Exciting News!

Mark your calendars for February 16th. . . that is the date that Baby Larriviere is due!! Yes, we are expecting! We are excited!! Jackson is really excited too. He first called it his, "baby sister". Now it is, "my baby sister and baby brother". We do have confirmation that there is only one, so no fears on twins. Stay tuned for pregnancy updates. . .

Family Wedding

My cousin, Christal, got married. It was the first family wedding since Thomas and I got married. The family was excited to join in the celebration. Jackson ended up filling in at the last minute as the ring bearer. He wore the same outfit that my brother Jonathan wore to Christal's parent's wedding 22 years ago on the exact same date. Jackson was so excited to wear "Uncle Jonathan's clothes".


Jackson and Uncle Jeffrey.

Jackson cracked us up because when my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Billy (Christal's grandparents) stepped outside, Jackson said, "Aunt Shirley! I'm here! Uncle Billy! I'm here!" I have no clue where he got that, but it was as if he was telling everyone that he was here and the wedding could now start!




Stephen and Christal


Jackson playing with the bubbles.


Uncle Jonathan and Kaci party up the reception.


Grandma and Jackson




Jackson danced with Papa J and Mama J.


Jackson danced with the bride.

Catching Up

For July 4th, we went to Thomas' grandmother's house in Northeast Lousiana. We saw his parents, sister-in-law, Alicia and our niece and nephew, Trey and Jena. It was so nice to see them! Unfortunatly, I forgot my camera at home. Alicia forgot hers too, so we do not have any pictures of the weekend. The highlights of the trip were watching the three kids play together outside on scooters (and Trey on his ripstick), the kids playing in the water sprinkler, Thomas trying out the ripstick (yes, I would love to have a picture of his first try!), and shooting fireworks in the front yard. We are looking forward to getting together with everyone again soon!

Last Day at Disney

Saturday was our last day at Disney. As cheesy as it sounds, it was a magical day. (It was so neat, that it has taken me FOREVER to finish this post!)

After checking out of the Disney hotel (we moved to another hotel in Orlando for the night after spending the day at Magic Kingdom).

Mama J and Jackson smile at breakfast.


Of course we had to hit the teacups right away. Jackson wanted to ride with Mama J and Papa J again. We lucked out on rain most of the trip, but we were not so lucky on our last day. On with the rain ponchos!


Before our trip, Jackson kept calling Disney World "Mickey Mouse's House". We finally got to go see Mickey's real house! We started with Minnie's house though. Jackson tried out Minnie's chair.


Jackson looks at Minnie's nick-knacks.


He LOVED Minnie's kitchen. It was somewhat interactive.


Papa J takes Jackson around Minnie's house. We headed to Mickey's house next. Mickey's house was just a tour and the kids didn't get to interact too much with the furniture or decorations.

After touring the houses, we caught the train to the front of the park.

We got off the train and the parade was going by. We had to stop and watch! Jackson loved watching the parade and was intent in his observations.

After touring the grounds and riding our favorite rides again, we went to dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. I had made reservations for this family style meal that featured Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale. I hadn't heard too much about this character meal, but figured we would give it a try. This meal was the highlight of the trip! Here are a select few of the at least one hundred pictures of the evening!

When we arrived, we were seated. We noticed that the characters were moving from table to table. First up for us. . . Pluto.

Pluto stopped by the table. Jackson was a little hesitant, but we thought he would be. Here's a group shot of us (don't forget we had been in the rain most of the day!).


Next up. . . Minnie. Jackson warmed up a little more with Minnie.


Goofy was next. Notice Jackson's smile. He was starting to feel just a little more comfortable with the characters.


Then Chip came to the table. Jackson was still a little nervous, but he wasn't crawling up me anymore.

Then there was Dale. Dale. We LOVE Dale!! Dale came to our table next.

Jackson liked Dale.


We think Dale liked Jackson. Dale started tickling Jackson. Dale started kissing Jackson. Dale patted Jackson on the back and head. We were all just so excited. Before long, Jackson was loving Dale back!


Jackson even started kissing Dale!! Dale spent so much time at our table that our food was cold by the time he left. "He" had to have spent at least 15 minutes interacting with Jackson. IT WAS PERFECT! It only got better. . .


Goofy stopped back by. Jackson kissed Goofy!


Minnie stopped back by! Look at this perfect picture!


Pluto stopped back by and teased with Jackson.


Dale stopped BACK by and played with Jackson some more!


Dale took Jackson's phone and started playing with it.


Then Goofy started entertaining us. He went over to a bell hanging from the beam and started ringing the bell to the tune of "Mickey Mouse". Before long, everyone was singing and clapping to "Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E." It was fun!


Then Chip stopped back to play with Jackson. . .


Goofy continued to move around the restaurant and started tripping on his big feet. He ran into the beam and bumped his head. Jackson yelled, "Be careful Goofy!" Goofy turned towards Jackson and walked towards him. He showed Jackson how he had fallen in slow motion. He came back to Jackson and pat him agreeing that he should be careful.

What a FABULOUS evening. It was truly Disney magic. Needless to say, we headed straight to the Disney Christmas store after the meal and bought a Chip and Dale ornament. Dale is our hero and a new favorite character!! It really couldn't have gotten any better.

Before we left the park, we wanted to get a good picture of Jackson with Papa J in their Mickey ears. Jackson was so funny! He wouldn't quit kissing Papa J for the picture! We have 20 pictures of Jackson kissing Papa J! I think he was pretty happy with the evening too.

Jackson kissing Papa J.


My second favorite picture.


My favorite picture. I think this picture describes Jackson's relationship with Papa J perfectly.

What a fabulous trip! Thomas is already asking when we are going back. Maybe in a couple of years. . .

Checking out of the Hotel

We got up Saturday morning to check out of the Polynesian. While Thomas handled the luggage, Jackson and I took a walk around the beautiful hotel.


What a cutie!


Jackson points to Cinderella's Castle.


Hello Jackson!


Posing in the lobby.


We ate a yummy breakfast before heading to Magic Kingdom for our last day. Jackson and Mama J had a good time sitting next to each other!

On to EPCOT

After Animal Kingdom and then a nap at the hotel, we decided to head to EPCOT for the evening. When we got there, it had started raining. Jackson was VERY unsure of putting on his rain poncho. Luckily, it stopped raining after the first ride.


Thomas and I posing in the wind.


Jackson actually crawled into the shark on his own! He was laughing, but this picture is perfect! He looks really scared! I did get one of him smiling too.


The Larrivieres at EPCOT.


Mama J and Papa J pose in China.

Thomas and Papa J headed off to ride an adult ride while Mama J, Jackson and myself walked around EPCOT. We joked that the men were having father-in-law/son-in-law bonding time!


We had dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was really good! Jackson kept pretending his crayons were candles on a birthday cake. It was cute to watch him "blow out" the candles!

We really enjoyed EPCOT and decided that next trip, we will spend a little more time there.

Animal Kingdom

After Chef Mickey's, we headed over to Animal Kingdom. We were excited to go there because none of us had ever been there before. Animal Kingdom does have a different feel than any of the other Disney parks. It is designed to make you feel like you are in Africa. Because there are so many plants grown up, we decided that breeze was hard to come by. By lunch time, we were all so tired and hot, we ended up heading back to the hotel for a nap. Animal Kingdom is best for the other seasons!


The Larriviere family in front of the Tree of Life.


We headed to the safari tour first. We were loaded up on a safari type truck and driven through to see the animals.


The scenery was beautiful.


They had lots of animals to see.

After the safari, we headed on a walking tour to look at more animals. After being in the hot, we headed over to see the Nemo show that was air conditioned! Jackson fell asleep during the show. It was a good show, and we really enjoyed it.

After the show, it was nap time back at the hotel!

Chef Mickey's

Friday morning, we got up at the crack of dawn to go eat breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Chef Mickey's is a character meal. We were excited that Jackson was going to get to see all of the characters. We did predict that he would be scared of them and have "the Santa Claus reaction" of crying and being scared. We were right! Oh well. It was still a fun experience even though my child tried to crawl over my shoulder when the character came up to us!

Jackson looking at his Mickey shaped waffle.

Jackson waved to Goofy as he came out to start making his way around the tables.

Posing with Goofy.

Jackson cried the hardest with Mickey! Go figure!?! Notice Jackson clinging to me. . . Mickey was so nice though.

The family picture with Mickey.

Mama J and Papa J pose with Jackson.

Donald liked Mama J. Cute picture!

Jackson was a little better with Donald.

Papa J tried to introduce Jackson to Minnie. It went a little better. Minnie was very nice to Jackson.

All of a sudden, Pluto snuck up on Jackson and Papa J. As you can see, Jackson tried to bail on Papa J! Then Pluto drilled poor Papa J in the eye! We have a great picture of this happening, but I chose to not put it on the blog. (You can thank me later Papa J!) Jackson tells everyone about Pluto hitting Papa J in the eye with his nose.

Look at that smile after all of the characters had visited Jackson! Even though he was a little scared of the characters, he still talks about them.