• Travel & Vacation: Disney Epcot at Night (Orlando, FL)

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     Hanging out at Epcot

    Walt Disney World’s Epcot looks beautiful during the day, however, at night with all the lights it looks amazing!  Thankful for a full and fun day exploring Epcot with the family.  We were there when they opened and stayed until they closed the gates.  The second day we left about 30 minutes early since we were driving home that night and wanted to get ahead of the crowds and traffic.  Even with leaving early it still took us almost an hour to get from the hotel parking lot to the interstate.  The kids were out cold and snoozing before we even left the hotel parking lot.

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     Our little Minnie and Mickey at Epcot

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     The Epcot ball and water fountain looked super cool.

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    Epcot’s World Showcase lit up from across the water

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     Epcot’s huge globe during the fireworks.  The kids loved seeing this globe and watching it move as well as open up!

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     It was hard to get a clear picture of the moving Earth in the dark during the fireworks, but here is the North and South America side of the globe!

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    IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth  at Epcot!

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     Fireworks are always a hit with our kids!

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    They had a lot of different fireworks and music during their firework show!

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     So neat!

  • Travel & Vacation: Walt Disney World Epcot (Orlando, FL)

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    Spending the day at Epcot

    Thankful for a chance to spend time with the family at Disney’s Epcot.  It was so much fun.  The kids kept up remarkably well and had great attitudes the entire busy day.  I am grateful for kids who love to learn and explore new places.  They just soaked in all the neat stuff going on at Epcot in.  The second day was not as hot which was nice too.

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    They got me to go on Mission Space again.  This time we went on the Orange ride which is more intense.  Let’s just say I was looking a little green after this ride, thankfully this picture was taken before take off.

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    Jake and Brina cruising along

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    Image Works was a cool place to explore

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    Playing music at Image Works

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    Our own little Mickey Mouse.  Karlie wanted the black hat and ears.

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    Our own little Minnie Mouse.  Brina wanted the headband with a red and white Minnie Mouse bow.

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    Walking with Dad, so exciting!

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    Sweet girls.

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    All smiles

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    Pausing graciously to let me take a picture even though she’s worried about missing something!

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    Brina Bee

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    On the move

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    Taking in all the cool sights around her

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    We found a place that engraved names onto leather bracelets.

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    The girls have unique names which makes it impossible to find items with their names on it so we got these for them as a souvenir.  They were fascinated watching the worker do the engraving and proud of their bracelets.

  • Travel & Vacaation: Disney Epcot’s Butterflies on the Go Flower Garden (Orlando, FL)

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    Beautiful flowers at Epcot

    The kids had a blast going into Disney Epcot’s Butterflies on the Go Flower Garden during their International Flower and Garden Festival.  The flowers were absolutely beautiful and butterflies were fluttering all around us.  You could even see butterflies emerging from their chrysalis!  It was pretty neat seeing these winged creatures buzzing all around and a house containing rows of chrysalis.  Not to mention educational for the kids too!

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    Resting on a leaf

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     Rows of chrysalis in various stages

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      You could actually see some coming out and stretching their wings for the first time which was really neat

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    2 butterflies hanging out in the flowers.

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    Loved the flowers as much as the butterflies.  Epcot’s gardens were amazing!

  • Travel & Vacation: Disney Epcot’s Countries Around the World (Orlando, FL)

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    Hanging out together at Epcot

    The kids loved learning about the various countries in Epcot’s World Showcase.  We got to see many shows, talk with a lot of people, learn about the countries, visit the Kid’s Epcot sections and more.  We were not able to get a lot of pictures from the actual shows because several of them do not allow photography during the presentation.

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    At the China World Showcase we got to watch the Dragon Legend Acrobats!  It was fascinating.  They did some awesome jumps and tricks over basically a thin carpet pad and cement.

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    She flipped up into this chair which is being held by one of the guys on their team.

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    Neat formation

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    The flying jumps were awesome, even if they made me a little nervous

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    A stunning performance!

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    The girls loved talking with all the people at the Kidcot stations at every country.  They had their passports stamped and signed in all the different languages around the showcase.

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    Hanging out with Daddy

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    Beautiful tower lit up at the Morocco World Showcase

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    Hanging out in Morocco

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    On our way to visit Canada

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    Beautiful gardens in the Canada World Showcase

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    Canadian Lumberjack Show takes place on the Mill Stage.  It was a neat competition including axe throwing, log rolling, sawing, and more.

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    The red and blue team competing on a log in the water.

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    Giving the kids in the crowd “high fives”!

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    Those on the front row did get a little wet from this competition, but the girls thought it was awesome

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    It was a neat show to watch.  The kids were able to get up front and see everything which was cool.

  • Travel & Vacation: Visiting Disney’s Epcot (Orlando, FL)

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    My sweet princess!

    We saved Epcot to explore last since it was one that Jake wanted to go with us.  It was so much fun riding all the rides, exploring the various countries, watching the shows and so much more.  We had a blast, so much fun in fact that we decided that on our last day we wanted to go back to Epcot for one more day.  Thankful for a great time packed full of wonderful memories with my family.

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    Feeding the manatees some lettuce

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    Ready for a bright and sunny day at Epcot

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    You can see this Epcot ball from our hotel

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    Our picture from the Spaceship Earth adventure together

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    Playing an energy game, pretty cool

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    Brina racing her car

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    We’re ready for the show!

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    The Space section was a hit especially with Karlie!

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    Our first Mission Space ride.  They generously chose to do the “green” (aka easy level) first since I get sick on some rides.  Thankfully we all survived!

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    Delicious snack at one of the bakeries!  We split this heart shaped waffle with tasty jam inside.

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    Stopping for a minute to rest while we check out the map for the next place we want to go.

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    We’re ready and thankful for a moment to relax!

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    The kids did amazing with their camel backs.  Not once they complain or get dehydrated or hungry (although we did have more potty breaks).

    Epcot, Dolphin Resort, Swan and Dolphin, Lights, Family, Disney, Walt Disney,

    Biotechnology Lab at Epcot.  It looks really neat and you see all kinds of cool produce being grown that will be used in various Disney restaurants.  The only odd about this ride is the second time we road it there were animal (dog shape) paw prints in the sand (not sure where those came from).

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    Turtle Talk with Crush – super cute and very interactive with the audience!

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    Living Seas Hydrolators and Seacab Ride

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    Looks like the shark at a couple kids!

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    Karlie is loving her time at Epcot