Random January

Our random January is quite random indeed. Gemma hiding in a cabinet, me meeting my friend Alissa's new baby Wes, family art time with the boys, a random cut from Gemma hitting a chair and a picture of Micah's hard work he put together for Chrisitan's birthday gift. It seems like we were all exhausted after our Disney vacation that pictures didn't come as easily, haha.

Daddy's Girl

Gemma Jams loves her Daddy, that's no secret. So I was so happy to be able to capture this sequence of events as she was enamored with Christian after he arrived home from work this day. "Mommy, mommy." "Yes, Gemma?" "DADDY!!!!!!!"

Coming home!!!

Traveling home was not what I was looking forward to! I mean who would? Three kids and all our stuff through an airport...not the most enjoyable way to spend your day, lol. But I have to say, our kids did AMAZING!!!!! Gemma slept through all the airport shenanigans, she was able to sit in her own seat on the plane, and the boys (big and small, ;) ) were happily playing their electronic devices during the plane ride! Our only snafu was getting Reid to the car happily after we had landed as he was so exhausted and fell asleep within seconds of being put in the stroller when we got off the plane. Overall such a great vacation and one I feel very blessed to have been able to do! Until next time, Disney!!

Magic Kindom (day 2 and last day!)

It's always a sad day when you know vacation is coming to a close. We had such a great time at Disney and already know we'll be back. How could we not? We chose to do 2 days at Magic Kingdom, because we felt there was so much to do there that we didn't get to do our first visit. The mine train ride was one of them, so we finagled breakfast at "Be Our Guest" for us and the boys (Gemma came later with Nana Kay and Papa C) before the park opened, and then worked our way to the line quickly after breakfast to not have to wait for 2 hours to ride it. What a smart move, as it worked! My parents showed up with Gemma a little bit after and we enjoyed all that we could one last time before heading home. SUCH a fun and memorable vacation and I'm so grateful we were able to experience it with both sets of grandparents as I know that is a rarity!!!!!

 

 

Epcot

I don't have much to show from Epcot. For some reason pictures were not abundantly taken this day, but the boys loved Epcot nonetheless, primarily for the ability to work on pin trading with all the workers! Gemma had stayed back with my parents on this day to help catch up on sleep and we enjoyed the more leisurely day with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a bit cold and dreary this day, but nothing we couldn't handle, and helped our time in the lines be not quite as bad. Soarin' was closed due to renovations (which was kind of a bummer!) but Micah loved riding test track. Christian and I were also able to sneak away for a little date night and travel to all the countries and also watch some beautiful fireworks with their Illuminations show.

 

Magic Kingdom (day1)

When I think of Disney World, I think of Magic Kingdom. I appreciate all the other parks and enjoy going, but there truly is something magical about Magic Kingdom. Running the half marathon and entering the park and seeing the Cinderella castle all lit up was truly amazing, and I couldn't wait to go back to the park with the kids!! I knew they would just love it.

And love it they did. It's so small task getting to Magic Kingdom as you have to take a ferry boat or a monorail ride after parking in the lot, but it just adds to the experience I think! We did the ferry because the monorail wasn't running for some reason when we arrived and they boys loved going across the water. Christian's parents drove separately and came a bit later than us, bringing Gemma along with them (the poor girl was NOT doing well on her lack of sleep and schedule disruption) and my parents were driving over from my brother's house this day as well to meet us at the parks.

We then had a lunch scheduled with all the characters at Chef Mickey's, which took some time out of the day but it also made for some awesome memories. After lunch we headed back to Magic Kingdom to finish out the day and even stayed for their Electric Parade and fireworks (again, Christian's parents took Gemma back to the house earlier to try and help her get some good sleep). It was a magical filled day and I was so glad we were planning to spend another day there during our vacation!