Fall Festivities 2021

 Fall festivities are so much more fun with Griff - and he is at such a fun age for them! This year we really embraced all the fall activities with him.

In September we kicked off "fall" early with camping, an early trip to Zoo Boo, a visit to see Nicole and Hugh's new sheep, and a trip to an orchard to get an apple cider slushy. We camped at Turkey Run mid-September. Griffy loved the trails there (although they are a bit challenging) and especially loved all the time riding his bike & playing on the playgrounds. He also loved our visit to see Nicole and Hugh's new baby sheep another week - he especially loved chasing them around their enclosure and trying to hold them. We also stopped at McClure's Orchard (on the far north side of Indy) one day when we were out that way for something else. Griff loved seeing their animals and we got an apple cider slushy from the apple barn (Griff & I always get one to share in the fall!). We also went to the Indy Zoo when they were just kicking off Zoo Boo with Hadley and Rachel We went during the day so we didn't see many lights, but we saw lots of big pumpkins & enjoyed some time on the playground too! We also just generally enjoyed lots of park, zoo, and outside time in September as well as our last few weekends to enjoy the nice weather at the lake - all of Griff & I's happy places. 

Hummel Park Playground Time


Meeting the new sheep



Zoo Playground time



Park Picnic



Riding our scooter with Ali Dog



Turkey Run - Playground time



Zoo Time with Hadley


 

We kicked off October camping at McCormick's Creek. It rained most of the weekend unfortunately, but we did make a side trip over to see our cousins in Bloomington for part of the weekend which Griff loved! We did get a chance to do a couple shorter hikes in between rain - to Wolf Cave and a waterfall. We also had a "movie night" on Saturday evening and had a themed dinner and watched Casper. For weeks after Griff called every "ghost" decor item he saw "the friendly ghost!" so I'd say he liked it!

Wolf Cave Hike

We also went to Zoo Boo (a couple times!). We went once with family and another time as just our immediate family. The first time Griff went as "train conductor Mickey" (his halloween costume this year). The next time he went as Buzz (an extra halloween costume I made him this year). 

Zoo Boo



Zoo Boo

We also went on a long weekend trip to the Smokies with my parents and older brother's family (Tim unfortunately wasn't able to come because it was before a big tax deadline). On the way down we stopped at Bass Pro Shops (Griff loves seeing the large aquariums here and the kids loved the glass elevator!) and to get some ice cream. We spent the evening hanging out at the condo getting settled and letting the kids play. The next day we went to the Scenic Motor Trail just outside Gatlinburg and explored some of the old cabins and hiked to Grotto Falls. Griff did awesome and hiked the whole way up - though he did hitch a ride on the way down! 

On our last day we drove to Cades Cove. We were able to check out a couple churches and even saw a bear walk right in front of our car! The kids especially loved playing the piano in one of the churches. On our way back we stopped in Townsend and the kids explored a train museum there and we found a neat swinging bridge. That night we also went to play mini golf - Griff loved it and was quick to "place" his ball in the hole if it didn't go in when hit. Poor Brody actually had hand foot mouth while we were there- and Griff unfortunately got it after our trip as well. However, he did pretty well other than being a little fussy and having a few sores around his mouth for a few days!

We also went on a camping trip just us + Griff to Mammoth Cave. We were really excited to see what Griff thought of it since he'd never been in a cave! We camped right near the visitor center in the national park. He loved checking out the visitor center and learning about caves. He was at the end of getting over hand foot mouth so he was a little grumpier and didn't want to hike as much - so he hitched a lot of rides when we did! We hiked down to a pretty spring by the historic entrance of the cave (River Styx Spring), to an old train that used to run to the area, and also around a large area called "Cedar Sink Trail". We also stopped at a couple historic churches (Joppa Church and Good Spring Church). We also took the Green River ferry across (it is a small ferry, only big enough to fit 2-3 cars) to explore another section of the national park (Griff really loved this!). We also went on a tour of the cave (the Historic Tour). I'm not gonna lie - I felt a little claustrophobic myself - but it was also soo cool. Griff was a little impatient (it was a long tour) but did almost all of it on his own! He also talked about it for weeks after so I'd say he liked it! We also enjoyed plenty of campfires in the evening and brought board games to play too (Griff is super into board games right now!). 

We also went to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins! Since we're thinking of moving further north here soon we decided to check out a pumpkin patch on the north side! We went to Union Acres, a smaller farm, which was super nice and had lots of fun activities for Griff and a large patch to pick from. It was not crowded at all which was super nice (though it was a little chilly that day). Griff loved all their activities! They had lots of big slides made of tubes (which he went on on his own and wasn't afraid of at all!), a duck race area, a bubble making area, a corn pit, a playground made of large tires, a tricycle racing area, a basketball hoop area, large hay bales for climbing, an area with bunnies and ducks, and an area where you could "hit" smaller pumpkins with a baseball bat or sledgehammer - all this along with the apple barn and patch. We picked our pumpkins first and then released Griff to go on all the activities. By far his favorite were the tire playground, slides, and hay mountain! We had a hard time getting him off these at the end because he loved them so much! Griff was a fan of trying to carve his pumpkins afterward, though he didn't like the "guts". 

As usual, we also spent a lot of October playing outside, at the park/playground, or going to the zoo! Griff loves being outside so we took advantage of the still (mostly nice) weather and were outside a lot. He also loved seeing all the "spooky" decor so we went on lots of bike rides through our neighborhood to check out all the decor. 

We finished out October with Halloween festivities - a trunk or treat with our cousins and trick or treating in our neighborhood on Halloween. Griff loved trick or treating! This was the first year he really understand it and was excited to go and it was so sweet to see!

November was a little slower and was filled with more play days at home, though we did still go to the park/playground and zoo fairly often! We also spent lots of time raking leaves due to having lots of trees - and Griff loved jumping in the leaf piles! 

We also got in one camping trip to Clifty Falls with Nicole & Hugh! We hiked to the tunnel caves and and a couple waterfalls and explored the Inn and downtown Madison. We found a playground on the river that Griffy loved and he also liked visiting the train at the visitor center. We also did lots of campground loops on Griffy's bike and had a couple nice campfires. It was a nice end to our camping season for the year. 

We also celebrated Thanksgiving with family - we had cake at Thanksgiving as well to sing to Griff with family since his birthday was coming up! Though this year has been...a year..we have so much to be thankful for, especially and including Griff...so we were thankful to end the season thanking God for his many blessings and for our family. 

Now we head into the Christmas season - which is sooo special in our household. We area anxiously awaiting celebrating Griff & I's birthday but also (and most importantly) the birth of our Savior.

Summer 2021

 If there was a theme for Summer 2021, I think for us it would be camping & all the outdoor time. Especially with Covid on the rise, we were careful to mostly spend our time doing outdoor, not as crowded activities this spring into summer, which meant plenty of outdoor time (one of our favorite things as a family!). 

We took a couple different camping trips this spring into summer - mostly places we've gone before but a couple new ones as well!

May (Mothers Day Weekend) - Brown County: Somehow we have managed to make Brown County our first camping trip of the season the last couple years...and I am 100% here for it. It is one of our favorite places to go - it's not super far and there's a fair amount to do. We really enjoyed hiking the lakes (and Griff did them almost 100% on his own!). We also love going to the stables to see the horses (which Griff rode this time!) and going into town for pizza and ice cream (the Chocolate Moose has great vegan ice cream!). We usually take Ali with us to get pizza in town but this time opted to skip it and actually drove into Story, IN one day. 

May (Memorial Day Weekend) - Bryson City, NC (Deep Creek Campground): The Smokies are one of our favorite places to camp and we love the North Carolina side because it tends to be quieter. We decided to take a long weekend and just see the NC side (though we missed Elkmont on the other side!). We spent a lot of time exploring the trails near the campground (which has a nice creek to splash in and plenty of waterfalls!). We also went into Asheville, NC to get White Duck Taco Shop (one of Tim & I's favorite) and take Griff to Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS). Griff loved exploring this museum (it was a lot like a mini Children's Museum) - though he did get a little scared when he got to the top of the indoor play structure and mama had to rescue him!). We also drove to Cataloochee one day and hiked some of the trails there, enjoying seeing some of the old houses and some elk. 

July - Oubache: I had never been to this state park and Tim hadn't been since he was a kid, so this was a really fun one to check out! They have Bison at this park and Griff enjoyed seeing them (he actually had been gifted a stuffed bison toy by a friend of Tim's so he got a kick out of bringing that with him!). They also had a nice beach/lake with a trail around it so we spent some time playing in the water there which Griff loved. We also enjoyed plenty of campground walks, campfires, and time at the playground...and went into town for some local ice cream which Griff loved. 

July-August - Holiday World, Oregon Inlet (Outer Banks):I talk way more in depth about this trip in another post but this was one of our favorite spots to road trip to last summer...and this summer was no exception. :)  

We also spent a few weekends camping at Heritage Lake this summer, once even just with me + Griff and his cousins. Griff loved getting to have a sleepover with his cousins and I loved getting to love on them! 

 

We actually had a couple more camping trips planned this spring and summer but ended up cancelling them due to other life circumstances...but we're hoping for more camping time last summer and were thankful for what we got! 

We also spent so much time this summer outside - going to the park, going to the zoo, time at the lake, etc. or just playing in our own backyard! 

Griff loves going to Hummel Park, especially the splash pad or the play ground on the back side of the park...and we do to! We went almost every to every other day this summer. 

We also spent a lot of time at the zoo - I'd often take him in the morning when it wasn't too crowded on my own or we'd have others join us (we even took his cousins one day for Brax's birthday present and Griff loved that!). 

We spent a lot of time in the water or at the lake too. Griff loved swimming (especially on the lily pad), playing in the water table, or going on a boat ride or tubing! 

We also spent a lot of time playing on our play set in the back yard and playing with his water toys in our yard too!

This summer Griff was at such a fun age to experience - he has gotten so much more lively and interactive and is talking so much more. I have loved getting to experience summer and summer activities with him and our little family...and as sad as I am to see that go I am also so excited for all the fall activities that will be coming our way soon too!  

Outer Banks Road Trip 2021

Last summer we took a week and did a road trip out to Outer Banks, NC. It was one of our favorite trips we have taken as a family and this summer we knew we wanted to go back. 

We decided to go at the end of July/beginning of August. We left on a Thursday evening and decided to take a pit stop at Holiday World. Griff had never been and we were anxious to take him to the water park there (Splashin' Safari). Knowing how obsessed he is with water, we knew he would love it. We woke up early the next day and spent the whole day there! We started the day on the amusement park side and took Griff on a log ride. He was just barely tall enough and the shortest kiddo by far in line (and there are no lap restraints on this ride though it has a pretty good drop) so I was a little nervous he would get scared, but so far he hasn't really gotten scared on anything we had taken him on so I was fairly sure he would love it. During the ride he wasn't overly animated but as soon as we got to the bottom of the biggest hill he started clapping and signing more. 

After the log ride, we spent most of the rest of the day in the water park side of the park. There was one area of the park that had a bunch of kids slides all in a row, a smaller wave pool, and a kids water playground all next to each other. We spent most of the day hopping between these. Griff loved going down the slides with us and "jumping" the waves. He liked the water playground ok - but after getting a couple buckets dumped on his head by bigger kids wasn't the biggest fan. We also hopped over to the lazy river a few times and Griff loved laying back in a kids tube and floating the river (multiple times in a row!) with us. 

After leaving the water park side, we hopped over to the amusement park side and let Griff ride a few of the smaller rides with us or on his own. They had a train, scrambler, arcade shooting type game, and a few others we all rode together and a few smaller kids rides he was able to ride on his own. He loved all of them! He also rode a kids "drop zone" type ride with me - he signed more when he was done but I think did get a little nervous on this one. 

Tim & I used to try to take a day every summer and go to Holiday World when we were dating so it was special to get to experience it with Griff and we hope it is a tradition we get to continue! After spending the day at Holiday World we got up early the next day and headed to Beckley, WV. We stayed at the campground connected to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. Unfortunately, the coal mine was closed that evening we were there. However, we really enjoyed walking around some of the outside areas of the Exhibition and ended up deciding to stop back through there on our way back to get to do the full tour. We also went over to the New River Gorge and checked out one of their visitor centers, the main bridge, & Thurmond, WV (an old mining town). Griff really enjoyed seeing the exhibits on the coal mines because many of them included exhibits on trains (as trains were used to transport the coal). 

We headed out to Oregon Inlet Campground in Outer Banks from Beckley WV. We left really early and actually arrived around mid day and got set up - which was wonderful because it gave us a whole evening on the beach that afternoon-evening! Griff loved playing in the sand while we got set up and was so excited to get to the beach that afternoon. The campground we stayed at had a beach you could drive on right by it - so we had borrowed my dad's truck (since Tim's isn't 4WD) and were able to drive right up...which is sooo nice when you tote as many things as we do with having Griff. Griff isn't at all afraid of the waves so we spent most of our time at the beach chasing him around and making sure he didn't dive in the ocean! We also made lots of sand castles which Griff was a big fan of. 

Our next day in Outer Banks we drove over to Corolla, NC. We stopped on our drive to have lunch by the water and then went to Corolla Beach to try to see the wild horses (you can drive on the beach with them). We didn't see a ton, but did see 3-4 wild horses! After that we drove back toward Currituck & Whalehead and walked around, checking out the old lighthouse, village, and a lodge in the area. Griff was very obsessed with lighthouses this trip and got so excited every time we saw one. 

The next morning we went to a local place to grab donuts (Duck Donuts) - one of mama's favorite traditions with Griff. After we drove down to Salvo Day Use Area (a sound side beach). This is one of our favorite beaches to take Griff to because it is very shallow and very calm - so we don't have to worry about or chase Griff as much. He loved being able to splash in the water and happily spent most the day splashing or walking around in it with us in between building sand castles. That evening we also walked out to a ship wreck near our campground (Ocean Pursuit), checked out the lighthouse near our campground (Bodie Island), and found a great local place for frozen yogurt (Surfin' Spoon). We spent the next day at Salvo Day Use Area again and got ice cream again that evening - as they were easily our favorite parts of our trip this and last time. Griff also completed the Junior Ranger program (with help from mama!) and got his badge from the National Park Ranger at the Bodie Island Lighthouse nearby. 

Our last day we drove our to the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum (Griff loved the exhibits on pirates!) and took the ferry over to Ocracoke to swim on the beach and got him some ice cream. Griff got a kick out of riding the ferry over (you drive your car on!).

We woke up early and headed out for Beckley, WV again and got there around mid day on our way back. We stayed overnight here at the campground again and were able to see the Exhibition this time! I was so excited to learn more about mines and actually get to tour one (as so many of the families I knew from ASP were connected to or worked in the mines). We also got to tour a mine "town" which was interesting. Griff also loved exploring their Youth Museum (as it was Thomas the Train themed and he is obsessed with trains!). 

Overall, we had the best time in Outer Banks - and our other stops on the way there/back! It continues to be one of our favorite places to go as a family - and we really enjoyed seeing how much Griff had changed as far as what he was able to do with us and explore this trip versus last! On our last day when we got Griff up to get in the truck he briefly woke up (I was hoping he'd stay asleep since we left early) and got sad when he realized we were headed home - because he wanted to continue to camp! It was such a sweet thing - and Tim and I kind of were in agreement we would've loved to continue to road trip and were glad he loved it so much. Here's to many more years of family road trips - to Outer Banks and beyond. 

2.5 Years of Griffy Bear

Our sweet boy turned 2.5 on June 1st of this year, and oh my has he changed so much in the short 6 months since his second birthday! It has been such a blessing to continue to see his personality develop. He has such a sweet, tender disposition. He is usually a little social butterfly. Every so often he can be quiet initially, but generally opens up within minutes and soon is the life of the room. He is a tried and true mama's boy still. Though he doesn't cling to me like he did a year ago, he still very much is his mama's little best friend. However, he is quickly becoming quite a daddy's boy too. He loves to "help" and has such a sweet spirit when it comes to wanting to help around the house, yard, with the camper, etc. He is such a sweet, sweet blessing from God and there isn't a day or moment that goes by that we aren't thankful for him. 

Here is a quick run down when it comes to our boy:

His favorite TV Show: Mickey (anything)

Favorite Movies: Toy Story & Cars

His favorite superheros: Spiderman & Ironman

Favorite food: Mac n Cheese, Blueberries, Smoothies, Any "dessert"

Favorite books: Goodnight Batman, Avengers Little Golden Books

Favorite stuffed animal: Panda lovey & "Ali dog" (His stuffed dog that looks like Ali)

Favorite song: You are my sunshine

Favorite color: Undecided

Griff has taken off as far as fine and gross motor skills! He is a big climber and doesn't generally get scared at all to climb (though he usually is good about wanting help or recognizing how high he is before wanting to come down). He loves to go to the park and play on the playground or go to the splash pad. We also have a "Nugget" at home that he loves to climb on colder days. He can climb most ladders/rock walls at home or at the playground. 

His speech has taken a little longer to come in. He probably had about 50 words by his half birthday but wasn't saying them a ton and wasn't stringing them together. However, right after his speech shot off and now (a few months past) he is speaking in sentences and repeating everything we say. 

Griff loves being outdoors and is a huge fan of camping. It's not uncommon for him to spend all day outside and still get upset when it is time to come inside. 

He is very into cooking and especially baking with his mama. He loves making smoothies together in the mornings and/or helping to make dinner in the evenings. He also loves to make special treats for holidays - and just like his mama loves to taste test as he does.

Griff's favorite "things" right now are Mickey, Marvel Superheroes (Mostly Spiderman + Iron Man, though he likes the others and likes Batman right now too), and vehicles (planes, trains, construction, etc). He loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when he gets the chance. He hasn't really seen any superhero shows/movies, but has a few books that talk about some of the Marvel superheroes and a book about Batman and would contentedly read them over and over all day. Typical for a boy, he is also into vehicles. He has a dump truck he loves to push around the neighborhood (or camp ground when we go camping) and loves when he gets to see fire trucks/trains/planes/etc or read books about them!

Griff is obsessed with water. He loves baths (though he doesn't love getting his head wet still) and loves to go swimming. We often joke he is like "Forky" still in that he will jump in most water if given the chance (including jumping off the lily pad or the tube at the lake). He enrolled in self rescue swim classes back in December though and now can swim for a bit and/or float on his back in an emergency, which gives mama a little bit of peace of mind even though she still watches him like a hawk. He loves the beach trips we've taken and loves swimming or tubing at the lake. He also loves splashing in the rain & puddles whenever he gets a chance! 

Griff is obsessed with his pup Ali. He loves to chase her around the house or play fetch with her. She at times is still a little wary of Griff I think (since he doesn't understand being gentle and often will pull her tail) but she generally loves playing with him too. When asked who his best friends are, he'll usually say "mama" then "dada" then "Ali". 

Griff is obsessed with reading. He recently completed the "1000 books before Kindergarten" challenge at our local library. We would go get books almost every week and he would often pick 15-25 books to bring home at a time. He would gladly spend hours a day reading (and some days we do!).

Griff is also a huge fan of the zoo. We were blessed to get a membership for our family as a Christmas gift from my aunt the last few years and it is one of my favorite things to do with Griff. We often will go for the morning and spend a few hours exploring and learning about the different animals. 

In the past 6 months Griff also has gone on a few more trips with us and explored a few more places! Griff loves to travel & generally is pretty good in the car. In late December/January we went to Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. These are both two of Tim and I's favorite places to visit. We love getting to be near the beach and getting to explore all the history and beautiful scenery. In Savannah Griff loved walking up & down River Street and watching the large cargo ships come and go. He also loved riding his bike through Forsythe Park and pushing his dump truck around the campground. In Charleston our campground had a special Christmas light show we were able to drive through every night that Griff loved. We also were able to meet up with my Aunt and Uncle which was special - we had breakfast with them one morning and then they met up with us one afternoon and got/walked us onto Patriots Point (my Uncle volunteered here and had taken me before). It was special for me to watch Griff experience and love exploring Patriots Point, as I'd done with my Uncle before! He was absolutely obsessed with the planes and boats. We also managed to sneak out to Tybee Island and Sullivans Island in Savannah and Charleston and Griff loved getting to run in the water (it was a bit cold to swim!). 

In April we took Griff back to Disney World again! I had been itching to take him back. We spent the week exploring the parks and swimming at the resort. Griff was obsessed (as I knew he would be!). He loved getting to distantly wave to the characters (especially Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy!). He also loved the rides and showed no fear! One of his favorite rides was Haunted Mansion (we have a book about this at home and read it a lot!). He also rode his first rollercoaster (The Barn Stormer) and loved it - he clapped and signed more after. Otherwise, his favorite rides were the Tea Cups, the Speedway, Midway Mania, and Nemo. Typical to a toddler...he also spent the week loving chasing his shadow, splashing in every puddle he found, wanting to run everywhere, and requesting to ride the monorail over and over. We spent some time at the resort pool too and Griff got to go down his first real water slide with us. He was a little timid at first but ended up loving it and spent a large majority of our time after that continuously going up & down the slides!  

We also took a few spring camping trips - one trip on Mothers Day weekend to Brown County and one on Memorial Day weekend to Deep Creek Campground in Bryson City, NC. In Brown County Griff got to take his first pony ride at their stables (he's taken a pony ride at Aunt Rachel's stables before). He absolutely loved it! He cackled and kept trying to encourage the horses to go more and faster (we came at the end of the day and many of them didn't want to do any more rides). We also hiked around a few of the lakes - Griff is getting much more independent with hiking! He walked most of the hikes there completely on his own (usually he ends up on mama's hip or in the carrier a bit still). We also went into Nashville, IN to get some vegan ice cream (mama's fave!) at Chocolate Moose - Griff is a huge fan of ice cream. In Tennessee, we spent much of our time hiking the trails near the campground (Griff even got in the creek and splashed some). We also took a day and went into Asheville, NC and got lunch at White Duck Taco Shop (Tim and I's favorite) and let Griff explore the Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS). He loved most of the museums, but did get up in one of their play structures toward the top and got scared (and mom had to climb up & rescue him). Our last day we also went to Cataloochee (which is a bit of a tight, windy drive) but we all really loved the trails there and loved seeing the old houses too (and some elk!). 

Some other firsts and holidays we celebrated during the last couple months:

- Griffy went sledding for the first time! He loved it (even when he went face first off the sled) and would gladly have spent the entire day out sledding the couple times we went. 

-We celebrated another Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, & Mother's Day with our sweet boy! On Valentine's Day we celebrated with heart shaped pancakes and Griffy made brownies with mama. He also got his very own play blender for his kitchen - and was a big fan of pretending to mix up his own treats in it! Around Easter we colored Easter eggs, made Easter cupcakes, & Griff also made a special Easter banner (each day revolved around a different part of Jesus' death to resurrection and he colored a piece of the banner to relate and at the end had a full banner to hang). I hope and pray over these next few years that Griff would continue to grow and learn in Christ's love for him & recognize his need for Christ's sacrifice and the good news. On Easter Day Griff woke up to a sweet easter bunny treat for him & I and we watched church from home (Griff's favorite part was dancing to the worship music!). We also went over to my aunt's house and Griff did an Easter egg hunt with his cousins and we went out on a boat ride at the lake after. 

I can't describe what a blessing and joy it is to continue to watch Griff grow and experience life with him. There isn't a day that goes by that we aren't thankful for the miracle that his life is and that we don't thank God for giving us the privilege of raising him. It is so special to see him continue to develop and grow and pick up new skills or learn more of his personality. We are so proud of the little boy he is growing into and continually pray God would continue to help us guide Griff to grow to know him and His love above all else. 

Making Magic April 2021

 If you know me, you know I love Disney (and especially Disney World!). Having Griff in our lives has only made me love it more. We were lucky to be able to take Griff to Disney World for his first trip in December of 2019 and I had been itching to take him back almost as soon as we left. We knew we wanted to take him back before his 3rd birthday, but weren't sure when the best time would be with the state of the world and the pandemic. However, we felt like cases were slowing down as summer 2021 neared and we appreciated that Disney World still had a lot of social distancing measures in place...so we decided we'd rather take him that Spring when we knew numbers and social distancing might be better. 

We left on August 16th - after Tim's tax deadline - and flew into MCO versus driving. Griff did wonderful with the flight - we had lots of activities in our bags for him and he watched a bit of Mickey too and we were there before we knew it! When we got into MCO, we took an Uber to our airport and immediately went over to the pool since it wasn't busy and let Griff swim! He loved having a baby pool to himself. We ordered dinner to the hotel and just unpacked and hung out that evening. Griff's fave thing about our hotel though - the "bad guys" on the elevator (a full size sticker of storm troopers :) )

We got lucky and had snagged a reservation last minute for Toppolino's Terrace, so the next morning we took an Uber to the Riviera Resort for breakfast there. I had really wanted to take Griffin to a character meal during this trip, and this experience did not disappoint! The resort and restaurant are "French Riviera" themed and was absolutely gorgeous. We checked out the lobby then headed straight up to the restaurant. We got lucky and got a table on a "corner" of the inside section of the room - so we had wonderful views of the characters as they came by! They were each dressed to fit the theme - Mickey was a painter, Minnie was in a cute French fashionista dress, Donald was a sculptor, and Daisy was a ballerina. They came around and danced or sang around the restaurant every few minutes (due to the pandemic, they don't stop at the tables individually right now). Griff really enjoyed clapping along to the songs as they came around and was amazed by the pretty chandeliers as much as the characters! The food was also sooo good and you were able to order as much as you wanted. They provided a plate of breakfast dips and breads to start and then Tim ordered filet, I ordered a quiche, and Griff got Mickey Waffles! 

After breakfast, we explored the Riviera a bit more. We walked down by the pool and beach and walked over toward the skyline, enjoying some of the pretty artwork along the way. We then took the skyliner over to the Art of Animation Resort to let Griff check out the "Cars" and "Finding Nemo" areas. He was soo excited to "meet" Lightning McQueen and all his other "friends" from the movies and ran straight up to them - even giving Luigi a hug! We took the bus from AOA to Disney Springs and spent a bit of time walking around and even went into World of Disney there. After that we headed back to our hotel to meet up with my parents, who were joining us for the week. We all had dinner and settled in before our first park day the next day - Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom is one of our favorite parks - Tim actually has said his two favorite are probably Epcot or Animal Kingdom. I still feel like Magic Kingdom is my #1...but Animal Kingdom is probably my next favorite! When we arrived, we headed straight to the Pandora area, since I knew this was likely to get crowded fast. We rode the Navi River Journey and then headed straight to Africa to ride the Safari Ride (since this usually can get long waits too). Griff really loved both! He is a big fan of the zoo so I assumed he would love the Safari ride but he was in awe of the Navi River ride too. After this, we made our way over to the DinoLand area of the park. Unfortunately, a lot of the rides and attractions in this area were shut down due to covid. However, Griff was obsessed with one of the only rides that was open - the TriceraTop Spin. I think we rode this at least 10 times over the course of the day and Griff was just as obsessed with it every time. We also spent some time exploring the "animal" walks in the park - seeing tigers, monkeys, etc and stopped at a rest area to eat lunch and watch the character "cavalcades" - Griff loved waving to Mickey and we had the prettiest backdrop with the Tree of Life in the background. 

After lunch we got Griff his first dole whip - and were not surprised when he downed it by large spoonfuls. We also went up to the "Affection Section" to see the animals in that area. On the way back, I put Griff in the carrier since I could tell he was tired and he fell asleep. We walked over to a ride that I had wanted to ride with Tim (Expredition Everest) and did rider switch with my parents - they rode while we let Griff sleep a bit and then when he woke he had a snack with them while Tim & I went. Tim is not a fan of roller coasters, but he knew how badly I wanted to ride this with him...so he rode it and then promptly declared he would not be riding any more roller coasters. 

The rest of the afternoon we popped around doing some of the smaller rides we knew Griff would love - like "It's Tough to be a Bug!"and the TriceraTops Spin ride again. We had dinner at Satuli Canteen too which was really good! 

The next day we had reservations to spend the day at Magic Kingdom, my favorite park! I love that this park has so many rides we all can do together (no height limit!). It was a bit rainy as we walked in and it rained on and off throughout the day, but Griff really didn't mind! He actually preferred it I think because he loved splashing in the rain puddles and using his Mickey Umbrella. 

The first ride we went to when we got in the park was the Haunted Mansion. Griff has a book based on this ride and has been obsessed with it so I was fairly certain he was going to love this ride, and he did! We spent most the morning after that hopping through rides in FantasyLand and TomorrorLand- Small World, Tea Cups (Griff loved this and spinning fast!), Little Mermaid, Buzz, etc. We also took Griff on his first roller coaster - Barn Stormer. At the end of almost every ride Griff would clap and sign "more". Tim said he must've gotten his love for roller coasters from his mama :) We watched some of the cavalcades, hung out on the hub grass, and had snacks and lunch before deciding to head out and take a nap/break since we had arrived pretty early and Griff was getting tired. On the way out, we got Griff his first Mickey balloon which he was obsessed with - so obsessed with he managed to pop it in the car a few minutes later...thankfully they happily replaced it in the parks later that night. My dad also found one that someone had thrown away at our resort and we snagged it as a back up - since we knew it might happen again. 

We came back that afternoon to ride some things we'd missed that morning - like the Speedway and Winnie the Pooh, and just generally enjoy the park in the evening. We had dinner at Pecos Bill before changing Griff and heading out. He was so tired he fell asleep snuggling his Mickey stuffed animal in the carrier on the way back to the car. 

The next day we spent the day at Hollywood Studios! I was so excited to see what Griff thought of the "Toy Story" section of this park. As soon as we got there we headed to Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway (we knew this might get crowded since it's relatively new). Griff loved this ride (especially Mickey) and we did too! He's been really obsessed with the older style Mickey shorts since we rode this and has been wanting to watch them at home more - probably because they had a bunch of these within the ride. We headed to Toy Story Land next to play Midway Mania - an arcade style game themed around Toy Story. Griff loved this one and screamed or cackled the entire ride. We checked out Star Wars Land next (I was really hoping to spot a "bad guy" because I knew Griff would love it, but unfortunately we didn't see any out). After checking out Star Wars Land, we had lunch and a snack from Woody's Lunch Box. We also went to the "Disney Junior Dance Party" - it took a bit for Griff to warm up but by the end he was loving dancing as he watched the characters on stage!

We tried to get boarding passes for Rise of the Resistance again (since we hadn't gotten one at 7 am) but couldn't get one again - I thought because my phone was acting up but maybe because of bad luck (we tried another day twice and didn't get one then either!). After this, Griff was due for a nap so I popped him in the carrier hoping he'd fall asleep...but he was so excited he kept fighting it. I tried rocking him in the Baby Care Center and he still wasn't having it..so I put a poncho over us (it was pouring) and Tim donned his poncho and umbrella too and we walked in the rain for a bit before he gave in and decided to nap. We grabbed a coffee and let him sleep for a bit and enjoyed giving our legs a break. That afternoon, we popped around and did a few smaller rides (and re-did some of Griff's faves)! By far, Griff's favorites were the "Lightning McQueen Racing Academy", "Alien Swirling Saucers", and the "Midway Mania" - which we weren't surprised at since lately all he wanted to watch was Toy Story or Buzz! We also ate at Docking Bay 7 in Star Wars Land for dinner - one of our favorites from our last trip! 

 The next day we spent the morning at Hollywood Studios again - watching the "Frozen Ever After" show and catching a couple cavalcades before heading to our last park we hadn't fully explored yet - Epcot. Griff loved doing the "KidKot" Stops here (collecting passports and stickers from each of the countries in the world showcase) and loved riding Nemo and Frozen! We adults also loved trying some of the food "around the world" - Tim and I always say this is by far our favorite park to eat in! 

On our last park day we spent another day at Magic Kingdom! There is so much at this park it was really nice to have two days to do more of it! We went toward Adventureland as soon as we got there to ride Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, & then hopped over to Frontierland to go to Tom Sawyer's Island - which Griff loved exploring. We caught a couple more cavalcades and went back to Fantasy and Tomorrow Land to re-ride some of Griff's faves (Haunted Mansion, Tea Cups, Speedway, Buzz), and rode Peter Pan, Dumbo, Astro Orbiter,  and Cinderella's Carousel as well! We closed down the park again - mama's favorite way to end a Disney trip. 

We spent the next two days exploring the resort we were at and exploring Disney Springs. We met up with some family friends for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe (Griff loved watching the "aqua" cars that drove in the water from where we had lunch). We also got Griff his own souvenir "monorail" die cast toy from World of Disney - since he is verrry obsessed with trains and would have happily rode the monorail all day. We also spent a day playing at the resort's pool. They had a large kids play/splash water feature that had slides and buckets that poured water, etc. Griff was a little hesitant to do the slides at first but after going once with us he was hooked - and we probably went down the slides for a solid hour or two after that. They also had a lazy river we took tubes around - which Tim & I loved :) 

We were sad to head home on our last day - but were so thankful for the chance to take Griff back to his and mama's happy place and make some special memories as a family. As a mama it is so special for me to watch Griff experience Disney World and enjoy it like I have and do. And while it is sad to leave, it's also a "see ya later!" as we count down the days until we can go again. :) 

 

2021: New Year Camping Road Trip

 Since Tim was off work between Christmas and New Years Day, we decided to take advantage and go on a camping road trip to see some of our favorite cities and spend some time with some of our favorite people. We will admit that we felt a little like Christmas with the Kranks since we wanted to leave the day after Christmas...but we were so thankful for some time away and in the warmth so it was worth it!

We left on December 26th in the late afternoon. Griff actually did really well with the drive...and I think was really excited we let him watch so many Disney movies :) We ended up making it a little past Knoxville that evening - we probably would have made it further but we hit a bad wreck with a bunch of traffic and sat in stopped traffic for at least an hour. We stopped really late at night (around midnight or 1 am) and it was a lot colder in Knoxville than we planned(there was snow on the ground!), so we knew we'd need to stay somewhere with electricity to have heat. We ended up getting lucky and finding a KOA where we could check in through their outside drop box late and it had a pull through site, so we parked there to sleep for a few hours and get warm and then woke again early (around 6 am) to continue on. 

Griff was so excited to continue on that he actually woke up at 6 am too when we went to get him in the car - but luckily he just happily chattered at us until 7 or 8 am. We stopped once or twice to get changed in the camper and get gas but ended up making it to Savannah and our campsite around 4 pm. We spent the evening just hanging around our campsite and getting set up. We stayed at Fort McAllister State Park - where we stayed last time we were in Savannah as well. 

The next day we got up and headed out to Tybee Island first thing. We were excited to get Griff to the beach - one of his favorite places. We spent the morning hanging by the water and letting Griff play in the waves and had a lunch we'd packed as well before getting in the car to get Griff down for a nap. After his nap, we went downtown and walked along River Street for a bit. River Street is one of Tim and I's favorite places - we love the history and watching the boats along the water. We knew Griff would like watching the boats too. We went back after walking a bit and had dinner at the campsite before settling in for the night. 

The next morning we started our day at Forsyth Park. We let Griff ride his bike along a couple of the outer paths and up to the fountain in the middle. We also had a picnic in one of the grassy areas and let him push his truck around in the open. After Forsyth Park, we drove over to Bonventure Cemetery. We downloaded a walking tour on our phone and used that to learn a little more about the cemetery and those buried there. We left to get Griff down for a nap and get a coffee and decided to drive around the city a bit to see some of the parks and then came back to walk through the cemetery once more. After this, we headed back to the campsite for dinner and a campground walk. 

Our last day in Savannah, we went down to the River Street area again for an early morning walk and then spent the rest of the morning playing at the campground playground in Savannah before heading back to pack up and head to Charleston. We drove to Charleston during Griff's nap. We arrived in Charleston on New Years Eve. We were lucky enough that they were doing a drive through light show for the holidays and it was still running when we got there! It was one of the best holiday light shows I've ever seen - we spent a long time driving through it and even ended up going through it multiple times! It was the perfect way to spend New Years Eve. We capped the night off watching a Disney movie back at the camper and toasted with some sparkling juice with Griff - which he loved! 

The next morning, New Years Day, we got to spend the morning with my Uncle Pat and Aunt Linda! We were lucky enough to have them over for a New Years breakfast and visit with them. We were so thankful to get some time with them! It was the highlight of our day and trip. 

After breakfast, we spent some time playing on the campground playground before lunch and then decided to head downtown. We spent the afternoon walking around downtown and seeing some of the highlights of the city. After this, we went back to the campground and had dinner and settled in. 

The next morning we woke up early and headed over to Sullivan's Island - we wanted to get in one last visit to the beach before the end of our trip. Griff had a blast playing in the waves and even got to drive his truck around the beach. After spending some time at the beach, we went over to Patriot's Point to meet my Uncle Pat and Aunt Linda - they were nice enough to offer to meet us there and get us in (since my Uncle is a volunteer and needed to pick up something). They were able to walk us up to the main ship and get us settled in to start our tour. It was so special to see Griffin experience seeing the ship for the first time - he LOVED all the boats and planes. Tim and I both have seen it before (and I've toured it many times with my Uncle, which is where I've learned everything I know about it!)...but it never gets old. It is such an amazing vessel and there always seems to be something new to learn about it!

After touring the ship, we spent some more time that afternoon walking around the downtown area before heading back to the campsite to begin packing up. We left the next morning around 5-6 am and made really good progress (thank goodness for Disney movies for Griff!). We usually try to plan on 2 travel days but we thankfully did really well making it in one and didn't have to make too many stops (though we did stop at Bass Pro Shops outside Sevierville to let Griff stretch his legs and see the fish tanks!). 

We were so thankful for a chance to get away, feel the warmth, and see some of our favorite places and favorite people. Traveling in the time of COVID is still so very different, and we definitely felt that. We avoided any inside activities for the most part and were still very cautious even outside (wearing masks if we passed within a couple feet of anyone, trying to visit with family outside, etc). We were beyond thankful for a chance to travel and visit but also wanted to continue to do our part to limit the chance that we could spread anything to anyone unknowingly. Despite the difference with Covid, it was still an amazing trip and the best little getaway for our family and only makes us look that much more forward to the day when life returns to more normalcy again...and until then we'll still be making memories in our own way 💗