Day 3- Magic Kingdom

We got in an hour early to magic kingdom and loved it! We were able to ride so many extra rides before the crowds. Poor Kate was not too excited to be woken up early this morning, we actually took her in her PJ's and changed her at the park. I could tell she was a little confused about her sleep schedule, but was also eager to see why we were waking her up early.

One of the many times riding the carousel, she became a pro quickly and didn't need my help holding on

Kate's favorite ride at the park was the horse carousel. We were excited to meet Cinderella's step sisters and step mother who jumped in the line right next to us as we waited. The step sisters stayed true to their character and were yelling at everyone to get off the carousel because it was their turn. They told Kate she was cute, but not as cute as them. Kate knew exactly who they were when I told her it was Cinderellas step-sisters. In the picture above the step-sister Drizella was riding on the horse behind us. 

The tea-cups ride. It's a classic, but it has absolutely no leg room, we figured this out quickly when Papa, Joe, Kate and I crowded in one, it was hilarious, we were practically sitting on each other.

Another favorite ride of Kate's became the Dumbo ride, she loved being able to go up and down with the little lever. She is so smart.

Who's having more fun in this picture? Papa and Nonna or Kate?

We had breakfast reservations at the Be our Guest Restaurant. It is wildly popular and 2 weeks before when I was making reservations we could only get a breakfast seating. I was happy we got reservations but sad we could not try THE GRAY STUFF, because it is only served at lunch and dinner.Rumor has it that the gray stuff is delicious, even the dishes agree. In true Disney fashion this place was decked out and made me feel like I was really a guest in the Beasts castle. There were different rooms to eat in, and one was "The west wing" where the magic rose was.

Our meal was delivered on a fancy cart. We loved the pastries so much that we all wanted to steal the leftovers from other tables. I would recommend this restaurant, it was so fun. (This could be my 8 year old inner self talking when I say that)

This girl was way too excited to get behind the wheel and drive! We better watch out!

Again Kate was sheepish when she met Ariel like she was when she met Minnie Mouse, and as we were leaving she wanted her back immediately. Ariel was sweet, and asked Kate questions about swimming and invited her to go for a swim with her and Sebastian.

The parade floats are so much more ornate than I remember them when I was little. Kate loved it!

Love this crew, but not the photographer who chopped off the castle top

Love a dole whip float

Hollywood Studios-Day 2

Our hotel had a lot of quick and easy food, my favorite was breakfast because of these delicious Minnie and Mickey Waffles. Yum! It was the perfect way to start out a fun day.

The crew with Minnie Mouse

We spent day #2  at Hollywood Studios. I personally think it has rides similar to California Adventure at Disneyland. I love this park because it also offers lots of musical shows to watch.  We were so excited when we Found Minnie Mouse and that we didn't have to wait in line to see her at all. Kate was totally shocked every time she met a character. She would usually just look at them curiously and not want to get close, but then when we left she would hold out her arms to them and say their name and sometimes even cry at the thought of leaving them. 

Papa with the famous turkey leg. 

Each park had a kid park area where the kids could run around and let loose. Kate loved the "Honey I shrunk the kids" area.

Last time we went to Disney World I was very pregnant with Kate, and couldn't ride The Tower of Terror which is my all time favorite ride ever. I was so happy to ride it this time! It was 100 times better than the one in Disneyland.
 I was actually really scared while riding it! 

Toy Story Mania is a favorite! (AKA The Bop Bop game).  Kate caught on quickly and learned how to pull the string, now she just has to work on aim and coordination. 

We LOVED all the musical shows. Our Favorites were Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid.

Disney World- Epcot

2 weeks ago we took the trip of a life time to Disney World with Kate. We were so happy when Papa and Nona said they could come too!! I was very excited because I found a crazy deal including air and hotel. and we would be staying at a Disney resort hotel...it was not the most luxurious resort but it had all the perks like being able to enter certain parks an hour early, and Disney picked us up from the airport and we didn't even have to bring a car seat! We didn't even have to pick up our bags off baggage claim, Disney picked our bags up and then they magically appeared in our hotel room. I am a huge fan of this hotel and dream of staying there again. Maybe one of the reasons I got such a good deal was because our flight was a red-eye, but is was non-stop to Orlando! We landed at 6 am and were at Epcot resort by 8 for our early morning there. 

 For those of you who don't know Disney World is made up of 4 theme parks and 2 water parks. We were going to be there for 4 days so we chose to do one theme park a day and skip the water parks.

Kate passed out cold on her Papa!

 Kate was great while we all took turns riding the big kid rides, she even made friends

My Dad served his mission in Italy and so I knew he would like visiting "Italy" at the Epcot Theme Park .Epcot features culture and cuisine from 11 countries. I did a little research before going and found a delicious pizzeria. We were all very impressed with the food at Via Napoli Ristorante. The place had 3 big wood burning ovens and all the servers were from Italy. The pizza was authentic thin crust Italian pizza. I had to get reservations to this place 2 weeks in advance!

I love this picture of my Dad while he is watching a street performer in "Italy"

The street performer in Italy

Kate was very into all the different street performances. I just love those sunglasses!

Epcot has lots of beautiful topiaries of characters that they feature in the spring,
 One of Kate's favorites was definitely the dogs Lady and the Tramp.

We stayed at Disney's All-star movies resort. Like I said earlier we loved it! We stayed in the 101 Dalmation section of the resort, which was perfect for Kate. She loved pointing out all the dogs every time we walked by. Our hotel room was even decorated with the dalmation theme. The hotel had 2 pools, but we were too busy at the parks to use them. I loved that the hotel had buses every 20 minutes to each of the different Disney resorts. I am hoping we get to go back to this resort some time in the future.

Larger than life Pongo

Family group pictures

I forgot to post some fun family pictures that we took back in November! For Thanksgiving we spent the day in Burley. We started off the morning with Joe, Cheri, Grandma Nae and Grandpa all competing in the turkey trot. Kate and I were happy to cheer some of them on as they came to the finish line. It actually was a very beautiful non-windy day for Idaho. 

We took advantage of the weather and took some family pictures. I captured this cute one of Kate holding on to her grandpa and to her Daddy on the way over for pictures. 

Preston family 2014

Not so Jolly to meet Saint Nick

Santa was visiting my brother-in-law Seth's work one Saturday when we were visiting in Salt Lake. We were excited to take Kate to meet him. In my mind I pictured her tugging on his beard and giggling with him. That did not happen! She was less than excited to meet the big guy. 

Terror struck when we left her alone with him. Let's just say she was mad at both of her parents. She would not let either of us hold her after the incident. She instead went right to her Papa, and held to him like he was a hero. In the pictures she is actually reaching out for her Papa. 

Puerto Rico and Grand Turk

Our second day that we came into port we arrived in Puerto Rico. Joe went on an adventure with my brother Jeff exploring forts and doing things that would be difficult to bring Kate along. Kate and I kept ourselves busy by spending time with my parents and Bart and Collette and their family. We really enjoyed walking around town enjoying the beautiful architecture. 

 We came across some people letting you pose with their parrots if you gave them some money. Kate was so excited to see the birds, and pointed and repeated, "Birds, Birds!" When it was finally our turn to pose with the birds and have them stand on me she naturally wanted nothing to do with them. 

Picture of the Fort Joe and Jeff explored

Another fort picture

 Our last port was beautiful Grand Turk. I could not believe how blue the ocean was there. The cruise ships own part of the beach front and have a nice private property for cruisers. We were able to play in the sand, swim in the ocean, and relax without anyone trying to get us to buy something we didn't want. An awesome flow rider is even there, and if you are willing to pay you can experience it. Joe, Jeff, Suzanne and Seth were the brave ones in the family who chose to do the flow rider. They all caught on quickly and were doing flips and all sorts of other tricks. They were also all very sore the next day.

Bart was a good sport and let his kids bury him in the sand

I love being an aunt! I could not get enough of these cuties. Ben, Kate, Emily and Jane

Kate got lots of mouthfuls of sand, she never learned her lesson and always kept doing it

Kate and Adrew

Joe is doing a planned back flip on the flow rider

surfing 

 Richards family 2014. My favorite part about this picture is that it was taken inside a bar on the cruise ship. I had so much fun traveling with this crew. It was fun to talk to other cruisers about how we were on a big family trip. Most people could not believe how big our family is, and they could not believe that my parents would have 6 kids of their own!

St. Maarten

After a few days at sea we were excited to get back on ground. We spent our first day at port in St. Mararten. A hurricane came through a week before, but we didn't see too much damage on the tourist part of the island. My brother Jeff rented a motorcycle for  the day and found many boats ruined and in the rocks. Kate had a fever the night before, so we headed out to find a pharmacy to get medication in case we needed it later. We walked and walked and walked, we finally found a pharmacy, ironically they had one right by where the cruise ships unload. We were able to see a lot of the city from walking around. It was hot! Boy do I miss that weather!  After we walked we jumped right in the ocean. This was Kate's first time in the ocean and she loved the warm water and sand. 

                     

Our daughter is a little fishy!