back, so what we get to do or not do is all fine. We just love the parks and the ambiance and everything. Christopher was kind of low-key about everything, but ever since, he's been asking to go back and go on the Toy Story and Figment rides, to the Monsters Inc. show, and lots of other stuff. I keep having to explain to him that we'd have to get back on a plane and it takes a long time to get there. He's not quite getting it yet!

Florida Trip part 3

Our first Park Day was Animal Kingdom and Epcot. Joel's Dad came with us, and they did the roller coaster I couldn't go on. Sad day. We also made sure to do the Kilimanjaro Safari. Here are Joel and Christopher on the ride:They had a baby elephant. Cute, huh? At Epcot, Joel and I had a nice lunch at the Coral Reef (Christopher really wanted to see the Nemo musical at AK, so Mike, Joel's Dad, stayed with him and then they met us at Epcot. Here is the required picture of Christopher being eaten by Bruce the Shark:This is at our resort and I just had to include it. Inside this bucket o' soldiers are the stairs to our floor. At first, Christopher was all about the "elegator," but then he would say "mom, can we go up the bucket?" Kind of funny...

Florida Trip part 2

On the 3rd, we checked into Disney's All-Star Movies Resort for a couple of nights, explored the area and did some fun stuff around Disney property....


At All-Star Movies, we got to stay in one of the Toy Story buildings, which is exactly what we wanted. Here are the boys walking into that area of the resort. The door says "Andy's Room" and when you get inside the area, there are giant replicas of lots of the toys from the movie. Way cute. We were actually in the Woody Building, on the 3rd floor.

Here is Christopher in the little car from the movie that always sits on the "road" to the Toy Story area (Joel knows the name of this car, I can never remember it):

And here is our little fishie swimming, which he just LOVES. This was a big reason for staying at the resort at all. He never really gets to swim when we go down there, so I thought it would be fun for him to play at a fun pool. This was the Fantasia pool and had a big Sorcerer Mickey that sprays water all over. Mission accomplished, because Christopher loved it, even though before the trip every time I showed him pictures, he just said "Mom, I just want to go back on the Mickey boat." Crazy kid!

Christopher and Kitty jumping on the bed. I only condone this until you're about 6 or 7......Shauna!! Notice the towel mickey head on the bed.

We also played miniature golf at the Winter Summerland Course next to Blizzard Beach (one of Disney's water parks). Christopher really likes miniature golf, we actually ended up doing it teice on this trip. Here he is concentrating on setting up his shot. Ok, not really, but doesn't it look like that?? So cute!

Mom and I had to send Shauna a picture of us having fun at a Disney Property without her. She does it to us too. It's just one of the many ways our family shows our love. It's also one of the very few pictures I'm in, so I thought I should include one in all my pregnant glory! I was almost 7 months at this point. We met up with my parents that evening at Downtown Disney. They had arrived in town the night before. Jaime would get in late that night.

Next time we think we'll stay on property more. It's really fun to just be guests! They were also running a great deal on the resorts (I assume because of the economy), and we discovered we really like the dining plan as well. Over the next couple of days we did the parks....

Florida Trip part 1

So, Day 1 (June 1st) was mostly just flying to Orlando and having dinner. We flew direct on Southwest, and here's Christopher (not really sure why he looks so tired) on the plane. He was pretty good. We brought coloring and reading books to entertain him. Please notice his Kitty smashed behind him. Kitty has mad quite a few trips now. I believe she's been to Florida 2 or 3 times, and on a road trip to Utah and California. Well-traveled Kitty! We got settled at Joel's parents' and waited for his Dad to get off of work, then went to dinner at Ale House (have to have my zingers when we go down there!)
Day 2- We went to some of the outlets down by Disney property, then met up with my cousins Becky and Lori at the Millenia Mall (I think it's actually called Mall at Millenia, but whatever). The following pics are Audrey (Becky's daughter) and Christopher "looking through the fishies" on the 2nd floor of the mall while we waited for Becky to shop in Ann Taylor.

They then also proceeded to chase each other around. I was all for however they could entertain themselves! Doing normal stuff with my cousins and just hanging out made me want to move back even more. The heat and humidity in the summer months did NOT! lol Which is fine, because it's not really possible quite yet anyway.

Florida Trip June 2009

Well, I finally got around to downloading my pictures, and had a lot more of them than I thought! I kept forgetting my camera, and it actually was dead part of the trip as well, so I thought I wouldn't have many pics, but there are a few, so this will be multiple posts, unless by some miracle I can figure out how to include more than 5 in each. Probably easier to break it down anyway.

Everything else is going pretty well. We've decided to name the baby Cameron Wyatt. One of the things that I don't have a picture of is that we got infant mickey ears with the name, if that's not decided, I don't know what is : ) ! It was kind of sketchy for a moment, because trying to get the ears made, they had to use 3 hats and 3 different machines (and yet, not problem getting "christopher" on C's new youth-sized ones...)! I was starting to doubt our decision for a few moments, but we finally got them. Christopher (I realize now that with naming both boys "C" names, I'm going to have to write our Christopher now) keeps saying Cameron can't have his own ears, but other than that, no sibling rivalry yet! OK, on to trip report.

March Arizona Trip

So, in the middle of March (and all of the craziness, right after we found out we had to move), we took a weekend roadtrip to Arizona, where my cousin Ashley got married, and her brother Skyler had his mission farewell. I had some cute pics, so I thought I'd post them now. Ash got married in the Mesa temple, and Sky is headed to Des Moines, IA to serve his mission. I realized when I got home that I took absolutely no pics of the happy couple, and I'm not sure much of Sky either. I had TONS of all the kids and the wedding setup I helped with! Need to work on that....there are tons of pics of the other stuff on facebook and our family website, tho. Anyway, what I remember about both events we were actually there for: Ashley's wedding was beautiful, her husband seems really nice. My cousin Dan did the food and spilled hot soup on Joel and I at the reception. I had no idea if my feet were freezing or burning! Very weird sensation. And we all expected Skyler to make us laugh during his talk, which he did, but he also had most of us crying when he talked about how glad he was that in the past year Ashley had worked so hard to come back to the gospel and get married in the temple. 3 rows of pews of crying women from both sides of Ashley's family! We're all really happy for her.

Anyway, here are a few of the pics I did take. I still can't figure out how to post more than 5, so I tried to pick good ones!


Here is Christopher at the house we stayed at (an empty houe some of my Aunt and Uncle's friends had just moved out of). It had a pool he was dying to swim in, but never got to, and this little playground, where he loved to look through the telescope:
C made a fast friend (I think his name was Evan) while we were setting up for the wedding reception. He was the grandson of the homeowners where the reception was held. I'm not sure exactly what they're doing here, but they spent a lot of time just sitting in front of that koi pond!
C loves both of Becky's kids. On this trip she only brought "baby Max," and C always wanted to hold him. So, here they are at Barnes and Noble. Joel holding C, and C "holding" Max! We had gone to lunch at Costa Vida, and finished only to find most of the rest of the family decided to come later! So, we watched Max and played around the shopping center while everyone else ate.

Also outside of Costa Vida and Barnes and Noble while we waited, C was "fixing" the flowers in the fountain, making sure they were all upright and pretty. Kept him occupied for quite a while!

Here's our branch of the family outside of my Aunt and Uncle's church building that Sunday. Shauna and Mitchell couldn't make it because of work and school (really the same thing, since Shauna works at Mitchell's school! : )). I was really kind of just starting to show, but I'd been on my feet a lot, and my stomach felt really heavy a lot of the trip, which is why I'm holding it! C was not cooperating, obviously!

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. The weather was perfect, tho it got a little hot waiting outside of the temple for Ash and Spencer to come out! I felt bad for C because he kept seeing swimming pools, and I kept hoping we'd get time he could actually swim. I repeatedly told him we didn't have time each day, and he would say "well, I DO have time!," which I am sure seemed true to him. It must have been so boring to sit around while we all did stuff for the wedding, but he was pretty good all things considered.

Naming the Baby

Well, we've narrowed down some names. We could completely change our minds by the time the baby comes, but I'm curious to see what's popular among our friends and family, so I added a poll on the right. Keep in mind it has to go with the last name "Gainey." These are the most popular among my family members so far. Christopher has a favorite, and I'm not sure what will happen if we don't use it, but it's pretty popular so far. I'll reveal it when the poll is over.

I'll try to post soon. It's been really busy and really hard, with some of the things going on, and as usual, I don't want to post in the heat of the moment. Suffice it to say we have moved, and most of that has been pretty good. Something very unexpected happened to make things a bit difficult, but we're managing so far and we'll see what happens.

Christopher is now insisting on being called "Christopherd" on a daily basis, we're still not sure where it even came from. He has had somewhat of a hard time with the move, but there are things he loves, like the boys and dogs to play with next door, the trampoline in the back yard, and helping Papa dig in the garden. We had a garage sale for a couple of weekends, and I was amazed at how easily he let go of his stuff. He would ask about something, and I would brace for a fit, but I would just say "well, we're letting another little boy or girl have that since we don't need it anymore," and he was fine. We had prepared him a bit by letting him choose between a lot of the doubles we had between us and my parents, so I think that helped. We're trying to get him excited about starting preschool in the summer or fall, but he doesn't seem to think he needs an education at all : ).

Joel is still plugging away at school and work. His commute is a bit more difficult now with no lightrail access and only one car, that's the main thing we're making work, but so far we're getting it done.

I'm very busy with the salon, Rockies games and substituting at Rangeview. The pregnancy is going fine, tho it seems a little harder on my body this time around. I'm looking forward to doing new things with C this summer, and having 2 cute little boys. Hope everyone is doing well!