Babymoon '09

This was outside the dining hall at our resort, Port Orleans. It was quieter to eat outside, plus we were sunshine hogs and tried to soak up as much as we could.

As part of the New Orleans theme, there are little instrument-playing alligators all around the pool area, so we made sure to get at least one Couple Shot before leaving.

From the moment I remembered that Pooh was a Disney character I was super excited to get our picture together since we currently look so similar. My intention was just to walk in a store and hold up a stuffed animal next to me, and then we found this perfect little picture spot! B thought I should make the photo more authentic by turning my tank top into a midriff, but I thought the picture should be cute and charming - not terrifying and filled with elastic waist shorts.

If you saw the mobile posts below than you already know pretty much everything there is to know about our trip. We had a great time and did a lot of slow moving and relaxation and very little activity.

Our resort was wonderful and - unbeknownst to us at the time of booking - at the most perfect location for our trip. The Disney resorts are spread all over and if you're planning to go to all the theme parks there are closer resorts to stay at. However, there are only three resorts that sit on the little river that leads to Downtown Disney and ours was one of them. This meant that we were only a 10 minute riverboat ride away from our nightly dinners and any shopping we wanted to do. Staying at any other resort would have meant much longer bus rides to get to our dinners and other activities. The resort was also very lush and quiet and surrounded by tons of greenery and trees (which was my original reason for choosing it).

They were predicting rain and thunderstorms every single day we were down there, but each day the weather report changed and we were given beautiful weather. We figure that the all-mighty Disney powers have some kind of speed dial to God and let it be known that they weren't going to tolerate any inclement weather on one of the first big travel weeks of the season. Our timing on that was perfect too - any sooner and it would have been too cold and any later would have been too hot.

I also realized that Disney is the perfect place to go for a pre-baby vacation because it's filled with very happy families that make you feel like you might not totally be ruining your life. All the kids were very pleasant and happy and respectful and all the parents were (mostly) relaxed. Unlike our honeymoon on Turks & Caicos, where you don't even want to be reminded that children exist in the world, being at Disney was a nice reminder of the general cuteness that kids can display.

Most of the days we stuck close to our resort and stayed by the pool. We took one day and pool-hopped to the Animal Lodge to see their pool and all the animals on the property, but it was over an hour trip each way, so we only pool-hopped once. We also spent one day in Downtown Disney touring the shops and wandering around. We didn't really buy anything because although everything is adorable, who wants a house filled with Micky Mouse stuff?

So as long as you weren't planning on doing much of anything, our little five day trip was just perfect. However, it did reinforce what we became convinced of on our honeymoon, which is that if you want a full trip with both relaxation and activities and don't want to come back feeling like you need a vacation from your vacation, you absolutely must have a long trip - at least 9 days. Five days was enough for either relaxation or activities, but not both. I don't know why, but it just takes several days to really settle in to a vacation and truly exhale and forget about regular life.

The one downfall to the trip was the horrible glimpse into my future that I was given. As I mentioned, the weather was lovely - high 70s or low 80s with not too much humidity. However, the heat and humidity were enough to make it so that the only shoes my fat, swollen feet could fit into during the day were my flip flops and one pair of little white sneakers. It also made my rings horribly uncomfortable. Once the evenings hit, things were mostly back to their normal size, but let's just say that if I wasn't scared enough about being 8 and 9 months pregnant during the summer, I am now.



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On another baby-related note, my friend and bridesmaid Z (who many of you know) had her baby boy this past weekend!! His name is Rafael, but we don't have any other information other than a picture text message because we haven't spoken to them yet. He's adorable though!