hollywood studios

Understandably we got a late start at Hollywood Studios. We ate lunch at our resort where they were having luau party music and stopped to limbo for awhile. ... Thus the girls decked out in their plastic lei's.

We pretty much walked everywhere in pairs. Chris and Jim at a crazy fast pace rushing through the crowd with the stroller and Jim's new fancy stroller-replacement backpack. Ryan and Tori walking together anxious for the big rides. Katie and Sophie holding hands and talking about their shoes or something else fashionable and then Marisa and I usually heading up the back making sure we could account for such a large group AND waiting for Emily and Sloan. The kids were told to be in charge of their 'buddies' at all times. Unfortunately Emily didn't do such a great job and we lost Sloan a couple times.





We LOVE tower of terror. Even Emily wanted to keep going on it even though you couldn't tell that by being with her during the ride. She clung to us and wouldn't open her eyes... but when everyone wanted to go again she was thrilled.




Our other favorite things were meeting Mickey (just Luke, Megan and I -- while everyone else was riding the big kid rides), the Beauty and the Beast show, the Ariel show and the Indiana Jones show.

The kids were most excited for the High School Musical 2 show. We got there early enough to get front row seats so the girls would be picked to get up and dance. Other kids were in the way for the dancing pics but they loved it. Unfortunately the front row was not in the shade. I think this was our hottest day. We nearly melted and burned our behinds sitting on the hot pavement... but it was worth it!

Fantasmic was great. We had never seen it before and were really impressed. After the show Marisa and I took the little kids home to bed and the big kids rode Tower of Terror and Rockn' Roller Coaster over and over and over

magic kingdom by moonlight

I love the magic kingdom... I love the parades, I love the big castle, I love seeing the characters... actually I love watching Megan watch the parade, being with Megan as she points up to 'Cinderella's house' and hearing her high pitched squeal as she names all the characters. Being with a three year old at Disneyworld is definitely magical.

Megan loved everything... all except for not being big enough to ride the 'big kid rides'. Every time there was ride with a height minimum chart she'd run over and stand under trying to be as tall as she could. She even tried standing on her tippy toes but still her head didn't touch the top. "I not big enough" she would say.

Chris and I took turns hanging out with Luke and Megan and doing parent swaps. Ryan, Katie and Emily were thrilled because it meant they got to do most of the rides twice. Their favorites were of course, the three mountains... Space mountain, Splash mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. Even Emily and Sloan did all the rides together with their hands straight up in the air.

Luke was pretty entertained just watching everything. He spent a little time in his stroller and a lot of time being carried by Tori or Sophie. Spoiled boy. His favorite rides (if you can really pick favorites for a 5 1/2 month old) were the Winnie the Pooh ride and It's a Small World.

Chris took the little kids on a 'no crazy spinning' ride. Jim took the older kids on a super crazy spinning ride.

Ryan after Jim's super crazy spinning ride.


Keeping the crawfords up past their bedtime...
The park was open till 11:00pm... but if you were staying in a disney resort then you could go get a special wristband for extended hours until 2:00am! We got the wristbands thinking it might be fun to do a couple rides right after 11:00 with no lines. Little did we know that the Johnson Crawford party would be closing the park. It was like having Disneyland to ourselves! How about walking on to the Peter Pan ride and then staying on for a second ride -- only at 1:00am! At 1:30 we stopped to have rootbeer floats and ice cream cones and get our pictures taken with Donald Duck. Then Micky, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy came out and all five of them got on the Dumbo ride. It was so cute! When the clock struck 2:00 we dragged ourselves down Mainstreet and left the park. By the time we got to our resort almost all the kids were asleep on the shuttle and we didn't have enough arms to carry them. We were all tired. Getting off the shuttle one of the kids said something that wasn't that funny but because we were delirious Marisa and I couldn't stop laughing. We almost dropped the sleeping kids. Too fun. Definitely a great night!!

3D glasses for Mickey's PhilharMagic -- SO good!

Emily and Donald

Stopping for a 1:30am snack!

A little tired... leaving the park at 2:00am!

Boy, was it fun to see the Crawfords again. The kids screamed, ran to each other, hugged, and then just started chatting as if they'd never been apart. We have been looking forward to this Florida trip ever since we left Washington and it always seemed like it was forever away. Then with only a couple weeks till the trip Marisa said, "It's coming too soon!! Pretty soon it's going to be all over!" Well sure enough it came and went... but we have some pretty fabulous memories we'll remember for a lifetime.

Walking around the orlando temple after church...

luke at five months

Luke is at that age where you just say his name and he gives the best smiles ever. We are absolutely in love with him!

(these pictures were taken at the science center in ohio --they had baby water tables and cute little raincoats so they could splash around and wouldn't get wet.)

The rest of our time in Ohio was spent...

eating great food
flexing
performing
looking for more frogs
playing games
being with cousins
going to an airplane museum
more flexing
visiting Dan's Ortho clinic
having good one on one talks
smiling
and most importantly... becoming closer.

priceless memories

The Historic Johnson Farm - Looking back I think our day visiting Kirtland and the Johnson farm was my favorite. It was really neat to walk through the home and think about the lives and faith of these good people and what they gave to the early church. Joseph stayed here for a time in 1831 and it became the headquarters for the church. It definitely made me want to reread the doctrine and covenants and study the sections that Joseph Smith received here. The tour ended in a room where Joseph received sacred revelations. It wasn't long before most of us were reaching for a tissue. There is something special about looking around to see your siblings full of emotion and of course making eye contact made it that much worse. At the end of the tour my Dad was able to make some comments and share his testimony. It was very special... one of those priceless memories that I'll never forget.

Cousins... Megan, Luke, Ryan, Leah, Katie, Molly, Emily and Annie

The Kirtland Temple - After the Johnson farm we drove from Hiram over to Kirtland to see the temple. We watched a movie in the 'Community of Christ' visitor center and then walked through the temple. So much history, so much sacrifice. It was neat to share with our kids the amazing things that happened here.

Newel K Whitney Store and town - Katie had just turned one the last time Chris and I visited Kirtland and the church has added so much more since then. Now there is a cute little town with houses, buildings and a mill surrounding The Newel K. Whitney store. The visitors center is amazing, the video presentation is uplifting and well done and the missionary couple were great... especially since we arrived just before closing and they stayed late to show us all around. The store's upstairs 'school of the prophets' room was another priceless and tearful memory. What a great day!