Disney Day 4

    We decided to go to Magic Kingdom next.  I was like a kid in a candy store when we walked in.  I couldn't believe how beautiful it was.  I kept telling Justin "It really is magical!"  We stayed together as a family for the most part.  There were hardly any lines, which as amazing.  The longest we waited was 40 minutes for Peter Pan.  Surprisingly, my favorite ride was It's a Small World.  I loved all the different countries and Colt loved all the animals in it.  And it was also nice to sit down. 
    Colt and I started the trip really sick.  We both had bad colds and some flu symptoms.  WE tried to keep our germs to ourselves, but by today, Karri was starting to feel pretty sick, and I wasn't feeling to well either.  We literally just sat down on the pavement for 40 minutes and even laid down while waiting.  We were pretty pathetic.  Despite being sick, everyone was a trooper.  The kids loved adventureland- Buzz Lightyear was a huge hit. 
    We split up for dinner and agreed to meet on Main Street to watch the parade. We had no idea it would be so busy.  Very quickly the most magical place on Earth turned in to a free for all for spots on the street!  We tried to stand our ground, but people were pushy.  Regardless, the parade was amazing!  We loved watching the lights and people come down the street.  Colt was having a pretty hard time and Maddie was starting to feel sick, so we took the kids to the car before the fireworks.  Dad said they were the best fireworks he had ever seen. 

Ferry ride over

We've had better pictures

Brotherly love

Waiting for Peter Pan

This is how you pass 40 minutes

It's a small world

Meeting Woody

He loved the train ride

Crazy cousins

The electrical parade

Puff the magic dragon

Disney Day 3

      Wednesday was our first day to the parks and we went to Animal Kingdom. We were all so excited. We did the safari first and Colt loved seeing all the animals. After that we headed to our breakfast with the characters. I was really nervous about how Colt would do with them, but he loved them. We got to see Donald, Mickey, Daisy and Goofy.   Then we went to see the play Nemo.  Colt slept through it, and so did some of the adults.  We were exhausted.  At the end of the day, we went to the parade, which was full of characters from The Lion King and then went to a Lion King play.  I thought he would get bored because it was with people, but he actually really liked it.  They had all his favorite music and some pretend animals.  We were all exhausted by the time we got home, we all crawled in to bed, except Maddie- she wanted to swim!

Pretty excited!

Waiting for the safari

Family pic

Elephants on the safari

Big gorillas

Playing the drusm with Daddy

Sleeping on Daddy

His face when he saw Donald

Colt, Uncle Keaton, Daisy and Maddie

Hugging Goofy

Keaton and Goofy

Pretty excited to see Mickey

Kissing Mickey's nose

His new Simba from Kaleb and Maddie

Making dinner with Papaw

Disney Day 2

  Dad and Delaine scheduled our second day for resting, and thank goodness they did.  We were all exhausted.  Justin, Keaton and I went to the outlet mall to go shopping (it was CRAZY!) and Karri, Kim and Delaine went to get their nails done. Everyone else just stayed at the pool all day.  That night we went to Celebration and walked around. 
    Celebration it the coolest little town.  We walked around their Christmas tree farm, shopped in the little boutiques and watched people ice skate on fake ice.  At the end of the evening tons of people started gathering in the town square for "snow" to come down.  It was so funny to watch all these people get so excited for fake snow.  Colt's favorite part was the horse and carriage rides.  He just wanted to pet all their noses.

  

Disney Part 1

  The last part of the sabbatical was a family vacation to Disney World.  It was the part we had all been looking forward to the most.  We have only been able to go on a family vacation to Chicago together, so this was a big deal!
  Day 1: The day after Thanksgiving, everyone met at our house and we surprised Maddie with a limo ride to the airport!  You should have seen her face! She flew down the stairs and hopped right in.  We had so much fun at the airport just hanging out and waiting for the plane.  Everyone was so excited. 
   I was terrified that Colt would have a hard time on the plane, but he was AMAZING!  He and Justin pretended they were running to get the plane off the ground, and all he could talk about were the clouds.  He was so excited that we were in the clouds.  He watched Toy Story and ate junk food until he fell asleep- but he was happy!
   When we got there, Dad and Delaine were waiting on us.  We ran in to the house like a bunch of kids to pick out bedrooms and after we dropped off our things, went straight to the pool in the back yard.  We were all exhausted, but so excited to be together and to get the vacation started.

Colt, Maddie and Kaleb

Excited!

Waiting for the plane

Looking out the window

ASLEEP!

Mickey ears from Nana and Papa

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Strange's

They're back!

My dad and Delaine have been on their sabbatical for the last few months.  It has been hard to be away from them for so long.  We had occasional skype dates- thank goodness for technology!  Colt really missed them, so naturally, the day they got back, we were at their house feeding the horses.  I will say he was equally excited to see Nana, Papa and the horses!  We are so glad the have them back. I know it was a much deserved break and they learned a lot, we are just glad they are safe and sound back in Pendleton!

Texas

  Justin's cousin tore his ACL this year and had to sit out his senior year of football.  They decided to let him play in the last game of the season, so we decided to drive out and surprise him for his last game in high school.  It was a quick trip, but well worth it to spend time with family.  Here are a few of our favorite moments.

Friday Night Lights

Watching the game

Horse ranch- so in love

Cows everywhere!

Colt and Daddy

Colt and Chance

Go Rangers