Sleep Over!!!

Boys enjoying hamburgers

Tonight John Parker has some of his friends here for a sleep over. Kelly grilled hamburgers, which were delicious, by the way, and John Parker wanted nachos and cheese dip. Oh so healthy, but the boys really enjoyed it! They have played X-Box, Wii, they have been running like a bunch of wild bucks up and down the hall upstairs battling with light sabers! Kelly just went up and told them to get in their pj's and settle down. They are watching Star Wars and are very quite now. I just hope that they go to sleep soon and don't wake up before 5 a.m.!!!

Fun times!!!!!!!

Ryan, John Parker, Matthew, Alexander,

Clay, Ben & Carson


John Ashford about to dump his cake!

Doesn't he look so sweet with his new, big boy haircut!

Happy Birthday John Parker!

Our firstborn is 10 years old!!! What a blessing the past 10 years have been! What joy we have experienced seeing and watching John Parker grow into such a wonderful young man. He is a great big brother to Carson and Avery, always enjoying being with them, protecting them, playing with them. He has really grown and matured so much over the past year. Sometimes, I hear him say things or see him do something, and I have to step back and remind myself to soak it all in, don't take a single milestone, conversation, smile, hug, laugh, or moment for granted!!!!

Happy Birthday John Parker..... We love you so much!

3 years

4 Years

5 Years

6 Years

7 Years

8 Years

9 Years

Day Six - Animal Kingdom

We spent our last day at Animal Kingdom. As soon as we entered the park,we headed straight to Mt.Everest! This is the best roller coaster in all of the parks. The boys talked about nothing else but this since they found out we were going back to Disney. We spent probably a good hour or more riding. Most of us at least rode it twice, some even three times! Lots of fun!!!!

I had never seen the "tree lady" before, but just minutes before I did, Roan was telling me about her and how strange she was! She walked on stilts and moved around in the trees. She was kinda creepy, but very beautiful!

Mt. Everest

You can see us coming down right above the tree top!

Hidden Mickey

Avery and Pocahontas

Jared, Avery, Jimmy the Cricket, Carson & John Parker

Another Hidden Mickey

Donald & Avery

Kali River Rapids

Just about the time the rain came in, it was time for the rapids!

This was the very end of our day, so the timing could not have been more perfect!

The kids really enjoyed this ride! They loved getting wet!

Wet, tired & hungry

We all went back to the hotel and started packing for home.

Jimmy & Roan decided to leave Thursday night and break up the trip into two days.

Kelly and I stayed and got up early Friday morning and headed home.

We had a wonderful time, and the kids can't wait to go AGAIN!!!!!!!

Fun time and great memories!!!!!!!

Day Five - Magic Kingdom

On our second day at Magic Kingdom, we celebrated Leah and Sam's birthday. The first half of the day the girls and Sam went to breakfast at Cinderella's castle, and the boys all went to ride the thrill rides again.

Avery

John Parker & Carson

Avery, Rebecca, Cinderella, Olivia, Julie & Leah

Finally, we meet Cinderella! She greeted us as we entered her castle.
Avery loved meeting all the princesses and getting their autographs.

Snow White & Avery

Avery, her favorite princess, Aurora & Leah

Leah & Roan

Thanks Roan for treating us to a wonderful time and a delicious breakfast! We ate so much that we didn't even want anything for the rest of the day!

My favorite princess

Giving Belle a hug!

Best Buddies!

Avery & Dumbo

Disney would not have been complete without Avery riding Dumbo!

That is all she remembered from her first trip here when she was 2.

The girls having tea in Minnie's kitchen

The boys checking out the fridge!

Avery in Minnie's back flower garden

Hidden Mickey

Jared at Mickey's

Parker in front of Mickey's house

Mickey & Minnie with the kids

Clay, Carson & John Parker just off of Splash Mountain

Avery & Goofy

Boys in a sword fight at Pirate's of the Caribbean!

My little pirate

Our last picture before leaving Magic Kingdom!

What a fun time we had!

Until next time......

Day Four - Hollywood Studios

Our Family

Johnson Family

Isn't this so pretty!

John Parker, Carson & Clay
Are they ready for Tower of Terror!?



Parents Beware!
This is what happens when you leave Kelly in charge!

Carson on a Star Wars speeder

John Parker in front of Star Tours

Pixar's Block Party

This was something new from last time we were here.

They played lots of fun, dance songs like YMCA and the cast members pulled visitors out of the crowd to participate. Avery went down to dance, but decided different after she got there! Very fun and entertaining!

Toy Story, Monsters Inc., & A Bug's Life characters were all stars of the show!

Woody & Jesse

Buzz Lightyear

Couldn't tell ya....

Again, no clue!
Cute though!

Boo

Cute in a weird sort of way!

Don't know...

Sulley!

Mike... Kinda Creepy Looking!

Stars of A Bug's Life

Kids with Lightning McQueen & Tow Mater
Jared loves Lightning!

Avery in front of the new Toy Story Mania ride!

John Parker

Avery & Kelly ready to do some blastin'!

Rebecca & Julie

Olivia

What precious, beautiful ladies!

Love, love, love this park! We all survived the Tower of Terror and loved Rockin' Roller Coaster! The boys all enjoyed the stunt show while the girls went to the American Idol Experience. That was really fun! Another great day at Disney!

EPCOT- Day Three

Another beautiful day!

Nothing but blue skies!

Avery holding on tight with her

little scratched nose and bruised forehead!

All are refreshed, smiling and ready for another full day of adventure!

Waiting to enter the park!

Almost the entire crew! Sam was camera shy!

"Umm... Sam what do you think? Should we go to Finding Nemo?"

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

Our little navigators!

The Seas is a great exhibit!
We all enjoyed the aquarium, Finding Nemo the ride and the interactive show, "Turtle Talk with Crush."

Hidden Mickey

Snack Time!

This was in the exhibit The Land. So cool how they do this!

All the boys playing in the fountain at Morocco

Avery & Sam

Posing with Donald in Mexico

We're Vikings!!!!

Sunset in Paris
As close as I'm going to get, anyway!

Italy

Carson & Clay in France

Some were still smiling after 10 hours!
Waiting for the big firework show at the World Showcase.

It was a long day, but all in all it was a wonderful day. We were quite exhausted by the end! After showers, the kids were in dreamland once again (the parents too)!!!!!

Magic Kingdom - Day Two

Cinderella's Castle

Day two began with a wonderful devotion time coordinated by Jimmy and Kelly. Afterwards, we headed out to Magic Kingdom. What a truly magical place for those of all ages. There is a little something for everyone, so this was a great start to our week! What a full and fun day of exploring and experiencing new and exciting adventures. From the laid back exploration of the Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse and Tom Sawyer's Island to the more adventurous rides on Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. We had a lot of brave children with us!
Leah rode every roller coaster and loved them all! Each time she got off she would say, "I didn't even scream." Avery rode Splash and Thunder Mountain, but when asked did she like it, she would say no! We had beautiful weather and lots of fun!

Olivia, Leah, Jared, Rebecca, Julie and a few monkeys
peeking from behind the leaves!

Jared, Clay, Carson & Sam

Kelly took this picture of Jimmy and Roan taking a picture of each other!

Crossing the bridge at Tom Sawyer's Island

7 of the 10!
Jared, Avery, Clay, Carson, John Parker, Julie & Olivia

John Parker "holdin' down" the fort!

Carson & Clay

Avery and Sam waiting patiently while everyone rides

Space Mountain!

Too Cute!

Disney - Day One

We began the second leg of our trip to Disney leaving Atlanta early Saturday morning. We all had a good sleep and a hot breakfast and got back on the road. The kids were great traveling, just anxious to get there. We heard the famous questions, "Are we there yet? and How much longer now?" a couple of hundred times.

Parker, Clay and Carson in the back playing Game Boys


Avery and Jared watched several movies and slept quite a bit

Finally, we arrived around 5 o'clock! After checking in to our hotel and unloading the vans, we all headed to the bus which took us to Downtown Disney. We ate supper and did a little shopping. My boys had Christmas and birthday money that they wanted to spend in the Lego Imagination Store. They love this store and have talked about shopping there for months. We also looked around in the mega World of Disney store. They have everything imaginable in there!

Avery and Leah

This is the last picture of Avery without a scratched forehead and nose. She took a dive off a brick wall, just a few minutes after arriving at Downtown Disney!

The whole crew minus the daddies!

Avery and Leah trying on Mickey Ears

Life size Lego creations!

Boys with Lego Bionicle