Drew's first trip to see the Mouse!

First of all, this post is almost 3 weeks late... so just pretend for a minute that we are still in August :-)

 The Tales of this Mommy are quite interesting for the month of August and I can honestly say that this is the first chance since August 19th (when we returned from Disney) that I have had to write!

I don't want to bore you with ALL the details of what has happened in the past 3 weeks but it has been GO GO GO. 

We returned from Orlando/Disney on Monday the 19th, then on Tuesday I flew to Los Angeles for work, took the red eye home on Wednesday night, was hosting a baby shower for my dear friend Ali Beeler Evans that weekend.  Her and her mom were arriving about 5 hours after I landed (oh, and throw in the fact that Delta lost my luggage for 4 days, I made a last minute shopping trip to Wal Mart at 11pm, was in the middle of nowhere Califonia desert and got a breast infection somewhere in there). 

.....But after all of that, the shower was a BLAST and we had an awesome weekend.

The following week I flew to Indianapolis on Monday, Birmingham on Tuesday and home on Wednesday night.  I worked all day Thursday and made a PROMISE TO MYSELF that the entire Labor Day Weekend that my computer and all things that couldn't be done with my toes in the sand and Drew in my hands were OFF LIMITS. 

Soooo..... here we are.....writing a blog post about a trip that happened almost a month ago :-)

Drew's first trip to Disney was all because Aunt Ronda was turning 50!  Disney World has such a special place in my heart because we have some great family childhood memories there, plus I worked there during 2 semesters of college...it really is a magical place :-) 

We had been talking about this trip for at least a year and it was FINALLY here!  Unfortunately not eveyone could make it - but we still had a great Butcher crew!  Ronda and Harry, The Webers, Ben and Bri, Dad and Connie and little Drew! 

The first couple days of the trip Drew was with Grandma and Grandpa Merrill while mommy and daddy had some fun with the rest of the family doing non-baby stuff at Disney World! 

We arrived on Thursday and were greeted at the Polynesian Village with leaus and by Aunt Ronda and Uncle Harry!

Big Hugs for the Birthday Girl!

Getting ready to head out for our first afternoon at the parks - Magic Kingdom here we come!

After a hot sweaty day running around riding rides and dodging afternoon thunder stoms, it was time for me and Mr. E to get a cold beverage :-)

The next day we hit up Animal Kingdom (where I worked at Chester and Hester's Dinosaur Jubilee and wore neon yellow polyester shorts for an entire summer... oh the days)  so I was looking forward to seeing what had changed at that park over the years. 

... and lots had!  Especially the Mt. Everest Rollercoster!  I also learned on this trip that Ronnie is not quite the dare devil that I am...it took some convincing to get him to go on a few of the thrillers!

Mommy and Daddy getting ready to ride the Mt. Everest Roller coaster...

The Merrills and the Webers ROCKED DAK!

That night the entire crew went out for a birthday dinner for Ronda in Italy in Epcot. Ronnie says 'Thumbs up" to an awesome Italian dinner!

The next day we planned to hit up Hollywood Studios  - here's a good shot of 'the dads' having a nice relaxing breakfast before the madness of the day set in...  haha.  Oh, and you might be wondering where Ben is??? Well... him and Bri were doing what I call "EXTREME DISNEY" -- they were up at 7 am each day out till 11pm each night and did anything and everything at 100 mph each day!  Needless to say that Ben was not chillin' with 'the dads' having a relaxing breakfast ;-)

 The Toy Story ride had a lot of hype so we hung around the park most of the afternoon in order to use our fast passes that we snagged first thing in the morning!  Here we are in line with Ethan who was soooo excited!

 Then.... drum roll please... guess who arrived???  PAPA!  Wearing his 'ears' and all!  Papa has never really been into the Disney thing (or the heat) so it was a big deal for him to make the trip :-)

 That night Ronda and Harry had dinner planned at Epcot -- this time is was at the Japanese Steakhouse.  The chefs were a blast and mommy and daddy enjoyed one last night as just the two of us... (we were getting VERY anxious to see our little guy though!!)

But soon enough HE ARRIVED!  Grandma and Grandpa Merrill brought him over on Sunday morning and joined us for the Character Breakfast at the Polynesian.  Drew was quite the little charmer :-)  Here he is with Aunt Bri.

'uh mom - will you get this flowery headband thing OFF of me???'

Happy Birthday Rah-Rah!

I think Ethan missed his little brother Luke... he was SO sweet to his cousin Drew.  It just melted my heart!

Breakfast was yummy and Drew had a great time exploring the characters that came by!

On Sunday we also surprised Ronda with matching orange t-shirts - it was so much fun to be a big Butcher Bunch again! 

'Let's do this mom!'

After breakfast it was off to Magic Kingdom!  This was the only park we took Drew too... figured one was enough in the heat and we would have MANY more trips back to see the Mouse! 

Papa is always so silly and fun!

 One of the Butcher Family's favorite rides to go on in all of Disney World is 'It's A Small World' - it was Grandpa Butcher's favorite ride and I remember him humming the tune just like it was yesterday. 

'WHOA - There are lots of different kinds of people in here mommy!"

Connie likes to hang out with the little ones too!

What a wonderful trip it was and so glad Drew was able to put his first trip to Disney World in the record book at 5 1/2 months!  Thank you Aunt Rah Rah for such a special trip and wonderful memories!  We love you so much and Happy Birthday!