pears. still life.

these beauties were sitting in my dining room just begging to be photographed.

that is, until they began their other life as this.

a day at the museum

a couple of art critics in front of one of their mom's favorite paintings at the BMA.

and, yes, i asked them to stand that way :)

Days 4 and 5 of Disney

the Indiana Jones stunt show

in China

Germany

Mickey appeared in America and we were able to get more photos with him!

Morocco

shops and fountain in beautiful Morocco

Our 4th day was spent at Epcot and this time we stayed over on the World Showcase side. It was beautiful. In England we had some very tasty Fish and Chips for lunch and met Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins. Alice was the sweetest and was so great w/ the boys. Mary was COMPLETELY in character. She was hysterical. She asked one of the boys a question to which he replied, "Yeah." (lovely manners we have.) She then said, "Well....there's always room for improvement!" It was all I could do not to die laughing. After she signed their autograph books, they tried to hand them to me while we posed for a photo. She looked at them and said in her very best British accent, "She's not your personal carpetbagger!"

I should have asked her if she was looking for a nanny-ing job in the States.

Our 5th day was spent at Hollywood Studios. The boys were very impressed by the Indiana Jones stunt show and Toy Story Mania was their favorite attraction. I didn't take as many photos at HS as it's not as picturesque. They did have some beautiful shrubberies, though, and we got a photo of them meeting some of the Green Army Men from Toy Story. Check out the bottoms of their feet!

Snow Day. Blog Day.

After passing through the castle we saw Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. I jokingly asked Sumner if he wanted her autograph and this was his response :)

Cinderella in her carriage at the Spectro parade

in Mickey's garage

in Minnie's oh so cool kitchen

birthday at Chef Mickey's

i don't think this photo needs a caption. it says it all :)

flying over the Magic Kingdom in Dumbo

School dismissed at 11:30 today. While we wait for the snow to accumulate, the littlest is snug in his bed and the big two are playing Wii. So, I have a minute to play blog catch up!

Our 3rd day of our Disney trip was mostly spent at the Magic Kingdom. We had a blast! Definitely a two day park. We came back here a couple of different afternoons/evenings as well. We were really glad to have Park Hopper passes. It allowed us to take a rest and go to a different park or dine in a different park...or just hop around if we'd done all we wanted in a park that day.

Disney-End of Day 1 and Day 2

playing Lincoln Logs @ Whispering Canyon

while waiting for our table

after dinner at the Wilderness Lodge

dinner our 3rd night at Whispering Canyon. riding his stick horse through the dining room!

a kiss of course! all characters got kisses from Meade

meeting Thumper

watching Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade at A.K.

heading to lunch at Flametree BBQ. a very pictureque dining spot.

spotting an elephant on our safari ride

this lady was amazing! she appeared out of nowhere it seemed (as the A.K. is covered in vegetation). all of a sudden we see this creature covered in vines and on extremely high stilts walking up the path. her movement and acting was incredible and we could have watched her all day!

waiting to watch our brothers in the rapids from the bridge above.

on the path near Flametree

"Hey up there!"

"Hi Meade!"

the tree of life

a view of Everest from Africa

On our first full day and after a nap back at the resort, we headed to the MAGIC KINGDOM. We wanted to the kids to get a glimpse of what you think of when you think of Disney as early as possible in the trip. We also had dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace w/ the Pooh characters that night. After that we watched the Wishes fireworks show above the castle. It's not to be missed!

Our second day was spent at ANIMAL KINGDOM which was absolutely beautiful. I was not prepared for how lovely this park would be. I had something entirely different envisioned in my mind. This was favorite our favorite park as far as atmosphere and one of the boys' favorite rides was here...the Kali River Rapids. We also got to meet Safari Mickey and Thumper here. It was a full day park for us. It's very large and divided into Africa, Asia and Dinoland. I don't think we could have seen and done it all in a half day.

Our 3rd dinner (after our 2nd full day) was held at the Wilderness Lodge at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. A couple of friends recommended this one-esp. for boys. If anyone needs ketchup during their meal, you yell "Does anyone have any ketchup?" and everyone brings their ketchup to your table. You may end up w/ 20 bottles :) The servers also break out into song and everyone stands up to do the Hokey Pokey. Stick horses were handed out and the kids paraded around the dining area. It was so fun! The Wilderness Lodge is worth touring even if you don't have dinner reservations or accommodations there. It reminded us a little of the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.