Happy New Year 2009!!

Out to a kid friendly party at 7pm...home by 10:00. Ain't nuthin' better!!! LOL

Happy 2009!!

Christmas at Disney

On Tuesday, the eve BEFORE Christmas Eve, we headed over to Disney for a few hrs. We went to the Magic Kingdom and had a good time. It is nice to just be able to go and stay for a few hrs and not feel bad that you left after being there for less than half a day. We had a nice time...rode a few rides....ate some good food....watched the Christmas parade...and got some new customized EARS. :) And would you believe it...I ran into a friend from home while in the MK! That has happened to me a few times while there. SO weird!

Main Gate! After all these yrs and probably close to 100 visits, I always get excited to see this!
Good ole' Minnie!

Riding the TRAM

Beautiful Tree

Pretty Christmas swag on City Hall

Main Street decorations

Pretty Wreath

More Swags down Main Street

Munching on an awesome Casey dog!

A quick bite at Casey's as the parade begins!

Stars of the show...Mickey & Minnie!

Aurora!

Soldiers are awesome! How DO they really play those trumpets through the small holes in their mouths?

I LOVE these reindeer in their annual Christmas parade.

About to take off on Goofy's Barnstormer!

OG's fave ride...Buzz Lightyear!

Mickey & Minnie Topiaries

Watching WISHES!

Nuns on a train...not sure why this was funny but it was!

OG on the train!

Picking out the decorations and colors for her EARS

Final Product! CUTE! I LOVE that you can change out ears!

Heading out! Bye Bye WDW! See you next year!

DeLeon Springs & the Old Spanish Sugar Mill

While in FL we made a little jaunt over to a place called DeLeon Springs. It is state park about 40 mins from my family’s house. We were going for the “make your own breakfast at your table” restaurant that was there. It was called The Old Spanish Sugar Mill. Now I have to admit, I thought it was a bit weird to drive 40 mins for breakfast…and by the time we got there and got served it was almost 10:30, but it was worth it.

There was a nice little swimming area there with a spring in the middle that apparently has water that is 72 degrees year round. And there were even some old folks swimming in there which was cool. The outside weather itself was low 70’s…so a bit cold for swimming at any time, but they seemed to like it. We enjoyed hanging out there waiting for our table.
Then we were finally called and got ready to eat. They brought us pitchers of pancake batter. One with some rustic brown flour batter and one with regular batter. We got to pour it and make our own. We even had to make our own eggs…but thank goodness they cooked the bacon for us. Although we did put it back on the griddle for a little more cooking.
After a yummy filling meal we headed out to leave…but soon discovered the beautiful huge oaks covered with Spanish moss. We went over to them and played around a bit. One limb was low to the ground and could be used almost as a swing. Way cool! Having fun like they did in the good ole days!!

Christmas posting...

nonexistent! OOPS

But we are back from FL and packages & bows & family & driving. three Christmases down and one to go.

Promise to update this week.

off to FL...

Headed to FL tomorrow...yeah can't wait! We will do some fun family stuff...do a little Disney....maybe go see Despereaux. FUN!

Safe travels to all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008 Christmas Cards...I just had to do them!!

We did it...and here is the photo we used. HOW CUTE IS SHE!!!??? If you didn't get one either 1) it is lost in the mail 2) we don't have your address 3) we ran out (I did 120 and that STILL was not enough) or 4) we don't like you. Either way...Merry Christmas! ;)

A Visit From the Pajama Elf

I heard from a friend a year or so ago that the Pajama Elf visits her family on Christmas Eve and brings fun matching Christmas PJ's. What a neat idea I thought. So we started it last year with our family. The PJ elf brought PJ's for the entire family (including the FL grandparents who were in town). This year I decdied that it would be better to do it earlier in the month so as not to wait till Christmas eve when the holiday is practically over. I, ahem, the elf, bought said PJ's in January last year on clearance...and bought them in a snowman motif instead of a Christmas motif. So actually they CAN be worn after Christmas.

So, about a week ago, Pajama elf comes....rings the doorbell...runs away...and VOILA, new PJ's for the fam on the porch!! (please ignore the fact that they are in a BIRTHDAY bag, lol). The PJ elf was not prepared.

Someone rang the doorbell!

Looking a little skeptical! "Is that elf still out here Mom?"

Disney Changes its name to honor OG...EDITED

Breakfast with Santa...and friends

We went Sunday to breakfast with Santa at Starmount. It was a great event...even though I was sick and barfed within SECONDS of getting home and walking in the door (headache). So I barely ate anything (and the food LOOKED awesome) and I felt bad the whole time...but OG & WK had fun, so that made it fun.
OG did NOT want to go see Santa...but we did manage to get her in a family shot with him. And after it was over, and later that evening, she decided "it wasn't so bad Mom" and "I want to maybe see him again". So we'll see. We have another B'Fast w/ Santa event Sat...again at Starmount but this time FREE breakfast...and it is NOT a Starmount event...just being held there. So we may try it.

perfect kid-sized table