a christmas card to you, blog-style...

merry christmas from our family to yours! maybe one of these years, i will send out a family picture through the actual mail... it's just one of those things that i have never done. i love receiving all of your beautiful families' cards, and they are proudly displayed on a photo collage board in our kitchen, but i just haven't ever mailed them out from our family... ok, that sounded really selfish... so i will try my best to be on the ball next year!! anyway, here is our 2007 family christmas picture. these were taken after church while our biscuits were baking. :) we set up the tripod, and for every picture, i hit the button on the camera, picked up a child, and ran to sit in place all within 10 seconds. whew! so in some of the pictures that didn't make the cut, i look a little windblown. :) ha! but we love the self-timer b/c our kids are enamored by the blinking light... so it didn't take too many until we were happy with one. plus gerber's puffs (or "stars" as they're called at our house) are enough motivation for our kids to smile!! you can see one picture of daddy dishing out the goodies in between shots. i attempted to take some pictures of the kids afterwards, but it quickly became obvious that the kids were ready for lunch!!




the picture below was a close runner-up to the one i chose. ;) is that the epitome of taking christmas pictures of your children or what!??!?


here is ethan talking to nana & pappy while brian was setting up the tripod. this is the first time that he has had the phone all to himself (vs. us holding the phone, prompting ethan and translating to the listener). we got so tickled at him propping up against the wall and just shooting the breeze with nana on the phone... he was tapping his fingers, too! brian already had the camera on the tripod, so i was happy enough with this shot from behind. below that picture is caroline with the only ornament she has taken off the tree thus far! i have been very proud with how she has treated the tree. and in her defense, that ornament was very low and was just begging to be grabbed... plus, everybody knows that peppermints go in your mouth, right!??! :)



i'm also including the family picture we took with brian's side of the family. the guys did not plan their wardrobe, so you can imagine the laughs when they all three showed up in the same shirt & red tie! we took some family pictures at church as well, but they weren't all that great. but tammy did get a precious shot of caroline... oh, i could just eat her with those curls! and you can see that nana & pappy tried to get a portrait with the grandkids, but they were done cooperating! i was tempted to email this picture to brian's parents and write, "ok, we're going to disney with jeff & kristie this weekend! have fun with the kids!" haha...




so there ya have it, our family pictures this year. thank you to those of you who were so thoughtful to send your family's picture our way. have a very merry christmas, and i've got more pictures coming up soon...

disney day 2: a world of adventure

epcot was full of international activities for us to enjoy, as well as the technology stuff that my husband loves so much! as a child, i remember loving all of the hands-on discovery activities that epcot had to offer, so i did not surprise myself by saying, "ethan will love this in a few years!" a couple of hundred times in a day. (well, i actually said that throughout our whole trip!)
here is my favorite picture from epcot... this was actually taken by a disney photopass photographer, but my smart husband figured out how to take the picture off their website instead of paying OVER $100 for a cd of pictures (and he assured me it was not illegal to do so!). please also fully appreciate the picture in the top left corner. brian laid down on the ground to capture this shot of the epcot geodesic dome. :) yes people stared at him! :)


anyway, innovations was as neat as i remember it, though they have added the segway exhibit to this attraction. we were so surprised to be able to ride a segway! this was one of the highlights of the trip for brian... i also had fun learning how to ride this very smart invention, though i had a little trouble balancing it to stop (the lady kept telling me, "relax! relax!" which sort of made me do the opposite! haha!) you can see us riding the segway below... gosh, we will probably look back on this in 15 years and wonder what we ever did without those things! (and our kids will say, "YOU didn't have a SEGWAY when you were little?!" i guess that's asking my mom how she ever functioned without the internet!)



the one disappointment that i had with innovations was that there were over 20 video game stations set up with (shocker) disney video games. i would not want to pay for my child to come to disney world and play VIDEO GAMES! i was especially amazed that this was in what i consider to be the "learning hub" of disney. it was nothing more than a sad, sad marketing scheme. alright, let's move on.

epcot has added some new rides since my last visit 10 years ago. there's mission space (we rode the calmer one) and test track, both of which were interesting but not the thrilling ride that i expected. brian thought they were really great, but everest was a hard act to follow! mission space is a simulation of going into (you guessed it... space!), and in test track, you ride through a vehicle's quality inspection. now the one that i wanted to ride again and again is soarin'... it's a simulated hang-gliding ride over california.... complete with the feeling of wind on your toes (gotta love wearing flip flops to disney!) and smells as we "flew" over orange groves and pine forests. this surely is a neat ride as long as you aren't afraid of heights. here is a shot of us in our test track car... we were bracing ourselves for the "speed test" that goes outside... brian didn't tell me that my hair was about to get really really messed up! (imagine yourself in a convertible on the interstate...) this picture is also courtesy of photopass.


one of our favorite additions to epcot is the finding nemo area. it actually is a renovation of what used to be "the living seas", and oh is it cute. the little ride is ok, really just a bunch of clips from the movie... but the show "turtle talk with crush" is absolutely hilarious. through technology that i don't fully understand, crush interacts with the audience, and he is as funny as he is in finding nemo. one little girl asked crush what he liked to eat, and after he answered, he asked her what her favorite food was in return. without missing a beat, she replied, "fish." crush froze and shifted his eyes back and forth. he then swam over to the microphone and called out, "security!" we all laughed for a very long time... i truly didn't want this little 15 minute show to be over! here are a couple of pictures from the finding nemo attraction. they have a big aquarium, as well as several rooms of exploration and facts, like the shark room where i climbed in the big "bruce" that you see below! we didn't take the time to search out every inch of this exhibit, so i look forward to returning to this one on our next visit.





in addition to "future world", epcot's world showcase is a beautiful sight that circles around a lagoon. there are eleven countries to visit, each full of culture and delicious food! we began our world tour with a delicious mexican lunch, and while we didn't visit every single country, we loved walking through the showcase. i highly recommend skipping the boat ride in norway. it is a complete waste of your time! the mexican boat ride is pretty entertaining, though. i would have to say that my favorite visit was to france because of the cute little patisserie that is hidden behind the fancy restaurant. ahh, the chocolate cake. on our second visit to this bakery, we decided to soak in the culture, and we ordered creme brulee and pralinerige (i am butchering the spelling of that last one, but google was no help...it was basically tiramisu). yuuuuuum, yum, yum! we also ordered hot chocolate, but instead of drinking it, i warmed my hands with it! it was a cold night, and my long-sleeved shirt was at the condo (another story...). on that chilly night, we decided to get fish & chips for dinner (a favorite from my visit to scotland in college)... as we were waiting in line, i told brian, "if we were in scotland, it would be FUSH and CHUPS!" no more than 10 seconds later, i hear a family right behind us talking (in authentic scottish accents) about how they wanted fush and chups. if brian didn't believe me before, he had to then! i just had to laugh at myself. below, you see epcot's france on a chilly evening, as well as brian donning a sombrero in mexico!



speaking of christmas, we were so blessed by the candlelight processional at the american gardens theater. if you are ever at disney during the christmas season, i urge you to take time to be a part of this beautiful event. in addition to the beautiful christmas carols presented by the mass choir and orchestra, there is a narrator who reads the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible in snippets throughout the concert. dennis franz was the narrator on the night that we were there, and afterwards, he gave a beautiful speech about Jesus Christ and the impact that One Man has had on all of humanity. it was truly a blessing. there was also an interpreter for the deaf whose entire being flowed with the music! i watched her through the whole program because she added so much to the show. i am hoping to post a video from this concert on here at a later time.



i should tell you this about the processional... if you research it online, you will read that the line to be seated is usually hours long and that the best way to "get a seat" is to pay at least double for dinner at an epcot restaurant to have a ticket to this processional. there is truth in the long wait for a seat. when we came near the theater long before the show was beginning, i could see people wrapped around both sides. instead of standing in line for hours, we arrived right when the show started. we stood at the back of the ampitheater and enjoyed the first few minutes of the show. when the lines were down and everyone was seated, we were still able to get a very good seat without the useless wait. and with our $6.99 japanese dinner! :) even a two hour wait would have been worth seeing this show, though!

i will end this post with the ending of a night at epcot... illuminations fireworks. these are done across the whole lagoon, and they are pretty spectacular! can you see the silhouette of the little girl on her daddy's shoulders? she had a great view!



i was hoping to share all our disney memories before moving on to any posts about christmas at our house... but since there are only 4 days left till christmas, and i have 2 disney posts left, as well as several christmas stories and pictures i would love to share... i am going to save the mgm and magic kingdom posts until after the hustle and bustle of christmas is over. it kind of extends our vacation a little too. :)

i hope that you all have a wonderful pre-christmas weekend! stay tuned for festive christmas pictures! eventually! :)

disney day 1: it's a jungle out there!

we spent the first half of both our first & last days at disney at the animal kingdom. by far, our favorite part of all of our disney trip was riding expedition everest, a new roller coaster that you see behind us in this picture. we rode it twice, and it was even more thrilling the second time around! riding backwards down the mountain at a crazy fast speed will definitely get your heart racing!!! and thanks to the brilliant invention of the fast pass, our wait for this 80-minute wait ride was only about 10 minutes. but it would have been worth an 80 minute wait! obviously, the picture below is not of us actually riding everest, but i get excited just thinking about zooming down that slope! :)


we enjoyed a delicious bbq lunch with this huge himalayan peak as our scenery.. don't worry-- we ate bbq AFTER we rode the roller coaster!


animal kingdom is creatively themed for different parts of the world, like africa and asia. there's also a "dinosaur" section that we figured we'd spend enough time at when the kids are with us next time, so we spent most of our time in the other areas. there are music and activities that go along with the themes, and we had so much fun soaking in the "culture". in africa, we saw beautiful animals on the kilamanjaro safari. we ended up on a bus row by ourselves, which allowed us to really get a good look at the animals! brian was hoping to see some lions, but they must've been over at mgm for lion king: the musical. :) we did find a group of giraffes that moseyed with us for a little while, and we also saw zebras, antelope, elephants, and some other animals that i've already forgotten about. you should've seen us passing the camera back and forth to capture pictures on both sides of the bus... unfortunately it was a quick and bumpy ride, so most of the pictures ended up pretty blurry! here is one picture of a tour bus and our giraffe friend....


the "tree of life" stands tall in the middle of the animal kingdom park. it is home to what seems to be hundreds of carved animals on its trunk... every time i thought i'd found the last one, brian pointed out a new carving! such a neat piece of artwork! at the base of the (fake) tree is a cute 3-d show, it's tough to be a bug. this is based on the bug's life movie, and boy was it cute! below you'll see a couple of the carvings on the tree, as well as us in front of the whole tree. it's huge! click on the first picture and see how many animals you can find!




these last two pictures just give you an idea of the theme of animal kingdom. this concession stand is an asian "tea company", and the village beatniks were a fun band that brian really enjoyed. the zendrum sounded really neat, and i'm sure brian told me more about it, but i was too distracted by the fun all around us to remember any details. :)



we did not visit every nook & cranny of this park because like i said before, we figured that ethan & caroline will want to see every animal and do every little thing on our next visit... so my pictures probably do not give a fair representation of what there is to do at the animal kingdom! we enjoyed the few attractions that we visited there, and even if you just park hop to ride everest, it is well worth the effort!

next stop on the disney blog train.... epcot!

welcome to disney world!

now seeing this sign after hours of driving is enough to get your blood pumping!!! despite the "no stopping" signs on the side of the road, i begged brian to stop and get a picture of the very exciting welcome! we arrived about 9:30, checked in, and headed right back out the door to explore downtown disney. we stayed way too late, but hey, there were no kids to put to bed! no, we did not go club-hopping at pleasure island... we actually spent most of our time in the toy stores, already thinking about what to bring back for our kids that we'd just said goodbye to 8 hours earlier! we also discovered ghiradelli hot chocolate that night... and i don't know if i can ever drink any other hot chocolate again. we had so much fun that night, walking hand in hand with the christmas decorations and disney atmosphere already surrounding us! and we hadn't even stepped into a park yet.

ok, enough chit chat! on with the show! first stop... animal kingdom!

we're home! and no, we did not stay this long at disney....

we're back from disney! can you tell that this little boy is excited to see his mom & dad?! :) we have been home since last wednesday, and yes, i was hoping to have already shared pictures by now. but ethan & caroline have really been wanting mommy & daddy time since we got back... and that's not something that i can (or want to) put off after being away from them for 5 days! i figured that it would take us a little while to get back into some semblance of a routine again, and i was right about that. so here we are, less than 2 weeks before christmas, back to "normal"! just in time for things to get nuts again! :) ha! but our tree is up, i finally found the kids' ornaments for this year, my shopping is pretty much finished, and ethan knows 3 christmas songs and can identify most of the people in our nativity scene. whew! so i'm feeling pretty caught up with christmas right now. (and as soon i post this, our tree will come crashing down or something....)

we had a wonderful, wonderful trip. i came down with a frustrating cold and other un-fun ailments just before our trip, but i am thankful that everything was pretty short-lived (thanks to emergen-c, echinacea tea, and zicam nasal swabs). the weather was so nice, and though the parks were more crowded than i expected this time of year, we had no wait on most rides with the longest wait being about 15 minutes. everything was decorated for christmas, and it was just all so beautiful. we enjoyed having 4 whole days to enjoy the parks, but by the last day, we were both ready to come home to see the kids.

the grandparents survived their little taste of toddler world, though my mom did comment that she now truly understands why younger people have children!! ha. i know the kids had so much fun with their grandparents. ethan won a "bible award" at the sunday night kids' program at my mom's church, he got to be in a christmas parade with nana & pappy, and they both had a fun day trip to see brian's grandparents, aunts, and uncles one day. see, they hardly had time to miss us! :)

i am planning on sharing allllll our disney pictures soon. i think i will make a different post for each park that we visited. i'll try to pare down the pictures to something reasonable, especially since a lot of them are me & brian in front of something! that can get old fast for you all, i'm sure. so check back with me soon for some disney lovin...