Summer Vacation 2010

Well, we just got back on Friday from an almost 2 week long (13 days to be exact) stay in Florida. We had such a wonderful time focusing on our family and spending quality time together. It was MUCH needed and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to do so many fun and things and make so many memories that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

Our vacation started out in Orlando, FL at the Southern Baptist Convention. It was the first time that I had ever been to it and probably not something that I will be attending every year. We had the pleasure of hearing some wonderful preaching and met some great people.The highlights of the convention for me personally were getting to attend a Minister's Wives Conference one morning where I got to hear some testimonies of some amazing women. It blessed my heart to hear about the things that some of these people serving God have gone through and experienced to achieve the ultimate goal of making much of Him. Another cool thing was getting to have dinner with Pastor John Bisagno who was the pastor of First Baptist Houston (Beth Moore's church) and has also written several books. It happened on a whim when Tim mentioned to him during a book signing that if he could have chosen a pastor at a conference he attended at the beginning of the year to have a meal with he would have chosen him. John then said "Well, what are you doing tonight?" We were so surprised and honored to get to have dinner with such a wonderful and well-known pastor. I was also pretty pumped to get to talk with his wife. To top it all off, Casting Crowns ended the Convention with a concert. They are one of my favorite groups and have a powerful message through their music. All in all, it was a neat experience.

Taking a break at the SBC

Addy, Tim, John, and Emmy (Mr. John was just like a Grandpa to our girls!)

The convention ended on Wednesday night, so Thursday we decided to go to Seaworld which was just a few minutes away from our hotel. I was SO impressed with it. It was so cool to get to sea sea lions, killer whales, dolphins, etc. We bought a ticket where we got a day free, so we ended up going back to Seaworld on Friday where we actually got to feed the dolphins and see a few more shows. The second day was just as fun and I would love to go back sometime! I was so amazed at God's creation!

Drink break shortly after we got to Seaworld. It was HOT!

Meet Mr. Sea Lion

Feeding the dolphins. Emmy was a chicken.

Cool Bird that the girls got to pet

Cool Bird #2 (They weren't aloud to pet him)

After spending the second day at Seaworld, we traveled to Kissimee, FL where we checked into a really nice resort. Our room had a large bedroom, living room, kitchen, and washer and dryer. It was so nice to not be in such a small space with 5 people. That was tough! LOL

On Saturday we just hung around our condo and swam and enjoyed playing with our girls. That evening we got all dressed and ate at Carrabba's since Father's Day was the next day and we would be busy. We also drove around Disney to make sure we could find our way ok the next day.

Happy Father's Day to one AMAZING Daddy!

The look on Emmy's face RIGHT when she saw the Disney World sign. Priceless.

Sunday we woke up early and headed to the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. We had SO much fun. I loved seeing Emmy's face as we pulled up in the ferry and she could see Cinderella's Castle. It was great! The first thing they rode was It's A Small World. Next, we headed to the Peter Pan ride. They were a little scared, but mostly liked it. The Carousel is always a hit, but the icing on the cake was seeing Mary Poppins signing autographs close to where we were waiting in line. Dumbo, The Mad Tea Party, The Carousel of Progress and the Train were also all a hit. We did so much that I can hardly even remember everything! In the midst of all this the girls got to meet the Fairies- Silvermist, Tinkerbelle, and Rosetta. Precious! We toured Minnie and Mickey's House and made our way to meet Princess Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. I'm telling you, these girls do NOT get out of character! It was so sweet. We ended the evening by watching the parade. It was wonderful, but we did have a special moment. As Alice in Wonderland went by us on her float, Emmy was on Tim's shoulders. Alice looked at Emmy and said "I do love your bow!" from the top of her float. We were in a HUGE crowd of people, so just the fact that Emmy got singled out was pretty neat. You should have seen that little girls face (and you will because I have a picture!). Magic Kingdom was just that- Magical.

You can really tell how excited Lucy was to be riding the ferry to the Magic Kingdom LOL

Cinderella's Castle (I think some of the Disney people took at better picture of us all in front of this.)

Addy...Wee!

Emmy and some random little boy who thinks he is supposed to be posing too

Action shot on the tea cup ride. Love it!

The big girls & Silvermist

Emmy, Tinkerbelle, Addy, Me and Lucy

Tim, Lucy (notice how she is look at the fairy in this picture and the one above. She actually grinned at this one, so we got her a Rosetta doll :-}), Rosetta (Tim's favorite fairy hahaha), Emmy and Addy

Addy & Emmy having a very important conversation with Sleeping Beauty

The big girls with Cinderella

They LOVED Belle

Emmy and the Minnie ears that she picked for her souvenir

Right after Alice commented on her bow. She thought she was The Stuff.

Monday we made it another "lazy" day and hung out by the pool. The girls LOVE to swim and if you have kids, you love to take your kids swimming because it wears them out! LOL They take GOOD LONG naps and Mommy & Daddy get a break!

My little fishy

Animal Kingdom was our destination on Tuesday. I am SO glad that we decided to go there! We waited in line for 50 minutes to get on the Safari, but it was worth it. We could all 5 (that's still weird to say) ride and got to see elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, ostriches, lions and many more animals. The animals were so close-I actually couldn't believe how close they were! We also got to experience a Nemo show (which I had to take Addy out of because she was scared. GRRR). Since I had to miss the Nemo show, Emmy and I went to the Lion King show by ourselves (technically Lucy was with us, but she slept through it mostly). The Lion King show was WONDERFUL! Tim let the girls dig for dinosaur bones in Dinoland and even though I didn't go with them because I was tending to Lucy, I heard they had a fun time! We did several other things, but those were the highlights. I had heard from a few people that this park would not be good for children. I disagree and would definitely take mine there again. It was great!

On the Safari

Mommy Giraffe & Baby Giraffe in the background

Elephant

Emmy was more impressed with the Flamingos than anything. Go figure.

Digging for dinosaur bones

The girls and their $15 A PIECE face paint. You can blame their Daddy. Our little girls have him wrapped around their finger. 

We tried to have a break between each day at Disney, so on Wednesday we again just hung out at the pool. I think the girls made new friends every day at the pool with kids (and even adults LOL). I am so glad they are so friendly! That evening, we got all dressed and went to Downtown Disney. We had dinner, road a boat across the water (which was a BIG deal to the girls) and just walked around looking in all the stores, telling Emmy "No, we can't buy that!" over and over and over again, and just enjoying each others company.

If you hold your index finger up you can cover me in this picture. I wouldn't be mad. (I was just too lazy to crop myself out.)

The big girls before Downtown Disney in their Mickey dresses that my friend from  church made them. I LOVED them!

Here's me and Lucy as she shows off her dress, too!

Timmy and our big girl! She is growing so fast.

Thursday was another big day at Disney. We decided to go to Hollywood Studios our last day and I am so glad we did. We did so many fun things that I can hardly even pick a favorite. We went to an American Idol show that made you feel like you were really there, Playhouse Disney show, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, got a great spot at an AWESOME parade, saw a 3D Muppet Show and Tim even got to do a couple of thing by himself (Star Wars and Chronicles of Narnia things-go figure) while the girls and I rested.

The big girls watching a High School Musical Show

HSM show

The girls met Leo & Annie from Little Einsteins

Emmy LOVES Annie. We were so lucky that she walked up right when it was our turn to meet Leo!

The big girls dancing during the Playhouse Disney show

Waiting for Beauty and the Beast to start

Emmy and Tim on a Star Wars thing. I'm sorry I don't know what it's called!

Our last picture of Disney while leaving Hollywood Studios

Since we are the coolest parents in the world and everything, when we got back Thursday night to our condo we took the girls swimming. It was about 9 PM...WAY past their bedtime. However, we had a blast. It was such a fun way to end our vacation!