Monday, July 21, 2014
DISNEY // Part III

The next couple of days on our trip to Orlando were spent at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom.  We spent a half of a day at EPCOT and about a day and a half at Animal Kingdom.  EPCOT is a nice park to go to if you're looking for more of a laid back day after long days at the other parks.  Many of EPCOT's rides are interactive and in air conditioning which is golden when you're in Florida at the end of June!

We spent our final day at Magic Kingdom going back through rides we loved and making sure we crossed off every "to do" on our list.  The biggest highlight of the day was dining with Cinderella in her castle!  It was even more magical than I expected and completely worth the money spent.  When you enter the castle you are greeted like royalty.  Cinderella took photos with the girls and then we headed upstairs for dinner.  The service was spectacular and the food was delicious!  Throughout the courses princesses would be introduced and come by each table to introduce themselves and take photos.  We met Jasmine, Ariel, Snow White, and Aurora.

Disney goes above and beyond with everything they put their name on.  When Ariel came over to our table she told the girls that she wore her human legs and asked Paris how long she's had her human legs.  Paris replied, "11 years" and Ariel looked so surprised and said, "Wow! That's a long time!".  The girls loved it!  We forgot to charge our camera battery, so unfortunately we had to use the camera on our phone for the photos with the other princesses.

We also watched the fireworks from inside the castle.  It was so beautiful and such a fun experience!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014
DISNEY // Part II

After Paris made her grand entrance in Orlando, (you can read about that here) we had to change up our game plan.  I was so nervous that all four of us were going to end up with the flu.  Thankfully, we did not.  We decided to spend the morning at the pool and see how Paris felt in the afternoon.  Because our room was so close to the pool and Paris' health was improving - I was able to spend my time between the room and the pool.  Sophia didn't mind one bit.  Sophia could go swimming everyday and never get tired of it.  After a few hours at the pool, we were greeted by this beauty:

Minnie ears and all! Disney, the McNutt's are back in business! We headed over to Disney's Hollywood Studios and spent the afternoon there soaking in Disney magic, Orlando sun, rides, and then watching the spectacular show: Fantasmic!

Fantasmic was so fun and highly recommended.  There are pyrotechnics, dancing water, lasers, and of course, lots of Disney characters.  We had no idea the show was going to be so great.  Originally, we thought it was just Mickey's firework show, but it was so much more!  There were 7 Disney movies featured along with their villains. Mix that with water, fireworks, music, and synchronized flashing light-up Mickey ears and you can't help to smile the whole way through.  We used our FastPass here which allows you to bypass the lines.  We each had three FastPass choices to use each day.  With the use of our FastPass we ended up with GREAT seats - second row!

And just like we hadn't been awake the majority of the night before, we decided to head over to Magic Kingdom to hit up some rides and find funnel cakes for Mr. McNutt.  :) 

 

Pure bliss right there - warm funnel cake topped with ice cream, fresh strawberries, loaded with whipped cream, and finished off with a dusting of powdered sugar.  And Cinderella's castle in the background.  No big deal. :)

Wednesday, July 9, 2014
DISNEY // Part I

We've crossed off another "to do" on our McNutt Summer Live List: Take a family vacation.  Our trip to Disney World was magical, happy, and full of new memories - just as Disney promises.

We stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort.  The resort features popular crazes during the 1950s through the 1990s.  It was fun to reminisce, but not so fun to have your kids tease us about our excitement over things we remembered from our childhood aka "the olden days" per Sophia.

The resort offered the Magical Express for pick up from the airport to the resort and also, to pick up our baggage from baggage claim and deliver it to us. Score! I hate waiting at baggage claim. We were so excited to get to Magic Kingdom that we opted to hop on the shuttle without waiting for baggage.  In the future, we will definitely bring a change of clothes as a carry on or wear lighter clothes on the airplane.  Marvin and I both wore all-black on the airplane.  Not our brightest decision ever as we were MELTING at the park. But it was our first day, so our excitement kinda took our minds off the fact we were mere moments away from passing out from heat exhaustion.

We spent the afternoon and into the wee hours of the night frolicking around Magic Kingdom.  It was amazing!  We met Cinderella and Rapunzel, rode as many rides as possible, watched two parades, ate delicious food, and saw the fireworks!  The fireworks were even more magical than I remembered.  Cue my waterworks now.  Marvin and I looked over at the girls at one point during the fireworks - their eyes as big as saucers and Sophia was singing "Let It Go" from Frozen - melted me right into a ginormous puddle.

I would need to remember that magical moment when I awoke at 4am the next morning to Paris throwing up all over the bed she and Sophia were sharing.  I felt so horrible for her.  Room Service isn't so fast in the wee hours of the morning, so I wrapped up the soiled sheets, set them outside, and the 4 of us squeezed into me and Marvin's bed...queen-sized bed. :) Somehow, by the grace of God, we all finally fell back asleep around 7am until 7:15am when the cleaning staff pounded on our door with clean sheets.

Disney-1, McNutt Family-0.

Part 2 coming soon...

Sunday, July 6, 2014
4th of July Weekend 

Hope everyone had a fun-filled holiday weekend!  Our weekend was filled with celebrating, family, and delicious food!  We had a pretty laid back weekend.  I think we are all still recovering from our Disney trip!

Marvin's birthday is on the 4th of July, so we had double the celebrating to do!  The girls and I cooked breakfast for him, of course!  He's a cinnamon roll lover, so whenever it's his birthday or father's day I try to incorporate his favorite treat somehow by doing a different take on the cinnamon roll.  This year I made Cinnamon Toast Crunch french toast.  It turned out to be so delicious! Normally we don't like french toast because of the texture.  But using thick Texas Toast bread and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal made the french toast more crunchy/toasty rather than soggy (ew).  

My grandparents were in town this weekend!  As always it was great to see them and spend quality time together.  We had such a good time that we didn't take ONE photo together while they were here.  I'm so bummed that we forgot to take out the camera.

We celebrated the Birthday Boy and Independence Day by firing up the grill and eating cupcakes.  You can't go wrong with that formula. :)

We were invited to our neighbors 4th of July party to watch the fireworks over the lake.  The kids had a blast with all the neighborhood children and we had a chance to meet a lot of our new neighbors!

I'm so thankful that my grandparents were able to visit, see our new home, and spend time with Paris & Sophia.  I'm also thankful for God allowing my husband to see another year.  Happy (belated) birthday to my amazing husband! Your three favorite gals love you so very much!