Christmas 2012

Christmas was filled with family, friends, food and fun this year!  We made lots of great memories, laughed often and celebrated the birth of our Savior.  Most importantly, we just took time to…

To be crafty together:

To go see Christmas lights together:

To open presents together:

And to just be together:

Ear Piercing Time

Addie has been wavering back and forth about getting her ears pierced for almost a year now.  After several of her friends recently had it done and assured her that it didn’t hurt (at least not too bad), she finally decided she was ready to take the plunge.  As part of her Christmas gift from Grandma, we all loaded up in the car and headed to the mall the Saturday before Christmas.  Here is our brave girl getting some new earrings.

Getting a pep talk from Grandma:

The process:  Sitting tall, holes marked and ready for the gun.

All done and trying oh so hard not to cry….

She was very brave and hardly shed a tear.  Our little Addison is growing up!

Santa Paws

The Grand Hyatt in Downton San Antonio hosted a Christmas events known as Santa Paws.  It consisted of a fun story time, led by Santa himself, yummy hot chocolate & cookies and some furry friends looking for a home. 

San Antonio always offers such a wide variety of fun and FREE activities throughout the year.  We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful city.

Disney World 2012

After 18 long months of saving and planning, we finally were able to enjoy the fruits of our labor by taking the kids to Disney World.  It was well worth the wait!

At the airport all ready to go….

All smiles on the airplane…

On the Magical Express….Let the adventures begin!

Our hotel room and the towel animal who was there to greet us.

We arrived in the evening on our first day, so we headed out to enjoy some of the sights at Downtown Disney.

The next morning we woke up early and headed out.  Before we did that, the princess had to decide what to wear.

Day 1 in the Parks….Hollywood Studios

Meeting Donald and Daisy before the park opens.	Entering the front gates for the first time.
After riding the Tower of Terror…Addie was such a trooper.	Inside the hotel
Eating lunch at Pizza Planet with Jess	Best. Cupcake. Ever!
Indiana Jones Stunt Show	Addie took a catnap during the show.
The Beauty and the Beast Stage show.  One of my favorites at HS!	Waiting patiently while the Dalton and I take one more turn on the Tower of Terror.  Once was enough for Addie.

We also enjoyed Fantasmic that evening but were not able to get any blog worthy photos of the show.

Day 2 in the parks….Animal Kingdom

On the bus heading to AK!	All dressed up and ready to go, even super early!
Animal Kingdom…best zoo in the world!	Waiting in line to head to Africa for breakfast.
Our dinning accommodations in Africa.	Meeting Donald
Look at all that yummy food!	Two very happy girls!
Meeting Daisy…no big deal!	Meeting Goofy…BIG DEAL!!!  Addie went crazy when he walked in!
Safari Time…We were the first jeep of day to go out!	Which means we had to wait for A LOT of animals to move out of the way.
Hanging out with some of the wildlife.	Enjoying the fish!
More wildlife…there is a gorilla in the background.	The kids with the Tree of Life in the background.
Close up of the Tree of Life….look closely and you can see animals carved into the trunk.	Family Photo in front of the Tree of Life.
Bird Show…Dalton was asked to help during the show.	That made for one happy boy!
Heading off to see some tigers.	Lazy Tiger!
Taking a picture of the monkeys….both in the foreground and background.	The Nemo Stage Show….made a perfect spot for Addie’s second catnap of the trip.  She woke up and asked to see the pictures of what she missed.  Silly girl!
Expedition Everest…A favorite for Dalton!	Yes, we did just take a picture of the screen at the end of the ride.
Dinosaur Ride….aka “Fuzzy Bunny” ride to Addie up until we walked in.  We hoped the cuter ride name would convince her to get on.	She got on, but kept her eyes shut tight the entire ride.  She really was a trooper riding all the rides that were a little scary.
Enjoying some ice cream snacks to “cool” off in the middle of December.  We had wonderful weather throughout the trip.	The Lion King Stage Show…a must see!
The AK 4-D show…It’s tough to be a bug!  Some fun surprises are to be had during this show.	The show takes place in the root system of the Tree of Life….very fun!
We finished up our day at AK with the afternoon Jungle Parade.  Disney really out does themselves with all the different parades.	Goodbye AK…until we meet again!

Since Animal Kingdom closes early, we headed back down to Downtown Disney to enjoy dinner and more sight-seeing.  We had dinner at the T-Rex.  I forgot to take a picture of the front of the building, but you can see our yummy food below.

My “healthy” fish dinner.	Blake’s “nothing but meat” plate.
The Lego store was a big hit.	It’s hard to believe all the statues are made from 100% legos.
Addie loved looking at all the window displays.	The “build your own” potato head store was fun too!
Dalton’s Star Wars inspired creations.	Addie’s Tinkerbell meets Christmas creation.

Day 2 in the parks was a success!

Day 3 in the parks….Magic Kingdom!

On day 3, we woke up bright and early once again to set off for the most magical of places.  Of course, Cinderella had to join us.

The early bird gets pictures without the crowds.	The early bird also gets to see Mickey ride in on the train to welcome the guests.
Horse drawn carriages….unfortunately it was full and we never had a chance to hop on later.	First stop once inside….a family picture in front of the castle of course!
Dalton trying to pull the sword from the stone….no luck!	Addie giving it her best with one hand….still no luck!
Time to hop on the Merry Go Round!  A favorite for Addie!	We were lucky enough to get to spend almost a full day with Jess.
Prince Eric’s new castle.	Getting ready for our voyage under the sea!
Beast’s castle	Gaston’s Tavern
Gaston’s chair	Gaston’s Fireplace….the attention to detail is amazing!
Getting ready for the ride of my life….quite literally.  Addie could use some more time to practice behind the wheel.	Apparently Dalton’s skills behind the wheel are not much better!
A trip to Disney wouldn’t be complete without a spin in the teacups….which is exactly why I had to come back!	The kids were good sports with all the pictures that were taken.
Getting ready to ride the rails!	Enjoying the scenery (and a break) from the train.
Yet another parade where Disney manages to outdo themselves.	Where do they store all this stuff?
This was the day Dalton fell in love with the “Hidden Mickey” game.  Notice the mickey outline on the tire tread.	Another hidden Mickey in the Christmas wreath.
Blake was continuously amazed by the attention to detail….note Woody’s pull string on the back of his shirt.	Addie and I just loved to watch all the princesses go by.
We ended the evening with fireworks over the castle,	A quick catnap between shows was had by Addie,
And an amazing view of the Electrical Street Parade	and all the amazing floats passing by.

Day 3 at Magic Kingdom was a big hit with the kids (both big and small).

Days 4 and 5….Off to Epcot we go!

I just knew Epcot would be Blake’s favorite park, so we planned to spend as much time there as possible.  It actually turned out to be Dalton’s favorite too and there was enough to do to keep Addie busy, so everyone was happy. 

First stop….the must have picture in front of the golf ball!	Then we were off to have breakfast with a few of the princesses!
Ariel was Dalton’s favorite of the morning.	I think he may have his first crush.
That afternoon, we headed over to the countries.  Up first, Canada to make a quick call from the phone booth.	Hidden Mickey #1,268.  Can you find it?
Hidden Mickey #2, 726.  This one should be pretty easy to spot.	Not another picture Mom!  This one is in front of the grounds in Canada…very pretty for the dead of winter.
Addie’s turn to be in a show.  The “waiter” was setting out chairs in front of the audience and inviting people to have a seat.  As soon as a chair went down in front of Addie, she took it upon herself to sit down.  The “waiter” though she was cute and let her be.	It was pretty amazing what they were able to do with those chairs.  I’m not sure if Addie’s chair was supposed to be part of the show, but he never came back to collect it from her.
Mexico….in front of the Mayan calendar …I think?	Norway…preparing for battle with the trolls!
Germany wouldn’t be Germany without kids in beer stein hats right?!?	Model train layout in Germany…so pretty!
Blake’s special dinner….The Garden Grill.  It’s an all you care to eat family style meal with meat, meat and more meat!  He loved it!	Chip stopped by to say hi to the kids while we ate.  We also learned how to tell Chip and Dale apart.  Chip has a brown nose like a chocolate chip.  Dale’s nose is pink.
Day 1 at Epcot was coming to a close.  Goodnight Mickey and Minnie!	The kids went home and crashed!
Day 2 at Epcot was spent meeting a few more of the characters around the park…	…playing in the many stores…
…getting in those last few photo ops…	…and riding our favorite rides with our favorite Aunt Jess one last time!

I’m so glad we were able to spend two full days at Epcot.

Day 6 in the parks….Magic Kingdom bound one time!

Our final day in the parks was just a half day, so we headed back to where the real magic happens.  This was by far Addie’s favorite park, so we had to return just one last time.

We rode a favorite ride one last time.  One of the evil step sisters even rode right beside Addie.	We stopped by the castle to see one final show.
We just happened to run into a good friend from back home on our way out of the park.	Finally, we stopped to make a wish in Cinderella’s wishing well.  I hope she wished that we can return soon!

Off to the airport to begin our journey home!

On our way home AND everyone is still smiling.  I think these last two pictures sum up just how amazing our family vacation was!  Disney is a must for kids of ALL ages!  We can’t wait to go back!