Disney World 2010

Touring Battlefield Park in Mobile



Bruce from Nemo

Last Day- Epcot

AP and Pooh

Mt. Everest

Ben got the light version of

Dino Man

Love this face

So tired after the parade

Ben calls him "doofy"

priceless

Princess AP

Swiss Family Robinson tree house

After 60 mins in line, we met

Mickey and Minnie. Notice the tears

in Ben's eyes- we had to bribe him

to stand there

Meeting Belle

Meeting Cinderella

Meeting Sleeping Beauty

AP happy to stretch her legs

The Tea Cups - I couldn't ride- I would have been

sick the rest of the day!

Buzz and Woody

Notice Ben crying - he was scared

Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Ben really into Playhouse Disney

notice the blankets and jackets

Will was obsessed with June

Disney character breakfast

riding a coaster

Ben and AP did this everyday

Shamu

waiting to see Shamu

Illegally touring the field at FSU

We just got back from a great vacation week at Disney! It was crowded with fellow spring-breakers, but the weather was awesome! We actually had to wear pullovers and jackets all week! We made so many memories. Will had the best time. He rode every ride he could. He even rode the roller coasters - including Tower of Terror!! Ben showed us he has a fear of dark spaces - every ride or show we went to he would say, "too dark"! He also became obsessed with Lightening McQueen from the Cars movie!! We now have every Lightening McQueen car! Ann Phelps was a trooper. Poor thing stayed strapped in a stroller much of the time! She did get to meet all the Disney princesses. By the end of each day the kids were worn out (the adults too), but the fun was priceless! **The pictures actually go in order from our last day to the first day!

Some memories I have to list:

*Stopping at Florida State for Rhyne to get his Seminole fix

*The boys trespassing on the Florida State Football field

*Thanks to Rhyne's Mom, Dad, and Mary Claire- we didn't have to listen to the boys fight in

the car- they rode in "mae-mae's car"

*Ann Phelps becoming a little more independent on the trip - she now drinks from a sippy cup, eats chicken nuggets, doesn't need to have a bottle every 4 hours, and can go for a day with only one nap!

*Rhyne being able to melt into a "softy" when he sees his kids having so much fun

*Grandmother and Pop enjoying their grand kids

*Realizing we will never go to Disney unless we take help: we could never get two strollers and three kids on the trams/monorails without Grandmother, Pop, and MaeMae!

*The Magic Kingdom!

*Remembering the last time I was at Disney (2003) I wanted to have a child so bad to share this with - God is sooooo good!

*Threatening to leave Will in the car while we went to Animal Kingdom and him telling us, "Ok, bring me back a sandwich!"

*Ben agreeing to take a picture with Mickey and Minnie because we told him we would buy him a yellow race car

*Will and Ben getting their faces painted

*Paying $50 a day for lunch (for two adults and three kids)- wow

*The walkie-talkies

*Will wanting to ride all the rides, but getting so upset on the rides where he got wet - we had to immediately change into dry clothes

*Rhyne and I getting to go out to a nice dinner with no kids!

*Having to go to Wal-Mart as soon as we got to Orlando for supplies - Rhyne was not happy about the $100 we spent!

*Being so thankful for GPS

*Trying to find a hotel in Pensacola on the way home because Ann Phelps couldn't make it another mile - all the hotels were booked

*Stopping by Florida State AGAIN on the way home. Rhyne shopping for FSU t-shirts.

*Will learning the term "meltdown" and saying it every time Ann Phelps had one

*Stopping to tour the USS Alabama battle ship

*Thinking a 60minute wait in line wasn't too bad (compared to 120 minutes)

*Mae Mae's Mickey graduation shirt Rhyne made

*Getting to shop for princess stuff for Ann Phelps

*Will asking me to take his picture in front of certain things because he wants to show Dee Dee and Pap

*Will wanting to buy his teacher a present from Disney World

*Seeing a thousand cars from Ontario, Canada - the standing joke for the week was "look there is another Ontario tag!"

*Knowing the good thing about this blog is I can come back to insert more memories when I think of them!!

Daddy's little "ALL STAR"

Daddy doesn't usually get to post on the blog, but this is a special occasion for me. Will is about to start 4 yr. old t-ball, so we needed to get him ready for the field. Beth and I loaded up the kids Saturday morning and went to Academy Sports (Grandmother better be glad there was no Academy Sports when I played, because I would have shattered that cash cow). We got black NIKE cleats, helmet, bag of balls, Easton bat, gray pants, and a T to hit off of. Will is not a natural at the game of baseball, but he is working on it! I mean, we all are not born with the "GOD" given talent for the game of baseball as I was. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, Will's coach said he needed white pants with black belt, so I headed for Academy and got his white pants (2x small) and black belt AND black wrist bands and a pair of NIKE batting gloves. That store is like crack for me, I can't get Will enough stuff! I guess I am trying to live the glory days of my childhood through Will. I only hope he enjoys it as much as I did. Glory be to GOD, for Will and T-ball!

The Countdown

We have begun the final countdown until our Disney vacation! We have been planning this trip for almost 11 months!! I can't believe it is finally here. We will leave at 7:00am this Friday (March 12). Because of the little people, we decided to take two days to get there and come home. Yes, we have to drive because Rhyne is scared of flying! I have started packing the kids' bags and I have 4 lists of "do not forget" items! To help Will understand time, I made a countdown sign for him - see the picture. Also, I had told Rhyne I wanted to buy some good, comfortable shoes for the trip. I have always been a fan of the Keen brand shoes because they are soooo comfortable. I picked out some and Rhyne decided he needed some. Then we thought the boys needed some. When our shoes and the boys' shoes came in we felt bad that Ann Phelps didn't have any! So now all 5 Hooks members have a pair of Keens to make the Disney trip a little more comfortable!! Rhyne said we will look like a cult with matching shoes! We laugh, because he told his mom she better not get t-shirts made for the trip (she has done this before), and now instead of matching t-shirts, we have matching shoes!! I will try to keep the blog updated on the trip! I am sure I will have a million things to post about!!