McGrath Moments

This post was intended to be done from my new phone. I actually got a new phone last Friday. I was so sick of Ed saying how embarrassed he was by my OLD, OLD phone. I knew how to work it and it was just fine for me. Now I have the new HTC 4G AT&T phone. I have to admit it is pretty fabulous and I wanted to type my blog from it, but surprise of surprises...I can't work it, so I am back to the laptop.

This weekend I was thinking to myself, okay I have a new phone. What's next for me? Joining Facebook? No, there's no way I am ready for that yet. One step at a time!

Braeden: (whispering, of course)
"Brenna, will you ask Mommy to..."(fill in the blank)
"Brenna, will you ask Mommy if we can have..."(fill in the blank)
"Brenna, will you ask Mommy if we can go to..."(fill in the blank)


Does he think that I am more likely to say "yes" if Brenna asks?
Does he think that I can't hear him ask her to ask me?
Does he realize that it drives me crazy?????

EPCOT is my favorite park!! I love looking at all of the different "countries" and their architecture, food, and shopping. Shopping at EPCOT is what I was looking forward to the most, but this trip I really didn't have any time to shop. When you take little kids with you, that is not something that they want to take time to do, but I was still able to admire all of the beautiful buildings.



We rode all of the rides at EPCOT and this is a picture outside the Nemo and Friends ride.



This is a picture of the Eiffel Tower. This is my favorite area. I love the pastries here, although I wasn't able to get any this time, but I was able to indulge in a glass of champagne!! Yummy!



We had dinner in "Japan" at the hibachi restaurant. The kids love STIX here in KC, so we knew they would have a great time!! Here we are just waiting for our table.

Braeden was very impressive at this meal. He actually ate his entire meal with chopsticks. As you can see they assemble the chopsticks with paper and a rubber band for easy use.

These next few pictures represent one of my very favorite memories of the entire trip. First, let me say that I have noticed that these Disney blogs have a lot more pictures and stories about Brenna. It is NOT because I am playing favorites. There were a few times where our large group split up and did different things. Braeden always went with Ed to do the rides and I always had Brenna and the camera with me, therefore I just have more pictures of Brenna. I just felt the need to explain that!

Okay, back to my initial story. Lindsey and I decided to wait in line to see all of the characters at EPCOT while everyone else went on a roller coaster. We had to wait in line for close to an hour...in a small room...where the line zig zagged back and forth...with a four year old...and a 19 month old...who has no patience whatsoever!! IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!!! Carson would not stop screaming and wiggling out of my sister's arms. Brenna wanted to be held constantly because she is scared of everything and everyone. Lindsey and I would pass them back and forth because our arms were dead tired. We would give them candy to keep them quiet because EVERYONE WAS STARING AT US!! Carson choked on a chewy piece of candy and Lindsey freaked out and handed him to me...not the first time I've had to do the heimlich on him! I kept telling all of the people staring at us that if they would let us cut in line, they would not have to listen to our children anymore...there were no takers on that, of course! Pretty much all Lindsey and I could do was laugh our heads off because we felt like we were on some sort of hidden camera show.

It didn't get any better once it was our turn with the characters. Brenna didn't want anything to do with them, but WE WERE GETTING THOSE PICTURES!!! And we had a plan!! Our plan was to run up with our kid in our arms while the other one snapped a picture. My pictures turned out so blurry because Lindsey had to take them while trying to contain Carson in her arms. Again, it was just hilarious. I didn't even mind that the pictures were so crappy because the story is so funny!!

We stayed at the park until midnight. If you stay on the Disney resort, you can take advantage of late park hours. We had a great day and were definitely exhausted. The whole trip was just amazing and I am so thankful that we were able to do it!! Until the next Disney trip...

I will have to say that I was most excited about taking the kiddos to the Magic Kingdom. I definitely think the Magic Kingdom is what everyone pictures when they think about Disney World.


Seeing Cinderella's Castle right when you walk into Disney is quite a sight. The kids see this castle at the beginning of every Disney movie they watch, so they were very excited to see it in person.






As soon as we arrived at the park, there was a parade going on and we were able to see so many characters. It was the perfect way to start out the day.





Next we started making our way to all of the rides. It's A Small World was one of the first rides we went on. Braeden looked at me and said, "this is boring." I will have to admit, that song sure sticks in your head after this ride...over and over and over again!! It is quite beautiful though.





Brenna on the carousel!!

Aunt T and Brenna on the Tea Cups.

Brenna was EXTREMELY excited to meet the Princesses, that is until it was actually time to meet them. She looks like she is kind of smiling in this picture, but she is actually crying and this is a forced smile. After waiting in line, we were going to meet the Princesses, like it or not! I know that sounds harsh, but any parents who have taken their children to Disney and waited in the lines, will understand.

She absolutely refused to take a picture with Sleeping Beauty, but I still had her sign her autograph book. After Sleeping Beauty signed her book, she kissed it. Once Brenna got herself together, she absolutely LOVED the kiss. She was so proud to show it off to her brother and Daddy later on.

Belle was the Princess that Brenna was most excited to see. Here they are discussing that Brenna was Belle for Halloween. Belle asked Brenna if she had as much fun in her dress as she does. It was fun to see that they stay so much in character.

Here is Braeden and Aunt T on the Dumbo ride. Braeden LOVED the rides. The rides were his favorite part of the entire trip. He especially loved Space Mountain. He rode it twice and had to be in the front car each time.

The Magic Kingdom was great and the kids had a wonderful time. Next time, I would spend more than one day there, just so we don't have to rush everything so much. It is a lot to do and see all in one day and not only were the kids completely exhausted, but so were all of the adults.

On Sunday evening we drove to Coco Beach. We met up with someone who Ed does a lot of work with. He and his wife live in Coco Beach and took us out for the night. We met at the marina where they own a few slips and they rented out the clubhouse for some appetizers and cocktails. My sister, her husband, my Aunt Terry, and Ed and I went. This picture is of us at the marina. There were so many beautiful boats. We actually had a tour of one of their friends' boats who live on it. It was three bedroom and three baths! Can you imagine! It was pretty fabulous!!



This is a picture of the clubhouse where we hung out for a bit before going to dinner. It was so nice and we had it all to ourselves.


After dinner, we walked on Coco Beach. This is my sis and I being silly and climbing on the lifeguard tour. When we were there Coco Beach actually had a bad infestation of jellyfish, so I was kind of freaked out walking on the beach at dark, but I stayed away from the water and it was all good!

The next morning we headed to Clearwater, Florida. The kids had never seen the ocean, so it was quite and experience for them to play in the water and in the sand. I must admit, I am not a huge fan of the sand. It just gets EVERYWHERE!! And I mean EVERYWHERE!!

Good times!! And lots of smiles!!

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...