Happiest place on Earth

We just returned to a fun-filled, adventure-packed trip to Disney World!Rusty says a vacation is where you get to relax and rejuvenate, and a trip is when the kids come.  This was definitely a trip :) I’m going to split the trip into a few posts, so as not to have the longest blog post in the history of the world. 

Can I just say that flying with the kids now is about 10000000000000 times easier than it used to be?  It’s a major perk of them growing up a bit.  The flight was great, dare I say, relaxing? 

We rode the Magical Express to our hotel, the Art of Animation.  What an amazingly wonderful hotel to stay at with kids.  Our room was a “Cars” family suite, and the kids couldn’t have been more thrilled.  Cone shaped lights, Mater and Lightening everywhere.  The sidewalk leading up to our building was painted like a road, and there were life sized “Cars” characters at every turn.  We stayed in “Casa del Tires.”  So great.  The pool was located at the Cozy Cone hotel, and had cone shaped cabanas.  

     

Our good friend, Tinkerbell, had visited the kids in Colorado before we left, and she had left us a fun bag of Disney goodies in our hotel room as well.  What fun!

We dropped our bags and dashed to the Magic Kingdom to spend the rest of the day.  Hands down, our favorite thing on this day was Enchanted Tales with Belle.  Josh got to be the Beast, and he played his part perfectly.  He got to dance with Belle, and even got his first kiss from a princess.  You should have seen the grin on his face.  Rusty said, “Well, if he wasn’t interested in girls before, he certainly is now!”  Halle and Blake got to play the part of enchanted picture frames.  We also love exploring Belle’s village and eating cinnamon rolls and drinking Lefou’s brew in Gaston’s Tavern. 
After a fun packed day we watched the fireworks through our Mickey Vision glasses (Thanks Tink!) which made all the fireworks look like they were shaped like Mickey Mouse. The picture doesn’t do it justice.  It was really pretty cool.

Animal Kingdom

Our first full day in Florida was spent at the Animal Kingdom.  Kilimanjaro Safari was so much fun for my animal loving kids.  We saw tons of elephants, giraffes, crocs, hippos, all sorts of deer and other horned creatures, and even a lion or two. 

We had a late breakfast at Tuskar House, and that was a bad idea.  We had fed the kids a light breakfast in the morning, but they were STARVING.  Which makes them ornery. We had to wait forever to get a table (even though we had a reservation), but the yummy food, and getting to meet all the characters made up for it.  It was such a fun environment and got our kids excited about all the other characters they were going to get to meet.  Rusty said it wasn’t bad at all, because they seated us just before breakfast ended, meaning we got to enjoy both the breakfast AND the lunch buffet! 

After breakfast we went to the Festival of the Lion King, which is always so much fun.  Then it was on to Expedition Everest.  The kids were looking forward to this ride with both anticipation and dread.  We had watched it on a YouTube video, and they’d been talking about it ever since.  Blake was too little, so I sat with him while Rusty took Halle and Josh.  It was their first roller coaster, and I think they liked it until the part where you go backwards.  When they were done Halle decided once was enough for her.  Josh was brave and came and rode it with me, even though he said he didn’t like all the fast parts and all the drop parts (aka the whole ride).

Blake was sad to miss out, and so when it came time to ride Dinosaur, he begged to go.  He promised it wouldn’t scare him.  He’s about a millimeter under the height requirement, but with a double pair of socks, he’s good to go :)  Promises aside, he was terrified.  And I don’t blame him :)

The park closes early, so we ended a day with a swim in the Big Blue Pool. They play music underwater, and the kids thought that was amazing. 

Jesus Wants Me for a.....

SUNBEAM!!!

He ran off with his brother and sister after sacrament meeting and never looked back

Picture a Christmas

Picture a Stable in Judea, Picture a sacred, silent night.

And can you hear the Angels near, and see the star so bright? 

Picture the Kind and Gentle Joseph  

Picture the Mother, Mary, fair

And can you see, so reverently, the Shepherds kneeling there?

Picture the little Baby Jesus, think of his life and words so dear

Sing praise to Him, remember Him, as you picture Christmas this year!

 

Manners Breakfast

I had the fun opportunity to “host” the 3rd grade Manners Breakfast.  They did this in lieu of a Christmas Party.  We had a great time!  Halle and I planned for the decorations, and she helped me set up the room the night before. We made adorable Christmas trees out of strawberries and grapes, and made cute little Santa hat spoons for the yogurt parfaits.  All the parents brought yummy, yummy food like breakfast casseroles, muffins, juice and fruit.   The kids had spent a few weeks learning about manners, and this was their chance to put them to the test.  They all dressed up in their fancy clothes, and the boys escorted the girls to their seats.  They practiced passing food, waiting until everyone had been served to eat, using proper utensils, and using their most polite conversation.  We did a little conversation game where someone would pick a question like “What would you do with $1000 dollars?” and then everyone at the table would share answers. 

It was such a great morning, and I was so happy to share it with my Princess!

Oh What Fun it is to.....

Stay at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park:

Make Rice Krispie Houses with our friends:

Make the annual trek to Denver to see the Parade of Lights.  This year we decided to stay overnight at the Hyatt downtown.  So fun.  

Make Santa's nice list:

 Have fun with our Preschool friends:

 Make Holiday crafts at Discovery Days:

Do our fun Activity Advent calendar every day.  This year we focused on others, so in addition to some of the fun pics you see, we also made peppermint playdough and gave it to some kids in our neighborhood, made cookies for the postman, did a Secret Santa for a family, made dinner for a friend, and made fun gifts for our primary teachers.  

Visit Beautiful Temple Square

 Have a fun Sunday School party complete with caroling around the piano planned and executed by my amazing 16-18 yr old Sunday School class:

 Make cute Gingerbread Men at the Banks' house on Christmas Eve:

 Make a glass flower at Thanksgiving Point with the Cornell girls:

 Play Mary at the ward Christmas Party:

 Have a not so "Silent Night with Santa" at the Vista Ridge Community Center:

 Annual Picnic under the Christmas Tree:

 Build a Snowman at the Cornell's:

 Ski at Sundance as part of our Christmas Eve tradition:

 Go Sledding at Evergreen Park:

 See the Nutcracker on a girls night out:

Look Pretty in her Christmas dress:

Kidisms

Just a few funny things from the mouths of my children:

Blake: We were in the middle of a shopping trip at Target and I asked Blake to come over to me so I could help him with something.  He turned and yelled at the top of his lungs, "I AM 3 YEARS OLD AND I DON'T NEED YOU ANYMORE."

Josh:  "Mom, what is that book you are reading?" I said, "A book about how I can become a better mommy."  He said, "oh Mom, why are you reading that book?  You are already the BEST mom in the world."  He was my favorite child that day :)

Blake:  We were snuggling in my bed one morning and I said, "Blake, you are so sweet. You must be made of sugar and spice."  He turned to me with the biggest grin on his face and said, "Yes.  And MARSHMALLOWS!  I am full of marshmallows."