Disney in December!

Christmas at Disney World, started at Hollywood Studios, where we saw Disney Characters, rode the Star (Wars) Tours, watched Indiana Jones stuntmen...

 ...witnessed race-car "extreme" stunts, and we ended the evening with a fantastic light show!

 The next day, we woke up bright-eyed and ready for Magic Kingdom!

During our 15 hour day, and with a little team-work, we hit everything on our wish-list.  It's great to have an organizer like tia Jill for these things!  We rode Snow White's Mines, Dumbo, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Jingle Saffari (Jungle ride at Christmas), Peter-Pan, Tom-Sawyer's Island (that one is great for when everyone falls apart and needs a little break); we even convinced the kids to go into the Haunted House (incidentally, not a great ride to get stuck in).  The sun is certainly a little brighter when you've been inside of a dark haunted house for several extra minutes!

 The merry-go-round is also another nice way to relax the feet (and stretch your aching back).

As the sun started to set, we made our way back over to Main Street

 It's about to get Magical!

Before calling it a (late) night, we stuck around for the magical lighting of the castle, followed by the electric parade --they don't do that at Disneyland!  We even got to see Tinkerbell fly across the sky!  The kids rallied.  Tiago had his first try of Coke-a-Cola! Magical, indeed.

Somehow, the next morning, we managed to pull ourselves out of bed for a 3rd day of extraordinary fun!  Epcot, here we come!

(after clocking 13,500 steps the day before, my legs were wobbly at the mere thought of doing it all again)

But, we did it. The 3 Caballeros were still best of friends (no huge tantrums, no major tears, no bloodshed).  Success!

 (Donald, a Disney favorite gave the kids an awesome interaction!)

 Tiago was running on fumes (next up: a trip to the sodas of the world station).  So, we took a family picture with our favorite nephew, Mateo, instead (same shirt as Tiago, at least). Hahaha.

 We tried one more group shot.  At least we weren't looking directly into the sun, this time!

 Look at that smile on Nate's face!  He was definitely our surprise rallier.  Prompting us to squeeze in extra rides at Magic Kingdom, and to march on at Epcot.

 (The kids' love was easily bought with the light-up magical wands/light-sabers.  Tia Korah for the win!)  

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!