Elyse's 1st Annual(?) Movie Night

We told Elyse that after our basement was done she could have a movie night with her friends. We invited all the girls from Elyse's class and a couple of girls that were in her kindergarten class over to our house for a movie night. We told the girls to wear their PJ's or comfy clothes. The girls had fun playing in Elyse's room and the toy room. Then they were ready to watch the movie. I bought them each their own popcorn bucket from Target and one of the girls brought a bunch of candy to share with all the girls. So, they had a big bowl of candy, popcorn, juice boxes and water to eat and drink while they were watching the movie. They watched Tinkerbell and The Great Fairy Rescue. After the movie was done, I think all the sugar kicked in and they were running around the house screaming little girl screams! It was a very fun night and I think we may just have to make movie night an annual event! It is something fun for the girls to look forward to in the middle of winter. Here is a picture of all the girls on the couch getting ready for the movie to start.

Winter Walk

We took advantage of the rare sunny day on Sunday and took a walk to Tunnel Park. I pulled Andrew in his sled and Jeff pulled Elyse in her sled. The kids enjoyed playing on the snow covered playground and then we took a walk through the tunnel to go see all the ice on the lake. We even ventured out onto the ice and found some "ice caves", as the kids called them. On the way back home we stopped at the neighborhood sledding hill. It was a fun afternoon - although I think we all agreed that we prefer Tunnel Park in the summer!

Andrew down in an "ice cave". I had to help him climb out because it was deep and it was too slippery for him to climb out on his own.

Elyse and Andrew in another "ice cave".

There was a small river of open water. Andrew had to take his glove off and feel how cold it was!

I thought his picture of Elyse was cute with the beach grass and lake behind her.

At the entrance to the tunnel. Jeff had to duck when he was walking through the tunnel because there was so much sand built up inside the tunnel. Not to mention the huge mound of sand and snow that we are standing on!

Elyse loves playing at the playground!

Christmas morning excitement!

We had a great Christmas - we are so blessed! Here is a short video of Elyse and Andrew on Christmas morning. Santa scored big with our kids by giving them both a pillow pet!

Merry Christmas!

Father/Daughter Winter Ball

A local organization sponsored the Father/Daughter Winter Ball. When I heard about it I asked Elyse if she would want to go with Jeff and her answer was a resounding yes!

When she got home from school on Friday, we painted her nails and while her nails were drying I curled her hair. Then we put on her Christmas dress and she was ready for the ball! She was so so excited especially when she found out at school that her friend Maura was going to be there too!

Here they are all ready to go to the ball.

It was at a country club in Saugatuck and Jeff said it was a beautiful setting. As they walked in they had a professional photographer that took their picture. Their picture turned out super cute!!! He was also taking pictures throughout the night but the last time I checked they were not posted on the website yet. They had punch and then sat down for dinner. Jeff said they had little cards on the table with questions for the dad's to ask their daughters and for the daughters to ask their dads. Jeff said Elyse was really into asking and answering the questions! They had a speaker and some local ballet dancers did a couple of dances. Then it was time for the dads and daughters to hit the dance floor! Jeff said it was packed and everyone was having a great time! Here is a picture of Elyse with her friend Maura.
And no evening is complete without dessert! Elyse loved the chocolate fountain - here she is digging into a chocolate covered marshmallow - yummy!
Elyse is already making plans for next year (and was already talking about how she was going to put the picture of her and daddy from each year into a scrapbook - that's my girl!) - I'm sure Jeff will gladly take her again - they both had a great time!

Disney Hollywood Studios

So many times I have thought about finishing my blogs about Disney and now I am finally going to do it. It seems so long ago that we were there!


Our 4th day at Disney was spent at Disney Hollywood Studios. I think by this day we finally had things figured out as far as how to work the fastpasses to our advantage. We actually got to the park before it was even open!! Once we got inside - Jeff and Matt headed to get Fastpasses for Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster while the rest of us followed the herd to Toy Story Mania! I would say that Toy Story Mania is the biggest attraction at Disney Hollywood Studios - as we were getting in line to ride the ride there was also a line to get Fastpasses!! Here is Elyse waiting in line for Toy Story Mania.



Elyse and Kailey in line.

Here is Jeff and Andrew on the ride. You sit in these cars and you have a "gun" in front of you. Throughout the ride you make your way through different games where you have to shoot at various targets. You also have 3D glasses on because everything is in 3D. Sometimes when you shoot things - say a bottle of water - you actually get a little wet! It was a very fun ride and as you can see - Andrew loved it!!!

By the time we got off of Toy Story - we looked at our Fastpass tickets and realized that we could get another set of Fastpasses. So - we got 5 Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania - so the boys and Kailey could ride again later on in the day. We wandered around the park, rode The Great Movie ride, Star Tours and visited Lightning and Mater from the movie Cars. Here are the kids with Lightning and Mater. I love how Andrew has his hand on Lightning - so cute.

After getting some lunch - we left the 3 little kids with grandma and grandpa and headed to Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster. Both rides were very fun!! It was starting to look like it could rain - so we decided to check out the muppet 3D movie. That was a good choice because as we were in line to get in the movie - it started to rain. When we got out of the movie - it was still raining. The boys and Kailey headed over to Toy Story Mania to use their fastpasses. The rest of us just hung out underneath the shelter to stay dry. Unfortunately - we had planned on going to the 4pm showing of Lights, Motors, Action stunt show - but it was cancelled due to the rain. Oh well - something to look forward to next time we go! We had reservations at Chef Mickey's that evening and decided it would be nice to go back to the hotel and change into dry clothes before dinner.

One of the cool things about going to Chef Mickey's is you get to ride the monorail right inside the Contemporary Resort - where Chef Mickey's is located. Once again we had a lot of fun at Chef Mickey's - meeting Mickey and the gang throughout dinner. A few pics from dinner.

Kailey and Christopher with Mickey.

Elyse with Mickey. Kailey and Elyse with Minnie.
Christopher gives Goofy a high five!

The whole gang at Chef Mickeys!



This was our last night at the resort/parks - so we asked Elyse and Andrew if they wanted to to back to the hotel or go into one of the parks. They wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom - so we hopped on the monorail back to Magic Kingdom - while the rest of the gang headed back to the hotel. As we walked into Magic Kingdom - the electric parade was going on - so we were able to watch that and I'm so glad we did! It was very cool with all the lights and music! Elyse and Andrew wanted to hit some of their favorite rides - so in just a couple of hours we were able to ride Buzz's Space Ranger Spin, the speedway, Winnie the Pooh and Goofy's Barnstormer. Goofy's Barnstormer was the best - as we got to ride 3 times in a row!!! We would get back to the station and no one was in line - so we had the option of getting off or staying on and riding again! Of course - the kids wanted to ride again so we stayed on until we were forced to get off! We then walked around the castle at night and thought we would ride Buzz again but by the time we got back there - it was closed. So - we headed to the exit and watched the light parade again - this time from the top of the Train Station. It was perfect for the kids to be able to see everything! It was a great ending to our time in the parks!

Disney - Day 3

We headed to Animal Kingdom our 3rd day at Disney. When we got in the park, Matt and Jeff took our tickets to get Fastpasses for Expedition Everest, while the rest of us made our way to the Safari ride. We were told to do the safari first thing in the morning, as that is when the animals are most active. As the day goes on, the animals tend to seek shade and then you don't get to see as many of them. We rode a safari type jeep and got to see many animals, including a baby giraffe and a baby elephant. There are not as many "rides" at animal kingdom and so next we made a plan of what shows we wanted to see and when they were playing. The first show we saw was a 3D show called "It's Tough to be a Bug". Well - that show was tough on both the kids! I ended up walking out with Andrew who was screaming and apparently Elyse was crying too (but she wasn't sitting next to me, so I didn't know that she was scared). Andrew hates bees and the part that sent him over the edge was when it sounded like bees were buzzing all around you and then you actually get a little poke in the shoulder (of course Andrew didn't feel the little poke because he was sitting on my lap). Poor Elyse didn't even want to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D after watching this show! Next we headed to Festival of the Lion King - which was lots of fun! Elyse especially loved the monkey acrobats and she was in her element, clapping and singing along to all the songs! We had a really good lunch at Tuskers. Elyse loved the mini-corn dogs and ate 11 of them!!! It was looking like it was going to rain, so we decided to find a place with some shelter before the next show. We took the kids to The Dig, where they could dig in the dirt for dinosaur bones and it was covered so when it started to rain - we stayed dry. We rode a few rides in Dinoland - including Dinosaur. Dinosaur was a fun ride. They set you up as you are going back in time and your job is to bring back a dinosaur. It is very dark most of the ride with various dinos along the way but it is towards the end that a huge T-rex tries to get you and you have to make a quick escape if you don't want to be lunch =) Next up was my favorite attraction at Animal Kingdom - The Finding Nemo show. This show was incredible. Nemo and friends were huge puppets that people held on sticks and you really felt like they were swimming in the ocean. The story line was a shortened version of the movie. I really felt like I was at a Broadway Show - it was wonderful! We ended our day with Expedition Everest. This was a very fun and unique roller coaster where you actually go backwards for part of it - watch out for the Yeti! Overall, I really enjoyed our day at Animal Kingdom. I could have spent more time just wandering around the park - as it is a very beautifully landscaped park with lots of trails around the Tree of Life. Here are a few pics of the kids digging for dinosaur bones.