Miedema Fam: 2011

Florida............Day 4

Magic Kingdom--2011!!!

We arrived at Magic Kingdom at 8:20am and were greeted by the friendly, happy staff of Walt Disney World. We were bused to Magic Kingdom where our day of adventure started off with a horse drawn wagon show with dancers on Disney Main street followed by a spectacular show in front of the famous Disney Castle complete with fireworks!

We rode the famous Tea Cups after sharing a smoothie and a strawberry sundae= big mistake.

The morning crowds were bearable, but by 12pm walking was difficult due to the crazy number of people.

The main street parade at Disney was spectacular and was probably the favorite sight of the day. The floats and singing followed a Christmas theme. Everything done with great style and precision to make everything seem so very happy and real.

Prince Eric and Ariel

The BEAST

This is the entrance of the Magic Kingdom

Everything was so beautiful at Magic Kingdom and we were so very blessed to have such a nice, sunny day to experience it.

Above is a picture of Carter during the show in front of the castle. His favorite part was when Peter Pan took on Captain Hook in a sword dual.

The lines were so very long, but the girls did get to meet with Jasmine. The park had to close the gates for a period of time in the afternoon because the park had reached its capacity.

Florida...........Day 3

Day 3 in Florida we expected to get rain. We also needed a little down time as Mike had come down with the stomach flu during the night. We decided to check out Downtown Disney to get a taste of the area outside of Disney World and do a little shopping. The kids got some spending money from Grandpa and Grandma and it was just burning in their pockets to go and get some souvenirs.

Above is a picture of Grandpa and Grandma with all of their grandchildren.

A Dragon made entirely out of Legos--Carter loved that!

Princess Hailey and Princess Taylor

The Theme parks were so very beautifully decorated for Christmas. Christmas music was played everywhere we went.

Celebrating Christmas in a warm environment was strange.

Later that day Mike needed to rest and the rain was moving in. The kids and myself went swimming in the rain; another advantage of Christmas in Florida. The pool was 78 degrees and the hot tub was probably about 85 degrees so it didn't make a difference at all that we went swimming in the rain.

Florida............Day 2

Mom and Dad had all 8 children and all 10 grandchildren together for an awesome week in Florida.

Jake and Carter on the beach

Above: Eric, Stephanie, Trajan, Damon, and Makenna

Below: Brad, Pam, Cassie, Jake, and Maddie

Day 2 in Florida. Everyone arrived at the house in Florida; 21 of us in all. The house had 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, laundry, large living space, and we had full access to the outdoor pool and hot tub.
Monday appeared to have the best forecast for a day at the beach. We decided to head west to St. Pete's beach in the Gulf of Mexico. The weather was so beautiful and the beach was incredible. There were very few waves, the sand was like powder, and the shells were in piles. We spent hours swimming, snacking, collecting shells, walking up & down the beach, and making sand sculptures.
We all came back to the house that afternoon a bit sun burned but no one complained.

Taylor and Kensie

Grandma Vis and all her grand-daughters

Hailey and Maddie

Taylor and Makenna

Kensie on the beach. She insisted on wearing shoes because she didn't know what to think of the sand.

Mike and the kids spent an hour sculpting this shark and turtle on the beach......pretty impressive

Florida..........Day 1

Day 1 of our trip began at 3:45am when we woke up the kids for their first flight!! Carter had a hard time getting up but the girls were exceptionally agreeable when they realized that the time had finally arrived.

Taylor had a window seat for the first flight.

Carter's face was priceless with the first take off.

We took off at 6am and arrived in Chicago at 7:15am. The lay-over of 2 hours was horrible for the kids as the fatigue set in from our early wake up. We all took good naps from Chicago to Florida; Carter fell asleep before even taking off.

After landing in Florida at 1:20pm we heading straight for Cocoa Beach on the east coast. The temp was approximately 70 degrees, but cloudy. It was the kid's first time in the ocean. The loved the waves and the sand. The also found out quite quickly what salt water tasted like as the wave crashed into them.

Hailey and Mike went straight into the waves.

Next to arrive at the beach was the Walhofs and the Vis'. Cocoa beach is also where two cruise ships set sail.

Our little Christmas............

Christmas Eve with the kids

Meet Molly!!!! Taylor's new American Girl.

Carter's new batman apparel.

Miedema Family Christmas in Bloomington

Above: Julie and Brittney

This year was a very special Christmas! We hosted Mike's family for the first time ever during the holidays. His mom, sisters, and family agreed to drive up on Friday afternoon to celebrate at our house since we were going to Florida early Christmas morning.

We had a great time and are so very blessed.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!