The Last Two Days in Florida

This will be the end of my Florida trip posts.  The last two days were spent at various Disney parks.  The last two days were crazy crowded.  I don't usually let crowds bother me, but when I'm responsible for keeping up with 4 little people, crowds bother me.  I'll save you from the details of how we lost Isabel while waiting in line for Spaceship Earth and how I thought Madelyn had disappeared from the bathroom only to learn after a frantic search that she was safe with everyone else in the group. 

We had a great time at Disney, and we will definitely go back, but I would prefer to go at a different time than Christmas.  On Thursday, we went to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.  Madelyn and Pierce got to experience some Jedi training, and we rode a few rides like Toy Story and the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios and Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and the Journey into Imagination at Epcot.  On Friday, JD and I took the big kids back to Epcot so we could ride Soarin' and then we all met up and spent the rest of the day at the Magic Kingdom.

Here are some pictures from those days:

Jedi Training:

They were all eaten by Bruce:

Julia was too fascinated by (or scared of) Mickey, and she refused to look at the camera:

And you can't leave without a shot of the beautiful castle:

Christmas Day

We stayed at home on Christmas day.  It was a relaxing, laid back day; a day that we all needed.  I'm not sure I could ever get used to warm Christmases, but it was nice to be able to stroll outside and not have to bundle up.  Here are some pictures from our day:

Julia loved the remote-controlled ceiling fan:

 And she started off the morning eating the Baby Jesus from the nativity:

Reading The Advent Book for the last time this season:

Then, it was stocking time:

And, then it was cotton candy time:

And then a little peace on earth time:

Legoland

On Christmas Eve, we took the three big kids to Legoland and Julia stayed with my parents.  We were pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was.  The rides are geared for kids ages 4-12, but there are a couple of good roller coasters and other fun activities.  My favorite part was Miniland.  They had built different cities out of Legos, and they paid such attention to detail.  Also, the lines were sooooo much shorter than at Disney, so we got to do a lot of things in one day.  Here are some pictures from our Legoland Adventure:

 This giant Christmas tree greeted us when we walked in:

 The space shuttle getting ready to launch:

 The White House with the First Family on the front steps and a secret service agent on the roof:

The Washington Monument:

Lincoln Memorial:

The Capitol Building:

The National Mall and part of the Smithsonian:

The World War II Memorial:

The Washington Memorial with Santa riding down:

The Jefferson Memorial:

The Iwo Jima Memorial:

San Francisco:

New York City:

A jousting ride that all the kids enjoyed:

A dinosaur made out of a ridiculous amount of Legos:

A giant Albert Einstein head:

 Lego Driving School (The kids LOVED this!):

A full-sized car made of Legos:

 Isabel's driving school:

Darth Vader: 

R2-D2

Darth Maul:

And a random donkey:

We will definitely go back next time, and we'll take Julia with us.