A Few Final Christmas Pictures...

After getting back from Disney, everyone stayed in Myrtle Beach for about a week before heading back home. We all went our separate ways on New Years. Sad day.

Here are a few pictures from that last week.

Bowling (Kenzie and Tanner would share a turn. Kenz would go first and Tanner did the second roll. He was actually really good at picking up the spare. Pretty sure they beat me in one of those games...)

Building forts with the Uncles:

With Aunt Kaitlyn:

We're counting down until the next reunion! I vote for Hawaii.

Christmas in Disney Part VI: Another day in Magic Kingdom

On our very last Disney day, we headed over to Magic Kingdom again. Once again, we got there early and headed over to the new Beauty and the Beast experience because the line was crazy long all day last time. I called it an "experience" because I'm not sure what else to call it...it's not really a ride or show. You go into Belle's house and end up in her dad's workshop. He has an enchanted mirror in there so he can see Belle whenever he wants. The Disney worker tells it to go back to the night when Belle and beast fell in love. All of the sudden the mirror glows and stretches until it becomes a doorway. It was awesome. So you step through and then you are in the castle. It really becomes more about little kids here, but it's fun anyway. You talk to the wardrobe and she explains that they are getting Belle ready for her dinner and dance with beast. She assigns people in the group to reenact their love story. To decide who got to play her, she made everyone sing out her big long opera note...and of course Jordan got picked. It was awesome. Kenz and I also got to participate (okay, okay, I kind of insisted...). After that, they take you into a room where you meet Belle in her gown and she is just about to go see the Beast for their date. She talks with everyone and then you get to take pictures with her.

When I took Chandler up, his head was kind of blocking her from the chin down because of the way I was holding him. She was playing with him and everyone in the audience was cracking up. I thought it was just because he was super cute, but come to find out he was attacking some flowers on her dress that were right on her chest and she wasn't just holding his hands to play with her, she was trying to keep from being groped. Apparently one guy in the audience yelled out something like "that's my boy!" It was super embarrassing after I found out because she was probably thinking "why the heck is this kid's mom not getting him off of me?!" Nice.

Here's where he spots the flowers.....and tries to rip them off her chest while she nonchalantly attempts to hold his arms back.

At least one we got one good shot:

Next we went for a ride on the carousel. Despite all the times I've been at Disney, I think this is the first time I have ever ridden it. It always has a really long line and it's something you can do anywhere so we never really worried about it. But since we were so early, there was no wait and we decided to go for it.

(I had to put 2 because I think his face is kind of hilarious in the second one. Love those squishy, kissy cheeks.)

We spent the rest of the day re-riding some of our favorites.

Kenzie's beloved Thunder Mountain Railroad:

Buzz Lightyear (Dad's face is awesome):

Winnie the Pooh:

Lindsey and Nick took the kids on a kiddie coaster. Even Tanner loved it!

And Chandler continued to enjoy his naps:

One of the rides we hadn't been able to do a few days before was Space Mountain. Everybody went ahead while Dad, Mom, Tanner, and I stayed behind with the kids. I thought Kenzie was going to freak out because it's dark in that ride and pretty intense, but she went crazy over it. She thought it was even better than Thunder Mountain and wanted to ride it again immediately! Funniest kid ever. So Josh and I went and took her with us. We made one last visit to it later that night, too, with a bunch of us.

After knowing what the streets are like when a parade comes around from last time, we made sure and got a spot on the parade route nice and early. The parade was adorable!

Once it had passed, we quickly headed over to the castle where they put on a spectacular show. They projected images onto the castle while playing amazing music. Like at one point it becomes the Wreck-it Ralph building and you see him climbing up and punch out the windows. Then it becomes the frozen castle and snow swirls around on it while the music blasts "Let it Go." It went though dozens of movies and it was incredible. Then they put on the world's most fantastic fireworks display. And they still do one of my favorite thins from when I was a kid: there is a zipline running from a top tower down to a lower building and Tinkerbell goes flying out the window.

Leaving that night was so, so, so sad. None of us were ready for it to be over.

We packed up the next morning and headed back to Myrtle Beach.

This was an amazing Christmas that we will always remember! And it was Chandler's first Christmas, so that's going to be kind of hard to top...

Christmas in Disney Part V: Hollywood Studios

We spent Christmas Day in Hollywood Studios. We didn't end up arriving right at the opening like we had every other day because our last few days of go!go!go! had finally caught up with us. Plus, we had to check out what Santa brought. I got a great video of Chandler checking out his presents, but apparently no pictures. Which I am now super mad at myself for.

Anyway, we got ready for the day and headed over to Hollywood Studios. For our first order of business Dad went to grab Fast Passes for the Toy Story ride and take the kids to a Nick Jr show while we went to ride Tower of Terror. Definitely one of the top 10 Disney rides! I was fortunate enough to get to ride it twice from the way the group swaps worked out.

I love how Hunter is clutching onto Kaitlyn in this one...

And I love how all of us are freaking out but Nick is just pleasantly smiling in this one. By his face you wouldn't be able to tell if it was Tower of Terror or just Small World.

At this point it was time for Chandler's morning nap. so we all split up. Everyone went on the Back Lot Tour and the Great Movie Ride while Josh and I pushed Chandler around and explored the park. Mom hadn't slept well the night before, so she was meeting us at the park later and I couldn't go on the Great Movie Ride without her! But here are a few shots from Lindsey of what everyone else was doing:

Riley got picked to help on the back lot tour!

While they were doing that, we ran and grabbed Fast Passes for the Rockin' Rollercoaster. Chandler loved his little sleep cave. It actually looked super comfortable. I was kind of jealous...

Also, on our exploring adventures, we went in a sweet shop and found the coolest Snow White caramel apple ever:

Dad eventually came back from getting Mom and we headed over to the Great Movie Ride. I was super disappointed because they used to have an original pair of the Ruby Slippers (anyone who knows me knows my obsession with the Ruby Slippers...) and the Mary Poppins Carousel Horse on display. But then I got really excited because I saw the Gone With the Wind Twelve Oaks dress further down the line. Come to find out, it was just a replica. Still pretty, though.

The Great Movie Ride is my other top favorite Disney Ride with Small World. I looooooove this ride. I could ride it repeatedly and not get sick of it. It takes you through scenes of classic movies, including many of my favorite like Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain, Mary Poppins, and Casablanca.

One of the stores on the set is called Madison & Co., which I think is super fitting...

After the Thrill show, Muppets 3D, lunch at Pizza Planet, and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, we headed over to the Beauty and the Beast show where I tried unsuccessfully to get a good picture. The show had a great Belle (and that's saying something, because I have high standards for Belle and take the casting very seriously. Very.) and I tried unsuccessfully to get a good picture.

Lindsey doesn't look particularly thrilled about the show here, but I'm pretty sure she liked it.

Next, those of us that hadn't ridden it yet headed to Star Tours, which was revamped since the last time we were there and was really fun (even if it is a little nauseating). Then Nonnie and Grandpa took the kids while the rest of us headed to a group favorite: the Rockin Rollercoaster! It was just as fun as we remembered. Unfortunately, my take-a-picture-of-the-picture trick didn't work so well here.

As it turns out, Hollywood Studios was the perfect park to be in on Christmas Day. Firstly, Magic Kingdom had already closed to new entries just a few hours after opening. Secondly, Hollywood Studios had a huge street filled with 5 million Christmas lights. Mom and Dad had headed over there with the kids and told us to hurry up and head over because it was amazing. Apparently, Kenzie had gotten so swept away that she started dancing in the street and people were stopping to watch her because it was so adorable. Tanner and Chandler were just generally freaking out...they loved it. So we rushed to that side of the park and were blown away. They even had fake snow falling down . We bought some egg nog and spent a long time just taking it all in.

Josh would take Chandler out in the middle of the lights, hold him up high, and spin him in circles and Chandler would crack up. Cutest thing ever.

Brown, Bell, and Benson family pictures:

We headed over the the new Toy Story ride after that. It was my and Josh's first time on it and we loved it! Even though I kinda felt like I had carpal tunnel at the end. Now it was time for the grand finale of the night: the Fantasmic show! The line for it was a little bit of a pain, but totally worth it. This show was amazing. The set was a giant mountain landscape surrounded by water and it had fireworks, characters, a giant dragon...it is really pretty indescribable. It wasn't super conducive to picture taking, though.

The show was reaaaaally loud and Chandler hates loud noises. Josh had him strapped in the pouch on his chest and Chandler started crying when it got loud. So we pulled his beanie down low and Josh covered his ears. Within a few minutes he was asleep and stayed asleep for the rest of the show...even through the loud fireworks! And Josh loved it because it's rare for Chandler to fall asleep in our arms these days.

We couldn't have asked for a more amazing Christmas day!