Randy & Kathy Burris and their boys, Casey and Corey (ages 7 and 4) went with us. We all went in one regular sized car and the guys drove all night to get there. This was back in the days before seat belts or car seats were required - so the boys slept on the floor, in the back window, etc. I was very disappointed as I dug through old pictures of our trips, that we didn't take more "people" pictures....on this trip, we don't even have a group picture. Randy took this one:
And Jeff took this one.....We have totally lost touch with the Burris.....the last we knew (which was 25 years ago, they were living in Kansas City). Would love to see them again!
Momma and her boys!
My cute little boys with one of the "Little Piggies"
Our next trip was in 1987 after we had moved to Jacksonville, Texas. Mom and Dad drove their "beautiful??" van down to Tyler, Texas to pick up Don and Bev and their girls, Shannan (8) and Shawna (5) and Jeff & I and our kids. Josh would have been almost 10; Andy was 7 and Rachel was 2. Right before this picture was taken, Andy smashed his thumb in the van door....it hurt!! To this day, he still does not have a nail on that thumb. Jeff took this picture right before we pulled out. Yes, the boys' shorts are so ugly - what was I thinking!?!? We again drove all night, so I guess I just put something very comfortable on them to sleep in.
Again, Jeff taking the picture...here is the family in front of Spaceship Earth at Epcot....
I included this picture, since Jeff is in it (I think it was actually at Sea World):
Here are my kiddo's with Mickey:
And the five cousins.....
And the only picture we have of our immediate family.....so far away though :-(.......
Then in 1989, while we still lived in Jacksonville, Texas, Jeff was given the honor of being named as President of the Kiwanis Club. That summer, their Annual Meeting was in Orlando and they would pay for a good portion of our trip. It was the first time that the kids and I had ever flown, so that added much excitement to our trip! Josh would have been 12; Andy 9, and Rachel 4.
We didn't even have a single picture taken of our whole family :-(
We also visited Nasa this trip......
Then probably the kids' very favorite time was in 1993, when we went with 3 other families from our church, Calvary Baptist in Mesquite, TX, because they were all older and their best friends went too. Each family drove their own vehicle and we followed one another. The kids, of course, rode in different vehicles with their friends. Every stop, we would have to take count....so as not to leave one of those 11 kids behind!! Here we are at our first hotel stop. I will give names and ages in a little while. Rodney took this picture.....
And Jeff took this one.......
Here we are at Epcot....I think Josh took this picture.....
The families that went....The Swarts......Josh was almost 16; Andy was 13 and Rachel was 8.
The Saunders: Rick, Monica, Aaron, Lauren, Sarah, and Annie. This trip was especially memorable to all of us, as shortly after we returned home, Rick was diagnosed with cancer and died a few short years later. Rick was Chairman of our Deacons while we were at Calvary and one of the best! We love you, Rick, and still miss you!!
The Saunders: Rick, Monica, Aaron, Lauren, Sarah, and Annie. This trip was especially memorable to all of us, as shortly after we returned home, Rick was diagnosed with cancer and died a few short years later. Rick was Chairman of our Deacons while we were at Calvary and one of the best! We love you, Rick, and still miss you!!
The Christians: Rodney, Brenda, Teri and Brad (we would return to WDW 7 years later for a sweet reunion with the Christians).
The Murreys - Gary, Pam, Matt and Meagan......Gary still does our taxes for us -- thank you, Gary!!
Some of the girls riding the monorail....
This picture always makes me smile! Because of the crowds, we got in the habit of raising our arms in the air when moving from one location to another, in order to stay together (with 19 of us, it was hard!). So I wanted to get a picture of the raised arms here and we got so tickled, cause others raised their arms, not having any idea why our group was doing it. You just had to be there, I guess, to laugh with me :-)!!
Our family in front of the Haunted House -- always a favorite ride of our family!
This trip was also memorable as Jeff turned 40 while we were in Florida. This ugly swan vase and black flowers have a "history" all of it's own that I won't go into detail here, but somehow it mysteriously made it's appearance in Florida to say Happy Birthday to Jeff!
Our next trip to Florida was in 2000 and our only child to accompany us was Rachel. The boys were both out of our home at this time. We were living in Conway, Arkansas. The Christians, who still lived in Mesquite, TX, met us in Florida (we both had flown). Rachel was 15 years old.
This was our first experience at staying at a Disney Resort, which we loved and wouldn't ever do it any other way. We went in July, though, and it was one of the hottest summers there as well as back in Arkansas. I think it was around 100 every day, so that did take some of the fun out of it. It sure was nice, though, by staying inside WDW, we were able to go back to our hotel in the heat of the afternoon for time at the pool, or naps in the airconditioning.
Jeff, Rachel & I also went to Universal Studios that time....
Our favorite at Epcot: Test Track!
Which brings me to this year - 2010. Jeff and I just returned from a full two weeks at Walt Disney World. Our first time to go without any children (and I'm sure our last--as next time, I hope it's with several grandchildren!). But even without kids, we had a blast. And as I observed other families with tired, whiny kiddos, I was even more thankful - ha! We had gotten a good package deal through Allegient Airlines for our flight, hotel and park tickets. We were able to go to a park one day, then rest the next day (which was great for these two old people). We would spend our days off usually by the pool (for me it was on a raft in the pool reading, and checking email/Facebook); for Jeff it was in the shade working on his computer or reading, etc, with an afternoon nap in the room. The parks weren't as crowded as what we have experienced in the summer, nor was it as hot. All of which was a real blessing.We had six days at the Disney parks and one day at Universal Studios.....Our first day was at Magic Kingdom.....
The next park was Epcot (our favorite)
This was a new ride at Epcot (although we have ridden several times at Disneyland in California). It's a great ride!
The landscaping, shrubs and flowers are so, so pretty!!
We went to Epcot 3 different times during this stay. This was our last day there.
We went to Animal Kingdom only one afternoon/evening....it's our least favorite - but still a fun park. Our second favorite is Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Here are a few pics there:They have a walk thru museum in honor of Walt - what a creative, imaginative mind that man had!
Our very favorite thing at Hollywood Studios was the American Idol Experience. It was as close as one could get to being in the audience of a live American Idol. After the finale, we walked outside to have our picture taken in front of this huge screen. At the time, Ryan Seacrest was on the screen. We had asked a "stranger" to take our picture. It was to our delight after we looked at it, that Kris Allen, 2009's winner from Conway, AR was on the screen!
An added blessing during this visit was time with Craig, Angela and Kaitlyn Mooney. They live in Orlando and invited us to their beautiful home one evening for a delicious steak dinner and then we joined them at their church, FBC, Orlando on Sunday for a great worship service and then another delicious meal at Boston Fish House afterwards.
After a full two weeks, we were really ready to come home - and looked forward to it (that's not always been the case in the past)! The icing on the vacation cake was that we flew out of NWA, so we got to see Lainey-Bug both going and coming home! She is growing and doing great. I'm already missing her, though :-)!! Yes, I'm very much the smitten grandma!
Of course, Lainey-Bug had to have a Minnie Mouse from Disney.....at this point she could care less as sleep was more important, but hopefully some day she will love her Minnie!
And a "baby" Winnie the Pooh.....her daddy had a BIG Winnie the Pooh, given to him by our good friends, the Lemons, as a high school student--it even went to SOAR at Washington, DC with him :-)!!
Goodbye, Disney - thank you for all the wonderful memories!!!
Our very favorite thing at Hollywood Studios was the American Idol Experience. It was as close as one could get to being in the audience of a live American Idol. After the finale, we walked outside to have our picture taken in front of this huge screen. At the time, Ryan Seacrest was on the screen. We had asked a "stranger" to take our picture. It was to our delight after we looked at it, that Kris Allen, 2009's winner from Conway, AR was on the screen!
An added blessing during this visit was time with Craig, Angela and Kaitlyn Mooney. They live in Orlando and invited us to their beautiful home one evening for a delicious steak dinner and then we joined them at their church, FBC, Orlando on Sunday for a great worship service and then another delicious meal at Boston Fish House afterwards.
After a full two weeks, we were really ready to come home - and looked forward to it (that's not always been the case in the past)! The icing on the vacation cake was that we flew out of NWA, so we got to see Lainey-Bug both going and coming home! She is growing and doing great. I'm already missing her, though :-)!! Yes, I'm very much the smitten grandma!Of course, Lainey-Bug had to have a Minnie Mouse from Disney.....at this point she could care less as sleep was more important, but hopefully some day she will love her Minnie!
And a "baby" Winnie the Pooh.....her daddy had a BIG Winnie the Pooh, given to him by our good friends, the Lemons, as a high school student--it even went to SOAR at Washington, DC with him :-)!!
Goodbye, Disney - thank you for all the wonderful memories!!!
