December 2012

Owen had his first Christmas concert with his class at Locust Grove in December.  He was proud to sing all the songs with his classmates for all the parents.  We loved watching too!

We had a holiday gathering of long time friends at our house... plenty of kids to go around!  It was a great evening of yummy food and laughter.

Christmas Eve we had a light snow.... it was beautiful and perfect.

Christmas tree 2012!

Christmas morning...  love these kids.

After our celebration at our house, we made our annual trek over to Grandma and Grandpa Stapler's for the rest of the day to spend with all the family!  It's always a little crazy and loud, but lots of fun.

Owen and Alex...

The weekend following Christmas we went to Grandma and Grandpa Horvath's, also to visit with Seth and Mary and the girls visiting from Ohio!  There's always snow on the hill, and the kids had a blast playing outside...

Seth and Mary brought their dogs so we had the herd of Westies running around.

 Heh.... lap dog.

Love Riley's smile..

Kids gathered round for dinner....

"Christmas" morning.....  ready to open presents!

Bailey... sporting his Christmas bow.

Love this... she's smushable.

Allison was studying for her boards during the holiday... stopping for a quick nap with the Westies.

Owen loves this picture because Bailey is sticking out his tongue.

November 2012 Disney Cruise

We really enjoyed our experience on the Disney Magic while we were living in Vancouver, so we made plans to check out the Disney Fantasy for a 7 day cruise after Thanksgiving.

Have to say the Fantasy being the newer and larger boat compared to the Magic, is pretty incredible.  Excellent rooms, great service, and the kids club is magnitudes better.  We struggled to get them out of there some days.....

First day, checking out the club....  Molly thought it was funny poking Mike in eye....  heh.

Colors were beautiful on our departing day.  Blue Sky... lots of sun.

Molly loved to sit in the portholes....

Before we left, Owen was pondering sharks and sinking boats.  A long chat with Mommy cleared this up.  Deep thoughts for a little guy.

Getting ready for the sail away party!

Molly went nuts dancing and singing as we were leaving port..  To this day, she still remembers music that they played on the boat and refers to them as her Mickey Boat Songs.

The Aqua Duck is awesome... Molly was too small, but Owen loved it.  It's not a thrill ride... more just a fun water ride over the boat...

Craft time... making tile trivets.

Look out world!

Molly showed Minnie to Minnie several times during the trip.  She was so excited to see the characters.

Formal night before dinner....

Molly sharing thoughts with Ariel.

With Captain Mickey!

Our day at Castaway Cay was pretty good.  Hurricane Sandy had blown through just a month earlier and left the island pretty torn up.  The sand on the beach was washed around leaving a lot of hard shells, but we made the best of it...   Owen tried out his new Snorkel gear and flippers..

Building our sand dragon

Molly was sometimes happy to be in the water, and sometimes a clinging monkey.  :)

The Fantasy is over 1100 feet long and has 1250 rooms!

These moments were really special.  Molly was in the middle of her Cinderella obsession and she loved to stop and see Cinderella every chance she had.

Owen wasn't so sure about Stitch.

A quiet moment with Owen taking in the scenery.

Not sure what Molly was telling Tinkerbell here....  serious stories I'm sure.

The girls with Princess Minnie.

Phineas and Ferb!

Dinner with my little man.

Sweet Kisses from Molly

Only show this because Owen's favorite princess is Belle....  and Molly could care less.

Molly is yelling arrrrrgggghhh MATEY.

Watching movies on the boat on a sea day.

So we laughed a lot when we saw this picture.  and then we laugh again and again.  This sums up the two of them... a little goofy and a lot silly!

With princess Daisy!

And Cinderella again!