Valley Falls WV

We took a road trip to visit Mike's Grandpa.  On the way we stopped at Valley Falls in Fairmont, WV. It was a little out of the way but we had been locked up in our house sick for a few weeks so we were itching to get out.

Unfortunately the road down into the park was closed and there was no way around it.  The road is about a mile.  So we walked.  Not too bad on the way down but on the way back it is a mile straight up hill.  It was rough carrying the kids back.  We had to hurry because we were already late to visit Grandpa.


The park was nice and we hope to visit again when the road is open and the weather is a little warmer.

Rest of our vacation

Here is the rest of our vacation pictures.

The kids loved swimming.  The weather was perfect for swimming, esp. for December.  We have never really swimmed on our other December trips.  It was always too cold.  Most days it got into the low 80's so it felt good to swim.

Here is a shot of our hotel...All Star Sports.

it had a mini football field that hayden liked playing on.

The kids had a blast in the arcade.  Amelia loved driving cars.  No money needed for her.

Our room was a little crowded but we did ok.  Amelia would just trash the place every night!

We went to downtown disney one night.  We ate at Wolfgang Puck Express and did some shopping.

Kids liked the lego store.  The big incredible hulk out of legos was cool.

So was Woody and Buzz

We had a blast this trip.  Hayden still talks about it.  Amelia likes to look at pictures. If she sees a princess one she scream "rella" (for Cinderella).  She loves to see the castle pics and mickey, minnie, and donald pictures.

A few more Misc pics:

Magic Kingdom 3

Our last day was early hour entry for hotel guests.  The park was so empty it was nice.  I wish they would have had early hours when we went in May.

This was the only day it wasn't warm in the parks and it was a little rainy.

We took some pictures with the castle

We rode Peter Pan, Pooh, Tea Cups Small World, and the Merry go Round.  Hayden managed fall off the merry go round but get stuck so he was hanging upside down from the little step that you use to get on the horse.  He is crazy.

We also rode the rockets.  All before the park officially opened.

We then rode Pirates, the magic carpets, and Big Thunder Mtn.

We met Jasmine and Alladin

Hayden got to shoot guns.  He was so excited.

We rode Buzz again, and the people mover and saw Mickey's Philharmagic
Something was obviously very funny on the people mover...

We also met Peter Pan.

Even Amelia loved Peter Pan and gave him a hug.  Of course there was no photo pass photographer to capture it and I had the crappy camera.

We did some more fun pictures.

We watched the parade and the kids loved it. 

The high light of the day was eating in Be Our Guest Restaraunt.
 Dinner reservations are booked solid for months.  I tried but couldn't get one.  But you can eat lunch first come first serve.  So we waited in the long line for lunch.  The kids had a hard time and were fighting.  Hayden got mad at Kennedy and depantsed her.  Ugh!  By the time we got in we were all on edge and a little snippy with each other. But once we sat down and had our food everything was ok.

 Hayden and Kennedy eventually made up...

Amelia was happy to get her precious "pop"  which she hoards and chugs b/c she doesn't want it taken away from her.

The place is gorgeous.  It had beautiful chandeliers in the main room.

The rose was in another room

And a jewelery box in the third room.

The food was good.   much different then normal lunch food at parks. I had a steak sandwich.  It was a real piece of steak not steak n cheese.   At dinner the beast comes around.  He didn't do this at lunch.  If you can go here definetely go.

We were going to ride the monorail to the resorts to see the decorations but it was broken so we just went back to the hotel.

The kids couldn't swim since it was chilly so I let them play in the arcade.

Poor Amelia threw up in the middle of the night.  That was fun.  Then we had to fly home where once again she did not sleep.  I was exhausted when we got home.

Wishes Dessert Party

The Dessert Party was awesome.  I tried to book it last trip but it is hard to get.  I was so excited that I was able to get reservations this trip.


Basically it is a dessert party about an hour before the fireworks.  You eat and then have a great spot to watch the fireworks instead of fighting for spots out in the park.  It gets crazy out there.

We arrived and Main Street was packed.  This photo of the main street lights shows how crowded it can get.

We found a spot off to the side and watched the Castle lighting show.  I love the Castle lights.  Aren't they so pretty?  It is one of my favorite things to see in all of Disney.

Bad thing about our spot was it was near the water.  Amelia is super scared of the ducks.  She freaks out everytime she sees one.  Oops.

We tried to get some family pictures with the lights.  Hayden and kennedy got into a fight right before so they are both crying.

After pictures we squeezed our way thru the crowds to the dessert party.

It is a buffet of tiny desserts.  There were tons to choose from:  chocolate covered strawberries, different shooters, tiramasu, chocolate peanut butter, ice cream and so many more.

Amelia loved the desserts as you can see.  Can you say sugar high?

We got to see the new castle show.  You can see a video of it here.  It was very cool.  I loved it.  They do all sorts of projections on the castle.  I liked when it became a gingerbread house.

Hayden loved when It became Wreck It Ralph.

watch movie here:
Celebrate the magic castle show

Then we watched the Wishes fireworks.  Amelia just stared and never moved.  Hayden enjoyed them but said the last boom was too loud.


About one minute before they were to start hayden had to pee.  There was no bathroom nearby and I didn't book the party to miss the fireworks.  So i said if you have to just pee your pants b/c I packed him pj's.  I didn't realize until after the show that he did pee his pants! Sorry bud.

The fireworks were great.  I would definitely would do it again. Tinkerbell flew right over us.  (it was a guy!)  If you want you can see a video:  fireworks

The kids were exhausted and luckily we got bus right away back to the hotel.