Day 5

This is the day that we FINALLY let the troops sleep in a little later... We didn't worry quite so much about being at Epcot right when the gates opened for our second day there! When we got there, we did all of our favorite rides first, and got Fast Passes for the ones that had long lines. We rode Soarin' AGAIN (and it was fantastic AGAIN), and Test Track and all the Space Rides, as well as Nemo and Turtle Talk. We also rode the Land ride, which was surprisingly educational. Then we spent the afternoon walking through the countries!

France....
Italy...
and England (where we met Alice!)

A storm started to blow in, hich looked like it might hold some hard rain, so we left Epcot mid afternoon. We went back to our hotel, and after the rain passed, spent the afternoon resting and swimming. That evening, we had reservations at the Polynesian resort for the Aloha Luau. We got all fancied up, and went over there for a fantastic dinner.

After dinner and the show, we walked back to the monorail, where we were able to see the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom exploding in the sky. It was so perfect! However, by the time we got back to our hotel, everyone was T-I-R-E-D one again!! Luke had to carry the little Gracie back to the room!
What a great day!

Day 4!

Once again, we were at The Magic Kingdom Gates before they opened for another day of DIsney FUN on Day #4 of our visit.
We had reservations for the Cinderella Breakfast inside of Cinderella's Castle promptly after the gates of the park opened, so we headed there first.

It DID NOT disappoint!!! The food was awesome, the castle was incredibly beautiful, and the girls got to meet and visit with all 5 of the princesses again.

Cinderella,
Snow White,
Sleeping Beauty,
Ariel,
and Belle.
After breakfast, we set out on a quest to find the only Princess left that Gracie had not yet met, Tiana, from "The Princess and The Frog." She was charming!! She even had a classic "southern accent!"
Next we went and did everything that the girls wanted to do "again" that they had enjoyed the first time... Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Tom Sawyer's Island, Peter Pan's Ride, Tea Cups, It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey's Philharmonic Show.

We watched the afternoon parade, which was GREAT.

Here's Pinocchio...
...and Fairy Godmother...
... and CInderella and Prince Charming, just to name a few!
Shortly after the parade, we left. It was H-O-T. The girls wanted to go back to the hotel and swim. We decided to do that, and then, after a shower, we took the ferry boat over to Downtown Disney. We ate dinner ate a neat restaurant called T-Rex Cafe. It was pretty neat... Rather like the Rainforest Cafe, but with everything from Prehistoric times.

Here are Luke and the girls...
Here is a pic of some of the decorations. This giant jelly fish was beautiful! They also had a mammoth inside an ice cave and dinosaurs everywhere... Pretty cool.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel. We were TIRED!! (And, it was already after 10:00 by then...) Disney is DRAINING, and we had another full day lined up the next day!

Disney - Day 3

By our third Disney Day, we were T-I-R-E-D. We had been staying up super late, and getting up early enough to make it to the parks before they opened. We still got up early on Day 3, but we planned to leave early. We had been told that Animal Kingdom Park would not require quite as much time, so that is where we headed for Day #3!

I realized after looking at my pics for this day that I took practically no pictures this day... like I said, We were ALL super tired, including me, the photographer! ha ha! I did get a few taken by the Disney Photo Pass Photographer that I plan to purchase, but not much in the way of documentation of Animal Kingdom.

Here is Abby looking at the Bird Watching Guide.
Here is a really pretty waterfall on the Safari Ride...
Here are Luke and the girls on the Safari ride. We enjoyed it a lot. Great live animals!!
We did ride Expedition Everest, which got mixed reviews. Luke, Kate, and Abby LOVED it. It scared Grace half to death, which was surprising, as she is usually the daredevil and Kate is the scaredy pants. I thought it was just OK... It had the Yeti (abominable snowman) in it, and I think that scared her more than anything... We also enjoyed the dinosaur dig inside the playground. The Kali River Rapids were also fun, but you WILL get wet!! We ate dinner that night at The Tusker House Restaurant inside Animal Kingdom, which was African cuisine, and was delicious. Immediately after dinner (which was early, like 5:00) we went back to our hotel and went swimming and went to bed early. It was a nice relaxing day!

Day 2 - Epcot!

On our second day, we went to Epcot. We loved it as much as the Magic Kingdom, but for different reasons. It had what was probably our favorite ride of all, Soarin', and we rode it four times! We also loved test track and the space rides and the Nemo rides. We LOVED Turtle Talk with Crush! It was hilarious! The turtle from Nemo was on the screen, and he somehow would interact with the kids in the audience and answer questions... even though he was a cartoon! Amazing stuff. And VERY, VERY funny!! In addition to all the rides, we found that Epcot was a GREAT place to meet all the Disney characters! We found the lines to be much shorter here, and in a few instances, no lines at all!!

We met Mickey...

...and Pluto...
... and Minnie (Abby's favorite!)...
... and Donald...
... and Goofy, all at the Character Spot, which was an air conditioned place to wait and meet all the "classics" in one place. Brilliant!
Then, we walked around all the countries, and met Belle in France...
...Jazmine and Aladdin in Morocco (Grace was SO EXCITED.. look at her Jazmine shirt she is wearing!!!)
... Mulan in China...
... and Marie in France.
Then, we got out Grace's Princess dress and changed her clothes, and went to a special "sit down" dinner in Norway with ALL of the princessess!! First we met Belle...

... and then Sleeping Beauty...... and then Cinderella...
... and FINALLY Snow White!
We had a VERY excited little girl on our hands!
Epcot was great. We loved it so much, we decided to go back on our "off" day, later in the week! :-)

Disney Recap - Day 1

Well... we are BACK!! Our trip to Disney World was fantastic. Get ready for "Picture Overload" as I recap our trip. I don't want to ever forget it!

Thursday we flew out and took Disney's bus, the Magical Express, from the airport to our hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. We spent the afternoon exploring the hotel and swimming in their fabulous pool.

On Friday we got up early and ate breakfast to get ready for our first day at The Magic Kingdom!
**This picture is out of order... It should be up there with the resort... These are the towels that were magically on our bed, in the shape of Mickey ears. I could take the time out to move it, but, I don't want to! :-)
As soon as we walked through Cinderella's castle, the girls got to meet Fairy Godmother. She was so sweet. Grace was enchanted!
Across the street from her was the wicked stepmother and stepsisters. They were hilarious! The stepmother said, "Hmmm... these girls look strangely familiar. Blonde hair, blue eyes. They look like another girl I know." The stepsisters asked about the feathers in the girls hair, and then when it was time to take pictures, they said, "We will NOT say CHEESE. Everyone think of another food to shout out other than cheese!" Then, when the picture was taken, they shouted things like Lasagne!!! and Asparagus!!! The girls loved them!
We rode the tea cups, and lots of other rides...
We met Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too!
We met Peter Pan, and rode his ride, too!
We met Arial, and Prince Eric, and lots and lots of other Princesses, too.
It rained, which was fantastic, because it lowered the temperature about 20 degrees! Unfortunately, it also lightened some, which delayed the start of the parade a little bit, and we were already TIRED!! But, we were determined, and we stayed until it finally started.
Grace was SUPER excited!
The Main Street Electrical Parade was FANTASTIC!!! We love, love, loved it.
Look at the wonder and awe on this little face...
Here is Pete's dragon... I took a TON of pictures, but won't take the time to upload them all now...
After the parade, we made our way over by the Dumbo ride to watch the nightly fireworks. My pics are not great, but let me describe... The Dumbo ride was still running during the fireworks, to our right, and the castle was to our left. The fireworks were on both sides of us AND directly over our heads. Amazing!!

Here is the DUmbo ride with the fireworks in the background...
And here is the castle with the fireworks above.
It was a magical, unforgettable day!

Sweet Summertime

I know.

I have not blogged ALL. SUMMER. LONG.

And I am not even sad about it!

I have been so busy with all the usual, unimportant things that little girls require of their mommies during the summers... Camps, sleep overs, swimming, etc...

We leave in a mere 7 days for our biggest family vacation EVER. Disney World!!! I am excited, and more than a little bit overwhelmed... This vacation requires a lot of planning, and is a lot different than our usual "rent a hotel and lie on the beach" type of vacation. I have had to plan and make reservations for multiple meals a day and reserve buses for transfers and blah blah blah... Apparently relaxing at Disney is a lot of work!! I will try and let you know how it goes when we return...

This is a sweet summer - the girls are growing like weeds, and wouldn't a picture of them fit in nicely here?? Sure would be great if I had a current one. :-) Maybe sometime soon I will get organized. Hey, internets, be happy - it has taken me all summer just to post ONE TIME!! A picture would be COMPLETELY TOO MUCH TO ASK!! :-)

I'm back...

... but, in all honesty, probably not for long!

I have lost my "bloggy-rhythm", and I have no idea when I'd have time to look for it, even if I knew where to look! ha!

"Life" is getting in my way in a most serious way right now.

There are only 8 1/2 more school days with students, and I am having a lot of mixed feelings about that... Sad in some ways, because I do love teaching, but happy in some ways too, because I will have more time next year. I know my family will likely be better taken care of with me at home again, but I will SO miss seeing my children every day at school! I love seeing them in the hall and at the lunch table. I love being next door to the nurse's office, because I am the FIRST to know if one of them is feeling a bit puny... I love being friends with their teachers, because I know all the good things AND the bad things that happen every day. Those are the things that I know I will miss. I know I will NOT miss the testing and the stress. I will NOT miss the "day in and day out" grind. So, I know this season in my life will be sad and challenging, but I am trying to be calm about it. Breathe, and just BE. For the first time in my life, I will have time for me. How will that feel? I'm really not at all sure, but I guess I had better get ready to find out!