Disney Day 3

Our 3rd day took a slower pace at Animal Kingdom. We went on a great safari and saw elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhino, monkey, ostrich, etc. Both kids love that. We met lots of characters, loved the Bug's Life show, had fun at Rainforest Cafe for lunch, back for naps, and a lazy day of swimming, playing, and pizza delivery :-)

Disney Day 2

Our second day started with an early breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table inside the castle! So, Savannah was able to finally get inside that castle (without busting in with Daddy). She met Cinderella immediately and thought that was it. But during breakfast, she also got the chance to meet Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Ariel. Gage LOVED Ariel and amused himself by stabbing his breakfast with a sword. Savannah got a wishing star and princess wand, and the princesses did a wishing ceremony. She wished for a teddy bear, and later told us that she wanted a "pink bear who smells like strawberries" (Lots-a-Bear from Toy Story 3). Daddy made some magic happen and when we got back to our hotel that night, the exact bear she wanted (and yes, he smells like strawberries) was under the blanket on her bed!  We did another full day of rides, naps, swimming, parades and fireworks, and crashed asleep happily with the new bear (and kitties, of course).

Disney Day 1

We walked inside the at Magic Kingdom and there was a parade with Mickey and the gang, the Incredibles, the Toy Story gang, and a bunch of others. We made a bee-line for Cinderella's castle, and Savannah was upset that it was "closed". She told us that "tomorrow, Daddy and I are going to bust into that castle". We went on lots of rides (Dumbo, Pooh, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Teacups, Speedway, Peter Pan's Flight, etc.). Gage zonked out for a nap shortly after arriving there. We took a break for naps and went back to catch the Electric Parade. We decided to take the boat back to our hotel and the fireworks started, so we watched those as we crossed the lagoon. Great 1st day!

Dreaming of a white Christmas...

We started the day with rain on Christmas, but by afternoon it had turned to big, fluffy snowflakes. We ended up with about three inches of snow!  What a beautiful surprise...

Merry Christmas!

One the morning of Christmas Eve, Santa put one present under the tree for each of the kids and Gage opened his when he woke at the crack of dawn. Savannah woke up later, came into the kitchen pouting and said "Santa only brought us ONE present".  Poor thing was so disappointed. But, we explained that it wasn't Christmas, but Santa left one present for a special surprise this morning.  Christmas morning she woke up, took a look under the tree, realized that she had hit the jackpot and ran around screaming for everyone to get out of bed and LOOK!  Although it was nice to be home at Christmas, we all missed our families....  Savannah's favorite was a big Belle princess castle and Gage's favorite is a tie between a little t-ball baseball toy, tools, and a pound-a-peg. As I post this, he is pounding Smidge's paw with a plastic hammer :-)

Counting the days to Christmas!

Our trees are up. The one upstairs has no ornaments on the bottom two feet. The one downstairs only has ornaments on the bottom 3 feet (that is Savannah's tree). Smidge is going crazy in the tree. Last year's gingerbread house decorating ended in a temper tantrum and candy being thrown across the kitchen with Grammy. This year's gingerbread decorating went muuuchhh smoother, thankfully!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Lifting weights and sitting amidst boxes of beer...could these children possibly belong to Adam?

Sweet home Alabama??

We had a chance to do some nice things while in 'bama...like the children's museum (where Gage would NOT leave the little farm truck that had a gear shift and a real old radio in the dashboard to play with), Dreamland BBQ for ribs (which Gage LOVED while Savannah ate only white bread) and a neighborhood Christmas stroll. Santa brought  the kids presents (how did he KNOW we were going to be there??) during the stroll and we had a chance to take a horse and carriage ride while we sang Christmas carols. Brrrrr....