Disney Vacation Day 2: Hollywood Studios

On Wednesday morning we crowded onto the shuttle bound for Hollywood Studios. We managed to get 6 people in two seats. Pretty impressive!

 The morning was planned for the little girls. We saw a show and then had lunch with Sofia, Doc, and a couple other Disney Jr. characters. We were one of the first tables seated for lunch so the characters came by in a whirlwind, but then we were able to enjoy our buffet lunch.

Disney does a great job with their shows, and I love that they are each about 30 minutes so it doesn't eat into your day too much.  This was a scene from a Little Mermaid show... beautiful puppetry.

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite shows at any of the parks.

There was a dance party that only the older girls wanted to participate in.  Here is Macy trying to convince cousin Molly to join in on the fun.  She wasn't having anything to do with Genie!

When we first told Kayla about our trip to Disney she wasn't completely thrilled.  She said she was getting to old to go, so I informed her that there were many other rides that she had never been on because she was too small.  Of course there is all the magic of Disney as well! We took the older two girls on the Tower of Terror, and they absolutely loved it!

I had never been on this ride before either and it was pretty fun.

As we were leaving the park the fireworks show started.  We stayed and watched that while two tired little girls waved their light sabers from Nini.

Disney Vacation Day 1: Magic Kingdom

We have been planning our big family Disney vacation for months. We traveled with my mom, my sister, and her family. Jackie and I spent hours selecting dates, making reservations, talking plans, coordinating shirts and princess dresses, making FastPass selections, and numerous other things. It is a lot of work to plan out a Disney vacation, but it is also very much worth it. 

We surprised the kids on Monday morning telling them that we weren't really leaving the next day, but that we were checking out of school early and hitting the road.  They were thrilled of course. When you are part of a private school hybrid like we are, our homeschool days are completed on the road. We tried to get as much school work done while traveling so we don't have a lot to make up when we return. The girls were awesome at working in the car. After a good night's sleep we were ready to hit the ground running.

We have never met Rafiki before.  He was a pretty fun character to visit.

I won't bore you with all of the character pictures we took, but every single one of them without exception is true to character.  And they don't break character at all. 

These two crack me up.  They are both strong-willed and generally get along very well.  However, they weren't used to being with each other as much as they were on this vacation.  Most of the time they did great, but they did have their moments of getting their feelings hurt. 

The girls had never been on the Haunted Mansion ride.  I love how the lines at Disney are filled with fun things to see and do... like this particular headstone.  We had a good laugh with this one. The one thing I love better than the entertainment in the lines is that we opt to go when it is the least crowded so there really aren't long lines to speak of.  I think we waited 30-45 minutes for a couple of rides.  Everything else was about 15 minutes or less. Can't beat that at Disney!

Thankfully the park closed early this night so we were able to enjoy the show and fireworks at a reasonable hour. 

Snow Much Fun!

We had our first snowfall of the year and the kids had a blast as always.  I stayed in my robe, snapped a few pictures, and headed back inside to enjoy the day from in front of the fire place. 

Marc's parents found an old sled from when he was growing up so of course Marc had to try it out.

And for some reason this crazy dog wanted to rub her head in the snow.

Sledding fun!

All three of these girls were having the best time playing in the snow. I wonder what they would do if they ever had more than a few inches to play in. 

The same dog who was rubbing her head in the snow decided that she wanted to warm up on my nice, clean laundry. Not happening.

I am so thankful for the snow days that the girls (and their daddy) can enjoy and for the home from where inside I can watch their adventures.

Celebrating Brooke

We had a great day celebrating this special one.  I can't even count the number of times she has been sung "Happy Birthday" and she loves it every time.

She looks so grown up!

Daddy spoiled her with this Frozen tent to put on her bed.  It makes changing her sheets nearly impossible for me, but she just loves sleeping in it.  And our little middle of the night visitor doesn't come around much anymore. 

Oh how I love this girl!

Checking out a present from her cousins.

Happy birthday sweet girl! We love you so much and have loved celebrating you this week!

Happy Birthday Brooke!

As I sit down to write this post there is one excited little girl who is having a hard time going to sleep.  Every morning for the past week the first thing she says when she wakes up is how many days until her birthday. How she is that coherent as soon as she wakes up I'll never know.  She obviously doesn't get that trait from either of her parents.

You are a spunky little girl who keeps us on our toes.  You are developing quite the sense of humor and you love making us laugh.  In fact you love it so much that you keep repeating whatever it is that got us laughing in the first place.

Some of your favorite things this year are:

Food: Deli meat, yogurt, fruit, cheese, pasta

Restaurants: Sweet Tomato and Brooklyn Joes (or Broken Joes as you often call it)
Things to do: play Minecraft (a skill that blows me away every time I watch you play it),
playing with your sisters, dolls, and watching TV
TV show: Sophia the First and PJ Masks
Movies: pretty much any movie

Nickname: Baby Bear

You played your second season of soccer this year and loved it. You are also still taking a ballet and tap class.

Kindergarten is halfway over and you are doing an amazing job in school.  You love your teachers and have made many new friends this year. You are picking up reading skills so quickly and easily.  Books are one of your favorite things and it is such a joy to listen to you read them. You make school look easy!

This was also the summer you became a world traveler. We planned a summer vacation to Mexico and so you took your first airplane ride. The vacation was amazing and you had a great time showing off all of your new swimming skills. 

We then had an unexpected trip to Australia! Five years old and you traveled to the other side of the world. The plane ride was LONG, but you didn't complain once.  Well except for the food they served you.  ha! We did so much walking on this trip and I know it wore you out, but you rarely complained.  In fact it was on this trip that you gained a new nickname: Little Legs. You did your best keeping up with us in the miles and miles of walking we did. 

And you still don't like getting wet if you aren't wearing a bathing suit.  Some things don't change. 

Brooke, 

You are such a ray of sunshine in our family. Your smile lights up the room and we love to hear your big belly laughs. You know what you want, how you want it, and when you want it. Quick decisions are one of your specialties, and that is completely unlike me. Your teachers are always telling me how sweet you are and I'd have to agree that you have some extra sweetness bubbling over inside of you. Let's see if you can learn to show some more of that to your sisters this year. :) You are so dearly loved and I am incredibly grateful that God decided that you would be the one to make our family complete.  I can't imagine my life without you.

I'll love you always and forever,

Mommy

Things I Learned (or re-learned) in 2015 - by Marc

1. My wife is so smart. 

 

2. I've been fortunate enough to eat curry in England, foie gras in France, and kangaroo in Australia this year. I'm so glad I'm an American. 

 

3. The time it takes to build two tables and four benches is inversely proportional to the amount of rain in the weather forecast. It's amazing how quickly the project in the garage gets wrapped up when it isn't going to stop raining for days. 

 

4. Sitting by a heater overlooking the Sydney harbour during a late dinner on the first day in Australia is not a good idea. Fortunately my dinner company was understanding of the whole jet lag thing. 

 

5. My wife is directionally challenged, but somehow when in Australia she was basically awesome. She navigated Sydney's public transportation on her own with the three kids and saw all sorts of exciting things with them! 

 

6. Taking your wife and 3 daughters on a pirate cruise in Mexico to celebrate your anniversary probably isn't the best idea. 

 

7. Meeting new cousin kids/babies and spending time with like-minded Duttons from far away is great fun. 

 

8. Selling a much-use-used van is a nerve-wracking process, even if the buyer is taking it as-is. After prayer and some quick googling, the check engine light went off, the idle speeds were reset, and the engine temperature dropped back down to normal - 5 minutes before the van buyer showed up! 

 

9. Buying a used vehicle is worse than playing the lottery. If you lose the lottery, you are only out whatever you put into it. However if you buy a lemon used vehicle, you not only have to return it, but then you have to go through the whole car-buying process again.

 

10. Returning a just-bought used vehicle is really easy! No questions asked, and got my refund check in 5 minutes! 

 

11. Taking your daughters ice skating for the first time is painful but so worth it. 

 

12. Brooke has really good aim in tennis. Unfortunately she likes to hit the ball right back at my head.

 

13. Children are very perceptive when they listen to political candidates debate. They tell it like it is (the kids, not the candidates). 

 

14. Giving up a first class seat on an airplane is so worth it to have my family with me wherever I am, even if I’m working while they play.

 

15. Rainbows in Australia are not upside down. 

 

16. Our God is a mighty God.

 

17. Kids can sleep through dinner at Hard Rock Cafe if they are tired/jet-lagged enough. 

 

18. Garage door openers are very susceptible to lightning strikes, especially when I'm overseas. Surge protectors are my friend now. 

 

19. My wife and kids LOVE to travel. 

 

20. Finishing a basement is fun for awhile.

 

21. Working with the Wednesday night preschoolers at church for 216 weeks felt like a really long time, but now that it's over, it was so worth it. 

 

22. Judges are real people too. 

 

23. Time with friends and family is extremely valuable and should not be taken for granted.