Indoor Lemonade Stand

Hannah, Will & Max decided to open a lemonade stand in Hannah's bedroom over the weekend. The main problem with having a lemonade stand in the middle of winter in your bedroom is that mom and occasionally dad are the only customers. I should also mention that Will informed me that their stand would be open 24 hours a day for my convenience.

This entails mom ordering a lot of food and drinks and paying the cashier. Max was suppose to be the cook but he wanted Will's job at the register so after much fighting, the concession stand officially closed this afternoon. I wish I would have taken a couple of pictures but they tore everything down before I knew it! Their menu on the dry erase board was very detailed. Any time they thought up a new food choice they would write it on the board with a price that ranged from $.99 to $3. It was funny that all of Will's favorite foods (doughnuts) were in the $3 column.

Valentine's Day 2012

Hannah card on top and Will's card on the bottom
This picture is turned correctly when I upload it and then it ends up backwards for some reason!

Hannah's Ipod Valentines

Will's Superhero Valentines

Will's present to mom and dad

The kids were at Disney so they missed their Valentine's parties at school this year but they each still brought Valentine's early to exchange. Hannah and I made Ipod Valentines, Will wanted Superhero Valentines and Jack gave everyone Pop Rocks.

Will and Hannah made Darren & I cards and Will also unwrapped every piece of candy he received and put it in a bowl for me. He even emptied all of the sugar packets to the Fun Dips! Darren gave Hannah and I roses and Jack let me kiss him without having to hold him down!

Disney World Day 5 - Animal Kingdom

The roller coaster Hannah went on. It looks much scarier in person.

Kimono Dragon (They are almost the same height)

Family picture in front of the "Tree of Life"

Day 5 we all woke up tired and ready to go to the Animal Kingdom. I had high hopes for this park but overall it seemed like a glorified zoo to me. A couple of the rides were not working and there were a lot of shows (which we all know by this point Jack does not like).

I think Darren would agree that it was worth going just to live in the one moment that Hannah looked at the huge, 90 degree dropping roller coaster and said "I'll go with you dad!". Darren and I both looked at each other and couldn't believe our ears. Darren asked her at least 2 or 3 times if she was sure and she grabbed his hand and walked to the line. I still thought she would back out but didn't! If it is one thing about Hannah, she always surprises me. She acts like she always needs help and hates to try new things but really I think it is a show for us. When she emerged from the ride with Darren she looked a little pale but no tears. She didn't want to do it again but she was so proud of herself for doing in once! Darren still can't believe she went!

We went on the Kilimanjaro Safari, which was the jeep tour and by the end the kids were bored. Their favorite part was going through the water and mud. We saw the Lion King show which was awesome and Hannah was able to meet Pocahontas. Max loved riding on the flying dinosaurs and they ran around in the bone yard for a while. We took a walking tour where we saw a Kimono dragon and bats (yuck!). The kids took pictures with Goofy and Donald and we came back to the hotel early in the afternoon to rest. That evening I had made reservations for a Character Dinner. We left 45 minutes early to ride the bus and monorail to the resort but we got on the wrong monorail and ended up being 30 minutes late for dinner. I was so nervous that we would lose our spot but when we finally arrived they acted like it was no big deal. We ate the dinner buffet and each of the characters came around to each table throughout the dinner. It was so nice to meet the characters without having to stand in line at the parks. Jack didn't really want to be in the pictures but was a good sport and did it anyway with a smile! Max was particular about which characters he wanted to interact with. He like Minnie and of course Pluto but didn't care for Mickey or Goofy too much. It was a great ending to the trip!

We made it back to the hotel and packed up to leave. Will was not too happy about packing his 5 newly acquired swords in the checked luggage. We told him that you couldn't take weapons on the plane even if they were plastic! I think he was too tired to argue about it.

Disney World Day 6 - Going Home

This photo sums up how we all felt by the 6th day...exhausted. Will actually went to sleep on the last night with this hat on his head!

We had to wake up at 2:30am to catch the bus to the airport. We arrived home at 9:30am to Darren's truck that would not start. Bill & Lana were nice enough to meet us at the airport and try to get the truck started. When that did not happen, they took half of us home and Jeff resuced Max and I. We all took showers and had a mandatory nap by noon. I had to wake everyone up at 4pm and the kids went back to sleep for the night at 7pm.

Our trip to Disney was "magical" as Darren and Jack kept reminding us (they were kidding). Darren was a good sport but he and Jack would have probably been happier at the cabin. Hannah, Will, Max and I could have stayed a couple of days longer. Max was really incredible during this trip. He did not have 1 meltdown and went 6 days without a nap. He rarely complained about anything and enjoyed everything he experienced. We realize that he will not remember any of it but we were glad he was with us!

Jack and Will want to be "pin traders" on our next trip and Jack really wants to see ESPN. We thought about taking him the day before we left but then found out that Michelle Obama was going to be at ESPN for a speech that same day. There was no way we were going near that place! What are the chances?? Darren and Jack also want to stay and the Ft. Wilderness Cabins next time. They said that our hotel looked like junk compared to that place. I told them that you get what you pay for!

It was a great week of no scool, no driving, no computer, no winter coats, no laundry, no cooking, no cleaning and never hearing, "I am bored".

Disney World - Day 4 - Hollywood Studios

Star Wars rideLooking dazed but hasn't lost his sword yet

Phineas & Ferb

The reason Max came to Disney..Lightning McQueen

Everyday the kids fought over who would push Max

Lunch at the Drive-in Sci Fi

Waiting for the big stunt show to start

Stunt Show

Can you see us?

Day 4 was dedicated to Hollywood Studios. Darren took the kids on the Star Wars ride first. Max and I waited outside. They said it was awesome! Darren then headed to the roller coaster by himself and the kids and I found Lightning McQueen and Mater all by themselves in the back corner. Max had 15 minutes all to himself with the Cars. His eyes were huge. He could hardly believe they were real. He refused to smile for a picture until the line started to form and then he broke a quick one for me.

We found Phineas & Ferb without a line so we spent some time with them. Max wanted nothing to do with them. We saw a couple of shows and headed to the drive-in theater for lunch. I thought the kids would like it since you were able to eat in a car. Jack and Will loved!

After lunch we walked over to the stunt show. It was delayed for a while due to the downpour of rain but it eventually started. The kids did not make a sound the whole show. It was impressive to see the amount of accuracy and skill it takes to complete just one action scene in a movie.

We turned in our Fast Pass to go on the Toy Story ride. It was up towards 1st on the kids' favorites list. You were able to get in a car that threw you around in circles and shoot everything. The more you shot, the more points you racked up. At the end of the ride it showed you who won. We wanted to ride it again later but it was closed due to repairs.

We saw the Little Mermaid show and one other and the kids had seen enough of the shows. It was the hottest day we would have all week so we headed back to the hotel to swim.

Disney World Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

2nd Favorite ride - Buzz Light Year Max & Stitch

Handsome Will & Max looking tired

Mickey Mouse shaped pretzels

Mickey Mouse shaped trees

Hannah & I before going in the castle for lunch

Hannah & Cinderella

She was so excited!

The room at the top of the castle where we had lunch

Meeting Snow White

Meeting Sleeping Beauty

Aerial

Belle

The wand waving/ wish granting ceremony

Nighttime Magic Kingdom fireworks

Very tired with his new Lightning McQueen light-up spin toy

Fireworks

For our 3rd day in Florida we finished up the Magic Kingdom. We watch a couple of shows that I had read were good and Hannah was really excited for our 1:00 lunch with the princesses in the castle. Darren took the boys to Downtown Disney while Hannah and I checked in for our special lunch. Upon entering, Hannah immediately took a picture with Cinderella. We then waited for our name to be called and walked up a large spiral staircase. Hannah was asking a lot of questions about the castle and was in "awe" that we were actually going up in it. We reached our table and were told it was the best one "in the house". Our table looked out to the whole back of the park and the light beamed in which I was hoping would work well for pictures. When you make the reservation you are promised that 4 princesses will come to your table for pictures. Hannah was excited that Aerial would be one of those. They also had Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. The lunch was not great but I guess you are not really there for the great food anyway. Each little girl was given a wand and wishing star and our waitress gave us 3 swords to give to the boys when we got back.

It was a really special hour and I know that Hannah will remember it forever. She loves looking at the 8x10 picture of her and Cinderella that they gave us and talks about the experience a lot.

(Just for the record when Hannah reads this in 20 years..I asked you multiple times if you wanted to wear one of her princess costumes and you said no. They were babyish!

Hannah and I met up with Darren and the boys at Downtown Disney and returned to the hotel. We returned to Magic Kingdom for dinner that night and stayed to watch the nighttime fireworks. Only at Disney would they have fireworks in the shape of hearts! Or like Jack repeated numerous times over the course of the first two days... Is everything in the shape of Mickey Mouse?"