Christmas at Disney...Almost

We arrived in Jacksonville, Florida for our two month rotation quite exhausted and barely recovered from the flu.  Five days later, however, we pulled it together and drove ourselves down to Orlando to get a peek at the wonderful world of Walt Disney all done up for the holidays.  It was the last weekend that all of the Christmas decor was up, and it was so worth the weekend trip--Thanks Kaicie for convincing us to go!  On Friday night we pulled into Disney's Hollywood Studios and got there just in time to meet Lightening McQueen and Mator before 

dashing over to catch their famous night show Fantasmic!  Following the show we walked over to the Osmonde Spactacular Dancing Lights Display lining Hollywood Studios' City Streets.  It was amazing!  Not only were there millions of lights, dancing to the perfectly delightful Christmas music, but Disney does Christmas right--complete with snow for Christmas.  From somewhere high above, fake snow pumped out and snowflakes caught in our hair and mouth as we strolled through the winter wonderland.  It was Disney magic at it's best!

 

The next day we woke early and met up with the Gillete's and Winders, our Florida away rotation neighbors.  Together we enjoyed the Magic Kingdom and all of the holiday decor there.

 

 

 

 

After a fun filled day, we slipped over to Epcot for a little fine dining.  The resteraunt in Mexico had somehow always been full every time we tried to make reservations last April, but that day we lucked out and got a seat.  The food there is pricey, but absolutely amazing!  The Winders joined us for the feast and made for lovely dinner companions.

Afterwards we went back to Disney to see the lighted Christmas tree and the Christmas Firework and Light Show over the Cinderella Castle.

 

 

The castle looked absolutely amazing in all of its holiday splendor.  It felt like we were actually there during the holidays, our once in a lifetime Christmas at Disney--almost that is. 

 

 After the fireworks we loaded into the car and drove back to Jacksonville to our fabulous housing--the Staybridge Suites!  Somehow we manaaged to be the lucky ones whose housing got screwed up.  We'll have to stay at the Staybridge for two weeks and then they'll get us moved over to a condo.  While it will stink to live in a hotel for two weeks, at least we get free meals down in the dining hall and access to the hotel pool, not to mention housekeeping.  I guess that's why we had no problem dumping the kids into bed still fully dressed. 

It was an awesome weekend, and the beginning of another adventure in Disney territory.

Bringing in the New Year

Although we were all reeling from the flu, (There is nothing like having to pull over on the side of the road on New Year's Eve to take turns throwing up! We're not drunk folks!) we did manage to enjoy a few fun activities to bring in the New Year.  On New Year's Eve, we stopped briefly in the City of Joseph--Nauvoo, Illinois.  We have been to Nauvoo many times,  but we wanted to stop there as we were passing through since heaven only knows when we will be able to come back again.  I'm sure we'll be back, but we'll probably wait until all of the kids are old enough to remember before we return.  Here a few of us are in front of the temple.

 

After Nauvoo, we pulled into the first hotel we could find and hit the sack well before midnight and still in our clothes. Exciting, I know, but it was a miracle we even got as far as Nauvoo that day.  Nick took the first turn driving and I was passed out in ten minutes.  Two hours later I woke up and we were parked on the side of the road all asleep. When we woke up and started driving again, I had to laugh when I realized Nick had only made it ten miles out of town before he had pulled over and crashed. I guess after 48 hours of no sleep, 10 miles was as good as it gets!  I wouldn't have made it two!) 

 

The next day, New Year's Day, we got up and visited some of our favortie places in good old St. Louis.  Our first stop was the St. Louis Mills Mall.  We did some shopping and then humored the kids by finally letting them ride one of these mall trains.  At $3.00 a person, it will probably be the only time in their live that we do it, but hey, it was a holiday!

After shopping we drove by the temple, our old house, and then drove over to Illinois to one of our favorite med school destininations--Our Lady of the Snow.  Although visiting Our Lady of the Snow was a Christmas tradition while we were in med school, we decided that just this once we could go there on New Year's Day.  And I'm so glad we did. It brought back so many memories!  And how many palces can you get a $2.00 camel ride after all?  The kids are all very proud of there camel riding expertise!

 

 

The kids also love the animals in the "Bethlehem Stable".

 

Mason especially got a kick out of it!

 

It wasn't the most eventful holiday, but at least we all managed to go 24 hours without throwing up and we got to relive some of the old traditions before driving the rest of the way to sunny Jacksonville.