Ethan's Latest Masterpiece

This month Ethan has created two masterpiece's. The first was created by Ethan during one of his observations in the hospital and we actually got to see him paint it. 

Ethan hasn't been interested in paint that much at home so we haven't really tried in recent months but on this observation day they had a table set up with paper and paints ready to go. When Ethan was ready he approached the table and created this all by himself and got covered in paint in the process.

Yesterday Ethan brought this home from nursery a drawing created with pens, different colour pens at that. 

Both pieces of art now have a home on the fridge.

We Don't Do Duvets!

Anyone that grew up watching Saturday morning TV in the late 1980's and through the 1990's may look at the title of this post with a smile as this was one of the catch phrases used by Trevor and Simon on Going Live and Live and Kicking. 

This should also be Ethan's catch phrase and I always have to smile while it pops into my head as Ethan kicks off his duvet cover. Ethan doesn't like the duvet cover on him, he also hasn't liked bibs for some time and he won't let the coverall anywhere near him when he goes to have his hair cut in the hair dressers. 

When he was a baby Ethan slept in a baby sleeping bag so we never knew this problem. In the summer this house was so warm a cover was never needed but when the nights got colder we had problems trying to keep Ethan covered and warm all night. 

We thought Ethan would now be too big for a baby sleeping bag but the gro company has been our savior as they stock some of their ranges for children up to ten years old. This is fantastic news for us as it means we have a few years to work on our duvet issue without having to worry about Ethan getting cold. 

Thank you, your Grobag's saved the day!

Walt Disney World - Day 5 - Magic Kingdom - New Fantasyland, Our Little Bit of Pixie Dust!

As we approached the NEW FANTASYLAND section through the newly built castle wall we could see a sign that clearly stated 'Cast Member and Pass Holder Previews' my heart sank. Anyone who knows my Disney passion knows that it is all about Beauty and the Beast for me so to have this theming added to the MAGIC KINGDOM is really amazing for me, and definitely a future must do. We walked  ahead slowly, partly because Ethan was walking at our side a partly to see what they were telling the other guests that approached the area, they were clearly turning people away. Without holding out much hope I thought I better ask the cast member to confirm that the area was closed to the general public today. He confirmed it was so we started to move away but as we did a lady wearing a suit and holding a clipboard followed us and said that she could tell we had travelled quite far to get here and she expected we didn't get to visit that often so she asked us in we would like to explore the new area. I could have hugged her, without question we jumped at the chance, quickly picked up Ethan and made our way into NEW FANTASYLAND! 

Just to warn you all as this area only had a handful of people looking around we were able to let Ethan walk where he wanted to and I got to take lots and lots of photos!

As soon as you enter NEW FANTASYLAND you come across Enchanted Tales With Belle. Unfortunately we knew Ethan wouldn't have enjoyed this as it involved sitting still and listening to an interactive story for more than five seconds we gave it a miss. I did ask Darren if I could go and see it on my own, I can't repeat what he said! 

I should have gone into the queue so that I could take some photos of the cottage but Ethan wanted to keep moving so that's what we did. 

We did stop on the bridge to have a photo with the Beasts castle in the background. 

We then posed for a PhotoPass Magic Photo, I was pleasantly surprised to see who had come to day hello. 

We made our way round to Prince Eric's castle, so that we could go on the Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid. 

We took our time looking around the queue area, Ethan loved looking at the waterfall.   

We made it into the ride and climbed inside a clam shell, this ride is set up with the same cars as the Nemo ride in EPCOT. The fantastic thing is you actually go under the sea to see Ariel's world, well not really but your clam shell spins around and by the lighting, sounds and effects they use you feel like your clam shell is being pulled backwards into the sea. I thought it was great, just as I love Nemo I knew at that moment I would also love this ride. I took a few photos of our journey.  

After our time with Ariel we slowly walked to Gaston's Tavern. Darren treated himself to LeFou's Brew, it was $10 in a souvenir cup but we thought it would be a nice little reminder of our unexpected morning. I took even more pictures whilst Darren enjoyed his drink, I couldn't help singing Gaston's song. 

  

After some timeout letting Ethan burn of some energy we walked back to the Be Our Guest Restaurant. This wasn't yet open to eat in but they had opened it so that you could have a look at the main dining area, I think there was also some training going on. If ever we got the chance to go back this would be the first ADR I booked. As always Disney's detail was amazing.  

We didn't stay in NEW FANTASYLAND for that long but I was so grateful that we got the chance to look around and with only a handful of other people there. It was a nice little break before we headed back out into FANTASYLAND for more rides...

Walt Disney World - Day 5 - Magic Kingdom - Fantasyland!

We made our way over to FANTASYLAND and somehow we always go around the long way. We look for Cinderella's castle as our guide point but considering how big it is we couldn't see it so ended up having to ask cast members for directions. The good thing about this is that we bumped into Chip and Dale and they had no one waiting to see them. Ethan went straight in for his high-five...

...and Dale went in for a kiss but Ethan doesn't do kisses and he handled it pretty well.   

We finally made our way into FANTASYLAND and after parking the stroller headed straight for Peter Pan's Flight. This was a first for Darren and he found it quite enjoyable, I love the flight over London. We then moved on to "it's a small world", Ethan was fascinated by the whole thing and you could see him taking in every different section.

After our happy voyage seeing all the dolls from all over the world we walked over to the NEW FANTASYLAND section. 

I knew this wasn't going to be opening until the 6th of December but I had heard that the week before our visit some guests had been lucky enough to be invited in for dress rehearsals. I also knew from my Disney Bride friends that for our trip dates they were only letting cast members and annual pass holders in to view it but you never know. 

It turns out Tinker Bell had given us some of her pixie dust that day... 

Walt Disney World - Day 5 - Magic Kingdom - Visiting Tinker Bell's Magical Nook

Another bright and early start and without planning to we actually made it to the Magic Kingdom before rope drop. It was great watching the show and we even got to see the talking Mickey Mouse! 

Whilst waiting we discussed our plan of action on where to head to first, I knew it would be a great opportunity to get to the front of the queue to see some of the characters so we headed to ADVENTURELAND.

We where the first people to line up at this sign...

...we attracted some attention of the other guests and there was soon a small queue to meet the fairies. Whilst we waited Peter Pan arrived out of nowhere and asked us what we were all doing. We all said waiting for Tinker Bell and he got really excited and joined the back of the queue. He soon remembered he was meant to be looking for Hook and set off again. 

After a short wait we were let in to meet the fairies. We saw Tinker Bell first and she talks so quickly and quite loud that you can see Ethan clearly didn't know what to make of her.

We also got to meet Tinker Bell's sister Periwinkle, she was softly spoken and I think Ethan preferred her.

After our little adventure in the Magical Nook we went on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin as it was walk on. We just missed Aladdin and Jasmin getting on the ride as they entered the ride as we left. 

We then headed over to FANTASYLAND as we wanted to take Ethan onto the tea cups.