ICE!, New Year’s & the ER…

The hotel atrium at the Gaylord Palms was so neat. One side was designed to look like Key West and even had a big boat where tables and chairs were set up for seating for one of the restaurants. On the other end, which is the part of the hotel where our room was, was called St. Augustine. On that side of the atrium a huge stone fort was replicated.

The brick pavers that lead from one of the atrium to the other were peppered with bricks that had all of Florida’s counties engraved in them. We found our favorite… It was such a fun place to stay.

Me & AB on our balcony

On Thursday morning, we got our tickets to see ICE!. This year’s theme was “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

We kept seeing signs about how cold it was inside the exhibit, but I didn’t really think it would be. I made sure we all had our coats and gloves, and thought for sure that would keep us from wearing the worn-by-strangers, germ-infested parkas that they provide. Nope. We got the parkas. I just love how slimming they are. Nothing like looking like a giant blue marshmallow. AB was thrilled to be wearing someone else’s jacket, too, let me tell you. She is her mother’s child.I told myself it was cold enough inside that no germs would be able to survive…it sounded good anyway.

Daddy & AB waiting to go in!

It really was SO cold inside! But the parkas did keep us warm. You could feel the sting of the cold on your face though, and on your legs where the parka didn’t cover. Since my parka was a man’s size 4XL, mine pretty much dragged the ground, so I was warm.

It was so neat once we got inside! EVERYTHING was carved from ice, just like they said! That’s talent.

There were signs everywhere to “Respect the Ice: no touching or licking!” I couldn’t help myself, ya’ll. I HAD to feel it to believe that it really was all ice. Rebel that I am, I snuck a few tiny feels of the ice, and I’m happy to report it WAS REALLY ice! They weren’t lying! :) I didn’t feel the need to lick it though. Hello, I’ve seen the movie Dumb & Dumber.

The last “room” in the story was the living room where the staircases and ice slides were, which again, were all made of ICE! So neat! I would have tried it myself, if the line hadn’t been so long. AB was too little to do the kiddie slide by herself, so maybe next time. But it was fun to watch other people slide down. Now yall know that looks fun. All of the children loved it!

We thought that was the last room, but as we exited, we went through one more ice display, and it was a life-size nativity. Even the faces were carved out. It was so beautiful and I loved that they included the scene of Jesus’ birth into the exhibit.

It was such a fun little trip to Orlando and a great way to spend some of DW’s vacation time! :)

There wasn’t much of his week off left after our trip. Friday was New Year’s Eve, and we rang in the New Year at our house with my parents, some of momma’s awesome chicken wings, chocolate fondue, and some coyote hunting. What can I say, we get wild and crazy.

New Year’s Day DW woke up feeling terrible. What a way to start the year. We had lunch at my in-law’s and he didn’t even want to eat. Little did I know, I wasn’t far behind him. On Sunday morning, I woke up with the eppizooty on top of having a gall bladder attack. Good, good times, that landed us in the ER on Sunday afternoon/evening for over FOUR hours. It was so gross and I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about having sat in that germy place for so long. You’ve not seen anything until you see some sights in the ER.

They said I was dehydrated and gave me an IV and since it was so crowded that day, I had to sit in the waiting room with everyone else WITH the IV in. I don’t know why this bothered me so much, but I felt so gross…and so embarrassed. I know it’s hard to believe that someone who writes about their life on the world wide web really is a pretty private person, but I am, especially when IV’s are involved. Sorry, but if you’re going to administer fluids into me intravenously, then I just feel like I should be in a more sterile environment than sitting in a waiting room full of sickies and across from a woman who keeps coughing and spitting in a cup. I’m a weirdo, I’ll claim it. The drs did a scan on the ole gall bladder and since it was just irritated, not infected and there were no stones, there was nothing they could do. The plus side is, I didn’t have to have it removed. No surgery is good news in my book. The bad news is, it’s probably going to continue to have flair ups like I’ve been having for years…so we’ll just keep popping the Tums and making do. :)

We’re all better now and are actually kind of thankful for our stomach bug. We couldn’t eat for two days, which means our appetites and stomachs shrank, which was perfect timing for the big cutting back in the food department that the New Year always prompts.

Not sure where the bug came from, but my money’s on those dang blue parkas!

~amw~

Disney Part II

On this trip, we stayed at the Gaylord Palms, because we planned to do the ICE exhibit the following day. It was actually really close to Disney, too, and worked out perfectly!

Our room was great, and AB loved the balcony and view overlooking the atrium below!

She was such a big girl, and got right in her pack-n-play and took a great nap.

At 6:00, the hotel did the lighting of the tree, and had live Christmas music in the atrium that ended with all the lights being turned on. We watched from our balcony. So neat.When AB woke up, we grabbed some quick dinner and headed back to the park, all bundled up and ready to some rides!

We figured the lines would die down that evening, and they did. I’m glad we waited to ride the rides until then… we rode Dumbo (who Annabelle calls, “Bumbo”), first.

waiting in line with Daddy…

waiting on me to take a pic and get in, too! :)

AB’s like, “who’s suppose to be driving this thing?!?!”

She clapped when it was over and yelled, “Yaaaay!”

We headed over to “It’s a Small World” next, and the line seemed forever long…but we were on the ride after a 30 minute way. It went by fast, especially for one little girl who got to keep throwing change into the stream below! She loved that!

her’s is the 56th penny on your left. Kidding. :)

She was hilarious on the ride. She started out sitting beside me,   

then decided to lay down between me and her Daddy.

She laid down almost the entire ride, waving at all the dolls and animals, but every once in a while, when she saw something she really liked, she sat straight up and pointed it out to us, along with clapping and yelling, “Yaaaay!”Then would lay right back down. Hilarious.

 

The next ride was the teacups.  We only had to wait 15 minutes to ride! The sign that morning had said it was a 90 minute wait! So glad we waited until that evening to ride! 

Those were the three main things we wanted her to get to ride this time, she after that, we decided it was funnel cake and light parade time!

After the light parade, we watched some of the fireworks over the castle, but our girl isn’t really into loud booms, so that didn’t last long.

We decided to beat the crowd and head back to the monorail. I’m glad we did, because we got to see the rest of the fireworks from the front of the park and we beat the crowd!

Daddy & AB on the tram back to our car…

When we got back to our car, AB said, “More” (which sounds like “moe”)… so we’re certain this trip to see the Mouse was a success!

We got to the hotel a little after 11:00 and she dove in her pack-n-play ready for night-night! We still had some fun to have the following morning…but I’ll post about it tomorrow…

~amw~

The Mouse’s House- Disney Part I

Devin and I had been talking about taking Annabelle back to Disney sometime soon. The company shuts down the week between Christmas and New Years, so we thought that might be a good time. We knew the park would be really crowded, but DW already had off work and we really like to go when it’s decorated for Christmas. No plans had been made, and then DW won his fantasy football league, so he said what all champions say, “We’re going to Disney!” ha…

We decided to go on Wednesday, thinking it would be the least crowded. We packed our bags and arrived at the park right at 9:00. After parking, riding the tram, then the Mono-rail, we finally made it to the Magic Kingdom close to 10:00.

I love it all decorated for Christmas…

 

We asked a man to take a picture of us in front of the main gate, and he zoomed in so much you can’t even tell where we are and he cut DW’s head off! Ha… Oh well, at least we have a pic of the three of us!

We got a great spot in front of the castle and watched the “Dream with Mickey” show.

While we waited for the show, we walked around the castle and took a few pics…

When the show started, AB loved seeing Mickey and all his friends..

not to mention all the princesses and princes!

After that, we made our way to Adventureland and rode Mickey’s Railroad Expressway all the way around the park. AB’s big into a choo-choo these days, so it was a fave of hers.

When we made it back to Adventureland, we got a great spot to watch the Christmas parade.

I know I’m partial, but AB was looking darling in the dress I made her last year for her first Disney trip. This year it fit like a top with her black leggings and she was a doll! This parade was so fun because most of the characters in the parade noticed AB, and would wave, blow her kisses, and some even came over to talk to her! So fun…

My camera decided to go all wonky and not take pictures just as Alice in Wonderland came right up to AB, and said, “and a very Merry Christmas to you!” and rubbed her on the nose. AB was smiling and loving it and I have no picture of it. AHHHHHHHH… I know we’ve been super spoiled always having a nice SLR camera, but here lately, I’ve wanted to throw it in the yard, especially when I missed that picture! Grrrrrrr…

You can see Alice and the gang coming down the street in this one…

And then after Alice talked to her, I finally got the camera working again, and got the Mad Hatter trying to talk to her…She wasn’t as big on him, though, as you can see! Ha..

The grand finale of the parade was, “Ho-Ho” himself!

Lead of course, by his reindeer! I did manage to kind of get AB’s picture as she was giving one of them a high-five!

After the parade, we grabbed some lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Café.

After our bellies were full, we headed to stand in line to see the Mouse himself!

I was so proud of AB, who went right up and hugged both Mickey & Minnie! So sweet…

AB had already fallen asleep once in her stroller, so we decided to go check into our hotel and get a good nap so we’d be ready to go back that evening… but not before we let little miss pick out a prize.

She picked out a Minnie Mouse make-up kit! She was so cute, hugging and kissing it in the store! I was super excited, because she is SO into makeup right now, and I couldn’t find a set like this anywhere at Christmas.. (with the plastic makeup). She also got a charm bracelet, so that she can add a charm each time we go. This year’s charm was Alice in Wonderland, so we’ll always remember the parade from this trip, even if we don’t have a picture! :)

On our way out, we also got to see the Celebration Parade. AB loved this one, too.

 

We finally made it out of the park and to our hotel. I’ll save the rest of our trip for part II…

 

~amw~