Our TEN Year Anniversary and Indy 500 2016

 TEN YEARS??? How old are we? Sheesh.  We've been married for 10 years.  Absolutely crazy.

 Andrew got a babysitter for us and we went to Mountain Jacks for dinner.  We had chocolate mousse for dinner which was amazing (so was dinner). 

 After dinner, we got crazy at Meijer. 

 Seriously, 10 years? I still can't believe it went so fast.  What a wonderful 10 years and here's to many many more.

 As is often the case, we do a mini celebration of our anniversary and then we head to Indy for the 500.  It's a celebration every year and we get to celebrate with all our friends too!

For the pre-party the night before, I made bacon straws or whatever they are called. They are basically bacon in a blanket with some sprinkled in cheese.  SOOO good.  They were GONE within the first hour.  Yum-o!

 We drew names as we always do.  It's obvious by this picture that I drew better names than Andrew.  I also participated in the second drawing where you draw a name and have to say where they finish.  I drew Conor Daly so I picked him to finish 29th.  He did! I won $70!!! Awesome!!

 I discovered Claire had snapchat so we spent some time doing that with our twizzler beer and wine straws. 

 Chris Pine (Captain Kirk from Star Trek) waved the flag at the race.  I love watching the celebs come to Indy and watch their first 500.  They are always so amazed to see the cars flying by so fast.  Chris Pine especially loved it. You could see the professionals telling him all sorts of fun stuff, how to watch, what to look at, etc.  Plus he got really into it when he was waving the flag.  The shoulders and arms were all getting crazy while he was waving it.  So awesome to see new people get excited about the race. 

Had to get a selfie on our way back from the race.  We all had matching shirts.  "Safety Third!"

 Tommy and Charlotte had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house while we were in Indy.

 Tommy got tatted up!

And poor grandma got no sleep.  I don't think she was too bothered by it.  ;-)

In case you wanted to review past years, you can find them here:
2015
2014
2012
2011
2010

Disney Vacation 2014: Part 5

 On Friday, we went to the Magic Kingdom again.  We knew going into it that it would be a lot busier according to the crowd calendar on Undercover Tourist. 
It definitely was!

 Our first ride of the day was Aladdin's Magic Carpets.  Even Charlotte could ride that one! (Where's a selfie stick when you need one?)

 We knew going into Frontierland that Tommy wasn't quite tall enough to ride the 40 inch rides.  So instead of skipping them, we just stuffed his shoes with feminine products and walked on the rides! This is a selfie from Splash Mountain.  We were worried we would get wet and be cold (since it was in the 60s) but it wasn't bad at all!
(Quick side story: When we went to the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, we tried to get him to stand and be measured for Thunder Mountain Railroad.  With us telling him to stand up straight and the cast member trying to direct him to touch his head to the board, he got really confused and freaked out especially late at night after a very long day so he dropped to ground and cried.  Another cast member saw this and thought he was upset because he wasn't tall enough for the ride.  She came over and offered Tommy one of her pins to make him feel better! Disney Magic! :) He immediately felt better and he picked out a Statler pin.  Yep, that's one of the old men in the balcony from the Muppets.  No idea why he picked him but that's what he wanted.  Ha!)

 The one on the left is Waldorf and the one on the right is Statler. Good choice, Tommy!

 Here's our professional picture from Splash Mountain.  You can barely see Tommy behind my mom.  Too funny.  Maybe he wasn't quite tall enough for the ride.  Haha!

 The next ride was the Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We decided to do a rider switch for this one so Charlotte and I waited for Andrew, Tommy, Mom, and Dad to go by.

We found a photog while we were hanging out and got a cute picture. 

There they go!!

 I tried to zoom in and this was the best I could do. Heading to the right!

Now to the left! Zoom! Tommy loved it!

 Then it was time to hand off Charlotte and it was Tommy, Mama, and Dada's turn! Hands up!! :)

 After that, we went on the Barnstormer. Tommy can't get enough of those roller coasters!

 Speaking of roller coasters, we just HAD to go on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train again. Since it was busy, there was quite a wait.  PLUS the ride kept shutting down!! So frustrating.  But Tommy was bound and determined to ride it again.  We did a rider switch this time so both my parents took Charlotte on the best rides for grandparents and grandchildren. They did the People Mover, the Carousel of Progress and the Hall of Presidents.  Yeah.  We were in line FOREVER.  Luckily there's lots to do in line so that was another reason Tommy didn't mind the wait.  

So we finally got on the ride after what seemed like an eternity.  Here's the infamous shot! Tommy LOVES putting his hands up on roller coasters.  He may be afraid of a lot of things but roller coasters is not one of them. I have no idea how he knew how to look directly at the camera.  Such an amazing picture.  (Andrew is in front of us to the left but his face was covered up in all the photos. :( Boo.)

 Then he got to ride with Grandma and Grandpa.  Their wait was no more than 5 minutes with the rider switch.  We got the shaft on that one.  Ha! But hey, we didn't have to go to the Carousel of Progress so we'll call that a win, I guess. :-)

They certainly look like they're having as much fun as Tommy!

While Grandma, Grandpa, and Tommy were on the Mine Train, I went and got my picture taken with Rapunzel... by myself.  Charlotte fell asleep.  I had no excuses.  Rapunzel played it off well.  She just kept talking about my satchel.  Oh Disney Princesses. 

 My mom got one more picture of Elsa's Ice Castle. 

 Here are more Christmas decorations that we captured on the way out.

My mom took this quick picture in front of the tree at the front of the park.  We were getting the heck out of there. The kids were READY!

 The next morning we flew home.  The kids did GREAT on the plane once again.  I am not even sure what Charlotte is playing with here.  It didn't matter.  She was a champ.  But she and Tommy were still really tired from a crazy exciting and exhausting week. 

This picture is very telling. We were waiting to pick up our luggage.  They were dunzo.  Charlotte was asleep (she never fell asleep on the plane though!) and Tommy wanted to fall asleep.  The end to an excellent vacation! If you don't come home exhausted from Disney, you probably didn't do it right.

What a wonderful week we had.  Thanks to my parents for all their help with the kids.  We couldn't have done it without them. 

It's still definitely the most magical place on earth.  We can't wait to go back!! :-)

Disney Vacation 2014: Part 4

 On Thursday of our vacay, we went to the Animal Kingdom.  We underestimated how much there was to do there and we ended up running out of time.  Guess we'll just have to go back! :)

 We got pictures by the Christmas tree when we walked in. 

 A whole family pic!

 We also got pictures by the Tree of Life too.  The kids were like, "Seriously? More pictures??"

 We headed straight to Dino Land.  The kiddos loved the playground area. 

Especially Charlotte!

 While we played in Dinoland, we took turns going on DINOSAUR!

That ride is pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself.  They took this picture right at the big money moment.  Some crazy, scary dinosaur pops out at you.  I totally screamed.  Loved it. 

 Then Andrew, Mom and I went on Mount Everest.  That was crazy! I screamed on that too! Backwards roller coaster what??

 It was then time to see the animals.  Tommy was so excited to see the tigers! They actually prowled around for us.  Amazing!

 On the way to the safari, we saw King Louis and Baloo had a short line for pictures.  Tommy recently started watching Jungle Book so he was excited.  Baloo signed our book but King Louis had a little trouble with his incredibly long arms.

 The safari ride was AWESOME.  How did they get all those animals to come out when we passed by? Coincidence or Disney Magic? We saw tigers, antelopes, giraffes, I can't even remember. So cool.

 Charlotte loved it.  Nap time!

 Tommy did too! But for real. :-)

We raced over to the Festival of the Lion King show quickly after our safari.  It was pretty awesome.  We've never seen the Broadway show but this is similar I guess.  The monkeys were definitely our favorite part.  They were hilarious!

 This was probably Charlotte's favorite attraction of the week.  She really enjoyed it. 

 We sat in the lions section right by Simba.  Whoo hoo!

Tommy was scared to stand by him because he's so giant. 

Until he waved at him directly.  More Disney Magic!!

After that, it was time to leave the park.

  The kids were kind of besides themselves but we still had plans to go to dinner that night.  Yikes!  We had called the Comtemporary Resort's restaurant, Chef Mickey's, the day before and got a reservation.  Whoo hoo! We didn't think we could get in there. 

We got to the Contemporary a little early so we played around in the hotel before our reservation. 

 Then it was time to eat and meet! GOOFY was first!

 Pluto was next.  These guys are old news.  We met them at the swan in 2012.  Haha!

 Then it was time for Minnie.  Minnie was the only one Charlotte was okay with.  All the other characters freaked her out. 

"Don't forget about me!" Donald says. 

 Then it was time for the big man himself.  MICKEY! Tommy didn't even get to SEE Mickey at any of the parks the last time we went. So this was very exciting.

 He even got to hug him!!

He was so excited meeting Mickey that he jumped into Andrew's arms for a huge hug afterwards.  Adorable. 

It was a long day that day so mama needed a drink.  Tommy asked, "Mama, why is there salad in your drink?"  I told him it was because I started looking at our credit card bill from Disney.  Ha!

We got another professional picture after dinner.  The kids were cashed out at this time. 
Hence this picture...

For having such a busy day and very little to no naps during the day, the kids did really well.  We had an awesome day on Thursday.  Plus we got to MEET MICKEY.  Are you kidding me???? Best Day Yet!