Claire got her braces off this morning. She is so excited! She's been dying to have gum, corn on the cob, and sunflower seeds for the past year. She was really good about taking care of her teeth and never once broke anything. Here's some pictures of Claire's new smile. I also promise to do an update post soon and get up those pictures of Emilie.
Emilie will be turning 6 in a few days, so keeping with her sisters, here's a reposting of her birthday slide show from last year. I'll post some pictures from this year in the next couple of days.
The next day we hit Downtown Disney. We loved shopping in the big Disney store. We also ate lunch at T-Rex- a restaurant with animatronic dinosaurs- really neat! The following day we headed to Tampa. We had a great time visiting with Wade's mom and step-dad. We went to the Beach, hit some local Tampa hangouts, and swam in the pool. It was definitely a nice relaxing break after the hectic pace of Disney World!
On our way home, Eric and I realized that we actually had one more day before either of us had any appointments. So when we hit Atlanta, GA, we took a detour and went to Gatlinburg, TN for a day. We stayed at a super nice campground there. We took a trolley through the Arts and Crafts loop the next morning and then hung out at the campground for the afternoon. We would have liked to have seen some more of the Smokey Mountains, but they didn't recommend driving a camper on most of those roads, and we didn't have our car with us. So we may head back there at some point in the future to do a little more of the outdoor stuff. We had a great vacation. The kids had a ball and got to do some really neat things. It was definitely nice to get out of town for a while and do something totally different. I'm ready for another vacation :-)
The following day (orange shirt day) found us at Epcot. It was also Claire's birthday. She picked Teppan Edo in Japan for her birthday lunch. The kids loved watching the chef cook at our table. And the food was really good too :-) We checked out all the countries in the World Showcase and rode a lot of the future and space rides too. The kids also enjoyed the Illuminations Fireworks show that night. They also liked having ice cream for dinner. We were too full from Teppan Edo to eat another meal, so we decided to have junk food. Hey, only on vacation :-)
The following day found us Hollywood Studios, also known as Yellow Shirt Day. The kids enjoyed the Indiana Jones show, the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, and the Toy Story ride. However the hands down winner of the day was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. They were especially excited to ride it since I told them that I got to ride it when it first opened years ago. They all loved it and got to ride it twice since Chloe was too small, so Eric and I had to take turns riding.
Well I'm finally getting around to our vacation recap :-) We had a great time with our friends Wade and Nikki and their 3 kids (Noah, Rylan, and Sofia). All 7 kids got along great and loved having buddies to ride and sit with. We took our camper down to the Fort Wilderness Campground which was really nice. The camper made the trip down nice. Then it was great for all our kids to have their own space, and for us to be able to cook some of our own meals.
Our first day at Disney found us in the Magic Kingdom of course :-) The kids enjoyed all the Fantasy Land rides. The general consensus on favorite ride there was "Splash Mountain"- the Brer Rabbit themed log flume ride. The girls also got to meet several of the Disney Princesses, so of course that went over big too. Magic Kingdom day could also be known as Blue Shirt day. Nikki came up with the great idea of getting the kids matching shirts to wear on our park days. It made keeping track of 7 small children so much easier. And the kids liked asking what color they were going to wear each morning.
The next day we split up and Eric and I took our kids to Blizzard Beach. I don't have any pictures of that since we didn't have a waterproof camera, but the kids had an absolute blast. We rode almost every ride in the park. Eric even rode the Summit Plummet. One of the tallest and fastest water slides in the world. It was also his first time to ride a big water slide. Needless to say, he's hooked :-)
Elise was our other big rider of the day. She wanted to ride one of the big kid rides that involved holding onto a trapeze swing. It sent you down a zip line and then flung you into the water at the end of the line. I wasn't sure if she could hold on well enough to even attempt this one. You started out about 10 feet above the water. But since she had her life jacket on and the attendant said she could, I let her try it. She hung on great until the end of the zip line. When it hit the end, not only was she flung off, but she was completely flipped over twice. After completing her double back flip and hitting the water (while everyone watching gasped and waited), she surfaced with a big smile and wanted to know if she did good :-P She had kids coming up to her for the next 1/2 hour or so telling her "Nice Flip!" Only Elise! Anyway, here's some pictures from the Magic Kingdom:
Well Emilie proudly joined Claire today as a glasses wearing member of our family. She is thrilled :-) And yes, I will get to the vacation pictures soon and do a few posts with them... For now, here's Emilie:
We have been at Walt Disney World since Saturday afternoon. Driving the camper down is definitely the way to do it! The girls had a good time watching movies, eating snacks, taking naps, and playing with their friends Noah, Rylan, and Sofia (who took turns riding with us). So far we have been to the Magic Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, and Hollywood Studios. The kids are having a blast and are completely exhausted by bedtime (so are the grown-ups!) The campground is also really nice and has a great pool. Tomorrow we are going to Epcot- Claire's pick for her birthday. I'll do a more detailed post with lots of pictures later, but for now, here's a few pictures to tide you over :-)
