It's up!

Alright, I know I jumped the gun a bit, but when we get home after Thanksgiving it will be nice to have the tree already up...that way we can focus on the lights and other decorations. :)

The girls like to play on the ladder...I stood by as their spotter while they showed us how brave they were.

From start to finish it took 6, maybe 7 hours to complete. It wouldn't have taken so long if I didn't have to shape it all by myself...plus I let the girls hang tons of ornaments wherever they wanted...then I had to rearrange them all. This tree is a lot of work, but I definitely think it is worth it.

A whole lot of nothing

It seems like that is what we have been doing lately...but I have been lovin it.
We usually wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our Christmas tree, but I can wait no longer.
I LOVE our 12 ft tree and all it's glorious lights, but I think the reason I can't wait another day to get it up is because I have a whole new set of ornaments to adorn it with this year. I have been shopping clearance for the past few years in order to get as many ornaments as cheap as possible for this massive tree. We have done red and gold the last couple of years...this year our tree will sport blue and silver. I am excited!!! soooo I better get started...this is a huge project (mostly cause I have to change everything after I let the girls decorate a little.)

Disney Day 4

Day 4...another character breakfast and then off to Epcot.

The kids got to shake some maracas and dance around the restaurant in a little parade.

We have been to Disney World twice before this trip and we never had been to Epcot. Although it still isn't my favorite park, I was a little surprised how much we enjoyed ourselves. There were some new rides there as well. A Finding Nemo one that Justee loved...as soon as we got off she wanted to do it again, and since the line was moving so fast we rode it twice in a row.

We also found Chip and Dale in Epcot....Jake's favorites. :) I think his excitement transferred to the kids cause they really enjoyed their time with these two chipmunks. They all got hugs in...

...then posed for a few pics....

...and then got some more hugs in.

After hitting all the main attractions, we went to a Muppet 3D movie thing...it was a low-point in our day...Justin really disliked it. :) It put both Charlee and Justee to sleep...I think Trey fell asleep too. Justin and I took Chuck and Justee back to the hotel for naps and Syd stayed with Vicki and Jake to tour more of Epcot.

They ran into a lot of characters.

This pic was taken in the Japan area...just for uncle Mark since he is on his mission there. :)

The girls were wiped. Even after Char and Justee took long naps, they didn't have a problem sleeping through the night. They got new princess jammies and "babies" to cuddle.

Day 3

Hollywood Studios... (once known as MGM Studios...:)

I really like Hollywood Studios. It has the Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster...BUT... now it has the Toy Story ride! We all LOVED this ride. It was so cool. You get to wear 3D glasses and shoot at fun targets! One time you are shooting darts at balloons, then you are tossing rings, breaking plates and lots of other stuff too. It was so much fun! It was also the longest line we ever came across I do believe, but it was worth it. We were able to ride it twice, but I could have done it over and over.

**I forgot to mention that on Day 1, we came to Hollywood Studios after the Magic Kingdom closed early for a Halloween party. We thought it would be fun to ride the Tower of Terror at night. I told the girls that if they were tall enough to ride something, then they had to try it...but I ended up deciding not to make Charlee ride it even though she was tall enough. Sydnee, Tasha, Tamsyn, Vicki, Jake and I all got in line. Justin stayed with the 3 youngest ones. After the ride was over, Sydnee and Tasha opted out of riding a second time, but surprisingly Tamsyn wanted to go again. So she went with Jake, Justin and me for a 2nd time. **

I think our first ride on day 3 was the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Sydnee loved it and went on it several times. I opted to not put Char on this one either, because you are so isolated in your seat...she always likes to hang on to you so tight, and in this ride you can't even see who you are sitting next to...I thought it would freak her out too much.

We got in some character pics...

JoJo and Goliath:

...and got to watch a Playhouse Disney show. ...I think Jake is more into it than the kids. ;)

In the afternoon, the little ones needed naps, so Justin and Jake took the 4 and 2 year olds back to the hotel. Vicki and I took Syd and Tasha back to the Magic Kingdom. We were able to fit in 2 rides (Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain) before we were supposed to meet up with the guys for dinner.

After dinner we went to the hotel and took the kids swimming.

DW...Day 2

First I want to know...Does anyone really enjoy humidity? I mean, how can you think it feels good to be moist and slimy all day? I am not a fan of humid places...my hair and humidity don't get along...in fact, they hate each other. That's all I have to say about that. (sounds better if you read that last sentence with a Forrest Gump accent.)

~Day 2 was Animal Kingdom~
We started off with the safari ride...we got to watch a giraffe walk right in front of our jeep and stop in the middle of the road to poo...best safari ride ever. I'm pretty sure the kids enjoyed it much more than they seem to be in this picture. Then we got to meet Flik.

...and King Louie Shortly after King Louie, Justee fell asleep and missed out on being in a few character pictures.

...and Pocahontas

...and Miss Bunny. For those of you who don't know who Miss Bunny is, she is Thumper's girlfriend (we had to ask.) Thumper had to leave for a break right before we got to them, but the kids were happy with meeting a cute bunny anyway. I love the way Tamsyn is looking at her.

One of the best memories I will have (and probably the worst for Sydnee) is of the ride Expedition Everest. This roller coaster scared the CRAP out of Sydnee. I have proof too:

Now I may be a mean mom for putting this pic on the blog because Sydnee did NOT want me to show anyone, but how in the world could you resist putting this picture up???

This picture had to be taken late in the ride, after I pried Sydnee off of me and she decided that it was safer to hold onto the side than to hold onto me because I kept trying to get her to look at all the cool effects (again you could say I was being a mean mom, but I only wanted her to get the full enjoyment out of the ride.:) Here is a ride play-by-play: We came to a stop at a cliff early on in the ride and Syd started panicking, "We're gonna go backwards! I know it! I know we are gonna go backwards! I don't want to go backwards!" ...we went backwards... Syd was grabbing me saying, "I can't do this mom, I want to get off! I can't do this anymore!" I kept trying to calm her down by saying it was ok and all that stuff and was finally able to pull myself out of her death grip. I thought she had calmed down a bit; I didn't notice she was sinking her fingernails into the metal on the other side of the seat. It was only when the ride was over and we saw the picture, that I realized she was never able to sit back and really enjoy the ride. :)

She'll appreciate looking back at this story later in life, right?

Sydnee was willing to do every ride more than once except this ride and Tower of Terror. Those were two that she would not be talked into riding again. She rode the Rocknroller coaster several times and I thought that one was a lot scarier.

Vicki and I split up from the guys and older kids for a while and so we passed the time with some fun pics. I think this one is pretty darn cute.

We met back up with the guys just in time for the parade.

For dinner that night we had another character meal. This time is was at Epcot at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. We got to meet Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, and Ariel.

After dinner we watched the light show at the Epcot lake.

I think being a "Princess" or any character at Disney World would not be a fun job. I am sure so many people out there think that working at DW would be great, but I have to admit, I would not like it. I could not hug strange kids all day for a living....and have you heard the way the princesses talk???? It is a little creepy if you ask me.

A note about pictures....Vicki and I decided that only one of us would bring a camera and we would take turns taking pictures. I like having pictures to capture moments and protect memories, but sometimes you get caught up in taking pictures and not just enjoying the moment when you are experiencing it. That is why so many pictures are of the kids with characters...it is easy to pause for pictures at times like this, but it is way more fun to sit back and just have a good time without always worrying about a camera. Not sure why I added this...maybe for when I look back down the road, and wonder why I didn't take a pic of something; I can remember that it was because I was having too much fun to worry about pictures. :)