Happy Birthday Steve!

Steve turned 46 on Friday, March 8th.  We had planned to go out to dinner that night, but life got in the way.  Reeed, Riley and I had tickets for a play at Town Hall Theatre in Centerville on Friday, March 1st.  On the way to the theatre, Riley got a stomach bug.  We were able to exchange our tickets for the following Friday (Steve's birthday).  Steve and I decided to go out to dinner to celebrate his birthday on Saturday, March 9th. 

 

After the play, we brought home cupcakes so we could celebrate Steve's birthday in a small way on his actual day.  It is a good thing we did too.  On Saturday, March 9th, Trent caught the stomach bug.  He was the 4th one in the family to get it.  Steve's birthday dinner plans were put on hold again.    Hopefully sometime before March is over, we will make it out to celebrate.  Happy Birthday Steve! 

the only birthday picture I took

Frosty Fun

On Wednesday, March 6th, we woke up to a blanket of white.  A late Winter snowstorm had hit the area.  We had about 4-5 inches of snow.  The kids got the day off school.  I had a two hour delay and then went into work. 

 

After I got home from work, I asked Reed and Riley if they wanted to go outside and play in the snow.  The weather was suppose to warm up over the next few days, and I knew the snow wouldn't last long.  It was a very wet snow-perfect for making snowmen and snowballs.  We started by building a very unique snowman. The kids got a kick out of that. We then had a snowball fight.  After a while, I went inside to make dinner.  Reed and Riley stayed out and played quite a while longer.  Although no one really wants snow in March (or ever for that matter), we made the most of it.  We had a great time!

 

 

 

 

Ready, Set, Blow

Because of our Disney trip and some other things going on, we weren't able to have Trent and Reed's birthday party until Saturday, February 16th. Hard to believe that Trent is now a teenager! Grandpa and Grandma Suchland, Dina, Brad & Family, Annette, Rod & Family, and Alex and Cristina came. We had pizza for dinner and cake and ice cream later that evening.

 

 

Disney World-Day 8

We woke extra early on our final day at Disney World.  Our flight home was at 3:30, but we had to be back to the resort by 12:30 for Magical Express to take us to the airport.  We woke up and got ready, finished packing and headed out of our room.  We were able to check into our flight right at the resort.  They checked our one bag and held all our carry on bags until it was time to leave.

We were headed back to the Magic Kingdom today.  They opened at 8:00.  The other three parks. didn't open until 9:00.  We wanted to have as much time as possible in a park before we had to be back to the resort.  Besides, Magic Kingdom is our favorite park.

Art of Animation Resort

Once we got to Magic Kingdom, we headed straight for Space Mountain.  We rode it twice. 

Riley's picture from the first ride was so funny that we had to take a picture of the picture.

Riley on Space Mountain

After Space Mountain, we grabbed fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We went over to Liberty Square to ride Haunted Mansion.  We than ran into Chip and Dale and stood in a short line so the kids could meet them.

 

Chip and Dale

After meeting Chip and Dale, we went to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean.  We headed back toward Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  On the way, we stopped to meet Woody and Jesse. 

Woody and Jesse

We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and it was nearing the time to leave. We made our way back up to Main Street USA and stopped for a couple of photopass pictures there.  We took the bus back to Art of Animation, ate lunch in the food court, retrieved our carry ons and took the Magical Express back to the airport.  The flight home was smooth except the fact that we were sad that our Disney trip had come to an end.


Disney Magic

Flight Home

Disney World Day 7

 

This was our final full day at Disney World, and we were headed back to the Magic Kingdom.  Since we missed it the first day, we went to the new Little Mermaid ride first.  I picked up some Peter Pan fast passes on the way and met everyone outside the Little Mermaid ride.  We rode together.  After the ride, we met Little Mermaid in her grotto.

 

 

Prince Eric and Ariel's castle

 

Journey of the Little Mermaid ride

 

Ariel-The Little Mermaid

Her favorite princess

Reed really wanted to ride The Barnstormer, a kiddie roller coaster so we headed there next. It is fun, but is a really quick ride. The line was short so the kids wanted to ride it again.
 



The Barnstormer

 

The Barnstormer



Next, the kids wanted to ride the teacups. While Steve watched them, I went and got fast passes for Space Mountain.

 

Teacups



We met back up and it was time to use our fast passes for Peter Pan.  The boys didn't want to ride this the first time we went to Disney World.  This time, they were surprised by how much they liked it.

Next, we went on "It's a Small World"-a Disney classic.  It hasn't changed at all but it is still a cute ride.

 

It's a Small World

We headed back to Space Mountain to use our fast passes and met a special alien along the way.




Stitch

 

Riley outside Space Mountain

There were still more things in Tomorrowland that we wanted to see so we grabbed more Space Mountain fast passes to use later on.  We were very hungry by this time and made our way to the new Beast's castle for lunch.  The castle is so pretty inside, and the food is good too.

Cole and Riley waiting in line for lunch in the Beast's castle

inside the Beast's castle

lunch inside the Beast's castle

 

After lunch we headed to Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion and then to Adventureland to ride the Jungle Cruise.

 

Haunted Mansion



Jungle Cruise

After the Jungle Cruise, it was princess time.  Reed, Riley and I got in line to meet Princess Tiana from "The Princess and the Frog".  Steve, Cole and Trent went to get fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. 

While waiting in line, Reed made it clear that he wanted Tiana to sign his autograph book but did not want to be in any pictures with her.  Once Tiana heard this, She put both arms around Reed and gave him a giant kiss.  Ha!

Riley and Princess Tiana

 

Reed and Tiana right after the big kiss

After meeting Tiana, we had to get back to Tomorrowland to use our fast passes for Space Mountain.   After Space Mountain, we rode Buzz Lightyear and The Tomorrowland Transit Authority. 

Steve and Reed competing on Buzz Light Year

Riley trying to do her best "Grandma pose" on the Tomorrowland Transit Authoriy



View from the Tomorrowland Transit Authority

 

The kids really liked this ride.  Cole and Reed wanted to ride again.   Steve went with them.  Trent, Riley and I went to meet Princess Merida from "Brave". The line for Merida was a long one, but Riley was determined to meet her since Merida was the only princess she still had not seen.  Once Steve and the boys were done with the ride, they used the fast passes we got earlier and took two rides on Big Thunder Mountain railroad.

 

Princess Merida

After meeting Merida, we headed over toward Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and waited for Steve, Cole and Reed to be finished.  We got more fast passes for Big Thunder Moutain Railroad since Trent and Riley were both upset that they missed going on it.

 

We watched the Country Bear Jamboree in Frontierland and then headed to Adventureland to do the attractions we had missed there.  We climbed through the Swiss Family Tree House and watched the Enchanted Tiki Birds (never again).

Cole in Swiss Family Tree House

 

Trent in Swiss Family Tree House

After the Tiki birds, we went back to Frontierland to use our Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fast passes.  We got another set of fastpasses, ate dinner and rode it again.  Steve got some funny pictures of us while on the ride. (You can't see Reed because he is sitting by Steve.)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad


It was now time to get a seat for "Celebrate the Magic", the castle projection show and "Wishes", the firework show.  We found a great place to sit right in front of the castle and waited about 45 minutes for the shows to begin.  We again loved "Celebrate the Magic" and "Wishes" is our favorite nightime show in Disney World.

Riley and I waiting for Wishes

 

Celebrate the Magic-Wreck it Ralph scene on the castle

  

Wishes


The park was still open for a little while after Wishes, but we decided to head back to the resort.  We needed to get everything packed.  We were returning to the Magic Kingdom the next day for a few hours before we left.

 

 

 

 

 

Disney World Day 6

We were all looking forward to returning to Hollywood Studios on this day.  This park has some of our favorite rides-Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Star Tours.  We got fast passes for Toy Story Mania and then rode Rock n' Roller Coaster.  Reed decided not to ride this time and waited with Riley and I.  When Steve, Cole and Trent were done, I then rode with Cole and Trent. The same thing happened at Tower of Terror.  Reed just wasn't feeling the big rides today.  Riley was tall enough to ride this though.  She rode first with Steve, Cole and Trent.  We then rode again while Steve sat out with Reed.

Tower of Terror

Rock n' Roller Coaster

We grabbed fast passes to ride Rock n' Roller coaster again later on. We rode Star Tours next  and then met both the characters from Cars and Phineaus and Ferb.  After meeting the characters, we went to use our Toy Story Mania fast passes.

Star Tours

Phineaus and Ferb

Lightning McQueen and Mater

Streets of America

Streets of America

Toy Story Midway Mania

Toy Story Midway Mania

After Toy Story, we headed back to the Animation Academy.  The kids loved this drawing class on our first day at Hollywood Studios and wanted to do it again.  This time we drew Buzz Lightyear.  He was a little more difficult to draw but the drawings still turned out really well overall.  I forgot to take a picture though and haven't been able to figure out where any of the drawings disappeared to because I haven't seen them since we got home.

After the drawing class, we returned to Rock n' Roller coaster to use our fast passes there. By this time, we were getting hungry.  We headed to Pizza Planet for lunch.  Over lunch, we discussed what we wanted to do the rest of the day.  The kids wanted to see the shows we had missed on our first day.  When looking at the schedule, it looked like we could hit all three shows over the course of the afternoon so that was the plan.

Riley at Pizza Planet

After lunch, we headed directly for the 1:00 show of Lights, Motor, Action, a stunt show.  The boys really like this show.

Reed at Lights, Motor, Action

Riley at Lights, Motor, Action

After Light, Motor, Action, we crossed the park to watch the Beauty and the Beast show.  Riley and I really loved this show.  While over in this part of the park, we grabbed some more Rock n' Roller Coaster fast passes for that evening.  

Beauty and the Beast

The Indiana Jones Stunt Show was next.  We watched that and then decided to return to American Idol, which we had enjoyed on the first day.  After American Idol, the kids still wanted to squeeze in a couple more rides.  We rode Star Tours once or twice and then headed to Rock n' Roller Coaster to use our fast passes there.  Although we rode Rock n' Roller Coaster many times that day, Riley had no problem keeping herself entertained in the gift shop.

Riley loving the Rock n' Roller Coaster Gift Shop

When we finished Rock n' Roller Coaster, it was nearing park closing time (7 pm).  We headed out of the park and took the bus back to our resort.  We ate in the food court once again.  Luckily, the food court at Art of Animation is pretty good and offers lots of options.  We ended up eating there more than we had originally planned.  We spent some time in the room after dinner.  The kids had purchased character drawing books today and so they found paper and pencil and had fun doing that.  It was then time for bed.  We were starting to get sad that our trip was coming to an end.

Disney animators