Long Time No Post

So since it's been more than 6 months since I last posted, I don't think I'll post pictures for a make-up post. I'll just post December. We kicked off December by Kicking Jeff and the kids out! We had our last Young Women's Slumber party for the 2010 year at my house. It was also the last slumber party for me as YW president and my presidency. At the end of the month I was to be released due to a boundary change. It was a short lived presidency but we had a lot of fun. Here are all the girls who showed up. We had just gotten back from caroling. I'll post pictures of what our YW mothers did while at our slumber party. I haven't had to clean up that much toilet paper since I was a teenager! haha.

A week later we left for our trip to Florida. Jeff's whole family went on the Disney Cruise. We flew into Florida on a Friday. Jeff's Mom had ordered all the kids matching Disney t-shirts. They were super cute. Here are my kids Saturday morning, in the Hotel SUPER excited to get on the bus and go board the cruise ship.

We boarded around lunchtime. Had a great lunch and walked around the boat. Our rooms were ready by mid afternoon so we dropped off some things, then at 4:00 they have a dance party. My kids LOVE to dance, but I guess they are more of the in the bedroom by themselves dancers. Lucy and I were the only ones shaking our groove thing. The ship pulled the anchor and we were off during the Dance party. We let the boys swim for a short time before dinner. Here is Lucy with her wand she got at the dance party and snuggling with Daddy watching the boys swim.

Our first stop was Key West. Jeff really wanted a T-shirt from each port. They had all these great statues all around I LOVED it. Jeff and I checked Grant and Scottie into the kids club. They were "flying off to neverland with Peter Pan" and we took Lucy onto Key West for a little shopping. The boys had a great time. Jeff went out with his family shortly after this, and they took a smaller boat out and did some great snorkeling. I stayed on board the ship and let Lucy have a nap and checked in on the boys having fun.

One of the nights for dinner is formal night. All of the characters had their formals on. Here is Daisy looking super glam. These are all the cousins on Jeff's side. We had fun with all of our cousins.

Another Port was Cozumel Mexico. Jeff and the kids and I took a tour of the island, which included a tour of some Mayan ruins. Jeff's ALWAYS wanted to see Mayan ruins. Here we are in front of one of the temples. It was a very peaceful place (if you didn't listen to my kids). I really enjoyed it. Cozumel was BEAUTIFUL and safe. I was glad we did the tour of the island. I bought some jewelry made of black coral from the black coral reef that Jacque Cousteau discovered that runs from Mexico up to Florida. Jeff got a T-shirt.

Jeff and the boys on one of the beautiful beaches in Cozumel.

My kids LOVE Chip and Dale. Most mornings you could go to any place to eat, but 1 time during the week you are invited to a character breakfast. That's where you can get A LOT of pictures with the characters. Dale came to visit our table. We had just checked out some old school Chip and Dale Disney movies at the library before we came, so the boys were loving seeing them in real life. Lucy . . . not so sure. She would wave like crazy and smile and laugh, until they got closer, then she'd completely change.

Here we are at one of our dinners. After dinner there was usually entertainment that was on Broadway level. This place was packed with fun.

My favorite place Cast Away Cay. Disney's island. I wish we could just come here for a full week. The weather was 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The water was perfect and the place was tropical. Jeff and I got off the boat at 9:00, we were one of the first ones off. We saved some seats under some palm trees that had umbrella's and we played hard ALL DAY LONG. I think we didn't board until absolutely necessary. I used a whole bottle of sunscreen on my family that day. Here is Scottie riding the train to the part of the island where we wanted to play.

This is where we sat. It was great.

Here is Grant playing in the ocean. There was a sting ray that swam right by he and Scottie a couple of times. Next to this area was a snorkeling area. Jeff and I rented some snorkel equipment and took turns going out. Disney put some "shipwreck" things out in the water and it was fun to try and find them.

After the cruise, we stayed in Orlando for 4 days. Our first day we went to Epcot, then Animal Kingdom, then Magic kingdom, then a day at Sea World. Just typing that out I am feeling the exhaustion all over again. We used the "Unofficial Guide to Disney World" and I tell you what, if you are even CONSIDERING going to Disney world or Disneyland you've GOT to get that book. We followed the park plans they recommend and didn't waite in lines more than 10-15 min. Here we are just entering Epcot.

Magic Kingdom. Lucy could do most of the rides here. I get so sick on any rides that go in circles. I actually feel sick just watching the dumbo ride. Jeff ran over to splash mountain to get us fast passes for later, but called me to say there was no line, so he decided to ride splash mountain. The kids wanted to ride Dumbo SOO bad, and according to our park guide from the book we read, they suggested to do it early. I decided to sacrifice myself for the sake of my children and ride the ride, even if it meant throwing up. All for the sake of memories. Jeff called me to tell me he was on his way and we were just at the gate to board. I made him run and climb over the fence to switch places with me. In the nick of time. He road with all three crammed in Dumbo. It was cute.

 

There are MANY more pictures of our trip but I don't want to bore you all. We had a great time and already want to do it all over again.


We got home the Eve of Christmas Eve. It took a good couple of days and rascally kids to finally get back from East Coast time to West Coast time. Christmas morning we were all feeling more normal. Here is Lucy on Christmas morning. I got her a Tinkerbell Tea set at Ross back in August. She plays with it every day. It's too cute. I think she likes how it sounds when it's clanking together.

I made the boys and Lucy capes for Christmas. Lucy wouldn't put it on for the first while, but she now likes her. Hers is purple and pink with a purple heart on the back. Here are my underwear super heroes!

The back side of the capes.