2015 Catch Up (Hollywood Studios)

Hollywood Studios!

 Streets of America

 Tower of Terror - one of the girls' favorite rides

Toy Story! My favorite ride!

Fantasmic! The best show in the park!

I love Mickey!

The Christmas decorations were still up! 

So magical!

2015 Catch Up (Epcot)

Epcot is our "return to" spot. 

We have eaten in almost every country in the park 

and some of the countries, more than once. Such a yummy place!

You don't get to see my hubs and I very often so here we are. 

Wish you could see my Minnie Mouse bag - so cute!

 Mexico!

 Germany

 France

 Morocco

Tara's knee was hurting so her sister pushed her around in the rain.

There is a body attached to those legs...somewhere.

Sick of the rain, sick of getting my picture taken...

yep, one for the album. Scary!

Good night, Epcot! You make us full and happy!

2015 Catch Up (Animal Kingdom)

Several years ago we spent a few days at Disney World and we've wanted to return ever since. In January we took time off to enjoy the Florida theme parks once again! What a treat! We walked 49 miles that week, and although we were tired and achy it was totally worth it!

The excitement began...

We enjoyed staying at the affordable All-tar Movies Resort.

We put on our armbands; we're ready to go...

Animal Kingdom -

We've never been to Animal Kingdom before 

and it was by far, our favorite park.

We saw lots of animals on the Kilimanjaro Safari.

We saw A Bug's Life show in the Tree of Life. 

We had breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe.

My family assured me that Expedition Everest was a smooth roller coaster and that I could handle it! Ha! That's me in the blue with my eyes shut! Katie is beside me, trying to talk me through it, and Mark and Tara are behind us acting like they're bored. Sheesh! 

I bought the picture to capture my VERY LAST rollercoaster ride. 

It got a little rainy, but ...

We still had a roaring good time at Animal Kingdom!

2015 Catch Up (Botanical Gardens & Katie's birthday)

A lot has happened in my life/our home during the past year and I haven't really wanted to talk about it outside of the family. We've faced a lot of stress, heartache and changes, but the Lord is faithful. At times, I wish I had been more willing to take you on the journey with us, but often words were just not there.  It was easier to not write.  There has been fun along the way, but since I was out of the habit of posting, I didn't share the good times either.

To try and help me get back into writing regularly, I'd like to recap our 2015 highlights so far.
Sound good? Let's see what fun we've had.

I'm actually going to start the recap with a visit to the U.S. Botanical Gardens in Washington D.C. during the last week of December. We visited during the Christmas season to see the amazing natural displays of the iconic architecture of the city. Here are a few of my favorite pieces.

 The Capitol

 The Lincoln Memorial

 The Jefferson Memorial

The Washington Monument 

 The Library of Congress

and three of our favorite people - 

my parents (plaid shirts), and Mark's mom (stripes)

Katie celebrated her 13th birthday, first with family - 

(looks like a future blackmail photo to me!)

Then with friends - 

(fun at the local trampoline place)

Next we were off on a big vacation! Come back tomorrow to see the pictures!