Playing Catch Up

Here are some of the things that have happened in the last few months...

Some lovin' on DaddyWayne...

Hannah's class party...

Paige graduated from preschool

8 Years Old? Really?

Well, it happened again. Hannah had another birthday. 8 years old now. How is that keep happening? She had a great day. Mema and DaddyWayne were there to celebrate with her. And as her treat, we took her and 2 friends to eat at Chili's. My first experience with a group of silly girls out in public - ugh. Loud and goofy!!! But fun!

candles all day

Since she does not like cake, she opted for chocolate chip ice cream cookie sandwiches.

Savannah (Dash) and Katy (Perk) with Hannah

Mema and DaddyWayne finally got to see her play softball.

My favorite moments

The week had a lot of fun things. The cleaning people for our hotel room always left surprises for us when we came back. Our stuffed animals seemed to come to life while we were away...

We ran into Abby's kindergarden teacher...

The fireworks was beautiful. Paige saw Tinkerbell fly from the castle and in total awe said, "I see her! I really see her!"

Our hotel was so vibrant and fun...

They enjoyed every parade...

But throughout our week at Disney, my world revolved around my kids' happiness (much like any regular day). For me, my favorite moments did not occur meeting a character or riding a ride or seeing a fun show. My favorite moments were when I got to see my kids enjoy each other...

Meeting the characters

Here are all the characters we got to meet...

(in random order)

Animal Kingdom

Our last day was spent at Animal Kingdom. We began the day with an all you can eat breakfast with Mickey and friends. The food was delicious!!!!

The tree of life was amazing. We saw A Bug's Life in it, which was so fun! HOW DO THEY DO THAT!? The bugs crawling under us was so real feeling.

A new roller coaster has opened up - Everest. The 4 of us got to do it and it was awesome! Abby and I even got to do it twice.

We went on a safari ride and saw some animals. These guys were real life and right there. Many of the animals could have come up to our truck if they wanted. We saw lions, crocs, rhinos, gazelles, and so much more. We rode in a huge truck on real road that crossed all kinds of terrain. Of course, the drivers played up being in Africa, but it was all so real.

Even this guy was real. I could not get a good picture of this, but this is a real animal that people thought was a mythical creature in days past. I believe it is an okapi. The legs are zebra, the body of something else, head like a giraffe. Sure wish I could have had a better shot!

Epcot

We spent one day at Epcot. Looking back, we should have bailed on this park with the age of the kids. There was just so much that did not captivate them. But, of course, we still had fun. Their most fun was Soaring, which is a ride that you sit in a chair and "fly" through the air over all kinds of terrain. They still talk about that.

At the front of the park, they had all the 7 Dwarfs in a flower bed. Since we were the Dwarfs for Halloween, I had to get a shot with each person and their "twin".

This was absolutely, positively, the worst margarita we ever had. But the atmosphere was great!
I really wanted to sit in Germany and have a braut and beer, but it was so crazy crowded, that the lines were taking an hour or more. Needless to say, my family was not willing to wait.

It is funny to me, when we came here when I was a kid, all the countries seemed to be so much farther apart and in more of a maze. It's amazing the perspective of a child.