On our 2nd day in Disney World we went to Epcot.

Since we have a Disney Visa card we were able to go to the special character meet and greet and get our picture taken with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.  We were also able to get a free 5×7.

Us enjoying a nice hot day at Epcot.

Us on the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros ride in Mexico.

We enjoyed lots of rides and attractions and had a great time at Epcot!  For dinner we went to the Garden Grill.

Me and Pluto

Rich and I with Chip

Me and Mickey

Me and Dale

We watched the amazing Illuminations show.

One last picture on our way out of Epcot.

The next day we got up bright and early to head to Magic Kingdom.  It’s amazing how quickly we were able to get ready in the morning when it was just the 2 of us.  But I sure did miss my little Hailey!!

We enjoyed watching Dream-Along with Mickey

Us

At some point during the day I enjoyed my first Pineapple Float with Dole Whip ice cream.  I don’t know why I didn’t get a picture of me enjoying it, but it never even crossed my mind to do that.  It was soooooo delicious!!  I can’t wait to have some more when we go back next month!

We had dinner at the Crystal Palace.  We ate there when we were on our honeymoon so it was fun to be able to eat there while celebrating our 10th anniversary too.

Me with one of my favorite characters, Tigger.

Me with my other favorite character Pooh.

Me and Piglet

Me and Eeyore

The Castle at night

We were able to see the Main Street Electrical Parade, which we hadn’t seen since we were there on our honeymoon.  We didn’t get a very good spot because people were finding places to see the parade when we went to the Crystal Palace for dinner 2 hours earlier.  But we still enjoyed watching the parade.

The Summer Nightastic fireworks were amazing!!

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.

A couple of weekends ago we went to visit my cousin Beka, her husband Bill and their daughter Anika for Memorial Day weekend.  Here’s some pictures of our fun weekend:

Right after we arrived Anika showed Hailey her princess dresses- they had so much fun dressing up!

After the girls played for a little while we headed out to go see Curious George Live!

Anika and Hailey loved it!!

The next day there was lots of time for Hailey and Anika to play together.

Hailey and Anika posing for a picture.

Hailey all ready to go on a ride on Bill and Beka’s boat.

Anika, Beka and Hailey

We stopped at Treasure Island to do a little exploring.

We almost lost Rich off the side of a cliff.  hahaha

We tried to get Hailey and Anika to pose but they weren’t really into posing for me.

Us

My Little Miss

Hailey got her first bug bite while were walking in the woods.  I don’t know why but the bugs never seem to bother her- she spends lots of time outside.  But she got her first bug bite during this trip.

Hailey helping Rich drive the boat.

The next day we had fun toasting marshmallows by the fire.

All dressed in red, white and blue for Memorial Day

On our way home we stopped at a furniture store that sells Adirondack stuff and Hailey posed for a picture with this bear.

Hailey posing for a picture.  It looks all smoky in the background because there was a forest fire- it wasn’t near us but the smokiness was pretty strong.

My parents on their 35th wedding anniversary.

Us

A few weekends ago Rich and I went on a little getaway to Niagara Falls.  It was nice to be able to get away for a weekend.  Even though it was freezing it was still fun to be able to get away together while my parents watched Hailey.

It was super cold in Niagara Falls and we could only be outside for a few minutes before any exposed skin started to hurt.  So we did lots of shopping and watched a glass blowing demonstration that was very interesting.  We always like to eat at the casinos when we are there because they usually have such good food, so we did that too.  You have to be 19 to get into the restaurants since they are in the casino and this trip was the first time I didn’t have to show my ID to get in.  Every other time we have gone I have had to show my ID but this time I even walked through the 30 and over line and didn’t get stopped.  So apparently in the few years since we have been there I have started to actually look my age- which is really depressing!

Anyhoo- we had to stop and see the falls while we were there, so here’s a few pictures:

It was a fun and relaxing weekend.  On our way back into the US we got stopped at the boarder.  When the guy asked where we were coming from Rich said, “Canada.”  Well, apparently the guy didn’t like that answer- I guess he wanted something more specific, so he decided to search our trunk.  He went through our stuff in the trunk and left our bags all open and unzipped.  He was sooooo rude to us. Other than that little incident we had a great weekend!!