Around the World in 12 hours

Our second day at Disney was a fun day too. We choose to visit Epcot. We first flew through the air on Soaring. It was a great ride for scenery and the illusion of flying. Then we visited space. Mission space was so easy to get on - we walked right in. We started with the green adventure which was intriguing but not enough for Brian. So we walked right back in (no line) for the orange adventure. It was the same ride but the G-forces were higher. I could feel them when I was suppose to push the button for rocket separation after takeoff. We came back to earth and went through the ride that told about plants and some of the new growing methods being developed. I thought the tomato trees and the hanging watermelons were a neat idea. Brian thought the idea of sand for soil was interesting. We went under the sea for a little while and talked with Crush from Nemo and watched Nemo tell us his story. Dory was funny. It was then time for our trip around the world. We started in Norway. It wasn't what I expected after seeing all of Dad's memories but it was neat to see. I was a bit disappointed in the trolls. We were on our way to Canada when we had to make a stop to buy a rain poncho because of the downpour. Canada had a really nice film and we were please to see the gardens we so fondly remember from our brief excursion across the border a couple of years ago. We spent the longest time in England. I was thrilled to see Mary Poppins and Alice there. We had to hurry after that but made it through Mexico, France, Japan, Italy, Russian and other countries. It was getting dark by the time we got to the last country. We got to see a huge fireworks and laser show on the lake when the sun went down. We were soaked and footsore after our trip around the world but we made lots of great memories.

Our first Day of a Disney Vacation

After 3 years Brian and I decided to go on another big vacation. We debated on whether we should take Colin with us since he is only 2. A trip we had been talking about was seeing Disney World and Universal studios. I have never to a Disney Park and Brian wanted to see how different the California Disney was from the Florida Disney. After a lot of talk, we finally got time off and arranged for Colin to stay for a while with my parents in New Mexico. They were thrilled at the chance since they don't get to see him a lot. We drove to my parents on Saturday (it took us a day to pack) and enjoy a relaxing evening with them. The next day we attended church (I was surprised at how well Colin took to nursery there since he doesn't like it much at our ward). After a lovely lunch Brian and I went to catch a red eye to Florida. It was a long flight with little sleep. I worried a little about the storm we flew threw with all the lightening. In Florida we got a ride to our hotel (via a special Disney Bus) and checked into our hotel. Since it was so early in the morning and the room wasn't ready we decided to go to one of the parks. We chose Animal Kingdom. We saw all sorts of fun things there. I got my first view of a real life Disney character with Chip and Dale and Raffici. We both loved the Lion King show with all sorts of acrobats and songs. They split the audience into four sections and give each one an animal; we were in the lion section. We really liked the animal safari too. I have never seen elephants, rhinos, giraffes and crocodiles up so close before. Brian loved the bird area we went through. We saw a funny misshapen duck which ended up being a mom with four baby ducklings on her back. Brian was thrilled about seeing and hearing a cardinal. I had no idea cardinals were so small. The Bugs life show was cute and didn't bother me much until the cockroaches at the end (that was creepy). We also saw Pluto and Goofy while at animal kingdom. Brian convinced me to go on my first Disney rollercoaster there. I wasn't so sure but agreed to ride Mount Everest. It actually was the best rollercoaster I've ever been on. After a long day, a few new blisters, and a mild sunburn we were happy to get to the room at our resort and relax.

Colin 2nd Birthday Already!

It's hard to believe that Colin is a 2 year old. I still remember the first day we saw him and the first day we brought him home. Colin is learning so much. One of the first animals he learned to about sounds with was a lion. It was also one of the first animals he recognized on sight. Because of that I decided to see if I could make a lion cake for him. Brian was extremely helpful with some of the little details like color and sprinkles for the mane. Colin also loves balloons. I wanted to get lots of balloons for him but we decided to get him one giant balloon instead. Colin was thrilled with it. We had a fun birthday party for him.

Starting the year 2013

The new year has brought many new experiences and lots of doctor visits. We took Colin to the doctor one night because of problems breathing and found out he had a double ear infection. The doctor gave him a breathing treatment and prescribed some antibiotics and told us if he had more problems breathing to take Colin to a breathing treatment center at the hospital. We bought a warm mist humidifier and some Vicks inhalant and took Colin home. He seemed to be getting better so we didn't worry too much. About a week later we all went to Las Vegas. Brian had a conference for school there and thought it would be fun if we joined him. Colin and I had fun wandering the Casino/Hotel while Brian learned ways to engage and interest his students in learning. He found a great book with activities for teaching math. After getting back to Saint George we took Colin to see the doctor again because his breathing was sounding bad. The doctor took once listen to his lungs and said Colin had RSV. Thank goodness it wasn't bad enough to require hospitalization. Over the next week and a half we did breathing treatment on Colin and he is now over RSV. Colin is getting very close to crawling. He can turn and pull himself on his tummy without and trouble now. He can get up on his hands and knees and rocks. Colin just needs to figure out how to move now. He tries very hard to sit up on his own and is even trying to pull himself into a standing position. Colin has learned how to hold his own bottle now. It is nice to be able to give him the bottle and not have to worry about adjusting or holding it for him. Everything, and I mean everything, Colin touches goes into his mouth. We haven't seen any teeth yet but expect some soon. Colin has a toy piano and a sit-n-spin toy that make music and he loves to play with them. He will look up and listen very intently when the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song is on TV. Colin is definitely ticklish on his sides and love to be tossed in the air. He thinks it's funny when he gets held upside down too. Aimee reads him a short story at bedtime and Colin seems to like that. We are thinking of teaching him some baby sign language.

Ending 2012 on a high note

December was one of those months were you just don't stop. We started December by having Colin's adoption finalized. It was an interesting experience to stand in front of a judge and be told that from this point on Colin was our child and we his parents. We had a real tree for Christmas this year, our first real one, and it made the house smell like pine. Colin liked to look at the lights. Christmas was celebrated a day late because of Aimee's work schedule. Colin got lots of wonderful fun new gifts. Right after Christmas we made a trip up to Salt Lake City. Aimee was insistent on being sealed to Colin in the Salt Lake Temple. It's always been a temple she's liked and wanted to see the inside of. We got back from Salt Lake just in time for Aimee to start work again.