Disney Trip Day 1

On December 17th we left our house before sunrise to make the 7am flight from Pittsburgh to Orlando.

We were originally scheduled for a flight that didn't depart from Pittsburgh until 8:30pm, so we felt blessed to be able to fly stand by on a flight so much earlier in the day. This would give us an extra half day to explore Disney World. Kerriann did so well during the flight and all of the other passengers loved her. Since we flew on stand by, we ended up in the very last row of the plane. She definitely kept everyone company as they were waiting for the bathroom-haha! 

The journey from the airport to the hotel took much longer than we anticipated. By the time we got to our hotel and freshened up it was late in the afternoon. Though we were all tired (especially Kevin, he wasn't even home 24 hours before we left for FL) we were running on adrenaline and decided that we would check out the Magic Kingdom before dark.

Before boarding a shuttle bus, which was our main form of transportation during our stay, we posed for a few photos with the patriotic Mickey statue in the lobby of our first hotel, Shades of Green.

We loved staying at Shades of Green, and we definitely would like to go back one day. This hotel is for military personnel and their family and they really took great care of us during our stay. The rooms were spacious, the hotel was beautiful (especially decorated for Christmas), and the food in the restaurants was amazing. The chef was even very helpful in helping select gluten and dairy free meals.

After a ride on the shuttle bus as well as the tram connecting the bus stop to the Magic Kingdom gates, we were ready to do some exploring. We made it into the park just in time for a parade in front of Cinderella's castle.

The parade was the perfect way to kick off the visit. Kerriann loves parades, and all of the characters. You could tell that she was in awe.

A tip for those visiting the park and watching the parades... make sure you are on the outside of the parade, rather than trapped on an "island" inside. This will be extremely helpful if you want to leave before the parade has ended. It will also get you out quicker even if you choose to stay for the duration. People start lining up for parades up to 30 minutes in advance and they are PACKED! For this one we just happened to be in the right place at the right time, but we were prepared for the other parades that we saw over the next few days.

Once the parade was over, we decided to walk around and try to plan out what we would do the next day when we came back. The park was extremely packed because it was the Saturday before Christmas. This was probably the worst day we could have chosen to be there as far as crowds. The lines were too long to really do anything but sight see.

As we were walking, we noticed that the line to meet Tinkerbell was only 45 minutes long (which was pretty short on that particular day), so we decided to wait it out. This was Kerriann's first character meet and greet and she did awesome!

I think it helped that Tinkerbell was a real person, rather than a person in a costume. Either way, she had a great time. She got to meet Tinkerbell and another male fairy, though we're still not sure what his name was!

Look at the mark Tinkerbell left on Kerriann! We thought this was so cute!

After our visit with the fairies, we headed back to the castle for another parade. This one was geared towards music and dancing.

Kerriann could hardly contain herself once the music started. She was ready to get down and DANCE!

As the sun set and the parade ended, we all directed our attention to the castle for a skit. Minnie, Mickey and a few of the other characters were dressed in their Christmas gear, ready to light the castle.

The castle was so beautiful once it was lit with the Christmas lights. I have been to Disney at Christmastime before, but I have never seen the lighting ceremony or even the lights at night. It was definitely a memorable experience, and I'm so glad that I was able to share it with Kevin and Kerriann.

After that we headed back to Shades of Green to rest up for day two!

Kevin's R&R Homecoming: Surprising KA

When we found out that Kevin would definitely be coming home for Christmas, we decided to try to surprise Kerriann at school.  Originally he was supposed to get in sometime Thursday morning, which would mean perfect timing for me to drop her off for the morning, pick him up, and then get back to Morgantown before her school closed for the evening.  Of course, as Thursday went on plans kept changing.  We decided to have Christiane stay the night at our house in case I needed to go pick him up in Pittsburgh during the night.  In the end, he ended up arriving around 9am on Friday.  This worked out all because I was able to drop KA off at school as soon as it opened.  I barely made it through parking and security to Kevin's gate before he deplaned, but I got there just in time.  Maybe 1-2 minutes after I got there he walked off of the plane.  It was such a happy reunion after a long three months!

Since we had some extra time, we stopped at the outlets on the way home to finish up our Christmas shopping.  It was so fun to walk around, just the two of us, and browse the stores.  I'm glad we had a few hours to ourselves before picking Kerriann up from school.

When we were finished shopping, we ran home to eat lunch and then picked up Christiane and Alana for Kerriann's big surprise.  They wanted to help videotape and be there to see her reaction.

When we got to school, Christiane, Alana and I went into Kerriann's classroom and Kevin waited outside.  When the camera was all set up, Alana went outside to tell Kevin it was time to come in.



She was so excited to see her daddy!  As you'll notice in the video, she has taken to calling us Kevin and Adriane.  I'm sure this is just a phase, but we have been getting some curious looks out in public.

Kerriann's class made Kevin a banner and a welcome home card that had all of their hand prints in red and blue paint.  Kerriann also gave Kevin a red, white and blue airplane when he walked in as you'll see in the video.  She was so funny and kept waving it around and yelling "fly, fly!"

One more picture to share from this amazing day.  Kerriann's letter to Santa that was posted on the door of her classroom.

I don't think any of us could have asked for a more perfect first day home for Kevin.  It was so great to be reunited as a family again, and it was a great kick off for the rest of the two weeks that we would spend together.

Kevin's R&R

As most of you probably know by now, Kevin was able to join us for two weeks in December!  It was a very last minute decision, and we kept it on the down low because he wanted to surprise his extended family at their annual Christmas party.

I surprised Kevin at the gate as he was getting off the plane and barely made it in time.  People were already getting off of the plane as I rushed through security, but luckily he was one of the last ones off.

It was EXTREMELY hard for me to keep this secret because I am so close with many of his family members, but I was able to hold it together somehow!  It was especially difficult because we decided to book a last minute trip to Disney World for five days the week before Christmas.  Between the end of the school semester, planning the trip, prepping the house, doing all of the Christmas shopping, wrapping and decorating as well as juggling Kerriann alone, I was slightly stressed!

But if you know me, you know I love to be busy, and I wouldn't have wanted this holiday season to go any other way.  I can't even put into words how amazing it was to have Kevin home for two weeks.  He arrived on December 16th (he was supposed to get in on the 15th but was delayed) and left on New Years Day.  We decided on this time frame even though it was so early in the deployment because it was the only time we were guaranteed that I would be off from school.  We could have requested for him to come back during my spring break, but it happened to fall almost mid way through the deployment and he knew that everyone else was planning to request at that time as well.  Even if he had been approved, I would have most likely been right in the midst of midterms during his visit.  I am so glad that he was able to spend the past two weeks with us. It was nice having him here for both holidays, even though we took it easy on New Years Eve since we had to leave for the airport at 6am.

I have so many pictures and videos to share.  I'm hoping to get most of them up this week before I go back to school on the 9th.

It's been a day and a half since we dropped Kevin off at the airport and I am still working on getting past the initial shock of being alone again.  This goodbye was just as hard as the first one, but completely different at the same time.  This time, I knew exactly what I was facing, where the first time was uncharted territory.  This time I knew exactly how hard it was going to be going from having him here to being alone, but it's worse in a way.

Now, we are back to the beginning of another countdown, except the first one was only three months and this one could end up being between seven and eight.  And having him home for two weeks was wonderful, but a hard reminder of how much better life is when he's around.  Of course we are hoping and praying that he will be home sooner than planned with all of the changes that are happening overseas, but there is no guarantee.  Just keep our family in your prayers until we are reunited again!