More on our vacation

Okay, the truth is we took over 1500 pictures! I know. Crazy! There were a few pictures that reminded me of great moments and others the girls just wanted to share. This post is going to be more pictures with, hopefully, short stories to go with them.

Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom

This was actually the first time any of us had ever been on Tom Sawyer Island. John asked me why we had never gone over there before. I have no answer, but can tell you this is, now it is high on our list of things to do while at MK. This is the barrel bridge. The "hills" are actually barrels that hold the bridge up, but when you step on it the bridge dips all the way down to the water. And the trip is wobbly! I told a couple of friends the other day I got the giggles crossing the thing because that is the same feeling I was getting when I would get off the elevator. (Yes, I need to get to the ENT soon!) The entire island was a total blast. Next time we are going to pick up some lunch and take it over to eat at the picnic tables there. Can't wait!!

Phineas and Ferb with the girls

Our girls LOVE Phineas and Ferb. I have to admit I like it too. John even enjoys some of the songs and will sing them time to time. Seeing them was totally unexpected, but one of Jesse's favorite moments. They even had their picture taken with Duckie Momo!

Girls with the GIANT gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian.

We took another trip to see the gingerbread house. Chloe talked for weeks about getting a gingerbread cookie from the gingerbread house, then at the last second wanted a chocolate Mickey Mouse. :) 

John with Eeyore!

This was at the Crystal Palace (a character dining experience). Eeyore came up behind John and I said something like, "that would have been a cute picture". John replied with, "go ahead and take one". So, Eeyore leaned back in for the picture. John was so relaxed all week, picking on all of us, so I know he was in a good mood all week. ;)

Jesse, John and Chloe at Flame Tree BBQ, at Animal Kingdom.

Flame Tree BBQ is truly one of our favorite places to eat. I cannot believe that our friends, the Smiths (who love Disney as much as us) have never eaten there. John loves their ribs because they put a rub on it and really do slow BBQ the meat. Personally, I love the BBQ sandwich. My mouth waters just thinking about it. The girls meal grew this year! Instead of one chicken leg, they had two!! Disney gave us more?! We were all surprised, but happy.

John and Chloe on the bridge from the boat to the lodge, at Wilderness Lodge.

Chloe and Jesse with the Christmas tree in the lobby, at Wilderness Lodge.

One place John hopes to stay one day is the Wilderness Lodge. We visited on our way to the camp ground there, where we had dinner reservations. The tree was enormous!! There is even a water spring running through the inside of the lobby. And oh so many rocking chairs! I adore rocking chairs.

Jesse working on her mime skills.

This box was in the room you go through waiting to see Buzz and Woody at Hollywood Studios. Jesse loves to mime and I think she did a great job with this! Chloe is simply happy to be there. :)

Osborne Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios

When it came to planning our vacation (way back in July). John said he wanted to see the Osborne Christmas lights. He didn't care what else we did, but he wanted to do that. He also only wanted to do three parks (there are four, not including the water parks or Disney Quest). I told him he had to decide which park we would not go to. Our next conversation was John telling me he booked the vacation and we were going to four parks. He couldn't drop a park, each for its own reasons. So this was his moment. I have never seen so many lights in one place ever! This picture does not even begin to do it justice! This was just a tiny part of the lights that were there and they all danced to music!!

Entire family with Jessie and Woody!

Entire family at the Contemporary Hotel.

Just a couple of family pictures.

Jesse, Goofy and Chloe doing the robot!

I will admit I thought Jesse taking her robot pen to Disney was a bit odd. But, as usual, I was proved wrong. Many of the characters were taken by her pen. Jessie and Woody went a little crazy over it. Many of the characters had to show the photographer that was with them. They loved the pen! But Goofy was the best. He broke out into the robot, followed shortly by the girls. The photographer was laughing so hard and was very impressed by Chloe's robot. The whole line of people waiting to see Goofy was laughing. It was SO fun! Chloe keeps saying, "if they tell you you're good at something at Disney, you have to be good!"

That is the end of our vacation. We are happy to be home and waiting for Christmas, but part of us is still there. While our next trip will be the mountains, the focus right now is what we want to do the next time we are at Disney. It sounds crazy I know. But like the Smiths' we cannot help talking about our next trip. Planning it is almost as fun as being there. Okay, not really. But we cannot afford to live in Disney year round. :)  So here is hoping you and yours have a "Magical" holiday season.