Magic Kingdom with the Crew

I had a little different approach to taking photos this time around at Disney World. I decided I wanted to document here and there but not come home with 100's of photos to have to go through and post. So, we have a slimmed down version and lots left to our memories...probably not the best appoach but nothing I can do now except share what I do have.

Once everyone arrived to the hotel, we headed to the closest restaurant to have dinner. It was an outside-by-the-pool kind of place so it was perfect for the kiddos to run around. We had a 7 month old (Dominic), 11 month old (Logan), 2 year old (Marcus), almost 3 year old (Axel) and a 6 year old (Lucas)...all cousins, ALL BOYS!

Here's Logan and Aunt Kate.

The next morning we headed to Magic Kingdom to hit Buzz Light Year, Space Mt and a few other favorites like the Speedway. Here Axel takes the wheel and gives his mom a look into the not-so-far-off future.

It was crowded being the week before Christmas but we mastered the Fast Past routine and spent time together in line for rides we felt the wait were worth it. Here is Aunt Christina, Marcus & Grandpa A waiting for the Orbit Ride.

Grandma A, Logan and Kate too.

Daddy & Grandpa go to snuggle on this ride! It gave us all a good laugh. I'm sure Uncle Bill loved snuggling with his awesome sister-in-law... me! :)

We had to do the Carosel.

Grandma A treated all the grand kids with Disney Mickey Mouse lollipops. It was a first for Dominc and boy did he love every last drop of it.

Logan was delighted.

Axel the old pro knew just what to do.

Marcus gave me the usual "who are you anyway? " look.

Lucas ran away with Grandpa A to go do Splash Mt again. He is tall enough for all the fun rides and he loves the big ones. Thunder Mt and Splash Mt still his favorites at this park.

Dominic was A MESS! However, he was a cute mess and stopped people everywhere we went with his sticky face...shirt...arms and Aunt Janelle. It was adorable and he was just so happy. I'm sure about 80% of the lollipop rolled down to his elbow and ended up on me and his shirt. Too cute!

I think he is wondering if really is okay to be eating such a delicious treat?!

Another trip with Grandma A.

We maximized the day running all over the park from ride to ride and taking a little rest during the parades or when someone needed a snack.

Lucas got his own special treat at the Main Street Bakery (A MUST IF YOU GO THERE). Of course, he picked out the big huge cupcake with a tower of frosting! We were happy to find out that the tower was actually an upside down ice cream cone. Axel missed out catching some Z's in the stroller. Sorry Axel!

We stayed for the Electric Parade and everyone loved it except Dominic. He caught a bug we later found out but at the time we thought he was having a huge bellyache from the lolly.

They waved and waved. Parades became one of the highlights and something not to be missed with these boys.

Main Street was CRAZY but so beautiful with all the lights. We even enjoyed some Hollywood snowfall and Lucas was so happy to see the stuff fall from the sky. It was foam but it sure looked real.

Before the firework show, they did a cool light show on the castle. The end result was this which I love!

It was time to head home and get rested for Animal Kingdom!

SeaWorld

Our first stop was the Dolphin Nursery where the morning feeding was taking place. I think I could have stayed here all day and watched these amazing creatures. They love to perform and just seem so happy especially when the crowd cheers. The boys were pretty impressed too.

I loved SeaWorld growing up and have vivid memories of getting drenched by Shamu and falling in love with all the sea animails & creatures. Dolphins are my favorite for sure but it's also very impressive to watch a huge killer whale jump completely out of the water and splash the crowd.

We warned the boys that depending on where you are sitting, YOU WILL GET WET! Lucas was willing to test our our claim and Axel, well, he just blindly follows Lucas. It didn't take long to figure out that sitting up front gives you a great view but people in the stadium were getting wet! Axel quickly retreated back to higher ground with Mommy & Daddy.

Lucas decided to be brave and stick it out to see if we were telling the truth or not.

Lucas got his moneys worth and was in complete shock. I don't think he truly believed that he would get wet especially after staying dry for almost the entire show! He also learned about the effects of salt water in your eyes. He was not impressed but we reasurred him that he was very brave and we were proud!

After some drying off, we headed to the kid area. Axel spotted a cool train so he went all by himself. SO BIG!

The next show was the Dolpin Show. This was our favorite for sure. They included dolphins, whales, divers, acrobatics and dancers. I didn't take a lot of photos but I got some of the highlights captured.

We even had time for a few rides before going to the hotel to meet up with the family.

Daddy gets to do the spinny rides with the boys so Mommy doesn't get sick. :)

We were all warmed up and ready for Magic Kingdom the next day!

Christmas Travels

We had big plans on heading to Orlando to celebrate the Holiday Season with Mike's side of the family for the week leading up to Christmas. A trip to Disney World would not be complete without squeezing in one more day of climbing! So, we headed north to Little River Canyon near Fort Payne, AL to spend at day at the crag.

It was a cold morning so we did a little sight seeing to let things warm up a bit.
While climbing with a friend a few days earlier, Daddy found another 5.13d that showed potential for giving away to an end-of-the-season-send. This would be the cherry on top of an already very successful season. The weather prediction was cold and perfect for Daddy to give it a few more tries.

It's very horizontal climbing and while I belayed him I looked straight out not having to bend my neck back to look up.

Here it is, the camera really gives it no justice! Crazy formation...
You can barely see Mike in this photo but it helps to shows the scale and how far back the cave goes compared to the top of the nose.Looking up at the nose.
He tried once. He rested. He tried again. He rested. So close but not quite to the top. So, he rested some more.

On his third attempt, he climbed past his previous high point and found a rest. It didn't look restful to me but he made it work. A few more moves...shaking legs, up and back down and up again all mixed in with desperate little shakes trying to find a millisecond of rest. I was certain he would pop off at any moment.

Don't get me wrong, I have full confidence in his strength, mental and physical abilities but they flew out the window as I watched him flail, frantically try to slow his heart rate, find the next move all the while holding on for dear life.

What happened next?! His body calmed down, he took in deep breaths and let me know he was moving up and going for the anchors. By this point, I could not see him but then I heard the celebration cheer as he clipped the anchors! WHOOT! He did it! It wasn't pretty but it was the hardest I've ever seen him try and he succeeded!

He was so happy and SOOOOO PUMPED!!!
The boys were ecstatic, for they new chocolate cake and Sea World were in their near future!
It was now time to head to Orlando!!

Happy New Year!

We are back!
I can't believe it's been almost one month since my last blog post. Sorry to all of you daily and weekly followers. We have been traveling, celebrating the holidays and working on our computers to include cleaning out files and organizing. What a task! All that put together meant little to no computer time. It was a good break but now I'm facing the task of documenting all our highlights.

I will start back with getting our Christmas tree and work my way through. Enjoy!

It was a little different getting a Christmas tree here in Florida. No snow, no hot chocolate, no sledding and no snowball fights. We drove down the road to the local tree tent in our short sleeve shirts, threw some sand, picked out the perfect tree and headed home to decorate it. After a little fight about not getting the biggest tree (and most expensive) we settled on a cute little one. We decided to save some money for Disney World! :)
We did watch the movie Elf while we got into the Christmas spirit. Lucas was not amused by all the steps required before putting on ornaments. You know, the tree stand, the trimming and then the lights! Eventually, it was his turn to decorate. The boys sang and were happy as clams making our tree special for Christmas time.Mommy having fun with the camera.It was time for the presents, I had a little helper!