FINALLY an Update!

Whew!! What a week! After a 7 days in Disney World, then going to a wedding in Columbus, GA, we've finally made it home and I've finally gotten some time to post some pics of our trip on here. We had a great trip and are now all exhausted. Here are a few pics with an abbreviated version of our trip.

Day 1: Animal Kingdom.

• Went on a safari, saw some cool animals
  
• Luke wonders why everyone is calling him "Prince"
  
• Watched "It's Tough Being a Bug" in 3D. Luke doesn't like 3D movies, tries to kick the bugs coming at him.
  
• Started raining, went to hotel to rest before dinner.
  
• Dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. Awesome restaurant. Luke thinks the elephants are real because they move their ears and eyes.
  
• After dinner went to Hollywood Studios.
  
• Rode The Tower of Terror, kids loved it, Chris hated it.
  
• Kaylyn and I rode The Rockin' Roller Coaster. We both loved it.
  
• Watched The Muppet Show in 3D. Luke still not into 3D movies.The giraffe was so close to our bus on the safari
  Hollywood Studios

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

• Character breakfast at The Tusker House


• The kids both love the characters, but Luke is totally enamoured with them.


• Rode Expedition Everest


• Rode a Dinosaur ride that scared us all to death. Luke thought they were real, there was no convincing him otherwise.


• Saw The Festival of The Lion King. Awesome show.


• Back to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon


• Rode through the Back lot tour.


• Learned how to make a movie with special effects


• Watched a stunt show.


• Dinner at The Brown Derby


• Torrential flooding when we came out of the restaurant.


• Got completely soaked running to our bus after waiting 45 minutes for the rain to stop. It didn't.
  
  

Day 3: Magic Kingdom

• Breakfast with Pooh, Tigger, Eyore, and Pigglet at The Crystal Palace.

• Explored Tomorrowland
  
• Kids excited about driving go-carts on a track.
  
• Got burped on by Stitch, gross chili-cheese dog burp (it was a ride).
  
• Rode Thunder Mountain. Kids loved it.
  
• Rode Dumbo and Tea-cups because everyone knows those are rides you MUST do when visiting the Magic Kingdom.
  
• Watched SpectroMagic Parade.
  
• Watched Wishes Fireworks show. Loved it.

Day 4: Epcot

• Breakfast at Chef Mickey's


• Attempted Epcot, but it was Memorial Day and the place was PACKED.


• Waited 2 hours, rode Soarin. Awesome ride.


• Saw Nemo and Friends. Talked to a Holographic Turtle. Amazing technology.


• Lunch in China


• Gave it up after lunch and went to rest. We were all completely exhausted by this point anyway.


• Dinner at The Crystal Palace.


• Downtown Disney after dinner for some shopping.

Day 5: Back to Epcot

• Much better day. Fewer crowds


• Rode Test Track 2 times.


• Rode Soarin again


• Road Mission Space


• Loved them all


• Lunch in Mexico


• Watched Honey I Shrunk the Audience in 3D. Scared Luke to death...he was climbing the seats, I had to remove his 3D glasses. He was still scared....but refused to leave....


• Dinner in Ireland


• Watched Illuminations from the patio of The Rose Crown and Pub.

Day 6: Epcot again

• Breakfast in Norway with all the princesses

• Explored the countries

• Rode Test Track 2 more times

• Rode Soarin 2 more times

• Watched The Lion King's Circle of Life...a not-so-interesting movie (we were tired and hot, it was a chance to rest) Luke wants to know if "something's gonna come out from under our seats." (He remembers Honey I Shrunk the Audience.)

• Lunch in Mexico

• Lots of cool hands-on exhibits to play with.

• Dinner at Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada.Day 7: Magic Kingdom

• Rode Splash Mountain

• Went through Haunted Mansion

• Went through It's a Small World. Heard the song over, and over, and OVER.

• Lunch at The Plaza

• Kaylyn not feeling well after lunch. She and Chris went back to hotel. Luke and I stayed to explore Toontown

• Saw Mickey's House, Minnie's House, Daisy's Boat, and rode an airplane through Goofy's barn.

• Met Pluto and Goofy.

• Luke fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel after saying he didn't need a nap, so he would be able to go swimming when we returned to the room.

• Back to Hollywood Studios to attempt to ride Toystory and watch Fantasmic.

• Got in line for Fantasmic 2 hours before showtime.

• Nixed the Toystory ride when line moved continually and I knew I would never be able to find Chris in line if I left him to go to the ride.

• Started raining at 8:15.

• Announced that performance would be delayed at 8:30.

• At 9:15, 2 minutes of fireworks and show was cancelled.

• Kids were disappointed....didn't get to ride Toystory AND didn't get to see Fantasmic. Oh well...can't do it all. Maybe next time...
  All the people waiting in line for FantasmicWaiting in the rain
  
  From the 2 minutes of the show we got to see, it looked like it would have been amazing
  

Well, that's the short version. Now watch the video in the next post to see the extended version. Grab some popcorn. It's kind of lenghthy, but what can I say, except 1300 pics to show!

The kids showing off their ID bracelets. These were the best investment I made while preparing for the trip. I had a fear of losing one of them in the massive crowd of kids so I was trying to think of something for them to wear with our cell phone numbers on them so that if they were lost, we could be easily contacted. I found these bracelets here.
Luckily we never had to use them, but it was nice to know we had them.

Disney Video

Almost Home!!!!

We're sitting at the airport in Orlando now, about an hour before our flight departs. As much as I loved Disney World, I'm ready to return home now. We had a great trip and after 7 days visiting the parks in the sun, the heat, and the rain we are exhausted. I have lots of great pics that I'll be posting soon. There are well over 1,000 of them to edit so I'll have to post a few at a time. Be patient! They're coming!

These are pics from last Thursday waiting at the airport and the flight. The kids were so excited about their first time flying. I've got to say, it was a pretty easy trip....1 hour 15 min. flying versus 8-10 hours driving. Give me a plane anyday! The only thing I would change is booking a late flight. We landed at 9:45 Thursday night, rode the shuttle to our hotel, checked in, everything was pretty smooth except....our luggage was not delivered to our room until 1:30 am! I knew that it could take them up to 3 hours to deliver our luggage to our room, so I had planned get our bags and take them to the motorcoach instead of having them delivered since we were arriving so late. One problem with that plan....the "Disney Magical Express" luggage does not go through baggage claims so we couldn't get them. Anyway, lesson learned....take an earlier flight (or don't put the Disney Magical Express tags on our bags.)

Where we've called home for the past week.

All Our Bags Are Packed.....

....We're ready to go...
...'cause we're leeaavvvinggg on a jet plane...
...Don't know when we'll be back again....

Acutally I do know when we'll be back again, that would be next Friday. (and then we leave again Saturday to go to Georgia for my cousin's wedding.)

Yes, the big day is FINALLY here! After 9 long months of waiting and planning, we are heading to Disney World in a few hours. Everything's packed, at least I HOPE I haven't forgotten anything. (Not that I could fit one more thing in our suitcases) We're just waiting for 6:55 pm to get here. The kids are excited, bouncing off the walls excited. Between the end of school excitement and our Disney trip, they haven't been able to sit still all week. I'll try to keep y'all posted on how it's going. You know I'll have lots of pics! See ya in a couple of weeks!

Luke's Preschool Graduation

This morning we had Luke's preschool graduation/play. As you can see he was a cowboy in the play. He was so proud of his chaps and boots. He said his line great, but he had a little stage-fright when he saw all those people! Luke has really enjoyed going to school this year and he has learned so much. He will miss all of his friends and teachers next year when he starts Kindergarten.

Luke and Ms. Carla

Luke and Garrett


Like I said, he was a little nervous. It's a hard to understand what he's saying so I'll interpret: "I'm a Little Cowboy. Here's my hat. Here's my chaps. Here's my boots. When I wake up, I work all day, then get on my horse and ride away."

Dance Pics

We got Kaylyn's dance pics back tonight. I thought these turned out pretty good. What can I say? She loves it! We ended up only getting one good one of this costume. It was the last costume, we had been there for HOURS, and she was tired and hungry, and ready to GO! Oh well, enjoy!

Watch Out Cuz! I'm Right Behind You!

Of course Chloe had to get in on the action, but she wasn't in a picture-taking mood that day. It's hard being a Diva!

Good Job Kaylyn!

Today was Kaylyn's Award's Ceremony at school. She made all A's for the entire year! She worked hard this year and earned that nice trophy. I'm proud of you Baby Girl!

P.S. Excuse the hair. The award's ceremony was after gym class and she's looking a bit rough....

Bama Ears

Bama Ears is a great new site for Alabama kids with Cochlear implants. Chloe's story is on there along with several others, including Gage and Brook who I've been following for a while. Check it out and support this new site.

Warning: Blog Under Construction!!

If you tried to view the blog last night or early this morning, I appologize for it's crazy appearance. That's what I get for trying to speak HTML! I think it's repaired now....

Happy Mother's Day!!

I hope everyone has had a great mother's day! My day was great! It started with breakfast made by my kids (with the help of their Daddy.) Then we went to church, then to my parent's for dinner. These are pics of my gifts the kids made at school. Kaylyn decorated a flower pot and planted a flower in it. Luke made me a sweet flower painting with his hand prints. Love those school-craft gifts! Those are the best!

P.S. Excuse the poor quality of these pictures. Didn't know why my camera was taking such awful pictures.....until I uploaded new pics on the computer. There were all sorts of pics I don't remember taking. Mostly of Kaylyn's room. It appears Kaylyn has been playing with my camera. Who knows whats wrong with it....

An Update....

Okay, so it's been a while since I've updated. BAAAADDD blogger!! (slapping my hand). I have no excuses, other than my usual hectic life. So, here goes....

Luke's ball season is almost over. Next weekend will be his last season games, then we will have post-season tournament the following weekend. Let's hope these tournaments are more organized than the pre-season tournament. :) He has had so much fun with his first season of

T-Ball and loves playing in the games. Everyday when we go to practice, he asks "Am I havin' a game today?" He has improved so much since the first practice, if only that dirt would stop stealing his attention! As far as the team record....it's not that great. I think we are at 2-6, something like that. Oh well, the kids couldn't care less about winning games. They are just having fun and that's all that matters. I won't be at his games next weekend because Kaylyn has dance pictures at the same time and she HAS to be there. Not much I can do about it, after all, I can't be two places at once! Tomorrow he and I are going on his class field trip to the Alabama Theater for a show (I forget the name of it).

Kaylyn is getting closer to wrapping up another year of dance. Still loving it, but SO ready for the recital to get here. After the recital, we'll have a break for the Summer and in August, she'll be more than ready to get back to dancing. Her recital will be at the BJCC again and she's excited about that. She's still doing well in school, and if all goes well for these last few weeks of school, she will be on the "A" honor roll for the entire year.

Another semester in the books for me. I wrote 2 papers and took 2 final exams last week to wrap up my Spring semester...A.K.A "The classes from hades." I'm just glad they're over, and I made it through without pulling out every hair in my head! Next week I'll start the Summer semester, which hopefully won't be as time-consuming. I just have some management and community clinical hours, so no papers to write (YEAH!). Come on Fall '09!!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the ER, thanks to the Swine Flu scare. It's the flu, a different strand, at an unexpected time of year. It's still a virus, it still has to run its course. Nothing to do but treat the symptoms and prevent it's spread, just as we do every winter during flu season. That's all I'll say about that.

Chris is home for the moment. (This week anyway....) He's still working in Mobile, but hasn't had to go for long periods of time like he did November-January. Hopefully it will stay that way! We're hoping he will be able to stay home until we go on our Disney vacation, which is quickly approaching. 2 weeks and 3 days to be exact!!! (Or, 17 days and 20 hours, 5 minutes, whichever you prefer) Either way, we are so ready for May 21 to get here!

Well, I guess that just about sums up the past few weeks around the Chilton house. Glad we're all on the same page again!