Monday, April 16, 2012

Easter 2012

Ryleigh watched the movie "Hop" at my parents house this year, so she was ready to leave her Easter basket out for "EB" to fill :) It was cute seeing how into it she was after watching that movie.

She woke up early and found her basket right away. Apparently, EB wasn't a very creative hider. She was so good though she didn't dig in right away, she left it alone and came to wake us up. Then she showed us where it was.
The basket is right under the chair with my purse and work bag on it.
From 2012 Spring
From 2012 Spring
I think she likes her Dora ball.
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"TRASH!" She hates Easter grass. She has to take it all out and put it in a pile. 
From 2012 Spring
Look at the disgust on her face and the pile of grass as far away from her as possible. 
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After she opened her basket, Chris told her EB hid another present for her, but she had to go look for it. "I don't know where it is!" 
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Looking in the kitchen drawer for it. Notice the note on the stove. EB hid it in the bottom oven. 
From 2012 Spring
Opening her Easter present. She got a VReader and Dora and Princess books for it. 
From 2012 Spring
From 2012 Spring
All showered and ready to go to breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa's house. 
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Looking for her Easter basket that EB hid at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I don't know where it is, do you? 
From 2012 Spring
Easter Breakfast - cinnamon rolls (one batch with cake flour, the other with regular flour), berries, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns - YUM! 
From 2012 Spring
Then it was time for an Easter egg hunt! Ryleigh was good at finding all the eggs this year.
From 2012 Spring
From 2012 Spring
From 2012 Spring
From 2012 Spring
From 2012 Spring
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All done!
From 2012 Spring
Later that day, my parents and brothers and Kristin came over for dinner at our house. EB had some extra eggs and Ryleigh was a very good girl all day, so EB left some extra ones for her. Easter Egg Hunt take 2. 
From 2012 Spring
"He hid them in my SHOE!" She thought that was funny. 
From 2012 Spring
She doesn't get the obvious ones! 
From 2012 Spring
Nope, still doesn't see it! 
From 2012 Spring
But she does get the ones behind picture frames?? 
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Cory's 23rd (yeah I think that's right) Birthday was the day after Easter. So we celebrated his birthday too. Happy Birthday Cory!! 
From 2012 Spring
Great Easter with the family. Fun to see how in to Easter Ryleigh is now that she's older. 

Disney World - Day 7: AmSECT and Fireworks

Friday, I had to attend the conference all day. Chris and Ryleigh enjoyed the pool some more and relaxed. We met for lunch and I went back to my conference.

Once the conference was over, we got ready to go back to Magic Kingdom for dinner and for the night time shows.
Love the castle! We found a great spot for the shows.
From Walt Disney World 2012
"The Magic, Memories, and You" They project a show on the castle. Very innovative. Here's the lanterns from "Tangled".
From Walt Disney World 2012
From Walt Disney World 2012
"Under the Sea"
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It's a Small World.
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"Wishes - Nightime Spectacular Fireworks Show" - Incredible!
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Stunning.
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Amazing!!
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Magical last night in Disney World. Had to go back home on Saturday. We had a great family vacation, and made so many memories. So happy we were able to go! 

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Disney World - Day 6: Animal Kingdom

Thursday was Chris's 35th Birthday!! We went to Animal Kingdom!

First stop - DINOSAUR! Once again putting the parent swap into play. We both rode it in 15 minutes. It's a lot like Indiana Jones at Disneyland.
Chris took some photos of Ryleigh with some Dinosaurs while I was on the ride.
From Walt Disney World 2012
From Walt Disney World 2012
This is me on Primeval Whirl. Chris got to ride first.
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Ryleigh and I on TriceraTop Spin.
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We found monkeys!
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And the Tree of Life in the center of the park. So cool to look close and see all the animals that make up the trunk of that tree.
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We waited an hour in line for the Kilamjaro Safari's. But it was worth it. We saw so many animals!
Forget what this guy is called. It's actually related to a Giraffe, not a Zebra. 
From Walt Disney World 2012
A Rhino.
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Hippos!
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Alligators - and LOTS of them!
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Lots of Giraffes too! This guy was super close to the path.
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Elephants! (We saw a lion, but apparently that photo didn't upload - oops!)
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A White Rhino
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This rock made me think of the Lion King. And the sky was actually that blue!
From Walt Disney World 2012
An Ostrich!
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And a WartHog!
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This is the Mountain. We were on our way to Expedition Everest - an awesome rollercoaster!! I don't know which I liked better Everest, or Rock n Rollercoaster. Tough call! 
From Walt Disney World 2012
After that, we went to the Finding Nemo - the Musical. I didn't take any photos. After taking photos at show at all the other parks, I wanted to just sit back and enjoy this one. It was really cute and a novel approach. They used puppets, and the puppet masters sung. Very unique.

After the show it was time for our lunch reservation at Tusker House. It was an African style cuisine buffet that was surpringly good. They also had the best deserts! 
Here's our pre-lunch photo with Donald. Ryleigh was grumpy because Donald kissed her eye.
From Walt Disney World 2012
Mickey was there! He loved Ryleigh.
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Daisy Duck! Super sassy.
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Goofy. Ryleigh liked him because he was so silly.
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Chris got his birthday cupcake and a birthday card signed by all the characters.
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Once AGAIN! Front of the line for the parade!
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See Mickey loved her! He came back to give her a hug and surprised her.
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And ran into him AGAIN before we left :)
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We walked outside and were trying to decide what to do. We remembered that the parade was going to start in about 15 minutes, and we found a perfectly EMPTY spot right by the restaurant. Just so happens it was a PERFECT location!! The parade came right toward us and turned right in front of us. We sat down and got a front row seat!
From Walt Disney World 2012
From Walt Disney World 2012
These "floats" were neat. The people were strapped to the animals on wheels. Some had heads like he one below to move or push or maneuver in some way. It was neat to watch how they worked.
From Walt Disney World 2012
Other floats were propelled by people riding a bicycle-like device. 
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And others were like Jeeps. Here's Minnie's car.
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Goofy's car.
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Donald's car.
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And Mickey!
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Family photo in front of the big tree on our way out.
From Walt Disney World 2012
We had to get back to the hotel to shower/change before the Midwestern University - Friends of Midwestern reception. Ryleigh was a perfect angel at the reception sitting in the corner playing on her touch. I found Tom G an old classmate. Talked to my old coworker. Caught up with some of the old students. Introduced old students to new students. Introduced preceptors to students they will have in the coming months. Overall it was a successful reception. Afterwards, we again debated about going back to the parks, but Chris was Disney'd out. We discovered they were playing "Despicable Me" at the pool, so we went down for a swim/hot tub. Then we again ordered room service for dinner, but this time, no carrot cake for Ryleigh :)