Disney 2016

I'm going to try and catch up a bit on the blog here starting with our Disney trips. We went twice in 2016, once with Granna and Papa in September for Halloween and once with Mimi at Christmas. Words fail to describe how special these trips were to us. The kids were a perfect age. Ella thought she was meeting the real princesses. Justin and I were in awe of how beautiful Disney was. Everything is perfectly manicured and clean and magical. We had several matching t-shirts made but the Clemson tie-dye ones granny made turned out the best!

The safari at Animal Kingdom was such a highlight. That and Tusker House were our two favorite things about that park.

When Ella met Jasmine, she asked her if she knew Elsa. That got a good laugh. Jasmine told her she loved to take magic carpet rides to see Elsa. Jasmine gave Jack a kiss on the cheek but he was not impressed.

We had dinner at Cinderella's castle which was incredible. It was a late dinner and the fireworks went off half way through the dinner. It was beautiful.

When we went back in December, we ate at Akershus which didn't have the same wow factor but we met Belle.

Justin and Cliff were such good sports about wearing the shirts :) Going with grandparents to Disney is so wonderful. You get to experience the fun in a totally different way. And they help keep the mood light when it when everyone gets hot and hungry and grumpy. Which almost never happens at Disney ;) Kidding it does happen!

A definite highlight of the trip for all of us was to see Jack enjoy his big boy roller coaster ride! His favorites were Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Thunder Mountain Railway. We used our fast passes and a few extra fast passes we got to ride it over and over and over. :)

 Since we knew the kids would be eating lots of sweets, we decided to use it to our advantage in order to get good pictures and do what we almost never, ever do...bribe them. So whenever we needed a good picture we would say "SWEET TREAT!" and sure enough those smiles would pop right out! I have to say the kids were so great at getting good pictures at this age that it wasn't a big deal. Hopefully it works the next time b/c now we get silly faces and tongues sticking out. :)

Epcot was great but it was probably the hottest park. Not as many places to run in to AC, especially if you didn't want to eat continuously. And not as many rides. But it did have Ella's favorite! FROZEN! I got goosebumps the first time I rode it with the music and visual instillations. It was really special. 

We were able to meet a few princesses outside of dining too and Merida was an absolute character! She did such a great job laughing with the kids. They loved her!

Ella was completely smitten with Ariel but Jack didn't like the attention from such pretty girls. He got a little embarrassed which was fine b/c then Ella got all the FaceTime, which was also fine with Jack. 

You go Ariel!

The weather was perfect in December, not at all hot and we even got a bit of chilly weather for the Christmas party!

And there was a rare visit from Jack Skellington! We waited in line for 40 minutes (not very long considering) and it was so worth it. Jack loved telling him they shared the same name.

So sweet and I can't believe how little these kids look!

Bless their hearts! I want to scoop them up!

You gotta love Mimi, she is a die hard for fun! Log ride in 50 degree weather, you got it!

The best character meet was with Elsa and Anna because Jack showed Anna how to do the robot! Ella was enamored with Elsa and couldn't stop looking at her.

The Ariel ride was another favorite of mine. It was one of my favorite Disney movies and the songs are still some of my favorites. It was another goosebumps moment. 

And the castle! Oh my the castle! All strung with millions of lights it looked like icing on a cake!

Disney is such a special place, we're very fortunate to be moving so close! No matter how often we go, we always feel like kids!

Friends in the Big Apple

Last year Daniel and I started scheming a trip to NYC. It finally happened! We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary and Meghan's birthday with a bang! Not to mention it was our last neighbor vacation before the move. And we had a great time!

We learned about Ivan Ramen from Chef's Table on Netflix and stayed just a block from one of his ramen shops. It was all it promised!

It's always the things you almost don't do that end up being the most fun. Such was true about the cheese tasting class at Murray's. We had a cheese expert and a writer from Bon Appetit show us the ropes of all things cheese. The pairings were amazing and not to mention the bottomless wine. It was an absolute blast and probably the best thing we did there!

The white gold honey was divine and so were the truffle chips! I mean look at that spread!

I'm not sure what Justin is laughing about but at one point Daniel (the cheese connoisseur and braver man than most) was eating all the rinds and molds of the cheeses including the not-intended-for-consumption spruce rind on a brie. The lady from BA comes over and looking very concerned told him. He went right on eating it. Lol. That joke got a lot of milage. 

I couldn't believe it but I found Duke's mayo in NYC! I could live there after all.

The next day we went to one of my absolute favorite places, Chelsea market. 

And we took our first ride on the subway (for me and Justin that is). Thankfully Daniel was a pro!

I was super excited for Tavern on the Green. Here the fellas are discussing the importance of something important I'm sure. Probably which oysters to get or how many drinks they should imbibe before walking the MET.

Look at those beauties.

Poor Daniel was still hungry after $100 worth of oysters so he opted for a $3 hotdog in Central Park. 

 Then the MET. It was incredible.

Current exhibit and inspiration for this years MET gala, Heavenly Bodies, was so beautiful. One of my favorites of the trip!

The MET went on and on.

Weirdos on a subway. Probably trying to make it up to Justin for leaving him on the wrong side of the turnstile. 

We ran out of money on our subway card and poor Justin got left behind. Thankfully he's also the most resourceful one in the group and managed to figure it out. 

Times Square and Bubble Tea. 

 And late night Thai food.

This man loves me. That and he knew I wasn't moving off the bed without some serious motivation. We walked 30k steps every day. That's a lot for this old pregnant lady. 

The last night we saw Anastasia on broadway. It was very special. For my favorite song, "Once Upon a December," they had ghosts projected on the walls of the theater out in the audience. It gave me goosebumps. Very good show.

We saw an off broadway, our first, Perfect Crime. It was also good but as Meghan pointed out, the technology was a bit dated (it was a 30 year show). The most impressive part was the lead female role has been played by the same actress EVERY SHOW except 4. Wow. 

Justin's favorite museum, the Museum of Natural History. 

 There was a butterfly exhibit that you went in and butterflies could land on you. None did but it was absolutely incredible! I even saw a rare butterfly with translucent wings!

Gum, gum, dumb, dumb. The kids loved this picture. haha

It was a fantastic trip and we loved being able to share it with such good friends.