• Travel & Vacation: DIY Disney World Autograph and Passport Book

     P1370311c

    Kids Autograph & Passport Books!

    Before going to Walt Disney World we put together these two autograph and passport books for the kids to use while at the parks.  If they met a character or wanted to get Epcot’s World Showcase stamps from around the world they could put it all in their autograph and passport books.  They turned out really well!  It is super easy, lightweight, and they worked really well!  At the end of their trip they had a neat autograph and passport book full of neat memories.  If we go back again we can just grab the book and fill in more of the pages!

    Make Your Own Disney World Autograph & Passport Book

    Passport Size Moleskin Books with Blank Pages:  We picked up at set of two passport size Moleskin Notebooks with blank pages for their autograph and passport books.  One was orange and the other one was a bright yellow.  You can purchase them in several locations Amazon or Moleskin’s Website or Barnes & Noble!

    Decorative Disney Tape:  We picked up decorative Disney craft tape at our local Hobby Lobby (any craft store or even Walmart should have some options).  We kept the autograph and passport books simple with just one piece of tape on the top and another on the bottom to make nice borders.

    Disney Stickers:  We picked up a pack of Disney stickers and had the girls pick out which stickers they wanted to put on their autograph and passport books.  They picked one sticker for the front and a different one for the back.

    Alphabet Stickers for Personalization:  We found alphabet stickers at home and put the kids names on the autograph and passport books.  When we first put the stickers on we thought that they may fall off during our explorations.  The kids pulled them in and out of their back packs several times every day and the stickers stayed on perfectly.  Although it is a good idea to make sure you get quality stickers just in case.

    You can put an index card between the pages I you want.  We did it, but it wasn’t necessary since none of the ink bled through the pages (and we used permanent markers).  The kids kept a some click-able permanent markers in their back packs so they could pull them out whenever they ran into a character.  We have included a few of the autographs and the some of the World Showcase Stamps (they visited all the countries) that they gathered on our last trip to Disney!  They loved meeting several characters and getting stamps as well as messages from all the World Showcase Countries at Epcot!

    P1410542c

    Daisy Duck

    P1410554c

    Happy Birthday from Canada!

    P1370274c

    They were really excited about the books!

     P1410543c

    Chip and Dale.  Probably their favorite Disney Characters they met while at the parks.

    P1410559c

    Morocco – it says “Karlie”

    P1370291c

    The back of the orange one and front of the yellow book.

    P1410544c

    Rafiki’s signature!

    P1370218c

    These make great souvenirs for the kids!

    P1410547c

    Mexico – the kids liked that all the countries in the World Showcase at Epcot wrote different messages in their passports in their own languages.  Fun and educational for the kids.  It means – “Hello my friend!  Welcome to Mexico!”

    P1370233C

    The backs of the autograph and passport books

     P1410548c

    Norway’s message – “Welcome to Norway! Happy Birthday!”

    P1370249c

    Karlie’s autograph book and passport

    P1410549c

    Happy Birthday message from China!

    P1370250c

    Brina Bee

    P1410552c

    Germany’s message – “Welcome to the kingdom of Rapunzel and Snow White!”

    P1370259c

    Ready to fill out the next page in the book

    P1410553c

    Welcome to Italy!

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

     P1390938c

     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.

    P1130249c

     Our little Minnie and Mickey at Epcot

    P1390643c

     The Epcot ball and water fountain looked super cool.

    P1130070c

    Epcot’s World Showcase lit up from across the water

    P1390600c

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

    P1130005c

     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!

    P1120999c

    IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth  at Epcot!

    P1390630c

     Fireworks are always a hit with our kids!

    P1130020c

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

    P1130013c

     So neat!

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

    P1130219c

    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.

    P1390838c

    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.

    P1390839c

    Jake and Brina cruising along

    P1390848c

    Image Works was a cool place to explore

    P1390852c

    Playing music at Image Works

    P1390903c

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

    P1390904c

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

    P1390908c

    Walking with Dad, so exciting!

    P1390912c

    Sweet girls.

    P1390916c

    All smiles

    P1390921c

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

    P1390917c

    Brina Bee

    P1390920c

    On the move

    P1390918c

    Taking in all the cool sights around her

    P1390823c

    We found a place that engraved names onto leather bracelets.

    P1390827c

    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)

    P1130242cccc

    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!

    P1390857c

    Resting on a leaf

    P1390858c

     Rows of chrysalis in various stages

    P1390859c

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

    P1130222c

    2 butterflies hanging out in the flowers.

    P1390863cc

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

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

     P1120979c

    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.

    P1390471c

    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.

    P1390492c

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

    P1390526c

    Neat formation

    P1390533c

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

    P1120973c

    A stunning performance!

    P1390576c

    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.

    P1390580c

    Hanging out with Daddy

    P1390581c

    Beautiful tower lit up at the Morocco World Showcase

    P1390582c

    Hanging out in Morocco

    P1130127c

    On our way to visit Canada

    P1130131c

    Beautiful gardens in the Canada World Showcase

    P1390715c

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

    P1390774c

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

    P1390779c

    Giving the kids in the crowd “high fives”!

    P1390813c

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

    P1130204c

    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)

    P1390545c

    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.

    P1120937c

    Feeding the manatees some lettuce

    P1390328c

    Ready for a bright and sunny day at Epcot

    P1390333c

    You can see this Epcot ball from our hotel

    P1390346c

    Our picture from the Spaceship Earth adventure together

    P1390376c

    Playing an energy game, pretty cool

    P1390415c

    Brina racing her car

    P1390422c

    We’re ready for the show!

    P1390426c

    The Space section was a hit especially with Karlie!

    P1390430c

    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!

    P1390451c

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

    P1390554c

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

    P1390571c

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

    P1390583c

    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).

    P1120913c

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

    P1120915c

    Living Seas Hydrolators and Seacab Ride

    P1120921c

    Looks like the shark at a couple kids!

    P1130128c

    Karlie is loving her time at Epcot

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

    P1120978c

    Our wild crew at Epcot!

    Our family had a blast exploring Walt Disney World’s Epcot park.  It was a lot of fun seeing all the beautiful sculptures made out of greenery all over the park.  Many Disney characters were represented in the gardens.  It was the kids first time visiting Epcot.  They loved it so much we chose to do it 2 days instead of just one.  Thankful for the opportunity to spend time with my family while seeing these amazing creations.

    P1390570c

     Lady and the Trump

    P1380540c

     Mickey Mouse instead a garden of flowers.

    P1380542c

     Beautiful flower gardens at Epcot.  This was taken while passing through on the monorail.

    P1390546c

     Snow White

    P1390593c

    Kiddos in front of Beauty and the Beast

    P1130118c

    Pausing for a moment!  These were my two favorite characters from Beauty and the Beast

    P1130120c

     My sweet girl.

    P1390688c

    They did an amazing job making these garden sculptures come to life!

    P1130205c

     Monorail, flower gardens, and lake.

    P1390692c

     Cinderella and Prince Charming

    P1130124c

     Hanging out next to Winnie the Pooh Bear (his red balloon glowed at night).

    P1390699c

     Look out for Captain Hook

    P1390829c

     Brina liked the Frozen garden!

    P1390835c

     Karlie, of course, liked the Buzz Lightyear

    P1390900c

    Tinker Bell

    P1390923c

     Too cute!

    P1390940c

     The Frozen characters garden at night

    P1370685c

    Beautiful garden across the water from where the boat drops you off at Epcot