Our Awesome Vacation

We had a great time in Orlando! It was so nice for us to get away and have out first, real family vacation. We have to give a big thanks to my mom and dad for letting us use their time share condo for the third time! We've been to Aruba, Myrtle Beach and Orlando all thanks to my parents. It was a great place with tons of amenities and we never would have been able to go on this vacation if it wasn't for their generosity!

Luckily all of our travels went fine with the two kids. It's stressful flying with two young ones and all our stuff (double stroller, 2 carseats, giant swing box, 2 giant suit cases and two carry on bags) but luckily our flights were on time and the kids were great. Sawyer ate 14 ounces on the airplane (2 hour 20 min. flight) but he's a growing, chubby boy so it's OK. The swing made it in one piece in a giant box so we did enjoy good sleep on our trip. We had a two bedroom condo with a full kitchen so we got to eat in every night. We don't really enjoy going to restaurants with a 5 month old. We just grilled out a lot and hung out around the condo.

We spent one day at the Magic Kingdom, which was definitely enough. Audrey loved it! She went on every ride that she was allowed to go on except for Pirates of the Caribbean. For some reason she has a pirate phobia. Ben and I were so happy she wanted to go on the Haunted Mansion because that was our favorite when we were kids. Her favorite part was meeting all the characters. Below I put a bunch of different pictures from our trip and one of the sections is the characters she met. We did have to wait in some long lines to meet them but it was worth it. She also loved the Dumbo ride and Small World. Audrey and Sawyer were both in a trance throughout the whole ride. There was so much to look at. If you're wondering, Sawyer went on every single ride as well. We stayed at the park from open to close and Audrey did fine without a nap. Sawyer spent much of the day sleeping in his sack and hardly fussed at all. He was a very good baby for having to be held or in a stroller the whole day. We had a really great day and are excited to take them back again!

The other highlight of the trip was watching Audrey swim. She is very confident in the water now and loves to swim all by herself with her water wings. She did a great job kicking and moving her arms. Sawyer learned to splash in the pool and I think he enjoyed that. He also learned to roll both ways on vacation which means he can now get to where he wants to go. I guess I'm really going to have to watch him now!

We were very sad to come home and could have easily handled another week of vacation. Of course it is still cold in MI but at least everything is green and flowering right now. Enjoy looking at all the pictures I posted below.

Swimming

Sawyer in the pool for his first time. He seemed to enjoy himself.
Audrey learning to swim with her water wings. She did great!
Audrey firing the water cannon at Daddy and Sawyer.
Audrey was a pro by the end of the week. She could swim all by herself.

Hanging out at the Condo

Audrey coloring on our balcony.
PUMPKIN HEAD!
Audrey in her Ariel pj's, that night before going to Disney
Audrey's Minnie souvenirs from Disney
Guess whose idea this was????

The Rides

Dumbo was her favorite!
Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
We couldn't believe she loved the Haunted Mansion!
Audrey and Daddy on the carousel.
Daddy and Sawyer on Small World. We did it twice, that's enough to make you nuts!

Audrey and the Characters

Slobber Boy and Bunny Foo Foo

Just wanted to get one more post in before we leave for FL. We are going to Orlando tomorrow so wish us luck in our travels with 2 kids. Audrey's dance recital is in a few weeks so there will be more on that but you can at least get a preview of her cute bunny outfit, their dance is to Bunny Foo Foo. Sawyer is a happy boy now that he can sit. He's been sitting unsupported for a while now but he is good enough now for me to leave him on his own, which makes my life easier. He has also figured out how to flop over onto his belly on his own if he gets tired of sitting. He is pictured with is favorite new toy, the wipe container. Also notice the drool! Everyone says that means he's teething but I know from experience that it doesn't. Audrey started drooling at 4 months and didn't get a tooth until 10 months, so I would expect the same out of him.

On another note, I signed Audrey up for the 3 year old preschool program today. It starts in the fall. I almost cried when I saw her classroom. We just can't believe she'll be going to school next year. There was a lottery to get into the program and luckily I drew number 21. There were over 100 people there and definitely not 100 spots! Luckily, I did not witness any preschool moms fighting. I think I got out of there early enough before any craziness started!

I'm sure we'll have tons of pictures to share after we get back from Disney!

Uncle Ryan's Visit

Ryan came in from Boston this weekend for his birthday. He has been quite the world traveler over the past couple weeks - Boston, Kansas City, Austria, skiing in the Alps and then to Michigan. We were all very excited to see him since that last time we saw him was Christmas.

At least Sawyer was cooperative for some photo ops. He has been very particular about who holds him as of late and has been known to cry when strangers so much as look at him. It has not made life easy for Aunt Brandy and my mom. He does warm up after a while. This is just a change for us since Audrey didn't do that at such a young age.

We had a nice visit with Ryan. Audrey had a fun time bossing him around and enjoyed having a new playmate. She even called him "Big Ryan" before he came. She calls my friend Jeri's baby "Little Ryan". Audrey remembered that over Christmas Uncle Ryan tossed her in the air, so of course she made him do that several times. She's now 32 lbs so Uncle Ryan got a complete arm workout! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

New Sleeping Spot

OK, before you go calling CPS on me just know that I was right next to him. We came back from a walk and he was awake in the sack. I put him down there on top of the couch cushion to unstrap him. I turned around to take off Audrey's coat and within 30 seconds he was asleep. Figures he won't sleep in a crib but he'll sleep on the back of our sofa. What a man! That is also Zoe's preferred sleeping spot. Sawyer better not get too used to it because the couch isn't coming to Disney with us!!

Spring....FINALLY!

Sawyer is five months old today! Here are his latest developments - eating a ton of rice cereal, sitting pretty well unassisted, pushing his butt in the air like he's trying to crawl, making tons of strange noises and sucking his thumb (unfortunately). He weighs about 17 lbs and we think he's 27 inches. Notice that sleeping in a crib is still not on the list. The swing is coming with us to FL. We are packing it in my dad's golf club case.

We finally had a nice spring weekend. It has probably been a whole week since it last snowed, the first time since Sawyer was born. We have gone on a ton of walks and he loves going outside. It is probably nice for him to see that a world exists outside our house.

In the second picture he is trying to show some of his spring attire. He's wearing a baseball hat but his giant pumpkin head won't fit into it. It's a 6-9 month hat too. In the third picture Ben and Sawyer are wearing matching coats. Sawyer is Ben's Mini-Me.

Mini Cinderella

Not much has been going on in the Rapp household this week. Just getting back into the routine after not having Tyler for the past 2 weeks. We had a short readjustment period but they are all back on track now, thankfully!

Audrey is showing off her Cinderella get-up from Barbie and Amy. She loves the earrings but always tells me, "Mom, that wig doesn't fit me right." She sounds like a teenager! Audrey is very excited to see Cinderella in Disney World. She told me today that she wasn't going to pick her nose anymore because Cinderella doesn't pick her nose. At least she learned something from Disney. Another funny Audrey story - She loves to play school now and pretends to be a teacher. I was asking her what she was doing and she said, "Let me be, I'm constipated." She meant to say concentrating! Pretty cute!