Kali River Rapids

One of Kaydree's favorite rides was the River Ride at Animal Kingdom. I thought ahead and brought a change of clothes for the girls but of course not for Benjy and I. The first time we went on it as a family I got soaked from head to toe. So I opted to sit the next two rides out and take pictures and video! It was funny, I could hear the girls screaming from around the corner. Thank goodness it was a nice warm day.

Kaydree showing off being wet.

Karsyn got soaked on the last time around. In the video below Benjy describes it!

The Animals and Trees of The Kilimanjaro Safari

I just can't believe how close you get to all of these animals. It seems so surreal.

A Warthog and the bottom side of and Ostrich. They were so close it was hard to snap the picture fast enough.
Do you see this white rhinoceros, we went around the corner and there was one standing close enough to touch. Kaydree was a little freaked out and so was I!
He was kind of cute though!

Benjy pointing to the hippos.

This tree is so cool. It looks like it is growing upside down. It gets leaves only 2 months out of the year.

Another...too close for comfort Elephant! Gigantic!

Some big cows with big horns from Africa.

It was so warm and nice! You could just see these crocs soaking up the sun!

Some sort of African deer?

And one cool looking 3 foot bird. I thought that beak could do some real damage if you ticked him off! I really enjoyed the feeling of doing something kind of dangerous....being this close to all of these animals.

Getting Ready for the Kilimanjaro Safari

This is a view of the jeeps as you are waiting to get on! Talk about building the excitement!
We knew the first thing we wanted to do at Animal Kingdom was going to be the Safari. Everyone said to go right away before it got hot and the animals go for shade. We thought we would get a fast pass but the wait was only 20 minutes so we waited and it was beyond worth it.

Honestly, you feel like you are literally on an African Safari. It amazes me at how Heavenly Father has made so many beautiful animals..pictures to come on the next post.
You can not believe how close they get to your jeep. It is crazy and a little nerve racking! I kept thinking, surely they have invisible fences we just don't see?????

This has to be the most popular attraction at Animal Kingdom because it is almost unbelievable what you see!

Animal Kingdom

After looking at all of our pictures of Animal Kingdom and for the sake of our blog book, I am spreading out our day at Animal Kingdom into a couple of posts. After our day at Epcot I could have gone home and said, "It was worth every penny," but then came Animal Kingdom. What a BLAST! There weren't huge crowds or lines at Animal Kingdom. We had so many favorite things here that we couldn't pick what we liked the best, so here is the start of it.

As we walked up to the Tree of Life, I felt like we were in another country or world for that matter. It is so colorful and vibrant. I don't know how they do all of this, but those folks at Disney really know how to "WOW" you!
Another picture that Karsyn took. Kaydree had her own camera, so of course Karsyn wanted opportunities to take pictures, too!
The girls inside the Tree of Life. Kaydree asked us, "So is this like the Tree of Life in the scriptures?" I could see the look of confusion on her face. We explained to her...that they are two very different trees. ;-)
Don't you love our 3D glasses? Karsyn has a habit of wearing glasses upside down. She has been this way from day one of wearing sunglasses, so naturally she put them on upside down and Kaydree just laughed and laughed!

After some persuasion Kaydree got Karsyn to switch them.

It was really neat waiting inside the Tree of Life for the, It's tough to be a bug, show. So many people told us to do this show, I couldn't remember some of the names so I kept calling Lori and Emily to tell us again where to go. Emily said, "you have to do the Bug's Life Movie!" It was so fun. It's a 3D show where the bugs throw things at you and it puffs wind at you, so you feel like they are hitting you. You find yourself ducking and moving out of the way. Or if you're Kaydree you start screaming when they spit at you and you actually get wet. Or if your Karsyn and the bugs run under your seat and sting you in the back, you think they are really there! It was so cool. It was dark in there but I kept hearing Benjy laugh. When we walked out, all I kept hearing was, "that was so cool!"
I thought Benjy looked bug eyed here!

We went to Dinosaur Land and the girls were a little nervous with all of the real looking Dinosaurs. They did have some cartoon looking ones so they jumped into the car!

Yeah.....uh....we were warned that the dinosaur roller coaster was a little scary. We told Karsyn to just close her eyes. Most of the bigger rides you needed to be 40 inches and Karsyn just barely made it. After this picture we went on the ride and Karsyn forgot to close her eyes and she cried through most of it. Benjy, Kaydree and I were so overwhelmed with how real it felt that we just screamed and laughed and screamed and laughed. Karsyn was so mad at us when we got off but we were so mean we were laughing so hard at how scary it really was that she probably didn't get much support from us. The funny thing is....later we asked what did you like the most at Animal Kingdom and Karsyn actually said the Dinosaur Ride. What?????

Epcot

I am bending down, why? I don't know, well Karsyn was taking the picture. This was after we took a couple hours break and went back to the hotel to swim. We came back at night in warmer clothes because it gets a little cooler at night. I look at this picture and it makes me smile. Benjy and I have developed into an interesting couple. I am very organized in some areas of my life but when it comes to planning trips or making decisions, we have become very spontaneous. Which is actually fun and keeps it interesting. It is a little crazy to think that we booked a Disney Trip less than a week out! Most people plan out their trip for months, maybe even years...not us, it feels kind of like a fly by the seat of your pants decision. In this case it worked to our benefit even with Karsyn being sick. We got up the first morning there without a set schedule and decided to go to Epcot. Everyone suggested different things that sounded like a blast... in the end we decided we would take a day for Benjy. He really wanted to go there and since we wanted to take it easy for Karsyn, we set out.
On the first day I tried to put a quick post on the blog from Benjy's blackberry but couldn't get it to work. When we left that morning it was gorgeous. Just perfect, sunny, warm and everyone was so happy! When we left Epcot I seriously thought and felt that it was the most perfect day in my entire life! I didn't think the rest of the days at Disney could possibly top Epcot! (they didn't but they were equally awesome!)

The different country plazas are absolutely breath taking. They are so clean, cute, beautiful and unique. We rented a stroller on the first day for Karsyn but Kaydree kept talking Karsyn into letting her ride along, too. At first we kept saying, "Kaydree, you are eight and we want to give Karsyn a chance to rest." By the end of the day we were saying, "Okay, fine, just get in with her." They laughed and we laughed. Benjy said, "Get this picture...two for the price of one!" Funny how riding together in a stroller would make them so happy!

The fireworks show at Epcot was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it. Perfect ...absolutely perfect! Awe struck! During the show I got a text from the Kansas Kochs, it said, " How is Karsee we have been hoping and praying for everything to be going well." I just teared up and thought, life is good! To feel love and prayers coming from the people you love and sometimes from people when you least expect it, just made my heart swell. To go from overwhelming stress on the airplane to less than 24 hours later, enjoying an out of this world experience...seeing Kaydree and Karsyn so happy and sharing it with Benjy....just left me at a loss for words and feelings of gratitude! That was a roller coaster of a ride in 24 hours and to have him there to share it with, I thought...this is what it is all about! He is so strong in the areas that I am weak. While I was stressing on the plane about Karsyn, he was picto chatting on the Nintendo D.S. with Kaydree. Kaydree and I sat across the isle and Benjy was making her laugh so hard that it caught the ladies attention next to us and I saw her chuckling at Benjy's art and comments to Kaydree. At one point though...he wrote a little note with a funny face that said, "I just passed a little gas...oops..." I about died because the lady next to Kaydree read it! She got a good laugh out of Benjy, too!

My birthday is at the end of March. I am not Irish, but I consider myself adopted into wearing green, St. Patrick's Day and Shamrocks for the entire month. Every year I buy myself a green shirt at the beginning of the month and beg Benjy for a Shamrock plant! They always die, but hey, they make me happy! Here is my green shirt for this year! We looked so much like tourists...but just wait, I waited to break out the matching stuff for Magic Kingdom! Hee hee.. my matching thing...Sarah...I love to see it when you match your whole family too! My whole upstairs is done in symmetrical, matching black and red decor. I like to do this with our outfits sometimes, too. It makes me feel more put together, planned out???? I don't know???? I think it drives some people crazy and they maybe make fun of me...but it makes me happy! Plus I saw lots of other matching families.... we shared a common bond!
One of our favorite exhibits....rides....shows was the Nemo area. It is so magical and we really enjoyed it.

These little Jelly fish were so cute.

They always had fun things to look at while we were waiting to get into the shows. Although we seemed to be able to walk up to most things. Our longest wait at Epcot was probably 10 minutes.

This ride was so fun. You sit in a big pink shell and watch different parts of Nemo on big screens with a lot of extra bling bling. (couldn't think of any other descriptions)

We had a perfect day.

Our hotel had tons of stuff for the girls to do while we waited for the shuttle.
ALL TIME FAVORITE RIDE AT EPCOT...
BENJY: TEST TRACK
KAYDREE: TEST TRACK
KRISTEN: SOARIN (WE DID IT TWICE)
KARSYN: NEMO OR SOARIN

So Much to Share.

Our Walt Disney World Trip is going to be blogged over the next week. There is so much to journal and so much to try to preserve of our memories. It started out to be very stressful. Karsyn has had somewhat of a weak immune system and has since the day she was born. She has always gotten really high fevers 106 degrees after her shots and has had reoccurring croup from the age of 3 months. When I worked at the Fitness Center....I swear anything that walked through that door in the term of germs.... she caught it! Our poor little peanut. I have always been kind of a germ freak but having a child who gets sick easily has magnified my issues. The Friday before we left she went to her friend Elizabeth's house and when I picked her up, she had a runny nose and Jody said that she had been sneezing all day! I was really hoping that it was her allergies, which she has to lotions and shampoos, zythromax and we are thinking some foods(possibly)? She went to a Birthday party on Saturday and seemed fine and on Sunday she went to church and had a runny nose but by Sunday night she started to have a low grade fever. I am now starting to panic! On the cautious side I ran her to the doctor on Monday morning out of fear of her getting worse on our trip. The doctor told me that he thought it was just a cold and that she was already through the worst of it! WRONG.... on Tuesday night, the night before we left she spiked a fever of 103. So Benjy ran her to the doctor right before we boarded the plane and got an antibiotic. The doctor wouldn't have normally done this but thought it was a good idea because we were leaving out of state.
Karsyn was miserable on our flight to Florida. She slept or was lethargic the entire way there. By this time, even Benjy was starting to really worry. We gave her two doses of antibiotic the first day of our trip and decided to see how she was on Thursday morning, before we decided if we were going to take it easy at the hotel or hit one of the Disney Parks. After calling my Mom numerous times, friends, sister-in-laws and freaking out and asking Amanda (my friend and personal nurse) in tears, what we should do, we decided to say some prayers and hope for the best.
That little skunk woke up Thursday morning happy and talking up a storm! WE knew that our prayers were answered and right away Benjy said that as a family we needed kneel in prayer and thank our Father in Heaven, for helping Karsyn feel better. I can't tell you how much relief I felt wash over me...amazing how that works. We counted our blessings and we were off to Epcot! I can't wait to blog about Epcot!

Karsyn looked pretty good here, getting ready to board, however she crashed, very quickly into the flight!
Kaydree in the plane! She was very nervous that we were going to cancel the trip because Karsyn was sick, so when she got on the plane....she was very happy and relieved!

A Last Minute Decision.

It has been a tradition for the last 5 years for Benjy and I to take a couple of days in March, either over Spring Break or my Birthday Weekend, to go somewhere, just the two of us. My parents have been so kind to watch the girls for us and we have usually tried to do something relatively inexpensive. This year our plan was to go skiing (snow in case any of you thought water?) and yet as the time drew nearer, we started dreaming of somewhere warm. This time last year I had the opportunity to go to Florida with my cousins, an aunt and an uncle to visit my parents. It was so nice. I kept thinking I couldn't wait to bring Benjy and the girls back there. To escape the Minnesota winter for even a couple of days is wonderful! So Benjy and I started looking for last minute deals. We found one to Cancun for 5 nights, air and hotel for $879. We were getting ready to book it when I thought I should check my passport and of course.. it was expired. Ugh! So then we started checking into cheap air to warm places in the United States and found Orlando tickets for $136. So we thought we scored. However Benjy kept saying, "I can't go there and be that close to Disney World and not bring the girls." I thought the same thing but we hadn't really planned on doing the whole Disney World thing this year. Thanks to Uncle Sam's nice surprise tax return, we decided to splurge and take the girls. We kept thinking that in one year from now, we will most likely be half done with our time with Kaydree living in our home. That is if she actually spreads her wings at 18? It makes me so sad to think how fast our girls are growing up. I feel like I have blinked and Kaydree is already eight. I'm afraid if I blink again, she will be off to college! With the struggles we have had when it comes to having children.... I feel especially desperate to treasure each and every moment with the two beautiful little blessings that we have been given. In the last couple of months, I have found myself hugging a little tighter, counting my blessings a little more and looking at my girls with tears of gratitude. In the last couple of months I have realized just what a miracle each of their births really were. In all reality in less than 13 years, Benjy and I could have all the time in the world to take trips, just the two of us and we will be wishing that our girls would make time for us in their busy lives! When I think that I have been out of High School for 15 years....again it makes me realize how fast time goes and that is time we can never get back. Soooo Disney World...here we come. WE are all so excited that we are having a hard time focussing on anything else!

With ALL of that being said.... our decision is now which park to leave out? We will have a three day pass and will have to skip one park. If you have been to Disney World...which ones were your favorite or which one would you leave out. We are going to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom for sure. So either Epcot or Hollywood will need to be left out.