Magic in the Kingdom

So it took a little longer than expected to post these - we drove to North Carolina to take the older two girls to camp and then my computer went straight into the computer hospital to have its disk drive fixed so I'm finally getting a few pictures up from the Magic Kingdom!!

Our shirts this year had a new category for the North Carolinians - a plane which is perfectly appropriate as North Carolina is the home of the Wright Brothers but also because Will is a pilot.

Did I post this last year? It's the Kiwi portion of the "It's a Small World" ride. It looks better when you are actually there.

Just like last year Thunder Mountain Railroad was one of the favorites - we rode several times. We also did Splash Mountain more than once (it's a flume) and Space Mountain (indoor roller coaster in the dark).

I didn't go near the Teacups but thankfully Uncle Stacy can handle them as the kids think they are a fabulous ride.

We were at the park when it opened and stayed all day until 4 p.m. when we headed back to Fort Wilderness for dinner. After a filling and yummy buffet at the restaurant in the camp we headed back to the Magic Kingdom around 7 p.m. and this group stayed until 2 a.m.. We had Samantha with us too for the late night festivities. The crowds thin out at midnight because the park is officially closed then, but resort guests can stay until 3 a.m. so we just went for it and stayed until it looked like Ali, Stacy and I might have to carry all seven children home.

We love, love, love Disney World and we love, love, love time with the cousins - thank you again Mama and Papa!

** Don't forget you can click on any picture if you'd like to see it larger **

Disney's Fort Wilderness

We love staying at Fort Wilderness when we go to Disney - each family gets their own cabin and golf cart, the kids can run around like crazy, we can eat there quite easily and it's a beautiful place to be. These pictures will look a lot like last year because what was all new and done for the first time then is now becoming tradition.

We spent our first day at Disney at one of their amazing water parks - a good choice for this lovely warm July weather. Of course the camera doesn't come out at the water park so you'll just have to trust me that a fun time was had by all! We then all gather at Fort Wilderness for a barbeque dinner at the cabins. This year all went according to plan until one of the kids found me to let me know that Ellie had been locked in Uncle Brian's cabin. Uncle Brian and I went to investigate and sure enough Ellie was in there alone, stuck on the top bunk, and we couldn't get the door open with the key. Ellie couldn't get down from the bunk (the ladders were cleverly disguised at the end of the bed) and was beginning to get upset. Aunt Ali called maintenance while several of the rest of us tried to keep Ellie calm and 15 minutes later she was out. An exciting start to our Disney adventure!!

I actually took some pictures the first night so here are some - and Stacy just gave me a disk with his so I'll post about the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. Let's just say we wrung the magic right out of the kingdom!

We gathered the kids on the fence-post again just like last year and most of them look pretty much the same this year. The picture is missing Anders who was not at all interested in being photographed.

We made s'mores again -so yummy and so messy!

We watched the show and waited for Chip and Dale to appear. We danced the hokey pokey and the chicken dance while we waited.

Chris and Will are big buddies and both happened to have on their Star Wars shirts so I had to get a picture of them together.

Thank you Mama and Papa for this very special time together!!

Cousins Camp - Girls Week

As I mentioned yesterday I forgot to take my camera to the closing ceremony for Cousins Camp - however Mimi had quite a few on her camera and so I'm sharing them here. The girls had another amazing time and I can't even begin to describe all that they did. The theme this year was flowers so the activities mostly had to do with that but I haven't been fully de-briefed enough to adequately describe each picture.

Just like last year the girls did a lot of swimming and there was some sort of event that involved a watermelon in the pool and then eating it blindfolded. I included the pictures even though I don't really know what's going on in them because I wanted the Kiwi's to see the standard size watermelon here - that one isn't even a particularly big one. I am indulging often in my favorite sweet, juicy fruit!

I think Mimi read the girls a sweet story about flowers and hats and whatnot and then the girls all got to decorate and model their own hats - in fact they all wore them out to lunch the next day.

The parents arrived for a talent show, a synchronized swimming show and dinner and the girls were even more amazing than last year. I am kicking myself for not having the video camera because they were truly stand-out performances. The four big girls sang a mash-up of songs from Journey, Abba and more. Josie and Anna performed a sweet song that I've never heard before in my life but I don't think they made it up. Ellie did a spectacular solo performance of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" and she knew every word. They also performed their 2010 Cousins Camp song.

Anna won the "Best All-Around Camper" for 2010, following closely in her mommy's footsteps. Anna is a star and won the award for her graciousness, kindness and generosity during their time together.

The girls also decorated bags and flip-flops while they were there and those were all laid out for them to show off and take home after camp was over.

The dessert was a delicious Orea-chocolate chip-ice cream cake with personally decorated flowers - too cute!

Thanks Mimi and Big Daddy for all your hard work and for another fabulous session of Cousins Camp for the girls - these memories are priceless!!

Our Welcome Home

Tonight I took some pictures off my mom's camera and put them on my computer. For some reason this year I never seem to have my camera handy when I want to take photos - I'm still hoping to get some Disney pics soon from my brother-in-law, but in the meantime here are some photos of our arrival in Florida. Thanks for the pictures mom!

Stacy and Mom picked us up from the airport and we headed to Lindsey's for dinner - I think I wrote about our evening in an earlier post. We were exhausted but SO excited to be here!!

Greeting Mari, Lindsey, Baby Baker and one of their cats.

Meggie played "Grocery Store" with Mari. Doesn't sweet Meg look a bit tired?

Getting a cuddle from my adorable newest nephew, Baker.

Lilly and Anna arrive - the excitement knows no bounds!

I just picked the girls up from "Cousins Camp" with Mimi and Big Daddy and I got a lot of photos off mom's camera from that as well so I'll get those up tomorrow. xx

Cousins at Carlouel

My parents are members of the local yacht club, Carlouel, and it's one of our favorite places to hang out in the summer - the girls can go to the beach and wear themselves out surfing the waves, then head across the street to the club for a swim in the pool and some ice-cream, what could be nicer? We were out there with Ali and her girls the day before we headed out to Disney, then Lindsey and her children joined us as well for dinner so I got some cute pictures of the kids all dressed up.

Josie and Anna are best buddies - they are always walking around hand-in-hand or arms around each other, or they are deep in conversation about something, they are adorable. I snapped this first picture of them from behind as they chatted and ate their ice-cream.

Meggie, Katie and Lilly are also great pals and Lilly is exactly in the middle age-wise so it works out quite well.

That leaves baby Ellie - she doesn't have a girl first-cousin her age but she made big friends with my cousin's daughter (what is that? Second cousins?) Sloane who is her age. They played together beautifully all day.

The girls looked sweet and summery in their new sundresses so I snapped a few pictures of the cousins together and then I tried for another shot with Mimi and Big Daddy but in a group that large it is almost impossible to get everyone to look at the camera and smile.






I will post Disney pictures soon - so much fun and so many stories to tell! I have to get pictures off my brother-in-law though because I barely took any, it was all I could do to keep up with all four children the whole time! He takes great pics so I'll steal those and post soon. xx