Keiper Family Christmas Vacation: Part V

The last few days of vacay we really took it easy.  We slept in (awesome) and didn't do a whole lot. 

 Here's Tommy taking it easy.  He's still wearing his pajamas at lunch time and he's double-fisting water and milk.

 That evening we went to Disney's Boardwalk.  It definitely is Disney's best kept secret.  There was no one there! It was so nice. We could walk without bumping into strangers every five feet.  Fantastic.

Disney's Boardwalk is basically a super classy jersey shore, if that's possible.  It has nice shops and restaurants.

We looked at the map we were given to find a restaurant for dinner.  We found a restaurant that said it had a "character breakfast and dinner".  I tried to call and make reservations and the automated system was a no go.  So we just decided to try and walk in.  The receptionist gave us the run-around.
"Are you staying at the Swan or Dolphin?"
"Neither."
"Are you guys staying at a Disney Resort?"
"No."
With a snarl, "Are you guys local?"
My dad pipes up, "YEP. We are local. That's us."
She says, "Fine" and leads us to a table.  Sweet! Not sure what the big deal was but we felt like we got away with something.

The restaurant was super nice!! That night was a super nice Seafood Buffet. Mom got sangria.  Yum!

 I got boring ol' wine.  But it was de-lish.

The desserts had the name of the resort on them! Aww, cute.

 The place was so cool.  This was the ceiling.

There was a flipping TREE in the middle of the restaurant too.  What the what? Now that's cool.

 Then it was time for the characters to make their rounds. Pluto! Tommy was so excited!

Then he totally got over Pluto when he saw Goofy and started pointing at him.  Poor Pluto.  I hope his feelings weren't hurt.  

Hey Chip! Tommy is only semi-impressed with Chip I think.  

 He did give him a high five and knuckles though.

 Apparently he wasn't into Dale at all.  Poor Dale.  He was like 'Let me eat me my nuggets in peace, chipmunk!'

Then Goofy finally make his way around to see us.  Hooray!

But he couldn't be bothered to stop eating for the picture.  In his defense, he was munching on Oreos for dessert.

 Chip and Dale kept coming by our table to flirt.

 I can totally tell them apart now.  Chip has a black nose and Dale's nose is red.  When we were trying to figure them out, Andrew goes, 'Wait, are you Chip or Dale?'  He held up one finger.  Andrew said, "Ah, you're Chip." He shook his head yes.  Ha!

We walked around the resorts and the boardwalk a little bit more. I bought Tommy some Mickey Ears which he refused to wear.  This picture shows him wearing them but we are distracting with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and holding his other hand down.  It wasn't long before he ripped them off his head.

It was raining when we left.  Tommy enjoyed playing with my umbrella.

 He looks like he's about to bust out some Gene Kelly choreography with that umbrella.

As the week came to a close, people starting leaving our vacation house.

Adam and Steph left first on Friday.  I don't have a picture of them leaving so I'll just leave you with this.  (Yes we teased them all week.  Those poor love birds.)

 Brandon and Desi left next on Saturday.  They did not want to leave, hence Desi's sad face.

 The kids were already in travel mode, it looks like.

On Saturday we went to Old Town Kissimmee.  There was a car show my dad wanted to check out so we walked around the shops.  There was an old-timey arcade that Tommy thought was pretty cool.

We won 21 tickets playing games.  With our tickets we were able to get one twizzler, two dum-dums and a tootsie roll.  Jackpot!

We kept the last dum-dum for dinner that night.  It took some time to get our pizza at Giordano's (because where else do you get Chicago style deep dish pizza but FLORIDA!).  Suckers are an excellent distraction for him.  So incredibly messy but fantastic for keeping him busy.

Our vacation was disastrous but amazing.  We had such a great time.  Tommy was really quite the good little boy for all he went through.  Way to go Tommy for making it through your first Disney vacation!  Thank you to my mom and dad for putting together an awesome week with our family in the magical land of Disney.

Now all we have left to cover is the flight! Did Tommy have a better flight this time? Stay tuned!

Keiper Family Christmas Vacation: Part II

So on Christmas Day with Tommy's fever mostly broken, we decided to get out of the house.  We went to "Downton Disney".  No, it's not actually called that but we couldn't help it.  It's actually Downtown Disney.  It's where Pleasure Island is and lots of shops, bars and restaurants. Biggest bonus? It's free to get in.  So off we went.

 It was crowded when we got there so the manly men dropped us off and we walked around until they found parking spaces.

 We hadn't walked even halfway through before we had already bought Tommy a toy.  We couldn't help it.  It was dark and they had spinning light up Lightning McQueen cars.  So cool.  He of course loved it.

 There is a LEGO Imagination Center (or as we called it LEGOLAND!) store there and they had a lego Woody and Buzz on a rocket.  Nice!

Tommy was content eating snacks and riding around.

 But you should have seen him once he found this Pluto pillow pet.  He really loved on this thing.  We didn't end up buying it.  I know, I know.  But we got made fun of for not even making it 30 yards before buying him something so we opted for a Pluto Christmas Ornament that he picked out instead.

We made reservations at the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner and it was an hour and a half wait.  So we walked around and played.  There was a fountain that kids could run and play in.  Tommy didn't want to get too close.

I took several pictures and none of them had any water spouting up in them.  But that is what he is looking at in this picture.

We also rode the Merry Go Round and train while we waited.

Once our reservation for 13 was called (hmm, I wonder why we had an hour and a half wait?), we parked our stroller in the stroller parking area by the elephants and headed into the restaurant.

 We had to sit at two different tables so the Keipers sat at one table and the rest of us sat at another.  I caught this cute family pic before we got our food.

I ordered a kid's meal for Tommy thinking it would be ok. I talked to the waiter a little about it but apparently I wasn't specific enough about it.  He told me the hot dog was cooked by itself (whatever that means) so I figured he knew what he was talking about.  He brought the hot dog and chips to our table and Tommy ate it all gone.

Then....

Then he started vomiting.  We always know when it's an allergic reaction vomit.  This was definitely that.  It did not stop.  He vomited all down my leg, all over the floor, and he kept vomiting.  My dad handed me his salad bowl so he didn't have to keep vomiting on the floor.  Poor kid.  Andrew was fast-acting and grabbed the Benadryl out of the bag.  He gave him some Benadryl and as soon as we knew he could keep it down.  I think that is what really helped Tommy.  Steph jumped up and found a waiter and told them what was happening so we could get some napkins/towels/a mop.  My mom and I took Tommy to the bathroom and cleaned him up (and me too).

We still aren't sure what it was that he ate.  There could have been peanut oil used in the chips.  Or maybe there was cross-contamination with the hot dog.  We have no idea.  He broke out in hives all over his belly and chest by the next day.  Thanks goodness for the Benadryl.  It keeps us from having to use the epi pen.

After everything was cleaned up, Andrew and I scarfed down our meals so we could get the heck out of dodge.

I think this picture is so sweet.  My dad held Tommy while we ate.  Poor kid.  This week was just not going his way.  First he was sick.  Then he had a terrible ear popping flight.  Now an allergic reaction? 

This is supposed to be the most magical place on earth! 

Will his week get better?? Stayed tuned to find out as the saga continues! :-)