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Our First Family Trip to Disney World!

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A couple of years ago, my oldest kid Noah started asking how far Disney World was. Even though I had never mentioned Disney World before, he learned about this far away place from preschool and friends. While he’d seen Disney movies and shows, we’d never talked about Disney World before as I didn’t want to mention it until we were ready for a trip. Since Ethan our youngest turned two, Disney World has been on our family to-do list. And this year, we felt our kids were the perfect age to go and actually enjoy it (ages 6 and 3). So when I got invited to the Disney Social Media Mom Celebration, I flipped because I knew they’d get to experience Disney even sooner than I had hoped!

We flew into Orlando on May 9 and spent almost an entire week hopping from park to park. On the one day that us bloggers had our conference, the kids and Daddy Roo headed to Animal Kingdom. The rest of the time we enjoyed the parks together (and sometimes with friends who were also there for the conference). Here are some memory-making moments during our trip.

Magic Kingdom

When I pictured going to Disney World, my first vision was of the kids seeing Cinderella’s castle for the first time. They’ve never actually seen the movie, but they know the castle. After all, its image emblazons the beginning of every Disney movie we know. They were totally excited to see it, so much so Ethan couldn’t stop looking at it!

Before the conference’s welcome reception, we squeezed in a few hours at the Magic Kingdom, living up every few seconds.

During our stay in Disney, we ended up at the Magic Kingdom three times, giving us a chance to do so many things like ride the Astro Orbiter, zoom on the Tomorrowland Speedway and take a dip Under the Sea.

We wore the kids OUT every day! Sometimes that was good (easy to get to sleep) but other times not so good (meltdowns at the park). Nevertheless we took it in stride and keep them hydrated and fed.

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios is all about action, and action we saw! I don’t think the kids really knew what I meant about “stunt show” until we sat down to watch Lights Motor Action (we had actually dined on the set a couple of nights before). The look on their faces when they saw Lightning McQueen ACTUALLY DRIVING was priceless. That’s their favorite Disney movie so to see it come to life was Disney magic in action.

While we didn’t get to do the Jedi training, we did watch it. The kids couldn’t believe they were actually seeing Darth Vader. (Neither could I.) And after we enjoyed the ever-popular Toy Story Mania ride (twice), a green army man got the kids marching with him. His costume was AWESOME.

Every thing was action-packed. Even the stuff they thought they wouldn’t like. They had fits about going into the Muppet*Vision 3D. “It will be boooooring.” Guess what? They laughed, smiled and BEGGED to do it again.

For souvenirs at Hollywood Studios, they even got to make their own light sabers. Side note: Did you notice the two souvenirs we bought the kids were weapons? Swords and sabers. Why do we do that to ourselves?

Epcot

We sort of did Epcot in spurts like Magic Kingdom. While many of the rides were for kids taller than Ethan, there’s plenty to do and explore in Epcot for kids of all ages. The both liked Captain EO (even though they were skeptical) and they begged to do Journey into Imagination again. I thought they might be bored with the ride inside the Epcot ball (Spaceship Earth) but man oh man, that was all they talked about!

Noah kept hearing all about Test Track but we knew the lines would be bad so we used the morning Extra Magic Hours and went straight to the ride to get a Fast Pass. It ended up being one of his favorites and he had a blast designing his own car.

What a great time of year to come to Epcot too. The International Flower and Garden Festival happens at Epcot every year around this time so an already magical place becomes downright gorgeous with colorful flowers and creative topiaries everywhere (though remind me to clean off my lens next time or at least photoshop the smudges out of the sky).

I smiled so much at Disney watching the kids enjoy the magic. The temper tantrums and meltdowns are worth the looks of their faces and the joy in their laughs. You guys. I can’t explain to you the magic these kids felt at Disney World (although if you’ve been, I’m sure you know). They were in awe of all that surrounded them. I can only imagine what they dreamed of.

Disclosure: I attended the Disney Social Media Moms Conference and received discounted rates and tickets to various events and attractions. Any opinions and magical moments are entirely my own. 

Those First Days

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It was a big year in the Culbertson house.

Big Roo started Kindergarten this year! Ya know, he’s been in either daycare or preschool since he was three months old. I worked full time until he was three and then either part time or freelancing since then. So, other than marking the momentous and sentimental occasion, I thought the amount of time he was gone wouldn’t affect me too much.

Wrong.

When Little Roo gets home and goes down for a nap, I either work on the blogs or do things around the house. I find myself checking the time all-so-often and then slightly freaking for a half a second before I realize that I’m NOT running late to pick him up from school or the bus stop. He’s still in school.

It’s such a surprisingly long day for him… and me too! Luckily he’s adjusted after a week or two of crankiness. As a kindergartener, we also have homework every day (GASP!) and he’s settled into the routine of that too. Now I just need to remember what a long day it is!

Do you know what he told his little brother on his first day? This is the cute little convo they had:

Big Roo: “I’m going to miss you.”

Little Roo: “Why you going to miss me, Noah?”

Big Roo: “Because I’m going to Kindergarten.”

Heart. Melted.

A few weeks later (aka last week), Little Roo started preschool again. This kid didn’t miss a beat. New class but some of the same friends. He already loves preschool but just about every day asks “Is Big Roo at home?” He’s used to seeing Big Roo at preschool so he’s not quite understanding the routine yet.

However, he hasn’t even cried in the morning when I leave. Barely even notices.

Sigh. These boys are getting so big.

 

My Trip to Costa Rica Part 2: Family

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My last post was all about the adventures my family and I had in Costa Rica (think zipping through trees and gazing at volcanoes).

But what I love about Costa Rica the most isn’t the rain forest, the zipline or the beaches. It’s my family.

If I counted everyone up, I’d end up with over twenty first and second cousins, not to mention aunts, uncles and my step-mom.

And if you’ve been reading this blog for longer than 9 months, you know that my dad is buried there in his home country.

One of our first stops was to visit the cemetery. Noah knew it was a somber occasion. Normally rambunctious, he walked somberly and then grabbed some itty bitty wildflowers to lay on Abuelito’s grave (that’s “little grandfather” in Spanish).

I love things about daily life there that are different than here. Like pretty much ALWAYS having afternoon coffee with the best bread EVER.

(That picture on the bottom left? Sliding down a hill on cardboard at the park. Oh yeah!) One of my cousins took us to Inbioparque, a cute park in San José. Holding the bunnies was surely the highlight.

Now for my awesome family. Big Roo kept asking “are they my cousin too?” Cause first cousin, second cousin, my cousin… it doesn’t really matter. A cousin is a cousin!

(Yes, I know there’s a duplicate photo but I wasn’t about to do that over!)

When I was a kid, I used to cry when we left Costa Rica. Even though I didn’t know much Spanish, I adored my family and they adored us.

Nothing’s changed over the years. (well, I DO know way more Spanish).

I STILL cry when I leave.

But this is the continuing of our family tradition. I grew up traveling here. And so will my boys.

I cherish all the memories that both my kids and I had. And I can’t wait to get there again.

 

Big Roo’s Graduation: The Ugly Cry Came Later than I Thought

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I didn’t lose it until he did.

Last Thursday was Big Roo’s last day of preschool. He was really excited about graduation but a few times he casually lamented that he didn’t want preschool to end and he wanted to see his friends.

That morning when I dropped him off, I got a little teary but quickly brushed it away. I figured there would be plenty of room for tears during the graduation ceremony.

Yet, I watched him sing and do sign language and again the eyes filled up but no hard sobs. I think it was partly due to the fact that I was trying to watch Big Roo while simultaneously tag teaming the Little-Roo-wrangling, trying to keep him from squealing, breaking my camera or crawling (yes, CRAWLING) down the aisle.

Wrangling continued after the ceremony, too. Well, duh.

During the ceremony, Big Roo got so excited when he saw us in the crowd though. And again. And again. He also elicited a small chuckle from the crowd when he started picking his nose. That’s my boy!

Afterwards, we got cookies, took pictures and went home. Everything was pretty normal, even bedtime. He was excited to read his new kids’ Bible and we read a Kindergarten book too. I tucked him in and headed downstairs to make them lunch.

I kept hearing sounds coming from upstairs. First, I thought he was playing in his room. Then I was like, maybe he’s just making strange voices.

All of a sudden it hit me.

My little man was crying. Not crying because he didn’t get dessert or because he has to share his toys, but genuine, broken-hearted crying.

And finally, I cried as he did.

I scooped him up like a mama bird and hugged him tightly.

“I wanna stay at preschool,” he told me.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” I said.

I told him about Tutee and Abuelito (his grandparents) moving us from Tennessee to South Carolina when I was young. And how I was scared and left my friends and didn’t know anyone… but that I got through it and make new friends.

“Things change but you can still see your friends from preschool too.”

I told him all the exciting things he’d get to do this summer, like going to Costa Rica to see a volcano, fly on a plane and get to visit a rain forest with lots of animals and butterflies. He squealed, “ I get to visit a REEEAL rain forest? I’ve never been to a real rain forest before.”

He tilted his chin, shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

Then out of the blue he asked me “Do you go to college when you’re 10?”

I said, “No it’s more like 18.”

He laughed and said “I kneewwwww that. My friends told me it was 11 and I knew that wasn’t right.”

He smiled.

After some hugs and kisses I tucked him in and he fell asleep.

And that was our graduation evening.

 

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