The Horvick's: September 2006

The big surprise!

On our last day of the trip we checked out of Disney and the kids settled in for a long drive home to NC. What they didn't know is that we had one more day left on our vacation. Rob pretended to get lost so that we could pull into the Nick Hotel and ask for directions. Were they ever surprised when we checked in!! We needed a vacation away from our vacation. We spent the whole day just swimming and laying by the pool. It was a wonderful relaxing day.

Cecilia climbing the slide

Evie sliding in for a splash down

all the walls of the hotel were decorated with the kid's favorite characters.

Evie and Ceci meeting Spongebob and Patrick.

Evie hugging Diego, Dora's cousin.

this is the water slides at the main pool

and this is when they slime everyone.

The Boys had slime juice with their dinners.

in the evening they put on a show. It had challenges like relay races and trivia. Evie got picked out of the audience to participate in a relay. She had to bring cloths to another person one piece at a time and the person had to get dressed in them and in the the end she was dressed like a Fairly Odd Parent, like on the show.

Pirate Cruise/Princess Makeover.

Half way through our trip we took a day off from running from park to park to relax. We broke off into two groups. Rob took the boys to Disney's Yacht Club resort to catch the pirate cruise. The boys got to dress up like pirates and "sail" away on a boat in search of buried treasure on one of the many islands in the lake. They loved it, and it gave Rob 2 hours to himself to unwind.
I took the girls to Downtown Disney, to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for princess makeovers. I had so much fun watching the girls beam from ear to ear. The loved the pampering.

MGM Studios

We had a blast at MGM! This park is movie themed. All of the rides are like you are on set with a movie production. There was more to do then we got to.

Brian and Cecilia getting soaked on the Back Lot Tour.

We had to separate for a bit so that the big kids could go on the big rides. Cecilia spotted Tigger and got an autograph for Evie.

Ben Loved the Star Tours ride. They had lots of fun movie props to pose for pictures with.

While we were at MGM we ate at the Sci-Fi Dine in. It is done up like a 50's Drive in. All of the boots are cars, and they face a big movie screen, that plays old Sci-fi movie trailers.

Ben in front of R2-D2 on the Star Tours ride.

Evie and I went to see Imagination Movers in concert at MGM. We got right up in the first row. She loved dancing and interacting with the band.

Evie and Ben getting Woody's Autograph.

All 4 Kids in front of the Sorcer's Hat.

Animal Kingdom

Our favorite ride at Animal Kingdom is the Kali River Rapids. Combining all the days that we spent at AK we must have went on the ride 20 times. That is why in most of the pictures we are all wet. I don't have any pics of the ride it self. It is to wet of a ride to whip out the camera.

This is the new Everest ride. Rob, Brian, and Cecilia ran to this ride every morning to get on before the lines got to long.

All of us infront of the Tree of Life.

Evie is soaked from the river rapids.

One morning we were there so early that they asked Brian to help open the park. He was awarded a certificate and a fast pass to any ride in the park. He had a lot of fun doing this.

Everyone waiting to get onto Exploration Everest.

Jungle explorers.

The two stitch's hanging out together.

Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom is our favorite park. We spent the most time there. There is something for everyone! On one of the days, James, Jill and Andrew joined us there. We hadn't gotten a chance to meet Andrew yet, What a wonderful way. It will be fun when he gets a little older and we can have family trips together like that.

The castle all decorated for the "Happiest celebration"

Evie and Ceci on "Small World"

Ben Waiting the long wait to get onto Pirates of the Caribbean.

I present the new King Brian and his round table.

My princess on Cinderella's carousel.

Rob and Evie on the Buzz Lightyear ride. This is one of the favorites of all the kid's. It's like a video game were you shoot for points.

All of the Horvick kids together. Our kids were so thrilled to finally meet their new cousin.

Brian and Uncle James on the Buzz ride.

Some photos of the kids at Epcot.

We made it to Epcot a few times while on our trip. Cecilia and the boys really loved Test Track, Missions: SPACE. Evelyn adored Figment and we all loved trying out Soarin' as a family.

Below are a few pictures of our time there.

Cecilia and Ben at the Living Seas resturant. The food was decent but the wait was ridiculous (especially with reservations made 180 days in advance).

The kids in front of the Living Seas sign at Epcot.

Cecilia snacking down on a ice cream. It was about 95 and humid so a cool treat was a welcome break.

During our dinner at the Living Seas, Mickey came SCUBA diving past our table. It was a fun treat.

At The Land you can take a tour of the agricultural areas where foods for the resort resturants and some ag research is done. Here they are making Mickey Mouse shaped pumpkins for the Holloween season.

The boys tried out a "British Phone" at the Canadian exhibit.

This is a shot over the water from the Japanese village.

A shot of some of the villages from across the water.

These clown fish were at an exhibit in the Living Seas.

Cece and Evie meeting Mulan at our breakfast at Aukurhaus.

Evelyn meeting Belle.

Will the real Sleeping Beauty please stand up? Evelyn meets her twin at our Aukurshaus breakfast.

The famous Epcot ball with the belle of the ball.

The older kids explored their Norwegian heritage at the Epcot Norwegian village.

Our Hotel

We had two rooms in the Pop Century Resort. It was a brightly colored hotel decorated with pop culture memorabilia. We were in the "60's" era. It was a blast!

The kids playing outdoor twister

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

The girls at the hippity dippity pool outside our rooms.

On Our Way

We are Back! What a wonderful trip! We have close to 700 pictures to weed threw, so it might take me a while to get the rest of the trip posted. The first night is easy. We stopped in Savannah, GA on our way down. We walked the historic river front area. It was beautiful! We toured the Juliet Gordon Low house, we walked threw the parks, and we ate at an old pirate house! We had a ton of fun there. I hope we get the chance to go back and spend some more time there.

There were no pictures allowed inside the Gordon house. But this is the Girls Scout symbol in the gate outside of the house in her garden/courtyard area. The house was very nice. The girls were able to buy official pins that they can wear on the front of their vests to show that they visited the Birthplace of Juliet (Founder of the Girl Scouts).

House this week

Hi there, We are leaving for Disney World this morning! Everyone is excited and bubbly. The house has been flying this week, and when we get back from our trip it should be done! Here are some photos of what got done this week.

The driveway, back patio, and front walk were poured early this week.

The permanent door was delivered. I think they are going to paint it black to match the shutters. If not I'm going to paint it. I really don't like the light wood color that's on it now.

All of the light fixtures were hung. This is the chandelier in the dining room.

This is the kitchen! The tiling is done and the countertops are in! They have the dishwasher in as well, but no range yet.

This is our wood floors going in. It only took them about a half an hour to bang those down. We just happened to be there when they were doing it, and it was such a thrill to get to see it go in!