Disney and Sea World Part 2

After an awesome day at the Magic Kingdom, we just couldn't stop the fun.  The following day, we decided to take the boys to Disney's Animal Kingdom!  We love this theme park because of all of the animal encounters and it's fun that both of our kiddos can equally enjoy.

This is how our morning began...

Our cheeky little panda, gleefully snacking on
a clementine.  This kid can easily eat 3 in one sitting.
Apparently these were particularly juicy.

Our trek to the car...the boys decided that it was necessary
to wake up everyone in the hotel.

Welcome to Disney's Animal Kingdom!!!

Here's Alex with their giant Christmas tree.

Our boys were ready to start the day's adventure...
and yes, William's shoes were off because he always pulls them off. 
I'm quite surprised he's not barefoot in this picture, actually.

William and Joseph, in line for the Jungle Safari
ride.  This is a really spectacular ride that takes you
through multiple jungle settings and you get to see
so many animals up close.

Alex was super excited!

I know this picture is really blurry, but I absolutely
loved it because William was being super snuggly with Joseph.

Alex, pondering the meaning of life... :-)

Hippo!!!!

Alex, checking out the pelicans.

More hippos!  I love that they look like large rocks in the water.

Some gazelles grazing

The giraffes looked so majestic.

Whoa, fella!  Check out those horns!  The guide said that the horns
don't really weigh that much because they're not solid, but rather
honey-combed on the inside.  Fascinating.

The rhinoceroses reminded me of walking tanks.  They were so massive!

The jungle safari in action.

Joseph and Alex, walking around the trails.

This collection of fish was absolutely amazing.  However, I kept
wondering what everyone was marveling over...until I took a step
closer and saw....

that there was a giant hippopotamus taking a nap amidst all of the fish!
Can you see it in the background?  Alex kept saying, "Hippo!"
and Joseph and I were like, "yeah buddy, sure!"
HA!  Little man was right!

The hippo was taking a nap with hundreds of fish swimming around it!
How cool is that?!

Alex (and Joseph) loved the meerkats!!

Joseph and Alex, crossing a bridge and moving
onto another exhibit.

As soon as we walked over the bridge, we saw people standing eerily
still and silent.  We walked closer and were immediately greeted
by these two fellows staring back at us!!  WOW!

It's like looking right into a mirror.  :)

Joseph, attempting to show William the gorillas.

Rafiki, from the Lion King, escorting us to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

Joseph and Alex with Rafiki.

Me and William with Rafiki.  As you can see, William's favorite
part of the theme park visits was seeing all of the characters.
He loved it!

Me and the boys with Rafiki.

After we left Rafiki's Planet Watch area, we ventured over to the character village and waited in line (the lines were substantially shorter in Disney's Animal Kingdom than in the Magic Kingdom if you want pictures with the characters).

Alex and William playing together sweetly
while we were waiting in line.  Yup...
William's socks were definitely gone by this point.

How cute are they?

First up was King Louie and Baloo the Bear from The Jungle Book.

Next up was Chip and Dale (one of Alex's favorites...probably because of their naughtiness).

William was absolutely in love with Dale and kept grabbing at his nose.
Dale was playing so sweetly with William.

Chip decided to be playful with Alex, as well.  He wrapped his scarf
around Alex and Alex got such a kick out of that.

Lol!  Look at William's face in this picture.  :)

While we were waiting in line to see another character, Joseph captured this adorable moment.

Alex and Donald Duck.

The whole fam with Donald Duck.

It was so great to see the absolute joy that William got from being around
the characters.

The Franses family with Donald Duck.

William had to give him one more kiss.  :)

Since it was still Hanukkah, we let the boys pick out one treat at the Animal Kingdom.  (Of course William wasn't able to "pick" anything because everything we gave him went straight in his mouth.  So, we chose this hat for him.)

Alex chose Mickey Mouse's sorceror's hat and we chose a
Chip and Dale hat for William.

As you can tell, William wasn't too jazzed about his hat.  It stayed on
for about 3 minutes.

Alex and William are both big fans of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show.  So, when we saw that we would have an opportunity to see Mickey and Minnie, we jumped at the chance!
Unfortunately, William fell asleep by the time we got to the characters, so Alex gladly stepped in.

He immediately hugged Mickey and Minnie and welcomed them
as if they were old friends.

It was funny because Minnie and Mickey kept trying
to straighten Alex's hat.  Alex was SO tickled by that
and couldn't stop talking about them fixing his hat for
the rest of the trip.  This little meeting meant the world to him.

Alex kept saying, "Hi friends!"

Minnie was still trying to fix Alex's hat, but it wouldn't stay up.  :)

"Cheeeeeeese!"  :)  Alex with Minnie and Mickey Mouse.

You couldn't wipe the smile off of his face for the rest of the day.  :)

Since the character lunch went so well the previous day, we decided to book another character lunch at the Animal Kingdom.

Here's our little William, patiently waiting to have lunch with some more friends.

Mommy and William snuggly time.  :)

Donald Duck was standing outside of the restaurant, so we took another
picture with him.

As we were eating, the characters came around the restaurant and stopped by each table to take pictures and interact with the patrons.  First up was...

Mickey Mouse!!!

Alex and William loved this lunch!  The character lunch was worth
every penny because this was clearly the highlight of the trip
for both boys.  :)

Next up was...

Goofy!

It was William's turn to greet him.  It's funny, but Joseph always
pets William's head like a little doggy. 

Our happy boys with Goofy.

After that was...

Daisy Duck!

Awwww!  Hugs for both of our boys.  :)

Happiness :)

After lunch, we ventured to DinoLand USA in the Animal Kingdom.

Mommy and Alex selfie as we were waiting
for a ride to start :)

Joseph and William rode behind us.

Joseph...being cheeky with the camera.

Can you see where our sons get their cheekiness?
Yup...this is my wonderful husband,
Dr. Smart Aleck.  :-)
I wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

 

After the ride, Joseph and Alex played some carnival games together.

Alex would NOT take the hat off for the
rest of the day.  No matter how much sweat
was forming on his little brow.  :)

They played and they won!  :)

Joseph and Alex, driving off with some dinosaurs.

By the end of the night, Alex was acting pretty fussy (not having his afternoon nap was the cause of this).  When he gets this way, Joseph and I like to mess with him a little bit.  So, Joseph was playing around and took Alex's hat and put it on. 
If only you could've heard the whining that was going on in this picture.  It's the little things like messing around with your kids when they start to get fussy that makes it easier to get through sometimes.  :)

Joseph, wearing Alex's hat with Alex
as we were saying good bye to Disney's Animal Kingdom.

As you can tell, William was pretty pooped
by the time we got to the car.

I tried to bring a little bit of tradition with us on the trip, so I took Alex's menorah with us so that we could still "light" the candles each night.

Joseph and Alex lighting the candles in our hotel room before the boys
went to bed.

We had such a great trip to Disney's Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.  There were lots of memories made and fun times were had by all.  I loved all of the quality family time that we had together.  Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki