Phoenix

I'm trying to get back on the blogging wagon, so I need to backtrack and post about a super fun trip we had to visit my brother Jeff in Phoenix in February. We were so happy to get away from the cold windy Idaho winter and head down to spend time with Jeff. My Dad planned a trip to Arizona for the same time, so it was a bonus to spend time with him too. Kate loves Jeff's dogs Diesel and Zoe. They are beautiful friendly boxers and one of them loves to give lip kisses, and Kate didn't mind the lip kisses from him, and all the attention he gave her.

We arrived late Friday night and went to our favorite BBQ joint called Joe's BBQ, we were too busy eating to take pictures. One thing we love about Arizona is the food. Saturday we ate at another BBQ place called Little Miss BBQ, it was also delicious and I dream of going back again.

 Joe and Jeff started Saturday early with a hike up Camelback mountain.

We went to a really fun train park that Kate loved. She loved climbing on big trains and small trains, and even working trains. I love this picture below because she looks so young compared to our last blog posts from Disney World.

The place also had a huge area for model trains set up. 

Uncle Jeff and Kate in a little train

We rode this little train around the park, when we weren't riding it Kate loved to wave to it

Our trip was cut short because of a funeral, we only spent about 36 hours in Arizona, but Jeff made sure we packed as much fun as possible in that small amount of time. We hope we can come visit again next winter!

Day 4-Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal kingdom is so much fun for a kid and big kid at heart. We had to leave for the airport around 4:00 so we missed a few hours of fun at this park, and came no where close to getting everything done, but man was it fun. 

We did get to ride the safari ride twice which is my favorite at this park. It is like a trip to the zoo on steroids. You get to ride in a big safari car and sometimes get up close to African animals in their "natural habitat". We saw Giraffe's, Elephants, flamingos, zebras, lions and many more. Kate loved getting passed from one end of the car with Papa to the other end so that she would always have the best view of the animals. Take my word for it, if you go you need to do that ride. 

Kate loved the petting zoo as well. She giggled with delight as she would drop sand on the goat, and then brush it off. The goat didn't seem to mind her tough love.

 Kate was not happy at all to meet Rafiki from The Lion King. She got really upset with him, and when he tried to be silly and run away with me into the tree behind us in the picture she was worried that he would take me away for ever. I love our little girl.

 One of the highlights of the trip was going to eat at the Tusker House Restaurant. We were going for good food, and were pleasantly surprised when Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy were there and went from table to table taking pictures. (Our first half of pictures didn't turn out because somehow our camera got turned to manual focus and we weren't aware. Sad day, you'll just have to trust us that we met Daisy Duck)

This is Kate's favorite picture to look at from the trip, we look at it almost daily.

Donald

Nonna and Goofy

Goofy

Kate was asleep for the first half of dinner, so the first time  all the characters came around she was out cold in the stroller.

Preston family picture in front of the tree of life.

Thanks Papa and Nonna for going on such a fun adventure with us! We had so much fun and can't wait do do it again sometime soon!

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.