Disney World 2011

So I'm a little late getting this up but better late than never right. In the beginning of May we were able to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa along with Brady and James at the happiest place on earth for a much needed vacation. I was so excited to take Hayden and we had prepared him to meet Mickey with a few episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse his favorite tv show at the moment. What a fabulous trip, the first day we checked out Epcot (which happened to be Mother's Day), then the next day was Animal Kingdom followed by the Main Street Electrical parade at Magic Kingdom in the evening.  I have to say out of all the parades we saw the electrical was our favorite, Hayden loved seeing all the lights and of course Mickey being pulled by a choo-choo.While at Animal Kingdom Hayden had a chance to meet Rafiki and Jiminy Cricket out at Discovery Island along with checking out some goats in a petting zoo.

The next day we headed out to Disney's Hollywood Studios.  Hayden was deathly afraid of Ursula from The Little Mermaid Live but loved Disney Junior live and Toy Story Mania.  I would probably have to say seeing all the Disney Junior characters was one of his favorite things.  We spent a few afternoons cooling off at the water parks both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.  Hayden found that he quite enjoyed floating around on the lazy river on his own little mini tube.  I wasn't able to get a picture but he would just lay back and float on by.  Last up was Magic Kingdom, Hayden's favorite rides were the Mad Tea Party and the cars at Tomorrowland Speedway.  He got to see both Mickey and Chip and Dale while at the Magic Kingdom and we caught Wishes and Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks show before heading home.  We ended up having to cut our trip a day short because Preston got called back a day early, that being said we had a magical time at Disney and can't wait to go back.

We begin our first morning with a ride on the bus with Grandma to Epcot.

Hayden really enjoyed riding the buses around Disney property.

Shaking maracas with Grandpa in an African village at Animal Kingdom.

Kilimanjaro Safari with dad, this Hayden saying "No" I don't want to get off.

Grandpa bought Hayden a special toy to play with while waiting for the parade, Hayden loved it!

Of course Hayden had to have cotton candy with his Aunt Brady.

Hugs with Chip and Dale!

Finally meeting Mickey, I think Hayden was a little surprised.

Big grins on the teacups!

One last ride on the Speedway before catch the fireworks and heading home.

in Mickey's words "we'll see you real soon."

Hayden is 2!

Wow I never thought this day would come so quickly. We held Hayden's birthday party actually a day late this year since the weekend always works better. So, on his actual birthday I bought a few cupcakes, because everyone deserves at least a cupcake on their birthday, I decided to have him try blowing out a single candle to practice for his party cake. He wouldn't do it at all, I just kinda stared at it. So the next night we light his candles and what does he do, immediately blows them out before I can even blink, and of course I had to relight them so I could get a picture. I guess he got the lesson quickly from our one session before. We had a wonderful party with a few of our friends here in Savannah, Preston made some wonderful smoked ribs and I of course made an adorable train cake. Hayden loves choo-choo trains as he says right now so I knew I had to do a train cake. The hardest part was trying to keep him away from it all day.  Hayden we love you so much and can not imagine our lives without you in it.

Hayden was also trying to open his gifts super early, this is one such attempt.  Success!

Hayden and CJ playing with his new trains.

Sneaking leftover train candy for breakfast.

He's such a frosting lover like his mommy.

Disney suckers from Aunt Brady and Gavin to help pump Hayden up for our Disney trip next week!

Hayden tidbits for the scrapbook:
*Hayden's 2 year check-up he weighed in at 25 lbs. and is now 33.5 inches tall.
*He's attempting to talk up a storm, even though I can only understand maybe half of what he is trying to tell me.
*Still climbing any and everything. He is definitely my little monkey.
*He loves his dog "Twigger" and they are starting to become good buddies.
*He knows most of his body parts and loves going through them on mommy and daddy.  I wonder if all that prodding will one day lead to something.

April 2011

Finally caught up enough to call a post by it's proper month and not feel extremely late! This month we've enjoyed having spring/summer arrive here in Savannah. The weather has been very warm and we've had almost no rain. Hayden loves being outside so this has been a welcome change. Hayden also loved watching the Master's this year and made his Grandpa very happy, he's secretly hoping for another golf lover. This prompted the purchase of a plastic golf set which Hayden loves to hit around the house. Also this month one of Hayden's cousins sent us a Flat Stanley from his first grade class so we had the opportunity to take him with us to visit Preston and the helicopters at work. Hayden loved sitting in the "copper" and getting to play with some of the buttons.

Watching the Masters!

Hayden loves playing in the water and can't wait for bath time.

Hayden's first time eating corn on the cob, it was a huge hit!

EASTER

We celebrated a wonderful Easter this year and felt very blessed to have Preston home with us. To make it even better Preston was also given a 4 day weekend and was able to spend some extra time at home. Hayden loved finding all the eggs that the Easter bunny left him and was very surprised when he later realized there was candy inside.

Yummy, chocolate Easter candy.

St.Patrick's Day Parade

Every year the City of Savannah hosts a wild St.Patrick's Day weekend which includes a huge parade reporting to be the second largest in the nation.  Thousand of people pour in for the parade and wake up super early to get good viewing spots.  We decided that before leaving Savannah we wanted to see this fun parade.  So we woke up super early and headed to one of Savannah's famous squares where we enjoyed homemade green cinnamon rolls while waiting for the parade to start.  Hayden loved seeing all the horses, marching bands and parade floats.  I loved seeing his excitement and am happy we got to experience the Savannah St.Patrick's Day Parade at least once.

 Playing with bubbles while patiently waiting for the parade to start.

 Parade party goodies!

 The best viewing spot around, daddies shoulders.

 All that excitement sure tires a boy out.

Friends Forever

Well I'm only about 2 months late getting this post up and since I'm using this more as a family journal now everyone else gets to come along for the ride. We've had some amazing friends who recently moved away and as we got down to the last few weeks I found myself reflecting on all that we've been through with them. Michael, the father moved to Ft.Drum with us at the same time and purchased a home a block away, shortly after he married his sweet wife, Jaclyn, who quickly became a close friend. We shared both of our deployments together, welcoming family pets, pregnancies for both families and a move to Savannah together. When we returned to Savannah Hayden quickly became attached to Emily. He would walk around the house calling for "Emme" as he called her. We are so sad to see our friends leave, especially Hayden who doesn't quite understand where Emily has gone. Here's best of luck to all our friends who know the Army lifestyle all to well and to new friendships may they be as cherished as ours.

Hayden and Emily enjoying soft play together, Aug '10

Halloween together 2010

All the kiddo's at Christmas (Ethan, Emily and Hayden)

One last trip to the beach together.

They even shared matching pj's for a night!

 They loved swinging together.

 
 We tried for one last photo before saying goodbye, but as kids do they just wanted to run and play.