#magickobeskingdom

Hi friends! How have you been? I promised to share pictures from our trip to Orlando and I'm finally delivering (only 8 months late ;). 

We left from Seattle on a Sunday morning and after a long delay in Texas we finally made it to our house just after dinner. This house was the best! It had lots of bedrooms and a pool and hot tub. 

 On day one we were planning on going straight to Hollywood Studios but we were so tired from travelling the day before that we decided postpone for a day. Instead we went for a drive, visited the info centre, and some of us went for a walk in the rain to look for crocs! 

The next day we hit up Hollywood Studios! This was my first time at Disney and it did not disappoint. 

Tower of Terror was for SURE my favourite ride. 

I couldn't believe all of the intricate details that went into every single thing in the park. So much to look at! 

Waiting in line for the Tower of Terror. 

This stunt show was super fun! Also a great opportunity to sit down and eat our lunch. 

 Hollywood Studios might have been my favourite of the parks we visited. I loved all of the shows and rides. It is also smaller so everything is closer together and easier to find. 

Next day we hit up the Kennedy Space Center! I didn't really know what to expect but if you go to Orlando you definitely need to go here. The exhibits were really amazing and we learned so much! The tour of the grounds was also really cool. We got to see the launch pads and the tracks they use to get the rockets from the hangars to the launch pads. 

The rocket garden was super impressive. 

The highlight of the day was the real-life rocket that got launched at sunset! The launch was supposed to take place a few days earlier but it got postponed so we were really lucky. 

Waiting with anticipation!

It was crazy loud. I wasn't expecting that! A once in a lifetime experience for sure. 

After the rocket launch we went out for dinner to the Cheesecake Factory. YUM!

And then we were off to Magic Kingdom! 

Cramming onto the teacups. I had to sit with my legs up so we would fit :P

Kevin and Veronica! They spun so fast, it made me sick to watch!

Some extremely slow and lame race cars...

One of the parades. It was seriously fun to see all of the princesses and characters. Everything is so over the top!

 Can't go to Disney and not get a Dole Whip!

And lastly we went to Animal Kingdom. We all had pretty low expectations for this park for some reason but it was really awesome! 

We did this ride like three times in a row in the morning because there was no line up!

Mount Everest was a crowd favourite. The ride was fun but I really enjoyed looking at all of the displays in the line-up. Everything is so detailed and realistic!

Ugh, these dang rapids got me completely soaked just before the sun went down. SO COLD!

We got to go on a safari too! We so many amazing animals from really close. We would have gone a second time but without a FastPass it would have take three hours just to get through the line-up!

And then we went home! 

It was such a crazy fun trip. I'm so glad that we got to celebrate Mom and Dad's 25th Anniversary in Orlando! 

lately.

a little bit of what we've been up to lately (in no particular order).

 a sunday lunch at our new place (all moved in!!!!)

ikea with little jonathan

mom helping clean before we moved in (not a posed picture at aaaaalll, nope).

VERY tired of the whole moving thing. this was at like 9pm after our fourth truck load for the night. sick. of. it. 

silas reading with uncle david. serious baby fever going on here, especially after seeing this guy hanging out with the nephews!

house numbers!

hangin' out with baby jem! 

saying good-bye to our old place. 

walking to mom and dads. only 25 minutes away!

our new vacuum works great on the laminate.

first time getting the mail! 

first meal. so many 'firsts' when you move into a new house. loving it!

he was having fun, i promise. 

that's all for now! 

ps. i'll post the orlando pictures soon, promise!

#novakobes

pictures from our trip to halifax this past christmas.

 bruce and lydia's place. so fun to experience living in the city for two weeks! they live so close to downtown and right by the halifax commons where the skating oval was. david skated almost every day.

going for a walk down to the water on our first day there. 

eli in his christmas jammies from oma. "i'm not an elf, they're just pajaaaamaas."

where bruce went to school!

 the new library in halifax. such a neat building, the outside looks like stacked books. 

the view from the citadel. you can see the mckenzie bridge in the distance. bruce and lydia's street starts just to the left of this picture. 

 looking in the other direction.

brother bruce.

eli. those rosie cheeks kill me!

two cuties watching tv.

eli feeding his baby. after marieke got one for christmas he was suddenly interested in his again ;)

peggy's cove! such a beautiful place to explore.

 the beautiful mosaic that eli made ;)

we went for a day trip with lydia and the kids to mahone bay, lunenburg and la have. first stop: mahone bay. three old churches on the other side of the bay. 

second stop: lunenburg. we had the most delicious lunch in that red building over looking the water! 

 taking the ferry to la have. 

going to the bakery that mom recommended. the yummiest coffee and baking.

david touching the atlantic on our way back from the dutch shop.

snow day! marieke's first time sledding (i think ;)

 they both loved getting pulled down the hill!

dinner at the old triangle with live celtic music. 

on our way to pei we stopped at victoria park and it was soooooo cold. 

 hard to look enthusiastic in -17 weather.

beautiful frozen waterfalls made it all worth it though!

 confederation bridge!

car selfie. we were in three provinces in one day!

charlottetown 

driving around the coast 

our very own charles wysocki puzzle! 

 red sand and frozen water

me and david went for a drive to the lookoff one day.  this is a view of minus basin, part of the bay of fundy. 

the BEST provolone and ham croissants from two if by sea in dartmouth. 

 eli was pretty pleased with his cookie. 

 couldn't finish that last bite! so greasy and cheesy and delicious. 

 on the ferry back to halifax. we lasted all of two seconds up there before the cold was too much.

the view of the inlet from york redoubt, an old fort on the coast.

exploring the tunnels.

crystal crescent beach.

aaaannnd then we had to leave :(

next up.... orlando!!