Last weekend, we made our twice yearly trip to Louisville for pictures at Portrait Innovations.  As usual, we were very pleased with the experience and the pictures, plus we enjoyed lunch with our good friends, and an afternoon of shopping.  However, even though we always enjoy our trips to Louisville, I am thrilled to say we may not be going back for a while now that a Portrait Innovations just opened here in our own town!!  Just in time for our new baby to come!

We've had an eventful week, but the majority of the pictures this week are of Ella and Lucy's new bunk beds.  Moving Lucy into Ella's room was one of the first steps in preparing our home for the arrival of our new baby in February.  We bought the bunk beds for Ella's birthday in May, but only set up the bottom twin bed at the time.  Now that Lucy is 3, Jeff built the rest of the bed and both girls moved up!  They absolutely love their beds and love sleeping in the same room together.  They have done a great job at going to sleep with out *too* much talking at night.  The only less than desirable effect has been that they have been getting up way too early in the morning!  Hopefully once they get used to being together, they'll get back to sleeping to more normal times in the morning!

 

We had the girls' professional Christmas pictures taken on Saturday, so I'll be posting those soon!  They turned out great!

We had a full weekend of birthday celebrations!  My dad turned 66 on Friday (we celebrated with him twice!) and we had Lucy's party on Saturday, complete with all the family.  I think the pictures pretty much explain it all!  Lucy was SO happy with all the puppies everywhere.  When she came in and first saw all the decorations, she said, "Awww...thank you, Momny!"  What a sweetheart!  She had a wonderful day and went to sleep with a big smile on her face.  Couldn't ask for more.

After all the Halloween festivities last Saturday night, we came home and began preparing for Lucy's week of birthday celebrations by making confetti cupcakes with "pink icing and sprinkles!"  Since we wanted to wait one more year for a "friends party," we brought cupcakes to Lucy's Sunday School class so she could still get to celebrate with her friends. 

 

Monday was her actual birthday.  I walked into her room that morning singing "Happy Birthday" to her and she smiled from ear to ear.  When I finished, she said, "Am I 3?"  I happily told her yes and she jumped out of bed ready for her day.  As I was getting her breakfast ready (birthday pancakes Daddy had made), she asked quite seriously, "Am I still little or am I big?"  She is such a sweetheart.  She blew out the candles on her pancakes and we had a fairly quiet day around the house.

 

When I had asked her what she would like to do on her birthday, she said she wanted to "eat pizza at CiCi's and ride the black horsey at the mall."  Thankfully, that wish was pretty easy to grant!  After school, we took Ella to her dance class, then came home and met Daddy and took off for our birthday evening.  She had lots of fun showing everyone three fingers and proudly telling them how old she was.  When we got home, we all had birthday cupcakes and she got to blow out candles again, this time with Daddy and Ella home to sing to her as well as Mommy. 

 

Then she FINALLY got her present, which she had waited patiently for all day.  Her little toddler bed had been traded for a big girl bed, complete with Care Bears comforter and pillowcase (thanks to our friends who handed it down!).  We explained (again) to her that as soon as Daddy found some time to build the bunk beds, we would move that big mattress onto the bottom bunk in Ella's room and then it would become "Lucy and Ella's room."  They are both pretty excited about this upcoming change.  Personally, I'm enoying having them in separate rooms as long as I can, but I know they will enjoy being together.  After the move, we'll have about 3 months to very gradually transition Lucy's room into a nursery again.  Hopefully, without making her feel replaced in any way or like we were taking anything away from her.  That is the goal, at least.

 

She had a great first night in her new bed.  As I was saying goodnight to her, she asked me, "Am I still 3?"  Yes, Lucy.  And you are SO big.  

I was disappointed when our church decided to not to have an event on Halloween this year.  I always love getting to see all the kids from church in their cute costumes, and for our kids to get to be seen by their friends and teachers, too.  But since that wasn't happening, we made the most of it by finding lots of other places for them to wear their costumes and get candy, even if nobody really knew them.

 

On Friday night, we went to the bible book store to meet Larry Boy and get a picture, but that didn't turn out so well.  The girls both refused to go anywhere near him.  He was just way too big.  I thought after having been to Walt Disney World and taking tons of pics with all those characters, they would be okay with this, but I guess I was wrong.

 

We left there and went to a fall festival at one of the largest churches in our area.  They had all kinds of games, rides, balloons, candy, etc.  There would have been even more, but it was raining so the outdoor stuff was a bust.  We ate dinner in a giant tent outside.  Ella thought it was cool that we were all standing on a parking lot.

 

On Saturday, we had a nice morning around the house, complete with banana-chocolate chip pancakes made by Daddy.  Then we started our Halloween tour!  We went to a local pumpkin patch and found our way through muddy mazes, went on a hayride, and picked out pumpkins to keep.  After that it was Toys R Us, Walmart, and Border's - all in costume, of course! 

 

Saturday evening, we went back home and did some trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  It was our first time to do this and I think it was Ella's favorite part of the weekend.  Lucy, having not had a nap, was pretty tired and got bored with the whole thing after a couple blocks.  She didn't want to walk anymore.  We went home and sorted all the candy from the day, took out the candy they REALLY liked, and put the rest in a big bucket to start giving away!  Ella and Lucy sat on the front porch and gave candy to lots more trick-or-treaters.  That was fun for them, too. 

 

After a quick dinner, we finished the evening with a quick trip through a trunk-or-treat at another local church and came back home.  We had an enjoyable Halloween, but the next few days were even more exciting!  Check back next week for LOTS of pictures of this week's exciting events!

Yesterday was a busy day!  It began with a third ultrasound of our newest baby girl.  I am 23 weeks now, so the baby is finally looking a little less bony and a little more like a newborn baby.  She's going to continue to get a lot chubbier from here on out!  My mom accompanied me to the ultrasound this time (her first time to see one performed).  It was fun to get to share that with her and for her to understand a bit more of what that experience is like for us.  As always, it was fun to see our sweet, little baby, but more importantly, we were blessed with a shining report of her health and development.  The three areas (all to do with the heart) that they were unable to see last month were easily seen this time and checked out well.  Baby also was very cooperative in showing us her face so we could get some sweet pictures.

 

While we were at the Dr., my dad took Lucy to the library for the Halloween story time so she could go and wear her costume.  I'm sure he was the only grandpa there, but it sounded like it went pretty well.  I was glad Lucy didn't have to miss out and I know she enjoyed flying around the library for everyone in her butterfly costume.

 

My parents, Lucy, and I spent the middle part of the day shopping, but got home in time to get Ella off the bus, change her clothes, and rush off to dance class.  Ella enjoyed showing off her dancing and tumbling skills for Grandma and Grandpa.  When we get home, Jeff and his parents and sister were here waiting for us.  We all enjoyed a Papa Murphy's pizza together and then attended Jeff's Fall Concert at school.  He has three choirs this year, but the first two are small, so they sang together.  The second half of the program was a multi-media event centered around the theme "Freedom is Coming!"  It was probably the biggest production Jeff has attempted to pull of with his choirs since he has been teaching and it went SO WELL!  The students were having fun, the audience was clearly enjoying it, and we hard so many positive comments from everyone afterwards.  Jeff and his choirs should be very proud of a job well done!

 

Ella had three sick days from school last week and I had a cold all weekend, but we are finally on the mend again.  It seems like every family we know has had someone sick recently.  I am thankful our share so far hasn't been as bad as it could have been.

 

I sent Ella off to school this morning all fixed up for her first school picture.  I'm just hoping the kindergartners had pictures early in the morning, that Ella did her best to stay looking nice like I asked, and that the teachers and photographers are kind enough to straighten the kids up a bit before taking their pictures!  Oh, and of course, that she smiles her beautiful smile.   Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Wishing a Happy 39th Birthday to my brother, Todd, and sister-in-law, Lisa, whose birthdays are just 5 days apart in October.  And Happy Birthday to Jeff's Mom and Dad, who also both have birthdays this month!  We celebrated Jeff's parents' birthdays with them at their house a few weeks ago, and celebrated Todd and Lisa's birthdays on Saturday at their house.  It's a busy month for birthdays around here, and we've got three more next month!

 

Also, several odds and ends pictures this week.  Things have been going pretty well around here, for the most part, with the one downer being Ella having her first three sick days.  Whatever she had, it was mild, thankfully, with no vomiting or diarrhea.  Just fever, chills, sore throat, runny nose, and coughing.  The fever lasted less than a day, but the runny nose and cough have continued longer, causing us to continue keeping her home.  I'm hopeful that she will be ready to go back tomorrow.

 

More pictures of the baby coming next week!

We had such a nice weekend! Jeff and Ella didn't have school on Friday, so we left Thursday after school and spent the evening and most of Friday with Jeff's family.  I didn't get any pictures there, but we had a nice time and celebrated his parents' birthdays, which are both in October.

 

Then Friday evening, we met my good friend, Audrey, at her home for pizza and dessert.  I met Audrey when I worked at NCSA in college.  She was already retired, but still worked there part-time in the same department I was in.  When I started my teaching job, Audrey's home was just a couple blocks from my school.  Audrey had begun working on a genealogy and family history that she hoped to one day publish and give to all her children and grandchildren.  She had compiled the information and started writing, but needed help with the computer end of things.  So we worked out a deal where I came to her house after school for an evening every other week.  I proofread and edited her work on the computer, helped answer questions, and fixed various computer problems that arose, and in return she paid me $5 and fixed me dinner.  It was a great set-up for both of us!  We both enjoyed the company, she was glad to have help with her book, and I was treated to a delicious home-cooked meal by my adopted grandmother.  I got to know her and her family history very well during the years I helped her and she mailed me a finish copy of the book after I moved.  Even though it is not about my family, it is quite a treasured keepsake to me.

 

After dinner, we went to Chris and Cheryl's house where we stayed the rest of the weekend.  They are both good friends from college.  Cheryl and I lived in the same house on campus for a few years and Chris and Jeff roomed together in the guys' house next door, as well as in an apartment later.  We were all in each other's weddings and have stayed in touch over the years since college.  They have two kids now, Nicholas and Harmony, so our friendship has continued to grow and change as we've gone into a different stage of life.  Spending time with them was the highlight of our Homecoming weekend.

 

And speaking of Homecoming, that is the main reason we made the trip this weekend.  Saturday was our University's Homecoming football game and celebration.  We didn't go to the game, but enjoyed spending time at the alumni festivities hosted by the houses we lived in during college.  Each year, the houses have focus years for the alumni and this year, the focus was 1995-2005.  We saw lots of people from our time there, some we knew better than others, but it was fun to see what everyone looks like now and see all the cute little kids they produced. :)  I don't know when we'll ever make it back again, but I'm so glad we went this year.  Jeff and I couldn't help but reminisce about all the fun times we had there and how thankful we are to have had those experiences.  Now we just have to remember that when it's time for our girls to leave the nest!

The big news in this week's pictures is our celebration of Ella's good behavior at school.  Her teacher has a behavior system in place where each child brings home a ticket every day - green (good), orange (warning), yellow (better shape up!), red (bad news!).  Thankfully, Ella has only brought home one orange ticket, and we later found out 22 of the 26 kids in her class got an orange ticket that day.  Not sure what happened, but it somehow made us feel better that it was a group thing.  Ella wrote an apology to her teacher and got a warning from us that if she brought home another one, there would be discipline!

 

Anyway, if the kids get 30 green tickets (which takes 6 weeks at best!), they get to pick a prize from the treasure chest.  Ella chose a pink, glittery bouncy ball.  Her teacher encouraged parents to use these tickets at home as well and give incentives and rewards.  We often take away and give back green tickets based on how she acts and obeys.  We decided that for every 15 green tickets, we would let her take her lunch to school.  This is pretty exciting for her - she has a Hello Kitty lunch box and LOVES to use it!  And for every 30 tickets, we get to go out to a restaurant (our choice, of course, depending on our coupons!).  Well, she hit 30 tickets for the first time last Thursday, so Saturday night, we decided our special dinner would be pizza at this very cool, indoor miniature golf and games place.  Ella and Lucy had both earned a free round of mini-golf there from the summer reading program at the library.  This seemed like a great time to use them!  We hadn't been golfing in a long time, so Ella didn't remember much and Lucy didn't remember anything.  The longer they played, Ella started to get the hang of it, but Lucy...it was really just her goal to put the ball in every hole, regardless of how it got there.  She wouldn't listen to advice on how to hold or swing the club, nor did she follow any silly rules about where to start or how you're really not supposed to pick up the ball and move it with your hand.  Oh, well, they both had a great time, and Jeff was really impressed with the pizza.  He couldn't stop talking about it!  It was definitely a fun, family night out and I look forward to another reward dinner after the next 6 weeks of school!

Last Saturday was the annual PBS KidsFest.  This is the third year we have gone and it is always a lot of fun for the kids.  We didn't get all the character pictures we usually get (like with Clifford, Curious George, SuperWhy, etc.), but we had fun doing other things.  Right as we got there, Martha from "Martha Speaks" arrived for a storytime at the K-9 tent.  Lucy was in doggie heaven.  She fed them, pet them, held them, hugged them, and couldn't seem to stop smiling.  After walking through the rest of the festival, we came back by the K-9 tent again on our way out and she got to enjoy them some more.  Ella kept her distance - especially from the Saint Bernard that was one of the biggest dogs I have ever seen!  She had more fun on the tumblebus and playing the games to collect free (junk) prizes.  Thanks to our local PBS station once again for a fun afternoon outing!

As promised, we're excited to announce that our third child, expected in February 2010, is most definitely a GIRL!  We had our ultrasound on Monday and praise God, she is healthy and growing just like she should be.  She weighs 9 oz. already, which is the 71st percentile!  (I think average for this stage is about 5.5 oz.)  And even though she's a bit bigger for her age, she is still REALLY skinny.  The 3D images looked very skeletal and you could even see the two hemispheres of the brain through the very thin skin on her head.  The placenta was right up in her face most of the time, so it was hard for the ultrasound technician to get a good shot.  We will be having another ultrasound next month, so we're hoping for some better pictures then. 

 

You'll also see a handful of other events from the past 2 weeks pictured.  The captions should explain them.

 

Happy Fall!

I think I'm finally just about caught up now!  This last bunch of pictures was taken over Labor Day weekend.  Jeff and the girls kicked off a weekend with a movie and sleepover on the air mattress in the living room.  They stayed out there the whole night this time, but Jeff ended up on the couch after a while. 

 

Sunday afternoon, I was busy making and decorating the cheeseburger cake Troy had requested for his birthday.  Cake decorating is not a strength of mine, but I did my best to make what he wanted.  After all, he has decorated a LOT of cakes for me over the years!  He IS very good at it!

 

And Monday, we spent the day at my parents' house.  We had a yummy lasagna dinner and a birthday party to celebrate Troy's 41st birthday.  That afternoon, we went fishing in Mom and Dad's pond and the girls both had their first fishing experience.  Thankfully, everybody fishing caught a fish, so their were no bad feelings. :)  Dad cleaned the fish, but did not have time to get the bones out before dinner, so we didn't actually eat them.  He saved them for a meal after we left.

 

Hopefully, my blogging can get back on more of a regular schedule again now.  We have our ultrasound on Monday, so check back next week for some big news!

Here is an assortment of pictures showing some of the activities that filled the last few weeks of August.  The captions explain the pictures.

It took me a month to finally get our Disney trip blogged, but now that it's done, it's time to move on and update everyone on life over the past month!  One of the most exciting things that happened was Ella started kindergarten on August 12th.  She was SO excited and looked so cute in all her Hello, Kitty garb.  I handled it pretty well (just a few teary-eyed moments) until I left her classroom to come home.  That's when it all hit me and I cried all the way home!  I took her and picked her up the first three days and on the fourth day of school, she started riding the bus.  That was another big milestone for both of us and one that I don't think I could have handled the first day!  Now a month later, we have gotten into a routine and things are going well.  She REALLY doesn't like getting up in the morning (neither do I!), but does fine once she's up and around.  Her teacher told me she's "perfect" and doing very well academically and socially.  That was a relief to hear!  Lucy and I have started to get used to being home without her and I'm enjoying having some one-on-one time with my soon-to-be middle child.  I'm really trying to treasure this special time with her before life gets taken over by having a newborn in February!

 

Oh, and Jeff started school two days before Ella, but his school year beginning kind of got overlooked this year.  He's having a GREAT start to the year in his three choir classes, but his 2 freshman study skills classes have proven to be more challenging.  He has also been overloaded with paperwork and administrative tasks that have kept him at school til 5 most days (the kids finish at 2:20!)  When he's up before 6 and not home til 5:30ish, it makes for a long day for all of us.  He has two interns from the local university who start today, so hopefully they will help relieve some of his burden and allow him to come home a little earlier.

 

Check back soon for more pics and updates from the past month!

On our last morning in Florida, we upheld our promise to the girls to let them swim in the guitar pool at our hotel.  Jeff and Uncle Troy swam with them, giving me some time to get everything in our hotel room packed into our suitcases (no small job!).  The top end of the guitar (where the frets would be) was actually a shallow baby pool, which the girls thought was pretty fun.  What you see pictured was a fun surprise that happened not long after we got to the pool (I only stayed long enough to get a few pictures before going back to the room).  One of the lifeguards came over to us and asked if the girls would be his special helpers for the morning and "wake up" the three sleeping caballeros in the center of the pool.  They were pretty hesitant at first, not knowing exactly what was being asked of them, but we talked them into going with the lifeguard to the center of the pool.  He gave them each an instrument and a sombrero and said that at the count of three they were to play their instruments and yell "wake up!" as loudly as they could!  They did it and immediately the three cabablleros "woke up" and started spraying water.  The girls got to keep their sombreros and each also got a pair of souvenir maracas, plus a certificate thanking them for the help, signed by Mickey Mouse himself.  It was a fun little tag on the end of our week, courtesy of Walt Disney World.

 

After swimming, the girls had baths, got dressed and went on a walk with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Troy around the neighboring All-Star Movies resort to see the big doggies (from 101 Dalmations) and other larger-than-life famous movie icons.  Then we did a lot of waiting and lot of riding - from the hotel to the bus to the airport through security to the gate to the airplane to the luggage carousels to the van to the restaurant to drop off Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Troy and then finally home!  We got home late Saturday night after a very full, exciting, memorable week.  I don't know if we'll ever be fortunate enough to go again, but we thank God for the blessing this trip was to our family.  I hope you've enjoyed reliving it with me through all the pictures!

 

Instead of buying a souvenir for myself at Disney, I chose to use the money to create and order a photo book through Picaboo and had a great experience!  I can share it with friends through e-mail for free, so if you're interested in seeing it, send me a message and I'll be happy to send it your way!

Our last day at Walt Disney World, Friday, was designated as our "Make-Up Day."  We made no plans for that day at the beginning of the week, other than to have a day to finish up whatever we didn't get accomplished during the first part of the week.  We began the day at the Magic Kingdom with the goal of taking some good group shots in front of the Mickey at the entrance (just like we did when I was 9 and my family went) and in front of the castle.  We didn't get any pictures like that when we were there on Tuesday morning, and by the time we left the sky was dark and cloudy - not ideal picture weather!  Thankfully, Friday morning was as sunny and beautiful as ever and we got some great photos for our frames, computer wallpaper, cell phones, souvenir magnets, albums, etc.  We also happned upon a live stage show in front of the castle featuring all the princesses, Mickey and Minnie, Peter Pan, Goofy, and many others.  What a great accident!  After that, we headed to Tomorrow Land, the only area we ran out of time for on Tuesday.  We went to the "Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor" and the Walt Disney "Carousel of Progress." 

 

After that, we rode the monorail over to Epcot center and spent the afternoon touring the World Showcase.  My favorite countries were Mexico and Germany, which happened to be the two countries I have actually visited in real life!  We also enjoyed some time in "Club Cool."  It was sticky and messy, but we were able to drink unlimited samples of Coca-Cola brand beverages from around the world.

 

We finished the evening (and our week in the parks) with a ferry ride back to the Magic Kingdom for the Spectromagic Parade and Fireworks.  It was very late, hot and muggy, and extremely crowded (the worst of the whole week!), but definitely worth going and worth letting the girls stay up late.  The light parade was so much more elaborate than I had ever imagined and the fireworks display was set to music and a storyline better than any display I've seen before.  The highlight was when Tinkerbell (an actual person!) "flew" by cable from the top of the castle, over our head, and landed on top of a building next to us.  Troy, having worked at WDW for 3 months several years ago, knew it was coming and made sure we knew where to sit to see it well.  Even now, 4 weeks later, Ella and Lucy are still talking about seeing Tinkberbell fly over us that night.  We were all totally exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but it was a wonderful, memorable, and yes, even "magical" final evening.

Thursday was spent partially in Future World at Epcot Center at partially at Downtown Disney.  Our first stop was to get the one and only fast pass of the week for me, which was to ride "Soarin'."  Then we toured The Seas.  That was a very cool place and the girls really enjoyed all the live fish and sea creatures.  Talking to Crush was pretty neat, too!  We saw "Imagination" and toured Innoventions, followed by lunch at The Land and then finally got to experience "Soarin'!"  This was definitely one of the neatest rides of the week!  Ella was a little overwhelmed by it (and said her tummy felt funny afterwards) but still thought it was really cool.  You really do feel like you are flying and even smelling the sights around you.  Amazing.  We squeezed in a quick ride through Spaceship Earth (everybody's gotta do it!) before catching our bus to Downtown Disney for EARLY dinner reservations.

 

We all spent the late afternoon/early evening at Downtown Disney.  Troy, Jeff, and I had really good coupons for Planet Hollywood, so we ate there while Grandma and Grandpa took the girls to McDonald's.  Our time at DD was short, but very interesting!  I kind of wish we would have had more time there to explore all the different shops.  I wasn't sure if DD was going to be worth taking our time from the parks, but it was definitely worthwhile!

 

That evening, Grandma and Grandpa once again got the girls to bed back at the hotel while Jeff, Troy, and I got to stay out a little longer.  We arrived back at Epcot about 5 minutes late for their "Illuminations" show out on the lake in the middle of the World Showcase.  It was really a sight to see, but unfortunately we couldn't see much!  Having arrived there so late, the crowds were thick in front of us and we had a hard time seeing it all.  Afterwards, Jeff and I went to see "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" while Troy went in search of - can you guess - another hat.  This time, a tri-cornered, colonial America-type hat.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that one!  We also spent some time in one of their larger gift shops trying to narrow down our souvenir choices - only one day left to decide and make our purchases!

Wednesday, Day 4, was the day slated for the Animal Kingdom.  We got a late start (we were really needing to catch up on some sleep by this point!), but had a fun, full day once we got there.  We have LOTS of pictures from this day, as you can see, so most everything we did had at least some part of it captured on film.  The highlights included Finding Nemo - The Musical, The Festival of the Lion King, and the Kilimanjaro Safaris.  Everything there was such high quality.  I know a Disney vacation is expensive, but you really get your money's worth in every way!  Even the food is worth the outrageous price tag.  Speaking of which, we ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, which is always a special treat.  The day's big rain came while were in the restaurant that day, which worked out nicely for us except for that we didn't have the stroller prepared, so it wasn't very usable the rest of that day.

 

At the end of the day, we rode the bus back to our hotel, had dinner at the cafe there (which was rare!), and got the kids to bed ourselves.  That evening, Troy, Jeff, and I made use of the "free 30-minutes of play" coupons for the hotel arcade that came with our trip package.  It was fun, but I can't understand how people can throw their money away at that stuff.  It's over so quickly!  We got to bed a little earlier that night to recharge for another full day ahead!

Tuesday morning, we got up bright and early for the big day we had been looking forward to for so long!  My mom treated the four girls on our trip to breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table.  Most of the little girls there wore princess costumes, as did Lucy (Ariel), but Ella really wanted to wear her nightgown, which I have to say is very pretty.    It was such a special moment, rounding the corner onto Main Street USA and suddenly there in front of you (with no crowds in front of it since we were there before the park opened) was Cinderella's castle!  You have never seen two more bright-eyed little girls!  We got to walk right up inside the castle.  It was beautiful and elegant and everything we could have dreamed of.  The food was fantastic (and unlimited!) and we were visited by 5 princesses.  Each girl was given a souvenir star wand and wishing star, plus five professional photos with Cinderella and one of the castle in a special frame to keep.  Lucy was a little disappointed that Cinderella didn't sit down at our table and actually eat with us, but had another idea..."Maybe if I ask her, Cinderella will take me to the potty!"  Disappointed again, we had to go without her, but there was nothing about our time in the castle that was anything less than "magical."  Thanks so much, Grandma, for giving us that opportunity!

 

The rest of the day was special, too, as we spent the majority of our time in the Magic Kingdom.  We stood in line a LONG time to get our pictures with Ariel and with Mickey and Minnie, but other than that, the lines were fairly short and we got to do and see a lot.  In addition to the things pictured, we also saw Mickey's Philharmagic, A Dream Come True Parade, It's a Small World, the Country Bears Jamboree, a street party by the castle, and Troy and Ella rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.  The boys fit in a few more attractions while we were in the castle, and Troy, Jeff, and I rushed over to Hollywood Studios that night after the girls were in bed in time to see "Fantasmic."  What an amazing show!  Then we ended the night with "The Great Movie Ride" - with no line!  Another great day, more rain, and another late night!  We were getting the hang of this...and wishing it would never have to end!

After a great first night of sleep, we woke up Monday for our first full day at Disney and our first time to take a bus to one of the parks.  One of our few "suggestions" (we won't call them complaints) for the week was that we thought Disney could stand to have some covered areas to wait for the buses.  That Florida sun is HOT!  Thankfully, though, we all made it through the whole week with no sunburn!

 

We spent the bulk of Day 2 at Hollywood Studios.  Most of the highlights are pictured.  Not pictured was the Muppet Vision 3-D show, The Voyage of the Little Mermaid show, and Playhouse Disney...Live!, plus the trip Troy, Jeff, and I made to the Animal Kingdom after the girls were in bed.  That night, we saw "It's Tough to Be a Bug" inside the Tree of Life and rode the "Dinosaur" ride.  Both were fun, but definitely too scary for the girls.  Grandma and Grandpa were gracious enough to stay at the hotel with them each night so we could do a few "non-kid" things.  It was very helpful that our hotel rooms were adjoining so the girls could go to sleep and Mom and Dad could be in their room right next door. 

 

It was also on Monday that we got our first taste of what a August day in Florida was like.  It was scorching hot in the morning and early afternoon, then the sky clouded over and we had a downpour.  After that, it was still muggy, though not quite as hot and sunny, for the remainder of the day.  Every day of the week was pretty much like this!  We were thankful to have our umbrellas with us, to have a stroller with a nice big umbrella top for the girls, and a poncho to cover the stroller with when we had to leave it outside.  It only got soaked beyond use one day when the poncho blew off.

 

We were all pretty tired by the time we went to bed that night, but so excited for Tuesday morning...the morning our girls had been anticipating for months!  And it turned out to be the best part of the whole week for them!