May Beach Trip

Oh how we love the beach!! It's just a blessing to slow down from the busyness of life, have Wilson all to ourselves, and watch the kids enjoy each other as we all enjoy the beauty of God's creation. Wilson and I are so thankful for these weeks at the beach, and I must say it is so hard to come home! :)

This is a new favorite of Ann Evelyn...

All of the kids really enjoyed the water this trip. In fact, on our way home the boys told me that swimming in the water and playing in the waves was their favorite part of the trip.

Ready to go! We spent a lot of time on the beach. This is the first summer since having kids that we haven't had a morning napper while at the beach. It was great to be free to all go to the beach each morning, come back for lunch and afternoon nap, and then head back outside.

"Give me five... up high..."

They loved playing this with Wilson because he always ends it with a tickle! :)

Happy!!

Filling buckets up and dumping them out... so entertaining!

A little rest time with a movie. I love how they all sit right beside each other. :) It makes my heart happy!

We also did some "camping out". Ann Evelyn is so proud of her new tent!

Silly brothers! Forrest is losing his baby weight and is almost as tall as Andrew. I am being asked more and more if they are twins! But I have also been asked by a couple of people in the past fast weeks if Forrest and Ann Evelyn are twins. I think it's so funny!

Water balloons were a BIG part of our trip. If the boys were downstairs under the "college" (cottage) they had balloons out!

The boys love riding their bikes at the beach. We took rides several times a day. Forrest loves it. Although watching Andrew and trying on his own for a long time, he finally got the hang of it around his 3rd birthday. While we were at the beach, he mastered the important lesson of using brakes!

Wilson took the boys crabbing this year. I love the memories I have of going fishing and crabbing with my dad, and I am so excited that the boys have fun doing this with Wilson. Maybe next year Ann Evelyn and I will join them.

We cooked the crabs for lunch a couple of days... YUM! Andrew wanted to learn how to shell it himself. He worked so hard (Shelling crab is tedious!) and then enjoyed eating it! FUN!

Two more pictures.. Love these happy beach boys!!

Disney... A few more!

Here are a few more of our trip... On Day 4, we went back to the Magic Kingdom to do a few things we hadn't had time for yet. This was definitely our favorite park. Andrew and Wilson rode several "big" rides. Andrew loved Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. The whole family could ride many things in the Magic Kingdom. Our favorite was the Peter Pan ride! We were there the first week in March (I'm a little late posting :)), and we were hoping the crowds would be low since it was not quite spring break. We didn't however take into account that it was the week of Mardi Gras... so it was actually pretty crowded. We had to use Fast Passes for most of the rides to keep from waiting in long lines. Andrew did fine waiting in an hour long line but not so much Forrest and Ann Evelyn :) but who can blame them! We were so thankful for perfect weather... the beautiful weather and great temps made the crowds a lot more manageable.

Many friends and family were surprised that we took this trip with all 3 kids, but it was so much fun! It was completely Wilson's idea. I had always thought we'd wait until the kids were older to take them to Disney, but after finishing his busy, busy year of finishing seminary and being ordained, Wilson wanted to treat the family to a trip. We decided that Disney would be the perfect family trip! And we are so, so glad we went! The fun we had and the memories we made are priceless. All of the kids loved it, and Wilson and I did, too. Wilson is already wanting to plan a return trip. :) Thank you, Wilson, for taking us on a super trip!!

Cutie pie!

The boys loved sleeping on bunk beds! Too excited to climb up and down to even smile for the camera!

Seeing Woody!

Riding the Jungle Cruise

The best view is from Daddy's shoulders!

Breakfast with Mickey

And Minnie!

The boys and Minnie - I love this!

My precious little ones!

Hollywood Studios & Epcot

We began our 3rd day at Hollywood Studios!

Here is our crew in front of Mickey's Hat when we arrived at the park.

We ate breakfast with Handy Manny (one of Forrest's first favorite characters),

Leo & June from the Little Einsteins,

(Ann Evelyn blew a kiss to June... that was the most love she had shown to a character up to that point!)

and Special Agent Oso.

We saw the Beauty and the Beast show. It was great, and once again, Sissy loved it! The boys enjoyed it too. We then split up. Andrew and Wilson went to a ride, and Forrest, Ann Evelyn and I waited to meet Woody and Buzz. It was a long wait, about an hour, with 2 little ones, but we did it. :)

Yay! Forrest met his two favorites! (aren't they big?!? wow!)

We only stayed at Hollywood Studios a few hours. We went back to the hotel to rest and swim. The boys loved the pool at our resort and we spent a couple of hours there each afternoon. Then we changed and headed to Epcot. There was a flower festival going on while we were there and they had sculptures of the characters which were fun to see.

Wilson and Andrew rode Test Track, and Forrest, Ann Evelyn, and I rode the Nemo ride and then looked around the aquariums.

It was a perfect way to entertain these two!

We ate dinner at the restaurant in Mexico and rode the boat that circles the restaurant a couple of times. Then we found a spot for the laser and fireworks show. It was great! A very fun night in Epcot. There was so much more to do there, and we'll definitely spend more time there on our next trip. Forrest and I got a quick picture on our way out that night!

Animal Kingdom!

We went to the Animal Kingdom the 2nd day of our trip and loved it! Our first stop was to see The Lion King show... fabulous!! Wonderful music, costumes, dancing - quite a show! We took a little video on our iphone but flash photography was not allowed so I don't have any pictures to post.

We rode the train out to the petting zoo area (which we skipped because of Andrew and Wilson's allergies) and enjoyed looking around and meeting some characters. Jiminy was so nice and sweet.

We had a great lunch at the Tusker House, and the boys were thrilled that doughnuts were one of the many dessert options! :)

Then it was time for our Safari! We loved it!

It was so fun to see so many animals up close!

The boys love "A Bug's Life" and were SOOO excited to meet Flick! They had a lot of fun talking to him! And you can tell by his pose that he was all about his character!

We met Baloo....

and Sissy napped!

We rode a ride or two and met Goofy (Notice Ann Evelyn's face buried in Daddy's shoulder. It's like this in most pictures. She liked the characters from far off but just wasn't so sure about them up close. Sweet girl.). Then we bought some ice cream and found a spot to watch the parade.

Again, one of Ann Evelyn's favorite things! Seeing Minnie was the best part!

The boys always got a lot of attention from the characters! So fun!!

Disney World

First Day at Disney!!

Here we go!... walking to load the boat to the Magic Kingdom. We loved staying at the Wilderness Lodge. Wilson stayed here when he was a teenager and has always wanted to take us back. One of the most fun things about staying there was being able to ride the boat to and from the Magic Kingdom!

Of course the kids were wide-eyed as we walked down Mainstreet! So much to see! They were in awe! We stopped to take a look at Cinderella's Castle. For the first day or two Forrest referred to Cinderella's Castle as "Disney World". :)

We began Day 1 with breakfast at the Crystal Palace with the Winnie the Pooh characters. It was a fun start to our trip! Tigger was the first character we met, and in typical Tigger fashion, he was very bouncy and excited. The kids were a little overwhelmed and not so sure of him.. so I had my picture taken with Tigger all by myself! They warmed up to the idea of the characters coming by to see them, and Andrew quickly took over the responsibility of the Autograph Book. And he was very serious about it, too! Piglet was our last character to meet.

After breakfast, we rode the Toy Story ride and had our picture made with Buzz and of course got his autograph too!

I think Daddy enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear ride! :)

Loved the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.. especially since we had introduced this movie to them before our trip.

Sissy LOVED the shows, the music, the dancing! There was a show on stage at the Castle in this picture and we have the cutest video of her dancing and clapping. She was so much fun on this trip! She loved it all!

Here we are waiting for a parade to begin (and it looks like wilson is dancing :)). We loved having a stroller all 3 kids could fit on. This sit-n-stand was the best!

This was during the parade.... they had a "street party" and invited everyone to come dance with the characters. Wilson and Ann Evelyn danced with Jessie! Precious!