Memorial Day

this year we started what I hope will be a yearly tradition. After breakfast at home, we headed to Liberty Park. We walked around, fed ducks, showed Syd the war memorial and then headed over for some rides. It was such a fun day. Sydney shocked us by reciting perfectly the Pledge of Alligence when she saw the falg in our front yard. (video footage will be added whn I figure it out)

31 and Oh What Fun

So I officially turned 31 and oh what fun- I know people are saying that 30 is the new 20, but personally I think it is bunch of 30 year olds who equally wish they were still in their 20's like me so I decided to celebrate it with picnic up in the mountains and some yummy pie form Marie Calledars. Oh and a really long nap.

Salt Lake or Bust

After a marthon week we said our goodbyes and got packed up for our very early morining departure. We survived- and had an amazing time time with a special thanks to Stan, April, Maisy, Emmaline, Ruby, Greta, Greg, Rebekah, Camden, Brynn, Ashlen, Dacey, Johnny, Sydney, Cash (who only took one nap in a crib all week-what a trooper) Jeff, and my Mom-thanks for the memories!

Batters Up

On our last night in Florida Johnny and I were in charge of the family activity. In honor of his brother, Stan's birthday we had a baseball themed night with hotdogs, cracker jacks, bubblegum and of course the ulitmate baseball birthday cake compliments of Greg and Rebekah. While we played ball the girls each got their best tough girl face as the swung. Overall a great trip and vacation!

Family Fun

We had a great time with everyone-on Friday morning we invited evertone over to our condo for Mickey Mouse shaped french toast (thanks Jeff for the cookie cutter) and then off to the pool.

Epcot Center

Growing up the big golf ball looking thing that is symbolic of Epcot cemter seemed so cool and up close it truly lived up to my expectations. We took the morning a little slower before heading to our fourth park in four days. After checking out the sites we headed in the afternoon to the pool for some fun with some cousins then headed back to Epcot for the fireworks. It was a great day-

Animal Kingdom

With clear skies we all headed to Animal Kingdom. We had one goal in mind that day-to get Sydney a giraffe. Sydney loves giraffes and for the last six months she has been saving her money to buy a giraffe in Florida. We saw giraffes, gorillas, even a Yeti (fun ride), but to no avial was there a stuffed animal giraffe for purchase. We finally located one at the Rain Forrest Cafe at Downtown Disney still had some in stock. So after we dropped Mom and Jeff off for Cirque de Solei we got Minnie the giraffe. Sydney was in heaven when she gave the cashier her hard earned money and got to take her Minnie home. We had dinner at a fun Italian place. Overall a good day and with full stomachs and tired bodies we went to bed early.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

After recooping from Magic Kingdom (with different shoes) we headed to Dsiney's Hollywood Studios a combination of California Adventure meets Univeral Studios. I took Syd to the Beauty and the Beast and the Playhouse Disney show while Johnny rode some rides with his brother Stan and Mom and Jeff went to check out some other stuff. We surivived some thunderstorms and a fun game at Toy Story mania. The only bummer for the day was I lost my favorite sunglasses-in my attempt to not lose them on the Aerosmith rollar coaster (super fun) I thought I stored them in my bag-but they were not there later-bummer- Jeff loaned me a pair for the rest of our trip.
Then we headed back to the condo to have dinner with his brothers (good food G&R) and some more cousin time.

Magic Kingdom behind the scenes

After saying good-bye to the Magic Kigdom as the sun was setting, we took the ferry back to the parkinglot and Johnny took pitty on my feet (the best ride of the day!) the kids crashed as soon as they were put in their seats.

Magic Kingdom

The first official leg of our marathon was the one I was most excited for-Magic Kingdom. Even now as an adult I still get giddy with excitment at going to Disneyland and going to Walt Disney World has been a life long dream (as silly as that might seem) Stan and April surprised us with matching reunion shirts to wear to the park and with ears on and a lot of sunscreen we headed out. You either have to take the monorail (which we did) or a ferry from the parkinglot to the park

We hit a few rides before we met up with everyone for Dumbo and lunch. We had a great day. Our Disney moment came when Syd met Alice in Wonderland- Alice was so sweet especially when the white rabbit showed up scarring Sydney. She walked back over to Syd crouched down and said, "This is my friend, the White Rabbit, he is silly and sometimes just shows up-would you like to meet him?" Syd nodded and then Alice walked her over to meet him. It was so sweet. Now Syd refused to go see any other character except princesses, but oh well.
Right before we got on Pirates we were able to look up into the sky and see in the distance the shuttle launch-very cool
Overall a great day, but personally I would take Disneyland anytime over Magic Kingdom.


Note: My vanity kicked common sense out the window in terms of my shoe selection- while my shoes looked cute and I have worn them to work tons- I still ended up with 5blisters!