Birthday Bash!

No better way to escape the January winter blues then with a trip to Disney World! A few months ago we got the idea to celebrate the 3 older kids' birthdays with a trip to Florida. It had been 5 years since we had done the Disney thing and they are all at a perfect age to enjoy it. Brooke, on the other hand, is terrified of any dressed up character and any type of ride so it would be more like her worst nightmare. Barr's mom was willing to come out a little early for Brigham's baptism and stay with Brooke while the rest of us went to Florida. We enjoyed 80 degree weather while they had ice storms and were snowed in for 2 days here. Brooke got more one-on-one time than I think she's had in her entire life. And Barr's mom dressed more Barbies than she has in a few lifetimes!

My parents were able to join us for the first two days which always makes it seem more like a party. Sunday was our first full day there so we thought it would be nice to walk through a nature preserve to Alligator Lake. Had we clued in after about 20 minutes of walking and not seeing any other visitors or even any animal life we might have realized we should have turned around. But after a mile and a half into it, we learned we were only half-way to the lake. None of us had bothered reading the sign at the beginning of the trail indicating it was a 3 mile hike! We decided we had gone that far so might as well finish it, hoping there would be a shorter way back to the parking lot. After trudging through sand in the heat (some of us in our church clothes) we finally reached the lake only to find it was more like a marshy swamp with no alligators and no beach and more importantly, no shortcut back. We were out of water and energy but somehow managed to hike the 3 miles back. Walking 6 miles on sandy ground in the heat is no easy task for an almost 8-year-old and we were very proud of the kids. By this time it was 1:20 and the last church service started at 2:00. Our condo was 20 minutes away and then another 10 minutes to the church. If my feet weren't as black as coal and my baseball cap wet with sweat, we would have just gone straight to church and tried to hide in the back. But I took the advice of my great, great, great grandfather who said, "I am late, but I am clean!". Miraculously we weren't late and most of us got clean. The kids were even willing to forgo their much deserved Slurpees until after church.

Saying goodbye to my parents at the condo.





That night in the hot tub we were fortunate to meet Eddie. I started talking to him and asked if there was any way to get discount tickets to the parks. He said he could hook us up with 3 tickets for $50 a piece (saving us $90!). His grandmother works for Disney World and had a few family passes left. It would be hard to pass us off as Latino and Brittany was worried we would have to say we were his second cousins. Eddie said he would meet us in the parking lot the next morning at 8:00 to make the arrangements. We were still a little skeptical, but thought it was worth a try. We were really taking a chance when we had to pay him cash for the tickets and then follow him to Magic Kingdom. The boys were memorizing his license plate in case he "accidentally" lost us! Luckily he was good for his word and got us into the park like promised.

It was a perfect 10-year birthday for Brittany who was given a birthday button to wear. Every Disney worker that we passed wished her a happy birthday. The weather was perfect and the crowds were low. We used fast passes on anything with over a 15 minutes wait, but most were even shorter than that. We were able to do everything in the park (the boys drew the line at the princess make-overs though) at least once and some of our favorites multiple times.

We were up early again the next morning for another great day. This time it was Brigham's birthday and we spent it at Hollywood Studios. Right as they opened, we followed the crowd to the new Toy Story ride and loved it so much we immediately got a fast pass to ride it again later. That was the only ride that had more than just a few minute line. Brittany was intimidated with some of the bigger rides at first. She cried all through Hollywood Tower (formerly the Tower of Terror) but then once it was over realized it wasn't that bad and ended up riding it several more times! We talked her into going on Rockin' roller coaster too, but her nerves got the better of her once it was time to get on. After the boys came off of it laughing and wanting to do it again, she agreed to give it another try. That too became a favorite.

We were pretty exhausted by Wednesday so decided just to hang around the condo, go swimming, and then spend a few hours walking around Downtown Disney to finish our souvenir shopping. It's no surprise that Brigham ended up with 2 guns, Ben, a Lego video game, and Brittany, earrings, t-shirt, hat, and souvenir pins.

It was a little shocking to return home to single digit temperatures. Barr almost lost a few fingers at the airport trying to crack off an inch and a half thick layer of ice that covered our van. The kids were a little bummed that they had missed 2 snow days, but that just meant they were ahead of everyone when they returned to school.

Saturday was another special day, Brigham's baptism. We were glad Barr's dad, my parents, Bev, and the Edwards made the trip to be here for that. We were sad to learn that my sister, Laurel's father-in-law had passed away the night before. We missed them, and are sorry for their loss. It was a very nice service with many of our friends and neighbors here in the Dublin area able to join us and help make it a special day for Brigham.

Brigham's big day

Brooke had fun smiling at everyone!