Disney - Animal Kingdom

Where do I even begin?  How do I recap a month's time of a family of four without writing a chapter book that has 3 sequels?  Bullet points.  Here goes:

 

• Adrey had an ear infection in his right ear.
• Two weeks later, Charlie had (and still does) an ear infection in his right ear.
• We went to see Nemo in 3D.  Between 3 tickets, a glass of wine and a bag of Skittles we were $55 invested in it.  Charlie promptly fell asleep in my lap once it started and Adrey asked every 5 minutes when the movie was going to be over.
• I signed Adrey up for Basketball which starts the second Friday in October.
• Candy corn is officially on the store shelves.
• We had a teacher/parent conference with Adrey's teacher and he's "right where he should be".  He's the youngest one in his class so he's a little behind in that regard, but right where a 4-year-old-and-two-month child should be. 
• Charlie "owns" the word yellow.
• We found a "new" park just up the road and the boys LOVE it.  It's a bike ride away which makes for a nice outdoor activity at night.
• Charlie has officially boycotted food.  Unless it's a snack and then he wants to do nothing BUT eat.
• Everytime Adrey hurts himself, before he looks at the "wound" (whether it's a cut or just him bumping into the wall) he asks if it's "bleeding".
• Went to Publix and the boys got a free balloon.  When we got outside Adrey said he wanted to let it go so God could have it.
• I sprained my ankle trying to run out of the house in wedge shoes.  The price we women pay for beauty.  Resulted in three weeks of not working out... I feel like I've gained 10 pounds.
• Adrey asked to wear his hair in a mohawk to school.  So he did.  He asked to spray paint it a color... that's where I drew the line.
• Charlie has MASTERED the art of going down for naps and bedtime and we are feeling like normal human beings again.  Praise the Lord.
• John got a projector screen for work.  Found that the wall in the living room makes for a PERFECT screen to watch a movie.  Will make for fun movie nights... that is when the boys are old enough to sit through one.
• Sweet wittle Miah Jane turned 3.  Unfortunately we weren't in town to attend her birthday ice cream social.
• When Charlie falls, he points to whatever it is that hurt him and scolds it.... "BAD TABLE"  "BAD FLOOR"... and he expects us to say it with him and won't let it rest until we do.
• I cleaned out our junk drawer in the kitchen (if you listen very carefully you'll hear the angels singing).
• Charlie copies EVERY little thing that Adrey does.  Everything. 
• Lesa, my BFF in Arizona is 5 and a half months pregnant with a BOY!!  WOOOHOOO!
• John and Kerry went away on a 5-day golfing trip to Michigan.  It was in the 40's and 50's there... so jealous!!
• In the mornings when Adrey takes off his sleep diapers, he grabs each side of the diaper and says "Cachow" (like Lightening McQueen) and rips it off in one motion and laughs hysterically every. single. time.
• We reduced our American Express bill this month by 2/3.  Holy savings.
• Adrey came out of his room the other day with "workout" shorts on and said he wanted to do one of Daddy's workouts.  So I put a P90X DVD in and they worked out for, oh, 3 minutes.
• We've decided to eliminate our housekeeper in an effort to save some cash.  I am taking on the responsibility of cleaning our house top-to-bottom every other weekend.  Holy gratifying.  The house seems to sparkle more when I do it.  I actually really enjoy 4 hours of quiet only to have a super shiny house when it was all said and done.  And I consider that my workout for the day... killing two birds with one stone.  HOLLA!!
• The boys went to a birthday party for their friend Gavin... it was at a bounce house play gym.  The boys had a blast.  To see them in action click HERE and HERE.

So, there's of course tons more, but those are the highlights (for me anyway).  September 14th, we packed up the car and headed to Disney for another weekend of fun.  This weekend was actually FREE to us.  And when I say free, I mean every red cent was free.  John won a trip to Disney through work!  We had a blast!  Friday night we just spent at the hotel and had dinner courtesy of GFS.  Saturday we were up bright and early (and I'm sure our hotel neighbors, thanks to us, were up bright and early as well) and headed to Animal Kingdom.  For as many times as we've been there, we still discover new things each time we go!    

 

 

I kept trying to get Charlie to let me take a picture of him.  I would say his name and he would ignore me because he knew what I was trying to do.  Finally, he slyly turned his head and this is what I got!  Little pistol!! 

 

 

I can't get enough of the Lion King show (not to mention it's one of the few air conditioned venues at the park).  And I hear they're about to get rid of it:-(  These monkeys are my favorite part of the show!  Click HERE to watch a little snippet of the Ritcheys at the show!

 

There's never a dull moment when you're with the Ritcheys... Adrey is the king of making silly faces!

 

One of the new things we discovered at Animal Kingdom was the bird show.  They had all sorts of real birds that performed for the audience.  At one point in the show Charlie was standing on my lap.  One of the guys who worked there came up to me and asked me to put Charlie down.  I thought it was because he didn't think people could see behind us.  I was thoroughly annoyed because him standing up was maybe 2 inches taller than my head.  I thought it was so silly.  UNTIL a gigantic bird with a wing span of about 5 feet swooped over our heads... it was SO close to my head I felt the wind.  And THAT was why the guy told me to put Charlie down.  Thank you Mr. Disney Worker.  I'm glad I came home with a child with a head.  I appreciate that.  I take back the thought of knocking you out:-)

 

 

Whenever you ask Charlie and Adrey to stand with each other for a picture Charlie always leans on Adrey or puts his head on his shoulder.  Cutest. Thing. Ever.

 

 

I can't stop looking at this picture of John and Adrey.  One of my FAV FAV FAVORITES!!

 

 

At about 3:00 it started POURING like no other.  Charlie was asleep in the stroller so I used one poncho to cover the stroller to keep him dry but Adrey refused to wear one.  It came on so quickly and we all just started running!  John was pushing the stroller and I was holding Adrey's hand.  Adrey and I sought shelter at a nearby concession stand.  I had no idea where John went with the stroller, all I knew was that Adrey and I were (somewhat) dry.  We were standing BEHIND a counter with all the Disney staff.  We were there for like an hour. The staff was so nice.  After about 45 minutes John found us.  He said Charlie had woken up and was crying for Mommy and he couldn't take it anymore... so he came searching for us!  Luckily, we were at a concession stand that served BEER, so we each got a beer and waited the rain out.  And I couldn't believe it, because NOTHING is free at Disney World, but the super sweet Disney employee gave the boys each a soft pretzel and a bag of candied nuts!!  So nice!!  I actually really LOVE this picture of us below.  You might recall a similar Disney "rain" picture from THIS POST back in August 2011.

 

We spent Sunday at Magic Kingdom... Those pics coming soon.