What We've Been Up To

With all the Disney posts I haven't done much with keeping up with pictures and blogging on what else has been going on the month of October.  I can't believe the month is over!!  I think it may have been the quickest month ever.  The weather has been beautiful (until today) so we have been trying to spend as much time as possible outside.  It has been nice to just enjoy and make some memories.  I haven't taken many photos but here is a little but of what we have been up to.  

On a beautiful day Kate asked if we could go to the park as we were leaving school.  I quickly called to see if Paige could join us.  We met for some froyo and then went to the park.  I love impromptu fun! 

 We also had an impromptu picnic with my parents one day after Kate got out of school.  Did I mention the weather has been beautiful!

 Ben and Evan have enjoyed dressing up as ninjas and playing in the afternoons.  One day they held ninja school for the little ones.  The taught them classes in weapons, kung fu, fighting and meditation.  It was the cutest thing I think I have ever seen.

 We have been getting ready for Halloween.  Kate had several things to get dressed up for so she had multiple costumes ready to go!

 This week was "spirit week" at Ben's school.  Each day was a different theme.  Tuesday was hat day.  Matt made him an awesome balloon hat.

 Wednesday was silly sock day and it was also trick or treat day for Kate at school.

 Thursday was dress like what you want to be when you grow up.  Ben dressed as a scientist.  He was so cute!!

 And today was crazy hair day.  We tried to do a mohawk that didn't go to well but we got it crazy and added some fun color.

I guess that gets us all caught up.  Now moving into November...

Disney Day 9 - Magic Kingdom & Good Bye

Saturday morning we were up early for our last day at Disney.  Always a sad day when you have to leave Disney.  Thankfully we had one last fun morning planned.  We packed up and checked out of our hotel.  We had planned to have breakfast at the Crystal Palace early before the park opened up.  It was awesome because we got to walk down Main Street with almost no one else.  It makes for some amazing pictures!

 After all the pictures we headed over for our breakfast.

 It was nice to have a relaxing breakfast to end the trip.  The food was good breakfast buffet food.

 The kids enjoyed getting to meet all of the Pooh characters.

 We finished up breakfast a little after the park opened.  We had told the kids they could pick whatever they wanted to do during the morning.  We rode Peter Pan with Fastpasses and then headed over to take one last ride on the Barnstormer and Dumbo.

 Ben wanted to play some Sorcerers.  He did a great job all week of defeating the villains and obtaining gold level.

 We got to take another couple of rides on the Mine Train with fastpasses.  The second time Ben actually put his hands up.  Proud of him for conquering his fears and actually enjoying some of the thrill rides during the week.  

 One last ride on Small World.  I have had my fill of Small World for quite a while!

 Kate and I did some more shopping.  We got some Christmas ornaments and she got some princess Mickey ears.

 We headed over to Tomorrowland to take a ride on the People Mover and play a last round on Buzz.

 We needed to use up a few more food credits so we grabbed lunch at Pinocchio Village Has.  It was fun to eat overlooking the Small World ride.  

 It was then time to head out.  You can tell by everyone's face that no one was excited about leaving.

Well, that is it!  It truly was an amazingly magical trip.  We loved every minute of it.  Yes it was hot at times and the crowds were pretty crazy and we were tired BUT it was still wonderful.  We are so thankful for the opportunity to get to go spend such a fun time with family and friends.

16 months ago when my dad was diagnosed with cancer one of my first thoughts was "he won't get to go to Disney World with my kids."  Not sure why that was so hard for me but it was.  Well, little did we know what amazing things God was going to orchestrate to allow us to have a trip of a lifetime.  I am so thankful for the time we got to spend having fun together!

Disney Day 8 - Magic Kingdom

After such a late night on Thursday, we took it slower on Friday.  We slept in a little and didn't try to make it for rope drop.  We did get to Magic Kingdom around 10:00 am which was early enough to get some great things done.  Friday we had a couple of really special things planned but overall it was low key day.  We were trying to get a few last things done.  We let the kids pick what they wanted to do.  Kate really wanted to visit with Merida so we headed to her meet first.  She was so pretty!!  Kate really enjoyed meeting her and doing a little archery.  

 We rode some ride in Fantasyland including the tea cups and Goofy's barnstormer (for the 10th time - it was the kids favorite).

 I had heard the the meet with Gaston was a lot of fun.  It was awesome!!!  He was hilarious.  Ben asked him what he does to keep his hair looking so good.  Gaston loved that.  He also gave Kate advice on making sure she took good care of her brother - cooking and cleaning for him.

 We had to get some more LeFew's Brew.  It was really good.  It is apple flavored and even Matt liked it!

 We then headed over to Adventureland to use our fastpasses for Big Thunder and Splash Mountain.  Splash Mountain is one of my favorite rides in all of Disney.  It tells such a great story.  The kids were so nervous to ride it and as you can tell by the picture they hid during the drop.  They both ended up loving it!  Kate did say she is going to wear her bathing suit next time she rides it.

 We made a quick stop to meet Jessie and Woody.  Ben had a good time looking for the snake in Woody's boot.

 We got a quick lunch at Pecos Bills and headed over for our big meet and greet.  We were lucky enough to score fastpasses to meet Elsa and Anna!!!  It was one of the things we had all be looking forward to all week.  The wait was at 105 minutes when we got in the fastpass line.  Crazy!!

 We met up with the rest of the family (who had been at various places in the morning) to meet the princesses.

 Kate was so excited!!!  And truth be told Ben was excited too!  Kate had on her Elsa shirt along with her Anna braids.

 Their personalities came through so much in the greet.  Elsa was very reserved and Anna was so crazy, happy.  It was so much fun.  It was a great meet.  Not rushed at all.  The kids got lots of time to chat with them.

 After meeting the royalty, we split up.  The big guys went to explore and play some Sorcerers while the girls (and Perry) did a little shopping and went to the afternoon parade.

 I am not a huge parade person but I had heard that the new afternoon parade was really good.  We staked out a great spot right on the curb on Main Street for the parade.  Kate and Perry had fun coloring while we waited.

 The parade was really good and we had a perfect spot.

 Kate loved seeing all the characters and waving to them.  I think she waved for the entire parade.

 The parade was awesome!!  Well worth checking out.

 The boys went to the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse and I am sure they did some other fun things!

 We took another ride on It's a Small World before dinner.

 Then it was off to an awesome dinner.  We were so excited to get a reservation for all 9 of us at Be Our Guest restaurant inside of Beast's castle.  It is so hard to get reservations!

 It is such an amazing experience.  From the moment you walk up when you get to carry in Lumiere to the table.

 Everything is perfectly themed.  It really feels like you are inside of the Beast's castle.

 We got seated in the West Wing which was awesome!!!!  They normally don't put little kids in there but we got lucky.  We got to see the enchanted rose as it lost its petals.

 And the amazing photo of the prince/beast.  The room had lightening and thunder which added to the ambiance.

 The food was great and we had such a great dinner.  It was fun to go around the table and discuss the best parts of our trip.  It was sad to think of the trip coming to a close but it was a great way to end it up.

 The kids enjoyed some gray stuff for dessert!

 We got to meet the Beast after dinner in his study.

 It was another Halloween party night so we had to leave by 7:00 but we wanted to take advantage of every minute so we headed over to the Jungle Cruise for a ride after dinner.

 On the way out I grabbed an awesome ice cream sandwich cookie thing I had heard about.  It was amazing and only one snack credit!

We called it an early evening and headed back to our hotel.  We had to get packed up to leave early in the morning but we did have a little more Disney fun to be had in the morning!