Disney Trip 2024…part 2

 Can you believe I can’t just call this Disney trip 2024?? We went to Disney twice this year! That’s crazy! We were just so motivated to go while Nelson was still free haha. If we end up in Georgia until 2027 we will definitely have to try one more year of buying Disney tickets so Nelson can maybe have a few memories of Disney. I think 4-5 is ideally the youngest age to take to Disney. For poor Nelson the place is basically a torture chamber. He’s just forced to be confined to long lines all day and his reward for waiting in line is to be terrified by whatever character or ride is waiting at the end of the line. His favorite parts were just riding the monorail or ferry to get to and from the parking lot. 

Millie, of course, also didn’t care about being at Disney, but she did handle it fairly well! I just became a pro at breastfeeding in lines or any moment it felt like we were going to be still for a few minutes. She napped in the carrier, overall, she did great. 

Riley was really the kid this trip was ideal for. She had an amazing first day, our second day we definitely had a bit more attitude and whining, but we tried to be understanding that it was a lot and not let a few bad moments ruin the day. It was really just a power struggle between mom wanting to do things in a certain order to optimize our day and see the most things and Riley wanting to make all the decisions and not wanting to listen to knew ideas. We also may have scarred her a bit by the rides at Hollywood Studios and she was hesitant about any ride she didn’t already know. 😅 

Our trip took a turn, however, when as we are waiting to watch the fireworks on the second day Britt tells me her throat is killing her. She ends up waking up the next day feeling awful, and surprisingly Nelson also wakes up feeling feverish. So day three turns into a Daddy-daughter date. Luckily, Ben had packed ibuprofen and noodle soup, I guess being a doctor just makes you psychic? So after getting a bit more rest and some healing medicine and soup (toss up as to which was more helpful, Britt was convinced the soup healed her) Britt and I were still able to spend 2 hrs at the park in the evening. 

On the fourth day we went our separate ways, Britt deciding to sleep in and get to the airport early instead of trying to do a few last hours at Disney. We packed up our car and headed to Disney Animal Kingdom. It was a great end to the trip, Animal Kingdom doesn't have as much stuff so it's usually a bit more relaxed. We were able to cross a few last things off our to do list and ended the day with one more overly priced cup of ice cream. Then we got in the car and drove the 4 hours back to Savannah! 

We had so much fun, here are some pictures and favorite moments! 

Day 1: Hollywood studios

First stop a Mickey and Minnie ride, turned out to be slightly intense for the kids, but it was probably my favorite ride. It was just so funny and cute! When the ride didn't turn out to be a favorite of Riley's we figured maybe we should go meet Minnie and Mickey because that wouldn't scare her. Upon seeing Minnie, Riley immediately ran up and gave her a hug. A picture perfect moment...that we didn't capture because Britt was reapplying her sunscreen. Haha we thought we had a longer wait so when they told us we could go we were not ready! Luckily, there was more than one hug so we were still able to capture a cute moment. 

Then it was time for Star Wars land! Galaxy's Edge as the cool kids call it. By pure happenstance Ben had been at Goodwill on Friday before our trip. He found a Ray costume for $6, when we realized Riley could wear it to Disney we were so excited! Ben really hyped it up and got Riley excited about it so she was totally on board for having it be her outfit on Monday. Then Jane happened to have a headpiece that had a little BB-8 head on it, so Riley was READY for Star Wars day. However, I was the first person to get some attention from a Star Wars character. We ran into the Mandalorian and the Child. I was wearing Millie at the time so he came to me for some parenting advice asking, "How do you keep them from eating spider's eggs?" Haha I was very thrown off by the question and regrettably didn't have a witty response! But he saved the encounter by saying, "Something to think about." 

Then we headed over to watch a little performance by Kylo Ren. Him and some storm troopers go around and try and find a spy from the resistance. I knew Riley would get some attention in her Ray outfit and we were not disappointed. She squared off with Kylo Ren himself! 

The most popular Star Wars ride was closed all morning. When we finally saw it had opened up we ran over, but we weren't quick enough. We had no idea how long the wait was going to be, but FOUR HOURS was not what I expected. It was the biggest mistake of the trip...but also when Britt got sick the third day it was really nice that we had already taken care of the most important ride. So yeah, it wasn't great, but I was also blown away at Riley's ability to wait in that line! Oh yeah, because of the baby and Nelson, Jane and I were hanging out around the park going to all the random little kid stuff for those 4 hours. Then once Britt, Ben, and Riley got out we were able to go to the fast lane as the baby swap. I wasn't planning on Riley riding this ride, but it all happened so fast. They were measuring her, telling her she could go, and then they were gone. Britt taught Riley all about Star Wars for those long hours in the ride. When I ask Riley what she thought of the ride she said, "Terrifying and fun!" I was so proud of her! A Mickey and Minnie ride scared her and she took on a ride where Kylo is trying to kill you! 

On the way out we did one more quick Star Wars ride. Riley rode that one with us as well. She didn't like that one as much, afterwards she said, "I've ridden three TERRIFYING rides today!" 

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

This day was much more for Riley than the previous day. We fit in so many fun things! We saw so many princesses, rode lots of rides, and even ended the night with fireworks! We discovered Riley loves rollercoasters. We took her on the tamest of the rollercoaster and as soon as she got off she said, "Let's do that again!" She road that ride more than any other ride. I love seeing Riley take on things that had scared her in the past. 

Day 3: Magic Kingdom/Sick Day

Our sick day, after I woke Nelson up initially and determined he might be a bit sick he fell back asleep in my bed and then didn't wake up until 12:15! So I'd say it was definitely good to let him stay home. From the report I got Ben, Riley, and Jane had a wonderful day! Since Riley was the only kid she got the attention and the freedom that she craves. So I think the moodiness of the previous day disappeared. Nelson had no complaints being left at the apartment with no toys and little entertainment. He didn't have much energy anyways so we just hung out, sat on the balcony, and watched a few shows. 

I'm glad I ended up staying at the condo because I was also able to nurse Britt back to health. I was also able to be moral support for her pin drop. We had planned this trip with the knowledge that Britt had a pin she was very excited to buy that would go on sale on a Wednesday in October. This pins sometimes sell out in seconds so having the fastest internet possible at home is how Britt snags the pins she does. Well, as luck would have at the beginning of October Britt finds out the pin is dropping on the Wednesday she'll be in Florida with us. So, was she faking sick in order to stay at the condo all day to guarantee she didn't miss the drop? Possibly. Was I incredibly stressed out at the idea that she wouldn't get this pin because she came on this trip with us and the condo internet was too slow? Definitely. 

Britt decided to make me her backup purchaser just in case cell phone data would be faster than the internet. I practiced each stroke. Insuring that I wouldn't waist a single millisecond to hesitation. Again and again we reviewed what I should expect to see and do. The clock struck 6 pm and we refreshed and refreshed until Britt gloriously declared it had popped up for her and that meant her internet was faster and I could abandon my efforts. And hallelujah she got the pin! Riding the high of that victory (and maybe the ibuprofen as well) Britt decided she was feeling up to taking on Hollywood Studios again. 

Ben got home about 30 minutes after that and we grabbed the keys and ran out the door. We got to the park with 2 hrs to closing and were able to get in 3 rides and some looking around Star Wars shops we hadn't noticed. We were SO glad we ended up going. It was nice to end Britt's trip on a happier note.

We went on this ride call Toy Story Mania. It's a game where you are shooting at targets trying to beat your seat mate. Britt considers herself fairly gifted at these types of games so she was a little miffed when I was ahead of her after every section. At the end of the game I was feeling pretty good, I had a pretty good lead and seemed like I was doing better than Britt. After the final round they cover your scores until the dramatic reveal of the winner at the end. What the??? Britt won!! I had apparently totally missed that there were some really big scores on a different area of the screen and Britt got real quiet about it figuring this was her chance to pounce. We were really glad we went on this ride because it was super fun, but it also almost ruined our night! For some reason when we were just one pod away from getting off the ride the ride shut down and we were stuck for about 10 minutes. We were already running up against the 9 pm closing time so this definitely stressed us out a bit! We just needed to get to the last Star Wars ride before 9 pm and we'd be golden. Luckily, it was just a 10 minute delay so we still had time to walk around galaxy's edge and get on our last ride.

I don't know what this is but Britt was pretty impressed they had one. 

Day 4: Animal Kingdom

The fourth day that I wasn't sure would happen, but I'm sure glad it did! I was sure that Ben would not be on board to actually do a fourth day at a park, I felt a bit guilty I had a rest day on Wednesday and he didn't. To my surprise he was totally on board for it and encouraged me to do it! We weren't going to be coming back to Disney this year so it was either use this last day, even for just a few hours, or loose it. So, we got up early enough to pack up everything, say goodbye to Britt, and get to Animal Kingdom around 8:30 to meet Jane. I love the vibe of Animal Kingdom. Much chiller than Magic Kingdom. We went on an animal safari, met some fun characters Riley had requested, and Ben and I even got to ride an Avatar ride that was really fun! We totally lucked out on that ride. We knew it might be a bit of a wait, but we thought maybe Ben could take the kids to a fun play area while Jane and I rode and then we'd switch. Well one of the perks of having Jane with us is that occasionally she knows people and occasionally those people are working the lightening lane and occasionally those people will then just let Jane and I get in the lightening lane and skip the 55 minute wait for a 15 minute wait. So I called Ben and told him not to go to far, and we were all able to get on and off the ride in no time at all! 

We ended our trip at one of our favorite places from our first visit. When your kids need a break from standing in lines the Animal Kingdom has the best jungle gym play area. Theres a fun climbing/ropy area, lots of slides, a digging area, it is awesome to just let the kids run. Aunt Jane calls it the hamster cage and refuses to go in there haha, so we said our goodbyes at this point. We let the kids run around for 40 minutes or so, then we got one more Dole Whip to cool off, and headed to the car for the 4 hour drive home! 

I loved this trip so much! It was a lot, but it was also just such a fun time. I was proud of how we all handled it and that most of the time we had happy kids. It was so fun to bring Britt with us this time and I basically never want to do Disney without her. I'm already planning our return trip in 2027 before Millie turns 3, I feel like I'll have saved up enough energy by then to try this again. 

Millie Mae Jack (needs pictures)

 Our family has added a new sweet member. Millie Mae Jack was born on April 8th at 4:01 pm. It was kind of an interesting day to be born because everyone was excited about a solar eclipse that the US was experiencing. I’m going to try and be a little better about journaling and realized I want Millie to have a journal entry about her birth. When Mom passed away Dad sent out journal entries to each of us that either he or mom had recorded about us. They were such treasured memories. I hope I can be better about journaling for my children's sake. Millie was born screaming. She had opinions right from the start. When they took her out she gave some good screams. Then they took her into another room to measure and clean her up and when the door to the OR would open I could hear her screams from the other room. Once she was swaddled up and Ben put her up to my cheek she calmed down and was calm for us during the rest of the procedure. I absolutely hated the surgery. Didn’t throw up this time, but did still have a mild panic attack when the spinal tap was first taking effect. Experiencing the spinal tap is a great example of the need to speak up for yourself in medical situations. Only I knew how I was feeling and just by telling them I was panicking they were able to give me stuff to help with that. After what feels like an eternity Ben finally came into the room. He distracted me with talk of some man running across Africa or something…just whatever random things he could find in the news and soon we had our baby. It felt like another eternity when Ben went with the baby until he came back. They sewed me up pretty quickly and soon we were wheeled out to the recovery room. One of the doctors told me that I’d healed really well from my previous surgeries. Well thanks, I’ll take any compliment I can get at moments like this. I remembered things getting much better once they could take out my catheter and I could walk around, I didn’t remember it was 12 hrs until they’d do that. So that meant I was stuck in the bed until 4 am, 12 hrs after her birth. Those first 12 hrs were rough. The pain is the freshest, you can’t get out of bed, you’re bleeding onto this pad you’re laying on and don’t feel very clean, you have a catheter in, and ontop of all that Millie was not sleeping well that first night. Ben and I were exhausted. Just trying not to fall asleep while holding her so we didn’t drop her. After those 12 hrs they took out my catheter, I was able to go to the bathroom and clean myself up. Soon after that Millie decided to finally have some good sleep so Ben and I were able to catch up on some sleep in the early hrs of the morning. We were so grateful to Meredith for coming to watch Nelson and Riley while we were in the hospital so Ben could just be there for me instead of trying to get home and watch the other kids at night or something. 

Our first impression of Millie was that she was feisty. So it made it easier to decide to name her Millie instead of Amelia. Amelia would be far too proper to scream at any nurse who dared take her temperature. Millie, as is well documented, is an homage to my mom. Her maiden name is Miller. I had been really wanting a name that connected this daughter to my wonderful mother, but I had been really struggling coming up with anything I 100% liked, and if I wasn’t 100% in love I wasn’t going to convince Ben to choose it. When I finally considered mom’s maiden name I immediately came up with Millie and loved it! After presenting 5 or 6 of the names I’d come up with to my sisters and hearing them all love Millie I knew that was going to be her name. It took Ben more time to warm up to it, and I’m not sure if he really ever was thrilled about it, but you know once the name has a baby attached it’s a lot easier to love. Since I felt like I’d kind of pushed the first name on Ben I wanted him to be the one to choose the middle name. We had talked about Jeanine, being mom and my middle name, and it also happens to be the name of Elder Scott’s wife, a couple that we’ve always wanted to emulate in our relationship. To get other ideas he just went through a list of popular middle names. In the end it was between Jeanine, Mae, and Faye. Faye is a name from my family tree and Mae has some beautiful meaning behind it. We decided on Mae. We liked the almost opposite meanings to the name. It can mean bitter, but it can also mean pearl. This baby is definitely a beautiful pearl, but she definitely grew in a bitter time of life. Ben also liked that Mae comes from Mary which can be seen as a connection to Meredith, Ben’s mom’s name. 

It has been so sweet having Millie in our lives. Riley and Nelson are both regularly asking to hold her. Nelson still hasn’t attempted to say her name haha. I think he tried one time and then decided that was way too hard so she is still just Baby to him. The other day I heard him saying, “Hi cute baby,” as she was swinging in her swing. Riley loves having a little sister and I just pray that their bond will continue to grow throughout their lives. A sister’s bond is the most special there is. Millie mostly just sleeps still, being just 2 weeks old, but the moments she’s awake seem to be getting more frequent. It’s too hard to predict at this point, but part of me really wants Millie’s hair to end up red like mom’s. :)