Happy New Year!

Oh wait. Are we not using that greeting anymore? I recently heard someone say that New Year's resolutions are fizzing out right about now and my first thought was, "Were those due already?" At this rate, it looks like I will be making my resolutions at the same time I give something up for Lent. But that's not my fault. That's the calendar's fault.

Anyway, I do kind of have a resolution. You see, we went to Disney World in January. It was our first family vacation and we planned it for a year and we did it to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. It was wonderful. But my point is, we came home and I felt amazing. I recently read a quote about how coming home is better than the vacation itself. I know what it means. I was so grateful for my life. I can't tell what exactly caused such a light hearted feeling. Maybe it was homesickness or just the feel of my own bed after being away for a week but it felt a little deeper. Like one of those, "you don't know what you have until it's gone," kind of feelings. Whatever it was, it fizzled. A week later when our toilet and garage door both needed repairs on the same day and my microwave resumed its high pitch squeal whenever it was turned on, I was having trouble maintaining a positive attitude. And then there's that post-holiday lull where you think, "now what?" We celebrated Christmas, we went on our much anticipated vacation that went by way too fast, we celebrated Paul's birthday and our anniversary and now it's February and... now what? Back to work for Paul, back to school for Liam, and back to the daily tasks I have to accomplish as a stay at home mom. Sometimes, it just doesn't feel like enough. And that makes me sound so horribly ungrateful because I am so blessed and our life is amazing. But I can be real here, right? And that brings me to my resolution. Which I think has been my resolution for the past 5 years. To focus on what is important, to be content and grateful, to work hard at whatever task I'm given even if it's "just" homemaking, to not get wrapped up in the things I want or the goals I have yet to accomplish, to know that raising a family is the most important thing I can be doing at this point in my life and to feel confident about that, to not compare myself with others. Basically, to bring back that post-vacation attitude and feeling because it was really that good.

Now, I shall share a few pictures from our vacation. I kind of don't know where to start because we took over 800 pictures but I guess I'll go in chronological order.

Here is Paul trying to convince Brygit to relax while we waited to board the plane.

The kids had never flown before so they were pretty funny about listening to all the safety information. That is, until Liam started asking about the oxygen masks and in what scenario we would actually need them. It kind of made me want to call the whole thing off.

Also, we rented a van and it was so cool. Who knew minivans were so amazing nowadays?

On our first day at the parks we visited Disney's Hollywood Studios which is pretty much a whole park made up like the Hollywood Blvd area in California Adventure. This picture was taken while we were in line for the Little Mermaid show. This is where I have to say how thankful I am that my father and mother-in-law were able to come with us. They were super helpful with the kids and it was just so much more fun with them there. I am glad we all got to share these memories together.

The highlight of Hollywood Studios for the boys was the huge Star Wars area and all the Star Wars merchandise.

For me, the best part was the Great Movie Ride. It was a ride through the history of film and the best part was when we stopped in Munchkin Land and sang "Follow the Yellow Brick Road." It almost brought me to tears. Worth the trip there.

The next day we visited Epcot. We spent most of the day in the Future World area. We went on the Finding Nemo ride which lets you out in a huge aquarium with Manatees and Dolphins and fish. It was crazy. We could've spent the entire day just in there.

We also got to meet Baymax which I think was more impressive for me than for the kids.

Just as it started to rain we headed over to World Marketplace area and it was daunting how huge it was. We enjoyed Fish and Chips in the UK area and then started to look around a bit.

We were in ponchos and the kids just weren't having it but we still made it through all 11 countries stopping only for fresh caramel corn in Germany before jumping ship.

Luckily, we went back on another day with much nicer weather and got to spend more time in the World Marketplace which was Paul's favorite part of the entire trip. More pictures of that later.