Noodle is 13 at Disney World

What happens when an amazing trip to Disney World collides with an amazing birthday girl? A super-duper-awesome-amazing birthday! We were blessed by our friends to be able to stay in Orlando for five days and go to Disney World with them. I don't know how your friends celebrate your birthday, but as friends go, I think they set the bar pretty high.

Traditionally, I do a photo shoot of Noodle on her birthday to commemorate the day. I think 4 or 5 days worth of photos will fulfill that tradition.

We visited Disney's Animal Kingdom first.

Everyone loved the Everest rollercoaster.
Especially Noodle.
That's why she's hiding in the 4th row from the back.
Or, she just ducked down to tie her shoes.

We had fun coming up with silly poses for the ride cameras.

There may have also been some Bollywood dancing in our day.

We got soaked on the river.
 

We re-enacted old times.

Then the grown-ups had to have a turn.

Here's this entire crew of people we love and wore out our feet with on the miles and miles and miles of Animal Kingdom paths. What? Not miles? Tell that to my flip flops.

Steve, Michelle, Susie, Seth, Pam, Mike, Caleb
Liam (asleep!), Joshua, Jacob, Me, Noodle, Matthew, Hopers, Brianna

On our second day, we went to the Magic Kingdom.
The ferry ride into the park was, well...magical.

The kids were fresh and ready to go for another day of fun.


We brought 3 gallons of deer jerky with us.  The snacking began first thing every morning and continued until the final squabble over the last piece (between the dads of course, not the kids).

The dads, hyped up on jerky, ready to blast some alien butt on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

More fun with ride cameras.

Hopers and Briana survived the teacups with style. I, however, have vowed never to step foot in anything that spins again.
Yes, I am now old.

That night, we had a celebration dinner for Noodle back at the hotel.

The next day, it was time for a visit to Epcot.  We burst through the gates as they opened and ran our way to the first ride we could: Soarin.  If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.  It was amazing!  A virtual hang gliding tour across the country. I couldn't stop smiling.

Steve, Jacob, Michelle, and Faith on Soarin

Beautiful Noodle on her birthday. She's 13!!!!!
Hopers and Noodle loved the Test Track ride, but Mission to Mars was their favorite of the day.

Joshua, Briana, and Hope playing in Epcot Japan.

Caleb, Faith, Jacob and Hope in Epcot France.

Puppets in Epcot China.

Hats in Epcot Mexico.

Noodle in Epcot Morocco.  It's her birthday today!  Happy 13th, Noodle!

On our final day at Disney, our little family of four headed alone to Hollywood Studios.  We had so much fun running around to all of the rides, we didn't even take pictures!

Happy Birthday Hopers

 

Hopers always seems to get older. Every year. How does this happen? I ask myself.   Where do these birthdays come from, so sneaky and unshakeable?

This time, she has turned 8!

 

This goofy, fun girl has an unstoppable joy inside her.

We celebrated yesterday with some family and friends.  It was a perfect, gorgeous day.  This has never, ever, happened in the history of Hopers' birthdays.  Having a February birthday has always meant cold, wet weather and finding something to do indoors.  And oddly enough, this winter has been The Coldest Winter full of polar vortexes and snow days.  Yet here we were, playing outside in 72 degree sunshine, riding go karts, playing volleyball, jumping on the trampoline and playing baseball! 

 

I baked a chocolate cake with chocolate-cream-cheese frosting at Hopers' request.  That's my girl!

Happy Birthday Hopers!

A Very Camp-y Birthday

Camping methods generally end up in two categories.

The first one involves bringing as little stuff as possible.  The stuff you do bring, you find microscopic and less useful versions of it--like freeze-dried pot roast and bivy sacks--and haul it on your back to some (hopefully) remote spot.  There, you'll have involuntary and realistic dreams of ice cream sundaes and being eaten by a large, toothy bear.

The second one, I like to refer to as Party Camping.  You go somewhere with nearly everything you think you might need or own.  You camp right where you park, along with all your new best friends who are camping right where they parked, which is right next to you.  You set up ten-man tents with a ridiculous amount of blankets and sleeping bags and air mattresses, even if there are only three of you in a tent.  You cook major meals three times a day over a fire and a propane stove and another fire (because it takes all that to get everything cooked) and you love every bite.  By the time you finish cooking and cleaning up one meal, it's time for the next one.  You are less worried about bears than you are about squirrels eating the corners off of all your bread if you leave the package out.

You can probably guess which category of camping we subscribed to for Noodle's birthday this year. We went to Torreya State Park, a long-time favorite of ours. In addition to the above activities, we also managed to fit in a few more:



We went hiking and geocaching.




We explored Weeping Ridge (a drippy waterfall-ish spot on our hike).

We brought lots of friends.

Ethan, Jeremy, Noodle, Kendra Miriam, Daniel,
Tabitha, Hopers, Tobianna (Not pictured are Me, Seth, Joey, Elaine, and Micah)

 

 

We played games in tents.

We rode around in the back of a truck.

We hung out.

We played on the playground.

We took advantage of adorable photo-ops.

We sat around the fire.  Noodle opened birthday presents.

And of course, what is a birthday without a birthday cake? (I love all those helpful faces in the background.)

I highly recommend Party Camping.  It's more fun than a bowl of freeze-dried pot roast!