Christmas is over

we had a great real tree downstairs again...it was so pretty!

 the usual upstairs tree.  i need to mix it up next year.  still like it though

 here we all are on Christmas eve.  we had a pretty relaxed nice day and evening.  there was some fun food, homemade pretzels and butterbeer.  then we took turns daring each other to eat bertie bott's every flavour  beans- from universal.  um, YUCK...there were some nasty flavours and lots of gagging into the garbage.
we worked on a puzzle...we did the most un-enthusiastic nativity EVER...watched it's a wonderful life...just waiting for santa to come...

 here is the story of Tessa's PJ's.  when we were at universal the first time, she found these minions jammies and fell in love with them.  all we could ever find in any store was a size large.  tessa is not large in the least, so they weren't going to work.
the last day we went back to universal, she was on a ride and i was waiting with Ben.  we decided to go in a store again and lo and behold...i found ONE SIZE SMALL.  i really should have just told her then- but i bought them for Christmas.  she came out of the ride and was all prepared to buy a size large.  then she noticed the bag and got suspicious, so i told her it was just a t-shirt.  then off they went for one more ride.  so then Ben and i schemed to go back in the store and buy a t-shirt so that we weren't liars.  also, we knew that she knew.  later, they found us and once again she wanted to buy a pair of large ones- just to have something!!!  we discouraged her from buying anything, and i let pete in on the secret.  he wasn't impressed.  tessa was downright ticked as we tried to get them to just leave.  i almost just let her see them, and pay me back!!!
anyhow, i was scared...but wrapped them up anyhow.  and here she is opening them...
she was surprised, there was disbelief...

 ...anger...

 ...happiness....

 laugh/crying...sadness...happiness.  who knows.  it was funny!!  i feel kinda bad about the whole thing.

 got Pete a shirt from his favourite highway in Orlando...

 the other 3 got Orlando shirts with their jammies...

Christmas Mode?

i find myself still in vacation mode.  at work putting books away- i'm daydreaming about Florida.  for me, it's mostly about SEEING things...new things i haven't seen before...sights, decoration, museums,...things we were looking forward to for a long time.
i hope we can take the kids back there someday.  it won't ever be the same though.  they will be OLD...and who knows, maybe married!  EEEEKKK....but seriously it is coming right up.
now it is time to have the pre-Christmas-week-rush.  and for us it really IS a rush...nothing was really done or prepared before the vacay.  thank goodness i DID do a little online shopping.....
anyhow...i want this Christmas to be relaxed.  the pressure and stress that sometimes comes with events isn't worth it to me...not this time...so...on we go.

sad

this was probably my favourite thought about the horrible tragedy of last week...why does it take such an event to prompt people to remember God?  so sad...

twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38 when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate. their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air. they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there. they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say. they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day. "where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse. "this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house." when what to their wondering eyes did appear, but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near. He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same. then He opened His arms and He called them by name. and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring those children all flew into the arms of their King and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace, one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face. and as if He could read all the questions she had He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad." then He looked down on earth, the world far below He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand, "Let My power and presence re-enter this land!" "may this country be delivered from the hands of fools" "I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!" then He and the children stood up without a sound. "come now my children, let me show you around." excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran. all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can. and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight, "in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Day 9- REPEAT

well, we had one day to go back to either a Disney OR Universal park.  just worked out that way with the ticket packages we bought.  it was a tough decision!  it eventually came down to the Universal with the rides (not the harry potter one) or Epcot.  we decided on universal!  i think maybe we regretted it part way through the day...mostly cause it was busy that day...but we still had a fun day.  not too many photos were taken however...

one picture in the ET ride?  pathetic!  it was the best ride.  haha

 us walking in- we had to get passports for some reason for the ride.  we had to tell them our names.  Ayden told them his name was "Fettuccine"...then ben said "Tragdoor" and tessa said "Tinky Winky"...well i was next and laughing so hard i couldn't' say my name so pete had to say it for me.  then he said "Bob"...hahaha...real original there!  hehe.

 Horton!

 i actually got a picture of Ben with Gru.  but something weird was up with the settings on the camera and they didn't' work.  SO SAD.  at this point, the other 3 had gone on the minion's ride again...
after we left the park, we went back to our condo and decided where to eat.  we went down the street to "The Texas Roadhouse".  and we thought it was yummy!  we had an onion flower, deep fried pickles...and then whatever we got individually.  we had a pretty fun night...

 a few shots of our condo...turned out really nice there.

 one thing i love about vacations is that you can leave a MESS...no cooking or cleaning...sigh...so fun!

 here is where Ayden and Tessa slept.  Ben had the hide a bed in the living room.  this would have been a hard place to squeeze more people in.

 We ended up having a great time.  i feel very lucky that we were able to take our kids somewhere so fun.  we saved up and anticipated this for quite awhile.  we told them at the end of school in June!  sooo...while we were there, we wanted to squeeze in as much fun as we possibly could- and i think we had success.
it was exciting also just for the fact that we haven't really flown before.  i flew once- in grade 9.  and of course, Pete has flown a lot.  but that was pretty new for the rest of us!!
so...saturday morning we woke up at 2:45 (12:45) cardston time- and went to the airport by 3:30...flew out by just after 6.  whew!  so exhausting.  we got to Calgary just after noon.  we got out of the airport to go find our car and it was FREEZING to say the least.  we were in hoodies and had had heat and air conditioning...and so it was a shock.  blah!!!  anyhow, then we drove home.  sad to leave a vacation...but kind of nice it a way too to get back to normal.
it has taken us a week i would say to get back into schedule.  for me personally- i was waking up in the night for hours...and couldn't stay asleep.  terrible!  the last couple nights have been better, although i still wake up kinda early.  oh well.  also, most of us had a cold.  we had sore throats on the trip too...but thank goodness they didn't get worse.
anyhow, we are glad we went.  it was a tiring trip...but so fun!  if we ever went back, we would do less theme parks and just focus on the ones we loved most.
here we are at home...and here is Ayden with the wand that "chose" him...

 here is a picture of my new Mickey and Minnie salt and pepper shakers...my pumpkin juice...my Mickey Christmas hat...and my Nasa water bottle.

 oh!  and my new Lucy mug!

 some new lanyards for work.  pens...bertie bott's.  there is Ayden's quaffle on the top left.

 this picture is so embarrassing.  it was taken on the mummy ride.  everyone is so chill other than me.  i have my face scrunched up as tight as it can go- and holding my body totally rigid...and scared to death!  everyone is just like..."la-la-la".  hahaha...

 oh!  let's not forget my popcorn Mickey bucket from Hollywood studios.  so glad i got stuff like this!

Day 8- ANIMAL KINGDOM!

ahhhhh...this was a fun day.  this park seemed quieter, prettier, more fun and relaxed.  the greenery and trees were just amazing.  we could have stayed longer just to look around.  we didn't know a lot of what to expect here...

 first thing we did was head to the HUGE and really cool "Tree of Life" area.  the tree itself has animals carved in it, it's impressive...more on that below.  but under the tree is a big cave...inside the cave is the waiting room for "A Bug's Life" 4-D show.  what a fun show that was!  probably one of the best of the  trip...there were things moving on the seats, stuff like bug spray spraying from the ceiling, and water, and air...it was so fun!

 Ayden and some big ape under the tree...

 just waiting in the caves to see the show...

 next we wandered over to this "expedition everest" ride.  i think everyone loved it!  it may have scared Tessa just a touch, but it was pretty fun for them.  the shopping areas in this part were neat...they reminded Pete of his trip to Nepal.

 next we went to the "NEMO" musical show...it was honestly wonderful.  we were all pretty impressed by it.  it was about 40 minutes long.  i would love to see it again!!!

 the sharks..."Bruce"...all the voices and singing were so great!  Marlin sounded exactly like...Marlin.

 Crush Dude!

 here was a dino ride that those 4 went on.

 we went to this great outdoor bbque place for lunch.  it was big, not overly crowded...and in such a beautiful setting!

 Ben keeping an eye on the birds that were VERY interested in our lunch...

 we went on a Safari.  the african animals were nice to look at.  the safari itself was the bumpiest thing...and so it wasn't very enjoyable for me...but everyone else enjoyed it!

 there were areas like this where it was set up to look like India, and then there would be a tiger-area.  sooo...it was KIND of like a zoo...but not really.  and there weren't TONS of animals.

 the tree of life is off in the distance here...

 so neat!

 the African area was fun.  we loved the store there...if only i had more room in my suitcase!!!

 ....on our safari....

 here was "Simba" sitting out oh-so-perfectly on this here rock.  we joked that he was chained up that way...hahaha

 towards the end of the day, Tessa wanted a hair-wrap, so i stayed there with her, while the boys went back on the expedition ride a few more times.  then we sat and waited for this parade.  we felt like we had spent a really good day there.  but it would have been fun to go back!  these were just such long days, i'm pretty sure we were all tired.