Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

The kids had another fun Halloween season. Lexi decided to be a vampire and Will selected another super hero, Captain America. 

Below is Will and his buddies at the school Halloween Bash.

 Kids at the Halloween Bash..

 Lexi and her bff's...

 The night after the school party, Abbie and Maddie spent the night and the kids dressed up as zombies.  They did their outfits and make-up all by themselves. :)

 The following night we carved our pumpkins.

 Will's final product..

 Lexi's pumpkin..

 The kids tonight before trick or treating...

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween! 

Disney - Day 1

We are home from our 10 day vacation to Florida where we went to Walt Disney World, Sarasota Florida to visit our relatives and spend some time at the ocean, and ended our vacation at Sea World.  Lexi got to go to Walt Disney World when she was 5, so now it was Will's turn since he recently turned 5.  Our traveling companions on this trip were our good friends the Fischers..Josh, Tammy, Maddie and Abbie. Hopefully after spending so much time together, they will still be our friends. :)

Here is Abbie and Will at the Appleton airport.  They were both flying for the first time.

Our trip began on  Friday, September 16, 2011.  We had to get up at 3 a.m. to get to the airport for our flight out of Appleton at 5:30 a.m.  We had no problem getting the kids out of bed with the anticipation of what they would see over the next week. 

Lexi, Abbie, Will and Maddie

 Abbie and Will patiently waiting for our plane.

 Ready for take off!

 At the O'Hare Airport..eating some breakfast.  Our original flight plan didn't have much of a layover, but since booking our flight, they changed it to us having a 4 hour layover in Chicago.  With the anticipation of the trip and being together with their friends, the four hours didn't seem all that long.

Love this pic..Lexi and Maddie

We called them our "camp directors" for the trip.  After we did something at Disney they would immediately ask what we were doing next.  They made sure we stayed on our toes and didn't miss anything, especially all the big rides..they couldn't get enough.

 Lexi's Mickey earrings she had gotten for Christmas...

 We have arrived at the Orlando Airport!  Below is Abbie and Will on the Disney bus taking us to our hotel.  If you stay on Disney property, a Disney bus picks you up and takes you to your hotel.  You don't even have to worry about luggage, it meets you in your room a few hours later.

 Lexi on the bus

 Outside our hotel.  Notice Josh in his Kentucky shirt and hat..he got asked many times if he was from Kentucky and if he bleeds blue. lol

 Maddie walking the red carpet...

 Lexi doing the same..

 Checked in and walking to our rooms..

 Stopping to pose for a picture with Daisy...

 and Donald...

 Our themed room was the Love Bug..this was the car outside of our rooms..

 Cool off spot outside of our room..

 Once we were settled, we had tickets to go to Magic Kingdom for a Halloween Party from 7 p.m. to midnight.  The kids wore the costumes that they wore last year.  The party was awesome and worth the money.  They only sell so many tickets, so you could walk on most of the rides.  There was a Halloween parade and trick or treating.  Seeing all the other costumes was fun as well.

 The gang ready to go.  Abbie was only able to keep her dress on for a short time because it was so hot and sticky, she had to change into something cooler.

 At the Magic Kingdom!!

 Standing in front of Cinderella's castle.

 Going on Splash Mountain for the first time of the day!

 Dance party with Woody, Jessie and Bullseye.  Lexi got picked to dance with Woody.

 Will giving Bullseye and high five

Abbie and I took our first ride on the tea cups while the rest went on Space Mountain for the first time. 

Will and Abbie meeting Buzz

Back at our hotel.

Abbie fell asleep on the bus on the way back to the hotel..

as did Will.  After being up since 3 a.m., they were exhausted.  We finally made our way to our rooms around midnight.

A great start to the vacation. :)

Disney - Day 2

Our second day, Saturday, was spent back at the Magic Kingdom.  Friday we had hit some of the bigger rides, but still had plenty to see yet.  Below is Lexi posing by the "L" at our hotel while waiting for the bus and then again with Will.  The picture is hazy because the camera fogged up going from the air of our room to the HOT sun already at 8 a.m.

We were up bright and early because we had breakfast reservations at one of the restaurants, so we were allowed into the park before it opened at 9 a.m. When we booked the reservation, the person never told us where the restaurant was, just what the breakfast was called and to check in at the entrance to Magic Kingdom and they would allow us in. Well once we got to the gate we were surprised to learn there was more than one character breakfast and we had no idea where we were supposed to go. After a lot of running around and three restaurants later, we finally found where we were supposed to be and it was very much worth it.



We were greeted by Tony, whom the restaurant was named after.  He was so funny running around the restaurant.  Once breakfast was served, the characters came out to greet all the families and take photos.  After photos, they danced with the kids.  The looks on their faces was priceless..great experience.

During the character breakfast, our wonderful waitress Shelly told us to go next door and get a Fastpass to see the princesses and Mickey Mouse, so that when we were finished eating we wouldn't have to wait in line.  It worked out great, with the special pass we didn't have to stand in the lines and had to wait just a few minutes to see some of the special characters. 

The man himself...Mickey Mouse. Great smiles kids!  lol

The Fisher Family

Today Josh has decided to be from Texas.  You wouldn't believe the amount of people that commented on his shirt and asked where in Texas he was from.  He would normally reply he was from Wisconsin, but tried Houston at least once.  lol

Some of the fall decorations...

Will was very excited to meet Chip and Dale...

Mickey and Minnie putting on a show at the castle.

The princesses and their men joined in as well...

We got to see a lighted parade. As an adult you can appreciate the work that must have went into these floats.  The pictures didn't do it justice (and I borrowed a camera, so I didn't have it quite figured out yet).

Another great day.  The weather was very hot again, but what we would expect in Florida. No rain. :)  After our previous 21 hour day, we still made it until the park closed at 10:00 p.m.  All the kids did good on the rides and Will really surprised me with how brave he was.  Although there were a few that I didn't think were scary (I am not a big roller coaster rider) he did.  Like the one called Snow White's Scary Adventure.  You just sit in a car together and it takes you through the story of Snow White.  He isn't a fan of witches, so this was not a hit with him.  He got off very angry asking why I would ever put him on a ride so scary!  That wasn't very nice mom!