PRESCHOOL!!!!!

Today was the big day. I am officially a big preschooler now. I am going to Salem Lutheran two mornings a week with a class of 17 other wonderful 3 year olds. I had a chocolate doughnut for breakfast (healthy, we know, but it was a treat for the first day), then Mom gave me a book about preschool. After that I put on the outfit that I have had picked out for a week and we headed to town. When we got to the classroom I saw lots of kids I knew, including Jake and Lakin, and my teacher, Mrs. Aring. I like my teacher. She showed me where my cubby was and showed me that my towel for quiet time and my "just in case" clothes were still there from when we brought them at orientation. After that I got right to playing with all of the toys. I was having so much fun that Mom just gave me a quick hug and kiss and left without incident. Mrs. Aring, the teacher, read Chica Chica Boom Boom. We played outside on the playground. I had chocolate milk and goldfish at snack time, and I played dress up. I aslo made lots of new friends, and even told Mom some of their names. When Mom came to pick Jake and me up, we were all smiles. I am looking forward to going back on Tuesday.

My new book

Jake and I going into the building
I found my name tag

There is princess stuff in my classroom!!!

My school bag....I made it last week at orientation

Our teacher put this in our bag

Swimming Party!

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Charlie had a big party this weekend where I saw a lot of Daddy's side of my family. On Saturday we spent all afternoon outside, mostly in the pool. We had a great cookout, went for a tractor ride, and a couple of people even fished and camped out for the night. On Sunday we went back to Grandma's for lunch. Our swimming plans were rained out, but I had a great time playing with all of my "extended" cousins, Livvy, Grant, Lucas, Lauren, and as always Tucker and Jaycie. It was great to see everyone. Thanks for having us Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Aunt Nancy

Hope you have a good day Aunt Nancy. We will see you soon.

A Great Summer Weekend

We had a wonderful family weekend. On Saturday I rode the picker in the Chapin parade with Daddy. We threw lots of candy, and saw lots of our friends. After that, my buddy Jake and I took pony rides and jumped on a trampoline while attached to bungee chords, FUN! Later I went to Grandma Bonnie's, and Kira, Geordan, and their parents were there. We played that afternoon then went to Aunt Nancy's to have a a pizza party for Granny's 82nd birthday. Yesterday we had lunch at Grandma Bonnie's, and went swimming at Grandma Pam's last night. I just love weekends like this!

Disney: Day 7

Our last full day of vacation was great! We did some park hopping to see a few things we missed. Thanks everybody for asking about our trip. I have really enjoyed telling everyone about it. Mom says all of this blogging I have been doing will be very helpful for her to remember the details when she starts on the scrapbook of the trip. Here’s the scoop on our last day at Disney:

- Started with the Best Friends Breakfast at the Polynesian Resort where we saw Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch
- Went to Magic Kingdom where we met Pinocchio
- Rode in a car with Daddy at the Tomorrow Land Speedway.....I didn't want to drive it myself, but had a great time riding along
- Took one last spin in the teacups
- Met Tinkerbell and one of her Fairy Friends.....I was very excited about this as Tink seemed to be responsible for a lot of the magic we had been seeing all week
- Made one last pass through the Princess Meet and Greet line to say goodbye to Cinderella
- Zipped over to Hollywood Studios where Mom and I caught Playhouse Disney On Stage......the show included Little Einsteins, Tigger, Pooh, and Friends, and the cast of Handy Manny.....We danced and sang along with them
- Meanwhile Daddy went to ride the Tower of Terror.....While he was in there a storm came, and if you know anything about that ride, the rain and lightning made it even better......Afterward he got "wring your shirt out" soaked walking to where Mom and I were
- Finally got to meet Buzz and Woody from Toy Story.....We just missed them a couple days before, and I had been really bumbed about it.....I was so glad to see them
- Went to the Downtown Disney area.....Ate at the Raglan Road Irish Pub.....Great as usual......Very pretty place
- Went to the World of Disney store for about 2 hours!!!.....We didn't even have time to see the other 100 or so stores at Downtown Disney, but for first timers just the one store was fantastic!
- I picked out a Cinderella's Castle play set for my big treat of the trip.....It had to be shipped, and it arrived today! I am now in princess heaven again!!!!!
- Hurried over to the Magic Kingdom one last time (Mom just HAD to end the trip there) to see the fireworks.......They really are spectacular......I fell asleep as soon as they were over so Dad took a quick trip on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- We didn't get in that night until around midnight, but I didn't even wake-up on the noisy bus ride back to the hotel.....I was officially worn out, but the timing couldn't have been any better
- The next morning we headed to the airport, and got home around 6:00.

If you haven't ever been, like the three of us hadn't, and the opportunity presents itself, go!!!! Mom and Dad were a bit sceptical about how much they would enjoy it, but they had every bit as much fun as I did! It really was the trip of a lifetime!

Stitch and me at breakfastLilo was so nice.....She held Baby an extra long time both times we met her

Pinocchio was just inside the park when we got there....I really loved these unexpected character sitings

Iridessa the light fairy, one of Tinkerbell's friends.....She told us she is responsible for things like the flash on your camera, so she instantly became Mom's new favorite

The fireworks....Tinkerbell flew through the sky to start the show

I finally ran out of gas

Leaving the hotel....."See ya real soon"

Disney: Day 6

Disney World had already been a dream come true, and we still had not even toured EPCOT. Most people told us before we went that kids usually don't like EPCOT as much so Mom and Dad were surprised at how very much I enjoyed it. It was certainly different than the other parks, but different can be good. We intended on taking a mid day break on Saturday to return to the room to swim, but ended up spending about 12 straight hours there! Here are some of the adventures we had:

- Slept in until 7:00 as this was the only morning we did not have a scheduled early breakfast
- Dad and Mom both rode Test Track, a fast test driving simulator

- Visited the Land Pavilion where we rode the Living With the Land attraction.........Saw Disney's ag research center which uses lots of unique growing techniques

- Headed to the Imagination! Pavilion to see yet another 3-D movie, Honey I Shrunk the Audience

- Went to The Seas With Nemo and Friends Pavilion......Rode in a clamobile under the sea to Find Nemo; he's a fish.......Saw a great interactive show called Turtle Talk With Crush; he's a funny surfer turtle who loves to say "dude"

- Had lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant........One entire wall of the restaurant looked into a huge aquarium......I had a giant sea turtle right next to me the whole time

- Picked up a "Passport" before touring the World Showcase part of the park........Mom highly recommends the passport for the preschool/early grade school set........Different countries are represented throughout this part of the park, and at each one a person from that country stamps your passport and rights a message in the country's official language......There are also stickers to put in it

- Rode the Three Caballeros ride featuring Donald Duck in Mexico, then ran into the duck himself

- Skipped Norway since we had already seen it a few days before, and continued to China

- Came upon Snow White's Prince in Germany

- Window shopped in Italy on our way to America

- Pretty tired by the time we reached our home country, so we decided to cool off at the American Adventures Pavilion......While waiting to see a show about American history we were picked as the "first family", just one of those fun little Disney touches.........We had special seats in the balcony by ourselves to watch a singing performance, got to choose our seats first in the theatre, and had our name and home state announced to the audience

-Paused the world tour to try sodas from different countries at Club Cool........We were unanimous........Costa Rica was the best, Italy was the worst

- Ate supper at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco.......Live music and belly dancing was cool, Dad had couscous for the first time........Moroccan food is yummy (at least Disney's version is)

- Hung out under a covered arch in Japan as we encountered our first big rain of the trip
- Saw the Eiffel Tower in France

- Bumped into Tigger, Pooh, and Eeyore in the UK
- Felt almost at home as we passed through Canada
- Got soaked on our way to what many refer to as "the big ball" which is actually the Spaceship Earth Pavilion....Rode Spaceship Earth ride.....Took us from the dawn of civilization all the way into the future..........Part of it makes you feel like you are flying in outer space backwards, and when we got done I kept saying, "We left the earth. Can you believe it?"

..............and much, much more!

Abby and Donald in his sombrero in MexicoPutting stickers in my passport in NorwayI liked these pandas in ChinaDaddy and I in front of a statue in Italy......Each time Mom would take a picture I would ask what country we were in and open my book to the page of that country to pose.........This cracked Mom and Dad up every timeSnow White's Prince Trying the Italian soda.......Bitter! Terrible!.......Couldn't believe Mom did this to me
Daddy and me after riding Spaceship Earth.......Wet, but still smiling big!

Disney: Day 5

On Friday of our trip, we spent all of our park time at Hollywood Studios. It had a cool California feel circa the 1930s deco period there and featured a lot of characters that we did not see at the other parks. We did not see quite everything that we would have liked to at this park. A brief rundown of day 5:

- Had yet another early morning arriving at the park before it opened so we could go to the "Play and Dine at Hollywood and Vine" restaraunt.......it was a 50's themed diner
- Met Leo and June from Little Einsteins and JoJo and Goliath from JoJo's Circus, and joined in some fun dancing and singing
- Went to the stage show Voyage of the Little Mermaid
- Saw a short demonstration about how the magic is made at The Magic of Disney Animation
- Met some characters from the movie Up!........didn't konw they would be there.....bonus!
- Mom and Dad took turns riding Rock 'n Roller Coaster.......Dad went first and told Mom it was really cool and wouldn't be too scary.......Mom braved it (first roller coaster she's been on in about 15 years)..........she saw maybe the first 3 seconds of the ride then closed her eyes and held on for dear life (she's glad she gave it a try though)
- Went to Beauty and the Beast Live......30 minute adaptation of the Broadway musical....... wonderful!
- Ate dinner at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano to celebrate Mom and Dad's 5th anniversary
- Saw Muppet Vision 3-D......I was always up for the 3-D movies......loved 'em!
- Rode The Great Movie Ride
- Ended the night at Fantasmic! the night time light, water, and fireworks show......it was held in an outdoor stadium that held about 4000 people......very unique.......lots of Disney characters to see there
............and much, much, more

JoJo the clown and me at breakfast

One of the many botanical displays we saw..............A bus driver told us that Disney plants over 6 million annuals each year at the parks!!!!
Mr. Fredrickson and Dug from Up!.......Russell (another of the main characters for those who haven't seen it) had to leave while we were waiting in line so he could go to his scout meeting

A family pic after dinner......This was Mom and Dad's best anniversary yet......Mom can't believe it's been 5 years already.........Just when she thinks being his wife can't possibly get any better, it always does!

Kermit and me.....I asked Daddy to lift me up there, posed this way on my own, and asked Mom to take my picture

There is no word to accurately express my excitement at seing an etnire boat full of Disney characters at the Fantasmic show.....I couldn't get enough characters....... All of the princesses were on this boat at the same time!!!!