9 years and still going strong!

Joey and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Wednesday (the 20th) and we had such a wonderful, laid back day! We went to lunch together and exchanged gifts. Both of us got each other the perfect card... it was really funny! Then we just walked around Target for a bit before heading back to work - I know, we're old, but we like it!

That night, we compromised with Ashton and went to Salsalito's for dinner as a family - she was hoping for Outback. We had a such a good time just being together as a family. The kids were well-behaved and we really had an enjoyable evening. It's such a blessing to see what God has done in 9 years... a wonderful husband and two beautiful children.

Here's to many, many more! I love you baby... more than you know!

The big day...

Day 5 on our trip was a very special day - DAD's BIRTHDAY!!! How cool is that to celebrate your birthday not only with all of your family right there, but at Disney World!!!

We hit Animal Kingdom for the first time on our trip today. I'll admit, I thought it was just going to be an over-sized zoo, but boy, was I wrong!! Animal Kingdom was one of my favorite parks. The kids loved it and it was just very cool to walk through the different "continents" and see what it might feel like to be there.

Here is Mt. Everest. This is one of the best rollercoasters ever!

What do you know? It's POOH!!! Ashton had been looking for Winnie the Pooh the entire trip and we just turned a corner and there he was! It was definitley one of the highlights of Ashton's trip.

Then there was Pocahontas...

Ah, the Triceratop Spin. This was Taylor's favorite ride at the Animal Kingdom and he made us ride it over and over and over again. He was super excited!

Both the kids wanted to get their faces painted, so that was the "souvenier" for today.

Oh, Canada! We moved back to Epcot for lunch today. This is the restaurant!

Our lunch was very good, but I have to say the highlight of lunch was dessert. Let me explain... We ordered dad a birthday cake and it came to our table with a round, plastic-looking Mickey Mouse on it. It looked like it could have been edible, so dad asked one of the waitresses that passed by if it was. She said yes, so dad took a big bite... yeah, the waitress was severly mistaken. Oh well, we all had a huge laugh!!

After lunch, we hit a few more rides before heading off to watch the Patriots lose the Superbowl :) Mission Space was absolutely, by far, my favortie ride. It was so cool, and so real!

Unfortunately Taylor was too short to ride, but he enjoyed playing the "Mission Mars" video games while we waited for Dad and Ashton.

Welcome to Hollywood!

Day 4 in our Disney World trip brought us to Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM Studios). Many of us were looking forward to this because we all wanted to ride "The Tower of Terror."

So that's where we headed first... fast passes for The Tower of Terror. Funny thing is, this turned out to be Taylor's favorite ride - although I'm not sure how since he looked panic-stricken the entire time.

Then we moved on to learn about "The Magic of Disney Animation." We got to see how animated films are made - from drawings to movie. Then we were able to actually take a class where they taught us to draw Minnie Mouse. I thought the kids would love this, especially Ashton, being the artist that she is. BUT, she's also a perfectionist, so she was quite upset when her Minnie didn't turn out like the instructors. (So upset she actually threw it away and I didn't even get to see it!!)

Joey's, on the other hand, was fabulous!!!

Ashton had to pose at almost everything imaginable. She was adorable, though!

Just walking down the streets of "Hollywood." Pretty cool atmosphere.

Next was the "Rockin' Rollercoaster." Ashton was so excited to ride, but when we got right there about to board the rollercoaster, she bailed. Luckily they let me sneak in the back and get to the front of the line so I could actually ride. It was pretty cool.

Taylor and I watched a parade while the others rode "The Great Movie Ride." The parade was amazing! We saw every Disney character imaginable. Here are a few of Taylor's favorites:

Before the parade, I gave in to Taylor's begging and bought him the stuffed Mickey Mouse you see here. Evidentally the parade wore Mickey out because Taylor decided it was time for his nap! (Yes, that's a napkin...)

Taylor also got a huge kick out of watching the live "High School Musical 2" performance. At one point he looked over at me a gave me the thumb's up. It was too cute!

My little Star Wars hero.

We wrapped up the night with dinner at the Sci-Fi Drive-In Theater. Very neat atmosphere... the kids ate dinner in a car and we were right next to them. (BTW, if I haven't mentioned this before, all of the food at DW is excellent! Certainly not like anything you'd expect from a theme park!)

Stay tuned for Animal Kingdom pics...

Welcome to Epcot!

The infamous Epcot "ball" (really it holds the ride Spaceship Earth, but we'll get to that in a minute). We had a great time here as well. Admittedly, this was slotted in my mind to be my least favorite because I thought it was just a big "educational" park. I guess it is somewhat, but they did have some of the coolest rides, too!

This is Test Track - now, if you haven't been to Disney before, you should know that everything is a production. Not just the shows and parades, but everything! Standing in line is a production!

To further explain, this is the inside of the "Test Track" where you wait in line. Crash test dummies and wrecked cars every where. Then, when you're ready to get on the ride, they take you into this room and all of the sudden it's as if you ARE the test driver. The video plays and instructs you on how you will test the car you're driving... it's like this on every ride. It's pretty amazing if you're used to the standard Sea World/Fiesta Texas lines...

There's Jason in the back (those are Ali's legs next to him), Madi, Ashton, and Austin in the front. (Taylor rode with mommy and daddy.)

On our way to another area of the park, we happened upon the Epcot Character Spot. It was a gold mine of Disney characters... so much so that the kids didn't even mind the 30-40 minute wait. Sorry, no fast passes for character pics!

(You'll notice that Taylor is never with the girl characters. He was so silly and would not take a picture with any of them!)



Joey had to get in on the Alice In Wonderland shot, but Taylor would not join him for anything!! Notice Joey's shirt?? (What a hottie!)

Now, onto the learning section... the kids made paper! Isn't that cool? Ashton is stamping her final project and Taylor has just finished dragging that screen through pulp. Ok, so maybe all the learning isn't that bad...


Waiting in line for Spaceship Earth, which is inside the Epcot ball... I always wondered what was in there...


Mom & Dad on Spaceship Earth. It's not a fast ride, so I held on to my camera.


Ahhh... Soarin'. This was, I believe, the overall favorite. It is the most awesome experience... Jason & Dad even went back to Epcot one night just to ride this!



Mom and dad did another extra special experience for us (as if the trip itself wasn't enough) and got us on the Fireworks Extravaganza. We were met in the Contemporary Resort by Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, who saw us off on our sailing adventure.


Once we were out in the center of the lake, we had the best seats in the house for the Magic Kingdom fireworks show. It was really beautiful... the pics will certainly not do it justice, but they did turn out pretty good, I thought.



Then, we were met back on shore by Peter Pan himself! We chased him down and got the cutest pics of the kids.