The Fulkersons

We always said we'd never go until the kids were older - at least older than 5. We always thought it was beyond ridiculous to take/haul around/pay for a child who would never remember such an important, exciting and expensive trip (although both of us went when we were "older" and we had a hard time remembering a lot of things at the parks, so that made us feel much better about taking Noah so young!). We always said we'd probably try Disneyland in California first just to see how the kids would like it and how the trip would potentially go at Disney World. We always wanted to go, just the two of us, first. We always flat-out said "no" and "it's definitely gonna be awhile." Then.... sparing you the long story, things changed awhile back and we made plans to go and take Noah the third week in April 2014.

Well. Guess we ALL know why we had to change our plans to January, huh? ;)

So..... we just got back from the happiest place on earth - Walt Disney World!!!! We hit up Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney. We had the most incredible time and made so many fun memories. Noah is just so stinkin' easy and the trip really couldn't have run any more smoothly than it did. We absolutely didn't have an agenda or a schedule, went with the flow of things and couldn't have asked for a more perfect vacation. Really.

There's no way we'd have enough time to sit here and blog in detail about all the fun we crammed into our 7 days there and there's definitely no way we can successfully post the almost 500 pictures we took, so..... we'll just highlight the best parts - which, get ready, may be a lot! ;)

This sign will always make us remember Noah, practically screaming, "LOOK!!! MICKEY!!! MINNIE!!!"

Toy Story Mania ride!

Our little Padawan getting ready to fight Darth Vader up on stage!

Fighting - and winning! ;) He has talked non-stop about this little experience.

Sitting in cars, having lunch at the drive-in theater. Some of THE best milkshakes we've ever had. Ever.

So cute in Darth Vader ears. =)

Hollywood Studios!

Oh, this picture. He sure has our hearts in a big way!

Riding Dumbo! Not sure if this was the first or the 10th time..... ;)

Driving a race car on the speedway!

Magic Kingdom!

Half the reason we came to Disney World was right here. Pineapple ice cream. The only other place you can get this little cup of goodness is actually IN Hawaii at the Dole Plantation (well, and Disneyland). We may have eaten till we got sick. ;)

Some of us chose Mickey ice cream instead. ;)

Parade!

Epcot! Definitely our least favorite park out of all of them, but even getting drenched in the rain that day, we still managed to have fun and make some pretty neat memories.

Driving yet another car. =)

Starbucks. Disney style. These just may be the best Starbucks cups we've ever had a drink out of. ;) Aren't they CUTE?!?!

Downtown Disney. This place was quite a bit of fun. =)

Once he saw there was a Lego store, he wouldn't let us go anywhere else. Him and his Daddy had a blast building their own little men to take home, playing with a table full of Lego's and then buying half the store. ;)

Hands down, THE most fun and entertaining restaurant. We'll definitely go back.

Our Magic Bands - aren't these adorable?? =)

Breakfast with the characters. Oh my. This was TOO much fun!!

Animal Kingdom!

Digging for dinosaur bones. ;)

This one is for Uncle Brian.

Another super fun lunch - Rainforest Cafe!

Finding/meeting characters. Noah would squeal with delight when he'd spot someone. So cute.

Breakfast at our hotel. And what could be finer than a chocolate chip Mickey waffle (almost every morning)?

That about sums it up! Noah's already asking to go back because "he loved it there and had SUCH a good time!" =) We told him we'll tentatively plan another trip when his baby sister is around 4 and that we'll go try Disneyland and see how he (and she) likes those parks! That seemed to make him happy, but 4 years is a long time to wait. We'll see how long we actually can. ;)

We had our 3D/4D ultrasound done today!! We are still marveling at the amazing technology these days. =) The appointment seemed to fly by. We knew it would. Because seriously, how old could it possibly get looking at your baby!?!? (Jen keeps asking Greg for an in-home ultrasound machine.... but you can all probably guess how THAT conversation goes....) ;) Anyway..... Greg took the day off for this appointment and we brought Noah in for it as well. He seemed to be totally in awe and excited to look at his baby sister, although maybe not 100% sure what was going on. ;) (the little stink pot kept moving around and getting annoyed with the ultrasound tech, so we didn't get the best of images like we did with Noah - either way, some pictures are better than none!)

So here she is. Just plain adorable.
Say hello to Emma Lynn Fulkerson!

If you'll remember a blog post from a loooooooooooooong time ago, we had said that it was a challenge to pick out a boy's name for us, but that we had already picked out a girl's name. Well, 4 years later, we still loved that name! We did go through some baby name books and "top 100" lists, but even after writing down a couple of others that we thought were cute, we always came back to Emma and could never picture her name as being anything else. So.... Emma it is. =)

6.5 months along! Feeling big, but so very happy these days!