Family Vacation - Part 1

It's been awhile since we went, but I wanted to capture as much as I could remember from our family vacation! We took off on Wednesday from cold Cincinnati in late February to warm, sunny Florida! The kids were great on the plane - eating lunch and hanging out. We finally got to our hotel room in the late afternoon - and after a few technical difficulties in the room - we got a beautiful 2 bedroom suite on the corner. We were nervous about the weather, but it was perfect - 80's - great for swimming, but not too warm. After we got settled in, we headed down to try out the pool. It was awesome of course! That evening we headed over to Boardwalk at Disney to look around. We had a perfect night, and it was fun to see all that was going on.

The next day, we took advantage of the pool and also headed over to Downtown Disney. Evan loved checking out the Lego store, looking at the Disney toys, and most of all, running through the fountains! I think he might have stayed there all day if we would have let him. We headed back to the hotel and headed to bed early to get ready for our trip to the Magic Kingdom the next day!

On Friday, it was the big day - heading to Magic Kingdom! We caught our shuttle from the hotel at 7am to arrive for the 8 am opening. We made it right in time to watch the train pull into the station, Mickey arrive, sing Zipity-Do-Dah, and open the gates! I must admit, watching the kids get their first glimpse and seeing the excitement in their faces made me tear up a little bit. We were off for a very fun day!

First up was a picture in front of the castle and a ride on Dumbo the Flying elephant.

Next up was Pooh's adventures. This was the first real Disney ride, and surprisingly, Evan loved it and Ainsley was completely terrified! After that, any inside ride, Ainsley was completely not interested in riding! The crowds were really light to start, so Evan rode again, then tried out Snow White while Ainsley rode the carousel (which she absolutely loved). We then all tried out a Small World, which is one of the few ride that I remember. Ainsley was okay with it, and the rest of us enjoyed watching and singing along. We checked out Peter Pan (with rider swap), which was really neat. Evan really enjoyed it, especially since we had just watched the movie.

We headed over to Tomorrow Land and the crowds started to pick up. Buzz Lightyear, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, super proud - Space Mountain, and Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor.

We were able to catch our first parade in the afternoon, and Ainsley loved dancing along.

In the afternoon, we got Ainsley to fall asleep in the stroller. (My dad was awesome, keeping her asleep for almost 2 hours.) During that time, we took a break and had some ice cream. Evan even tried out Big Thunder mountain. By the way, the FastPass is awesome! We never had to wait in any lines! Next full parade, highlight was Evan getting a pat on the head from Pluto.

Then headed over to Swiss Family Robinson, then the Jungle Cruise, then Pirates of the Caribbean. Dinner and then Mickey's Philharmonic. Headed over to the Electric parade. Magical and front row seat. Fireworks and smashed pennies. Left the park at 9:30 at night. Wonderful exhausting day!

Two Year Stats...

Sigh.. a two year old post.. wow..

But really, Ainsley is the sweetest thing. I am loving every minute I get to spend with this little girl! Ok.. it's all about Ainsley at 2...

- She is talking really well - 3-5 word sentences. We understand her almost all the time, and she lets us know what she's thinking.

- Ainsley is beginning to try out the potty. She loves her Dora big girls.. so we're trying it out. If it works, great.. if not, no big deal!
- She follows Evan around all the time and tries out everything he does. The fighting has started too :P

- I think one of her favorite phrases is "self". She likes to do everything - from buckling, getting dressed, putting shoes on, pouring cereal, and sitting on big chair - herself. It makes for quite a challenge sometime :)

- She will only drink from an open cup

- Ainsley loved sweets - seriously. Evan could take them or leave them, but this girl has a serious sweet tooth! Ice cream, fruit snacks, jelly beans, sprinkles. All other food (except cheese) is hit or miss.

- Ainsley loves to dance, loves princesses and her dolls, and is now into playing hairdresser and doctor. She also likes to draw and color. She recently started drawing and then will say, "Look Mommy" and tell me what it is. This is her first drawing, a strawberry:


- She is sleeping well - a 2 hour nap (I wake her every day) and about 11 hours at night. (She still has her bubby in her bed only.)


- Ainsley says her numbers to 13, sings the abc song, and is still working on the colors - except she knows pink!

- Her stats were: Weight: 25 lbs, 13 oz (40%), Height: 33 1/4 inches (40%), HC 48.5 cms
- She just got her first haircut and first pedicure (at home).

We love you Ainsley!

Ainsley is 21 Months Old

21 months.. can't believe my little girl is on her way to being two!
She has grown so much in the last few months, I hope I remember it all.

- One of the biggest things Ainsley has done is to start to talk in 3-4 word sentances. She'll ask for "some juice please" or "hun (honey) nut cheerios please". She also is pick up on our language.. one of her favorites is "there you go" (just like Daddy). A few others that we love are "thank you, welcome" (all one phrase for thank you) and "uuuh - huh" (a very exaggerated uh-huh).

- She is getting pretty opinionated :) She lets us know what she wants by telling us. She also loves Evan, but doesn't like it (screams) if she thinks he might be taking something from her.

- A month ago, she climbed out of her crib. When I found her, I asked, "How did you get out?". She replied, "self" and proceeded to show me how she escaped. Thankfully, the mattress could go down one more space and the bumper pad is gone, so it has contained her for now.

- Ainsley had a great Christmas... definitely girly! She loves playing with her babies. She rocks them, feeds them, and strolls them around. She also loves the dollhouse - calling the people mommy, daddy, and baby and helping them move around the house. There are lots of kisses and rock-a-bye babies too.

- Her sleeping has been all over - for a few months, she was waking up at 5:30 every morning! Hopefully she'll grow out of that one! She still loves her bubby (pacifier) for naps, bedtime, and car rides. Her eating has been all over too - she always eat breakfast, and after that, who knows. I think her favorite food is cereal.

- Ainsley loves to dance, sing, and draw. At night, we have dance parties in the living room. Her favorite songs to sing are "twinkle, twinkle", "hap birthday", "rosie", and "mary had a little lamb".

It's been so fun to watch her grow up. I'm trying to enjoy every minute, because it's been going too fast. My baby can't be 2 soon, right?

A few more pics:She loves to make crazy faces.

She wasn't too sure about the snow (didn't like that she couldn't walk around.)

She did enjoy eating the snow though :)

Cheesin' it up with Buddy

Ross Family Christmas

We celebrated the Ross family Christmas a little late this year due to the flu hitting Dave, Mya, and Grandma all around Christmas. Once everyone was well, we gathered for our fun Christmas celebration! We headed over in the afternoon to open gifts.. it was quite a sight:
(Everyone always goes overboard.. so those are everyone's piles all over the room!)

The kids started first and they wanted to play with their new gifts instead of opening an more :)
(Uncle Dave & Ainsley with her BuckleyBoo from them)

(Mya, Evan and Uncle Doug playing hot wheels)

Evan's second or third gift was this dog tent. He had to open all the rest of his presents in the tent. Since then, he has slept in the tent 4 different nights. You could say it was a hit!

He also got a Nerf target set, complete with these cool glasses:


The girls got tired of the presents, so they decided to do some coloring instead...

A few pictures were taken...

We stopped for Larosa's dinner and kept opening presents into the night. (It takes a lot longer with the kiddos.) The night was capped off with a bubble bath for Evan and Ainsley in Grandma & Grandpa's giant tub!

We had a great time with great memories celebrating with the Ross family!

Weis Christmas 2010

On the 26th, we celebrated Christmas with the Weis family! We arrived early and were treated to a delicious brunch of pecan rolls and breakfast casserole! Evan was super excited to get to the gifts ;)
We were so blessed by our family with so many wonderful gifts both for us and the kids. One of the highlights was this cool bike that Evan got from my parents. It's like a big wheel, but it can spin out and do 360's. He was squealing in the basement riding it around!

Jen and Chad made Ainsley an adorable dress up kit. They re-did an old suitcase and filled it with fun stuff. As you can see, she loved it!
Evan also really liked his shooting game, just like Chad had when he was little..
Here we are in an intense game of Qwirkle:
We stayed the whole day and played, talked and hung out! It was so much fun. An awesome day with great memories. Of course, no Weis Christmas would be complete without a wrapping paper fight ending with Evan in the trash bag :)

Christmas Morning 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas (so far) this year! Doug and I felt so blessed this year by our family and our two awesome kids. I have to say, watching Evan this year has to be one of the biggest joys. He loved all his presents, and made sure to say thank you after opening each one. (Seriously, it was too sweet.)

Here was our tree, all set for the kids:


A slept in until 6:30 and Evan was up at 7 and they were super excited to see what was under the tree!

We rushed downstairs and Evan and Ainsley each opened up their first present. A few weeks ago, Evan had bought us presents while staying at my parents house. He was so excited to give them to us that on Christmas morning, that after only opening one of his, he wanted us to open our gifts from him.

After a few presents, Evan spotted a big blanket hidden behind the tree. It was his one big wish from Santa - a doggie he could sit on. He hasn't stopped playing with it and has taken it with us everywhere since.

Ainsley has been super sweet as well. She got two different dollhouses, and hasn't stopped playing with them. She loves to play with the mommy, daddy, and babies. She likes to rock the little babies and put them to sleep under their blankets. It's too cute to watch.

After all the excitement of presents, we sat down to eat breakfast, but not before hearing the story of Christmas and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus with our cinnamon rolls.

What a wonderful Christmas. I hope I never forget it!