Valentines 2014

We had a happy Valentine's Day with this cute munchkin!

Hope your day was great too!

Orlando 2014 - part 3

Jason finished up his work shortly before we left beautiful Florida.  He was a very busy guy!  The day before we left, we visited the Magic Kingdom in Disney World together.  It was a rainy day, but we set out anyway to experience the fun.

In order to get the Magic Kingdom, we had to take a ferry across a lake.  I believe this was Beckham's first boating experience.  I don't believe he even knew this was a momentous event. 

Upon our arrival, Beckham wanted to ditch the stroller and run crazy.  It was a little hectic for Jason and I trying to navigate where we wanted to go and keep track of Beckham toddling around Disney World.  We did it though.  Sometimes Beckham would stop in the middle of the walkway and sit down for a minute (I'm need a rest, Mom!).   Also, there was music playing in the streets of the Magic Kingdom and Beckham would randomly stop to do a little dance to the tunes.  I mean, really.  If you feel the beat, I guess you just gotta let it out!

We went on a few rides.  One of the first one we got on was Pirates of the Caribbean.  Beckham was not too big of a fan of the ride itself.  The ride is in a little boat in the dark.  It made him a little nervous.  He held on to Daddy the entire ride.

The Tea Cups were a hit though with Beckham.  He loved to spin around on the ride.  I kind of wish we had more time to ride that one multiple times because Beckham loved it. 

 It's a little blurry, but here is proof of us on the Tea Cup.

Beckham also liked riding on Dumbo.  He was so excited to see elephants on the ride.  It just took every ounce of patience that he had to wait his turn to touch Dumbo.

Close by to the Dumbo ride there were some circus displays, which quickly drew Beckham's attention.  This kid loves the animals.



The whole time we were there, we didn't see very many characters, and I was a little disappointed (not just for Beckham's sake....I still like that too!).  We did see Aladdin and Jasmine in passing, but we couldn't get a picture with them.  However we did ride on the Magic Carpet, which I guess was the next best thing.

Most of the time we were there, we were wondering and exploring new things.  We got a treat at Gaston's Tavern and actually saw Gaston hanging around, which was cool for me.  The boys could have cared less.  We visited Tomorrowland in the park - where Buzz and the Incredibles would be found.  We had a difficult time there, even with seeing Mr. Incredible form afar.  Beckham didn't have nap that day (no good!).  Here we are all teary eyed and wet. 

After a few breakdowns, we decided to call it a day.  We wondered some shops in the park with Beckham resting on my shoulder, but quickly decided it would be better to go back to the hotel.

Beckham fell asleep in the upright position on the bus ride to the hotel. It was an exhausting day for a little boy.

The next day we left Florida bright and early in the morning.  Beckham slept for more than half of the plane ride and when we arrived home, this is how he looked.  A little bit haggard. 

That's what Disney World will do to you.  It is so much fun that it just plain wears you out.  But you know what, we loved it.  Our little family made some great memories together.

Orlando 2014 - part 2

The reason we went to Orlando was for Jason to work, and work he did! He was running all over trying to get things done.

This is him at "The Expo" where he spent most of his time.  Sometimes when it was not busy, Beckham and I would wonder down for a quick visit.

He also got to meet Lou Holtz at this convention.  He was one of the key note speakers, and Jason was ecstatic to meet him.

With Jason gone most of our stay, that left Beckham and I to have plenty of time on our own.  I was actually a little nervous to have so much time without Jason in a place I was not too familiar with, but we had a great time together.  Look back at it, I am really grateful for the time we had together.  I didn't have to worry about everything back home - work, housework, meal planning, etc.  It was so nice to slow down and focus on Beckham. 

We explored every square inch of the hotel grounds.  There was so much to see and the grounds were beautiful.

We also spent some time at Downtown Disney together - just the two of us.

We even went on a little train ride together in Downtown Disney.  So cute!  And, this little boy loved it.

We also spent some time in the hotel, because it was huge.  Beckham loved being on the escalators

And he enjoyed being on the elevator.  Each time we got on the elevator, Beckham would do a little dance because being on an elevator is so fun, you know.  What a funny boy.

We found out that Beckham is deathly afraid of the shower.  We only had a shower in our hotel, and he did not want any part of it.  No sir!  So we had to improvise and made the shower into a shallow bathtub, and hey, he really enjoyed it.  Some days he just wanted to sit in there with his toys and play.  (Notice the band aids on his knees.  He had many scrapes and bruises on this trip.  And we talked about them every 10 minutes and compared owies with Dad)

We also found out that Beckham wants to just be a big boy.  The night we arrived, we got a crib for him to sleep in, and he would not have it.  So for our whole trip, he slept on a hide-a-bed.  He slept so good.  So good that we are considering moving our crib out of his bedroom back at home. 

Beckham enjoyed having a real phone.  No cell phone.  A real phone.  He played with it like it was the next best thing to sliced bread.

And, at night we would reunite with Dad.  We looked forward to it every night.  We would go out to eat and play as long as possible with our Dad.

Being together at night was the highlight of each and every day.  However, I must admit, that I enjoyed every last minute with Beckham - just the two of us.  I didn't have to worry about anything and I was able to slow down and just be with my son.  I actually realized some things about him that I hadn't noticed before.  I saw that this toddler wants so bad to be an independent little boy.  I honestly will forever be grateful for the moments that we had together on this trip.

Orlando 2014 - part 1

We r e a l l y  wanted to get away from the snow, so we took a hop, skip, and a jump to Florida last week. 

Well . . . actually, Jason had to visit Orlando from some work, and Beckham and I got to tag along and have some bonding time together.  How lucky is that?!  We have been so excited for this trip for weeks!

The night before our plane left, we stayed with Aunt Jenn and Uncle Brandon.  They are so good to us!  We had so much fun seeing our cute cousins, and it really helped to break up the traveling with our little youngster.

Beckham just loves little Blake, but we had to keep reminding him that he needed to be soft and talk nice.  Sometimes, I found it best to just tell Beckham to just plain look and admire the baby from afar.

Beckham also had fun with Jennah.  She was so nice to show him how to play with the toys.  What a sweetheart!

And, we couldn't have left Aunt Jenn's house without seeing Yogi.  I mean, really.  Mr. Beckham thinks he is pretty cool.

Our flight took off in the afternoon, and I had been worrying and stressing about it for weeks.  Literally.  Weeks.  I planned and prepared to entertain a toddler on a long plane ride, and you know what?  He did great!  We arrived in one piece late at night and smiles on our faces.  He was a champ!

The next day, we visited the temple grounds.  It is gorgeous!  I cannot emphasize it enough.  The Orlando temple is simply stunning.   I was so excited when we rounded a bend in the road and a beautiful temple appeared right in front of us up on a hill.  It just made my day.

Beckham thought it was pretty cool too.  He loved running all over the grounds in the warm sun.

We also visited the Animal Kingdom in Disney World.  This was easily the highlight of the whole trip for Beckham.  He L-O-V-E-D it!  I think it was also a hit for his Daddy as well.   These two boys were pretty happy to be there together.  (I must admit, even though I am not an animal person at all, I was very impressed by the park.  It was neat, but really what can you expect?!  It's Disney World!)

Promptly as we entered the opening gate (literally, as we walked up to the gate), Beckham decided it was time for his nap.  He got a few minutes of shut-eye on Dad's shoulder before deciding that this place was pretty neat. 

We saw so many things!  Here are some of the many fish that we saw, and we even saw an hippo in there too.  He came right up to us.  None of us had never seen one before and everyone thought that was very cool.

And, we saw some gorillas.  Beckham started squealing with excitement when we got up to the window for the gorillas, but really he was only excited to see a small bunny in the gorilla exhibit.  Funny kid.

Our absolute favorite thing that we did in Animal Kingdom was get on the Safari ride.  We saw lots of cool animals out in the open and no visible fences.  It was so different than seeing animals at a zoo because we were right up next to them.

 Beckham stood on Daddy's lap the entire way and waved his arms every time another animal appeared.

 A giraffe munching on some leave in the tree

Beckham was not in the mood to even look at the camera for a picture.  Every picture I have is of him pointing at something and looking in the other direction.

Flamingos 

 An Elephant

If you look closely there is a big lion out on the rock, and there were actually quite a few more out there.

At Animal Kingdom we saw some characters, which were completely foreign to Beckham.  We saw Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Russell and Doug from Up.  Beckham was a bit nervous seeing them and was worried about touching any of them.

 Dad decided to get Beckham a little souvenir at one of the shops.  Beckham thought little Simba was great and immediately showered his new stuffed animal with hugs and kisses.

 We also wondered the park and saw some fun rides and other random things.

 There are some drums outside of the Safari ride.  Beckham was pretty good at playing them.

Before leaving the park, we got some popcorn which was a huge treat for Beckham.  I had no idea that he loved that stuff so much.

It was no surprise that Beckham fell asleep in Daddy's arms on the way back to the hotel that night.  It was a fun day for a little boy.

Our hotel overlooked Downtown Disney.  Before Jason had to run off to work, we took our little family to visit and see what there was to see there.

We went to lunch at a fun T-Rex restaurant.  Beckham was trilled to see all the robotic dinos (that even roared!) and fishes.  So much so that it was difficult to get a boy to focus and eat lunch.

 We were seated under a gigantic octopus with a great view of other dinos.  The picture above is the t-rex.

 And the pretty fish were right next to us.

Oh, and Jason.  Well, he met the first burger that he was unable to finish eating (or so he recalls).

 

Beckham took a nap in his stroller after the lunch, and Jason and I took a walk and window shopped at all the fun places in Downtown Disney.

Beckham had a good little nap and Jason and I had a good little time together in Downtown Disney.