Florida-Meeting the Characters!

So our day at Magic Kingdom did not bring may characters our way! We did get to meet, Donald Duck-but our day at Animal Kingdom brought many characters our way! We were able to meet-Donald again, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore!

Mikayla waiting in line for her first meeting of Donald Duck! She was ready with her autograph book!

 Giving Donald a hug! We were in frontier land so he was dressed up to match the area!

 Me, Mikayla, Donald, Susan and Kyle with Donald!

Mikayla checking out her first signature!

Pluto and Goofy in Dinosaur Land!

 Meeting Winnie the Pooh!

Meeting Eeyore!

Tigger!

Goofy and Donald at Animal Kingdom!

Minnie! This was very exciting!

Family picture with Mickey!

Florida Day 3-Magic Kingdom

 After getting an early start-we all headed to Disney's Magic Kingdom! Mikayla was beside herself with excitement! On our long drive the Florida we spent time looking at books about Disney and she was stuck on riding "her favorite ride-Dumbo!" Along with it being Mikayla's 1st visit to Disney-it was also James' first visit to Disney! And even though I had been to Disney a few other times-I hadn't been in many years so was SUPER excited to experience it as a family! 

 Here are a few of our favorite rides from the day!

Waiting in line for the shuttle-Brian, Mikayla and Kyle!

1st Ride-The Tea Cups! Mikayla loved to make us spin and spin!

Mikayla on Cinderella's carousel with Uncle Kyle!

On Mikayla's "favorite" ride-DUMBO!

Mikayla and I driving in the car! I was in charge of the gas and break and she was in charge of steering-let me just say-it is a good thing she isn't 16 yet-she needs a few more years to practice!

Family picture with the castle in background!

Checking out the map-always Mikayla's favorite thing to do at any park! But especially Disney!

After a long day at the park-we went back to our hotel for dinner and a rest! Check back later for the pictures from our evening at the park! It is the most amazing sight to see the castle lit up at the holidays! It was amazing!

Florida Day 2...cont.-Adult night out at City Walk!

 So on our 2nd day in Florida all the adults went out for a night on the town! It was so nice to have my cousin Kayleigh nearby to come over and watch Mikayla, making it possible so James and I could both go out with everyone! We went to city walk-which is near Universal Studios! We had a great time dancing the night away and just walking around!

James and I

Dancing!

Kyle (brother) and Susan

Chris (step-brother) and his girlfriend Candace

Everyone else was with us too, but apparently I didn't take pictures of them! Not pictured-Mom, Brian (step-dad), Tim (brother), Robin (step sister) and Uncle Pete!

Florida Day 2-Hanging out at the hotel

So the weather when we were in Florida, wasn't super warm-however it was warmer than Michigan so we were just happy not to be in our winter clothing! But we were able to spend a little bit of time in the pools. Our hotel was amazing and it had 5 swimming pools and 9 hot tubs! So the 2nd day of our trip we spent time exploring the grounds and swimming! Mikayla and I also made a tie-dye shirt-a mickey shape one! I still need to take a picture with her in the shirt-but we had fun making it!

 Getting ready to go and tye-die! Below Mikayla is getting her gloves on-so she didn't get die on her hands!

 The finished shirt-but we had to let it dry for 2 days before we could pick it up! She was so excited to see what it would look like!

 Playing on the playground! This hotel had it all!

 Exploring the grounds with the family! Mikayla and Aunt Robin checking out the view from the boat deck!

 Mikayla, Uncle Kyle and Aunt Susan (Kyle's girlfriend) relaxing in the sun! It was a little chilly when we were exploring, but felt nice in the sun!

Mikayla swimming with Uncle Kyle in the lazy river!

 Bonnet Creek! The amazing view out of our balcony! I would HIGHLY recommend this place to anyone! Close to the parks-great shuttle service to the parks and VERY nice!

Long time...no bloggin'-Florida Day 1

When I first started this blog...I thought it would be an easy way to keep track of our lives....and while I love to update, I just can not seem to find the time to keep this updated. We have been so busy and having so much fun! Mikayla is becoming quite the young lady-she says the funniest things and continues to amaze us everyday. It is so hard for me to believe that she is ALMOST 5!

Over the Christmas holiday we took a trip to Disney-we all had a great time. So I will start with that update and then work on adding more over the next few days! I am on mid-winter break and so happy to have a few days off of work!

 

We feel so blessed to have been able to go on our trip to Florida. With James not working and going back to school-we weren't sure we would still be able to go, but with a generous holiday gift from my mom and Brian providing the condo for all of us! There were 11 of us in all and we had a wonderful week together!

 

After a straight drive thru-21 hours to be exact-we headed to my Uncle Pete and Aunt Cathy's. They treated us to a DELICIOUS brunch and then we headed over to their neighbors house to pick oranges and grapefruits! What a great experience-something I have never really done-in all my trips to Florida. Mikayla loved it!  

 Another wonderful way for Mikayla to start the trip-was a present from my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin-a TINKERBELL sleeping bag! SHE LOVES IT and always wants to sleep in it!

After picking oranges and hanging out with the Howes family-we headed to our hotel! It was amazing! We walked into the lobby and there was face painting-Kayla got her face painted as a butterfly!

After getting settled-my mom and I headed out to get some groceries and the rest of the clan-played mini-golf. It was Mikayla's first time and she loved it. The mini-golf was right outside our room-which was very cool!

Check back later for more from the rest of our trip!