Thanksgiving Part 2

Let's continue the family Thanksgiving trip, shall we? (Sorry for the HUGE delay)

My brother and his family arrived on Saturday evening and we were able to spend Sunday in the parks together. While the big kids rode roller coasters, my Dad, Scott and Aaron rode Star Wars (Dad was the rebel spy!) and Jill, Mom and I went on our favorite, The Great Movie Ride.

After a few more rides we headed to Prime Time Cafe for lunch. They were slammed and running behind on reservations, so we spent a bit of time just hanging out in front of the restaurant. I was able to snag this great photo of my Dad, just smiling and living in the moment. This trip was a huge highlight for him and something that he talked about for months. He was so excited to spend time with the kids and grandkids.

Lunch had a bumpy start, but we had an amazing server who made up for the bumps. After our lunch we all headed over to Toy Story, where Scott dominated, and then made our way for the lights.

This is the last year for the Osbourne Family Lights, so it was packed. Some of my favorite holiday memories are in this area and I was thrilled we had one more chance to see them.

We spent a good chunk of the time in the lights looking for a hidden image. It was pretty cool really looking at all of the lights, we found so many hidden lights (like Nemo and the Incredibles) that we probably would have never noticed had we not just stopped to look.

More memories from the trip to come and I promise I will not take as long to post the rest.

Osbourne Family Lights

Saturday we went with 5 of the B6 to Hollywood Studios for the day to see the shows and finally the Osbourne Family Lights. Last year we all went to EPCOT to see the lights and the weather was awful. Thankfully this year the weather was gorgeous!

Since the B5 had never been to the Studios our plan was to do as much as possible, which with all of the shows can be challenging. Not to mention 5 kids under the age of 5. Our first stop was Lights, Motors, Action. My kiddos love this show and we hadn't seen it since they added Lightning McQueen to it. Aaron happened to catch a peek of Lightning before the show and he could barely contain himself.

Everyone (especially the Dads) loved the show! It was a great start to the day and was quickly followed by lunch as we could tell everyone's blood sugar was dropping and meltdowns were about to start, same for the kids. After lunch we went on the Backlot Tour.

I honestly cannot tell you the last time that I went on this ride, but a lot has changed. Aaron was a huge fan of this ride because it is essentially a tram, and after all that is why you go to Disney, to ride a tram. After the ride we found Mike from Monsters Inc and took a moment to meet him.

Aaron backed out at the last minute and Jill suddenly became shy. Can I mention that the whole time in line they were beyond excited to meet him. 'Twas awesome. After this side trip we went and saw The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Dawn's girls LOVE Ariel so I think I was more excited to see how they reacted to the show. Emma hands down had the biggest smile I've ever seen and Ellina had her scrunched up really excited smile too. I had to laugh during the show though because Pearce kept asking if it was a long show and when it would be over. Amen kid, I feel ya.

We had some time to kill before the Beauty and the Beast show so we went on the Great Movie Ride. While standing in line the little girl behind us started to meltdown a little and Dawn was admiring her (she was pretty cute). The Dad laughed and said "Makes you want to have another, huh?" and Dawn said "Yes, actually it does." The look on the man's face was PRICELESS. He even said you normally don't get that reaction. That family stared at all of us like we were crazy people the whole ride. I probably would too, I mean we did have 5 kids under 5 and weren't drinking. As a side note, Ellina was plastered into my side this whole ride and wanted to know why I took her on that creepy thing. I love her.

We made it just in time for the Beauty and the Beast show, which is hands down my kids favorite show. Again, I was more excited about watching the B5 kids and they did not disappoint. They were all so excited as were Dawn and I. Dys and Scott were glued to their phones and saying things like "LSU is a second half team."

The best part of the show was at the end when all the dancers come out because Ellina had this look like, "What the hell, this wasn't in the movie!". Priceless people, priceless.

We went to Fantasmic right after and just made the 6:30 show. Again, my kids loved the show and Ellina was plastered into my side saying things like "Can you cover my eyes?" and "Why is the witch doing that?".

After Fantasmic we went into the Osbourne Lights, you know the whole reason we went to the park. It was pretty crowded, but we also went around when it began.

The kids loved the lights, especially Pearce. We were in there long enough to see the lights dance a few times, which is always fun. We even managed to snag a pretty adorable family photo, minus the woman behind Scott. What's with that face, right?

We had all hit our magical limit after the lights and started making our way towards the exit. It was an awesome day with our friends and the kids were asking if we could do it again before we even left the parking lot. It was shortly followed by this:

I am so glad we got to have the day with the B5, they are such an awesome family and we love having them in our lives!

The Family Reunion Day....I have no idea

Yesterday we spent the day with my family. We started by hanging with my parents, sister and niece at the hotel, the kids even got to see Daddy since he was doing a training class there. Then we all piled on the bus to go to Animal Kingdom to meet up with my brother Art and his family. I think Aaron was more excited about getting to ride the bus than anything else. The kid loves the bus, and monorail, and train and anything that seems to be a mode of transportation.

We got to see the Festival of the Lion King Show. I have to say this is hands down one of the best shows on property. I'm fairly certain that Jill did not blink the entire time and Aaron....well he fell asleep.

After a fun morning at Animal Kingdom we headed home to change into some warmer clothes, meet up with Scott and then headed back out to Hollywood Studios. I love the Studios during this time of the year. I think the Osbourne Family lights are so great and are definitely one of my favorite holiday traditions.


See how excited everyone is to be there??? And can we talk about how pink my niece's camera is? No need for a flash there.

There are definitely a lot of memories at the Osbourne lights. One of my favorite is being there when our friends Matt and Bonnie got engaged a few years ago. It was so cool to be apart of that moment.
Now that the kids are older I cannot wait to keep the memories going and create new ones with them.