Since we first moved back to VA, I have had the goal to see DC during the Cherry blossom blooming.  There are about 2000 Japanese Cherry trees planted around the tidal basin.  I have always seen pictures of the blooms, and wanted to see them myself in person.

We got there and immediately hit the worst traffic I have seen in DC yet!  I am serious, it was horrible.   We finally turned off, found  parking and just walked.  Come to find out, we came during the peak bloom period right during the Cherry Blossom Festival. No wonder traffic was horrendous!

 Jefferson Memorial

 Aren't the blooms beautiful, with the Washington Monument in the background?

 It was a beautiful sunset.

 I loved all the blooms.  If you accidentally hit one of the low hanging branches it felt like you were being snowed upon by petals.

It was very enchanting.

It was a great evening in DC.  I am glad we braved the traffic, and pushed on!

Cherry blossoms, check!

Last Day at Disney: Epcot and an evening at Magic Kingdom

 So my spring break update was delayed.  With movers coming and a quick weekend beach trip, my blog run came to a screeching halt!  I am attempting to pick up where I left off.  I have a little more then a week sitting in an empty house, perfect time to catch up our families journal!

 Epcot!

Our last day at Disney.  We spent this day at Epcot.  I don't know if it is because there are less rides here, or if it is bigger and more spread out, but it always seems less busy here.  It is a breath of fresh air!  We love the giant golf ball, Spaceship Earth. The boys were pretty thrilled too and wanted to take it home with them.  Sorry boys...don't think we can fit that in our van, despite it's massive cargo capacity!

I love this park.  I love the little taste you get of foreign countries, the rides at the front of the park, and mostly just meandering around like I would if I was in a foreign land.

 We took the boys on the Finding Nemo ride, and they loved it of course.  The best part is, after the ride you are in the Seas building and can look at all the aquariums.  It is pretty relaxing. 

Most of our morning was scheduled with our fast passes, which was nice.  We didn't wait in one line that whole morning!

 Outside Mission Mars.  Dad and Anya went on this ride.  The others were to nervous or get motion sick like me!  We did find a cool Buzz Lightyear statue bush in front of the ride.  The boys love Buzz, so they had to have a picture.  I love how Jack is taking aim at me with his bubble gun.  So serious about it too!

 In "England". Love this area.  I really could have taken this picture of a street in Europe!

 All the kids loved this fountain in "Morocco".

 Of course, I loved "Germany".  They even had a crystal store filled with crystal pieces from Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab.  This was maybe 20 minutes from where we lived in Bavaria, and I frequented the Nachtman's Crystal factory often.  I have a ton of crystal...just ask Matt! 

It was so fun to see it in Disney World, and fun to see the exorbitant prices, and know that I paid a few Euros for the same piece at the factory back in Germany.

Jack begged and begged for this picture.

He said" Look at me, I stopped the score from Goofy". 

So cute!

 We had a dinner reservation in the San Angelo Inn mexican restaurant in "Mexico"

It is cool, because it is all inside, but mocked to look like you are outside at dusk with a volcano and Mayan ruins in the background.  You eat on the patio of the "inn". It is really neat.  The food was not the greatest, and not cheap, but the ambiance is pretty awesome.  There is a similar restaurant in Disneyland CA called the Blue Bayou.  It is inside the Pirates ride, and mocked to be perpetually dusk.  We love eating at these places...its the magic of Disney imagery!

 After Dinner, we had finished our time in Epcot.  So we hopped over to Magic Kingdom to spend one last evening in this magical park.  The park closed at 1am this night, and we stayed clear to closing.  We went on all our favorite rides one last time.  We even got Cora to go on all the Mountain rides, even Space Mountain.  She was so brave, and even said that they were all fun.  We are so excited to have another Roller Coaster buddy to go on rides with!

We ended the night with Peter Pan....we thought.  But when we got off we looked longingly at It's a small world, and the ride attendant, who was shutting down the ride, asked if we wanted to go.  We asked if it was ok, and they said of course!  It's Disney!  There's always time for one more ride!

By the time we got off, the park was virtually empty.  Just a few stragglers here and there waiting to see the closing light show on the castle.

It was pretty neat.

We love Disney, and can't wait until we get to come back again!

Disney Magic!

A day to relax, it is Spring Break after all...

We needed a day to relax and check out the cool things at and around our resort. 

We decided to stay at the army resort Walt Disney has on their property.  We got all the same perks as staying in a Disney resort, but at much cheaper prices...we were all for that.

Shades of Green is a great place to stay.  This is our second time here, and we have loved it both times.  The rooms are huge, and you are right by the golf courses!

 The kids love the waterfall in the lobby of the resort.

We passed it everyday on the way to the shuttle bus stop.

 We needed some good R&R by the pool!

There are some great pools here, and they weren't very busy.  On this day, they had organized pool games for the kids.  They had a blast for about 2 hours, playing different pool games and relay's.  Cora's doll and I hung out and read our books :)

 Watch out for Gators!

They are a serious water hazard.

These signs are posted all over the resort, and we did see gators a couple different times!

Matt and Anya took an evening and went and played a round on one of Disney's immaculately beautiful Golf Courses.  It was even better because they could just walk out the door by our room and walk like 10 steps and they were at the clubhouse.  I think the cart makes the difference!  You can't beat Disney golf carts!

 What's a meal, or breakfast, without some awesome Mickey ears?

Our America Mickey.

It was so fun to seem him again at our favorite Disney resort!

I am hoping we get to seem him again sooner then later!

Another day of Spring Break...just a few more I promise!

 Day 4!

I know this is a lot of posts for one trip, but I decided for journaling purposes to take it 1 day.  That way it is fun for the kids, to see what we did each day.  

Walt Disney's Animal Kingdom

That's what's on the agenda for today.  This was a fun park.  It is small, not many rides, but there are plans in the works for some big expansions like Avatar world.  Sounds intriguing. 

The main thing I wanted to do in this park was see the stage production of "Finding Nemo".  They do it with puppets, very similar to Broadway's "The Lion King".  It is absolutely fantastic!

All our rides were pretty much lined up with Fast pass times, so really the only thing we had to wait for was the show, which we did first thing in the morning.

The tree of life, at the center of the park.  It's pretty cool to see and walk around.

 Animal kingdom is just that...a big huge park full of zoo life.  Each area has a themed set of trails you can walk and see different animals.  It was a beautiful sunny day that wasn't too hot, so all the animals were about and active.  It was neat.

Bats, yikes!

 We watched these gorillas for awhile. 

There was a young gorilla, probably similar to a 2year old, that would keep running by and jump on these two as they were minding their own business.  He kept bothering them, it was very comical and reminded me so much of a certain couple of boys I know...

 The crown jewel of this park is the Kilimanjaro safari.

It's pretty neat, and we got to see lots of wild life.

 the boys loved it!

 The elephants were so active this day.  They were playing around in the water.  You can't see it very well, but that little baby elephant in the water, is actually sitting on top of another elephant.  They were spraying each other with water and having a great time.  I wanted to join in!

 Got to see the bug's life show, of course, it's tradition!

 Cora was so awesome this time at Disney.  She tried all the roller coasters!  She did great!  Behind my to tibetan adventurers is "Expedition Everest".  It is a pretty fun coaster, and both these girls were able to go on it for the first time this trip!  Of course, Anya proceeded to go on it a 2nd and 3rd time...but once was enough for Cora.  They are eating our favorite of all time Disney treat...frozen Mickey mouse ears!  So fabulous!!

After a fun day of safari, traveling through time, climbing mt Everest, and digging for dinosaur bones, we headed over to downtown Disney for some dinner.  We discovered this sandwich shop in Disney Paris called Earl of Sandwich.  We really liked it, and found out that Downtown Disney in Orlando has one too!  So that is where we ended up for dinner.  The girls think the one in Paris is better...but doesn't everything taste better in Europe?

Spring Break Take 3!

 Our Third day of Spring break we took a small break from Mickey and all things Disney and headed over to Universal Studios and Harry Potter's world.

My boys have been watching Woody Woodpecker cartoons on Netflix...they new exactly who he was when we saw him, and they were sooo excited to see him!

 All aboard, the Hogwarts Express as we enter Hogsmeade.

We made it!

 Hogsmeade, 

It takes a lot to impress me.  I think Disney goes above and beyond to not only give you fun family rides, but to also create an experience of ambience that transports you into that world.  For me that is the magic of disney...al the imagination that goes into it!  I have never come across any other park that even comes close to Disney...until now.  Universal Studios Orlando hit the mark when they created Islands of Adventure.  Harry Potter's world was beyond compare...you just wanted to walk up and down the streets and alleys, poke your head in each building and look in every window.  It was all so fascinating and you didn't want to miss one second or detail of it!

It was amazing, and if ask Hannah...it was her favorite day!

 Honeydukes! 

We bought way too much candy from here, including Bertie bott's of course.

 Hogwarts school of Witch craft and Wizardry.

This ride was phenomenal.  A must for any who go...even if the line is long, it is worth it.

Just like Disney, they made waiting in the line just as much fun as riding the ride.  You almost don't want the wait to end, because you are having so much fun waiting!

 We took the boys on flight of the Hippogriff...probably a little to intense for them.  But they did it, and with no tears!  We got to see Hagrid's hut while in line.

 Two pretty cute girls!

 I love Hogwarts.

They did a pretty good job.

Butter Beer and Pumpkin Juice.

Holy amazing!

The Butter Beer was fantastic, we couldn't get enough.

Hannah wanted to buy a wand from Olivander's

 Looking at all the choices...

 Finally one picked her!

 Taking a break.

 We took a break from Harry, as much as it pained us too, and headed over to Jurassic Park.

Cora even went on the ride, and we got soaked!

 After Jurassic we went to Seuss land

this was pretty impressive as well!  We had so much fun in this area!

 You must know how much I loved all the Thing 1 and Thing 2 stuff.  It was everywhere, I couldn't get enough of it!  I think I spent way too much money in this park...but how could you resist!

 I love my Thing's!

That evening we headed back to our favorite place....

Hogsmeade!

 Even the Bathrooms were awesome!

Moaning Myrtle is there waiting for you as well.

 It was even more fabulous at night.

All the windows were lit up and easier to see into...pure magic.

 The Honeydukes window mesmerized us for awhile.

The butter beer cart...time for one last taste.

Farewell Hogwarts and Hogsmeade,

Until next time!

Next time Kings cross Station and Diagon Alley will be open!

Hopefully we will make it back sooner then later, but it was a great day anyway you look at it!