Our Food's on Fire!

My cousin from California, her husband, and my Nanny came to visit. We took Max to his first ever hibachi restaurant. Here he is having fun trying out his chopsticks. When my cousin asked if he wanted to sample a California Roll he said no he wanted a Texas Roll and that his Nanny should have an Oklahoma Roll since that is where she lives. He did try a bite but quickly spit it out and said no thank you I don't like it. He was totally freaked out when he saw a fire at the neighboring table. We told him it was ok and that it is how they were cooking the food. He seemed to accept that explanation well enough until it was time for the fire at our table. Here is his reaction.



Once the fire was done, Max enjoyed watching the chef cook all our food. He wanted to know what everything was that the guy was using. We didn't have a very talkative guy but he did answer some of Max's questions. When he set the onions on fire, Max tried to blow it out.

Playhouse Disney

We took Max to see Playhouse Disney Live at the Nokia Theatre. Out of all the shows we have seen there this was probably the best for Max. The show featured all of Max's favorite shows; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Handy Manny, and Little Einsteins. Of course we got our famous SW flightdeck seats which means we were the front single row on the mezanine level. Max really enjoyed the show and was really excited to share it with his friends.

Christmas Morning

Here are some video clips of Max Christmas morning. He was still very tired even though he didn't roll out of bed until almost 10:00am. The first video is Max discovering his new Smart Cycle from Grandpa. Notice his first reaction is not oh wow but a logistical question, classic Max.



The second video is Max finding new cars in his stocking. This time we get a surprise "Ah" but still yet he needed to know their names right away.



The third video is Max playing his new violin, another instrument to add to his collection. He knew immediately what to do and even rested his chin on the little chin rest. Unfortunately this is set up for a right handed person but Max doesn't care, he plays it anyway.

Christmas Eve Singing

Max had his official singing debut at church on Dec 9th. We recorded it on our camcorder and have yet to figure out how to get it on our blog. It is absolutely hilarious, he was meant to be in a gospel choir. As soon as I get it figured out I will post it. So for his second performance we decided to record on our camera that can easily post here. This was a slow song so he isn't too spirited however he does manage to spice it up a bit.

Ride Photos

Just when you thought the Disney posts were done. Here are our ride photos - Tower of Terror, Dinosaur, and Test Track.

I Don't Want Big Boy Teeth

Max headed back to the Dentist for his second cleaning this year. This was the first time they x-rayed his teeth. Of course he was in awe of seeing his x-ray on the screen and getting to see all of his teeth. That is until the hygienist showed him that there were teeth growing above his current teeth. Hygienist - "Look Max, here are your Big Boy Teeth above your baby teeth", Max - complete look of horror and shock. ( Later to be obsessed over in excruciating detail that he doesn't want his big boy teeth he just wants to keep his little boy teeth.)

Max was distracted by moving into the actual teeth cleaning room so it didn't thwart our task at hand. Next, teeth counting. Hygienist - "Max I need to count your teeth", Max - mouth clamped shut, head bobbing while his tongue counted his own teeth, "I have twenty". She then said she needed to check and make sure and he obliged. He wasn't too pleased with the actual cleaning process that followed but did take breaks to make sure the Dinosaur Pete's teeth were good and clean as well. The Dentist then came in and took a look while talking with Max about the hot air balloons and clouds on the light covers in the ceiling. He then took Max on a tour of the office and showed him where he would be next time. Of course, Max found the stuffed animal with teeth in the room and needed to know his name. So next time Max will brushing MoJo the Monkey's teeth. Dental Update: No cavities, everything looks great.

Gingerbread House

Saturday after our vacation we made our annual gingerbread house. It is a yearly fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. This year was especially fun because we had friends come and decorate with us. You arrive and get handed a giant pre-baked gingerbread house and a sack of icing. Once you find a table you get to go peruse all the candy offerings for decorating. Max loves getting his bowl and choosing all the candy that will go on his gingerbread house. There are also yummy snacks available in hopes that the kiddos will not eat all the candy that is supposed to go on the houses. Max usually eats a little of the candy but not too much. Once you are done you get to take your gingerbread house up to Mrs Claus for a picture. My favorite part of the whole process is once we get it home, it usually keeps our house smelling like fresh gingerbread for about a week. A great way to get the Christmas season rolling.

Bye Bye Disney

No matter how many times we go to Disney, everyone gets a little sad on departure day. We try to do something special our last day, so this year we booked a new character breakfast at MGM. Our breakfast wasn't until 10:30 am so we could get checked out of our hotel. We love the whole magical express experience. You can check into your flight from your hotel, get your boarding passes, and not have to deal with your bags until you get home. We arrived at MGM a little early, rode some rides, then headed to breakfast.

The theme was playhouse disney and the characters were Leo and June from Little Einsteins and Jo Jo and Goliath. This was another breakfast with a great selection of food, including ice cream for Daddy. We took our time at breakfast and still had some extra time to pick up a few more attractions at MGM. Then it was off to our hotel to catch our bus to the airport.

Disney Day Five - MVMCP

Now for our favorite part of the trip. MVMCP - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is a hard ticket event which means that you have to pay seperately for this event and they only sell a limited number of tickets to the party. We love MVMCP and it is the main reason that we go this time of year. The park is transformed into a Winter Wonderland complete with falling snow on Main Street. There are special shows including the Christmas Parade that everyone else will see on T.V. Christmas morning. All the major attractions are open and there is all you can eat cookies and all you can drink hot cocoa. Who could ask for anything more? The party officially begins at 7:00 pm and goes until 1:00 am. We arrived back at Magic Kingdom around 5:00 pm. We knew that the Hall of Presidents would not be open for the party so we wanted to make sure Max got to see it one more time since that is all he talked about. So glad we did. The lady running it recognized Max from the two previous days and said isn't this your third day in a row. I told her it was his favorite so she smiled and told us to go inside and wait by Abraham Lincoln's picture. We did and she came and told Max "come on in my little VIP" and opened a seperate door that allowed us to enter the theater before anyone else. We got to sit front row center and Max loved every minute of it. After Presidents we headed to Tomorrowland for some rides and then over to Fantasyland for Dinner.

On our way to dinner we watched the Castle transform into a shimmering Ice Castle, watched Tinkerbell do her flyover (never seen before), and then got caught in the most amazing fireworks show we have ever seen. We were on the back side of the Castle and for the finale we were surrounded 360 degrees by fireworks. It was amazing, a little intense for Max but Mommy and Daddy were in awe.

Once we finished dinner it was time for the party which meant all the regular people had to clear out of the park and it was great getting to see all the characters and ride the rides without having to deal with tons of people. We watched the second Christmas Parade at 10:30 and then headed out of the park. What a great way to spend the night before you have to leave.

Funny Interaction: Here Max is asking Peter Pan "Where is your house". Peter Pan's response are you a pirate? Max: Yes! Peter: Then I can't tell you, are you sure your a pirate? Max: Yes! Max never did find out where Peter Pan lives.

Disney Day Five - Breakfast in Africa

Thursday morning began early because we had breakfast reservations at Animal Kingdom. This was a brand new breakfast they opened in November so we were excited to try it out for the first time. It was a tremendous improvement over the last AK breakfast. Tons and tons of food that Max would actually eat as well as traditional African dishes that none of us were too crazy about. The characters at this breakfast were Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy (rare). Max loves Donald duck because "he is a little boy" like him.

We left breakfast and waited for the ropes to drop for the rest of the park. We grabbed a fastpass for the safari and Hiram headed over to Everest (his fav) while Max and I leisurely strolled from Africa toward Asia stopping to play drums and to look at the tree of life from our secret spot.

We met back up with Daddy to switch off so Mommy could go ride Everest, then we headed back to Africa to make our Safari time. It is always hit or miss on the Safari sometimes the animals are everywhere and sometimes you hardly see any. This was the best Safari we have ever had. There were tons of animals out and they were very close to the road. After leaving the Safari Max insisted on walking the character paths.

Once we were done with the paths Max and Mommy headed over to watch the Flights of Wonder show while Daddy went back to Everest. This show was amazing. It featured various birds doing tricks and the two highlights were when they brought out the Bald Eagle and also when a hawk swooped over Max's head (cleared about 2 inches). Max thought that was great and shouted he tickled me. We left the show and headed to the Kali River Rapids. Max and I had ponchos to wear so we wouldn't get too soaked. Since there was no wait we got to stay in our boat and ride it again. This might not have been the best decision because we all ended up pretty wet after that second ride. We had to buy a towel and take Max's pants off and wrap him up. We stopped for lunch and Daddy used the hand dryer to dry out Max's pants. On our way out of the park the Village Beatniks were performing and asked Max to join in. So here is our little almost dry rock star jamming with the band. He was hilarious everyone else just stood there and shook their bells but not Max. He really gets into the performance and was even doing a little Michael Jackson grabbing action. We headed back to our hotel to rest for our upcoming Christmas Party.