Disney!

Hi again, family & friends!  This weekend was a huge one for the Tousey kiddos -- their first trip to Disney World!  

Brace yourself for some serious excitement!

We headed down to Orlando mid-day Friday and spent the afternoon at our hotel, which had four different sections with different Disney movie themes.  Since Sam has had a slight Lightning McQueen (and general car-and-truck) obsession for years now, which has now worn off on Caroline, the Cars section the obvious choice for us.  CHEERS TO CLAY, who found this hotel (and, in true Clay fashion, also found us a deal!), because it may actually have been the highlight of the whole trip!

A few shots of Radiator Springs...including the Cozy Cone motel...

...and Mater's Tow Shop...

...and Sam, literally running at the sight of Lightning and Sally outside the Wheel Well Motel!

Sam with his first Porsche!

Caroline too!

Giving his buddy Mater a hug...

Pure joy!

After exploring Radiator Springs for a while, we explored the other hotel sections, including the Nemo-themed play-and-pool area.  There was a coral reef-shaped playground with slides and tunnels...

And a splash pool and swimming pool, where Sam practiced his swimming and Caroline played with the fountains...

After a fun afternoon, we went to our room in Luigi and Guido's Casa Della Tires, where Sam and Caroline paused to take one last look over their Radiator Springs paradise...

Sam slept in a Mater-themed Murphy bed (possibly just as exciting as the fact that this was a Mater bed was the fact that this bed pulled down from the wall, and that the kitchen table collapsed under it as the bed pulled down!  The little man has never seen something so cool!)

And Caroline was just as proud of her little bed!

After a good night's rest, we were up early the next morning to go the Magic Kingdom!  But, we paused long enough for one last picture with Guido outside the Casa Della Tires...

After an exhilarating "parking train" (tram) and ferry boat ride, we were finally at the Magic Kingdom!  

We started in Adventureland, where the kids enjoyed (and were slightly spooked by) the Jungle River Cruise.

The kids each took a turn flying a magic carpet with Aladdin...

We tried Pirates of the Caribbean next, which was probably just a little too spooky for the kids, especially sensitive little Sam.  Both kids started on the seats beside us and gradually snuck up onto our laps before the ride was over.  :)

Then we took a very fun train ride around the park and ended up in Fantasyland, where we flew with Dumbo, played in a circus tent, drove a circus fire truck, and stopped for a surprisingly decent lunch at Pinocchio's Food Haus (future Disney-goers, we recommend the Caprese flatbread -- though we aren't sure how is goes with the Haus theme). :)

After lunch, Caroline dozed in the stroller while we walked over to Tomorrowland so that Sam could ride the race cars.  

 While Caroline napped, Sam and I did Ariel's Under the Sea ride, then Caroline woke up and did the same ride with Clay while I strolled Sam to sleep.  

By then, we were all ready for a little ice cream!  Somehow Caroline, our little CEO, deftly negotiated two of these big Mickey pops.

During Sam's nap, Caroline enjoyed several Carousel rides.  When he woke up, we all did the Pooh & Tigger ride together.  Although the ride was good, the highlight was this little playhouse out front.

We then took another turn on the race cars and a couple of rides on the "sky train" (the people mover), then ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Main Street area and Cinderella's castle.  We decided we ought to actually walk through the castle before we left, which the kids really loved, and at about 8 o'clock we finally decided to call it a day!

Regardless of how you feel about the Disney empire, I have to say that we were completely blown away by how well done the whole thing was.  The whole place was immaculately kept, incredibly well planned and unbelievably well executed.  We lost a backpack and were pretty much immediately reunited with it.  We never waited longer than 20 minutes for anything, and when we did, there were things to distract the kids and keep them busy while in line.  These people are really, amazingly good at what they do.  And the ice cream is spectacular!

We all had a really, really fun day, and Clay & I had so much fun experiencing this through their eyes.  Sam is already begging to go back again soon.  We told him we could go back again next year, which prompted him to start negotiations.  His lead offer was, "how about 20 weeks?"  :)

And finally, we want to sign off with a big HOORAY for our buddy Jeff Gibson (whom Sam calls "Jeff Corvette" who got the great news yesterday that, after several yucky rounds of chemo, he is cancer-free!!  We are so happy for him, Allyn, and their sweet baby James.  We love you guys!

Happy Easter!

It's been a few months, but here we are again!  We had a really wonderful and special couple of weeks and are glad we finally found a few minutes to blog about it!  

A quick shot from Palm Sunday last weekend.  It was an extra-special Palm Sunday because Clay was ordained as an Elder of our church!  Chip and Phy joined us for brunch beforehand (at delicious Black Sheep - yum!) and at church for a triple-celebration of Clay's ordination, Phy's birthday, and early Easter basket exchange.  The ordination service was wonderful and moving, and then the kiddos had a blast at the post-Palm-Sunday egg hunt.  Though it was POURING outside, the egg hunt carried on indoors, and the kids had a blast.  

After their school parties/egg hunts on Thursday, the kids basically thought Easter had already come, but it was just beginning!  

We really, really, really missed being in North Carolina this year for Easter weekend and hunting for eggs at the Cabin, but we had an important job here in Jacksonville this weekend - supporting sweet baby Jack Haley at his baptism!

Our friends Colleen and Chris (parents of Sam's best buddy Liza, whom you've seen often here on this blog) asked Clay & I to be Jack's godparents, and we were so excited and honored!  After a fun Good Friday of zoo-going and casual dinner-eating with the Haleys and the plethora of friends and family who were in town for the baptism, we took a little break from those festivities on Saturday to celebrate our friend Trevor's first birthday as a new father...which he celebrated by rocking his crying daughter while his Buckeyes lost...poor guy!  But the kids had a great time playing in the yard and blowing bubbles!

Then we woke up early for the 6:00 a.m. Easter sunrise service in which Jack was baptized.  It was very cool, all done by candlelight, and baby Jack smiled the whole time.  Sam and Caroline were a bit sleepy but also quite in awe of this special service (and, unbelievably, quite well behaved the whole time!).   

We came home to find that the Easter Bunny had visited while we were out for church!

And then we joined the rest of the baptismal crew at the Haleys for brunch and an egg hunt.  A few shots of the hunters...

...waiting (some might say cheating) in anticipation while the eggs were being hidden...

...and then setting about the serious hunting business...

 ...or, not so serious, as the case may be...

Even Caroline and Malloy joined the fun...

Liza finds a kazoo!

This picture is totally Caroline.

Colleen's college friend Carrie and her hubby Dallas came for the baptism, with their kiddos Kate and Grady, who were master egg hunters. 

Kate finds the golden egg!

The family of honor, minus the little guy we were all there to celebrate.  Hard to believe, but I managed to get through the whole weekend without a SINGLE picture of the guest of honor.  I fear we're off to a bad start at godparents!

The happy hunters with their loot...

...Caroline taking a break to read the paper (entirely unprompted, by the way...this kid is hilarious)...

My two very tired (after all, they got up at 5:00) munchkins started to crash toward the end of the festivities...

...and took awesome naps when we got home.

Though it was bittersweet not to be in NC for this holiday, we had a very special Easter weekend and we ended the holiday season plus one Eldership and one Godson - not too shabby!  

We really miss all our family and friends, many of whom we haven't seen in way, way too long.  Our love and hugs to all of you, wherever you are!