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Earlier this week (Monday to be exact) our furry child turned the big fat TEN years old.

Look how sweet he was as a puppy with his feet in the water bowl? That was his first day at our Arizona apartment. We had just moved from SC to AZ about a month earlier with no jobs. Just an adventure to see if we could make it. Weeks later, Daddy Roo and I landed jobs and BOOM, time to get a puppy.

We named his Trajan (TRAY-JAN). A Roman emperor. While unintentional, it really was the perfect name. Trajan was an emperor but also a builder (hubby’s an architect) and it’s a font (I did print design back in the day).

This yellow labby has hiked with us, been across the country with us and swam with us. He once hurt his paws hiking and had to get surgery on his paw pads. He’s been through the bringing home of two children from the hospital (many sniffs ensued of that new baby smell) and getting crawled on by curious babies. He got diabetes a couple of years ago, going blind within the year.

But he’s still the same mellow, happy, sweet dog.

We thought the kids would get a kick out of Trajan getting a birthday “cake.” So, we went to a fancy dog bakery and bought a peanut butter treat thingie with yogurt-based “frosting.” Big Roo made him a sign that said “Trajan roks” and “Trajan is the best dog in the hol wid wuld.”

And then we sang him Happy Birthday and he chowed down. Dogs deserve a little special treatment too.

Unfortunately for us, we didn’t think this treat through for a diabetic dog. While the cake didn’t have sugar, it was loaded with carbs. And so after an evening of celebration, we spent the night letting Trajan go outside to pee… again… and again… and again. Six times in all, I think.

I told Daddy Roo it was like back in college when your friend has a birthday and you give them too many shots and then you have to take care of them all night. Just like that but with a diabetic dog.

Ah well, we still love those beady eyes and those puppy-soft ears. Happy birthday, Trajan!

When I starting planning our recent trip to Disney World, I was excited about using the Park Hoppers to bounce from Magic Kingdom to Epcot to Hollywood Studios to Animal Kingdom. You know, the four biggies. Since it was our first family trip to Disney, I didn’t want to visit the water parks for fear of missing out on as much non-water-park fun as possible.

After a few days though, I realized that my kids (and us parents) needed a break from the heat, the constant walking and the stroller pushing. We wanted to RELAX. And so we set our sights on Blizzard Beach.

From the pictures online, Blizzard Beach looked like SO MUCH FUN! After all, the water park looks like a snowy ski lodge. Boy, was I right! This water park turned out being one of our favorite parts of the entire trip.

True to the Disney way, every bit of the water park decor made it look like we were at a ski lodge. The decor gave off an icy feel that made you feel cooler just by the sight of “snow,” even if it was 80 degrees outside.

Once we got settled after getting our locker and putting on sunscreen, we took the chair lift up to the top of the park to ride Teamboat Springs, a raft ride in which we could all ride together in one raft! That’s a way to kick off, isn’t it? The kids screamed and giggled the entire way down.

The park has something for everyone: Tike’s Peak (for those 48 inches and shorter), Ski Patrol Training Camp (kids and tweens), the Melt Away Bay wave pool and Summit Plummet (one of the tallest freefall slides in the world- just click that link to see that drop and you’ll believe it).

I actually thought we’d spend time at Tike’s Peak but it was too small for our kids (6 and 3). Well, our youngest liked it but our oldest wanted more. If you have younger kids, the slides in that area are PERFECT for little ones and some are even small enough for older babies.

We spent a LOT of time in the Training Camp area. In the pictures below you see some of the attractions. Both of my kids did the tubes by themselves and went down the straight slide called Snow Falls a bunch of times.

After days of Big Roo being a little scared of the rides at the other parks (How fast is this ride? Is it like Space Mountain?), his fear actually melted away (melted- hahaha) at this park. He beamed with pride at every ride he did and left trepidation at the water park entrance.

Big Roo even tried the Thin Ice Training Course… and he didn’t even fall in! He was barely tall enough to hold the ropes though so next time I bet he’ll whizz through it.

It’s hard to get a lot of pictures at this park because you just don’t want to risk your phone or camera getting soaked (note to self: next time bring a water camera). But I had a “my boys are growing up” moment at Blizzard Beach.

Two of the slides, Toboggan Racers and Snow Stormers, involve laying stomach-down on a sled-type mat. Think purple yoga mat curled in the front with two handles (click on the Toboggan link to see what I mean since I didn’t get a picture). Both kids were interested in going down the slides. But my little guy? He’s so tiny! He’s three years old but weighs less than 30 lbs. As we waited in line, I got nervous for the first time all week! I asked TWO cast members if he was tall enough and they ensured me he was.

Begrudgingly, I stood at the top and helped Little Roo get on his belly into position.

“Are you sure, little man?”

“Yeah!”

And with a little push, off he went!

I couldn’t believe how little fear he had. After I got down myself, I helped him up. It did scare him a little afterwards but not enough to do the other slide similar to this! He kept talking about doing them again and again.

I would totally, completely, absolutely recommend visiting Blizzard Beach! We got there early morning and stayed until mid-afternoon, giving us plenty of time to rest then hit another park for dinner, more rides and fireworks. Just remember to bring your own towels unless you want to rent them ($2 a piece).

I can tell you that Blizzard Beach will be on our must-do list next time we visit Disney World. With so much variety from the relaxing to the adventurous, you can find something all members of your family will love. (And if you go down Summit Plummet, let me know how it was. I totally wanted to but ran out of time.)

Have you ever been to Blizzard Beach?

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

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.