Disney - all out - of -order

It was a packed full 12 days. There is no argument about that! I had two cameras and I got copies of the pictures the Bowmans took, but I am still trying to figure out this Mac computer and can not make files to upload nor can I figure out how to open the files with their pictures. So, my pictures on here are all out of order and I will add theirs later when Sam can help me.

We left Sunday afternoon after church and drove to Florida. Stopping first to have dinner with some Idaho friends! Mark and Nicole were neighbors of ours on base and they moved to Florida 2 summers ago (I think). Sam baptized their oldest daughter when she was a little one. Cloe and Emma have grown so much and baby number 3 will be here in a few more months! Mark grilled out burgers and dogs and we had a great visit while the kids played Guitar Hero on their Wii.

We then drove a few more hours to Tallahassee where we crashed for 5 hours before it was time to get up. That had to have been the smallest hotel room I have ever been in. There was barely room for the sleeping bags on the floor! Thankfully no one got up and had to use the bathroom or there might have been some serious injuries!

We got to our resort at noon on Monday and prayers were answered! We were allowed an early check-in and got our room! YAY! Sam immediately had to go to his first meeting, so we were able to unpack get all our swim stuff on, and head over to the pool.

This resort had three pools, two normal pools (which we never went to) and one giant special pool. The Bowmans got checked in and joined us for a nice afternoon in the water.

Below is Kaebrie in the kiddie pool playing with the water fountain.

She had a lot of fun!

Christopher decided to see what he could do with the streams of water as well!
I asked him to show me his new "toothless" grin, and this is the picture I got as the water squirted up right as I took the picture.
The water fall was cool!
That was about as high as they climbed up on it. Thomas is in the picture too. They spent a LOT of time on the water slide. Over and over and over they went up those steps and squealed all the way down. I don't have any pictures of the slide, but it opened up to the left of this pyramid. The entire pool was gigantic and had a HUGE section that was perfect for Tiff to stand in. So even though I insisted he wear his floaties, he could still stand and have a great time.
After we left the conference on Thursday, we rented a house with the Bowmans. GREAT idea! It was half the cost of the hotel, but had 4 bedrooms, a fully stocked kitchen, a washer and dryer and a private enclosed pool! We sure got good use out of that pool!!

Here are 5 jumping Smiths trying to make the biggest pool wave ever!
and again!
and again! Tiff popped up into the picture the same second that Sam disappeared from the picture.
Cannonball time!

Not much of a cannon baller, but a fearless jumper!
Kaitlynn likes this one, she says it looks like she is standing on the water.
Let us back up a bit. We were able to buy 5 day passes through the air force that were so cheap, they were almost the same price as a one day pass at full price. We wanted to wait to use them after the conference was over so the Daddies could experience Disney with us. So one day we went to Downtown Disney for lunch because it was free and we didn't have to use our passes.
We ate lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe. VERY NEAT!! Animals come to life every 11 minutes, and every 22 minutes a severe storm rolls through with loud thunder and bright lightning. I wish I had a picture of Keabrie's face the first time that happened!


Kaebrie has her eye on Minnie!

We played in the Lego store for a long time. They have stations out with legos the kids can play with and then race cars they build. Those people and dogs are all legos. Really cool!
After lunch, we had to get the famous dessert to share, the VOLCANO!!!
Here is Collin and Thomas underneath the tree we ate at, with the gorilla watching over them. It was a very fun lunch, but VERY expensive! All 5 of us drank water, 3 kids ate off the kids menu, I only had a salad, and it was still $83.00. yikes! I am not used to paying that much for a meal! But it was worth it (once).
Collin spent his allowance money building his own double sided light saber.

Christopher got a one sided light saber.
Kaebrie finally got her a Minnie!
There have been so many battles since we arrived home with those light sabers!
HOT wasn't the word. Orlando was breaking records for heat indexes. We had an ice cream treat one afternoon and it had to be eaten FAST because it was melting faster than they could eat it!
Kaebrie took her time with her Popsicle, getting her arms all sticky with melted juice. Thankfully, we had wet ones to help us clean up.
We did use one of our passes without the Daddies. On Wednesday, we went to Animal Kingdom. It was good. There were parts that were disappointing. The jungle safari was a big disappointment. But I guess I was comparing it the the Wild Animal Park in San Diego and that wasn't fair. Here they are on the drums in Africa.
That is the new ride, EVEREST, in the background. Kaebrie was JUST tall enough to be able to ride it. And ride it she did! SCREAMING as we were flying backwards, "This is awesome!!!!" Collin was not thrilled. He does NOT like rides. Tiff loved it! Glad to see some of my thrill genes being passed down!
We drove the cars, that went a disappointing 5 miles per hour. ugh. But he liked it!
The Daddies, Sam and Brannon, cooling off in the shade in Magic Kingdom on Friday. I told you these were out of order!
Goofy boys.


This was the Buzz Lightyear ride. It broke down for a few minutes while we were on it, so we took some pictures.
The castle shot! A mandatory thing you must do!
Now, the conference was over on Thursday and we moved to our house on Friday and went to the Magic Kingdom.
I was not able to walk. I found that out on day 1. So we rented the electric scooter every day and it saved our trip. Costly, but worth it. So I drove all the parks and in the Magic Kingdom, it gave us front of the line access with no line waiting. The kids LOVED it. They all called it the "Jodi pass".
The afternoon parade. She was standing on my scooter and Collin took this shot. This was when Cinderella waved right at her from her carriage. She was enthralled!!!!
The bus ride back to the hotel. They were OUT!

Nighttime and the streets are getting crowded waiting for the light parade!
She got to go into Micky's house and Minnie's house. They were not home, but she liked looking around!
Daddy and his "punkin"!
We stayed for the 11pm light parade. It was really good! Here is Cinderella again!

On Saturday, we went to Epcot. Here they are cooling off in the jumping waters.
She FINALLY got to meet Mickey and Minnie. She ran right up and hugged them both.



She said later that Minnie was SO glad to meet her and that Minnie was really going to miss her.

Lunch time in Morocco. Tired, hot and hungry kids.
The big kids went with Sam to to the Epcot scavenger hunt. Kaebrie and I just explored a little. She was really tired of walking so we didn't very far. She liked getting wet in this fountain though!
We met two more friends of ours for lunch that day in England. Both the Belz's and the Vascloviks were friends of our in Idaho. It was good seeing them again, but I didn't get any pictures. I think the sun was frying my brain.
Leaving Epcot at midnight, after a WONDERFUL firework and light show.
There are some more pictures that I will post when I can figure out how to access them.

Sunday night we drove an hour to Northland PCA church and experienced a very different style of worship. Then we went to see one of Sam's professors from seminary in California who is teaching at RTS Orlando now. We had a great dinner with the Futat's and the Frames joined us as well. Dr. Frame was another of Sam's professors. Once again, I have no idea why I didn't take any pictures.

It was a really good family trip and I am glad to the kids got to experience Disney. Sam said we won't be going back until we can take some grandchildren. :}

Look What We Did!

Monday, we went to Tchula to visit Shannon and the kids who were back down south for a week. We had a great afternoon swimming and eating a great dinner.

It just amazes me sometimes to look at all our children together and think about when we used to talk about having children, and here they are.

Kaitlynn and Sara Grace hit it off so well, that we took Gracie home to spend the night with us and the girls had a great time. Gracie is standing next to KK in the pink. They are just 5 months apart and Kaitlynn can't wait for the next visit.

Good times with old friends..what a great way to spend an afternoon.