Papa's Birthday!

We celebrated Papa’s birthday over the weekend with pizza, ice cream and a little Twister fun with the cousins!  We had a GREAT time as usual.  Alex finished up his last basketball game and earned himself a medal.  He learned a lot and I think he did fantastic especially since he’s never played before.  My sweet Sean is finally on the mend after having strep throat last week.  I did enjoy some extra snuggle time with him though and Sean was lucky to have some quality one-on-one time with Nana on Friday.  He's not a fan of the meds but he’s feeling much better and back to being a spunky kid again!

Happy Birthday Papa Bob!!!

Some Twister fun!

The kids were very excited to show Papa his birthday cards!

Holy Apostles boys!  Way to go kids!!!

My poor little Seanie not feeling good :(

Brewers on Deck has been an annual tradition for Dave and the boys.  They had a great time with Dad.  They met some of the Brewers.  They ran the bases to see how fast they could go!  Seanie spotted a cute Brewers teddy bear as a souvenir and Alex picked out a bobble head to add to his collection.  We are all very excited that baseball season is around the corner!

Cool balloon swords!

Taking the Brewer Mbile for a spin!

Saying hi to the Brewers catcher, Martin Maldonado :)

Alex & Sean with Junior Guerra!

January

We’ve been keeping busy this month with lots of fun activities.  Alex has been playing basketball for the NBAA and he is doing great and improving each game.  He just scored his first basket over the weekend which was exciting!

 

My basketball star!

Nice dribbing skills :)

 

He shoots, he scores!

We rooted for Logan at his game afterwards!  Way to go boys!!!

Other things we have been up to this month – Dave and I celebrated the anniversary of our first date at Waterstreet Brewery 14 years ago!  I can still remember that night like it was yesterday!  We enjoyed one last Packer party at Steve and Jen’s house last Saturday.  Then we traveled down to Chicago for Baby Jack’s baptism on Sunday.  So much fun!

14 years of memories started at Waterstreet Brewery!

Two peas in a pod!

Cousins make the BEST friends!

Uncle Mark and Sean at Holy Name Cathedral

 

On Saturday, we went sledding for the first time this season.  The hill was iced over and slippery which made it hard to climb but the boys had so much fun!  Then we ended our weekend playing Pie in the Face with Ann and Mark yesterday.  Thanks Reid!  We had some good laughs!!! 

Sledding fun with my boys!

Seanie disliked the game after he got hit but still enjoyed the whip cream!



Alex is ready for some Pie in the Face!

The aftermath!  Love it!!!

DISNEY!

It’s been over a month since returning home from our Disney vacation and I am still on cloud 9 thinking about all the fun that we had.  It was difficult at times planning a trip to accommodate 4 families and keep 14 people always happy but it was so worth it to share the experience with my entire family.  We had the best time and made so many unforgettable memories.

  

We stayed 7 nights at the Coronado Springs Resort which is right on Disney property.  We loved it!  We had four rooms right next to each other so the cousins were in heaven all week!  The weather was absolutely perfect – usually mid 70s during the day and low 60s at night.

Coronado Springs Resort

Relaxing on vacation :)

We made it to each park once and repeated Magic Kingdom three times since that was our favorite and had the most for the kids to do.  We didn’t stay all day as we were too exhausted to last from morning until night but we did put in a few 12 hour days!  Alex and Sean had the best time of their life in Disney.  They were filled with pure excitement from the moment we boarded the airplane which was their first plane ride until the moment we left our resort to go home.

Boys are excited for first plane ride!

The kids did great on their first plane ride even though we had to sit an extra hour to de-ice before take-off.  We checked into our hotel and immediately had to hop the shuttle bus to take us to Downtown Disney where we had dinner reservations at T-Rex.  Unfortunately that turned into a very long meal as service was super slow but it felt good to have a yummy meal after a long day of travel.

Sharing laughs at T-Rex

Boys found Lego Land in Downtown Disney

Magic Kingdom - First Visit

Our first day at the park was Magic Kingdom and it did not disappoint.  We crammed a lot into our 12 hour day including the electrical lights parade in the evening and the fantastic Wishes Firework display over Cinderella’s castle.  Every park was decorated for Christmas and it was beautiful, especially the gazillion bulbs of color that lit up the castle.

We had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and his friends and the kids enjoyed getting autographs.  The crowds didn’t seem too horrible and the fast passes really helped us get on rides quickly.  Nothing compares to that first day at Magic Kingdom and the excitement I saw on Alex and Sean’s face!

Magic Kingdom



Mad Tea Party!



Tomorrowland Speedway

Under the Sea



Dad and Alex riding Dumbo :)

Tigger at Crystal Palace

Papa and Sean :)

Cinderella's Castle

 

Mickey and the boys getting ready for Mickey's PhilharMagic 3D movie!

Seanie holding Tinker Bell :)



Love the faces of pure joy in this picture!

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train



Mickey Ice Cream treat

Cinderella's castle :)

Animal Kingdom

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom and it was also Jenny’s birthday!  Expedition Everest seemed to be the favorite ride for the kids and even Papa and Nana rode it with us!  I think I can still hear Nana screaming!  We saw Festival of the Lion King and Its Tough to be a Bug which we really enjoyed.  The Kilimanjaro Safaris was cool too.  We enjoyed dinner at the Tusker House with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy!

 

Animal Kingdom

We found the Starbucks!  #happygirls

Cousins hanging out!

Its Tough to be a Bug!

Ready for our Safari!

Love U



Papa and his boys :)

Silly Goofy!



Happy Birthday to Jenny!

Loved all the beautiful Christmas decorations!

How many licks does it take?!

That is one big Mickey cookie!!!

 

 

Magic Kingdom –Second Visit

We used today as a “rest” day.  We slept in started our morning at Chef Mickey’s with a yummy breakfast buffet.  Then we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to use our fast passes on a couple attractions.

One of my highlights was the Enchanted Tale with Belle which was a short story told by Belle of Beauty and the Beast.  Several kids were picked to help act out certain parts.  Alex was picked to be Maurice and had to pretend he was cold and locked up in a cage.  My little Seanie was picked to be the Beast which was the main character in this story.  He put on a red cape and the cast members helped him with his lines.  He had to “Roar” at Belle which he did and it was the cutest thing!  Then he had to dance with Belle at the end of the show.  He was shy but he did it in front of a room full of people watching him.  I was so proud of him!

Belle reacting after Sean just "Roared" at her :)

 

Belle and "The Beast" dancing together :)

 

Seriously how lucky are these cousins to have each other! #friendsforlife

Gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian

Our crazy bunch at Chef Mickey's!

Seanie's favorite - Mickey!

Nose bumps from Minnie :)

Donald Duck came over to say hi!

Sean and Mom on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

This is Sean on every single ride! #daredevil

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Space Mountain!

 Hollywood Studios

This was my second favorite park and we easily put another 12 hour day in at Hollywood Studios.  We started the morning off on the Tower of Terror.  Everyone went on it and it was awesome!!!  We had Lunch at Hollywood & Vine with some of our favorite Disney Junior characters like Jake the Pirate and Handy Manny.  Alex and Hailey were brave enough to ride the Rockin Rollercoaster with Steve and myself.  We were at this park a full day and still ran out of time for all the things we wanted to do.  But we ended the night watching Fantasmic and we walked through the Osborne Spectacle of Lights which was absolutely incredible.

Hollywood Studios

Tower of Terror

Our terrifying elevator ride!

Star Tours

Toy Story Mania

Oh no!  Trapped by Zurg!!!

Rockin Rollercoaster

Osborne Light Spectacle

Amazing light display!  We are in awe :)

Epcot / Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Epcot and we wore our Packer attire to support the Packer game that evening and Brett Favre getting his number retired at Lambeau.  It was neat to hear all comments as our group of 14 walked by in our green and gold.

We were able to get on Soarin’ right when the park opened.  We also had a fast pass to Test Track which was pretty awesome!  We had Thanksgiving dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet with all the princesses.  It felt different to celebrate Thanksgiving at Epcot but we were thankful we were all together!  We took a stroll around the “Worlds of Epcot” before exhaustion hit us and we headed back to our resort.

Cinderella at Akershus

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lunch with the Princesses

Seas with Nemo

How cute are these two!?!!!

Epcot

Go Packers!

Nana loved Test Track!

 

Touring the Worlds of Epcot!

Made a stop in Germany where Dad was born :)

 

Magic Kingdom – Third Visit

This was our last day at the parks and we were sad to say good-bye.  We went on more rides and saw a few more shows.  We had lunch at Be My Guest restaurant.  The kids were able to pick out a souvenir from the Disney store and we enjoyed one last parade down Main Street before calling it a day.

Be Our Guest

Main Street Parade

 

We had one more breakfast planned at O’hana before we had to pack up and leave.  O’hana was definitely my favorite meal.  Their mango juice and fresh pineapple was out of this world!  Lilo and Stitch were there to say hi to the kids and sign autographs.  After breakfast, we had some time before leaving for the airport so the kids were able to swim in the pool.

O'hana Breakfast

Breakfast with Lilo and Stitch!

Swimming at Coronado Springs

Disney was truly a trip of a lifetime!  There’s a reason why they call it the happiest place on earth!  We had the most magnificent time and I can’t wait to plan our next trip back there!