Round 3

Here we are! The happiest family on earth, at the happiest place on Earth!

Again we all had an amazing time! I have had a hard time trying to readjust to "normal" life! I will cry if you mention the words Walt, or Disney, or even World for that matter! So tread lightly!

But alas there are memories, and here are some that we would like to share!

Characters were EVERYWHERE this year!

Here are the children with Wendy and Peter Pan, right after we took a fantastic Fireworks Cruise! We got to enjoy the Wishes fireworks at Magic Kingdom on Mr.Smee's boat with Wendy. Captain Hooks boat had Peter Pan, and when the fireworks were all done, we got to meet Peter! We also played games with Wendy on our boat, and received a sword, pirate necklace, a message in a bottle, and a hook!

We had a great night! It all ended perfectly with not being able to get back to our hotel! SO the hunt was on for a bus....we eventually made it, maybe an hour of so later...but a memory nonetheless, especially with the super helpful employee at the Contemporary Resort!

The children getting to meet Captain Hook and Mr. Smee!

Pluto!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse! The children LOVED their mouse ears that they received as part of a gift basket from Uncle Chuck and Auntie Barb! The ears have their names embroidered on the back!

This was earlier in the day when we happened upon Wendy. The children got to have fun telling jokes with her, since there were not many other kids around! The kids told Wendy that they thought Captain Hook smelled like a cookie, and Wendy thought it was more like a Codfish...They all had a good time!

Okay, I need to go wipe my eyes, and continue with my W.D.W. Depression.
Send help!

Round 2

Official Mickey endorsement! Mickey loved the shirts,
and HAD to have his picture taken with me!

Adam, Kristyn, and T bone at the Magic Kingdom.
It really is Magic!

Daddy and the Kiddos at Tom Sawyer Island in the Magic Kingdom! We had never been here before, and the kids loved running an exploring! There were some cool caves to go through too!

The kids loved meeting the different characters from the movies!
Here we have Jasmine, Aladdin, and Genie with the kids!

Happy kids, my favorite!

Round 1

We did it!
We made it to Disney World, and back!
Now we are working on getting all the photos on the computer, and ready to be displayed!


Below, we are on the bus with Grammy and Opa, getting ready for our exciting day!

Our first plane ride! We all loved it, and soon forgot that we were even on the plane.




MORE pictures to come!
Stay tuned!

O Christmas Tree...

The time had come once again to make our trip out to the tree farm...and it was COLD!
So we were pretty quick with the selection...and the kids had no problems enjoying themselves!

Decorating the tree was promptly started 3 days later,
and finished by the 5th day!

This ornament is one that I made in preschool.

Love the hand painted ornaments that FILL our tree!
We have several that were created by my grandmother, and Will's mother.

Take a look at last years trip to the farm!
http://coopd-up.blogspot.com/2007/12/o-christmas-tree.html

Fun with family and friends

Hey, we have been having some fun on the side around our parts...things have not been all new baby, and school!

We managed a DAY full of activities at Cousin Kamp, (Will's aunt Linda, and her daughter Kate, as well as Kate's kids Michael and Audrey) check out the rip roarin' fun! (My camera died after I took 2 pictures, so thanks for Kate for being on the ball!)
http://www.chrisandkatewheeler.com/

We also got to spend 2 fun filled evenings with our friends the COOKS, they are so awesome, especially since they have 2 TWIN fun-adorable-happy boys! They traveled from far away lands to join us!

Check out their blog as well! (They update their blog a little more frequently, so you will have to scroll to find our action packed evenings!)
http://www.charleyjax.com/

Sometimes it takes outside forces to entertain us, but we seem to enjoy it!

Chicago: Parking and Mini Coopers

So Chicago is full of fun times... Bright lights, Great places to eat, and great opportunities to learn how to parallel park!

Here is Uncle Chad parking Grandma and Grandpa's "boat"!

P.L.E.N.T.Y. of room!

Also, we did not get photos of the ridiculous amounts of MINI COOPERS that we saw...the kids counted at least 19...I do believe in signs from God!

Chicago: People we like and Otel

We had a great time in Chicago, this post will focus on the people that we got to visit with, as well as our Otel...I will explain!

We spent lots of time with Uncle Chad and Aunt Julie, they know where are ALL the cool places are in the "city", they know how to entertain 4 kids with ease, and they know how to get our exercise in for the day!

Here we have Uncle Chad making faces with Will...it is quite a fun game!

And here, we have the WORLD'S Happiest baby...she NEVER stops smiling...or she didn't in the 2 hours we spent with her!

She loves to swing! This is our friend Carrie's little girl. We didn't get a picture of our dear friend Carrie, the birthday girl....but we have a feeling that we will get plenty of pictures next weekend at the High School reunion...we will see if we can post any of those! :)

AND THIS...is the view from our Otel....a typo you wonder....NO, we stayed at the swissotel...it is just amazing. Our friend Carrie hooked us up with a 41st floor sweet suite! This is looking down on the Chicago River!

The view from one of our windows, there were workers working on the buildings to the right. Cranes were moving every which way...the kids loved watching the process!

More pictures from our otel! Will loved the building with the spire on top!

The cranes, hard at work.

I am shocked by how amazing the view is!

Night life in Chicago.

Our comfy beds! All pleasantly decorated with our special blankets!

Our sitting area. There was also a nice kitchenette, and 1.5 baths!

We will never be able to sleep in Motel 6 agian! :)

Floodwaters ~ Muscatine

Here are some pictures from the "River front" in Muscatine. The waters were higher than this in 93, but the river had not crested when we visited last week...

Just after we arrived, we watched a train go by, on the Rail Road tracks...not quite sure how that was going to work for him, but he made it.

The kids are excited to play in the street.

A fun little game...

...and Will wants to make sure he gets his turn too!

But remember...
just don't drink flood water...

you could end up like this: