Disney: Epcot

On Day 1 we headed to Epcot while waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. It quickly became apparent to us that the girls LOVED the characters which was a surprise to me - I thought Maddie would be a little frightened just as she is with the Chikfila cow, but that was no so. The countries in Epcot were the perfect place to see the princesses and other characters. The park provides times that each character will be out to take pictures with and so we never had to wait long in line.

Sleeping Beauty and Belle in France



Alice, Pooh and Tigger, Mary Poppins in England (along with great Fish & Chips for lunch). Alice is Anna's favorite so she had to wear her own Alice shirt and bow :).



Jasmine in Morocco




Mulan in China



Snow White in Germany (we also ate at the Biergarden here which was a buffet of German foods along with a performance of German songs and instruments)




A few other favorites were Chip and Dale, which Maddie insisted on called squirrels, and Duffy the Disney bear, who is apparently Mickey's bear.




Rides/sites we enjoyed were:

The Seas with Nemo & Friends - in this ride you are sitting in a clam shell and go on a search for Nemo. Maddie was a little scared when a giant scorpion type thing started thrashing about in the dark. Because it is a continuously moving ride there was never a wait. We did it twice, the second time Maddie's body was trembling :(.

Journey into Imagination with Figment - Figment was one of my husbands favorite things as a kid and so that ride was a must. It was another inside continuously moving ride and Maddie was absolutely terrified when a puff of air blew at her (it was so powerful my glasses fell off my head!). There was a play area after the ride that the girls loved.

Living with the Land - this was a boat ride that explained some of the things scientists at Epcot are doing to help improve man's relationship with the land through food growing techniques.

Gran Fiesta Tour - another boat ride with the 3 Caballeros in Mexico.

Innoventions - there were 2 Innoventions areas which are a great balance of learning and play for the kids. We did a family game by Waste Management teaching about recycling, made a video game sponsored by IBM, made cute froggies out of Velcro, learned about saving money with a piggy bank game, and practiced making a family survival kit in case of a fire, flood, etc.

We had such a great time at Epcot that we decided to go back and spend another half day later in the week.

Disney: The Overview

We spent this Thanksgiving at Disney with family and had a blast! Thanks to Oma, we were able to stay at the Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort. The place was inspired by the national park lodges of the northwest and every attention to detail was made just as expected from Disney. There was even a geyser fashioned after Old Faithful that went off every hour.



For our week's stay we purchased a 5-day Park Hopper Pass which allowed us to visit multiple parks in a day including Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Being under 3, Maddie was still free.

When visiting the parks we would take the park buses or boat (to Magic Kingdom only) and the girls found this to be part of the fun as well. It was wonderful not having to drive home from the parks in traffic after a long day and also not to have to pay parking each day.



One piece of advice we had read before going was not to bring big strollers since they are hard to maneuver on park transportation and so we originally planned to rent a stroller there. A few days before the trip we decided to borrow a second single umbrella from a friend (thanks friends!!) which was a great decision. Having 2 singles made maneuvering through the park much easier than if we had a double, they were easy to handle on the park transportation and we didn't have to stand in line as the parks opened to get a rented stroller - PLUS renting a double stroller is $27-31 per day. Here are the girls in their cool strollers waiting for Magic Kingdom to open.



Pics and info from the parks to come...

Happy Thanksgiving

(Ignore that they are in Christmas outfits :))

Family Photos

Here are some of the pics from a recent photo shoot with Jessica Porter.




The girls loving on their daddy



A cool black and white family shot



Normally hand to mouth wouldn't make the best photo, but I think this captures Anna perfectly



Me and my love



And my joys

'Tis the Season for Entertaining

Erik and I love opening our home to people - he is the entertainer who makes conversation easily; I am the planner who gets excited about serving dishes and punch recipes. It is a joy to us and not surprising that hospitality scores high on both of our spiritual gifts inventories. We have hit the season for entertaining and so it has been nice to read several articles and books lately that help me keep perspective on what is truly important about hospitality. One article I read on the Raising Homemakers blog urged me to "think about the difference in 'entertaining' guests and showing biblical hospitality". It went on to say:

Entertaining is all about the hostess–how perfect my house is, how nice the food is, how perfectly the setting, and on and on. Hospitality focuses on your guest–meeting his/her needs, drawing your guest out by listening and asking questions.

Entertaining obviously causes the hostess a great deal of stress in preparations, thereby making her guests feel stressed out too. Hospitality focuses on making your guest feel comfortable by having a welcoming spirit.

Entertaining must always be a planned event, whereas hospitality can happen very spontaneously, gasp, even with a messy house or unmade bed!

Likewise, in Max Lucado's book Outlive Your Life I was drawn to a chapter entitled Open Your Door; Open Your Heart. Lucado writes

Long before the church had pulpits and baptisteries, she had kitchens and dinner tables. "The believers met together in the Temple every day. They ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts" (Acts 2:46 NCV). "Every day in the Temple and in people's homes they continued teaching the people and telling the Good News - that Jesus is the Christ" (Acts 5:42 NCV).

And then continues

Hospitality opens the door to uncommon community. It's no accident that hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you are sending this message: "You matter to me and to God". You may think you are saying, "Come over for a visit." But what your guest hears is, "I'm worth the effort".

This season of entertaining may I remember that it is about the guests, not the centerpieces; that it is about sharing God's love, not about sharing the finest culinary delights. May I commit all of my plans to the Lord and may those who enter my house know that they matter to me and they matter to God.

4 Year and 2.5 Year Appointments

I have a sad Anna who had to get 5 shots today :( .

Anna -
Weight: 40 pounds
40.5 inches

Maddie -
Weight: 32.5 pounds
37.5 inches

Trust!

I know I am always praising CBS (Community Bible Study) but I must say there is a lot to praise :). This past week both Anna and Maddie came home saying the Pledge of Allegiance and today Maddie started singing a new song for me. It was so cute we had to get it on video...



I trust in your word. Psalm 119:42. Trust!

Apparently they call Maddie "Happy Feet" at CBS because she is always dancing and singing. This girl loves music!