Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party

Happy New Year's Eve!!!

As I scroll through the photos I have taken in the month of December, I can't believe it.  I went from hardly picking up my camera in November to shooting "overdrive".  I still have so many photos I want to share.  So I will be on a posting frenzy.  As is usually the case, I will be late with my "Year in Review" post.  I will probably get that up in the next week. For now, though, I want to back up to the weekend before Christmas.

Since it had been a few years since we attended Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party, we thought we would make time for it this year.  We arrived around 4:30 because we prefer to keep our visits short (it helps us keep our sanity as the evening progresses.)  We usually go to Tomorrow Land first. So we made our way to the People Mover.

Havi is in this phase where she is afraid of the pitch dark.  So she needed some cuddling during parts of the ride.  Next up was the Raceway.  Caleb was so thrilled to be tall enough to "ride alone".  He had been looking forward to that solo drive for....ever.

The sun was setting as we were in line and on the track. So I couldn't really capture any decent photos.  But since there was a bit of a back up, I thought I would try to snap a photo of me with my precious shotgun rider.

Then we decided to grab dinner before the dinner crowd had the same idea.  After filling up, we headed over to Carousel of Progress...only to find out we were 5 minutes too late, as the ride had just closed for the evening.  Boo! The dumplings were singing the theme song all week long. So they were a bit disappointed we just missed it.  We decided to head over to Fantasy Land to ride the Barnstormer.

We were so thrilled that the wait time said 5 minutes.  Madeline and I ran all the way to the top and walked right on the roller coaster.  No waiting!!!  We had so much fun, we ran all the way down as we exited the ride so we could do it again!  This time, we had to wait once just so we could ride in the front row.  It was worth it!  The front row was a blast!  Good call Madeline!

Then we scooted on over to Ariel's Grotto.  Poor little Havi was upset with the dark.  But she managed to settle down a bit and enjoy the ride some.  Then I rode the carousel with both Caleb and Madeline.  

After the carousel, we grabbed some hot chocolate and sugar cookies.  Then we thought we'd head over to Pirates of the Carribean before the parade....only it, too, was also closed for the evening.  Poor Caleb was looking forward to it.  What a bummer.  Well, we decided to wait for the parade, and we're glad we did.  Havi insisted we go "home now".  Being at Disney in the dark was just too much for her.  At the start of the parade, she didn't even watch.  She just played with my phone.  Then Patrick held her, and she actually began to enjoy it.  We were so thankful for the turn around.

We headed home once the parade was over, and all three dumplings promptly fell asleep once we began driving.  It was a fun night and cold enough toward the end of the evening to enjoy hot chocolate, which hasn't been the case much of December.

So now that I'm caught up with sharing all that happened before Christmas, I will have to share our post-Christmas Christmas celebrations...yes, you read that right...plural.  We partied for three more days, in fact! lol  Stay tuned...

Be brave

Last week at tennis, I whipped out my Fujifilm to snap a few photos of the girls hanging out.  Well, that quickly turned into the girls taking turns behind the lens.  Now mind you, although the Fujifilm is compact, lightweight, and easy to use, it's not cheap.  So I really had to watch the girls carefully to make sure they didn't drop it on the pavement, because that would be kinda bad.  (In a sidenote, I took the liberty of blurring the signage in keeping with our "undisclosed" location, like I did at the recent Pro tennis tournament.)

Don't you think the shooting-up-at-your-neck-and-nose angle is so flattering? *cough cough*

Regardless of focus, I absolutely adore this shot that Havi took of me with my toothless girly.

And then, of course, when it was Madeline's turn, somebody had to photo bomb.

Then I tried to reduce the neck-and-up-your-nose shot by getting down lower.  It worked, briefly.

We proved that, even though the superhero party was over, we still had it in us.

So believe it or not, that day Caleb actually had two tennis lessons (a private in the morning and a group in the late afternoon).  So it was back to the courts for some of us. Madeline stayed home with Baba, and I took Havi with me to hang out.

I tried snagging a shot of the two of us, but this was the only attempt she allowed.

The courts weren't busy yet, so she took to running down the long sidewalk that splits the front and back courts.

She had a lot of fun, but shortly after I snapped that photo, she hit the pavement hard.  Thankfully she only skinned her knees a little.  So she took to dancing and playing with her diaper changing pad.

I just loved the shadows that the sun and wind screen cast on her.  It was such pretty light.

Well, this past weekend was a busy one for us.  Not only did we go camping, but Caleb also had a tennis tournament.  We also stayed an extra night at the campground, which meant we were driving back to the house at 6:00am Monday morning.  We're so glad we did that though.  I didn't take nearly as many photos as usual because I was trying to keep up with Caleb's tennis matches (Patrick took him to the tournament), but I will try to share about our camping adventure soon.

Forever Family Day celebrations continued-Part 2

Day 3: The hotel we stayed at had a character breakfast for the kids, which included characters from the movie Shrek.  I must admit that I've never seen the movie.  Still, it was a very enjoyable dining experience for everyone.  Havi wouldn't get near Shrek, but she did wave good-bye to him! lol

 After breakfast, we headed outside to let loose a little.  Caleb brought along his camera.  So he and Madeline took turns shooting with it.

 Then the kids played duck-duck-goose.

 We went down to the pool before lunch, then ate our lunch poolside and stayed there till mid afternoon.  Then it was time to wash up and get ready for an early dinner, the Spirit of Aloha at the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World.  Our hotel had a beautiful atrium in the center.  So every time we left our rooms, we had to walk past the koi fish. 

 When we arrived to the dinner show, we learned that our seats were in the back.  No problem, I thought.  I would use my new telephoto lens to shoot the performers.  Well, the only problem with that plan was that my lens was back in the hotel room instead of my bag.  Boo!  So I had to use my Fujifilm with its 35mm lens equivalent.  So much for close up shots.

 At one point during the dinner, they had all the kids come down to the front to dance with the performers.

 Then the traditional dances began.

 Caleb was so impressed with the guy who performed with fire.  It reminded me of my summer camp circus days, as one of the counselors could juggle fire.  It's the real deal, people.

 We had such a nice time. The kids ate all of the items off the adult menu.  And Caleb really enjoyed the bread pudding.  Looks like I have another recipe to try.  After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and, in case we weren't stuffed enough, the kids enjoyed some frozen yogurt.

 The next morning was Michele and Lydia's last day.  We swam in the pool one last time and then ventured over to Celebration for some lunch.  Caleb had some salmon with a creamy roasted red pepper sauce. I was so impressed.  I'm happy to see his tastes are maturing.

 After lunch we walked over to the lake and spotted an anhinga just perched on the railing and hanging out.  All the kids gathered around to take photos.  And you would've thought I had learned my lesson from the night before and put my telephoto lens back in my bag.  But nope. That was still back at the hotel.  So needless to say, I didn't get too close to this hissing anhinga with my Fujifilm.

 Havi was a bit grumpy and tired and in no mood to take a photo with anyone.

We were so glad that Michele and Lydia could make the trip, even though it was cut short a day.  We loved spending time with them, and we're looking forward to heading up to Connecticut in October for Lydia's birthday.

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend.  After taking the last few weekends off from tennis tournaments, Caleb will be back on the courts.  Stay cool and have fun out there!