Where was I, oh yeah! Wednesday before last, my baby boy turned 1! We woke up and put Robert in his ONE shirt that had his name on it and also put on his Disney birthday button. He was not as excited about this proposition as I was, but he indulged me. We headed to Magic Kingdom, and immediately rode, you guessed it, Buzz Light year 9 or more times (Francis and my mom and I traded out riding with the boys so we could ride other things they couldn't). William and Robert sure love that ride. Good thing there was no line! We spent the day riding nearly every ride we could with short lines or no lines in most cases. The two most anticipated rides were The Jungle Cruise and The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Well, we got straight on the Seven Dwarfs ride using our fastpass, and William jumped the whole way through the line. I was as giddy as he! The ride was so fun, even if it was a bit short and the seats a bit narrow. I guess William likes roller coasters because this was the third one he's been on and he's loved all of them! The Jungle cruise is one William has "ridden" on our Disneyland game many times and so he was very excited to get on it. The ride did not live up to his expectations, I'm sad to say. He got scared that the fake hippos and fake crocodiles were so close to the boat and started crying (funny thing is we were right next to real Hippos the day before at Animal Kingdom and that didn't bother him!). Not every dream turns out the way you expect. Shortly after that ride both the boys passed out and Francis and I rode Haunted Mansion while my parents watched the boys and the parade. The ride has been changed to be extremely scary/creepy and I didn't enjoy it. I was so glad that we didn't take William on it. I wouldn't take young ones on that ride! When we got back Robert was awake and Sweetie had bought him a toy for his birthday. He toddled along happily with a little stuffed wolf, smiling at me. It made me happy to see him enjoying his day even a little. William woke up and we rode more rides and I even managed to get a picture of Robert with his 12 month sticker on in front of the castle with no one around! There was a dance party going on in the square in front of the castle which effectively blocked off access to the castle except from the direction we came and so the courtyard was deserted. I felt so happy to snap that shot with no one else in frame. It's definitely going in his baby book. For dinner we ate at Liberty Tree Tavern. The food was delicious, especially the beef. Robert ate quite a bit, and the waiters brought him an ice cream with a candle and sang to him. I made the mistake of putting a completely adorable 1 Birthday Mickey Mouse hat on him and he cried through the second half of the song. He did like the ice cream though so I think he forgave me. We made it out of the restaurant just in time for the Lights parade, and William and Robert were mesmerized by it. Then we wisely used our last fastpass of the day to watch the fireworks in a special wide open spot with plenty of room (though the spot was a pain to get to thanks to the crowd gathered). The boys loved the show (almost as much as I did) and is was a perfect end to our day. Overall I think it was a successful first birthday.
Thursday when Robert woke up, he felt really warm. I was nervous, but anxiously hoped the fever would quickly pass. After all, we were celebrating William's birthday that day (exactly one month late)! William put on his Mickey Mouse Birthday Boy shirt and button and beamed with pride. We went to Epcot, where every employee wished him a very happy birthday and he in turn told them that he was three years old. He was so proud and loved the attention. We rode the much anticipated (by me) ride Soarin' and William was actually just tall enough to ride (40''). He loved it and so did I. It is quite possibly my favorite ride at Disney. As the morning went on, Robert continued to feel hotter and hotter until we took him to the clinic at Epcot. He had a fever of 104.6! We quickly got him some acetomenaphin and a cool wash cloth to get him temp down, but I felt terrible that he was in so much pain. After lunch Francis took Robert back to the hotel where Robert took a good long nap. My mom went back with them and headed to the airport, leaving my Dad, William and me in Morrocco at Epcot. The three of us went "around the world" meeting and seeing characters as we went including Aladdin and Jasmine, Pluto, Snow White, Alice, Mary Poppins, and the chipmunks to name a few. William was delighted to meet all these characters even if he knew they were "just pretending". He's such a sweet kid. William even got to spend some time with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy up close and personal as there was no line. They each kissed him and Goofy even picked him up and swung him around. He's still talking about it. The only dark spot in the afternoon was when I took William on Maelstrom in Norway. It's a pretty creepy ride thanks to the trolls(which I didn't exactly remember), and William got scared. Poor kid; mommy fail. Funny thing is when we got back from our trip, they announced that they are taking out that ride and putting in a Frozen ride instead. I don't blame them! After a long nap, Francis and Robert rejoined us for William's "birthday" dinner at Coral Reef restaurant, but not before riding the Nemo ride for the 4 or 5th time. It's his second favorite ride after Buzz Lightyear. The Coral Reef restraint had good ambiance, but the food was just ok. William didn't care though. At different intervals he would excitedly say, "There's Crush!" Or "there's a shark" and we would look at the aquarium filling the entire wall and watch the sea life as it went along. He was so happy!
Friday was our last day at the Disney parks. Robert was doing better and mid morning his fever broke and he returned to his happy self. We went to Magic Kingdom and rode, you guessed it, Buzz Lightyear a bunch of times. My dad stayed at the hotel. Turns out he wasn't feeling great, but we didn't know it. We rode all the rides we hadn't on Wednesday. We had reservations at Be Our Guest in Belle's castle, and we made sure to be on time for our reservation. The inside of the restraint was impressive. they have three cafeteria rooms (though I feel silly calling them that because they are so well done). One is the ball room complete with hanging chandeliers and snow falling outside the windows. Another is the beast's chamber with everything ripped and the rose slowly losing petals as you watch. The third is like a library and has Belle and the Beast dancing around on a pedestal. The food was equally good. We all cleared our plate. I got a light up souvenir goblet with my meal which made me feel exceptionally royal. I also like that the food was different because that made it special. It's the place to be. When we left the restraint, it started to rain, so we hurried around to ride the Belle's enchanted castle ride. It started to pour just as we got inside. Whew! William was selected to play the part of Chip and he did his part admirably. Belle took her picture with him and he smiled so big, I thought he would burst! After the ride, the rain subsided, and we went to visit Cinderella and Rapunzel while we waited for our fast pass time to come. Then it was time. William scanned his magic band and we got to go see Anna and ELSA! They were all done up and played their roles beautifully. William spoke to both of them with such excitement and gave them each a hug. They admired his Olaf shirt and he laughed with pleasure. When we finally had to leave he walked backwards out of the building so he could see them as long as possible. I think he may have a crush on some of the Disney princesses, though he claims that Olaf and Buzz will forever be his favorite characters. Robert did well to with the princesses. He smiled and let them touch him, but he didn't much want his picture taken as a rule. He may take after his daddy who also is not fond of posed photos. William chose the last ride: Ariel's Grotto. It was a great end to our afternoon. We then headed over to Downtown Disney for dinner and a little shopping. We ate at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant (which was included in our meal plan, wow!) and it was delicious. I have no complaints about any of the food consumed that day. We bought a few souvenirs (we hadn't been shopping until then) and headed back to the hotel exhausted but happy. William wasn't don't though. He and Francis went swimming one last time before bed. He wanted to squeeze in just a bit more fun.
Saturday we pack, checked our bags for the airport at our hotel and had some breakfast. The boys also played in the hotel arcade until our bus came to pick us up. William was ok with leaving until we physically got on the bus. He then decided to have the second biggest meltdown he's ever had. He wailed saying he didn't want to leave and then tried to exit the bus over and over. I finally took him to the restroom on the bus so he could calm down. As soon as he got over it though, he even waved bye to the hotel and said, "we'll see you again sometime". I'm glad he didn't cry the whole way home. Robert nearly did. He cried on and off even on the plane. We parted ways with my dad after lunch at the airport and once we were on our plane I saw a rash on Robert's torso. I quickly realized he had had Roseola this week, and we were now infecting an entire plane...awesome. Nothing could be done at that point and I read afterward that the are actually less contagious once the rash appears (sorry if you were on that plane! I really thought he was healed!). I still feel really bad about the whole thing. Well, we made it home and unpacked, glad to put our kids down in their own beds.
Sunday and Monday, I kept Robert quarantined until 24 hours after the rash was gone. William and Francis went to church Sunday, and I spend Sunday and Monday getting our house back in working order. Tuesday we were back in full swing at the Little Gym. I think I will close here, because I am getting both longwinded and off topic for this post. Thanks for reading. It was an awesome trip!!!
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