WDW Vacation ~ Day 4 Animal Kingdom

On the 4th day, we went to Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the evening.  We took a break in the middle for naps and rest time.  At Animal Kingdom, we rode the Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, It's Tough to be a Bug, Na'vi River Journey and watched the Lion King show.  All three kids got to be part of the show which was fun.  It is seriously the best show in Disney!  We ate lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue which is a place my dad remembered from when we went there in 2000 but wasn't open in 2015.  The new Pandora area is pretty cool, but we didn't even attempt to ride the Flight of Passage.

I convinced Macie to ride the Dinosaur ride and she had fun, but it wasn't her favorite.  Lilah closed her eyes and ears the whole time, but the rest of us loved it!

I rode Everest with Lilah and it was an awesome ride!  We've never done that one before.  She was scared but I was so proud of her for doing it, because it is pretty intense!

Three baby giraffes

WDW Vacation ~ Day 3

Our first day in the parks, we went to Magic Kingdom.  We always like to start out our trip going there.  We were able to get our pictures in front of the castle and watch the opening show.  Everyone was so excited, but Ari was shaking so hard and had tears in her eyes with excitement.  It was the cutest thing!

We rode the People Mover, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, The Barnstormer, Dumbo, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Mad Tea Party, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Pirates of the Caribbean, Prince Charming Carousel, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  We also got pictures with Chip n Dale, Elena, and Cinderella. Everything wasn't in that order because we take a break in the middle of the day to make sure everyone is in the optimal mood!

Lilah's biggest request for the trip was to meet Elena.  I ran her and Macie over there really quickly at the end of the night since it was supposed to be a 10 minute wait.  It was a little longer than that, but Lilah was so excited.  I was so upset when I checked my phone later and realized that the photos weren't there from the Memory Maker.  This was the one thing she wanted to do the most!  Thankfully, you get to see the photos immediately because two years ago you had to wait until after the trip and I was able to get her over there again later in the week.

Gavin's request was to do all of the "bad to the bone stuff" so he was thrilled with his first bigger roller coaster, Mine Train.  Lilah liked it too, but Macie did not and decided not to ride anymore roller coasters the rest of the week.  This wasn't a problem since Brian doesn't ride them and Andre and Ari were often too small to ride.  Macie was a GREAT helper with Ari all week and she loved every minute of it.

I was so proud of my score of 52, 300, but Brian got 52, 600!  And Charles blew us all out of the water with a score of 132,000!

I love Gavin's face and that Lilah's arm is up in this picture.  Poor Macie didn't enjoy it at all!

Walt Disney World Vacation ~ Day 1 and 2

On Friday, September 1st, we left bright and early for our Walt Disney World Vacation.  We went with my entire immediate family and we'd been planning this for a few years.  We were worried about the weather but loaded up and headed out.  Our plan for day one was to make it to Valdosta, Georgia.  Overall, the day went pretty well and we even found a place to eat called Keith-A-Que for dinner.  It was yummy!  We stayed the night and then drove the last 3 hours to our resort in the morning.

We stayed at All Stars Movies Resort.  We were able to have three rooms right next to each other overlooking the Toy Story Courtyard.  It was fun to walk through "Andy's Room" every day.  After we checked in, we ate lunch, unloaded, swam, and then went to Disney Springs for dinner and shopping.  

We had a little bit of a difficult time finding our way around since they'd changed a lot of stuff but eventually found Earl of Sandwich.  Macie and I had the Holiday Turkey, Lilah got a grilled cheese, and the boys got the Original which is roast beef.  Everyone was happy with their food.  Afterwards, we did some shopping.  The kids had been saving their own money for souvenirs for over a year.  Macie had $120, Gavin had $150, and Lilah had $100.  I was so proud of them.  They shopped some that night and throughout the trip.  Unfortunately, we got rained on and ended up heading back sooner than planned to rest up for the first day in the parks!

My dad's name is Keith and he loves to barbeque so this was perfect!

These three slept a lot the last leg of the trip which was a blessing!

First photos at the resort!

Waiting for the bus

Homeschool Highlights

Indianapolis Children's Museum: August 1st, Gavin went to Riley to get measured for new compression socks.  I took all three kids and we went to the museum for the day since we hadn't been in a while.  Our first stop was to the dinosaur area because Macie and Gavin are studying dinosaurs in science.  I had them each find two facts to read to me and then tell me one opinion about dinosaurs.  It's always good to throw in a little school!

Evansville Museum and Train Museum: The first Friday of every month, the Evansville Museum and Train museum are free to get into.  I've been wanting to take advantage of this for months, but this is the first time it's worked out.  We made a craft, checked out the eclipse exhibit, went into various art rooms to pick out our favorites, and checked out the old times area.  Finally, we spent quite a bit of time with friends at the train museum.  It was a lot of fun and we hope to go back and study the art a bit more.

Rhyming Matching Game: We had to find ways to keep Lilah busy before she started school.  This rhyming matching game did the trick!

 Dinosaur Stencil Art: 

Mneme Therapy ~ "The Flowery Landscape": Not only has Macie's painting taken off, but check out that title!  Miss Tina and I were both super impressed!  Sorry that the picture didn't get turned...

Room Decor:

I now have Spanish numbers, colors, and days of the week up around our Indiana map and dinosaur art.

This year, we are studying the states.  Each week are adding a different state and when we get to Indiana, we will wrap up the Indiana book we worked on two years back.  The kids are really enjoying this book and wish that it wasn't once a week!

I also added the Spanish names for the months.  

Collage Art: I'm trying to do different kinds of art this year.  Neither Gavin or Macie really understood what I was talking about when I mentioned a collage the other day, so we decided to make them today!  They turned out so cute!

Gavin's has "cool" stuff on it!

Macie made a food collage and it made me so hungry!