The North Pole Ex.press

In early December, we were able to join all of our cousins on the Willis side for a trip on the North Pole express.  Unfortunately, because we booked our tickets at different times, we weren't on the same train car as the rest of the crew, but we had a fun time traveling to the North Pole to see Santa.

All the Willis cousins before the train ride.

Carter and Callen with their train tickets.

Callen sat with Daddy, 

 while Carter sat with me.

 Once we made it to the North Pole, the elves came by first and gave us keys and north pole ex.press ornaments.  

Then, Santa and Mrs. Claus came through to visit with us!

After we visited with Santa and Mrs. Claus, we were treated to cookies and chocolate milk for our ride back to the station!

The Second Half of 2012

I am sure that no one is reading this anymore since I haven't posted since May!  However, we did have a busy summer and fall {which I hope is obvious from the lack of posting!}.  Rather than posting about each and every fun event and activity, I figured I'd capture the last six months in pictures to catch up!

At the end of May, we went down to the beach for Memorial Day.  LE was indoctrinated into the beach life with her own toe-dipping.

We spent lots of time at the beach around the 4th of July and at then end of August, right after school started, we celebrated Callen's 3rd birthday and Carter's 5th with a pool party.

 Nick and I were fortunate enough to take two fun trips.  The first was to Grand Cay.man.

 And then we headed west to Napa Valley.  Very different trips, but both very enjoyable!

 Carter started Kindergarten.  Below, he is with his teacher, Ms. Wilson on meet the teacher day.

 Callen started 3K at a new school the same day that Carter started Kindergarten. She is loving it and growing and learning so much!

 This is Carter walking into school on the first day.  He really wanted me to drop him off through carpool, but I couldn't bring myself to do it!  We got about 10 steps from the door, and he asked me if I could stop!  I reminded myself to be thankful for the independence and the confidence!

 Halloween had us pulling out our pixie dust and our toy box, as Callen was Tinker.bell and Carter was Woody.

In early November, we witnessed LE's baptism.

 Callen and LE posing for a picture after the service.  Carter had to leave early for a soccer game, so he missed out on the pictures.

Whew.  Ok, so there were many other fun moments but I think they were captured on my cell phone!  I will do separate posts on some of our Christmas fun activities.  But, that should catch up anyone who was wondering if we are still around!

Headed Home

I think this was how we all felt after a great week at Dis.ney World!

Last Day at Dis.ney World

On our last day, we opted to spend more time at the MK again.  We got their early so that we could be there for the official park opening.  Carter and Callen enjoyed seeing the characters ride in on the train and   dance to the music.

Once we could enter, we headed straight to Pixie Hollow to meet Tinker.bell, who was the one person we wanted to meet but had not yet gotten to see.  We waited just a little bit and then it was our turn.

After we left Pixie Hollow, we headed to the Pirate ride so that we could do that again for Callen--she loved it!

Then, on to Splash Mountain.  Nick managed to convince Carter to ride again!  This was right after the plunge down into the briar patch...Carter and Nick are in the back of this log. {sorry, my camera settings were off!}

We spent the day riding our favorite rides at MK and enjoying our last day in a somewhat leisurely manner.  This was by far the busiest day in the parks of our whole trip, but, then again, it was a Friday, so I am not totally surprised.

Taking a pic with Zurg after the Buzz ride.

We stopped for a late lunch at Casey's Cor.ner and there was a tall table available, but we could quite figure out how to the children would manage to eat.  Turns, out the window sill was just the right size! {don't worry...Callen didn't eat the food that is on the actual sill!}

After lunch, we asked Carter and Callen if there were any other rides they wanted to ride...it seemed they preferred to play in the fountain!  It was hot, so I can't say I blame them!

We headed back to the hotel to take naps, and when they woke up we let them pick which evening activity they wanted to do again {we had done all of them by this time}.  They picked Fatas.mic at Holly.wood Studios, or as they called it, "Mickey saves the Day!"

We headed over to Epcot for a quick dinner in Morocco and then walked over to Holly.wood Studios.  We grabbed our light up toys, got some ice cream for a snack and then headed in to enjoy watching Mickey save the day again!

 They loved it!  After Fantas.mic, we headed to Epcot because they were having Magic Hours.  We rode the Nemo ride a few more times and then decided to head back to the hotel...exhausted and thrilled by a wonderful week at Dis.ney World!

Epcot!

We started our fourth full day at Dis.ney with another pre-park opening meal at Aker.shus with the princesses.  When we first walked in, the children were able to take a picture with Belle.  They loved that she called them "teacups" and as you can see, they were awed by her.  The official pic with Belle had them actually looking at the camera!

We also got to see Cinderella again.  We were right by the door where the princesses entered the restaurant, and Carter got so excited for Callen when Cinderella came in!  He was urging her to get up to meet her.  Precious!

This was the first time we got to meet Snow White...apparently she isn't included as a princess at Cinderella's Castle.

And Ariel...Callen's favorite; can you tell?

 Aurora too.  Aurora led the parade and they had a blast marching around the restaurant.

We finished breakfast still a little before the park opened, so we took pictures by some of the great plants shaped like characters.

The children and I headed first to the character spot to meet and take some pictures with the characters, while Nick headed over to grab some Soar.in' fast passes.

 

Once we finished taking our pictures, we headed over to meet daddy and then ride the Nemo ride a few more times...{we had already hit Turtle Talk with Crush the day before}.

After that, we made it over to Soar.in' for our FP time and then hit the Living with the Land ride.  Then we left and did several other activities and rides in Future World.

By shortly after midday, we were ready to head back to the hotel for naps to gear up for a busy night.  We opted to skip lunch in favor of an early dinner at Tep.pan Edo--a hibatchi grill in Japan at Epcot.  The children loved the entertainment and the wait staff even made child-friendly chop sticks, so they loved eating with those!  {aside:  the food at Epcot was the BEST... we at there probably 4 times...several times just to eat and head somewhere else!}

After dinner, we were excited to see some favorite characters had been created in the plants.  We had to take a picture!

 After dinner, we headed to the Magic King.dom to take in the electrical parade and the Wishes Fireworks show.  They enjoyed a mickey ice cream bar while waiting on the parade.  They LOVED the night parade!

We moved our location after the parade so we could have a good spot for the fireworks.  They waited so patiently before the fireworks show!

The children loved seeing Tinkerbell fly from the castle and seeing all the beautiful fireworks!  Of course, the bus on the way home from the fireworks was packed and our children were worn out.  It was a great, busy day, and we were ready to get a good night's sleep in anticipation of our last day in the parks!