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November 2017

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

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Happy Thanksgiving! There is much to be thankful for, and reflect on, as we head into this holiday season.

We kicked off our Thanksgiving Break with a trip to our happy place — the Magic Kingdom. This was most likely our last trip to this park before our passes are blocked out for the rest of the holiday season, so it was fun to check out all the Christmas decorations. It really put me & Liam in the spirit! Stephen had to work, so it was just the two of us hanging out. We found Snow White hanging out by Main Street in the Candy Cane Garden. It was such a sweet surprise.

While at the park, we decided to ride the Jungle Cruise over in Adventure Land, which I hadn’t been on in years & Liam had never been on yet. I didn’t realize until we got over there that it was done up with Christmas decorations & renamed the “Jingle Cruise”. There were the cutest decorations all throughout the ride, the boat captain’s commentary was all themed to the holiday, as well, and they were playing the “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” song in line. I have to say it was so perfect and we loved it! So happy we found that! ❤

We took a road trip for the holiday & headed up to Jacksonville to my dad & stepmom’s. Liam fell getting out of the car on the drive up there & hit his cheekbone on the pavement. Based on his symptoms, his doctor recommended us to take him to get checked out at the ER. Not gonna lie that we were shaken up for hot second, but thankfully all was well & he is okay. The Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in Jax was absolutely AMAZING and we will forever be grateful for their care. Also truly grateful for the support of our family & my sweet friend, Beamer, who was dealing with me texting her at the crack of dawn asking where we could take him up there.

 Love this boy! A little scraped up but blessed that he checked out okay. 

We got back to my dad & stepmom’s after our hospital adventure with enough time to still tune into the Macy’s Parade. It was the perfect distraction & helped to get us settled in & calmed down for the day.

I didn’t snap too many pics during our stay, but this was one memory I had to capture. When my dad is in the kitchen, this is how you find Timber. Sitting at attention & completely focused on him. Can you tell he loooves his Papa? It can’t be that he gets delicious treats or anything 😛 …lol

The obligatory pic of our fabulous dinner 🙂

I was one of those who did crazy online shopping both Thursday & Friday….but, we did brave the crowds for a bit on Black Friday to grab a few things I couldn’t find in my online travels. Thanks to Papa G & G-Ma for keeping an eye on little man while we shopped.

Friday evening it was nice & chilly up in Jax, so we had a fire out back to roast marshmallows & make s’mores. It was so fun!

Saturday morning, we headed back home. It was a great visit but we also wanted to save time for regular chores & breaking out the Christmas decorations (more on that next time). On Sunday morning, we had a visitor from the North Pole make his appearance again — Mr. Elf!! Liam loves the Tsum Tsum toys from Disney, so he was stoked to get an Advent calendar from Mr. Elf with that theme.

Mr. Elf also brought a letter from Santa. It was so sweet to see Liam’s eyes light up when we all read that together. He was a little more skeptical this year on how Mr. Elf got here & back from the North Pole …but this letter is the real deal. When we finished the letter, he said to us, “I BELIEVE …all 3 of us do and we have Christmas Spirit” ❤   ….yes, Little Man, yes we do.

A few weeks ago, he & I went to the mall to visit our favorite Santa’s helper (as we like to call the mall Santa’s). I was excited because we got the same Santa for the 3rd year in a row. Just love it! Liam asked for a skate board ….that was a shocker to us, but we’re working with Santa on it.

It was a great weekend, overall. Definitely looking forward to the holiday season.  Everyday is a gift, and we have much we have been blessed with. We are THANKFUL you have taken the time to stop by our little spot on this great big cyberspace.

Until next time, friends,

 

November 2017

Happy FIRST Birthday, Simba!

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Happy FIRST Birthday, Simba!

We can hardly believe a year has gone by already. At the end of September, this sweet fur baby turned one year old. He has become such a character in our little family. So much personality …and SO big! He’s gone from the tiny, little 2 lb. thing Stephen found in the road to a whopping 13 lb. beast. In fact, that’s what we affectionately refer to him as these days — our beast ❤  ….He officially outweighs Timber!

He loves to lay on the floor next to Liam when he’s sitting & playing with his toys. He’s known for stealing LEGOS & other small objects. You definitely have to watch this guy!  ….As he’s a kitten still, he is super playful. He loves to hide behind things & pop out at you. He tries so hard to play with Timber all the time, but Timber is just not into it. They’ll go at it for a second & you can tell Simba gets thrilled but that’s about it.

He sure has made himself at home, here, and we love it. This is one kitty who is not afraid to get comfy. It is hilarious.

Liam has really taken to him, and it will be cute to watch them continue to grow up together.

This is a drawing Liam made of Simba 🙂

cat toys all over the floor & chewed up cardboard ….yeap, that’s about right!

Happy 1st Birthday to our crazy kitty! You are so loved, & we are so happy you found us!

November 2017

Wrapping Up October!

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Halloween weekend sure was a treat for us, again, this year!

At school on the Friday before Halloween, the 1st grade classes celebrated with some fall-themed activities. This was one of the treats Liam created & brought home.

Later that evening, we headed over to the Bengels for the annual Halloween bash. These two yahoos were my dates 😛 ….that bear head inevitably was tried on by every kid later that evening. I’m still not sure how I feel about that — #germaphob.

Halloween fell on a Tuesday this year, so that made for an interesting & late night of trick-or-treating. Nevertheless, we trudged through and still had a blast! We continued our trick-or-treat tradition of hanging out with the Bengels in their neighborhood. Liam’s official costume was the LEGO minifigure Nexo Knights Clay character.

His costume was pretty cute and elaborate. A little hot, too, so I’m glad it was a cooler evening for us …he definitely needed it with all the pieces he had to wear. It included a tunic with detachable shoulder pieces, pants, mask and pair of hands.

This is our normal set up the last few years as we head out to walk the neighborhood 🙂 …we use Liam’s wagon to load up some drinks (child & adult beverages), as well as any other misc necessities (bug spray, jackets). Thanks to technology, Alexa joins us & provides our Halloween themed background music as we walk. It’s a super fun time …and Lisa & I usually end up having almost more fun watching our husbands goof off by the end of the evening after the kids are worn out 🙂

These kiddos move so fast from door to door that it was difficult to get any good shots this year. I was reading through last year’s post and remember how Liam really took charge then with being proactive with trick-or-treating. He definitely continued that this year. If anything, he was even more so. All of us commented how fast the kids were blowing through the neighborhood this year. Much faster than ever before. In fact, we went farther down & to more houses than we ever have! I think we all definitely noticed how much bigger they all were this year. It was a little bitter sweet.

As we walked from house to house, Liam was checking each one out. If the house was dark, he would yell out really loud — “this one is not celebrating!” 🙂 …At other houses where they got candy, we would get a report back on some of his more favorable collections before he even left the driveway. It really was hilarious!  …Speaking of that, one house we had never made it to before, gave each kiddo a goodie bag that had (no lie) about 30 pieces of candy in it. I thought the kids were going to come unglued with excitement when they came running back to us!! We were trying to figure out how we’d missed this house all these years? LOL

One of our favorite parts of trick-or-treating is getting to see all the neighborhood decorations. Some of the homes really go all out. It’s so fun! ….There are a few houses that we seek out especially — one that always turns their garage into a haunted house, one whose entire front lawn is decorated, and another who makes the whole yard dark & creepy looking.

End of the night shenanigans!

I would say this face was pleased with his haul. This ended up being WAY more candy than what any six-year-old could possibly dream off. He almost had more fun just counting all pieces once we got home more than anything else 🙂 ….extra candy pays off for gingerbread house making down the road…..hahaha!!

October went by in the blink of an eye, but it was a blast!

Happy Halloween!

HERE is a look back on last year’s fun.

Until next time, friends!

October 2017

Legoland: Brick or Treat!

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Last weekend, we hopped over to Legoland for a spooky good time at their Brick or Treat event! This Halloween event is included in with their general admission, so we were excited to check it out with our annual passes this year.

LEGOS are a pretty big deal in our house. Saying we love them is kind of an understatement. This theme park is SO COOL. LEGOS everywhere & many life-size creations!

These HUGE Lego jack-o-lantern heads were THE.BEST! I wish we could have one for our yard! Liam was fascinated this time around by the creations with the LEGO pieces …he kept trying to pull them apart to see how they were made. Our little engineer in the making 😉

We had fun exploring around the park and spying the different Halloween themed LEGO creations. This was a spider hanging out up in a tree 🙂

It was a mommy & Liam date day, as Daddy, unfortunately, got pulled away for work. We were missing him but still had a fun day together. This little man was the best boy for me all day & was such a trooper, as we dragged one another around the park till closing.

Fav Pic of the Day!! ❤

There was the Brick or Treat Trail set up down by the Lake Eloise. Liam actually selected to be a LEGO Knight this year for his costume, BUT it was still pretty warm the day we went. So, we opted for him to just wear his Jack Skellington t-shirt & his mask from his costume. It was so much easier & cooler!

Absolutely loved all the Halloween decor! So fun!!

A trip to Legoland is not complete without checking out Miniland USA. While wandering about, we found some more Halloween awesomeness sprinkled into one of the scenes! We were both pretty stoked to discover this!

One of Liam’s favorite ride’s at the park is Merlin’s Challenge. As we were stepping off of it, we happened to catch this guy, LEGO Vampyre. I think I may have been more excited for this than little man….just maybe 🙂

A  13 ft. LEGO hearse

Our little actor ….pretending to be interviewed by this LEGO camera guy. Hahahaha!

We closed out the night watching the most amazing & unique fireworks show —> The Tale of Pirates’ Cove Fireworks

For this show, we were given 3-D glasses, and as we watched the fireworks, you literally saw LEGO pieces exploding in the sky within the actual fireworks. There is no other way to explain it. I wish I could have photographed it. It was so fun and Liam & I loved every second of it!!

We were seeing LEGO pieces where you see red fireworks in this pic! 🙂  …Such a great day & fun memories made!

Our Halloween festivities continued the next day with Trick-or-Treat on Greek Street at UCF. This is fun & free community event that we’ve done the last few years, so it was nice to take part in it once again. Since I didn’t have him wear his full costume the day before, I promised him that he could wear it to this. It was even warmer so while it was a good practice run, he didn’t last in it too long. That’s our Florida Fall for ya! 😉

That evening, we made dirt cups together. It was a fun activity to create together, and it was super easy. Even Simba got in on the action. LOL!

Liam was most excited to add the gummy worms 😉

It was a busy weekend, for sure, but a ton of Halloween fun!

Until next time, friends!

October 2017

Weekend Fun at Hollywood Studies

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This past weekend, we hopped over to Hollywood Studies for a few hours. I’m not gonna lie….I was super stoked that it wasn’t raining when we got there this time (it had been on our last trip for Liam’s birthday). So, we were able to finally check out Cruz Ramirez from the Cars 3 movie. She was revving her motor & talking….so cute!

One of our other favorite parts of having the annual passes is meeting up with family/friends. My cousin, Melissa & her daughter, Giana were at the parks for the day, so we were able to say hello. So much fun!

While the boys were waiting for me on a potty break 🙂 …Liam was randomly selected to be a Launch Bay Guard!!! — How cool was that?!?!

While the Star Wars characters came marching toward the Launch Bay, Liam stood there all by himself BUT was armed with a light saber 😉 …he was the best guard!

Darth Maul & a Storm Trooper each pointed at him & let him know they were watching him. It was awesome!

He was jumping up & down after this ….so exciting for him!

His certificate from guarding could be used as a Fast Pass to meet Kylo Ren. We had seen him back in February, when Liam still had his cast on from his broken arm. So, he wanted to meet him again. The Dark Side characters are so intense & serious ….I love it!

Our last stop of the night was Halloween-themed character dining at Hollywood & Vine — Minnie’s Halloween Dine!

It was buffet style dining and the menu was seasonal Halloween themed dishes & treats. It did not disappoint!

Each of the characters were dressed up in their Halloween attire. It was so cute!

Donald was hilarious! He was bouncing his springy thing on this helmet back & forth with Liam 🙂

This was THE tallest Goofy I have ever seen.

Liam was most excited for Mickey again ….he loved his vampire costume!

Family pic with the hostess, Miss Minnie Mouse, herself.

We had a really fun evening! It was a real treat being able to get in a little Disney Halloween magic as we kick off this spooky month!

Until next time, friends!

September 2017

Liam’s 6th Birthday Weekend ~ Part 4 ~ Wrapping It Up!

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For Liam’s 6th birthday weekend, we had packed our bags & enjoyed a staycation at Walt Disney World. This is the last post in our series. It’s really been a blast sharing our memories & photos. My main purpose of this blog is turning it into a keepsake book for Liam, so capturing all of these special moments & memories is a privilege for him.

You can catch up with the 1st post about our stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge – HERE ; the 2nd post about our magical time at Cinderella’s Royal Table – HERE ; and, the 3rd post about our fun time with character dining – HERE.

I’ve mentioned before how much we LOVE the magic shots throughout the parks. This was a cute one with our friend, Olof, that we found while wandering through the Magic Kingdom.  Showing a little personal flurry & of course, all good things!! — I’ve finally started to remember to ask some of the photographers if they have any they can use 🙂

Ever since our annual passes started in January, we’ve been dying to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at the Magic Kingdom. However, each time I attempted to secure a Fast Pass for this ride, I was not able to & the lines were always ridiculously long. Since we had a resort reservation, though, I finally was able to get one & Stephen and I were stoked. Liam ….not so much at 1st. In fact, he down right almost refused to get on the ride. He’s not a fan of roller coaster rides, and thought this was one. You can see from his face below that he wasn’t thrilled as the ride started….lol.

Got to love the Photopass shots — this one was snagged from the ride & sent directly to our magic bands! So awesome. — Liam was still not loving the ride at this point ….but by the time we pulled back into the cottage area, he was all smiles. Thanks to Hurricane Irma & low crowds at the park lately, we’ve been able to ride it again since his birthday weekend.

Another family favorite ride for us is Pirates of the Caribbean. Love this new fun snap shot that’s yet another Photopass feature. — Murphy family holding it down in the back of the boat!

Family Picture in front of Cinderella Castle….

Believe it or not, one of Liam’s most favorite parts of the weekend was riding the resort buses. He talked about it a lot in the weeks leading up to this weekend. We see the resort buses all the time while we are driving around on property, but we never have (or need) the opportunity to ride in them. I think it has just been the curiosity to be in them and see what they are all about.

He was all about it each time. He even noticed when there was a different type of bus picking us up. In the gift shop of our hotel, he chose the matchbox car gift set of the resort buses as one of his birthday presents.

On Sunday afternoon, as we were heading over to Epcot, we stepped onto the bus and Liam was holding his matchbox version of the same bus. The bus driver noticed he had it, and the two sparked conversation. She told him all about the bus and gave him little cards that looked like trading cards. They have photographs of the bus on one side and info/stats on the other. He loved them.

When we got to the park, she asked if we could wait to leave until everyone else stepped off. We obliged. She then asked if it was okay if Liam sat in her seat & wore her captain’s hat. O M G — yes!! He was over the moon excited! She raised the seat up for him to reach the steering wheel & pointed out some buttons. He was beaming! — It was so kind of her & we will forever be grateful 🙂

Sunday evening, we hopped over to Animal Kingdom. Doesn’t the Tree of Life look amazing at night?

We also were excited to check out Pandora — The World of Avatar. I had previously taken Liam back in May for the annual passholders preview event, but Stephen had to work. Thus, this was his 1st time checking it out. The first night time experience for all of us. The lighting effects throughout were very cool….

Last sleep as a five year old …..the next morning, our sweet boy woke up SIX!! 🙂

We have love all things Disney & this Build Your Disney Family image & decal was super fun to create. Check it out HERE while it’s still available! The best part of all is that it’s FREE!

Liam’s entire 6th birthday weekend was filled with so many wonderful memories and special experiences. We are blessed to have been able to share that together as a family, and it’s a time we won’t soon forget. He’s growing in to an amazing little man! Watching his personality flourish and seeing him mature before our eyes is the greatest blessing as a parent.

Until next time, friends,

Script Signature

September 2017

Liam’s 6th Birthday Weekend ~ Part 3 ~ Character Dining Fun

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For Liam’s 6th birthday weekend, we had packed our bags & enjoyed a staycation at Walt Disney World. If you’ve been following along on my last few posts, this is the 3rd in a series from Liam’s birthday. We had so many adventures this year that I wanted to break it up, as there were a ton of photos to share. You can catch up with the 1st post about our stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge – HERE – and the 2nd post about our magical time at Cinderella’s Royal Table – HERE.  As part of our celebration, we splurged on a few super fun character dining experiences.

On the morning of Liam’s actual birthDAY, we had breakfast at the Crystal Palace on the corner of Main Street at the Magic Kingdom. It’s a buffet-style service, and the food was good. We enjoyed the charming atmosphere, which is inspired by the Victorian greenhouses of the late 1800s.

All of our favorite friends from the Hundred-Acre Woods were there, so that made little man’s day! He even got to particpate in a celebatory parade that marched them all around the restaurant with the characters. So cute!

Winne the Pooh….

I couldn’t decide between sharing the hug picture above or this regular ‘cheese’ pic ….had to do both. Loved the hugs from Pooh Bear.

Seriously, how cute is Piglet? 🙂

Not even sure how Eeyore signed the book, but kudos to him! That was one area, too, that Liam was completely on top of. He made sure that no one forgot about his book. That was top of his list before any hugs, pics, or small talk with these guys. It was too funny!

Can’t say enough about how good all of these character meet & greets are at the dining experiences. They take so much time with the kids & are so patient. Love it!

Tigger…..

Our final character dining experience took us over to Epcot to the Garden Grill in the Land. We had dinner at Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Harvest Feast. This is a family-style dining meal with food that’s grown from the Living with the Land area there. OH.MY.GOODNESS — it was SO delicious!

It is also neat because the restaurant slowly turns in a circle while you eat, and you get to see different part of the Living with the Land attraction. While you’re dining the characters come around to your table.

We had told our server it was Liam’s birthday, so they presented him with this signed birthday card & stickers. So sweet & he was thrilled!!

Hanging with Chip….

Sharing a laugh with Dale …..

His best pal, Pluto…

So in love with the one & only — Mickey Mouse …& loved his farmer Mickey outfit, too!…. 

We had THE best time at all of our character dining experiences over Liam’s 6th birthday weekend. I’m sure we’ll be looking for more unique visits in the future. The food at all the venues was so yummy, and all 3 of us LOVED the convenience of the meeting the characters right at the table.

Until next time, friends,

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September 2017

Liam’s 6th Birthday Weekend ~ Part 2 ~ Cinderella’s Royal Table

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For Liam’s 6th birthday weekend, we had packed our bags & enjoyed a staycation at the Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge. As part of our celebration, we had a special birthday dinner in Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom at Cinderella’s Royal Table.

CinderellaRoyalTable_CasadeMurphy

This restaurant is described by Disney as a ‘one-of-a-kind fairytale dining experience’, and it 100% was. We all LOVED the entire night! I literally had to book our reservation months in advance, so this was one dinner we had been anticipating for a while. The restaurant, itself, is quite small & quaint but I think that made for a more personable experience. It’s situated in the back half of the 2nd floor of the castle. You can see it from the carousel area.

RestaurantAreaPic_CasadeMurphy

When we 1st went into the castle, we were greeted by the lovely, Cinderella. Liam was smitten ❤ — She chatted it up with him & danced with him. It was seriously the cutest moment ever! We snagged a nice family pic with her, as well. 🙂

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While we waited to be seated, we hung out in the downstairs area where Cinderella was. Both floors are decorated in a medieval-style & you totally feel like you are in a page from the storybook.

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A winding staircase takes you up to this view, which is where the actual restaurant is ….

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So many pretty details everywhere you looked to make the experience feel complete. Our server was so sweet, too! She referred to Liam, as ‘my Prince’. I was ‘my Queen’ and Stephen was ‘my King’. Loved it!

Each of the boys got their own sword and I was given a wand 🙂 ….We also were given a ‘Wishing Star‘ that Fairy Godmother helped us to make a wish with toward the end of the meal ❤

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While dinner got underway, MORE PRINCESSES came out & around to everyone’s table. How cool is that?!?! — They took their time & chatted with Liam for a minute & then posed for a picture. This mama appreciated that they didn’t leave until you acknowledged that you got a pic you were happy with 😉

Ariel from the Little Mermaid….

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Snow White …..

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Aurora from Sleeping Beauty…

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Jasmine from Aladdin…. 

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Now, let’s talk about the food for a sec because it was fabulous! Both Stephen & I had the beef & shrimp dinner. So yummy! I didn’t take a pic of his, but Liam had the kids mac n’ cheese. Holy cow, it was probably the best mac n’ cheese ever. SO good! For dessert, we had a dark chocolate mousse dish, “The Clock Strikes Twelves“. — heaven!

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Liam got to make/decorate his own cupcake for his dessert. Our server also brought out an extra birthday cupcake with a candle & we sung to him ❤

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It was such a magical evening & such a memorable way to celebrate this special boy’s 6th birthday. We even timed the reservation pretty perfect, as we were able to see & listen to the Happily Ever After fireworks show as we finished up dessert. So fun!

Love our sweet boy & loved everything about this night! Until next time, friends,

Script Signature

August 2017

Liam’s 6th Birthday Weekend ~ Part 1 ~ Animal Kingdom Lodge

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For Liam’s 6th Birthday weekend, we packed our bags & had a staycation at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.

This was honestly our 1st real vacation away from home as a family since Liam was born, so we were extra excited for this experience. We stayed in Jambo house, and our room was off of the Kudo Trail on the 2nd floor. This is the view of the massive lobby area when you 1st walk into the resort. It is gorgeous!!

The details that you see throughout the resort are incredible. The entire resort is themed after the Animal Kingdom theme park. You can tell, at every glance, that great care was taken to showcase the culture, wildlife & artwork of Africa.

As soon as we started exploring the grounds, we found the fire pit that is surrounded by rocking chairs. If it wasn’t 100 degrees outside, it would have been perfect….LOL!

I usually am not one to talk about food, but I would be a fool to not rave about all of the deliciousness we enjoyed throughout the entire weekend. We ate at some pretty cool dining experiences, and there’s definitely more to share in my next few posts.

First up –> Boma ….This is a buffet style restaurant with African-themed dishes, and all of the food was amazing. We ate there for breakfast on Sunday.

Their signature drink at breakfast is Jungle Juice. It’s a tasty mixture of orange, pineapple & mango juices. Liam didn’t quite care for it, but Stephen & I thought it was pretty yummy!

Mickey Waffles 🙂

Now onto the grounds outside the resort …..there is a cute, shaded playground for the kiddos & it’s close by the pool.

Once we found the Uzima Pool area, we didn’t want to leave. This pool is amazing! It is SO big — 11,000 square feet & it has an awesome water slide.

Liam was thrilled for this slide! He went down it over & over again 🙂

Cheese!

Our room was nothing short of incredible. It felt like we stepped into our own safari get away the moment we walked in & I’m sure that was the plan. We were fortunate to be able to have the savanna view room, and it did not disappoint.

When you stepped out onto the balcony, it was immediately overlooking one of the savanna’s. There were beautiful animals freely roaming around so close to you. It was awesome!

In total, there are over 30 species of wildlife out on the savanna here. We loved the Wildlife Field Guide that was in our room for helping to track & discover some friends we spotted.

This Giraffe guy, here, was one of our favs. He stayed close by our balcony a lot. ❤

Zebra friends….

Ankole Cattle….

White-Bearded Wildebeest….

Addax….

At one point, on Sunday afternoon, we looked out & saw a little heard of friends 🙂 ….

We saw so may other amazing creatures during our stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So many birds, cranes, Ostriches, & Gazelles just to name a few. Even by walking through the resort, there are so many spots you can stop & observe the savanna’s or even catch little spots, like the Flamingo area that’s over by the pool. It was truly an experience we will never forget and one that we all LOVED!!

The Animal Kingdom Lodge was, hands-down, a magical Disney experience. It was a perfect way to ring in little man’s 6th birthday! We hope to someday return ❤

Until next time friends,