Go, Cheetahs!

Saturday was our last soccer game this fall season.  Ben really got into it this year, and even scored his very first goal in the last game - very exciting!

Here's Anna, waiting for coach to call her back in the game :)

Ben and his soccer buddies Maya and Vishnu.

Ben getting his trophy from Coach Ash

Proud trophy holders!

Cooling Off...

Yesterday was the first day we've worn jeans or long sleeves to school.  Here comes Fall!!

Disney: Day Five!

For our last day, we went back to the Magic Kingdom.  We lucked up and were able to get a "Fastpass" to eat lunch at a really neat restaurant for lunch, called "Be Our Guest".  It is themed after the movie Beauty and the Beast, and has very good French food.  We bypassed (thanks to our Fastpass) a two hour line and sat in the ballroom of the "castle".  It actually looked like there was real snow falling outside the window!  We walked in and picked whatever table we wanted, and minutes later, a waitress brought our food (that we had ordered online weeks before) directly to our table.  We have no idea how she knew who we were, out of the hundreds of folks there, or where to deliver the food....magic, I guess!

After lunch, we rode a few more rides and watched a parade.  Goofy himself grabbed Anna and twirled her a few times, which just made her day!

Then it was back to the room for a nap.  We took a few photos of our room because it was so cute....here is the car-themed couch and cozy cone lamp, carpet and curtains....ha ha!

This was our breakfast table, and at night, it unfolded to make the bed where Ben and Anna slept.

We grabbed some dinner at the hotel, and rode the bus back to the park to meet Anna and Elsa from the movie "Frozen".  This was another thing we had lucked up and gotten a Fastpass for (you can get up to three per day, and it lets you skip the long lines).  Ben and Anna where THRILLED to meet such popular princesses; Mom and Dad were THRILLED not to wait in the 1.5 hour line to meet them!!

The merry-go-round never gets old :)

Our first trip to Disney wouldn't be complete without seeing the Main Street Electrical Parade and then watching the Wishes Fireworks show over Cinderella's castle.  We didn't get back to the room until 11:30, but it was worth it!  What a wonderful trip!

Disney: Day Four!

On our fourth day, we went to Hollywood Studios park.  First, we had breakfast with some of their favorite Disney Jr. Characters....here's Doc McStuffins!

Ben was dressed up as Jake the Neverland Pirate, so he was really excited for the real Jake to visit us!  Jake was excited to see his "twin", and motioned for Ben to go around and sign autographs while he sat down and ate breakfast with us....Ben was so tickled!

Our favorite ride of all:  Toy Story Mania.  You wear 3-D glasses and shoot at targets to get points!

For lunch, we went to Downtown Disney and ate at T-Rex.  We even got to sit in the ice cave!  

  

After lunch, back to the hotel for some swimming in the Cozy Cone pool and checking out a life-sized Tow Mater :)

Thankfully, the kids took a loooong nap and we went back to the park for a neat waterworks/fireworks show called Fantasmic.  In bed by 11:30, and get ready for our last day tomorrow!

Disney: Day Three!

For our second day in the parks, we went to Magic Kingdom… The "real "Disney World!  We met our first princess of the trip, Ariel the Little Mermaid.  She was so sweet, talking a long time and giving lots of hugs to Ben and Anna.

Then we rode the famous monorail to the Comtemporary hotel and had brunch at Chef Mickey's.  The kids were lost excited about eating Mickey waffles and meeting Goofy :)

Then it was back to the Magic Kingdom for more rides.

Ben and Anna mostly liked the midway-type rides like this one: a flying Dumbo that you could fly up or down as it circled around.  We did this one, and also a dinosaur one, and Ben wanted to do another one with Magic carpets (Alladin), but we didn't get a chance.  We kept telling him they were all the same except the shape of the seat, but he didn't care!  Cute!

Our hotel had an arcade that was probably on Ben's top 3 favorites list.  :)

For dinner that night (thankfully after a long late afternoon nap), we took a boat from Magic Kingdom to a hotel called the Grand Floridian.  Three re you could eat dinner "with" Cinderella and other various friends of hers.  The night we went, unfortunately Prince Charming had been called away to a very important meeting at the castle.  However, since Ben was so convincingly dressed the part, Cinderella asked him to be her Prince Charming!  He was over the moon with all the attention he was getting.  Anna was thrilled to meet Cinderella, dancing from foot to foot, saying, "Cinderella!  Cinderella!"

Disney, Day Two!

On our first day at Disney, we went to Animal Kingdom.  Ben and Anna were most interested in meeting Mickey and Minnie, so that's one of the first things we did.

Ben rode his first roller coaster, called "dinosaur".   Mommy and Anna waited outside and caught a lizard.

For lunch we ate at Tusker House and got to meet Donald and Daisy!

Back to hotel...,to rest but no one took a nap except Mommy :)

Then fun times at the neatest pool we have ever seen!  It was themed like the movie a Finding Nemo...

Our First Disney Day!

We made it.....barely!  Hours worth of delays on two flights, and a bus ride later - we are finally at Disney World.  Considering we left the house at 8:30 this morning, it's been a long,,but fun, day.  The kids were thrilled to ride on an airplane for the first time.  They also rode on a monorail shuttle and tour bus for the first time!

We are staying at Art of Animation resort at Disney, and it is themed according to several movies, including Cars.  So our room, pool, everything is all about Lightning McQueen and friends.  Here are some pics of our "journey" (haha!) here.

Where did the month go?!

It's been a long time since the last post....I guess we've been pretty busy getting ready to go to Disney!  Well, I've been busy....these two cuties have been having loads of fun at school and playing at home.

Ben brought home a book from school and read the whole thing to me with no help - wow!  Here he is with his first book he ever read:

Anna has been more into playing dress-up lately.  Cute little rock star!