Disney: Day 3

This was our luckiest day for randomly running into Disney characters thus far! Our first ride of the day and Mark spotted Annie's favorite princess! Jasmine and Aladdin were off to the side of the ride, very easy to miss and only a 5 minute wait! Annie was star struck!

Chip and Dale have soft spots in the Flory hearts. not sure why we all like these guys so much but we were all excited to get this picture! By the way, Dale writes his "e" backwards! ha!

Who knew we would also bump into Wendy and Peter Pan!

Look at the kids hooks! We gave Captain hook a tip as to where Peter Pan was hiding...no sign of Tinkerbell though! The kids LOVED the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, we went twice in a row!

Disney: Day 2

Our morning started with our first character breakfast! It was awesome! Jojo's circus and friends from Little Einstein were there. The kids really enjoyed this and liked taking pictures with them/getting their autographs. Every meal in life should include fun characters with singing and dancing!

We let the kids each pick out their own hat. Sam picked out this cute Tigger hat- the tail is so cute! Everyone who sees him in smiles!

We came back to the hotel for naps after a couple hours at Hollywood Studios. Afterwards we went to Epcot for dinner. We only stayed here for a little bit and Mark and I really want to go back to enjoy the food. We let the kids stay up late this night to watch the fireworks.

Mark was enjoying his Moroccan food and paused to take a picture with me!

After this picture there was a Moroccan band playing across the way with a gypsy like dancer (remember Esmeralda?) The kids really enjoyed this show (as did Mark of course!)

Disney: Day 1

The bus ride from the airport to the hotel was only a 20 minute wait, I was expecting worse! The kids were very mellow in the 30 minute ride from Orlando to Disney which was good since we were planning on going to Magic Kingdom that night. When we arrived in our Finding Nemo room (see Dory on the comforter?)I gave the kids a gift- their autograph books!
Cinderella's Castle is beautiful at night!

Mark claims he gets sick on the tea cup ride so I bravely went with Annie and Sam. We had a lot of fun spinning around, how could this ride make anyone ill? We didn't have to wait any more than 15-20 minutes for a ride which was awesome!

How could you walk past cute Dumbo and not want to go for a ride? Just so cute!

A Disney Surprise!

After months of planning our trip to Disney I am pleased to say it was a HUGE surprise for the kids. We woke them up at 6:45 am on Saturday so they would be ready by the time the limo driver came. Sam didn't think twice about the routine, but Annie immediately said "it's Saturday, why are you waking me up so early?" I told her a little fib that I was working that day and wanted to see her and Sam before I left.The limo driver was in a full suit and driver's hat when he rang the doorbell. He asked for both Annie and Sam and they just sat there in silence (he had an accent and was probably difficult for the kids to understand). He told the kids he was there to take them to Disney. Sam jumped up and was very excited. Annie hid behind Mark's legs because she thought she was going with the limo driver and not us. Too funny. They loved the limo ride to the airport. If I could sum up Sam's reaction to the surprise news it would be excited and inpatient. Annie: stunned silence

While Mark checked in our luggage the kids had fun walking around the airport with the carry-on and stroller. Of course Sam kept saying "Is it time to get on our plane yet?" How do you explain 2 hour wait to a 4 year old? This week Sam will learn a lot about patience and waiting!

Mark and I were brave and did not pack the DVD player. I figured a 2.5 hour trip wasn't that long and Mark had brought them new activity books to do on the plane. I sat with the kids and Mark sat across the aisle. We had snacks on the plane, colored, listened to music. They were not perfect, but were better than I expected. On the way home Sam will be near the window, I can bet you he won't forget it's his turn!

The airplane has three seats on each side of the aisle. I sat with the kids, Mark sat across from us. What is he reading anyway?

Cutest face ever!

Annie lost her second front top tooth this week. We were rough housing before bed and she was bumped. She stood up happy and surprised- and the tooth was on the floor. Mark and I cannot stop smiling everytime we see this big-kid, cute, adorable smile on our Annie!
Sorry this second image is on the wrong angle. But I ask you this qeustion: why can't my smart husband put his shoes away? The shoe rack is literally 24 inches from this pile. Come on! Help the wife out a litte, will ya?!
On a positive note, we are leaving for Disney in 4 days!!!!!!!!!

I knew it wouldn't be long!

Mark was such a good daddy this weekend as he helped Sam learn to ride his bike without training wheels. All the other kids had learned in the spring, but Sam kept saying he would wait until he was 5. Well, his neighbor, Andy, is 6 months younger and learned to ride without training wheels before him, so recently Sam has been mentioning it more.
He starts off at the top of Andy's driveway (he won't try any other driveway) to gain momentum, and then he starts pedaling. And then he keeps going and going!

I am very proud of Sam, but even better is seeing how proud Sam is of himself.

I scream, you scream!

Ah, my favorite sound of summer- the ice cream man heading to our house. Mark is amazed that I can hear him miles away. The Entertainer never sounds as good unless it's playing over the loud speaker of this magic white truck. Whoever came up with the idea of ice cream being delivered right to your house should be given the Noble Peace prize. Here the kids are jumping up in down in pure joy as he head towards them.

Once Cotton Candy Ice Cream bar,
$1.00

One Nutty Sundae Cone,
$1.75.

The cost of enjoying one of the last days of summer:

priceless!

Tooth #4!

Annie has had a very, very wiggly tooth for the past week or so on the top. Every day I say 'hasn't that fallen out yet?' Well at the most unexpected time, eating soft warm pancakes for dinner, Annie stops chewing to pull something out of her mouth- the tooth!
I can still remember when that tooth came in and I thought it looked so large on my 10 month old's face. Now I am a little nervous as how big the permanent tooth will be since Mark and I have large teeth. So here is her beautiful 6 year old smile. I LOVE IT! So cute. I asked her to say " I think thoughts on Thursdays" and she couldn't do it without laughing! Too funny!

It was such a nice day out today that Sam and I had made all the neighbor kids water balloons for after school then they all wanted to play in the sprinkler. You wouldn't know it from this picture, but it's September!!