Disney World

We just got back from a trip to Florida where we went to a big conference and then took a few days of vacation. We had a fantastic time seeing Bill's old friends in Brandon. We were surprised at how many people remembered him from his music internship days, and even youth group days, at Bell Shoals. Everyone welcomed us with open arms. I can't stress how much we needed the encouragement and prayers that we got during the conference.

Afterwards with went to Winter Park to stay with our good friend Fran. We had an extremely relaxing time with him when we went to Disney and then to New Smyrna to see his parents. I'll post pictures of New Smyrna later, but for now, enjoy our pics from Disney. I will say this, it was exactly what we needed after the month we had!

Poor Sam didn't get much sleep the entire trip, but he really did enjoy himself at Disney. All the sights and sounds were a little overwhelming at first and we didn't actually get to ride anything until about two hours in. I had to feed him, change him...this and that got in the way of actually doing anything at the park.

I was so excited when I found out we could go around Halloween-time. I've never been to Disney during Halloween and was excited about the decorations. The greenhouse at Disney put small pumpkins (the size of a grapefruit) into a Mickey mold and made whole Mickey-shaped pumpkins. Here we are just before getting kicked out (we didn't buy tickets for the Halloween Bash after 7pm and had to leave - but don't worry, I got three free tickets out of it!).

Here is Sam having his first bite of gigantic turkey leg. He LOVED it. It was a bit too heavy for him to hold alone though.

Sam took an instant liking to Fran and had to be held by him on more than one occasion. Fran even volunteered to keep Sam while we went on the Haunted Mansion ride. We were a bit nervous leaving him about 50 feet from us while we were inside, but Sam slept most of the fifteen minutes we were gone. Phew. Fran knew just how to make Sam happy.

Sam and I went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, which used to be Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It was essentially the same ride, only a story from Winnie the Pooh was being told instead. I was a bit disappointed, actually, but Sam didn't care one bit. He loved it.

Here are the guys just before they went on Splash Mountain. Don't worry, Sam didn't go with them.

We've had our hands full since we have been back. It's a special week over at Southeastern and we got to set up a display table yesterday. We went to the fair with my brother and his wife last night and didn't make it home till late. I'm a bit delayed in emails right now, so please forgive me.