The other side of the lens

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One of my best friends, Erin, is also a budding photographer (her studio name is Charms of Life Photography). As a birthday present, she offered her services to help capture some images of myself and Wesley. So often I am the one behind the camera, today was my turn to be on the other side of the lens. A very special blog reader wrote me and told me about this sunflower field and suggested I check it out. It was a bit of a drive to Jarretsville, and I always get lost on Dulaney Valley Road, but we made it and oh, it was worth every effort!

Miss Erin was kind enough to leave a few of the files with me as we finished our session, but I do not have the full set. Now I know what my clients feel like, waiting in anticipation to see my full gallery... hurry up Erin! I can't wait to see more!

Birthday Magic

Excuse the videography skills here! I was doing my best to take it all in, with my eyes, with my camera and on film. If you can't tell, I was taking pictures while operating the video camera. Apologies aside, we had dinner at The Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends. Pooh came by as soon as we sat down and then we ate our dinner. We were just about done when Eyeore, Tigger and Piglet came by. And then we got a second round of Pooh. I don't know how the characters timing got bunched up like that, but it worked out nicely that Wesley got to see Pooh twice. I love how, in the video of him with Eyeore, Wesley leans back and tries to get Eyeore to pick him up. And then in the second Pooh video he just plops himself down in Pooh's lap. I guess they are old friends by now! The food at The Crystal Palace was actually pretty good for a mass buffet. We especially enjoyed the mussels and the meatballs. There were plenty of children friendly options for Wesley and the characters made the evening extra special!

Wesley meets Mickey Mouse

It was beyond cute! What you missed in the first 15 seconds of their meeting that we didn't get on video - Wesley pointed to Mickey's eats, then his own Mickey Mouse hat "ears" and then back to Mickey's ears. It was so adorable!

When they let us in to see the big cheese, we were first in our little group. You might hear a little girl in the background exclaim "That's Wesley, Mommy!" I guess Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Opa (and Mickey and Minnie) were making such a fuss over Wesley, the little girl got a little confused about who she had been waiting in line to see - lol! But we all know the truth - we were there to see Wesley!

Whispering Canyon Cafe, Spectromagic and other fun...

We had dinner at The Whispering Canyon Cafe. The name sounds all calm and serene, but the cafe is anything but! It is the restaurant's ketch that it is loud and boisterous. Known for great food with generous helpings and sassy servers. Our server's name was Lazy Susan - ha! God help you if you ask for ketchup! You get all the bottles in the place and if another table needs ketchup, you get to deliver all the bottles to those in need. Fortunately, no one at our table needed ketchup, or at least they weren't willing to ask for any! Wesley had his first corn ON the cob experience and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it! About halfway through our meal, all the little buckaroos were invited to grab a pony and take a trail ride around the restaurant. I think Wesley thought it was cool and we certainly enjoyed watching him horsing around!

These videos might be kinda boring, but to me they are cherished memories and in some ways a statement about our vacation. We were at Disney World, but the truth is the trip was all about Wesley's reaction to being in Walt Disney World. We would ride rides and watch his expressions, meet characters and see how he reacted, and this night, we parked the stroller and watched the beautiful Spectromagic Parade. Well, we watched Wesley watch the beautiful Spectromagic Parade.

It was a late evening for sweet little Wesley, the parade didn't start until 8pm and the fireworks were at 9. Then we still had a very full busride home to the Animal Kingdom Villas. Wesley was a trooper through it all and fell fast asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. I wish I knew what he though of all the evening's events!

Magical Memories

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It was our second park day, and we opted to spend the morning at Animal Kingdom. We analyzed the park maps of all four parks and we decided that Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom had the most to offer a toddler.
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Our first ride at Animal Kingdom was Triceratop Spin, which is very similar to Dumbo. It wasn't crowded at all and we walked right on the ride. The operator even let us stay on and ride again - a few times in a row! It was a real treat, but when we were done, we were done!

As we were getting ready to go to lunch, we passed the trail where Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger were greeting all the guests. We took a peek and there was no line, so we decided to take a chance and see how Wesley would react to them. As you can see, Wesley was a little shy at first. He warmed up to Pooh and then we met up with Eeyore. By the time he saw Tigger, he was IN LOVE! He didn't want to leave them. But in the end we headed off to lunch with very little protest. It was so heartwarming to watch him interact with them and was one of the highlights of our trip.

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We took the train ride over to Rafiki's Planet Watch, where we went to a petting zoo. But the real fun was playing peek-a-boo with Jimminy Cricket. Those characters! They are so great with the kids!

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Before heading to lunch, we hung out at the Dinoland Boneyard, a toddler play area where they can run around and be kids. Wesley was digging the slides! Then we had lunch at The Rainforest Cafe and then went back to our resort for nap time.

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He slept like a rock after all that activity! We spent the afternoon relaxing at the pool and later had dinner at the Mara food court. It was another great day! But we were really looking forward to having some company the next day...

The happiest place on Earth

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We made it to the Magic Kingdom and it was amazing! As we strolled down Main Street, a small show was going on and the horse drawn trolley passed us by. Wesley clapped and you could just see the look of happiness on his face. I took one look at him and thought to myself, 'this is what it is all about.' You work hard, sacrifice and do your best to give your child all the love you can. We all know Disney World is one of my favorite places and to see the sheer joy on Wesley's face, I got choked up. And we were just walking down Main Street! Oh Wesley, you don't even know how much fun lies ahead!

Well, before we made our way down Main Street, we stopped at the hat shop to get mouse ears for Wesley. Since we were the first customers of the day, they gave us the hat and embroidery for free. Ahh... one more reason to love Disney World!

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The Dumbo ride is an American Icon and we just had to make Dumbo Wesley's first ride. We arrived shortly after the park opened, but still had to wait in line for 30 minutes. We decided to do the baby swap, first I rode with Wesley while Daddy took pictures, then Daddy rode with Wesley while Mommy took pictures. It worked out beautifully! Wesley wasn't ready for the ride to be over after his first flight with Mommy, so it was a real treat to be able to ride the second time without having to wait on line again.

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After Dumbo, we went on a few other Fantasyland rides, like It's A Small World, Winnie The Pooh, and Peter Pan. Lunch time came and we ate at the Pinocchio Village Haus. Since we were some of the first diners of the day, we had our choice of tables. (What can I say - he is a toddler and eats early!) A few of them overlooked the boat launch for Small World, so we sat there and Wesley would watch the boats leave and he would wave to the passengers and many of them would wave back. I know he thought that was very cool!

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After lunch and a few more rides, we headed over to Pooh's Thoughtful Spot, a play area for toddlers. They had a little tree house to explore and some fountains with a variable spray. It caught Wesley by surprise more than once! After a bit of a cool off, it was time to head back to our resort for nap time.

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After nap time (and a snack), we went to our resort pool, which was PERFECT for Wesley! Daddy said he couldn't have designed a better pool for Wesley! It had a toddler splash park in addition to the zero entry pool. Wesley had a ball!

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We're going to Disney World!!!

It was the morning of our departure and we were headed to Disney World! We had a little airport breakfast at the Greene Turtle, where Wesley show off some of his verbal skills. I just love how he says "tur-tle!"

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Waiting to board our plane.

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Our beautiful bedroom at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had a 1 bedroom unit and due to Wesley's napping schedule I didn't end up taking any pictures of the living room and kitchen - oops!

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Our HUGE bathroom!

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Close up of tile detail. I LOVE Disney touches!

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Hidden Mickey carving detail on desk in master bedroom.

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Wesley woke up from his nap and we went outside onto our balcony to check out our view of the savanna. Of course, I thought the best view was watching Wesley.

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The savanna outside our room. You'll notice the sand colored path around the exterior. It actually is the fence that keeps the animals in. It is highly unnoticeable unless you're looking for it.

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We headed to the California Grill where we had a yummy dinner. The California Grill is our first night tradition for Disney vacations. The food is wonderful and the view of the Magic Kingdom is spectacular. We had an unfortunate diaper situation at the restaurant and that caused our evening to end sooner than we would have liked, but we still had a nice meal.

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When we returned "home" we had Ankole Cattle outside our room. They actually ended up sleeping in that area all night.

Playdate at the zoo

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Our wonderful neighbors are members at the Zoo and they treated us to a play date. So, Wesley got to spend the day playing with the big kids, Kira and Jacob, both 3 and a half. And those big kids were so good and sweet with him! They'd hold his hand and help him along and Kira even let Wesley ride with her on the flying banana ride. Wesley wasn't such a big fan of the carousel (he wasn't last time either and obviously hasn't gotten past it yet). Kira and Jake are both really good role models for Wesley, I hope we'll have more play dates in the future!

Just a note about the last couple pics... poor Wesley wasn't quite big enough to ride the little tractors, his feet wouldn't reach the peddles. He didn't let that stop him! Go Wesley!

a little drink

Being a toddler is the start of that inbetween stage of being a baby and becoming an independent being. It is a daily struggle, learning to do things on your own, full of try try try again. And it can be just as rough on the parents, watching your little one work so hard to assert themselves. I must also mention it can be a battle of the wills.

It isn't always easy to give Wesley the opportunities he needs to learn new skills. Drinking out of a real cup can get pretty messy at times, so I have found it best to only put a splash of liquid in the cup. This morning I gave him a little (and I mean little) water in a cup (actually a snack trap, but it has two handles so it makes it a little easier to hold).

I thought he would drink it in the kitchen as soon as I gave it to him. Instead he carried it into the living room so he could watch a little TV. When he was done he carried the cup back into the kitchen, held it up to the water dispenser and asked for "more, more, more." I'd give him another splash and he'd go back to the living room, sit on the couch, drink and then return to the kitchen for more. This went on for three cycles until I grabbed the video camera. I just love how he toddles about!

See you in September!

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I have been feeling like I haven't been taking many pictures of Wesley lately. I had the studio all set up, so in between a couple sessions I popped him in for a few shots. I didn't have a toddler wrangler, so the session was short lived, but I got a few keepers. I am an avid scrapbooker and I wanted a few pictures to document the fact that we have a few trips scheduled in the near future. I think Wesley is excited about his upcoming trip to see Mickey Mouse and his grandparents. Then I told him we had to wait a couple more weeks... poor kiddo looked very disappointed!