Orion's First Teeth

Just a quick update and sharing of a few pictures. My little guy is getting so big! He got his first two teeth just shy of 5 months. On October 1st, hubby and I noticed both bottom, center teeth had popped through. Getting a picture of the teeth was hard but I finally did last weekend. Orion sure looks cute with his little teeth.

 The chubby cheeks, the sweet smile, and the too little teeth, are just too much. Such a cutie!

Enjoying a nice fall day in Colorado. Orion was so excited to be taking pictures with his brother and sisters. Love that I was able to capture a picture of all four of my beautiful children.

Walt Disney World Day 2 Epcot

Day 2 Epcot (Day 1 here)

After Orion finally fell asleep at 3am I turned off my alarm. After a night like that I knew we weren't making rope drop. We all woke up at 8am. Hubby asked if we could do Epcot another day and just rest. We had dinner reservations at Akershus and not a lot of flexibility in our schedule so we just tried to get ready as quickly as possible. We were on the bus around 9am and inside Epcot around 9:45am. We headed right for Mission Space and the standby line only had a 5 minute wait. We grabbed a baby swap pass and Wynter, Orion, and I looked in the gift shop while Nate (hubby), Brennan and Phoenix rode Mission Space orange. Once they were back Wynter, Phoenix, and I rode Mission Space green. It was not nearly as intense as I thought it would be and wish I would have tried the orange. Having to do baby swap on the big rides did slow us down some but the big kids got to ride a lot of the rides with height restrictions 2 or 3 times which was great for them.

Orion's first time seeing Duffy

One of the many faces of Orion

After Mission Space we headed to Ellen's Energy Adventure. I needed to feed the baby so a place to sit was necessary and air conditioning was a plus. About halfway into the intro video we almost walked out thinking it was just a movie not a ride but I'm glad we didn't because it was a cute ride.

Spaceship Earth 

Next stop was Soarin' Fast Pass booth. The return time was almost 4 hours later so we went to check out World Showcase. Since our morning was rushed we didn't have breakfast just granola bars and dry snacks in the room. We started in Morocco to have lunch at Tangerine Cafe. This was our favorite quick service meal of the entire trip. The food was amazing!

Tangerine Cafe, Morocco

Orion liked our lunch too!

We checked out Morocco, Japan, France, UK, and Canada areas of world showcase. The kids liked the kidcot stops and getting their Duffy stamped and having their name written in different languages. In France, Brennan and Phoenix used their snack credit for a chocolate mousse at the French bakery. We watched the film in France which was good. In Japan, Brennan bought a Japanese soda which he was excited about. In the UK we saw a street comedy show and a bagpipe band. We also happened upon Tigger and Pooh with no wait in the back of a gift shop in the UK. This was by far my favorite character interaction of the whole trip. All the cast members were wonderful. They took a bunch of pictures and I didn't feel rushed. The baby loved Pooh and Tigger. It was so sweet! This is one thing about Disney that I love, sometimes your favorite memories are simple things or things you didn't plan on doing.

Group shot (Wynter was the photographer for the day)

Brennan, Phoenix, and Wynter in the archways in Morocco

Nate fighting a ninja in Japan

Japan

How many kids can you fit in one telephone booth? UK area of world showcase

The most wonderful thing about Tiggers...

Is Tiggers are wonderful things...

All the kids and I with Pooh and Tigger

Bagpipe band in the UK

Brennan is a percussionist in the school band so he bought himself some drumsticks

Wynter's self portrait, Canada area of the world showcase

It was time to do Soarin with our fastpasses. The baby and I found a spot in Sunshine Seasons to enjoy the air conditioning and so I could nurse him. I also used my snack credit to get a strawberry shortcake that was really good. It took a long time for Nate and the big kids to ride Soarin' so I suggested moving on to the Living with the Land. I have rode Soarin several times at Disney's California Adventure and knew it was the same ride here so I was ok to skip it.

In front of The Land.

Yes, I know I'm cute!

Next we had just enough time to do the Agent P's World Showcase Adventure before our reservation at Akerhus. The big kids love Phineas and Ferb so this was a lot of fun for them. The cast members set the mission to Norway since we were headed that way. On the way I stopped in Mexico for a frozen fiesta margarita that was delicious. We grabbed fastpasses for Maelstrom so we could hop on after dinner. 

Phineas and Ferb

My girls are 9 and 11 and not that into the Disney princesses but I made our Advance Dining Reservations at Akershus because I wanted to try Norwegian food. Orion was overtired and fussy at this point and just cried during our entrance picture with Belle. Instead of a family or kids picture we have one picture of the three big kids and one of the three big kids and I. Both pictures turned out really well though so it wasn't a big deal. I forgot the kids autograph books in the hotel room so they didn't get any signatures. The camera batteries died after my first picture and soon after my phone battery died so we didn't get many pictures. Good thing I wasn't paying for this character meal (we had free dining) because I wasn't prepared. The food was good but definitely not my favorite meal of the trip. I got the meatballs which were good but not spectacular. Hubby got the fish and he really liked it.

The only picture I got with the princesses before my camera died

Orion on the royal throne

We had a busy but wonderful first park day. Next up, Day 3, Universal Islands of Adventure and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter...

Walt Disney World Day 1

We just got back from an eight day trip to Walt Disney World. We had such a great time and made a lot of memories. We stayed on site at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. It is a moderate resort and we loved the amenities and decor of the resort. We chose the third week in September due to the low rates, low crowds, free dining, and hopefully less hot and humid weather (not so much). 

Disney World Bound!

I didn't sleep great and was up early finishing packing. We left for the airport around 8am and grabbed Chick-Fil-A for breakfast because I didn't leave much in our fridge in preparation for our trip. We got to the airport early, headed to long term parking, and caught a shuttle to the terminal. Not sure how but I fit everything I needed in 4 checked bags, 2 large, 1 med, 1 small. The security line at DIA was minimal and we were at our gate with plenty of time. We boarded during family boarding and got 5 seats together near the back. Orion did amazing on the flight. He nursed, fell asleep, woke up, played a little then nursed again. We had a  1 hour 15 minute layover in Nashville where we grabbed some food. He nursed at takeoff on that leg of the flight, stayed awake some, nursed again, then fell asleep. No extended crying or screaming fits and minimal fussing.

Orion during our layover in Nashville

We landed at 7:30pm and made our way to the Magical Express. It was very nice to not have to lug our 4 checked bags. Orion was overtired by this point and screamed for 5 minutes straight before falling asleep on the Magical Express (Disney's free shuttle from the airport). Check in took a few minutes and by that point I had a tired baby and I was a tired mommy. We checked out the quick service restaurant at Port Orleans Riverside. As part of our dining plan we got refillable mugs for unlimited coffee, tea, and soda during our length of stay. We then headed to our room. The location was slightly different than I requested but worked out great. I preferred being close to the main resort facilities and the south bus depot where buses picked up first. We were in a building next to a quiet pool and the parking lot, both of which I thought would be too noisy but we were on the side of the building not facing the pool or the parking lot so it was fine. I requested a 2nd floor because I didn't want to hear people above us but I didn't think about the stroller and should have requested first floor (first rookie mistake).

Orion and I on the Magical Express

The resort was beautiful and I am glad we stayed at a moderate resort. The greenery, main resort areas, playground, pool, etc. were all so nice. I also really liked the look and feel of the buildings at Port Orleans Riverside. The food we had at the quick service restaurant was all really good and convenient to eat at the hotel. We didn't eat at Boatwright's (table service at Port Orleans Riverside) but we should have since we were staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

We made it!

Our luggage was slow to arrive and we were all exhausted. The kids went to bed but after waiting the quoted 3 hours (10:30pm) I called to check the status of our luggage. Bell services said it had just arrived. It made it up to our room around 10:50pm which was fine.

Nate and Orion

Orion was up half the night screaming. I was exhausted so I was not as patient as I normally would be. All 6 of us were in a tiny room so his extended screaming was stressful because he was waking up the big kids too. He normally is a happy baby and a good sleeper so it was out of character for him. Finally at 3am I needed a break so I woke up hubby and asked him to take Orion for a walk outside in his stroller. He likes he stroller and occasionally will fall asleep in it so it was worth a try. Hubby walked laps around the 2nd floor of our building and eventually brought him into the dark room awake in his stroller and he finally fell asleep in his stroller until 8am. 

Baby in Bed!

Next up, Day 2, Epcot...