Albaeck (After) Army Adventure: December 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

post-christmas fun

Our package from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa (in California) came on December 26. It worked out great because we were able to extend our Christmas celebration an extra day!!

Lexie and her first CD player!

Ben waiting patiently for his turn to open a present.

Look, I got a new truck!!!

Christopher playing with his new remote control car!!

Ben thought it was fun to take his truck out front and pretend it worked with a remote control too.

I can jump like my truck!!

Such a silly girl!!

merry christmas (in pictures)

Look, Santa came!!

Ready to come downstairs for presents.

Can I open this one?

Lexie LOVED her new car!

And Ben did too- although he did seem a bit jealous since the pink one wasn't his.

Grandpa and Daddy going through their stockings.

Lexie got a new kitchen and dollhouse bookcase this year. She and Ben played with the kitchen all day!

Nick's Bumblebee Transformer flew off the stairs and hit Ben in the head. We got it cleaned up pretty quickly and then he held an ice pack on it for a few minutes.

Nick's favorite present- his new globe!

Christopher was so excited to get his Didj!!

And Lexie loved her Bitty Baby.

Lexie made hot "kashi" in her kitchen all afternoon.

Lexie and Grandma sharing a cup of coffee.

Christmas Eve was a pretty relaxing day. We only made one trip out- for bread and batteries- definitely Christmas necessities! We had Costco pizza for dinner and then finished up the books from our advent calendar.

Ben and Christopher

Nicholas

After our books (I think we had to read 5!), we put out Cranberry Bliss bars and milk for Santa. We left 10 carrots out for the reindeer- Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, and Pablo- just in case he came in from Mexico. Then it was time for everyone to go to bed!

Merry Christmas!

getting ready for christmas

Grandma and Grandpa flew into town the day after we got back from Disney World. They were able to help us finish up the last minute things and get all ready for Christmas!

Jacob's Christmas tree- He grew it himself!!

Christopher and Nicholas built a gingerbread house with Grandma.

Catching up on our book advent calendar.

Ben reading "Merry Christmas, Strega Nona" with Grandpa.

magic kingdom and 'ohana

For our last day at Disney World we decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom since there were a couple of things that we still needed to do.

Jacob got his funnel cake.

Riding the People Mover.

Lexie, Ree (Marie), Ben, Mickey Mouse, and Nick, on the People Mover with Daddy while Christopher and I went on Space Mountain again.

A rainbow behind Cinderella's Castle after the rain.

The Magic Kingdom closed early on Friday night because of the Christmas Party so we headed over to EPCOT to kill a few hours before our 9:30p dinner reservations at 'Ohana. We went on Spaceship Earth (inside the golf ball) and learned about the history of communication- though Christopher and Nicholas learned about it in Chinese. The big boys went on Test Track one last time and we said our goodbyes to EPCOT.

We got to the Polynesian at about 8:30 and checked in early for our dinner reservation. Surprisingly, they were very accommodating and got us seated in about 10 minutes. We had a table right by the window and we were able to see the Electric Water Pageant and the Magic Kingdom fireworks-- GREAT VIEW!!

We feed our child colored sugar so she can stay up for really late dinners!

Ben got a lei!

The super yummy appetizers!!

And the super yummy drink in a pineapple!

Nick loved dancing!

Goodnight 'Ohana and Goodbye Disney World.

animal kingdom

On Thursday we went to Animal Kingdom and our first stop was the Kilimanjaro Safari. You get to go through the wildlife preserve for an up-close and personal look at the animals.

Rhinoceros

Pelican

Ankole Cattle

Reticulated Giraffe

Lion

Rhinoceros- from about five feet away!

Christopher and Nicholas got to meet Flik!

Christopher's favorite ride of the day- Expedition Everest!!

We did the big rides in the morning and then headed over to the Dino-Rama in the afternoon for some of the little-kid rides! The big dinosaur overlooking the area looked so cute and cuddly!

Let's take him home!!

The Triceratops Spin!

Let's go to the Dino-Rama!!!

Lexie had a fun day!!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

magic kingdom

Wednesday was our full day at the Magic Kingdom. We got a late start because of our late night at the Christmas party the night before but we were able to make it in time for our lunch reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern.

Nicholas and Christopher waiting for our table at lunch.

Fantasyland was one of the kids' favorite places in the park. On the teacups, Jacob took all the boys in their own and they spun so fast that Ben almost got sick. Lexie and I had our own teacup and didn't spin quite so fast.

The Albaeck boys

The daredevil refused to sit on her butt on most of the rides!

Then it was time for our requisite churro break. Unfortunately, the churros at the Magic Kingdom aren't ANYWHERE near as good as the ones at Disneyland. But it was still exciting to see Lexie experience her first churro on this trip!!

nom.nom.nom.

Yummy!!

We enjoyed walking around the park and taking in all of the sights. Even though the Magic Kingdom itself is smaller than Disneyland, it's amazing how much bigger the castle is!

Cinderella's Castle under a cloudy sky.

Mickey and Minnie topiaries.

Look, they do like each other!!

Trying to get a picture under the Christmas tree at the Magic Kingdom.

Nick's idea of a good picture!

Splash Mountain- the favorite ride of the day!!

An afternoon nap in the park.

We went to the Wishes Dessert Party for the fireworks. It's an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet out on the Tommorowland Terrace with a spectacular view of the castle. Christopher and Nicholas were so excited to go pick out their own desserts!