Our "Vacation"

Well, we finally made it to the castle. :) This was the trip of all trips that I had dreamed about taking the boys on since before they were all even born. I couldn't wait to introduce them to the magic that you can only find at that place. And now that we're in a stage of life that is past required naps and diaper changes, we decided it was time to go. :)

Thankfully, it didn't disappoint.

So, why is the title word, "vacation" in quotes, you ask?

Because now that we're back home, I'm more exhausted than I've been in a very long time.

To quote a sweet friend, I'm "happily exhausted." Yes indeed. So while it wasn't the restful, relaxing kind of vacation a person would usually ask for, it was happy and wonderful just the same. But it looks like I'll be taking naps and going to bed early for awhile until I recover. ;)

The official family in front of the castle picture. ;) No, I have no idea what Hunter was doing. But this is the best we could get. ;)

Our first day at Magic Kingdom, in matching Mickey shirts. ;) I promised them I would only do that to them one day. And no, Brian and I didn't wear them. Just these 3. I do have my limits. ;)

Why is Hud hugging that giant Coke bottle? Pretty sure that it was because it was SO HOT, and this bottle was actually a cooling station, and quickly became Hud's new best friend.

Have I mentioned how insanely hot it was? Still not over that yet. ;)

But rest assured...we didn't let it ruin our fun.

Ice cream and popscicle treats helped us beat the heat as well. Yummo. :)

We happened to schedule our trip the same time that Disney had scheduled a Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios. The boys were in heaven...esp. Hunter, who is in a major Star Wars phase right now. He couldn't believe he got to meet a REAL Storm Trooper. ;)

And of course, our trip wouldn't be complete without some time with the Mouse. :)

This is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip. If only Hunter had been in it too, it would have been perfect. :) But no worries.....

...he was right here in the stroller. :)

Not your traditional Mickey ears...we went with the R2D2, Pirate Mickey, and Pirate Goofy variety instead.

Character breakfast at our hotel....including Mickey-shaped waffles and everything.

It was so much fun having some friends there with us that week too. We got to celebrate LeeAnn's birthday, and spend some time getting to know that sweet baby boy too. So fun!

Riding on the carousel....

Date night with the hubs...looking smokin' hot in his Star Tours 3D glasses. ;)
(another benefit to having friends with you on vacation~ childcare sharing!)

We loved Star Tours so much that we brought the boys back to try it too. Again and again. This was definitely one of their favorites.


Even the sprinkles were Mickey Mouse! Crazy. And fun. :)

Harrison makes a pretty good photographer. :)

So happy we were able to do this....we've made lots of memories, had lots of fun.

See? ;) I love these 4 so very much.

We wised up pretty quickly and learned that spending time at the parks in the morning, then spending lunch and the afternoon at the hotel to rest and swim, then going back to the parks in the evenings after it cooled off and the crowds thinned out was the way to go. The boys LoVeD the pool....B and I did too. :)

I think this was taken the day before we headed back home. This one was having a rough morning. ;) Awesome bedhead.

So...there's our trip in a very tiny nutshell. I think I took about 400 photos total. So yes...it's a very tiny shell. ;) I'm excited about getting to scrapbook this trip...we were so busy and on the go pretty much the entire week~ afraid we were going to miss something, I suppose. Makes me extra thankful that I took as many photos as I did.

The boys' favorite part of the week?

Harrison: "riding the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster!" (It was amazing)

Hud:" Star Tours....and the pool." ;)

Hunter: "Toy Story Mania (my favorite too!) and all the Star Wars things."

Nashville, baby!

This weekend we made a last-minute, super-quick, whirlwind trip to Nashville. It was a work-related trip for B, and I was really thankful that we were asked to go with him!

This place is one of my favorite cities I've ever visited. I love the country music, the feel of the city when you're walking on the strip, the cowboy boots and hats you see on the people everywhere....LoVe it. :)

We happened to be there the same weekend as Jimmy Buffett and several hundred (thousand?) of his friends. ;) It was cuckoo-crazy on the strip, and not exactly ideal for walking around with 3 little kiddos, so we didn't stay very long. We did, however, make the most of the time we had.

The place I wanted to visit the most was the Ryman Auditorium.

I'm a big Johnny Cash and June Carter fan....one of my favorite movies of all time is

"Walk the Line". Part of the movie was recorded at the Ryman. Sadly we got there at five o'clock, and it had closed at 4. :( So outside pics was the best we could get.

We will go back someday. Soon. :)

Then we walked some more and ran into Elvis. ;)

Hud thought this giant guitar pick was awesome. :)

Soon it was time for dinner, so we hopped in the car and headed to a place recommended to us by my friend Tomi. The Loveless Cafe. Um...can we say, amazing? It was.

Can't really see us too well, but oh well. :/

We ate WAY too much fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and the biscuits. Oh, the biscuits. With homemade preserves. Thankfully B had the wisdom to purchase some of their preserves in the gift shop. Now I'm craving some. Not good. :)

Fun with Nana

We were totally spoiled last week with visits from both sets of grandparents. :) It rocked. First Mimi and Papa came in for a few days, then Nana joined us on Wednesday night for the boys' choir musical, then she stayed for a couple extra days.

She came with lots of fun things~ yo-yo's, water balloons, and water squirters.

Nana sure knows how to have a good time. ;)

Thanks for the visit Nana! We had a great time....see you this summer!

Elvis is IN the Building ;)

When Harrison told me that he had gotten a solo part in the PraiseKids spring musical, I was really excited for him. When he told me that his teacher had mentioned something about Elvis and dancing...well, it totally cracked me up. Thankfully because Brian and I are Elvis fans, the boys are aware of who he is, know some of his songs, etc. But the idea of Harrison getting up on stage and being Elvis for a song was a whole different story. Thank goodness for YouTube...H1 was schooled quickly on Elvis' moves. ;)

Admit it....you really thought it was the real Elvis for a second...didn't you? ;)
Hahaha....just kidding. But in my completely biased Mom opinion....he totally nailed it. :)

See that sweet spikey-haired boy? Speaking of nailing it....that kiddo rocked his songs, and his moves. Loved every second of it.

Elvis and the Dancers

On Sunday Harrison was asked to replace another boy who was going to be unable to do his speaking part. Thankfully it was only a few lines, and he was really excited to be able to step in.

But really....who IS this kid? He definitely didn't get his love for being on stage from his mother.

One more pic of the 1st graders singing....because it just doesn't get much cuter.

We had a great visit with my parents, and I'm so glad they were able to be here to see the boys in the musical. Nana came in town for the big event too, and is spending the weekend with us now. Think the boys are a little crazy about them?

Easter

Hope all of you had a great Easter. Ours was good...busy, but good. Here's the 3 H's in their Easter best...thankfully H3 didn't notice that he was the only one not wearing a tie. ;)

Saturday we went to the Easter egg hunt at the church. It was fun....

H3 was proud of his loot....

...the big boys loved the bounce houses...

...and the little one did too. ;)

They got their faces painted....

....and then things took a sad turn. ;) The 1st-3rd grade egg hunt. We had a LOT of visitors at this event, which was a great thing. And there were a LOT of kids wanting to hunt eggs. Understandable. When H2 took his turn with all of these kids, he ended up without any eggs. Oh, the sadness. He ran his little heart out, but there were just too many kids in front of him. And we had a good talk about how egg hunts aren't what Easter is all about, how good it was that so many new families came that day, and maybe they'll come back to church now, how important it is to put others first, etc. etc. He got it, but....he's six. And when you're six you just really want to hunt for eggs. ;)

So in usual form, Daddy came to the rescue. :) He made a stop at the store on the way home and staged our very own egg hunt for the boys in our backyard. Happiness abounds.

Isn't he darling?

Addy watched. :)

Much better. ;)

Then we colored eggs.

It was serious business. ;)

Gorgeous.

Yesterday after church we were invited over to some friends' house. A family from church. Their girls are all about the same ages as the boys, play really well together, and it was a really great day. Missed our TX family a lot that day, but are so thankful that we have people here who care about us and make sure to include us on holidays like this. Blessed. :)