Holidays

After a week of traveling we enjoyed coming back to 16 inches of snow and getting ready for Christmas. It was chaotic, but fun! 

After a night with Matt's family and a night at my grandparents we celebrated Christmas morning at our house. 

Brode was VERY excited to find a new mouthguard in his stocking. 

 He was more excited to find this giant pile of presents. Last year he had strep throat and we barely got a smile at the bottom of the stairs. This year he jumped up and down "Santa came and brought 1,000 presents!", much more exciting.

We all got a lot of great presents! New ice skates, new home items, Fitbits, and Monorails! Brode was EXTREMELY disappointed when we were in Disney and he couldn't get the monorail. Little did he know Santa already had a plan and had it under the tree. He loves his monorail with Disney accessories.

 The rest of Christmas Day we had more family over and filled the house!

It was quite loud and crazy, but that is what makes it Christmas with family!

Disney Christmas 2012: Day 4 & 5

Day 4: Epcot

Day 4 we spent at Epcot. We relaxed at the hotel a bit longer, then went over to the Boardwalk for lunch. This life-size Gingerbread house was set-up in the lobby! They serve hot chocolate out of it - talk about festive.

We had lunch at the ESPN Zone (perfect place for the boys - there wasn't much talking going on) then walked over to EPCOT.

 Unfortunately I didn't get too many pictures as our camera died pretty early in the day.

We rode a few rides - Nemo and The Land were Brode's favorites. We then walked over to see the worlds.

 Brode especially liked the train in Germany. He saw it from pictures last year and couldn't wait to see it again.

 He also did the KidCot fun stops and colored his Duffy and got all of the countries flags stamped!

The rest of the day we visited Santa, ate dinner at the Germany restaurant and watched the fireworks. Brode made a quick entrance out not feeling well and the temperatures were dropping quickly.

Day 5: Animal Kingdom

 Our last day we went to the Animal Kingdom! We started the day with the Safari. This was Brode's favorite of the whole trip I think.

 (It was chilly early)

 After the safari we went out to Rafiki's plant watch and Brode explored.

Dinorama was next, finally hitting the rides and the shows. Brode loved the giant play land.

 (Trace Adkins)

 While in the Animal Kingdom we saw the Lion King show....

 ... and Bugs Life "It's Tough To Be A Bug".

 Grandpa, Bryce, Dane and I went on Everest, the roller coaster, (3 times) and then we headed out for the day.

Grandpa and Grandma flew home to get ready for Christmas and we made our final stop at Downtown Disney. It was PACKED and it was pretty cold so we enjoyed dinner, ran threw the stores, then went back to pack up for the morning.

 (More cool Christmas details)

We ate dinner at T-Rex (like Rainforest Cafe just dinosaurs) and we sat in the Coral Reef room. Brode had a lot of fun looking at everything.

 (really loving dessert)

Early the next morning we were at the airport to fly home. Brode hung out with Bryce all the way home again....

It was a great trip but always seems to go to fast. Brode has already asked, "Next year, can we just skip Christmas and go back to Disney?". 

Disney Christmas 2012: Day 3

Day 3

We started Day 3 in the pool. It wasn't exactly pool weather and it was very early in the morning but it was our only pool time. We only got 3 fairly warms days, were packed full, and were only there 5 days total so we didn't get much time. Brode was dying to get in the water so we woke up early and went down:

It wasn't long and we were headed back up for warm baths and showers before breakfast.

We caught the monorail to get breakfast at Chef Mickey's with Mickey and the crew!

(of course we had to snap a picture of THE engagement spot when we drove by on the monorail)

There was every breakfast food imaginable. We didn't  know where to start!

We were able to visit with all of our favorite characters throughout our breakfast.

We were stuffed in no time and ready for the day at the Magic Kingdom (the big Disney as Brode calls it).

First stop on the list: Buzz Lightyear's Space Rangers

Brode was fairly fired up after Buzz Lightyear and was excited to get to more rides:

The People Mover

The Teacups

DUMBO

It's A Small World

Speedway

(This one made some of the best pictures from the trip. Example - see 2 pictures down. Where is Brode?)

The Little Mermaid

Aladdin's Magic Carpets

Pirates of the Caribbean

Brode's #1 favorite: Splash Mountain. Yes, I could hardly believe he was tall enough, but he had it by 2 inches. He LOVED it!

Big Thunder Mountain

(Check back another day for the video from this. He loved this as well!)

The big kids also made a pass through Space Mountain.

It was another long day at Disney - but one of the best. We told Brode in the morning it was the day all about him, and he loved every minute. He laughed, cried, and couldn't get enough!

Once we were finished with all the rides the sun was going down and Christmas lights were coming on! We were able to check out all the lights and the beautiful Christmas magic!

(AWESOME!)

This happy little boy couldn't be more excited! There was no way it was getting any better than that, and we still had 2 more days!