Day THREE: Hollywood Studio's

Day three of our Disney adventure took our family to Hollywood Studio's!

 Hudson was THE most excited about visiting this park.

His all-time favorite characters "lived" there and he couldn't wait to hug Woody and give Buzz Light Year a high five!!!

We got to the park nice and early, and once the gates opened, we made a mad dash to the
 Toy Story Mania ride.

Because of it's popularity, this ride usually has a L-O-N-G wait.

We headed there first, hoping to avoid a line and crowd.

Because we got there so quickly though, we got to ride it TWICE in a row with out much of a wait at all!

SCORE!!!!

Once we finished the ride, we headed over to meet the Toy Story cast.

And sweet Hudson got that much anticipated hug from Woody!!!

Andy's toy soldiers can be found just walking around the streets of the park, and if you yell, "Andy's coming!" they freeze in place. So FUN!!!

We enjoyed watching the Indiana Jones Stunt show.

 The BIG boys were especially mesmerized by all the cool tricks they did! 

But we experienced Disney magic at its best when we visited Oaken's trading post, 

and got to play in REAL SNOW!!!!!

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!

Our lunch was at the Hollywood & Vine, where we dined with several popular Disney Jr. characters.

Doc McStuffins

Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Handy Manny

AND (my Sophie's all-time favorite) Sofia the First!!!!!

Our crew got to meet Mator too!

But I have to say, meeting Mike and Sully was the highlight of the day!

They were absolutely HILARIOUS and totally made all my little monsters laugh out loud!

A hiking we will go!

For the past three years now, we have taken the kids hiking in Crowders Mountain on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. 

I guess you could say its become a family tradition. 

With the kids out of school, and Shane off of work, we love being together while experiencing the great outdoors!  

Yesterday, was especially beautiful out! 

We had perfect temps and a gorgeous Carolina blue sky to enjoy! 

Before beginning our hike, we decided to picnic by the lake.

Once our bellies were full, we started our ascent.

Our fearless leader (aka Miss Sophie) lead the way like it was her job!

She owned the mountain;)

Everyone else just fell into line behind her;)

Of course, each time we hike, it gets easier and easier with the little ones.

They really do well and enjoy exploring all the way up the mountain.  

We take short breaks along the way, but for the most part, we/they are FULL steam ahead.

Mr. I'm too cool for my own good;)

It took us a little over an hour to make the 2.2 mile climb,

but once we were at the top, it made every step worth it!

Totally worth it!!!

And this is my sweet crew once we finished our descent down the mountain!

 HA! 

After almost five miles of hiking fun, these peeps were flat WORN OUT! 

What a day...what an amazing adventure!

Epcot, Day 2

 I am TOTALLY behind in posting about our trip to Disney (which was back in the beginning of November), BUT I know how much I want to have these pictures on my blog for memories sake, so bear with me. 

You can read about Day ONE here. 

Day TWO:

On the second day of our trip, we headed to Epcot!

This was MY favorite day of the entire week.

I just LOVE Epcot. 

LOVE IT!!

It's was not nearly as busy as the Magic Kingdom, and we got to meet a TON of characters without waiting in ridiculously long lines.

Oh, and the food...the food there is DELICIOUS!!!

Here's Cor and I devouring some caramels from the Werther's Shop in Germany. 

The rides were AWESOME,

and the kids had a blast walking around and learning about each country!

Of course, China was our FAVORITE!!!

For lunch, we ate in Norway, at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

This was our lunch with all the Disney princesses.

Belle greeted us at the door, and then the rest of the princesses made their way around to our table during our meal! 

Snow White!

Ariel!

Cinderella!

And Princess Aurora!

This might be my very favorite picture from the ENTIRE trip! 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!!!!

That night, we ate dinner at 1900 Park Fare which is located in the beautiful Grand Floridian hotel.

This time we got to dine with the ENTIRE cast from Cinderella!

Prince Charming was such a handsome

 and gracious host, 

while the wicked step mother and step sisters were absolutely hilarious!!

They were quite a hoot and so much fun to chat with!

It was truly a MAGICAL day filled with AMAZING and WONDERFUL memories!