Magic Kingdom

When we found out we were going to Fort Myers Beach we couldn't pass up the opportunity to drive the three hours to Orlando to take Nora and Myles to the Magic Kingdom.  They're at the perfect age for it and we could just stay a day and a half. 

Walt Disney World! 

Walt Disney World.

  The most magical place on Earth.

  Except for us it didn't start out so magical. After a three hour car ride Nora started getting a little green around the gills.  Never plagued by car sickness before I just advised her to put her coloring and books, etc away for a while.  She said she was feeling fine and wasn't going to get sick until we were literally pulling into our parking spot at the hotel. Suddenly, I hear a panicked, "MOM!" and with no more than .67 seconds after... you know.  I'll spare you the details but yeah. That's how our trip to Disney began. 

Within 30 minutes she was back to her normal self running around the hotel grounds looking for lizards while Dan and I attempted to clean out the car. 

After about an hour and a half we finally got on the bus to visit Downtown Disney (which was the only plan for the afternoon anyway -- just slightly delayed. But that's ok because it was only car sickness and not the flu!)

Mr. Cool in the Harley-Davidson store.

Full bellies and all smiles listening to a live band.

We took the water taxi back to our hotel and finally tucked the kids into their bed (not just any bed... one with LED fireworks in the headboard when you pushed a button) at 10:30.

Our day at Magic Kingdom started out gloomy but our attitudes were anything but.  We were armed with ponchos and excitement. By early-afternoon the clouds parted and brought sunny skies as you'll see. 

We got there just after the doors opened. 

Cinderella's Castle

I quickly tracked down '1st Visit' buttons for the kids.

Waiting in line for It's a Small World.

Pirates of the Caribbean
Ever since this ride he's said he wants a pirate party
for his 4th birthday.

Our kids love a roller coaster. Big Thunder Mountain
was one of their top three rides of the day.

Splash Mountain was another favorite.  No fear.
They loved it and wanted to go again.

We knew in advance that the line to meet Frozen's Anna and Elsa would likely be far too long and prepped our kids that they wouldn't be able to meet them. They understood completely and agreed that they'd rather wait in line to go on a ride instead. (phew!) I did want them to have a chance to meet a couple of princesses though so I scheduled one of our FastPass+ items to be a meet and greet with Cinderella and Rapunzel (which worked out great because they're some of our faves). 

I'm so glad we did because this story is one of my top favorite memories of our Disney trip.

So Rapunzel squats down like this, takes Myles' hand and says, "Tell me. What do you dream about?" 

He gets a silly grin and in his sweetest little voice says, "I dream of you!" 

Haha! I love it! 

Another one of my favorite memories was watching the afternoon parade with this guy. 

A nice couple let Nora and Myles sneak through to get a spot right at the curb. Myles' arm never stopped waving.  With every new princess he waved and yelled their names. "Hi Anna! Hi Elsa! Hi Ariel!" I loved seeing the excitement through his eyes.  There was nothing sweeter. 

The tea cups was a mom-only ride.  Too much
spinning for Dan.

Waiting for Tomorrowland Speedway

Look who's at the wheel!

Way too excited to be driving.

We debated staying (or even coming back later that night after a break) for the nighttime parade and fireworks show but when we found out that the parade wasn't until 9pm (post day-light savings) with fireworks at 10 we decided against it...

...which was good.  On our walk to catch the bus back to the hotel at 6:30 this boy passed out. He barely woke up to get his pajamas on.  He slept until the next morning.  I would say that's a successful day.

Lilatia Park & Mother's Day 2015

It's been four or five years now that we've been making a trip to Lilatia Park during the lilac-tulip season.  I think we completely missed the season last year (it was a short, there and done kind of season last year) so this year we didn't want to miss.  

The flowers seemed to bloom a little late this spring due to all the rain and cool weather (I mean, c'mon... we went on May 10 and look how we're dressed!!) but we hit it right at their peak. Although Dan overheard someone say they had been there two days before and it had been even more beautiful (the rain the day prior to our visit took its toll). But even so, they were beautiful as ever.

Even this schniblet got into it this year and let me tell you it was really
cute to watch. I could have taken 50 pictures of her sniffing.

Apparently Nora was in a posing mood because I kept getting pictures like this... 

"Mom! Take a picture of me by these! They're your favorites!"

and this.

hip popped out to the side and everything.

I'm pretty sure she was actually blowing air out of her nose rather than smelling.

The scrunched up nose. Seriously. 

Framing this.

one of my favorites 

Happy Mother's Day!

Greta found a tulip head on the path and carried it around for quite a while.

haha -- this is what happens when I ask Myles to give his sister a kiss.

On the way home we stopped at Portillos for dinner (the other half of the Lilatia tradition) so no cooking for me -- Happy Mother's Day! 

Grandma Guenther's 95th

God is good!

  Today we gathered as a family to celebrate this vibrant woman's 95th birthday.  

She has much to celebrate and many loved ones to surround her.

Three great sons.

along with their wives.

Eight happy and healthy grandchildren. 

And a family tree that continues to grow with nine great-grandchildren! 

because sometimes the unplanned pictures
with all the little ones in it turn out better :)

A perfectly beautiful day.

Happy Birthday, Grandma! 

Fort Myers Beach: Part 2

It was time to explore. We headed to the north end of the island to check out the downtown area.

This is a very popular area and a much busier beach than the one near Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary's house.

It looks like a print or a postcard.
Hello from Fort Myers Beach!

From the end of the pier we watched people fish and had an amazing view of the shoreline. 

The night before my mom had to fly home we walked to the beach to watch the sunset. 

I was amazed by God's handiwork.

 

The day before we left Dan and his dad went fishing.  It's been on both of their lists to go ocean fishing for a while now and I'd say it paid off big time.  Dan caught this HUGE 250 pound grouper. It took him about 30 minutes to wrangle him in and it gave him an even larger fish tale to tell the rest of his life. 

While he was fishing, Mary Ann and I took the kids to the beach one more time.  Greta napped on me the entire hour and 15 minutes we were there.  She woke up about 5 minutes before we left.  I enjoyed the cuddles so I won't complain one bit about it. 

My view from the shady napping spot.

This is one of my favorite picture of her from the trip.

I mentioned in "Part 1" that Greta wasn't too keen on the pool at the beginning of the trip but she amazed us all with the 180 she did by the end.  

Not only did she like the pool but she jumped in! I'd say she had to have jumped in at least 50 times in the last day and a half. No exaggeration. 

Nora perfected the cannonball.

 She was hilarious.  She didn't even want to hold his hands as she jumped in.  At times he was a good three feet away waiting for her and she'd go right in, head all the way under, and bob right up.  No fear, this girl.

They got big into jumping in all at the same time.  

"wa!"
She's counting 1-2-3 here. Something
she picked up from the others.

Just a few more beach pictures to finish off the post. 

Caught the sunrise at the end of the block the morning we left.  

Thanks for your generosity opening your home to us, Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary.  You spoil us and we appreciate it!