Disneyworld with the Mackrorys= Fun, Fun, Fun

We had a wonderful vacation for a week in Orlando with Kristen and Jared's family.

We arrived on Saturday, the 7th and went home on Saturday, the 14th.

We grocery shopped on Saturday evening and moved into our nice 3-bedroom condo. We also got reacquainted. Jakie is such a sweet, little cuddler.

On Sunday, we attended church at the chapel across the street from the Orlando Temple.

After the three hour block, we walked around the beautiful temple and took some pictures.

We had homemade lunch and dinner at the condo, and after a significant nap . . .

We enjoyed a nice, restful evening.

We started early on Monday at Magic Kingdom.

Some of the Christmas decorations were still up. I've always wanted to see Magic Kingdom at Christmas time.

We pause in front of the castle long enough to take a picture.

Kristen went to get fast passes, and the rest of us headed to Buzz Lightyear ride. The kids were SO excited to tell her all about it when she met us at the end. Their first Disney experience.

They loved driving the cars.

Next, we visited Rapunzel. She was absolutely darling and spent so much time with the kids. It truly was a highlight of the week. (I thought it was so cute how since Rapunzel was kneeling, Brielle knelt down, too)

On to "It's a Small World"

And Aladdin's carpet ride.

I saw a lot of this all week. It was run, run, run . . and I was always lagging behind.

Teacups are always a favorite.

Winnie- the - Pooh ride was one of the longest waits of the whole week. They had fun things for the kids to do while they waited.

And Splash Mountain is fun. Brielle looks terrified. Nathan wasn't quite tall enough for this ride. You had to be 40". He was devastated. His hair touched the 40" mark, but they wouldn't let him go. His parents figured out that his tennis shoes had a slightly bigger heel, so that's what he wore the rest of the week. When we got home Monday night, he ate a lot of broccoli. He was SURE the reason he grew bigger was because he ate that broccoli.

The castle was so beautiful at night.

The Electric Parade

TUESDAY- ANIMAL KINGDOM

We started the day on an African jeep safari.

We saw all kinds of animals.

The train ride was a bit of a bust. Waiting for the train . . .

The river rafting ride was a blast, but we got absolutely soaked to the skin. Nathan was barely tall enough to go, but he had to be "captain." That meant he got a special wrist band that signaled to the workers that he needed to sit in the "captain's chair"- a special chair with a yellow bar to hold him in. It made him feel so important. I sat by Brielle and we got soaked.

We decided since we were wet anyway to go again. We told Nathan that since he was captain, he needed to keep us dry. As we all got buckled in on the raft, he announced to everyone on the raft, "I'm not going to be able to keep you dry." Just so you know.

Nathan loved it and wanted to go again. Brielle was freezing. I held up my ever-present "tarp" and her parents helped her change into dry pants and jacket. She was so glad to get out of those wet clothes. Then she, Ken, Jakie and I waited near the exit for Nathan, Kristen and Jared to go again. As we waited, a little girl came out that was soaking wet. Brielle looked at her and said, "I hope her parents are as well prepared as mine." I thought that was such a sweet, mature thing to say.

After drying off a bit, we attended the Finding Nemo show. It was so well done. The actors had the fish puppets on sticks in the dark and did the voices. It's hard to describe, but it was really cool.

Then we went to the Lion King show. Earlier, Jared had gone to get tickets for it. I think they liked his cute accent and thought he was cute, because they gave him VIP tickets. We had to meet the escort at the back door. We were escorted right to the front and had great seats. Then, they kept coming to us during the show to assist. First, Ken was asked to come up and had to make the noise of a wart hog. I got it on video and intend to use it for blackmail purposes! He did a great job.

Here he is making the wart hog noise. Unfortunately his back was to us, so you can't see him making the face of the warthog. It was pretty funny!

Then later in the show, Brielle and Nathan were pulled up to be part of the musical parade. They played shakers and marched around the stage. They were awesome!

Nice work, Jared! You totally scored!

Our whole group as we were leaving the park. I can't help but notice that we still looked like drowned rats. My pants were still wet when I took them off that night. We really got soaked.

We went to dinner that evening at a pizza place. A "Balloon Man" made the kids balloon animals.

WEDNESDAY: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

We were up early the next morning to go at it again. Breakfast.

This time we went to Hollywood. There were lots of good shows there. First we saw The Little Mermaid.

The kids enjoyed playing in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground.

Ken had been eyeing those huge turkey legs all week, so chose that for lunch. He said they look a lot better than they taste.

Nathan loved the stunt show that taught how they do car chase scenes and jumps and fire and other boy stuff.

I preferred Beauty and the Beast.

Kristen and Jared went on the Tower of Terror while we were in the show. Then Brielle, Ken, and Kristen went. As they got off, Kristen and Ken were excitedly chattering about the experience. Kristen asked Brielle, "Do you want to go again?" Brielle looked up and asked incredulously, "Why?" I Loved the Rockin' Rollercoaster. The biggest thrill is the start as they blast you so fast. It's all in the dark. I know you go upside down at least a couple of times, but you can't see, so it's not as scary. THURSDAY- GRANDPA AND GRANDMA'S DAY OFF

Thursday, Kristen and Jared headed back to Magic Kingdom, and Ken and I took the day off to rest and for my blisters to heal. Ken didn't get much rest, though. He left early in the morning to go birding. He saw several new life-listers, including two whooping cranes. There are only about 200 whooping cranes left in the wild, and he saw two of them. Lucky!!! I spent the day resting and reading by the pool at the resort. We went out to dinner that evening.

Here's some of what Kristen and Jared did on Thursday. Brielle loved the parade in the afternoon. After they saw her reaction to the princesses and characters in the parade, they decided they needed to visit more of them.

EPCOT CENTER: FRIDAY

Friday was Epcot Center day. I love the Epcot Center. We went on Soarin' And Test Tracks. That was fun.

We ate lunch in Morocco. It was delicious.

Jakie signing more.

After lunch, Jared took Brielle and Nathan to do kid things. Kristen, Ken, Jakie, and I explored the world. We had a pastry and creme brule' in France.

And loved Japan. We loved going through the very authentic stores there. Kristen and Ken both served missions in Japan. Kristen was overwhelmed with emotion, seeing the sites and hearing the language. It all seemed so real. We bought Mochi and curry mix to make Japanese curry at home.

Mochi: Weird marshmallowy stuff- a Japanese treat.

Germany:

We went on the Imaginations ride several times at the end of the day because it's one Jakie could do and he loved it. Ken, Jared, and Nathan ran to ride Soarin' again. Kristen, Jakie, Brielle, and I rode this one several times.

This was in the exploration center. It played music when you jumped on the squares.

We also went on the Nemo ride a couple of times. Outside of there, was a huge aquarium that had dolphins and lots of other fish.

The Mackrorys stayed that night for the Illuminations show. It was cold that day, so Ken and I left our coats with them and went home. It's really the only thing the weather kept us from doing all week. Thank you, Mackrorys for a wonderful week! It was exhausting, but oh so fun! It truly was magical!