Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

My Aunt Rita hosted Thanksgiving this year.  And quite a few people came!!!

Prayer



Eating and hanging out....















6 of my Grandma Wanda's 7 kids!  We were missing Norman :(  , who is #5
So here are...
Rita (#7), Roy (#1), Wayne (#2), Sharon (aka "Mom" #3), Phyllis (#4), and Ricky (#6)


8 of, I think, 14 grandkids....


and 8 out of AT LEAST 19(?) great-grandkids...


Happy Thanksgiving!!
We have MUCH for which to be thankful!!

Happy Birthday, Sherry!!

We don't really do birthday dinners for Sherry's or my birthdays, because Mom takes us each out to eat and shop every year.

So this year, while I didn't actually get to SEE the birthday girl, the kids and I snuck out and took some Christmas lights, decor, and a doggy bed over and left it all shortly before it got dark.  So she actually did arrive to the lights and everthing in the dark :D









 So fun!!  But I wish she hadn't had to work and I got to see her on her 40th!!!!

Savanah

Sherry and David got a new-to-them senior puppy, and named her Savanah.  So much had been going on that it took us a while to get around to see her.  The kids and I actually went while they weren't home and climbed over their fence.

Good thing the neighbors didn't call the cops, and that Savanah is FAR from an attack dog. :)





We all HEARTILY approve!!!  LOVE!!

Monday, December 21, 2015

Epcot

We arrived at Epcot with 2 Jasmines in tow.  Daddy gave them tight hugs, because he couldn't believe how grown up they looked!  They LOVED being Jasmine!


We ran and got into the test track line first thing!



Kids with Nena and Papa in front of Spaceship Earth.  I got  on pic of some us on Spaceship Earth.



At the end of going through the past of civilization, they ask you a lot of questions and try to figure out what your future could look like as far as housing, transportation, food and that sort of thing.  Here's one of the pics from my "future."


 After Spaceship Earth, we moved on to the World Showcase...

Canada...


Great Britain...


Then, finally, what the girls had been waiting for, Morocco!  Iris kept calling it Agraba :)
The kids all enjoyed the shopping in Morocco more than the other countries.  The girls loved the clothes and jewelry while Clyde enjoyed the musical instruments.





Then, thanks to an awesome Daddy, the girls were first in line to meet Jasmine and Aladdin!  This was on our "must do" list.





Uncle David surprised the girls with some trading pins and Clyde a wooden sculpture from Africa.


We all got quite hungry, so we went to the Restaurant Marrakesh, a hidden gem tucked away in the back of Morocco. 






  They had the BEST most yummy food!!!  And belly dancing with Moroccan music.  The dancer invited the girls up, but once Iris figured out what kind of dancing they were doing, she ran back to the table.  Lucy had already refused ;)





This was definitely my FAVORITE restaurant experience!

We went to Japan where Ai helped the girls try on kimonos.





Clyde bought Japanese candy, and Iris bought a fan similar to the one Lucy bought back in 2009 with her name painted on it in Japanese.




 And though there is no official show, ride, or store for South Korea, I found a food stand and was VERY excited!  So I bought Bulgogi Short Ribs!! 



Once we got to Norway, we visited the bakery, shopped, and Papa met friends of friends and family among the Norwegian ladies in Norway. 
Here's a picture of the Norway troll then (2009) and now (2015).





Mexico!



You'll notice Iris's worried face.  Sometimes I lean a bit far on vehicles to get a good pic ;)

After we rounded the World Showcase, we rode Soarin with our fast passes.  It was Lucy's first time, she was very brave!!  We all loved it and wished we could do it again...but alas, the line was CRAZY long! 

Soarin lifts you up 40 feet into a curved movie screen with invisible fans blowing, making you feel like your on a hang glider.  As you fly over pine forests, it smells like pine, when you fly over an orchard, it smells of oranges.





At the end of Journey Into the Imagination...


snack break...



Finding Nemo...


 leaving for the night...


for our last Disney day, we went back to Epcot for a half day.  We girls at in China, while the boys rode Test Track and grabbed a to go snack.


Later we "big girls" ate more scrumptious cinnamon rolls and school bread at Norway, because YUUUUMMMMMM!!




While we were doing that, Stephen took the kids to Mexico and Germany for a couple of Agent P adventures.  You're given a cellphone that gives you detective tasks to complete.  Then cool things happen to various things around that "country" when you succeed.






On our way out, this Frenchman cut silhouettes out of each child by just eyeballing them!!


And that, my friends, is the end of my Disney posts!!  We had the most FABULOUS time!!!