Mother's Day Weekend in NYC and Princeton

On Friday, Cliff came home from work and asked if we wanted to take a trip to New York and Princeton for the weekend.  So early Saturday morning we were on our way to Brooklyn.

We arrived in Brighton Beach around lunchtime and walked down Brighton Avenue, which feels as close to being in Odessa as you can get without leaving the country. 

 It was a perfect day to be at the beach.  Aaron, however, slept for that part of the trip.

We then drove to Princeton and met Adrian for dinner at PJ's.  We had time for a quick campus tour that evening, and then it was time for bed.

 On Sunday, we had planned to go back to NYC to see the Statue of Liberty, but it seemed like it would end up being too much time in the car to drive there and then back to DC, so we decided to spend the morning in Princeton with Adrian.  This gave us time for a much more thorough tour, including Adrian's eating club and the Fountain of Freedom, which was favorite of Aaron and Kira's.   A big thank you to Adrian for the great tour! 



Disney World. The last part 4

The last two days we didn't take as many pictures as at the beginning. We purchased a Hopper pass to be able to visit more than one park a day, so the following pictures where taken at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

[Cliff and Aaron on Splash Mountain in the last seat]

 [While Kira and I were waiting for them to pass by. Kira's eating ice. It kept her busy the whole time]

 [On the ferry to Magic Kingdom]

 [We waited for 40 minutes to have this picture taken but Aaron was very happy to see his favorite cartoon characters. Hollywood Studios]

 [Aaron with his Stormy, his stuffed storm trooper]

 [Aaron and Jake the Pirate from Neverland. Another favorite cartoon character]

Disney World. Animal Kingdom and Epcot. Day 3

This was probably the least exciting day. In the morning we headed to the Animal Kingdom Park. The highlight was meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Lion King show. Disney shows are superb, that's for sure.

 The kids are patiently waiting to greet Minnie Mouse

Here she is. Kira goes first

 Then Aaron gets a kiss:)

 Meeting Mickey the Ranger

After taking these pictures we watched Lion King show. It was awesome! I'll post a video later. Kira sat through the entire show quietly. Aaron got a bit antsy by the end.

Then we visited their "zoo" which was not very impressive. The safari rides, though, was fun. We passed hippos, flamingoes, elephants, rhinos, lions, ostriches, etc. The ride was bumpy and fun.

If you look closer, in the background you'll see a safari truck just like the one we were in.

After the ride we headed to the hotel for lunch. Kira was having a bad day, everyone was tired and hot. I think the naps were not successful that day either, at least with Aaron. So when we visited Epcot in the afternoon it was Aaron's turn to have a bad evening:) We rode Space Ship Earth, Nemo Ride, ran into old friends of ours who we knew from Indianapolis years ago and who now live in FL, had dinner, rode Grand Fiesta Tour (and all this with unhappy kids) and headed back to hotel. I am hoping to come back to Epcot some day when the kids are a bit older. It seemed like a fun place to visit.

Disney World. Magic Kingdom. Day 2. Cliff's Birthday

On Friday we woke up early to catch a bus to Magic Kingdom for our breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

Tip#1: There is no good way to get to Magic Kingdom. That day we decided to take a bus (the bus drops you off right at the entrance gate) and waited for it for a long time. Every other bus came but not to Magic Kingdom. We decided to drive, which is not the most convenient way either because you have to park your car in a huge parking lot, either walk a long way or take a tram to the transportation center where you take either monorail or a ferry to the park:)

Tip#2: If you want to take great pictures in Magic Kingdoms before the park gets flooded with people, make an 8:05 am breakfast reservation at a restraunt in the park.

So, here is the Birthday Boy and the kids waiting for the Magic bus which never came. That day we all dressed in Mickey outfits to celebrate Cliff's Birthday.

 Finally, got on monorail, on the way to the park.

This trip I have more pictures of myself than any other times because Cliff was behind the camera.

Hold on, the princess needs a moment (one of many:)).

 These pictures were taken before the park was open to the public.

At breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and the Gang. One of the best meals we had.

 Kira's kissing Tigger. We were the first table for the characters to visit.

And then Cliff had his Magical Birthday Celerbration. He got a Happy Birthday Pin, a signed card from Winnie the Pooh and the Gang, and a cupcake, and a Happy Birthday song from the staff. He was ecstatic!

And then we started the race:) On the flying carpets of Aladdin.

Then we watched a part of Pirate Show. The guy looked very much like Johnny Depp.

On the Pirates of Caribbean ride. Normally we wouldn't take a picture of this but we were stuck on this ride for about 1 hour before evacuated (Cliff ate too much breakfast the the boat wouldn't move:)) "Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, the Pirate's Life for Me..." On the bright side as a compensation we got 4 special Fast Passes to use anywhere any time.

Good thing Kira fell asleep right when we got stuck otherwise I am not sure what I would do with a baby who is trying to climb out of the tiny boat for 1 hour.

 After lunch at Cosmic Rays Cafe where they also sang Happy Birthday to Cliff we drove around to get the kids fall asleep.
Tip#3. Not news flash but napping kids=happy afternoon, not napping kids is a recipe for a disaster afternoon.
Every day we would break for naps during the hottest time of the day.

While driving we spotted an airplane writing in the sky

Kids having a snack at the hotel after a nap.

 And the rest of the evening at Magic Kingdom. Riding the Mad Tea Party. Kira rode every ride she was tall enough for. A brave little monkey.

 It's been a long day at Magic Kingdom

 The Cinderella Castle lights up at night with different colors. The park is the best at night: the lines are shorter, the weather is cooler, and the park is more beautiful.