I Heart Faces {Framed}

The curiosity of a child. 

Disney with a Two Year Old {Part 1}

Since Alexis has been born, I have been wanting to take her to Disney World. I don't know if its because it is the epitome of childhood or just because. It had to be at an age that she could enjoy it. W didn't go when she was a newborn, I mean she can't experience it really at that age. I was so excited when this was the year to go and I'm glad we didn't go when she was any younger.

I've been to Disney world countless times, but not in a few years. Jon had only been to Epcot once, ever. Needless to say, he was excited, I was excited, and Alexis could careless. We started her on Disney movies a few months ago. She won't sit long and watch s movie, barely sits and watches a half hour cartoon. The one that she got through almost all the way was Dumbo. We also watched Winnie the Pooh, and all sorts. She's not into the princesses just yet and that's ok by me. There's an innocence about dumbo, Winnie the Pooh and the Mickey Mouse clubhouse, that I'd like for her to hang onto. I'm sure the princess stage will come soon, but there is no rush on my end.

We live an hour away from Disney world, so the obvious choice was yearly passes. We got the weekday select passes. I'd rather go during the week, than a weekend, and it has the last two weeks of June, all of July, and the first 2 weeks of August blocked out. Fine with me, it's too freakin hot to go then away and crowded. 

I did have a few concerns, I'm sure that these are normal though. 

Should I bring a stroller or rent one there? 

What happens if I lose Alexis, besides me panicking?

How is she going to react to different scenarios? Like the castle, characters, rides, the crowd, parade, lights at night, etc..

Are my parents, Lexi's grandparents, going to be able to go with us?

Should I bring my DSLR or just use my iPhone for pictures?

I will say the MOST fun you will have at Disney is living it through a child's eyes.

The morning of, I went and got Alexis out of bed. I asked her to guess where we were going today and her response was "Bailey's!" (Her friend).  I told her no that we were going to Disney to see Mickey Mouse. She didn't really understand though. All she knew was grandma and grandpa were coming and she got to ride in their mini van (which she can't get enough of). I was so happy my parents were able to go, it made the trip more special to experience Lexi's first disney trip with her. They came and we were off. We arrive to the humongous Disney parking lot and transportation center, get our tickets and Alexis and Jon's first time at Disney buttons, and jump on the monorail to Magic Kingdom. Alexis did great on the monorail, I tried showing her the castle in the distance, but she didn't really care. There was too much going on where we were. Monorail arrives at the magic kingdom and we go through bag check. Earlier, Jon, joking, said watch our tickets not work today. I told him I had checked at it wasn't a black out date. I put my ticket in and the red light started blinking, Jon started laughing saying I knew it. Turns out I just did it wrong.

We are now in the park, Alexis was in her stroller eating snacks because by now it was 12pm and we were all hungry, we encounter our first little sing/dance show on Main St in the circle area. It was fantastic timing and Alexis was loving it already. She loves singing and dancing. We keep strolling and 2 minutes in, she's gotta get out of her stroller and experience this place herself. I'm trying to show her the castle, yeah she didn't care. My parents were showing her the things in the windows of the gift shops, at her eye level and she enjoyed that. The next thing that caught her eye was the balloons and it was a must have for her. She was not going on without one. Jon bought her one, it confidently came with a little weight to keep it from flying away. It was $10. I buy clothes for less than that. But no big, it was Disney. Whatever she wanted. I'll tell you why it was worth it at the end of part 2. I'll keep you in the toe curled suspense lol.

How to Photograph a 2 Year Old

I've taken photos of Alexis since she's been 2, obviously. Mostly they've been 'mom' shots or our everyday life photos. I hadn't really done any formal{er} photos of her since she's been 2. Honestly, I didn't really want to, the whole idea just sounded exhausting and I had to wait til Jon had time off to help me. I kept putting it off and now that Lexi is 2.5, it couldn't be put off anymore. It seemed like every weekend was busy and we couldn't find time to take them. We finally found time one morning and I said we're going. We took her to a local gardens, where she could just run around and we didn't have to worry about her running in traffic, or getting hurt. She could explore.

    

Anyone who has a 2 year old knows they don't sit still, so they can't be posed like they were at 12 months. They don't smile or look at the camera on command. They're curious and an explorer by nature. If you shoot in manual, if you don't I may do a post on that later, try to set your settings to about what you'll need so you won't have to fuss too much about it during the shoot. It should be an easy dial turn here or there. Also, shooting in RAW is a big help.

 

Then, you let them loose and follow them. Photograph them being 2 years old. Photograph the energy, curiosity, and exploring nature they have. Not the "oh here she is sitting and smiling for the camera again", but the "this rock was amazing" or the "I've never seen a leaf like this before!" That's what you'll want to remember, that's what I want to remember. To review- 1) don't expect cooperation 2) set your settings beforehand, shoot in RAW format 3) let them be 2, while you document it. Because, well they are! And you may just get lucky and get a photo of them sitting still for 2 seconds hehe. 

 

Couch to 5K

I haven't posted much lately, obviously. I've been trying to balance out everything and blogging just hasn't come into that balance on a regular basis yet. Maybe soon. 

So, Couch to 5k. I started this program a week ago Monday. Til then, running was considered a curse word in my book. I have never ran, wanted to run, or had to urge to run til recently. It's a super easy program. Just downloaded the app to my phone and it's 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week, for 8 weeks. Jon and my dad have started this with me and if it wasn't for them, I probably would've stopped already. Here is my experience from the past week- 

Week 1 Day 1- The first week goes like this- 5 minute warm up walk, 60 seconds of jogging and 90 minutes of walking for 20 minutes  (that makes 8 jogging intervals), and a 5 minute cool down. It was tough, I'm not going to lie. I mean I have never ran - ever. We go at night because that's when all our schedules can get it done. I jogged 6/8 intervals. Jon pushes the stroller, thank goodness, because I can't do it and run at the same time. Time for a jogging stroller!

Week 1 Day 2- It was a little easier. Ran about 8/8 intervals. I could tell we went farther. There is improvement. Jon is always ahead of my dad and I. He said he's going to put a picture of mac and cheese on the back of his shirt for me and a picture of lady gaga for my dad lol. 

Week 1 Day 3- Easier still. Jogged all 8/8, but was sucking air to finish 6-8. My dad got worried because of how I was breathing, but I was fine. We even went farther than the first 2 days. 

Now, we were supposed to go on to week 2, but decided to do week 1 again. Even though it is a couch to 5k, they didn't know how big our couch is lol. Saying that though, I'm not a lazy person. I hate laying around and am up doing something most of the time. I have a 2 year old that I am constantly doing things with and keeping entertained, own my own business, and keep the house tidy. I am far from lazy. 

Week 1 Day 1 (Round 2)- This was a great workout. We were all tired and didn't want to do it. My knee has been sore, but we did it! I'm so proud of us. Ran all 8 intervals and didn't start sucking air til the end of 7 and then 8. We went farther, which means we are going faster. 

My goal with the c25k is obviously to run a 5k, but also lose weight and get healthy. It's nice that I have my family to do it with me. It's my motivation. I'm going to try and post after each one, so it's fresh in my mind (& legs). Our next one is Wednesday. 

I Heart Faces- Love

There isn't much more this Blondie loves more than swinging.

The Doing's

Remember I said I had some news?

No, I'm not pregnant. I finally found a blog name that I like! We are now The Grimm Gang. For the longest time I couldn't find a name I liked, and the other one was getting really cheesy to me. I would've posted sooner, but Alexis went through teething for her 2 year molars. That was not fun for either of us, but poor baby was hurting and I could tell. That's all done with now. We have managed to escape the flu, so far. Jon has a little cold though. Since this has sat in my drafts folder for a week, I now have his cold. 

On another note, we decided to stop trying to get pregnant for this year. I want to spend some quality time with my girl before she decides to grow up. We're also planning a cruise for later this year- stoked right here! It's been a few years since we had one and Alexis would be 3, so our plan is to all go on a 7 night Caribbean  cruise later this year and also get yearly passes to Disney world; since Alexis is in looooove with Dolphins, yearly passes to Sea World too. I'm really happy with our decision and feel really confident in it. My plan was to have Alexis a sibling when she was 3 and I felt like I was rushing because she'll be 3 in August. But she'll be 3 for a year lol and we'll have time later. 

2013

The other night, Jon and I were talking about presidents and fo some reason, I really thought we were in 2016. Not sure why, but then remembered it was 2012. No wait, what year are we in?!? 2013, oh right. I never really thought about 2013 before. It's such an awkward number, 2013.And that recap post I said I was going to do, I'll probably never get around to it. Just ready to move ahead and leave 2012, where it is. They're always great years, especially because we never remember the bad- usually. 

It went pretty much like this - 

Spring- Pregnant! :D!!! 

            Nope, unconfirmed ectopic :(

            Depressed

            Eat, eat, eat

            walk, walk, walk

            park, park, park

 Summer- Beach,   

               Road Trip to NJ

               NYC

               What 40lbs did I lose? That never happened. 

Fall- convention {or was that considered summer?}

Winter- Back on low carb 

I do have some changes coming to the blog, which I will post about this weekend. If you want a hint, it's in the photo below! 

The/our last photo of 2012-