The End of an Era

It's over, my association with preschool for my children is over.  My last little guy graduated in May.  I thought I would be sadder, be instead I was thrilled that he made it through that milestone.  I know Kindergarten is going to kill me, and I'm probably bawl my head off the whole first day, but for now we've made it through another year.  Adam had a great time, and learned so many songs.  He made so many friends, and loved all the field trips he went on.  At graduation they put on a little program for us.  We got a cd of pictures that reviewed the year, and of course his certificate.  

Singing one of his favorite songs.  Has something to do with thumbs, any guesses?

Dressing up as pirates.

He's official!

Hippo Poo

Our last stop was Animal Kingdom.  We went on the Safari first, which was fabulous.  At one point our guide pointed left, and said look everyone there is a Hippo.  We all turned and looked right as the Hippo lifted up his tail and emptied everything.  It was a complete gush out the back.  Had we been any closer we would have been spattered.  Unfortunately as most people turned to look, they also turned to snap a picture, so guess what was in the picture...  Our other favorite ride there was the Kali River Rapids.  It was so hot that getting soaked seemed heavenly, and it was.  This park closed early, so we headed back to our resort and ate all the food we had leftover.  That was one of our favorite evenings, gathered around enjoying four kinds of ice cream, and many, many snacks.  The next day we headed to the airport and home.  It was a wonderful week and I hope we can do it again someday.

All of us on the Safari!

Riding through the Wilderness.   It was so authentic, at one point our jeep had to stop and wait for some big animal to get out of the way!

My Favorite Park

When I was 17 my family and I went to Disney World.  My absolute favorite park was MGM.  I love movies, and the behind the scenes.  If I could have a choice career it would be doing the lighting in the movies.  Seriously.  When we buy dvds I always watch the 'how was this made' parts.  It just intrigues me, and I love all the organization that goes into making a movie.  I think directors are brilliant, because they have to compartmentalize every little thing, but I digress.  Our next stop was wonderful MGM.  It was our longest day, since we were there from 9 in the morning to 10 at night.  We had to see Fantasmic, and it was just that--fantastic.  My camera started doing all sorts of interesting things, so my pictures the last two days are a little sparse, but this will have to do.  We went on Aerosmith's Rock'n'Roller Coaster, which was really too short in my mind.  And then everyone headed to Tower of Terror.  I still have not been on that ride.  Somehow I always end up missing it.  I will go someday, just to mark it off the bucket list.  We went to the Indiana Jones behind the scenes show, and also hit the behind the scenes show about stunts.  We watched a car drive backwards and do a jump.  They showed us later that they'd gutted the car and actually switched it around so the driver was facing the back.  Imagine seeing that drive down the streets of Florida.  Of course, there was no way we were going to leave without going to Star Tours.  The kids were thrilled to see an up close Ewok Village, and AT-AT.  

The Beauty and the Beast show.  A must-see for all ages.  Loved Gaston's fake hair!!

Our favorite characters!!

Riding the Speeder into Aunt Mary on the planet of Endor!

19,000 Steps and counting

Epcot was our next stop.  We really enjoyed this park, but went home about an hour before closing.  There are so many different things in this park like the Eiffel Tower, a chinese garden, a viking ship, and a playground in almost every country--I guess every where you go there are kids huh?!  We signed up for the Kim Possible Secret Mission.  It took place in Germany, and we were able to stop the Evil Henchmen from taking over the world.  If it hadn't of been so hot, it would have been loads more fun, but we were all pretty tired and cranky (or maybe just mom was)   

Can you guess what country?

It was so hot, at the end the kids found a way to cool down!

The whole getup.  So this was what Nathan wanted to buy in the worst way.  Unfortunately the whole thing was around fifty bucks.  
A picture of the notorious ball.  The kids were thrilled when they found out there was a ride inside!

Disneyland or Disney World?

Our first stop was Magic Kingdom.  Basically Disneyland in one park.  There was no one there,  and we got on everything right away.  By two I was done, and so we're the kids.  We'd had an amazingly long day the previous day--due to a plane ride, so we headed back to our hotel.  All of us slept at some point, and then we headed to TGIF for some good cookin'.  The kids favorite ride here was the tea cups, except for Rachael.  She's my splash mountain girl.  

Matching Shirts

Yellow was our color of the day.  I went and got all the kids matching shirts for our first day at Disney World.  When we went on vacation as a kid my mom always made us matching shirts, well this is as close as I get.  So that morning we woke the kids up bright and early.  "Where are we going?"  They asked.  "For a ride."  We said.  "Are we going to be late for school, do our teachers know?"  "Yes and I've already talked to your teachers."  When we actually got to the airport I turned to them and said, "okay we're going to Disney World for a week."  They were really excited, but then Nathan said, "Where are our clothes?"   So we headed on a plane, and landed in time to meet Jon and Lauren at Magic Kingdom for a ride, and the parade.  

The Matching Shirts.  We were waiting for Rachael and Dave to come back from Splash Mountain.
The Genie in the parade.  I have to say I did like the last parade better, but no one does it like Disney!

I have a Secret

Oh yes I do.  And it wants to burst out!!!  Tomorrow morning we are waking our children up and loading them on a plane, and heading to Disney World.  I'm excited beyond belief!  Our three boys have no idea.  Our daughter, on the other hand, found out weeks ago we were going, but has no idea when.  She thinks it is tomorrow, but we've been very secretive about it.  She told me it will destroy her if it is not tomorrow because her body is too filled up with excitement (yes her words exactly, how would I even make this stuff up?).  How sad it would be if she has to go to school.  So Florida and 90 degree weather, here we come!