The Happiest Place on Earth

We finally made it to Disneyland with the kids! We hadn't been since before we had Will and we wanted the kids to experience the magic! They did so amazing! They were on cloud 9! Here we are all ready to go!

I love Will's sweet shades!


Right as we walked in, there was Minnie Mouse! The girls couldn't take their eyes off her! It was so cute!

Oh, the excitement!

I love how they decorate the park during October. It was so cute! Some of the rides were even different and improved to have a better Halloween experience!

The kids loved fantasyland!

They were begging us to go on the train that goes around the park. Gabby just couldn't wait!

Gabby was a little nervous in the submarine Finding Nemo ride but it was pretty cute!

Benj and I did a few baby passes. You can go on a ride and then the other parent can go in the fast pass line. The kids were entertained waiting at Space Mountain.

Will and Gabby LOVED Mark Twain's Boat! I went on it with Gabby while Will and Benj were going on Thunder Mountain Railroad to pass the time and apparently Will wanted to go on the boat even more than the Railroad!

Gabby and Will loved to see all the ducks!

Will thought this big bear next to the rapids was pretty awesome. He had to show his muscles in his pic with it!

The kids did not have enough eyes to see everything on the Little Mermaid ride. They were loving it! Even cute little Lydia was constantly pointing at stuff with little grunts!

The kids really wanted to go on this rocket ship ride but there were no lap riders so the kids had to be buckled on their own. We had Will and Gabby hold hands so they wouldn't be scared. So cute!

Even Lydia rode by herself next to me. She so wanted to just stand and take in the view. Those blasted seat belts!

This was Mickey Mouse's Ferris Wheel. Can you tell thier excited to get on it?

There was even a carousel in California Adventure. I think these were her favorites! She would spout off as many animals as she could decifer!

The first time we went, the kids loved the "Tough to be a Bug" 3D show

So, those were the first 2 days of Disneyland. So fun! We took a day off to go to Sea World and the beach but unfortunately Will and Gabby got sick so we hung out at Benj's brother's and celebrated Lydia's B-Day (will be another post). Total bummer, Lydia got sick the next day and could barely breath because of the croup she had so I took her to the hospital (Also a seperate post) while Benj took the kids to their last day there.

Benj said they would be really excited on the rides and then crash in the stroller and then get exicted on the next ride and crash, etc.

Gabby got pretty scared the second time they went to the 3D Bug show

These kids could be in magazines advertizing these glasses, right?!
They sure liked the tea cups!

We saved Toon Town for the last day because we wanted to make it the apex of the trip! Hindsight is 20/20. I'm so sad Lydia and I missed this part!

Gabby could not contain her excitement seeing Mickey Mouse! She ran up and gave him a HUGE hug and Will couldn not stop laughing.

We are so glad we made it there! It was some amazing family time and feel so blessed in how it all worked out so well!

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home...

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Hope you make it all the way through ; )

At Last! The day had arrived when I could go to Georgia and see Benj graduate! My parents, Benj's parents, and I flew out Sept. 13 to Atlanta. We all met up and shared a mini van and drove down to the Meet and Greet. I thought it was kind of lame that we didn't get to see our soldiers. It was basically a test of the family's knowledge of what their soldiers are up to and introducing the cadre. They did door prizes for those that answered quiz questions correctly and also gave prizes for things like, who had the youngest baby, who lived the furthest away and so forth. I got the prize for being married the longest. (Go figure because most of these "men" are 18 and 19) Nonetheless, I got an Army Wife keychain : )

They also had some of the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and gear that the soldiers had to wear for us to try out. Benj's Mom is sporting it quite well! You don't mess with her!

The next morning, we got to finally see Benj at the Beret Ceremony. What was torture was that we had to go through the whole ceremony before we actually could be with them! We noticed the whole company lined up a couple of minutes before the ceremony began so, of course, I had to get a picture.

Marching in all professional!




Benj said that they could get in so much trouble if they even move their eyes from the person in front of them so Benj couldn't even peek to see us during the whole ceremony. Poor guy! This ceremony basically is their rite to wear the Beret. They've definitely earned it!

Together again at last!

After the ceremony, we got the whole day with our soldiers. We decided to go the the National Infantry Museum. It had a lot of new exhibits and was quite impressive! They even had this family section where you could dress up like your soldier.

We also took a walk at the Chattahoochee riverwalk. It's the river that separates Georgia and Alabama. It was beautiful!

I thought this was a cute pic of Benj's parents!

The riverwalk

It was not fun saying goodbye to him that night. I felt like we were engaged again ; ) The next morning was the Graduation. Benj was "voluntold" to represent a soldier from Vietnam so unfortunately he didn't get to march with the rest of his platoon in the ceremony because he wasn't in his dress blues. Before the ceremony started, Dad couldn't resist getting a pic of him when he can't break being at attention.

In the portion where they have Benj come out, they give a brief history of the soldiers that have served in the past.

This part was pretty cool. They had these guys come out at the end of the field with smoke and expolosive sounds and then they explain the duty of each member of the team.

Benj's platoon

There's a part where they have any that have served or are serving in the Army recite the Army creed? (I could be wrong, but I can't remember what it's called) It was kind of neat to see mine and Benj's Dad recite it with everyone else!

The whole company

After the ceremony, Benj had to be at attention for quite a while for people to come and see the uniforms.

They finally gave him leave and we had the rest of the day to enjoy ourselves. My handsome man with a very happy wife!

We did a tour of the WWII area they had. It was pretty neat but very long!

Benj and his Dad sporting the battle helmets they had in the tour

Benj in front of the NIM

The rest of the day was spent eating food, where we enjoyed hearing about Benj's experiences. We also saw Harry Potter 7.2 at the NIM. The next day, we met at the airport. We tried to get on the same flight home but they wanted to charge us too much money to do that so I got in before him. Benj's cousin, Cody, and his wife, Hayden were gems! They picked up all the kids, (Will was with my brother, Gabby with my sister, and Lydia with Cody and Hayden) and then picked my up at the airport. We ate dinner at their house and then they went with me to help with the kids to pick up Benj at the airport.

I played a mean trick. I made it sound like we were running late when Benj called to say he landed. But we were right there when he came down the escalator.
Just waiting for Daddy to come.

Will booked it when he realized it was Daddy coming down the escalator. Gabby wasn't too far behind!

The whole clan together again!

We had a fun surprise coming home. Our sweet neighbors had decked out the house for Benj's homecoming!

It took Lydia a while to get comfortable having Benj hold her but she warmed up as soon as she let him!

I thought the grenade balloons were a nice touch!

We couldn't be happier that Benj is home! We are definitely treasuring the time we have together a lot more now. Here's a cute pic to end. It says Future Trooper on all their shirts. (Yes the Mickey Mouses are family now)