Kaitlyn's Disney World Birthday

Kaitlyn had her birthday party the night after we went to the Animal Kingdom. At the park they gave her a button that said, "It's My Birthday!" All of the park employees and a few guests said happy birthday to her whenever they passed by. Kaitlyn took it off after a couple of hours because she got tired of everyone saying happy birthday. After we got home from the park, we had birthday cake with Kaitlyn and opened her presents. She said that it was her favorite day. Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!!

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom was our 2nd day at Disney World. It was also Kaitlyn's birthday, so we had a party afterwards. The Animal Kingdom was fun. It is how Disney does the zoo. They have an African safari ride that the girls did twice, lions, elephants, giraffes, etc. You actually ride in a safari truck and drive around the park. We saw lots of characters this day too, Pocohontas, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and a few others. Kaitlyn, like everyday on the trip, was the bravest roller coaster rider. She went on Everest four times. Everest is similar to Disney Lands Matterhorn, but faster and better. Ashley went once after a few tears, and Megan didn't even consider it. Britney wanted to go, but was too short. None of them wanted to go on the river raft ride and possibly get soaked. There are tons of shows at this park including A Bug's Life which is the most popular. Fun day for all of us.

Larry and Dave eating some roasted turkey legs.

Grandma Nancy and Megan enjoying the safari ride.

Tigger and the girls.

The parade at the Animal Kingdom.

Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT)

The first day of our Walt Disney World adventure began with a trip to EPCOT. We were nervous about the time change and we didn't want the kids to be tired and ornery all day so we started later than we should have. We got to EPCOT about an hour after the gates opened. Right of the bat, we saw two Disney characters, Stitch and Daisy, so we went over to them so the kids could get their autographs and pictures. Ashley and Megan were nervous about the rides in the park. Those two, all thought they are the oldest, are timid at best when it comes to the rides. They did go on Test Track, Adventure Space, Energy, Finding Nemo, and Soaring. Soaring was by far their favorite. Kaitlyn wasn't afraid about any ride we went on. Britney measures at just 40 inches which was required, but she didn't stand up tall when the ride attendants checked her, so she missed out on most of the rides.

We ate lunch and dinner in the World Showcase of EPCOT where Disney highlights different countries from around the world. We ate at Mexico for lunch (Montezuma's Revenge-free food) and we ate in Japan for dinner at a Benihana-type restaurant. EPCOT was especially crowded the day we went because they were having a Food and Wine festival in the World Showcase, so there were additional countries being highlighted that are not generally included in the World Showcase, like Ireland, Tahiti, Australia, and Korea to name a few.

During the week we went to all of the main Disney parks. On the 5th day of our trip we let the girls decide which park to revisit and they chose EPCOT again. The second time around, Britney was a pro at standing up straight and she was able to ride all of the rides she missed the first day.

Here we are riding Imagination with the character Figment.

We had the chance to see Captain EO in 3D that was big in the 1980s. Michael Jackson was Captain EO. The girls kept asking if MJ was a girl, I said, "Probably." I remember watching that show as a kid. EPCOT brought it back after that pedophile died, may he rest in peace!

Megan playing in the water fountain that shot streams and balls of water.

I had to help Britney at the fountains so she wouldn't fall in.

Daisy and the girls.

Stitch and the ladies.

Disney World Surprise!!!

Last Saturday we surprised our kids with a trip to the most magical place on Earth, no not David Hasselhoff's Baywatch Hall of Fame, Disney World!!! We had been planning the trip for over a year and kept it a secret from the kids until the morning we left to fly to Orlando. We took Tara's parents with us, which was great; 1:1 adult to kid ratio. It was perfect.

We had a pipe leak in our house a couple of weeks ago and we needed to get the wood floors redone. It was perfect timing because we needed to leave the house for a few days anyways because of the floors. Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Larry stayed the night with us Friday night and we surprised the girls the next morning. They didn't believe us at first and had to look in our suburban to see that the bags were packed. Here's the video:

North Star Carnival

As a 5th grade Senator for her school, Ashley helped plan the North Star carnival for the elementary aged kids. One of her responsibilities was to sit in the dunk tank above chilly water. She was dunked multiple times. She sure looks responsible in the other pics.

Taylor Swift with the Ladies

Well, we purchased the best seats available for the concert and they were still pretty much nose bleed seats, but we all had fun. Luckily, we bought the tickets months ago so I forgot how freaking spendy the tickets were. The girls enjoyed their first concert to see Taylor Swift. The next day, Kaitlyn kept saying, "I can't believe I met Taylor Swift." We had to tell her that she didn't meet her, just saw her. We left Britney with the babysitter. Kaitlyn was probably too little as well, but she was the most excited to go. In January, I'm taking the girls to the Anthrax and Megadeath concert; that should be a little change of pace from the Taylor Swift show.