The McWhorter Family

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Day 1 - Disney World

Over Labor Day weekend, we packed up and headed south for our first family visit to Disney World. Josh had never been, I had not since I was a child, and of course, it was a first trip for Lily and Bear. We were up at the crack of dawn on Friday - both out of excitement and necessity. We had an early morning flight which put us in Orlando by lunch time. Lily and Bear were thrilled about the flight - they did really good on the plane, minus a little trouble with Lily's ears when we started to descend.
When we arrived in the Orlando airport, the Disney experience began. We were shuttled by the Magic Express to our hotel, quickly checked in to our hotel, and headed off to explore the Magic Kingdom for a few hours.

Our first glance at Cinderella's castle

Waiting in line for our first ride - Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride. We didn't have much of a plan for Friday - we just wanted to ride a few rides and get a feel for what we wanted to see and do on our longer day there on Sunday.

The Magic Carpet ride was a hit. Lily quickly figured out the trick to making our carpet go up and down and Bear loved that we were sprayed with water while circling around. He was so surprised (and confused) the first time it sprayed, but giggled excessively each time following!

After Aladdin, we had a couple of flops on the ride experience. We tried Pirates of the Carribean - Josh and I loved it, but the kids thought it was scary. Lily, typically our little dare devil, wanted to then ride a roller coaster. We grabbed Fast Passes for Splash Mountain and got in line for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The kids were not fans of the railroad - they were begging to get off as soon as the ride started. We decided it was best to skip Splash Mountain and head for some "smaller" attractions. We spent some time on Tom Sawyer's Island and made our way over to FantasyLand.

First of many Carousel rides

Next up was Dumbo. We lucked out and had less than a 15 minute wait, which I think is unusual in the afternoon for this ride!

Love this pic of Daddy and Lily with the castle in the background!

We cooled off for a bit by heading inside to watch Mickey's Philarmagic show - it was a hit! We saw it again on Sunday! Mimi and Granddaddy were joining us in Disney on Friday evening, so we caught the late afternoon parade and headed back to the hotel to wait for them! The parades at Disney are amazing! The characters do a great job interacting with those watching and the details on the float are just incredible!

We stayed at the All Star Movies resort, in the Toy Story building. Bear and Lily both loved the gigantic Toy Story replicas! Bear was really impressed with Woody and Buzz, saying that they were the biggest he had ever seen!

Josh had lifted Bear up to look inside Rex's mouth - he wanted to check to see if his teeth were sharp!

Lily and Josh had a quick swim in the pool and we ate dinner and got to bed once Mimi and Granddaddy arrived, anxious for our next day, Disney Hollywood Studios.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Back to School for Bear

On Monday, Bear started back to preschool after having the summer off! He's back at a local church preschool in a 5 day/week, 3 year old class!

Bear's "Oh no, is it really time to go back to school" face

Then his "Just kidding - I am SOOO excited to go to school!" face.

And finally, my precious "Momma's sweet little boy" face

More first day silliness!

Daddy's office is right in front of Bear's school - he had an early meeting, but surprised us for a quick back to school hug and picture

We are 1 week in and Bear is loving every minute of school! He doesn't have a hard time going into his class and his favorite part of his day is getting to play cars and outside with his friends! I had planned on him just going 3 days/week again this year, but with some changes we are making with me working, it made more sense for him to go 5 days/week. I was worried at first it would be too much for him, but I think it's perfect! I'm actually leaving my job at Children's next month to work part time with Josh's company - so while he'll be in school 5 mornings/week, he'll get to come home with me each afternoon! We are so thankful for this opportunity and that the transition for both Lily and Bear back to school have gone so well!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Ballet Camp

Just before school started back, Lily attended a week of ballet camp at Steps of Faith, a local Christian dance studio. Up until recently, she'd always been more of a fan of gymnastics, which she has done since she was 2. I think a few of her friends at school and church are in ballet and she started to think that would be more fun than gymnastics. I bought a week of dance camp at a silent auction in the spring so that we could "try it out" before quitting gymnastics for ballet!

The camp was really cute. They did ballet and tap, crafts, and had a bible lesson each day. On the final day, they had a performance, which is shown in the pictures below.

Lily is in the pink leotard on the back row with the black bow...and yes, she ripped her tights somehow in the 2 hours between drop off and performance :)

Tap Dancing!

Shoe change for the ballet routine

Love this sweet little pose, dancing and praising Jesus! It doesn't get any better!

I'm glad we gave dance a test run - Lily decided it wasn't for her! She liked the outfit, but said dance was "too hard and too much to remember". For now, I think she likes the quick pace and constant variety that gymnastics allows her!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

First day of KINDERGARTEN

Where has time flown to? My sweet little baby girl started Kindergarten today! Despite the emotions I was filling about sending her to the "big school", we made today quite a special one! Lily was up early - before we even had to wake her! She and I made egg and bacon "muffins" for a quick breakfast to have today and the rest of the week!

The night before, we packed her book bag and got her teacher gifts ready to go!

Lily HAD to have a monkey book bag - she looked for weeks and nothing could sway her away from the monkey! She even got a monkey lunchbox to match, thanks to Mammy and Paw!

Official First Day of School Pictures

Lily picked out a special new dress to wear that Mimi and Granddaddy bought for her - she looked beautiful - but so grown up - wearing it!

Drop off at the school was a whole new experience! We live no more than a mile from the school and I would guess it took us 20 minutes to drive and find a spot to park! Lily was so worried that we wouldn't be able to park and walk her in, but luckily we found a place to squeeze in near her classroom entrance! Daddy was able to join us and loved that Lily wanted him to be the one to walk with her into the school.

Class was getting ready to start when we finally made it in to class - Lily was cautious, but did so good and wasn't nearly as clingy as I expected! She hung her book bag up, put her lunch box away and sat down at her table.

Her little kindergarten classroom

Each morning, her teacher, Mrs. Dittmer, addresses each child and tells them good morning. That is their cue to find their spot on the rug! My last glance of Lily was her walking to her spot after telling Mrs. Dittmer "Good Morning".

The tears didn't well up in my eyes until we started walking away! I thought about and prayed for her throughout the day - and she did great! She loved her day and wants to go back tomorrow! We celebrated with a cupcake snack after school. I guess it is official - we have a kindergartner!