Magic Kingdom - take 1

After two busy days with Nasa and EPCOT, Sunday was a great day to sleep in and rest and get ready for a jam packed day at the Magic Kingdom. We were at the gate and ready to go when the ropes dropped at 9:00 and headed straight back to Fantasy Land for Dumbo. The squeals and giggles from the girls was wonderful. Such a simple ride that's so fun. We spent the morning riding all the fun little kid rides, getting autographs, and wearing ourselves out. What was great was that Olivia could ride anything as long as there was no height requirement so she was able to get plenty of rides in too.

I will confess, I got upset at Todd for deviating from the plan and we couldn't find him or Abby. We had split up earlier but as they were riding the carousal, the rest of us were standing in line to get autographs from Mary Poppins and Bert, right next to the carousal. Thinking that Todd saw us, I know Abby did, they would join us in line. Nope. They headed for another ride. As Mom Yost and I were getting closer to Mary, Kaitlyn freaks out and starts to take off. I'm holding screaming Olivia and we're trying to keep our place in line since it's now closed and Mom Yost is trying to bring Kaitlyn back, who is screaming. I was a little frazzled and I let Todd know. I should of just kept my cool. Todd did ride a ride that we said we were going to do, he couldn't hear his phone, and thought that we were already on the ride. After I cooled down, everything was fine.

Riding the carousal

Abby and Todd taking their turn.

It's a jolly holiday with Mary.

Shortly after my blow up, the next stop was story time with Belle. Belle is Abby's favorite princess so it was a real treat that she got called up from the audience to help tell the story - she played the part of Lumiere. Abby was a natural.

It was then off for what ended up being one of Kaitlyn's favorite rides. By the end of the trip, she was a really good driver. She drove the course probably 10 times.

Since it was a day where those staying on a resort could have extra magic hours, we headed back to the hotel for some naps. The park was staying open until 2 am and we were hoping to get some riding in with "smaller" crowds.

After a nice rest, there was some more screaming from Kaitlyn as we entered into the Buzz Lightyear Ride for fear of the Robot (let it be known that I won with 110,000 points). After that, the rest of the night was easy going. Abby loved Space Mountain and rode it 3 times in a row. Todd and I just laughed at the way she screamed and hollered. Kaitlyn loved Big Thunder Railroad and I felt that we had to keep a firm grip on her as she slid around in the seat. And of course, everyone but Kaitlyn liked Splash Mountain. Kaitlyn didn't appreciate getting wet.

The Spectromagic parade was that night and we enjoyed all the cool lights along with the fireworks. We wanted to take advantage of extra magic hours but I finally took Olivia back to the hotel around 11:30 and everyone else stayed out until about 12:30/1:00. The crowds were still large and waits were long so the only extra things that were done were a couple of rides and watching Mickey's Philharmagic, which by the way, is a fabulous show and lots of fun (by the time the trip was done I believe the girls watched it 4-5 times). I can't believe we stayed out that late but the girls were troopers.

EPCOT

The first stop for our adventures in Disney World was EPCOT. We were staying at the Swan so we took a ferry boat over to the park and arrived as it was opening. (WARNING: there are a lot of pictures so feel free to just skip. This was our families first visit to Disney World and I'm writing it down so I don't forget some things.) We were lucky to have Todd's parents join us on our trip. They were so willing to take Olivia and sometimes Kaitlyn while we rode rides. The girls bonded and had a great time with their Grandparents.

We spent most of the morning in Future World and didn't see nearly half of what was there. After getting Fast Passes to some rides we headed off for the character signing. I didn't know what to expect from Olivia who really doesn't know these characters and Kaitlyn who screams from terror at Santa Claus and the THX robot. All of the girls rushed to Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. They were in heaven! Olivia giggled with joy and the girls just hugged the characters and were dancing for joy. The especially loved that Pluto and Goofy had to put their autograph books on their noses to sign.

I like how Olivia's face is smashed into Mickey.

I think Minnie was Olivia's favorite and

Kaitlyn was thrilled she got a kiss on the cheek from Minnie.

We were surprised to find out that Abby is an adrenaline junky. She wanted to ride the big rides over and over again. She made Gpa Yost nervous on their first ride of Soarin as she held her arms up and screamed with joy. We rode all the big rides with her, Test Track, Mission: Space, Soarin', and the smaller rides too.

When we rode Mission: Space, we took some friend's advice and saved it for the end of the day. We rode the "less intense" green version and all came out disappointed. We thought it was weak. We then took off for Test Track, which is a blast, Todd decided to take Abby back to Mission: Space and ride the more intense orange ride. Abby said she felt there was no difference. It however, left Todd a little woozy. He said the G-forces were pretty strong. When the day was over, Abby's favorite ride ended up being "Finding Nemo" which surprised us since it's very calm. I personally loved the talk with Crush.

Kaitlyn struggled with going into some theaters for fear that the THX robot was there. If you closely enough you can see the terror on Kaitlyn's face as she is inside Bruce the shark. She went through phases throughout the day of being scared and wanting to be held to everything was perfect. Kaitlyn's favorite was Soarin'. We probably rode it 4 times.

The big highlight that day was dinner with the Princesses. We were unable to get into Cinderella's castle but we were able to get into Akershus. The girls were so excited to see all the princesses come around to the tables that they hardly ate. It was a lot of fun and the princesses spent time at each table, I highly recommend it.

Belle in her sneakers ready for dinner.

Kaitlyn was dressed as Mermaid but as we were headed out the door, she took it off and refused to wear it.

One of my favorite shots- Alice playing patty-cake with Olivia.

I love the look on Abby's face in this one.

Princess Jasmine

Sleeping Beauty was there as we came in.

Happy to meet Cinderella.

Shuttle launch

If you want to just see the shuttle, start around 53 seconds. The camera gets a little shaky since I was taking pictures and filming at the same time. No one knew exactly where the shuttle was going to appear so around 53 seconds you can hear people shouting and pointing "there! there!"

If you want a really good video, go to youtube and type in Atlantis shuttle launch May 14 - there were some good videos posted from people who were on the causeway and had better camera lenses. I personally like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESk0mFt_-E4&feature=related

Shuttle Atlantis' Final Launch from sassy momma on Vimeo.

Blast Off!

Several months ago when Todd and I heard that there were only going to be a few more shuttle launches from NASA we decided we wanted to go see one. I guess you can say it was something on our "bucket list". Todd's parents were going to join us but they had mechanical problems with their plane and were unable to meet us for the launch. Which was a bummer.

We left our hotel early that morning because our note said to arrive by 9:00. Google maps said it would take an hour to get there. When I double checked with the bell men at the front desk, they kind of laughed at me at told me to expect a 3 hour drive. I thought they were kidding. Apparently we went to the largest shuttle viewing to date. As we got closer to the Space Center traffic crawled to 5 mph. At least I had a book to read and going that slow I wasn't going to get car sick.

There were people everywhere and it was hot! Because we had several hours to kill before take off we were able to explore.

In front of Explorer

the girls now want to be astronauts

The Mercury Spacecraft. The plaque said that once all the controls were installed it was like "going into space in a small bathtub." (Gordon Cooper Faith 7)

Gemini 7 - Frank Borman and Jim Lovell spent 14 days in this spacecraft and made 206 orbits. It was so cramped they couldn't stretch out their legs. Claustrophobia anyone?

And of course, the main thing we went to see was the shuttle take off. There was a lot of excitement from the crowd, cheering and clapping. We met people who came from Australia to watch- the lady was nice enough to hold Kaitlyn up to see over the crowd. We were about 5 miles away, or was it 7? It was pretty loud and it happened fast. It was cool to see and I hope my girls have opportunities in the future to take their children. Who knows, maybe by then everyday people can take a ride into space just for fun. (video coming soon)

Space Shuttle Atlantis on it's final voyage.

Birdie

Kaitlyn hurt her finger the other day and wanted to show everyone.

Soccer Season

As some of you may remember, this soccer season started off like the others, with a broken arm. Abby re-broke her left arm after the second day of practice. So the season started out with Abby sitting on the sideline, then playing with bubble wrap to graduating and playing in her brace. We are so proud of how well she has improved with her setbacks. She has become a great kicker, scored goals, and helped her team become pretty much undefeated (they lost one game).

Abby in all pink.

Running for the ball.

Group hug right after Abby scored the first goal playing a very difficult team.

The fans.

The season starts in Feb. and we play on the top of the hill so it gets pretty cold and windy.

By April, we cheer in the sun.

Reading

Abby has taken off in her reading this year. I have been so surprised at how much she has learned in Kindergarten! One of her favorite past times now is to grab a book and read. She loves to read to her sisters too. Here's how I found them Saturday afternoon, all sitting on the floor reading (Abby was reading, the other two looking through books). I am loving that they enjoy it - it's one of my favorite things to do too.

And today, Sunday, Abby was reading aloud a Clifford book to Kaitlyn and acting like a school teacher. Kaitlyn was intently listening and waiting for Abby to turn the book around to show her the picture. I hope they keep this love of books.