Another Day at Disney....

   We had a great time yesterday at Animal Kingdom. We headed straight for the Safari Ride. If you get there first thing you see more animals. And did we see more animals. We could have touched an ostrich that was right by the truck. Ezra was amazed at all that he could see.





An upside down tree

                                                                    The weather was a little over cast but we were hopeful that it wouldn't rain while we were exploring Animal Kingdom. The safari truck had a canopy roof, too.                                        

Another safari group

    














A water buffalo, I think....



   This Safari ride was really one of the best ones we have been on. We saw the lions moving around and pretty clearly enjoying their morning. It's usually just the male sleeping.  



The lion and his mate

                                                             




Modeling for us

    We saw quite a few giraffes. They are so graceful when they walk. I have never gotten three giraffes together in one picture. It was almost like they were posing for us.
   We really love the Safari Ride. Everyone thought it was worth getting up early.


Thank goodness for strollers.

   





















This little guys was behind glass.

   We got off the ride and headed to the Walking Animal Forest. Ezra was being such a trooper. He thought the animals were awesome.


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  We saw a baby gorilla acting out for the crowd. He seemed to love the attention. He had a bottle he was playing with almost as if it were a doll. The crowd really loved it when he feel off the wheelbarrel. What a hoot!

We decided after all that walking and the skies were looking a little ominous, that we would walk towards The Festival of the Lion King. We have seen if before and really enjoyed it. We thought Ezra would like it. The kids wanted to shop and look around, so we left them behind. The show was fantastic.  

A great beginning to the show...

  The music and singing was awesome.  The costumes and the animaltronics took your breath away. Ezra loved it.

Very focued on the show



The animals move during the show.

 After the show we met up with the kids and decided to eat lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. The skies continued to look threatening so we thought it might rain while we were eating. Good thought..


Russ and I shared this yummy dish.

   













The food was great. We were hungry-a great combination.
   We wanted to go see It's a Bug's life, but it was not to be.. The rains came and we got wet. We hid out in a gift shop until it let up enough for us to make a run for the buses. We rested up in our rooms until the sun came out again.
   Half of our group went to the Premium Outlets in Orlando to do some shopping and the other half rested. Guess which half that was..ummmm.

A great spot for viewing

   We then caught a bus to Magic Kingdom to see the parade and fireworks. We found a great place right outside Pecos Bill's restaurant to watch the Electrical Parade. We were so close you could almost touch the floats. It was great.







Pete's Dragon

 


 











   To end the day we watched the fireworks in front of the castle. It was the end of another great day at Disney. Our feet were killing us so we caught the bus and headed for the hottub. We sat on the edge and dunked our feet in front of the jets. You could hear a round of "Ahhhs" from the crowd. Time to head for bed and see what tomorrow brings.



A great ending...







A Magical Day

  We started our day at Magical Kingdom. We we got there as the Disney characters opened the park. It's really fun to hear the music and feel the excitement with the millions waiting with us. Well...not millions, but alot of people.


Russ loves roller coasters...



   We headed to FantasyLand 'cause we had not really explored this new section of Magic Kingdom. It's wicked cute. Barnstormer is a new roller coaster for those who are faint of heart-namely me. I went on and had my eyes opened the whole time. That's bravery....

  The weather was a little overcast but very warm. I think it was in the 80's.  It was lovely compared to 12 inches of snow that I heard Portland, Maine got yesterday.


The Big Top

 We went into what I call the Big Top. It was really a sourvenir place , but it looked cool. I love the lights and colors that are there. 

Yummies under The Big Top












Not to mention the yummies that are in the glass case above. I used my Magical willpower to not buy anything to eat here. Call me proud....
  


Winnie the Pooh ride



  We continued to walk through FantasyLand to see what we haven't experienced. We came upon a Winnie the Pooh ride. Who doesn't like Winnie the Pooh? So we went in. It was cute. We sat in the honey jar to ride through. It went pretty fast so many of my pics were blurry. Here are some good ones.



So cute...

                                                                        

Another scene in Winnie the Pooh ride

  We finally met up with the kids after eating a Dole Whip. I don't have a picture of these yummy treats cause we ate them so fast. I'll get a pic tomorrow.. if I can contain my excitement of having one of these luscious concoctions.


Love you Johhny Depp...

   We all then headed to Pirates of the Carribean ride. We had been on it just before the Dole Whips, but we went on again in the spirit of family solidarity and it's a fun ride, too.


A lurking elephant



   Next we all went on the Jungle ride. It is a nice ride on a boat through the jungle with animatronic animals. Again it was a somewhat fast ride so some pictures were blurry. Here are the good ones.



An animal meeting of the minds

   

What a great name for our boat...

                                                       One great ride for families is the Tomorrow Land Speedway. The kids( That's including Tom.) got to drive a race car. Kids can go by themselves if the parents let them.  



Driving home










We ate lunch and then Russ and I went to The Hall of Presidents and Monsters Inc. We were quite pooped by then. We all met up and headed towards the buses. The pool and hot tub was calling our names. What a nice end to a great day.


The Lobby



Here are some pics around Beach Club.

A picture in the lobby.

On Our Way ....

   We made it to Disney without any problems. We wondered whether or not our flight would take off from Portland, but the snow was just light enough that the runways were kept clear. It was a smooth take off and landing in Baltimore.



Wintery Takeoff

    Our layover in Baltimore was great . We had nice lunch there and walked back to our gate and before you know it our plane was loading. When you travel with family the time goes so fast. I don't think Ezra thought so though.

Is it here yet?



Another smooth landing in Orlando and we were off to BeachClub. 

We got a great room on the ground floor near the pool. Love that... The room is nice and clean with Mickey's head made out of towels. Too cute.



Livingroom



Mickey on the bed

 Ezra, Chris and Tom's grandchild, got a pin thatsaid "First Visit to Disney", their sons-in-laws got one, too.  

                               

First time at Disney!

Chris and Tom have their two daughters, Callie and Emily, with their husbands, Noah and Rob with us. Ezra is Callie and Noah's son. He really liked flying. We were really glad to get to Beach Club and get all signed in. It's so beautiful here.

Cheddar biscuits

We were all checked in and hungry at 8:30. So we headed to Red Lobster for something to eat. It is our tradition to go there for our first meal at Disney and they didn't disappoint. It was wicked late but we ate good. The shrimp is excellent here.



My meal...ummm



Russ's meal..ummmm

 

We took a short walk around the resort to kinda work off the great food. It was dark but the lights made everything look magical. We love this place and plan on having alot of fun. I don't know which park we will do first. I guess we should decide once we get some rest. The morning will be a good time to make plans.

Busy...Busy...

We are coming , Mickey!!!

  I have been so busy this last week. We are getting ready to head south, hopefully . A snowstorm is brewing and this might put a crimp in our travel plans. We are praying for a safe flight to Disney. And just in time I finished the Mickey Mouse puzzle given to me by Kristin and Nathaniel. It was a bugger of a puzzle. I think there were one thousand pieces and the pieces each were part of a teeny tiny mosaic. It took from Christmas to now to get 'er done. But here he is.. very appropriate to be going to Disney now...

Thanks, guys!

  I used puzzle glue to keep him together and found a poster frame at Michel's. Somehow somewhere I lost one piece of the puzzle. Thankfully I could hide that fact under a plaque with all the details. Isn't that Mickey punch cute?

My white dish collection goes well here.

   My husband has been busy, too. He finished making the two shelving units to flank either side of my mom's hutch .  It was yellow which didn't seem to go with the kitchen, so I had the task of painting everything a mushroom color to match the backsplash and the pantry unit. Three coats of paint later and it looks great. I really love how it ties the kitchen together.
   We are now thinking of painting the island this  mushroom color. That would be after our Disney trip and before Easter. Busy...busy... busy....
  Sadly I had to make  a sympathy card for our friends Lori and Marcel. Lori lost her father last week. They put on an addition to their home so he could live with them.

For Marcel and Lori

    I used a two stamps that I have not used at all lately. The background is from Hero Arts and the flower is a Penny Black creation. I love the spotted ribbon from A.C. Moore.
   Well, we will be watching the weather reports today and tomorrow to see when we will be leaving. I can't wait to be sitting in a pool with the hot sun beating down.Pray we get there to do just that .....
  Keep an eye on my blog to see what we are up to and what we are eating. It's always fun at Disney.

Valentine's Day 2013

  Well, I finished my Valentine cards.. I should have started them earlier. I don't have any excuse either. Oh well, done is done. I hope they get through the mail in one day.

For Hubby....

  Anyway, I really like making these cards. Pink and red are great colors to use. I love this stamp set from Stampin Up called "Always". The heart is so pretty. I also love this embossing folder that frames whatever you put in the middle. I used white enamel accents to put little dots around the frame. The sentiment is from the "Always" set, too.

For Elaine....

   I made a Valentine card for my friend, Elaine.  I had just purchased the large heart die cut from Memory Box. I love the delicate details it makes. The lacy pearls give the card a little elegance, plus I love using lace. Again I used white enamel accents to make more pearl-like dots on the heart. I use alot of that stuff. It comes in black, too. I wonder if it comes in other colors. I haven't seen it around the shops though.

For Nathaniel and Kristin..

   The next card I made for my son, Nathaniel and his fiance, Kristin. I used the hearts embossing folder in pink. I guess this card has a pink theme. I used the white enamel accents to make an arrow on one heart. This was a fun card to make.

For Kristin...

      The last card I made was for my step daughter, Kristin; not to be confused with my son's fiance, Kristin. She lives in Colorado, so that helps us some. We hope to be seeing her this summer. It's a lovely trip out there.
    Anyway, I used the Fifth Avenue Floral embossing folder and my aqua pens to color in the pink shades. Again with the lacy pearls for an accent. Stampin up makes these lovely border punches that work well here. The sentiment is from Stampin Up, too called "Well Scripted". The green and the pink color combo remind me of Spring which I hope is around the corner.
   Well, I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day. My husband and I will be exchanging cards this morning along with hugs and kisses. Isn't Valentine's Day a great day??? 

Winter Weather Blues!

Cleaned out for the mailman on Monday.

  We had the worst snowstorm since 1978. I couldn't believe the wind or the drifting snow amounts. Our mailbox is just showing.. No mail today so that's a good thing.
   My feet and hands were so cold while I was  shoveling with Russ to clean off the driveway and the deck out back. I took two mittens; one inside the other for my fingers not to freeze off. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Bette, who made them. 
   While the snow was swirling around this morning around 4:30, I was sitting at my craft table making a sympathy card for my husband's sister-in-law. Her brother passed away recently and I thought a card might bring her some comfort. It's so hard to lose a family member. I know since I lost a sister a few years back.

We really do care for Lona.

    I really like Stampin Up's stamp set called " Because I Care".  I cased this card from a card  I saw on Pinterest. It gave me the idea for the layout.The card I cased.

  I used a different stamp set called "Gentler Times". I hadn't used it before but it seemed to work well here. Martha Stewart's punched was used on the side of the card. I used white embossing powder on the side, but it came out a little blurry, so I used an ecru ribbon to hide all defects. I think it came out pretty good. The sentiment is from Stampin Up's "Because I Care" set.
   I used Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo ink and some Scattered Straw ink to give the card a little "glow" look.

We are so happy for them.

   My son and his fiance's housewarming was cancelled due to the snowstorm. So I wasn't able to get a pic of the engagement card I made, but Kristin put the card on her timeline on Facebook so I was able to copy it for my blog. I cased another card from Pinterest for this card. Whatever did I do before Pinterest. Anyway this is the link to that card. Cased Engagement Card

For my friend, Sue

  I used a silhouette I found on the computer since I didn't have a stamp like this image. I was really pleased to use a new Stampin Up die cut. I layered the two sizes to out line the image. I especially liked using a tiny gem for the ring. Using black with the sparkly light blue paper gives the card a really pretty effect and who doesn't like polka dot.
   Last but not least, is the first Valentine Card I have done for the season. It is a card for my friend and hairdresser, Sue. She is such a sweetie. She does my hair and my mom's hair and does such an excellent job. She even offered to pick Mom up and take her to get her hair done while we are in Florida. What a gem!!
   So this card is for her. I love Memory Box dies. I used the rosette die and the La Rue Flourish die for this card. I have all kinds of paper for Valentine's Day, so I used pieces for this layout. Doesn't pink, red and black go well together?
   The snow has passed and we are cleaning out. What alot of snow. Whew!  I hope that doesn't happen again for another thirty or so years.  I'd be happy with that.. Stay warm wherever you are.....

Great News!!

   My son, Nathaniel and his girlfriend, Kristin are ENGAGED!!!   We are so thrilled to be adding to our family. They are having a housewarming party this upcoming weekend. We will get to meet Kristin's parents and hear the details of their plans.
   We have been praying for God to lead Nathaniel to the perfect person for him and he has answered our prays. Color us happy.. happy.
   I have been working on a housewarming card for my mother to use for the up coming event. I decided on Stampin Up's Loads of Love stamp set. It's so cute and I saw on Pinterest a card that used the back end as a trailer. I thought that was quite clever. So I cased the idea. Here is the link to the card I cased. Teneals Williams Blog

Wicked cute....

   I was pretty excited to use an embossing folder that I have never used before. The brick wall folder is really quite nice. I rubbed some red to the brick and then added green and vintage photo ink to give it an aged look. I came out just the way I wanted it .
   I used patterned paper for the truck and then cut out another truck and cut the back off for the trailer. I got to use my accessories stamp set that has the dogs and furniture as stamps. Wicked cute. 

Inside poem

   The inside I think expresses the hopes for their new home and everyone's home.
   I was so excited about their engagement that I forgot to take a picture of the engagement card I sent them.  It was a beauty, if I do say so myself. I'll get a picture at the housewarming and post it on my blog next time. I'll have pics of their new home, too.
   Hope Puxatawny Phil is right and we have an early spring!!!