The Lipowski Family

We took a little trip to Disney World. It was fabulous. AJ is the perfect age for Disney! It was so amazing to see it through his eyes this time. Natalie came to Florida with us but Steve's parents picked her up and took her to Gainesville for a couple of days and then stayed in Orlando with us for a couple of days. Steve and I were even able to get out for a night on our own! We chose Portobello at Downtown Disney. Yum!
There are a lot of pictures in this post. I really need to learn how to do a collage... Plus my camera has been kind of screwed up since England where it got wet and didn't properly dry out. There were a couple of things that happened while we were there- we had 4 days of passes and planned to go to Epcot one day, Hollywood Studios another day and go to Magic Kingdom for a day and a half. The scheduling just got a little screwed up because the new Fantasyland was opening at MK, the new Test Drive was opening at Epcot and the Christmas Party was going on one night at MK. So the parks were closed at different times.
We decided to go to Epcot on Wednesday evening...

In Mexico

This one isn't too big for me, is it?

Meeting Donaldo Ducko! ;)

Viking AJ taking on the giant troll in Norway! He didn't like the 'scary boat ride' in Norway!

In China (do you notice the trend yet? )

Banging the drums...

Nutcracker (had to get some Christmas decorations in here!)

In Germany, we ended up buying that sword.

After Germany, we we went to a few rides (like Little Nemo, below) on the opposite side of the park and then headed back to the hotel.

We were BEAT! We had been up since 4 am CST. We asked AJ if he wanted to stay for the fireworks but he said no, that he was tired. Us too!

We headed to Hollywood Studios on Thursday morning for a day filled with fun! Nice warm sunny day!

Forgot a hat... Might as well get a Mickey Mouse one!

'Mom, take a picture of me in front of this tow truck!' OK!

Ready for Star Tours... He didn't like that one too much...

My favorite Muppets are the critics so I made AJ stand there! He did enjoy Muppets 3D Vision.

'Mom, take a picture of me in front of this crash!' OK!

'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' Playground. A favorite!

Hula Hooping!

Toy Story was by far the best ride in all of the parks. We laughed and had so much fun in there!

We hit Downtown Disney Thursday night. The Lego Store was AJ's Nirvana. He would have played there all night!

Meeting the Mayor at Magic Kingdom on Friday morning. He is kinda a big deal. ;)

Cinderella's castle

Buzz Lightyear's Astro Orbitor

The People Mover. I love that name!

On the Speedway...

My favorite pictures are these 3 on the Madhatter's Tea Cups! Pure joy! :)

In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room

With Chip & Dale

Watching the parade on Main Street. We got a great spot and we were on our way out!

Saturday we went back to MK in the morning to hit Adventureland since we didn't get to it on Friday. We took AJ on the Monorail after to the Polynesian for lunch and then back to the pool at the resort!

Miss Natalie was hanging out with Grandma at the pool when we got down there. And my college friend, Amy, stopped by with her daughter, Sophia, for a visit. She lives and works in Orlando again. Her hubby works at Animal Kingdom Lodge with the animals (that is where they met originally!) and she is a science teacher. We headed back to MK on Saturday night for the Electrical Parade but it ended up being just too late and crowded that we left before it. There is always next time! We flew out early the next morning to Minneapolis where our next flight was cancelled due to the foot of snow that was falling. So we stayed in a hotel overnight, rented a car and drove home on Monday morning. AJ was coming down with the flu by that time so he missed some more school. We are definitely looking forward to going back! :)

Natalie came to her forever home March 16th. We waited until after AJ (11:15 am) was done with school so we could all go together. It was so exciting!

DM with Natalie on their last morning together. We are forever grateful to the M family for their love and care of our Natalie! The day before AJ asked me if we were going to pick up Natalie forever. I said, jokingly, "Yep. Well, at least until she is 18." Later that evening AJ was on the phone with Poppa and he asked him if Natalie was coming home forever and AJ replied, "Well, yeah. Until she is 18 and then she goes back to the M's." Of course we got a great chuckle out of that and it will be just in time to pay for college... ;)

AHV, our case worker with Natalie. We worked with AHV for AJ's adoption too so we got to know her well. We are all going to miss her! (But not the bills! ;))

So excited she is home!

Hanging out outside in MARCH 16th in 80 degree weather! What?!? In Wisconsin! Our neighbors were totally confused! There was a bunch of murmurs through the neighborhood about whether I was pregnant. It was fun to get some 'Congratulations!' as people walked or drove by. I like to do chalk art on the driveway... :)