Disney 2013

 We just got back from a fabulous two week trip to Disney World.  WE LOVED EVERY MINUTE.  I have a million things I should be doing besides blogging about this trip but I want to get down the basics before I forget so I have my facts straight for memory-book-making.  Here's our day by day breakdown of the highlights

Monday March 25- arrive late at night, go to bed

Tuesday March 26

- Magic Kingdom- left Orange Lake resort at 7:15 for Magic Kingdom.  Rode Peter Pan and Little Mermaid, Had our Princess Breakfast in Cinderella's Castle, Rode Carousel and Space Mountain. -Had a rest at resort- Went back to the park in the evening- Dumbo, Gaston's, Main Street Electrical Parade,

 

Wednesday March 27

- Epcot- We had a more relaxed late start, Rode Nemo, played Agent P, did Mission Space, Soarin, Had a rest, Evening: Mexican dinner by the lake, Mexican ride

Thursday March 28

- Scott arrived! Animal Kingdom: Safari, Everest, Kali River, First swim of the trip, Went back to the park at night and rode Kali River Rapids till the park closed, got free soft pretzels!

Friday March 29

  - went to the T Rex Cafe for lunch, Swim and beach, boys went to Orlando Magic Basketball game

Saturday March 30

-Magic Kingdom: Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Barnstormer, Dumbo, Gaston's for the famous cinnamon rolls, Small World, Giordano's pizza, Pool Time, Back for Buzz Lightyear, People mover (one of Emmitts favorites)

Sunday March 31

- Said a sad Good bye to Jeff and Jenns family, Saw Temple, drove around, went to church.  Then Easter Dinner and Egg Hunt

Monday April 1

- Animal Kingdom, Mickey Bars, Lion King show, girls bought souvenir pets- Simba and Bongo,

Tuesday April 2

- It was supposed to be stay-at-the-resort day but we just couldn't help ourselves- we decided to do a couple hours at Hollywood Studios (which was crazy crowded.) Then we spent lots of time at the hot sunny pool and beach.

Eating chocolate donuts outside Tower of Terror

Wednesday April 3

- Magic Kingdom- last day with Grandparents. Magic Carpets, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, Fairies at Tinker Bells Nook, Enchanted Tales with Belle, ate at Beasts Castle, Some stayed late through the crowds for more BTMR and Splash.  Julie, mom and I took a trip back at night for fireworks and Downtown Disney shopping.

I had to include this picture because it's pretty indicative of how our many trips to the Parks had worn us down.  You can see we gave up fighting him on the binki and since we pulled him out of bed early most mornings, we left him in his pajamas and gradually got him ready as we went along- breakfast in the car, sunscreen on the monorail, diaper change in the first ride line, and then we just got him dressed in stages whenever we had a free second.  Those are his pajama pants hes still wearing- we were half way there.  Pretty funny.

One of the special highlights of the trip was visitng Disney's new Fantasyland expansion.  These pictures are from "Enchanted Tales with Belle" where the kids get to act out the story with Belle and then get their picture taken with her.  

These pictures are from when we had lunch at Beasts castle in the new "Be Our Guest" restaurant.  The castle was quite amazing and although the long line and stress of ordering wore Kevin out (see top left picture) this meal was one of the highlights of the trip.  I definitely recommend it- its a really neat place.

Thursday April 4 

- Hollywood Studios- Toy Story Midway Mania, Tower of Terror, Rock n Roll Roller Coaster, Stunt show, Beauty and the Beast show (for the second time this trip), Chick Fil A, Rest and Swim

 Friday April 5

- We played cards, and hung out in the kids playroom in the lobby because the weather was cool and rainy.  Then after naps, we had to hit Magic Kingdom one last time. We hadn't done any really long waits this trip yet so we jumped in line to see Rapunzel (it was posted as a 75 minute wait- holy cow!)- which only ended up being  an easy 50 minutes.  Then we rode Mermaid and Dumbo, saw Philharmagic, ate at Pecos Bills, took the train back to Main Street, and said farewell to DisneyWorld.

Good Bye Mickey!  We had a great time- no we had a FANTASTIC time- way better than great. Rumor has it we wont be back for six years... so we'll be missing you Mickey! (Dont worry though- I try not to ever believe a rumor...)

Family Get-Together

Recently we had the fun chance to have the whole Brandvold family clan together.  Its been a long time and so it was really special to have everyone together.  Oma and Opa and Uncle Rob and Aunt Billie all came to stay with us and it was so much fun.  My kids just loved time with these special people and I'm grateful it worked out for everyone to be able to come.  The special occasion was Auroras baptism.  I heard the baptism went wonderfully (unfortunately I missed it because Emmitt was sick).  Here's some pictures from the weekend.

The Whole Gang

Aunt Billie and Uncle Rob (soon to be parents in July :)

The cake monsters

Brielle and Oma.  Love that picture.

Just Chillin

Never buy your kids toys- all they need are bowls and spoons and a good imagination

Opa and Emmitt

We loved utilizing Billie's spectacular hair braiding skills

 We just love these people all so much!  Thanks for coming everyone.

Braydens Last Pinewood Derby

With his 11th birthday right around the corner, Brayden is almost done with cub scouts and so this was his last Pinewood Derby (unless they decide to do them for 11 year old scouts too).  Brayden did the entire car by himself- the design, the painting, all of it.  He placed second in each of the four races his car participated in.  Not too shabby!

Girls Night out at the Taylor Swift Concert

 My girls and I had the best time the other night at the Taylor Swift concert.  We are all big fans of Taylor but it is Brielle who knows every lyric and asks to listen to her EVERY time we get in the car and it is Brielle who sings each song with a passion that is too cute and hilarious at the same time.  Shes also a fan of Taylors lipstick so for the concert- we bought the brightest red lipstick we could find.

First we met up with our besties, the Thomas girls.  We had dinner at Upstream.  Laurie made the girls these adorable shirts.  They were perfect for the occasion!

On our way into the show, we passed these trucks which seemed like the perfect photo op...

this is as close as they ever got to the superstar...

 

We had great seats.  It was the upper level but we had a straight on view of the stage and we were only the third row back.  A good portion of the concert Taylor Swift sang at the back end of the stadium so for that we had an especially good view.  It was fun to see the girls sing along.  They loved hanging out with each other and taking it all in.  All in all it was a very fun night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And only about 10 seconds in to our car ride home, they were out like a light.  My sleeping beauties.

A Visit from Grandma

We were all grateful when Grandma came to pay us a visit last week.  Its so nice for the kids to have time with her and Emmitt especially enjoyed her company- making her play endless puzzles and games of "super-grandma."  I'm sure she needed a vacation from her vacation when she got home but we sure loved to have her.

She came with the plan to help me cover my fireplace to make it less dangerous.  After much debate we decided that keeping a quilt on it all the time is probably our best option.  After we decided that we spent the rest of our time shopping for new pillows for my living room.  These are my new pillows.  I don't keep them all on the one couch.  That's just to get them all in one picture.

Thanks for the visit Mom!

Growing up so fast

The other day I tried to buckle Emmitt into my cart at the grocery store but he spotted a cart of his own and insisted on pushing it instead.  I cant believe he is now old enough to do that.  Its crazy.  I know its cliche of me to say but really he is growing up so fast!

Snow DayS

We have had a few snow days lately.   Once we had a snow day even though there wasnt a snowflake to be found...but it was in the "forecast."  Needless to say the school district here is, in my opinion, a bit too eager to call Snow days.  At least its fun for the kids.  They do love it when it actually does snow and is pleasant enough outside to play in it.  We did get one of those days a couple of weeks back and here's a few pictures.