Melissa Jones Photography

Some time in the fray of pre-holiday crunch, we got the chance to have photos taken by the talented and lovely Melissa Jones.
Thank you to my friend, Mary, for extending such a great opportunity to us.

Here are some of my favorites:

Christmas Concert

Will rocked the house at the Atkinson Piano Studio Holiday Concert, playing rousing renditions of 'Jingle Bells' and 'Once a Year on Halloween'.

Timbuk!

I figured out that this is the 10th year that I have gone to Timbuk Tree Farm for a Christmas Tree.
The first year I lived in Columbus, I went with my program director, Dr. Joel Weaver, and his family because Timbuk is their traditional source of Christmas trees. In years after that, I dragged other resident friends along. When Rick moved to Columbus, we went together to get our tree. Over the years, we introduced other good friends to Timbuk: Jen & Adam and Rod & Anna. Now we hunt the family tree with Will and Soren...

So it was back to Timbuk this year where

with the help of Ernie, the friendly driver

we once again found the perfect Christmas Tree!

Soren was so excited he had to lay down in the mud.

Santa Train

Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's kicked of the Christmas season with a good ol' small town Holiday Parade featuring my cousins Andrew (playing the clarinet in the marching band) and Rachel (dancing with the dance team) and, inexplicably, a horse dressed as an igloo.

Then we were off to Roaring Spring for the traditional ride on the Santa Train.

Here come the holidays!

Halloween at Disney - Day 5

We spent our last day at Epcot.
The day started at the Nemo ride where we explored the adjoining aquarium for a while, then met our friends the Thikkurissys for an early lunch
(shame on me for not getting a group photo).

Then it was off to the World Marketplace where...

William shopped for Mexican Hat Dance supplies in Mexico

Rick and Soren communed with Vikings in Norway

and Soren tried to access the Ministry of Magic in Great Britain.
It must have been closed for a holiday.

With heavy hearts and tired feet we headed back to Ohio the next day.
Fall was a great time to go to Disney:
shorter lines, decent weather, happy family!

Halloween at Disney - Halloween!

It was torrentially downpouring in the morning, but being intrepid Disney fans/loons, we headed to the park anyway. We may have been damp and our shoes may have been squishy, but we didn't have to wait very long to meet Disney characters!

We went back to the hotel in the afternoon (just as the weather was clearing up, of course) to catch a quick nap. Then we costumed up for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
Will was Sir Smiley, the Golden Knight;
Soren was a fierce dragon;
Rick was a dashing Prince Charming;
I was Rapunzel;
and my dad was a very impressive Merlin.

We gathered treats, watched the parade, met the Seven Dwarfs, enjoyed the fireworks, and rode It's a Small World about 17 times.
What an awesome not-so-spooky Halloween!

Halloween at Disney - Day 3

Our second day at the park dawned sunny and beautiful and, with temps in the mid-70's, we ran around taking pictures with the Disney characters.

Will got caught up in the Disney excitement and did several out-of-character things:
he chose carrot sticks instead of fries at lunch;
he let himself be talked into riding Thunder Mountain;
he bowed to peer pressure and went on The Haunted Mansion- a ride he declared he would not ride before we even left home.

The cast members on The Haunted Mansion are dressed as gothic, creepy maids. When we got off the ride Will asked, "Why are there so many maids in the Haunted Mansion and it's still not clean?"
I guess they have let the cobwebs get way out of control.

On this day, it was Soren's turn to sputter out at the dinner table.