NOEL and Gingerbread Houses

One of my favorite Brems' family traditions is a game that we play on Christmas Eve called NOEL.  Each player gets a Christmas paper plate, four sugar cubes with the letters N-O-E-L written on them, and puts a $5 wrapped white elephant gift in the middle of the circle.  My Dad puts one minute on the timer and when he yells "GO!", we all get our crazy on.  The rule is that once you roll the word noel, you can grab a present from the pile, or you can steal a present from someone else.  Truth be told... no one plays by the rule... especially my Dad.  In fact, I think the only person that probably adheres to the rule is my mother.  It's pretty dang hilarious and we all just laugh the entire time.  This continues for one entire minute... which seems a lot longer when your playing the game.  Afterwards, my Dad reads one of those "Right and Left" versions of The Night Before Christmas, so you never end up with the gift that you finished the game with.

The tradition has been carried on to the next generation here in AZ and each year we hold a NOEL game of our own.  One of the best gifts I've seen here was a few live goldfish in a wrapped up box.  I think only one of them survived the trauma of the game.  Poor fishies. 

 Colby was loving his time as the center of attention before the kids opened their presents.

 We also decorated gingerbread houses.  Spence claims this is the first he has ever decorated... wha????!!!  I thought never dying easter eggs was weird!  Maybe he just doesn't remember.  Like anything he does, he was pretty meticulous... and it was a pretty good looking house!

The Chicago Caper

In between our November adventures and Christmas in Oregon, we decided to throw together a last minute murder mystery dinner.  The boys put it together and even made dinner.  Each family brought an important part of the meal, making it so delicious!  Everyone dressed up and played their part so well.  I love it when people really get into character!  I think Keegan won the prize by staying in character . :)

J.R. and Morgan; Lindsey and Keegan 

Sophia, Julia and Dave; Spence and I 

Deena and Chip; Sarah and Caleb 

I honestly don't remember everything we ate that night, but I do remember that Spencer made some delicious parmesan chicken!  Seriously, it was really good. 

 

Colby only stayed around the party people for a little bit and then it was off to bed for him.

Magic Kingdom.... and the rest

Day three and four were spent at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.  At Disney World you have to take a ferry or the monorail to get to the park from the parking lot.  

It was SO windy and cold on the ferry.

This picture cracks me up... Spencer had the day all planned out for us (as he usually does when were at a disney park), and was a man on a mission.

Obviously Colby hated that his stroller wasn't moving the entire time on the ferry.

These pics are all mixed up - this one is from Aerosmith's rocking roller coaster.  I forgot how fun that ride was!  We could only ride it a few times before it gave me a headache though... I guess I'm too short  because my head just hits both sides of the seat the whole time.  

Colby could ride Dumbo, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, etc (aka any ride like Dumbo), over and over again. He LOVED those rides.  

He was not scared of the characters at all.  He was holding their hands, giving hugs and talking to them like they were normal people.

The castle was gorgeous for Christmas!  They had it covered with millions of lights and it really was beautiful.

Day three was totally spent at Magic Kingdom.  Colby's favorite rides were Dumbo, Aladdin, Pooh, Peter Pan, and the Little Mermaid.  Day four was supposed to be all Hollywood Studios, but there aren't very many toddler friendly rides over there, so Spence and I took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom for the night.  Lucky for us they were doing a special event that evening after the park closed to start the Christmas season.  They were serving free hot chocolate, cookies, and it even "snowed!"

Spencer decided he wanted the job of being the family photographer during the trip so we hardly have any pictures of him with us.  Although that's kind of a bummer, I am excited that I have some pictures with me in them since I am usually the one taking them!

Before we headed to the airport, the timeshare provided snow cones at the pool.

 I'm always surprised with how well Colby does on flights.  This time was no exception.  He made friends with the people around us quickly and even slept... dream baby!

Overall, we had such a great time and it was even more fun that we were able to spend time with my brother Brian and his family (that we hardly EVER get to see), and my parents.  What a fun trip!  We did Disney three times this year.  The first in February (just Spence and I with some friends), then in September with the Hill clan and last in November with the Brems'.  After going so much in the last year, I think I love it even more than I did!  I'm already getting antsy to go back.  Until next time!

Disney World - Epcot and Animal Kingdom

Our first stop at Disney World was Epcot.  

 We spent most of the day with my parents and half of the Brems' girls and had a blast.  One of the first places we went was the Coca-Cola shop to taste all the "Flavors of the World."  They have little cups for you to sample popular sodas from eight different countries.  

Some were pretty good... and others were, well.... not so good.

 Look how cute my parents are!  Still so in love. :)  My Dad used to be a soda jerk back in the day so this stop was a request from him.  I'm glad he wanted to stop because I don't think I would have even known about it.  I'm pretty sure they went to the soda shop again before they left Epcot.

Spencer and I usually took turns going on rides.  At one of the rides in Epcot there was a great kids playing area that Colby loved.  He was sooo happy. (There are not a ton of kid friendly rides at this park so this probably was a highlight of the day for him.)

There is also an amazing and humongous aquarium at Epcot with dolphins, sharks, sea turtles, fish, etc. The aquarium and the animal kingdom safari ride were some of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

The second day at Disney World was spent at Animal Kingdom.  

Before we jumped on the safari ride:

It felt like the ride was at least 30 minutes, maybe even longer - and we all loved every minute of it.  Seriously.  Even Colby!

The animals were so close!  I love wildlife tours like that.  My favorite animal was the okapi (half zebra, half giraffe).  It was one of the first animals we saw and I just thought they were so cool looking.

I love me some pretty flamingos too.

Because we were there in November, the Christmas decorations were up.  Each park had their own tree decorated specifically for that park.  Animal Kingdom's was covered with statues of animals, obviously. :)

Love that little cheeser...

All week long these white birds walked around each and every park trying to get any food lying around.  We were able to see the Lion King show that night and as we were walking back to the car, ALL of the birds started flying to the trees to sleep for the night.  It really was amazing!