Hollywood Studios

We went here on Thursday, Dan's birthday. It's a fun park. Tower of Terror is here, as well as the new Toy Story Mania (fun ride!)The girls loved seeing Mickey!Annie and her cousin Megan. They are 5 months apart.

In front of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (another ride I have never been on before that I would have liked to go on). Oh well, we'll just have to go back someday.

We love Minnie!! And our cute cousin Molly:)The kids loved playing in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" play area.

They have a lot of shows in this park. We saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage, Fantasmic (that night), and two stunt shows. The first one was the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! I was chosen from the audience to be one of the extras. It was fun to be involved. In the first picture I'm on the far right, in the yellow rag. We're supposed to be cheering for Indy.

This show is called the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. It was an impressive show.

But sometimes, you're just too exhausted to enjoy it.

And Leah wasn't the only one!

Swimming!

Wednesday we had a much needed free day. We spent the day relaxing and swimming in the hotel pool. We had great weather while we were down there, in the 80s most of the week. The kids all loved swimming together. That evening we went out to dinner and then had a birthday party for Dan (his birthday was on Thursday). Dan doesn't get to spend many birthdays with his family these days, or at Disney World for that matter, so it was fun! Here are some swimming pictures:

Animal Kingdom

Day two was spent at Animal Kingdom. This first picture is right after the group got off their second round of Expedition Everest (the ride I was most bummed about not being able to go on). The ride stopped half way through and they had to climb down 17 flights of stairs through the middle of the mountain. Who knew they would actually be hiking Everest at Disney World? Here the girls are playing in the Boneyard in Dinoland. They liked jumping on those footprints to hear the dinosaurs roar.

Do you like how Leah is posing for this picture? What a goofball.

We took the girls on the River Rapids ride because there aren't a ton of rides in Animal Kingdom. They were nervous at first, and we were all trying to make it seem fun . . . . which worked until the hill came and Leah got soaked by a wave. She started bawling, Annie was bawling, and so Megan decided to join is as well. We were trying to calm them all down through our laughter. Oh poor girls. . . . good thing they got over it quickly. Here we're recording Leah as she tells us all about it. Yes, that ancient looking thing Dan is holding is a video camera. I've had that thing for at least 10 years now. Well, it completely died on us half way through our trip. Bummer! But at least we can FINALLY buy a new one! Good thing Christmas isn't too far away.

My favorite thing at Animal Kingdom was probably the Safari. It was fun bumping around in the rugged jeep while trying to spot animals. We don't have any pictures of the safari, so I stole this from your blog, Elisha . . . . hope you don't mind!

Disney World - Magic Kingdom

We were so excited for our Disney World trip! Not only because it was our first time to Disney World, but because it was with Dan's whole family and we hadn't seen some of them in quite a while. The only one who couldn't make it was Dan's brother, Brian, who is on a mission. But everyone else came, and we had a great time!!!

We drove down to Chris and Lisa's house in Columbus, Georgia on Friday, October 16th (a 10 hr. drive). We spent the day with them on Saturday, went to their ward on Sunday, and then drove the remaining 6 hours to Orlando on Sunday afternoon. Everyone else flew in Sunday night . . . . . and our Disney fun-filled week could begin!

Day one of our 5 day park passes was spent at Magic Kingdom. I was most excited to go to this park, even though I have been to Disneyland so many times. There is just something about this place that I absolutely love. I love walking down Main Street right after entering the park, and immediately being bombarded by all that Disney magic, and knowing you have a full day of just total fun ahead of you with your family. It's the best. And seriously, I have never been able to walk down Main Street without getting a little teary eyed. I know, I'm a sap. Anyway, it was fun to see the small differences between this park and Disneyland. If you just compare park to park, I would have to say I like Disneyland a little better. The layout flows better at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom was missing a few rides like the Matterhorn and some of the kids rides that Disneyland has. But the Cinderella castle at Magic Kingdom was breathtaking.

Ok, enough writing. Let's get to some pictures. I think I look weird in this first picture, but it was our only family picture in front of the castle, so I'll post it anyway.
Here are all the grandkids (minus baby Matthew). They LOVED being together all week and had so much fun together. I love that my kids love their cousins so much. Mary bought them all these matching t-shirts.
Posing with Jasmine. I love how all the princesses and characters do such a great job at playing the part. They even try to match their voices as best they can! On the Jungle Cruise.
The Johnsons and Mike and David on Aladdin's magic carpet ride.

Leah said her favorite ride was the Peter Pan ride. Annie's was the little roller coaster in Toon Town. And they also both said they loved watching the parades. And ever since I was little, I've loved the classic ride, It's a Small World. And now I love watching my girls take it all in as well.

Leed's Farm

We loved Leed's Farm last year and were excited to go back again this year. Here are a few pictures from our adventure.

California

I'm finally posting some pictures of our trip to California. Saturday, September 5 - Monday, September 14. We didn't take a ton of pictures this time (crazy!), but here are a few to document the trip.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out in my parents' backyard, swimming and running through the sprinklers. Seriously, we could have just done this every day!

On Thursday night we got a babysitter for the 4 kiddos and went out for a night on the town! We went to PF Changs and then to Wicked in San Francisco. Dan and I saw it in May in NY, but I was still so excited to go see it again! No one else in my family had seen it, so it was fun taking them. It was a fun night.

And of course no trip to California is complete without a day at the beach! Leah was freaked of the sand at first (seriously, had it been that long since we've been to the beach?!), but was having a blast by the end of the day. This is at Santa Cruz.

This was also a business trip for us as well. We've been working on an opportunity in California that would be great for Dan, but it's still in the financial negotiations, and therefore, nothing is final. We'll let you know though as soon as we can!! Keep your fingers crossed for us!