Cousin Time

Since we have lived in Florida time spent with family is a rare blessing for us, and I treasure every minute. We were so thrilled to have the Nelson family travel all the way from Canada for a vacation, and we were happy to take some vacation time with them! Our children were instantly friends with their cousins (it helped that Luke, Maggie, Jenna, and Beth gave lots of piggyback rides!).

 

 Beth and Anwyn

 Playing in the trees.

Unfortunately, Lily was opposed to a lot of picture taking, and we couldn't get her in this photo as we said our goodbyes. But she loved her cousins (especially seeing Macy, and having a cousin her age to play with), and hasn't stopped talking about them.

Now I am kicking myself--why didn't I get a picture with my sister Deanna?! Hopefully I don't have too wait too many years to see her again. I love my sisters!

It was so wonderful to spend time with the Nelsons, and we are so glad they came!

Disney Days: Epcot

Our last Disney day was Epcot on Thursday (or Epicot as Lily kept calling it). Epcot is divided into two sections: Future World and World Showcase. We spent most of our time in the Future World area. One of the best rides at Disney, Soarin', was there. Basically you are suspended in a glider 40 ft in the air, watching beautiful scenes of California on a giant IMAX screen. It really feels like you are flying and is pretty awesome. We did the Nemo attractions and Spaceship Earth (the attraction in the big ball that is the recognized symbol of Epcot) and a few other things. Zach fell asleep watching the 3-D Captain EO movie. It was late afternoon by the time we started to make our way around the World Showcase and by that time Lily and Zach had about had enough. That area is more just like a walk through the countries of the world, with places to eat and not much to keep the little kids entertained. We didn't get very far. So we headed back for another turn on Soarin' and then called it a day.

Oh no! The children have been eaten by a shark!

  Anwyn took this picture of Jared and I. Notice Lily in the front--she is busy catching love bugs. Catching the bugs is a favorite pastime of our children, even at Disneyworld.

 Anwyn is holding up the earth! The space ship version, at least.

Our visit coincided with the annual Flower and Garden festival, so we also got to enjoy the brilliant botanicals.

 Bambi's Butterfly House

Disney Days: Hollywood Studios

 Our next day was spent at Hollywood Studios, which is more of the Hollywood style behind-the-scenes theme park. We went straight for Toy Story Mania, and then rode it again later with a Fast Pass. It was a fun ride that we could all do (including Zach). We had a photo op with Lightning McQueen and Mater (who Zach just loves), rode Star Tours a few times, and enjoyed the live Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid shows. Jared and I swapped out turns riding the "big kid rides": the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith rollercoaster-very fun. We were able to hang out with the Nelsons more this day, which was really nice. Being with them kept our kids a lot happier during the wait times and the heat. We left the park to pick up a quick (and much cheaper) dinner, then came back to watch the Fantasmic night show. The 30-minute show was very impressive (lots of fireworks and music and characters and explosions and spraying water and water on fire and...) It was worth staying out late for!

Waiting for Toy Story Mania.

Zach loves the Cars movies, and plays with the Cars toys, so it was really fun to let him see a life size McQueen and Mater.

 The girls got to dance in a street show.

Feeling the size of a bug in the cool play area.

  One of the green army men from Toy Story.

 Dashing into Star Wars battle.

 Hanging out with the cousins, waiting for Fanstasmic to start.

 Disney characters--the good guys in the Fanstasmic show.

Disney Days: Magic Kingdom

We were happy to make use of a Florida resident Disneyworld discount, and we scored three days to play at the happiest place on earth (or so they say-it was mostly happy for us!) Disneyworld in Florida is comprised of 4 theme parks; Magic Kingdom is the park most similar to California's Disneyland. We were there for the opening welcome show and it was all quite magical. The lines were not bad at all (thanks to Fastpass and Rider Switch passes) and we never waited longer then 20-30 minutes for any attraction. We enjoyed all the classic rides: Peter Pan and Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh, the new Goofy Barnstormer rollercoaster ride, a Mickey 3-D show, Space Mountain (it took some convincing to get Anwyn on this and she did not like it, so she avoided rollercoasters the rest of the trip), Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and a few others. We caught the afternoon parade and met a few princesses. It was really warm (around 90 degrees). We ate dinner at Pecos Bill Cafe in Adventureland. When we came out of the restaurant we discovered a thunder/rainstorm. So we decided to call it a day, put on our ponchos and headed to the exit (we lasted from 8:30am to 7:30 pm).

Riding the ferry to enter the Magic Kingdom. Check out the matching Mickey ears t-shirts. The kids loved having matching shirts (and it made it easier to keep track of everyone). Thanks so much to Janene for making them turn out so well!

Reading the map and plotting out our first activity.

Watching the welcome show.

Flying high on Dumbo.

 

Ready for the 3-D Mickey Philharmagic Show.

Pull hard!

Not quite strong enough.

Chillin' on the people mover ride in Tomorrowland

 A view of the afternoon parade.

Meeting the Princesses: Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Cinderella.

Zach was not interested in meeting any of these pretty ladies.

Looking pretty tired after a fantastic (but long and hot) day!)

The Beach in May

We were so thrilled to have the Nelson family travel all the way from Canada for a Florida vacation. So of course, we took them to the beach!

 With some coaching from Jared, Anwyn finally conquered her fear of the boogie board and had a great time riding it.

  It was fun to have a few creature sightings: a tortoise, a crab, a ray, and very small fish. Everyone spent some time digging in the sand and looking for neat shells.

 

 

 

 

 

 We had a great day!

Mother's Day Interview 2012

My favorite Mother's Day tradition is the interview with  my children. I love hearing their responses!

How old is your mom?
Lily: 14
Anwyn: 32 years old

How tall is your mom?
Lily: this tall (and she gave a swoop of her hand about chest high on herself)
Anwyn: 55 inches


 What makes mom happy?
Lily: a flower
Anwyn: Happy children

 

What is your mom really good at?
Lily: cooking
Anwyn: a lot of things

What is your mom’s favorite food?
Lily: meatballs and pizza
Anwyn: pizza

If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Lily: Mickey Mouse

What do you and your mom do together?
Lily: play games
Anwyn: sew

What is something that Mom always says to you?
Lily: Set the table
Anwyn: I love you

 

My mom loves to relax by... close eyes and lay down (Lily) or reading a book (Anwyn).

The best thing she cooks is... pizza (Lily) and teriyaki meatballs (Anwyn).

When my mom shops she likes to buy... milk (Lily)

My mom’s favorite household chore is... cleaning up (Lily) and taking care of us (Anwyn).

If she could go on a trip she would go to...the park (Lily) or to Canada to see her mom and dad (Anwyn).

 You can read the 2011 version here and the 2010 version here and the 2009ish version here (it was done in September 2008 but then in 2010 we started doing these for Mother's Day).