Animal Kingdom Lodge – Casa de Murphy

Merry Christmas, everyone! Our Christmas weekend was jammed packed and filled with so much love & laughter. Hope the same for you & yours.

We kicked things off last Friday with Liam’s belt promotion ceremony at Victory Martial Arts. At this time last year, this was actually our very 1st belt promotion ceremony for him, so that was pretty cool to now celebrate a full year of earning belts. He moved up to Raon / Lion Decided.

We are so thankful for the leadership & guidance from his instructor, Mr. Johnson!

Saturday afternoon, we were beyond excited to attend the Orlando Ballet Company’s performance of The Nutcracker at The Dr. Phillip’s Center. This was the 1st time any of us had been to a real ballet show, so this was really cool. It was also our 1st time at the Dr. Phillip’s Center.

I would say that there are no ‘bad’ seats in the entire theatre, but we chose great seats. Here’s a view from where we sat. We were on the 2nd tier balcony….it was a bit higher that I would have liked & honestly made me a little nervous at first ….but we loved it!

The show was stunning & amazing! We were all enchanted & I would say this is definitely a new Christmas tradition for us. Liam’s favorite part was the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (2nd set of pics below). He also loved the Mouse King. Pictures weren’t permitted during the show, but here’s a few gorgeous shots posted from the Company’s social media.

Photo Credits: Michael Cairns ; Orlando Ballet Company

Liam chose the Mouse King nutcracker as his souvenir from the show. We put him up at home next to the nutcracker I have from my Grammy ❤

Sunday was Christmas Eve and we woke up to find Mr. Elf with a present for Liam, as well as his good-bye letter, his magic key to leave out for Santa & the reindeer food to put out that evening. Liam was very much so looking forward to hugging him for a few minutes, as we remembered he got to do that today.

Christmas Eve dinner was at the Bengel’s. We had Turducken ….a combo of Turkey, Duck & Chicken. It was surprisingly delish! It was a great evening with this group. Love them!

A little bit of SnapChat fun …..

When we got home, we got cookies & milk out for Santa …..

Christmas morning! Santa came ….excitement in the air 🙂

Yah, it’s the ROBLOX set I wanted 😉

LEGOS were a big part of what Santa brought. Liam is very into them right now (so is Daddy…lol). He was shocked to see he also got the LEGO Dimensions game for the PlayStation.

The aftermath…..his favorite was his skateboard & pads .

We knew a while back that it would end up just being us three for Christmas dinner. So, I booked us dinner at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had eaten breakfast there during our stay for Liam’s birthday & loved it. I knew dinner would be great. It’s a buffet restaurant & the food is sooo tasty! Not to mention how much we love the resort!

The Christmas decorations were gorgeous!

Dinner was delicious! It was a mix of traditional menu items, like prime rib, mashed potatoes & sweet potatoes, as well as African-themed dishes like kokonut rice, seafood gumbo, hummus & flatbread, plantain crisps, and couscous. The desserts were Christmas themed, too. So yummy!

After dinner, we walked around the property & looked at the animals. It looked like it was dinner time for them, as well. The giraffes were super close to the lookout area out back, and there were two babies with the mama. It was awesome!

After that, we wandered about & looked around. In another area, they were having a s’mores roast. Despite being so full from dinner, still, we had to partake. It was too fun to pass up! 🙂

We told him to stand still so we could take his pic & this is the pose we got …lol! What a little ham!

This was the sweet card Liam made us in extended day this year ….such a treasure ❤

It’s been a great Christmas season this year, and we are so blessed. Love this little family of mine.

Until next time, friends!

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,