Epcot

Mike and family planned on starting their day at Animal Kingdom and then going to Epcot. We decided just to go to Epcot and meet them there later. We went on Spaceship Earth, Soarin', the Seas with Nemo & Friends, and then into the World Showcase area. Last time we were there they had a Kim Possible mission/scavenger hunt thing that the girls loved. Well they changed it to Agent P from Phineas & Ferb. We started in Norway. Then Emma did Mexico followed by France. Rebekah got tired of it so we just sat and ate an ice cream while Emma ran around. It really is a fun way to explore the countries, but does take a bit of running around. Emma saved China to do with her cousins. They had a great time with that. I noticed that each of them had different tasks to do in China. I had thought it would all be the same. I guess this way you can do it a few different times and not get bored.

Emma recently did a report on Buckminster_Fuller who gets credit for designing a Geodesic Dome, just like the one here at Epcot.

 Here's some more fun stuff we did. Emma loved watching the dolphin training.

When we met up with Mike et al., we went on Mission: SPACE. I have refused to go on that ride because I do not like spinning. However, Heather told me that the green line doesn't spin at all! It was actually pretty cool. I rode with her parents, Marty & Judy, and we had fun laughing about hitting the buttons in time and whose fault is was that we crashed. After that everyone went on Test Track, but Rebekah wanted to go on Soarin' so I took her. I was bummed to learn that they revamped Test Track. Oh well, I'm sure we will go again.

The interesting thing about this trip is that I never really was with my girls. They glued onto their Uncle Mike and Auntie Heather or their cousins. Ben and Emma never ran out of things to say to each other. And Rebekah was constantly holding Nathan's hand. If there was ever a ride that Rebekah couldn't go on (or didn't want to) then "Grandpa" Marty & "Grandma" Judy took her. I don't recall that the girls ever asked to sit with me on a ride.

Magic Kingdom

When going to Disney World you have to go to the Magic Kingdom. It is the iconic park with the big castle. We were excited to check out the new Fantasyland.

See that pig crane behind the Castle? There were some guys in a basket cleaning or painting the Castle.

Here's some of the regular rides -Tea Cups and Carousel of Progress.

I took this picture of Emma at Small World. I sent it to her piano teacher saying that she was still doing her piano practice even while on vacation. Emma has a recital coming up and one of the pieces she is playing is It's a Small World.

 The new Fantasyland wasn't as exciting as I hoped. First off, it is not completed yet. We hoped to eat at the Be Our Guest restaurant for lunch, but the line was so incredibly long. The line for Enchanted Stories with Belle was also around 75 minutes. However, we did make it to the Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride. They did a pretty good job with the animatronics.

Splash Mountain was closed. We went on Space Mountain. I have to say that I like the on at Disneyland better. Here you sit in single seats. At Disneyland it's a 2-seater with speakers on either side of the headrest so the music goes with you. However, I do like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad better here at Disney World. It's just a bigger, steeper ride. We did have a special surprise treat. While we were on the people mover ride Space Mountain shut down and they turned the lights on! I snapped a quick picture before we passed it. I don't know why that is so exciting, but it is!

Hollywood Studios

My brother, Michael, and his family live in Shanghai, China. He is an imagineer working on Shanghai Disneyland. It's a pretty cool job if you ask me.

They came to the States for a vacation to see family. All the rest of my family lives on the west coast. They asked if we wanted to meet up with them in Orlando. Of course!!!

Unfortunately, Clay had a big review coming up at work. He was working very long hours and was not able to take the time off to go with the girls and I. So my dear friend, Melinda, volunteered to take his place ;) It was great to have someone to help me drive down to FL. She even read a book aloud for me!

Our first stop was Hollywood Studios. It is my favorite Disney World park. My absolute favorite roller coaster ever is the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster. I also love the Star Tours and Toy Story Midway Mania.

 I took the girls into Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. It was a little walk-through of the history of Walt's animation. Rebekah like the models of the Cinderella's and Sleeping Beauty's Castles.

Oswald was Walt Disney's first creation when he was working for Universal Studios. Disney finally traded an Executive (actual person) for the rights to Oswald. If you noticed in the group pictures my nephew, Nathan, is sporting Oswald ears (instead of the traditional Mickey ears). 

A surprise was a scale model of the New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom. You can check it out below.

This model is from Tokyo DisneySea. I got to see this in real life. Mike, Heather, and newborn Nathan were living in Tokyo while Mike was working on Tokyo DisneySea back in 2001. I got to go visit them there. When we went to Tokyo Disneyland I could see into the DisneySea park. I remember seeing this part of the park under construction.  

I love this picture of the kids. They wanted to go on the Tower of Terror. The line said 50 minutes. Turned out to me closer to 2 hours. They got pretty crazy. Last year Rebekah loved this ride. She and her friend Evan were laughing the whole time. This time there were some very loud guests who screamed with terror. Rebekah came off the ride in tears.

Snow Tubing

Emma's Girl Scout troop went snow tubing at Liberty_Mountain.  Click on that link and you can see what the runs look like!! Tons of fun! School let out 1-hour early because snow was in the forecast. So we headed up to the mountain early! Rebekah and I went with them (Clay had to work). 

It was nothing like I expected. When I have gone snow tubing with friends we just drove out to the mountains, pulled off the side of the road, and used some inflatable pool tubes or sleds to slide down. That was nothing. This was REAL snow tubing.

Rebekah went the first time with me (tubes connected), then with Emma's friend Olivia. After that she wanted to go by herself. I watched her the first couple of times but then she ran off and I lost sight of her. Some of the leaders reported that they saw her lying on her belly on the tube, being spun super fast by the workers and raising her hands in the air as she went. They said she caught some huge air but was smiling and laughing the whole way! That girl has no fear.

It was very cold and snowing the whole time. But we all had a great time. 

Happy Birthday Clay!!

This year Clay wanted a Legend of Zelda cake. I decided to use color flow to make the winged_triforce_symbol on his cake. I am happy with how it turned out. Emma wanted to help, so she did all the dots around the edge of the cake. 

With only 4 of us, there is just too much cake. So we went over to the Rosenlunds after church to share our cake and ice cream with them.

Spelling Bee

Emma was selected to participate in the Spelling Bee. She was one of 26 students at the school. Her first word was squalid. What? I did not even know what that word meant. Emma spelled it correctly. Way to go!! The next round I could tell she was getting nervous. Her word was evaluate. She left out the 2nd a. (They don't tell you that you missed it until at the end of the round). I was watching her face as she sat down. I saw her respelling the word in her head. Then there was a sharp intake of breathe and her hands when up to her mouth. She knew she made a mistake. Our eyes met and I wanted to cry for her. It was so hard to stay in my chair. I just wanted to run across the room and put my arms around her. I am still so proud of her for doing her best!

Science Fair

Emma wanted to participate in the Science Fair this year. She did her project on Moldy Bread. She tested different conditions to see which one grew mold the fastest. We started with store bought bread.  After 5 days we decided to add a couple slices of homemade bread. 

These are some pretty gross pictures...