Disneyworld!!!!

On Thursday, Feb. 10th, we woke the kids up at 3:00am to tell them we were going to Disney World, and that our flight was leaving at 6:00am that morning!!!! They all were jumping out of their jammies!!! (except Hannah, who wanted to go back to sleep) She finally got more excited when we told her that our hotel had a pool. So, we rushed everyone into the car after getting dressed and started our adventure! I am so proud of them all. My worst fear was trying to navigate them all though the airport and security and all. But, they all did great. OUr flight was smooth and fast, and before we knew it, we were in the Orlando airport, waiting for their second big surprise, which was that Grandma and Grandpa Thom were also coming to Disney World with us and staying at the same hotel!! It was such a great memory. We had some chilly weather while we were there, and Nathan got sick and threw up all over me- (hair and all) the first night we were there, but overall, we had a great time. The kids slept like rocks every night there because our days were early, late, and very busy with lots of walking. But none of us really wanted to leave. I think you could stay there for two weeks and not see all that you want to see or do all that you want to do. But, you have to always leave some things for the next time you come back.
Plus, eventually you will run out of money!!!!!
I think my favorite memory of the entire trip was probably Hannah's worst memory- the fireworks at Magic Kingdom over Cinderella's castle! Wow! Amazing!!! They had Tinker Bell zipline down from the castle over the midway to start off the choreographed firework show to all of your favorite Disney songs. Unfortunately, Hannah hates fireworks, and she completely melted down. We were in the middle of about 10,000 people, and she was freaking out! Nathan slept through the entire thing. Amazing! Finally I was able to calm Hannah down and I picked her up and got her to open her eyes and actually look at the sky. She calmed down enough to look and was finally able to see how amazing it all was. I told her that we will not get to see anything like this again probably for a long, long time. Another favorite moment was the Beauty and the Beast show. I loved watching the girl's faces as they watched Belle and the Beast dance and sing on stage. All of the costumes and special effects were so cool. Disney sure knows how to get the "wow" factor!!

I think that Andrew, Caroline, Olivia and Elizabeth would say that their favorite memory was tied between the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom, where the dinosaurs actually chase you all through the ride, and between Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom. Elizabeth really showed her roller coaster legs, like a true Thom!!! She loved them! She is so brave!
Nathan was quite the little trooper! He is such a good baby! (Thank you Lord!) He battled through being sick and hardly ever complained. He loved it when we got to meet the characters, and liked touching Mickey's nose!! He went on all the rides we could take him on and never once cried or complained except for at night while we were waiting in line to take the monorail back.

All in all it was an awesome trip, and we made lots of great memories with our family and also with Mark's parents. They are both 70 years old, and they kept up with our crazy, busy family really well. I know they were exhausted by the end of the four days, but never once complained or ever showed it. We are so blessed to have been able to share this with them!!

Snow, Snow, and more Snow!!!!!

Another Snow Day!! My kids have been having a blast this past week, with being off school now for a total of 7 days since January!!
I'm wondering if they are going to make up some of these missed days at the end of the year?
They are glad that they are off from school, but are disappointed that the weather people misdiagnosed the intensity and accumulations of the storm. I think they were really looking forward to a foot and a half of snow, not 3 inches of sleet and 2 inches of snow. What fun is sleet? You can't make a snow man with it, it's not as good for sledding, and it's too hard to try to shovel now to make a little extra coin from the neighbors, because now it is a solid sheet of ice, and it is going down to -3 degrees tonight. (At least that is what the weather people are saying, but we all know how good they are at predicting the weather in St. Louis).
Any way, it is very cold, cold, cold, but that has not stopped them from having fun!! I think this is the coldest snowiest winter we have seen yet since we moved here from Boston almost ten years ago. This actually feels like a Boston winter!! We have made cookies, had hot chocolate, cleaned out our storage room, done numerous loads of laundry, watched movies,had many Wii tournaments, and even made a short movie preview. I am still learning on my new computer how to do things, so when I figure it out, I will post it.