Disney Trip--Day 2

We got up early on day 2 to go to the Animal Kingdom for breakfast with Donald, Goofy, Daisy and Micky. Just as we had discovered the day before, Libby was in love with the characters! She has small toys of each of the characters, so she had to show it to each of them (note the Donald Duck in her hand!) Mimi, Libby, Gary & Goofy. Gary's the one on the far right. Hugging Daisy Duck.

As we were getting ready to leave breakfast, they started the parade--which Libby joined in. She marched around (Yes, in her winter coat!) shaking her instrument with Goofy. It was so much fun to see this through her eyes! After leaving the restaurant, we went to Animal Kingdom, where we had more character sightings.

It warmed up enough for us to enjoy an awesome safari--getting to see lots of cool animals up close!

Libby decided to take a nap as we ran into more friends---We parked her next to Pluto for a photo-op.

After her nice long nap, we took the bus to Epcot.

One of our first stops was the "Finding Nemo" ride. It was so cute and Libby loved it (plus we didn't have to wait!)Here she is looking for Nemo...thanks to Libby, we found him!

She also found some of Nemo's friends.

We waiting in line for a few minutes to see Mickey and his friends. She had been doing really good with the characters up to this point, but were still unsure if she'd walk up to them herself.

She saw Pluto again (this time while she was awake).

She loved Minnie Mouse!

We got to see Donald Duck again. I had to go up and get her from him, since she was hugging all over him! When we were walking away from him, she told him, "You are my favorite". My heart melted! What a long and awesome day we had Day 2! Literally, the only time Libby cried was that morning when I put her hair in pigtails! What a trooper!

Disney Trip--Day 1

Due to the weather conditions and the long hours I have been spending at the hospital, I am just now getting around to adding more photos of our Disney trip. Let's start from the beginning...here Libby is watching Dora on the plane trip to Orlando. She was such a great girl!

Self-portrait as we enjoyed the plane.

Once we arrived in Florida on Wednesday afternoon, we headed right onto Magic Kingdom. I love this photo that I snapped while Gary was showing Libby the castle.

We ran into a few characters and enjoyed the short lines before heading to dinner.

Libby loved the tea-cups (she called them the hiccups). Yes, it was pretty cold our first few days!

After we rode some of the "classic" rides (The Teacups, Dumbo, It's a Small World) we went to have dinner with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. We were all a little scared about how she'd react to the characters...but we were so pleasantly surprised by her reaction!

The Banets with Eeyore. After dinner, we went to our hotel to gear up for Day 2. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was awesome...complete with a view of animals from our balcony!

Disney

We headed to Disney for Libby's first trip on Wednesday. She did amazingly well on the airplane and at Magic Kingdom. After a visiting the castle, riding Dumbo, The Teacups and It's a Small World (more photos to be posted later), we went to have dinner with Winnie the Pooh and his friends. We were so afraid that Libby was going to freak out when she saw the characters (you all remember our visit with Santa), but she absolutely loved them! She wanted to hug and talk to them.

For any of you who knew Gary when he was little, you may remember that his nickname was Piglet. Here, Libby and I posed with the two Piglets.

We got up early this morning (it was freezing!) and headed to Animal Kingdom for our breakfast with Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy. Again, Libby was so sweet and excited to see her favorite "friends".

On our way out, we ran into Pluto. Libby was sound asleep by then, but Pluto waved us over for a photo-op. She'd be sad that she missed it (lucky for us, we ran into him again while she was awake at Epcot).

After a short nap and a trip back to the room to re-group, Libby was going strong so we decided to head over to Epcot. Awesome photo-op.

We waited in line for a few minutes to see Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Libby's favorite, Donald. I am absolutely in love with this photo! Libby with Donald. Over the past few days, she has become obsessed with Donald. After she hugged him, she told him, "Donald, you're my favorite". I almost teared up! I'll be posting more photos later! Stay tuned.........

Day of Beauty

As you know, we are going to Disney in the morning, so we headed to Betsy's shop on Saturday so that we all could get haircuts before we left. While we were waiting for the lady that was ahead of us, Rosie volunteered to paint Libby's nails for Mickey. She sat so patiently and quietly as she filed and painted each nail. She looks so grown up!

Checking out the color that she picked.Now it's time to dry....

Playdate

Last night after dinner, Pat, Rikki, Brayden, Lilly, Sarah, Shawn, Justin, Jill, Kayla, Goober, Shannon, Ally & Gracie came over to play. Libby was thrilled about this group shot of Me, Rikki and Lilly, can't you tell? Sarah & new baby Gracie

It took the kids about 10 minutes to completely destroy the playroom! Here, Kayla, Ally, Brayden and Libby demonstrate how it's done.

Poor Rikki looks overwhelmed as she looks at the mess that the kids created. I think it's so funny that there is not a toy on the shelf below 3 feet.

Think of the all of money that Rikki is going to save on hair cuts, now that Brayden knows how to cut hair!

Pat teaching Brayden to shoot pool.

Colts Eggroll Party

Philip and Amanda are heading back to Baltimore tomorrow, so we all went out to the Beanblossom's for one of our favorite meals--homemade egg rolls! Here, the girls all pose in their vests.
Lucia and Emeline

You all know how much I always talk about Libby loving to play with "Little People". Mom and Dad went though the basement and found a ton of Little People that Philip and I had growing up. This camper set was one of my favorites! This set has a picnic table, fire, grill and all of the needed camping supplies. Nonna got us mini-marshmallows and put them on pretzel sticks so we could roast them.

Libby enjoys her roasted marshmallow! Libby, Eme and Dolly take turns sharing the Little People. Mom and I finished rolling all of the egg rolls. Pop frying them out on the deck (it's a joint effort).

Me and the girls get ready for kick-off. Libby was so funny trying to cheer! Nonna taught her to kick her leg in the air when she cheered, "Go Colts!". Here, so was trying to hard to clap her hands over her head.
Really into the game....

Nonna with all of her grand babies.

Denise, Philip, Derek and Dolly

Tyler, Albin (Mark & Denise's exchange student), Libby and me. For those of you keeping track, yes, this was Libby's 3rd wardrobe change of the night.

Happy New Year, 2009!

We began our New Year Eve's celebration by going out to dinner at Beef's prior to going to Brent's party.

Shawn & Sarah JP & JillThe three hot momma's wait for the party to begin...check out those boots!
Jill, Sarah and I dominated the dance floor! Here, Jill and I take a break from getting down to pose for a photo.
JP & Gary look like Gangsters in those hats!
So does Jill....
Me and Sarah ringing in the new year.
Shawn and Sarah...the cute couple. Dancin' Queens

Me and Jill
After the dance, we headed over to Danielle & Bill's house. I saw "Drunk Clay" who I am not sure I remember ever meeting before (in the 9 years I have known this man). He was pretty funny! Those involved in this event are glad to see that I edited out the questionable photos and saved those for posting on "Facebook"!