Rich and I decided we wanted to do something special for our 10th anniversary.  We talked about it for several months and debated about where to go.  Nothing sounded like what we wanted to do and we couldn’t decide where to go.  About a week before our anniversary we still didn’t have any final plans. Then we talked about going to Disney World.  We already have a family trip planned for September and couldn’t decide if we should go in July too.  We thought about it and decided that since we spent our honeymoon there it would be the perfect place to go for our 10th anniversary.  I really struggled with not bringing Hailey- I felt sooooo guilty but knew that it was important for Rich and I to get away together and also I knew she would be there in September.  Plus she had been really looking forward to spending the week with her grandma and pa!

Since we decided less than a week before that we wanted to go we weren’t able find any cheap plane tickets, so we decided that we would drive.  We drove all day Sunday, stopped for a few hours during the night to sleep at a rest area and then kept driving.  Rich actually did all of the driving.  Anyhoo- we arrived at our hotel- Coronado Springs Resort at 8:30am on Monday.  Check in wasn’t until 3pm, but we figured it was worth trying to check in and they had our room ready.  So we were able to get cleaned up from our trip and go get some breakfast at our food court.

This is a picture of the main building- El Centro where the food court, restaurant, lobby and gift shop are located.  The resort is really spread out and it was a really long walk to get there from our room.

Our room was in that building.

The Three Caballeros were outside of our food court.

After breakfast at our food court we went to Animal Kingdom.

Posing for a picture before we entered the park.

Posing for a picture in front of the Tree of Life.

We took advantage of the Fastpasses and were able to see everything we wanted to see.  I always love to go on Kilimanjaro Safaris and see all the animals and we were able to see lots of animals.

Giraffes

Rhino

Then it was time for a parade!

“Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Expeditions”

Minnie

Goofy

Donald

Mickey

After the parade we went back to our hotel and had dinner at the Maya Grill and had the prime rib.  After dinner we went back to Animal Kingdom to enjoy Extra Magic Hours.

I love the Lion King show!  It’s amazing!!

We saw a few more attractions- rode Expedition Everest, which made us both sick and finished up by seeing It’s Tough to be a Bug.  We were exhausted from all the driving and the lack of sleep, so we went back to our hotel to collapse for the night.

On the 3rd day of our weekend long extravaganza we went to church and then back to my parents’ house for some more yummy food.  We certainly did have a lot of food during our extravaganza!

Family picture (taken by my cousin Jon) before some people had to start heading home.

We tried to get Danielle and Logan to pose for picture.  It was somewhat successful.

Danielle loved Brady!

Later on in the evening we headed back over to our house.  Since we hadn’t eaten nearly enough all weekend we ate again.

After we ate Hailey and Anika had fun going down the slide into the little pool.

Then we went to go watch some fireworks.  They loved it!

Mike, Matt, Ellie and Brady waiting for the fireworks to start.

Matt holding a nervous Brady during the fireworks.

The next day everyone else had to head back home.  Some of us went on a trip to Chuck E Cheese for some fun and- of course- more food.

Hailey and Anika

Beka and Rich played many rounds of basketball.

The grandfathers had to play a few rounds too.

Anika and Hailey enjoyed seeing Chuck E Cheese.

It was a weekend full of family and fun!!  Can’t wait to do it again next year!

We spent the morning and early afternoon talking, laughing and just having a great time.  Then it was time for some more food!

The pretty set up.

Lots of food!

Matt and Rich grilling the meat.

Danielle waiting happily for some food.

Ellie, Matt, my Mom, my Dad, Mike

Uncle Ralph, Uncle Dave, Dave, Bethel, Aunt Gladys, Lucas

Vicki, Danielle, Bill, Beka

Aunt Ruth, Rich, Melissa, Brad, Me

Caleb, Dan, Jon, Leah

After we ate the guys played some horseshoes.

Anika, Danielle, Hailey

Bubble fun

Hailey, Uncle Matt and Anika

More to come soon…

Why does it seem like I am always a month behind on my posting?  I try so hard to keep up but I just always fall behind. Anyways- over the 4th of July weekend we had a fun family extravaganza at my parents’ house.  I took a bunch of pictures of the fun filled weekend so I am going to break them up into a few posts.

On Friday night everyone came in from out of town to stay either at my parents’ house or at our house. Everyone came over here for dinner and we had a great time having everyone at our house.  I didn’t take any pictures the first evening

On Saturday morning we got up and Hailey and her cousin Anika went outside to play while we waited for everyone to get ready to go over to my parents house for some famous omelets made by my Uncle Dave.

Hailey and Anika enjoying the swing set.

Hailey was so excited to have someone to play with in her house.

I tried to get them to pose for a picture, but it didn’t work out too well.

Having fun on Hailey’s little slide.

Not sure exactly what they were planning here…

Sharing a cousin moment.

Once everyone who stayed at our house was all ready to go, we went over to my parents’ house and had a very filling breakfast.  It was delicious!  We all ate until we couldn’t eat any more.  Then some of the fun activities began.

Hailey enjoying an ice pop.

Rich and Brad hanging out next to the pool.

Listening to Vicki telling something interesting.

Uncle Dave told Hailey and Anika he was going to jump into the baby pool with them.

The weather was perfect for everyone to enjoy some pool time.

Hailey and Aunt Ellie going for a swim.

Caleb and Anika

Logan enjoying the baby pool.

More to come soon…