Last Day at Disney!

I know by now you are probably saying Enough with the Disney posts! This is our last day!
We always go to Epcot on our last day. We absolutely love Epcot - even the kids! The Boardwalk is an "Epcot" resort, so we have just a short walk over the bridge and we go in the back entrance. It is beautiful! You come in at the back by France and Great Britain.

We were lucky to see Princess Tiana!

It was the Garden Festival - and it was amazing! I couldn't stop taking pictures! Don't worry I didn't post them all. But it was truly breathtaking!

During all of our past Disney trips, we have never seen Marie from The Aristocats, so that was a real treat! Annamarye has two small stuffed Maries.

On our trip earlier in the week, we just rode rides, this day we visited the countries in the World Showcase. The kids made masks and we bought "passports" for them. At each country there was a "Kidscot" station where you can talk with someone from that country and get your passport stamped. They also add a charm to your mask. The kids really enjoyed it!

After touring the countries we used our fast passes and rode Soarin' and Test Track one last time.

Our last Disney dinner is always at the Coral Reef restaurant in Epcot. One huge wall of it is an aquarium (sorry I don't have a picture). You can go scuba diving inside it. At the end of the Nemo ride you can look at the aquarium. It is actually connected to the Nemo ride. After dinner we rode nemo again, and were able to see some scuba divers in the aquarium with Nemo!

On our way to our room for the night, we stopped on the boardwalk and let Annamarye get a hairwrap!

OK, that is it for our Disney trip! Back to everyday life in Alabama! At least we are having great weather and are getting to play outside after school!

More Disney!

Friday, we had breakfast at Ohana's in the Polynesian Resort. We had never been there and I thought the kids would enjoy seeing Lilo and Stitch. Stitch was there, but Lilo was sick that day. Mickey and Pluto were there too. It was a great breakfast, served family style at the table.

Pluto was fabulous!! He crawled around on the floor and played with the kids. Here he is letting them rub his tummy.

Then they just got silly!

After breakfast we headed over to Magic Kingdom for the day. All of the kids had a blast riding the rides together! We all had a great day! The weather was beautiful!

Johnny and I weren't too excited about getting wet on Splash Mountain, and Carter didn't want to ride. So we stayed with Carter, Clint and Clay while John, Celisa, James and Annamarye rode.

Happy Birthday Annamarye!

Thursday, March 18 was Annamarye's birthday! I can't believe my baby girl is 8 years old!!
My sister, Renee gave me her gift for Annamarye to take with us. It is a Danskin top and pants outfit. Annamarye loves stuff like that! She is always dancing around the house.

James' birthday is in May, but Renee gave him his gift too. It was a Guy Harvey t-shirt. I didn't know who Guy Harvey was - he is some big hunting-fishing guy. James loved it and wore it the next day.

We gave Annamarye the American Girl doll Lanie.

After a quick breakfast, we headed to the Bibiddi Bobiddi Boutique for a makeover. We went to the salon in Downtown Disney. There is also a salon in Cinderella's Castle and Magic Kingdom. Last trip we went to that one. The Downtown Disney one is easier to get in and out of.

This is what Annamarye wanted to do on her birthday. She has been before, but loves it! She really likes the makeup and nail part!

Next we headed to Animal Kingdom. James couldn't wait to ride Expedition Everest!! I rode it once on our last trip. And that was enough for me!

Next we went to do the safari! We saw lots of animals this time. You just never know what you will see. We took a lot of pictures, but I just posted a couple.

We had lots of fun in Dinoland playing games. Both of my kids are pretty competitive and love playing the carnival games! They each won stuffed animals. We all rode our favorite Dinosaur ride. James and I went back and rode 2 more times!

Every trip I always get a picture of Johnny, James and Annamarye in front of the Animal Kingdom sign. It is fun to look back at how the kids have grown over the years! The first picture they are both in strollers.

Then we headed over to Magic Kingdom. We had dinner at Cinderella's castle. While we were there we had time before and after dinner to ride all of our favorites one time! It was great!

All of the kids get a sword or wand and they sing and have them make wishes. Followed by all of the princesses going around to visit! Annamarye's hair got itchy, so she took it down before we got to Cinderella's castle for dinner.

For one last birthday celebration, we had a small cake!

Play Ball!

Saturday was opening day for baseball. James had a game Tuesday night and they won. This year it is kid pitch. Everyone kept saying how long, slow and boring it was, but I didn't think so at all. It was kind of funny though - everyone also said how timid the batters are because they are afraid of getting hit. We were at the end of the 3rd inning and I said that I hadn't noticed that all. Everyone agreed. I'll be durned if the next batter didn't get hit in the arm. Then the next batter got hit in the leg!! I will keep my mouth shut next time!

Anyway, yesterday was the official opening day! James' team is the pirates so Annamarye wore her Mickey pirate shirt!

It was a real nail biter of a game! It went back and forth every inning. It was the bottom of the 4th and we were up to bat. We were behind, the score was 11-7. The pirates played hard and evened up the score 11-11. We were thrilled with that! I'll take a tie over a loss anyday. We had 2 outs, the bases were loaded and it was a full count! The next throw was a ball so our guy walked and we scored and won 12-11!! James played great! He had a couple of great stops and assists in the outfield and 2 hits. One good hit and one great hit to the outfield! So Coach gave him the game ball!

Chef Mickey's and Epcot

Tuesday was our shopping day. I know I know. A lot of you are laughing about this. There are some great outlets in Orlando and we always plan a day to go. James loved it because they had an Under Armour store and Annamarye was in heaven because there was a Justice store. She mentioned a few weeks ago to me about going to "Justice" and I cringed! My first thought was "Oh NO!!" When my nieces were young I remember going with my Mom and Sister and them to Limited Too. It was a zoo then! Anyway, we had a fun day.

Tuesday night we went to Cirque de Soleil's La Nouba. It was fabulous and the kids loved it!! Johnny and I have seen a couple of shows in Las Vegas and knew the kids would enjoy it.

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and headed to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. This is Annamarye's favorite!

After breakfast we headed over to Epcot. We met up with our friends the Owens.

While John and Celisa got Clint and Clay something to eat, Carter went with us to stand in line for Test Track. We had fast passes to Soarin, but had to wait in line for this one. It was long, but really wasn't that bad. And the kids did great waiting. You are moving the entire time too so that helps.

I was a little concerned though when on our way I asked Carter if he had ever ridden Test Track before. He said "No, I was in line once and got scared so I had to exit". But he did great! He and James sat in the front, and Johnny, Annamarye and I sat in the back.

We all rode Nemo!

For dinner that night we went to Restaurant Akershus in Norway of Epcot. Several years ago we had breakfast there, so this year we thought we would try dinner. When you get there they take your picture with Belle.

And then while you eat, all of the princesses come around to your table. This was the night before Annamarye's birthday, so they had the table decorated for her!

This was the first time we have ever seen Ariel! So we made Johnny get his picture with her!

Annamarye also got a special birthday cake in a treasure chest!