Happy Birthday Owen!

I am so far behind on everything these days. I don't know if I'll ever catch up.

Owen's birthday was weeks ago, and I am only posting now. Oh well.



It was a happy one. Owen enjoyed decorating his own cake, and got some very fun presents.


Happy Eighth Birthday Owen!!!



So Happy Together

This is (hopefully) the last Disney post. These are some pictures that show how much fun we had just being together.








Disney Vacation - Some Attractions

I cannot believe it's November and I still haven't finished talking about our vacation. I really should be posting about Halloween, but I am not anywhere close to posting those pictures.


Anyway, these are just a few pictures of some of the many, many attractions and rides we experienced. I didn't take very many pictures. We were so busy that I didn't have time to stop.


This first one is CoCo on Splash Mountain. She had no idea what to expect. She didn't mind the splash part, but the "scary puppets" really got to her.


This is the girls waiting in line for Toy Story Mania. Seriously?! We did not wait in line more than 10 minutes for anything during the entire vacation EXCEPT this ride. It was definitely fun, and definitely a LONG wait.



This is one of the few times that Owen would get close to CoCo.


Everyone got to try their hand at being a Jedi.



Honey, I Shrunk the Playground! That's one big tinker toy (and one big ant!!)







The little girls LOVED Cinderella's Carousel. Maddie was reluctantly a good sport.



The little girls also had an amazing talent for finding every water squirting fountain in the World!



Owen's favorite was the Lego store.



Or maybe it was Ridemakerz, where Owen got to design his own remote control race car! (Think Build a Bear Workshop for big boys). Owen picked this as his birthday present this year. Cost a lot more than Ginger's Tinkerbell and Cinderella charm bracelet. Anyone who thinks that girls are more expensive than boys have not met my kids!



Ginger loved visiting Minnie Mouse's house.



And we all loved Expedition Everest.


Whew!

The Food!!

One of the greatest things about our Disney vacation is that we got to eat for free!! We signed up at just the right time to get the Disney Dining Plan for free. What a cost saver! We got one full service meal every day (including drink and dessert), one 'fast food' meal a day (including a drink and desert), and one snack every day. Each. And it was totally free.

This meant that we got to eat at some very nice places that we would have otherwise ignored (those of you who know me well know that I would most likely throw some PB & J's in a back pack and buy the kids an ice cream cone as a special treat). Anyway, it felt really good to get a bill for $125, hand over a card, and be charged nothing. All I had to do was leave a tip. Very, very nice.

Below are just some random pictures of people eating. This doesn't even begin to capture the fabulous meals we ate and the fun times we had.

The kids really loved these "Mickey Mooses."





Ginger loved making a mess with these little fruit bars.


She also got a kick out of sampling soda from China in Epcot's "Club Cool."


And that silly Miss Ingrid! Always getting herself in trouble. She stirred up such a ruckus at the Whispering Canyon Cafe' that she had eat her dinner behind bars.



More Disney - Fort Wilderness

While on our vacation, we stayed at the Disney campground - Fort Wilderness. We didn't actually camp - our cabin was air conditioned and had all the amenities of any rental home. It was the perfect place for us. There was enough space for everyone, and we were far enough from our neighbors that we didn't annoy them with all of the noise we make.


There are so many wonderful things about Fort Wilderness. When you return to your cabin at night, it is perfectly quiet - no bustling lobby to walk thru, no glaring lights. The other 'campers' treat you like neighbors. Plus, there is a LOT to do at the campground (much of it free).

We chased and caught lizards, went to a campfire with Chip and Dale, watched Disney movies under the starts, fished, canoed, swam, went to a backyard barbeque with Mickey, and road a ferry boat all over the world.






The little girls look so tired in these pictures! All that fun definitely wore them out!!!