McGrath Moments

We headed to Hollywood Studios early Saturday morning. The park was filled with a lot of fun rides and entertaining shows. Brenna's favorite was The Little Mermaid show and Braeden loved the new Star Wars ride.

The picture below is of the Haunted Mansion ride. It drops straight down. Brenna is actually tall enough, so we took her on this and she LOVED it! To be honest, I didn't really pay attention to the ride because I was just watching her reaction the whole time. I have been to Disney World a couple of times, so I knew what to expect, but seeing everything through my children's eyes was such an experience. Braeden was tall enough to ride everything in all of the Disney Parks, except one roller coaster. I really enjoyed seeing how excited he got about each ride and how he would just say, "I wanna do that again!"

We got the Disney meal plan, so we had to get dessert with every meal. I have never eaten so much chocolate cake in my life...not to say that I didn't enjoy it! So did Brenna...

Arcade games and rides...

Got to love the Fast Pass! For those not familiar with the Fast Pass, it allows you to cut in line at certain times of the day. This was one of those rides-Toy Story. The wait was over 90 mins long and we cut everyone. Two people rode together and you shot at different targets along the way. This pic is of my Dad and Braeden together. It was 3D, hence the funny glasses Braeden has on. :)

My sis and I! Great minds dress alike!

And finally, Beauty and the Beast! Brenna's all-time favorite princess.

The only thing better than watching the show, was watching Brenna watch the show. She never took her eyes off the stage unless to look at me with big eyes that were saying, Can you believe we are watching Belle!!! Priceless. It made all of the standing in line and fighting the crowds worth it.

One little shout-out to my Princess today! Happy 4th Birthday Brenna! Happy 8th Anniversary Ed! Love you too Braeden!

As I started this blog, I realized how overwhelming it was going to be. Therefore, I decided to recap our Disney trip one day at a time. We left EARLY in the morning on June 3, 2011. This was the kiddos first time to fly and they did great! Brenna was dressed in her Belle shirt with matching yellow ribbon.

Braeden was very excited to fly! He loves watching planes in the sky, so I know it was such an experience for him to actually be on the plane.

We rode the Magical Express to our resort hotel. We stayed at the All Star Sports Resort. We went with quite a large group. My parents, my sister and her family, my Aunt Terry, my cousin Kim and her family, and all four of us shared this experience together. We all had a really good time! This next picture is entering the Disney area.

Brenna went into the gift shop at our hotel and immediately started grabbing all of the Minnie Mouse dolls she could hold in her arms. We knew this would happen, so we decided to give each kid a spending limit on toys before we went. This is the Minnie she decided on and her new "mouse ears" courtesy of her Papa George. She even continues to wear them here in KC!

We had really nice pools at the resort and spent most of our free time around them. This is my Mom, sister, and her son Carson.

Brenna also LOVED the pool and she spent most of her time swimming with Aunt T. Aunt T loves playing with the kids and is so patient with them. We were lucky to have her there with us!

My favorite area of the pool was Team Spirits. Guess what they served there!?! Believe me, after a long day at Disney, everyone needs a little Team Spirit!

This was pretty much our first day. We arrived in Orlando in the afternoon, had lunch, and then headed straight for the pool. We had a pretty mellow day because we knew what was ahead of us the next morning. Disney is a wonderful, magical place, but also EXHAUSTING! There were times when Ed and I had to keep reminding ourselves that this IS the "happiest place on earth". The next morning we headed to Hollywood Studios...

BRENNA:
We spent Father's Day at Wyandotte County Lake with my family and planned on doing some boating. I got out Brenna's swimsuit and she told me, "Thanks for getting my swimsuit Mama. We need to cover up my nipples!" Oh my!!

BRAEDEN:
I started assigning the kids some chores for the summertime and then they will get paid an allowance for completing them...they were getting pretty spoiled and Ed and I are tired of it. Not that we don't take full responsibility for their behavior, of course. Anyways, after I explained how things would be working now, as far as, if you want to buy something, save your money, Braeden told me that he is glad that when it comes to Santa there are no money issues. You can ask for whatever you want and it doesn't matter how much it cost! UGH!!

It has been awhile since the kiddos have done anything I can poke fun at, I mean, document for their future amusement.

Brenna first: When I got home from work last night I could tell that neither of the kids had brushed their teeth. One of the things that I told them they HAD to do everyday was brush their teeth. Come on, I'm a dental hygienist. As soon as I asked Braeden to do it, he was in his bathroom brushing them. Of course it is NEVER that easy with Brenna. I asked her 3 times and 3 times she told me "No!" That behavior does not fly in this house, so I carried her screaming all the way to her bedroom. She hates being sent to her bedroom, so I use that a lot for her punishment. The kids have no toys in their rooms, so it is a good place for them to be isolated and think about what they've done. When Ed got home we had a talk with her and then she went to brush her teeth.

Later on last night she got a splinter in her foot and it was BIG DRAMA!! You would have thought she needed her foot amputated by the way she was acting. I couldn't even see a mark once I took out the splinter(which I did while Ed held her down because she was flipping out). She went to get a band aid and I told her not to unwrap it until I could get the Neosporin ready because I knew she would just get the sticky ends stuck together and we would just end up wasting the band aid. Again, she did not listen and had it all stuck to her fingers. I, very loudly, told her to put the band aid on the sink and go sit on her bed. She looked at me, walked out of the bathroom and I heard her mumble to herself, "Man, I am in trouble again!" It was all I could do not to laugh!



Braeden's story: This also happened last night. It was one of those nights that just seemed to never end! Last Sunday Ed found two boxes of band aids in the kids' toy room and brought them back to the drawer where they belong in our bathroom, so when I couldn't find the Neosporin last night I went to look in the toy room. I couldn't find it and asked Braeden if he knew where it was. He admitted to taking the band aids in the toy room, but said that he had not touched the Neosporin. Braeden has been a little tricky lately with telling the truth. Ed and I have caught him in a couple of lies, so I didn't know if I should believe him. I decided not to "grill" him any further and went to find another ointment to put on Brenna's "wound".

By this time, Brenna was in Braeden's bed and I went into his room with a one dose sample pack of Neosporin. Braeden thought I had found the Neosporin and looked up at the sky and whispered, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you." Who exactly was he talking to?? God?? I am pretty sure he was. I looked at him and said that I had not found the Neosporin, but this was just a sample. He turned over and put his blanket over his face. I'm sure he doesn't remember if he took it or not. I just let it go. I remember those days of saying little prayers so that I wouldn't get in trouble for something!!

Coming Soon!! Disney World 2011 Blog! I still don't know how to get pictures from my camera to the computer, so I have to wait for Ed to do it. Pretty pathetic, I know!