Meeting Marie!

When we went to Disney in June 2010 Elyse was bummed that we didn't get to meet Marie. Marie is a kitty from the movie Aristocats and you can find her in Epcot in France. As we wandered back to the different countries - meeting Marie was top priority for Elyse! It couldn't have worked out more perfect as we walked into France and basically right in front of us was where you could meet Marie! And she had a very short line - Elyse was so excited!!! All the kids got in line to meet her.

Here is Elyse giving Marie a hug.

Marie signing Elyse's autograph book.
All the kids with Marie.
I had Elyse wear her Marie shirt today just in case we got to meet her. So, I told Elyse to show Marie her shirt and Marie got sooo excited! Marie started jumping up and down and pointing to Elyse's shirt! Elyse thought it was so funny and Marie gave her another big hug!

Elyse wanted to call Grandma Lindholm and tell her that she just got to meet Marie!This was definately one of Elyse's most magical Disney moments!

Disney Day 3 - Epcot

We spent our 3rd day in Epcot. I was still not feeling 100% so I stayed at the hotel in the morning to try and get a little more sleep (since I hadn't slept much the night before). I ate a banana and some dry cheerios to see if I could keep some food down and hopefully meet up with everyone later in the day. We had a big surprise planned for Jeff's parents tonight and I didn't want to miss it!!!

The 2 top priorities at Epcot were Test Track and Soarin and both get very long lines! So the plan was to get Fastpasses for Test Track to use later and head right to Soarin. Soarin is one of my favorite rides at Disney and I was bummed that I missed it!

Here is Andrew the tour guide - he loved looking at the maps and making sure we were going in the right direction!

After Soarin they headed to the Finding Nemo ride and Turtle Talk with Crush. This is a really neat ride and exhibit and the kids enjoyed looking and learning about all the fish, etc.

Although I was still tired - I had kept the food down and decided to join the rest of the group in Epcot. I actually made it into the park before lunch time - so I didn't miss out on too much.

This year the boys were both tall enough to ride Test Track!

Here is Tric, Christopher, Matt, me, Andrew and Jeff in one car.

And Kailey, Elyse and Grandpa in the back seat of this car.

Afterwards we asked Andrew if he liked it and he said that it "dazed" him! He did not want to ride it again but Elyse loved it and would have rode it again!

We wandered through the countries and the kids enjoyed stopping at the Kidcot stations. They got a cardboard disney bear on a stick and they could color it at each of the stations. They also had someone who was from that country at the Kidcot stations and they would stamp the backside of the bears with the country name. Sometimes they would also write the kids name in their native language. We also went on the Viking boat ride in Norway which was fun.

Here is a picture of Elyse meeting Mulan!

After dinner it was time to head to the Yacht and Beach Club resort where a special evening awaited us! I am so thankful that I was feeling better and didn't have to miss it! As a thank you to Jeff's parents and for their Christmas present we booked a boat ride to watch Illuminations at Epcot. Illuminations is a fireworks, music and laser light show.

Here we are on the dock ready to get on the boat.

We took a boat ride past a few resorts and to Disney Hollywood Studios. Our driver told us all about the history and other interesting facts about each resort. It was a chilly night but it was so fun to ride around with all the resorts lit up and decorated for Christmas! It was definately one of my favorite nights! Plus, we had the best seat in the house to watch Illuminations and we didn't have to wait for hours to save our spot!

Here is our view of the show!

Of course pictures don't do it justice but the show was great! Another wonderful day in Disney!

Stay tuned for a post on Elyse's favorite part of Disney!

Disney Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

The kids were so excited to go back to Magic Kingdom for the day. Even though we were up late - we got the kids up early, ate a quick breakfast and we were on our way. We knew that the best time to get on rides without much of a wait was first thing in the morning - so we (Jeff and I and the kids - the rest of our group slept in a little bit) were waiting for the bus a little after 7am! We were able to get on 4 rides in an hour: the Astro Orbiter, Buzz's Space Ranger Spin, Tomorrowland Speedway and Stich's Great Escape. It was crazy how fast the park filled up with people after that! The rest of the gang joined us and we got Fastpasses for Space Mountain to use later and some went to ride the Astro Orbiter and some went on Space Mountain (since the wait was still short). Then we headed to the Speedway again and after that over to Fantasyland to ride Small World and Haunted Mansion.

Andrew driving me around on the Tomorrowland Speedway. I'm not ready for Andrew to drive - that's for sure!
Popsicles - yum!
Elyse drives Kailey around the speedway!
We rode several more rides, had some lunch, collected some Fastpasses and then decided to head back to the hotel for a break and naps since the park was getting extremely crowded at this point! I was especially ready for a break as I was starting to feel a little of an upset stomach. I was hoping it was something I ate and that after a nap I would feel better . . . well, needless to say I never made it back into the park this day. It was so hard to watch Jeff and the kids leave to go back into the park and know that I was missing out on making memories with them! The minute that hotel room door shut I started crying and once I composed myself enough I called my mom to ask her to pray that I would start to feel better and that no one else would get sick (especially the kids!) I spent the rest of the day in the hotel room with severe stomach pain and multiple trips to the bathroom - not my most magical Disney memory for sure!

Andrew, Christopher and Elyse on the teacups - not so sad that I missed going on this ride but missed watching the kids enjoy it!
Kailey and Elyse met Chip and Dale!
They enjoyed a fun evening in Magic Kingdom!

Next up - Epcot!

Evening at Magic Kingdom

After leaving Animal Kingdom, we got back to the hotel and brought all our luggage to our rooms, ate dinner and then headed to Magic Kingdom for the evening. Do you think someone is excited to be at Disney!?!

Here is one of the many pictures that we had the Disney Photopass photographers take of the whole group. I added the border afterwards.

A view of Main Street USA all decorated for Christmas!The reason we went to Magic Kingdom this evening was because we had reservations for the Wishes Dessert Party. It is an all you can eat dessert buffet and then you can stay right there to watch the Wishes Fireworks. Since we were there during the busiest week of the entire year - it was so nice to have a place to sit and relax while waiting for the fireworks to begin. Plus - the dessert's were yummy!!! Here is a view of the castle from the dessert party.

And they had a photopass photographer at the dessert party so you could get a pictue with the castle all lit up behind you. Unfortunately, the kids were tired and don't look too thrilled in this picture.

After the fireworks, we rode Buzz's Space Ranger Spin - one of Andrew's favorites! On our way out the light parade was just starting so we decided to stay and watch - here comes Mickey!

And here is Andrew getting a 2nd wind at 11:30 at night!!

It was a very fun day!!

Animal Kingdom

We spent part of our first day in Animal Kingdom. We checked into All Star Movies so we could get our tickets. Here are the boys ready to go!

The girls are ready to go too!

We headed straight to the safari ride while Jeff and Matt went and got Fastpasses for Expedition Everest. We were so surprised to find that there was only a 20 min. wait for the safari!! The week between Christmas and New Years is considered to be the busiest week of the entire year at Disney - so we were anticipating long lines everywhere! When we were at Disney in June 2010 we waited for an hour to go on the safari - so only a 20 min. wait was great! Andrew said the safari was one of his favorite rides. My favorite part of the safari was seeing this baby elephant!

You can't see it in the picture but the baby elephant kept chasing a flock of birds - the birds would land and then the baby would run after them and they would fly away - it was super cute!

One of my favorite things at Animal Kingdom is the Finding Nemo show! This is definately a well done show and I think could be a hit on broadway! Love it!

Andrew was really looking forward to riding Dinosaur! Here he is in front of the sign looking so brave!

Well - some consider Dinosaur to be one of the scariest rides in all of Disney and we warned Andrew that it was dark inside, etc. But - he was determined to ride it . . . he was very brave and didn't cry but he announced as we were exiting the ride that he was never going to ride that ride again! The huge Carnataur at the end of the ride that comes towards you from the ceiling did him in I think! He still talks about the ride but whenever you ask him if he wants to ride it again - the answer is always NO!

And a day at Animal Kingdom would not be complete without a ride on Expedition Everest! Since Matt and Jeff used all our tickets to get Fastpasses - those of us who wanted to ride could go multiple times - fun! But - 2 times in a row is enough for me! We were hoping to convince Elyse to go on it but she opted out. The landscaping around the ride is so cool!

The kids enjoyed a few other rides and they enjoyed playing at the playground before we headed back to the hotel for dinner.

Next post will be our night at Magic Kingdom and the Wishes Dessert Party!

Disney 2011

Finally getting around to blogging about our Disney trip over Christmas break! We left in the afternoon of Christmas Eve to drive down to Florida. We decided to drive through the night - then the kids sleep a lot of the way. Christmas Eve was a great time to be on the road as there was hardly any traffic. Jeff said it was almost eerie the lack of traffic on the way down. We couldn't even find a McDonald's open to have dinner so we picked up a few things at a gas station and continued driving. The kids did great as usual - they are such good travelers! We checked into our hotel near Downtown Disney, changed into shorts and t-shirts and then decided to walk around Downtown Disney while we waited for our room. We ended up eating dinner at T-rex - a dinosaur themed restaurant - Andrew loved it!!!

Here we are eating under the jellyfish!

Andrew and daddy outside of T-rex.
We spent a lot of time at the Lego store and Andrew used his Disney gift card from santa to buy some dinosaur legos. Here are the kids in front of the Lego store. The sculpture behind them is all legos!

We headed back to our hotel so we could get a good night's rest!

Critter Barn

We went to the Critter Barn with friends over spring break. The highlight of our time there was helping with feeding the 17 baby goats that were born this spring at the critter barn. They told us to get in groups of 4-6 kids and they would bring us a baby goat and a bottle to feed them with. It was so much fun!

Here is Elyse feeding the baby goat - she was so excited!

Andrew's turn . . .
All the kids by one of the goats that we fed.

Elyse also liked holding the bunnies.
It was a nice day so after the Critter Barn we went to a nearby park so the kids could run around and play. It was a fun day with friends!

Fun in Terre Haute

We went to Terre Haute, IN to visit my grandma and my Aunt Chris over spring break. The weather was beautiful there! We went to the Children's Museum, saw The Lorax, spent some time walking and riding scooters around the neighborhood and enjoyed playing at the park! It was in the 70's and sunny so we tried to spend a lot of time outside enjoying the sunshine. As always, it was great to spend some time with my grandma and my aunt! Here are a few pics from our time in Terre Haute.

My grandma decided not to join in on the silly face picture.

Elyse and Andrew enjoy some time at the park. This park is within walking distance from my aunt's house and the kids love it!

Lunch with Great Grandma.

Elyse in a bubble at the Children's Museum.

Elyse climbs up into the tree house at the Children's Museum.

Andrew liked shooting the nerf balls with the air guns at the Children's Museum.

Our tradition on the way home from Terre Haute is to stop for dinner in Monon, Indiana at The Whistle Stop restaurant. It is a restaurant that has several train tracks mounted from the ceiling with multiple trains that run on the tracks. Plus, the parking lot is full of train cars, railroad crossing signs, etc. The kids love it! Unfortunately, we were traveling home on Monday evening and they close at 3pm on Monday - we were all so bummed! We stopped a little later at a subway and dairy queen that were together in a gas station - so the kids were excited to get some ice cream after dinner.

It was a fun little getaway!