Let me start off by saying, I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked to. This is the problem when you are a home room parent plus you have two kids in the same school with parties at the same time. Fortunately, John was able to come so both kids had a parent present. 

Cooper’s party had a hot chocolate bar, candy cane drop, jingle bell toss. Chopstick marshmallow, a mad lib riddle and a snowman craft. 

The theme in Bella’s classroom was Rudolph. They made Rudolph Rice Krispie treats, decorated Rudolph hot cocoa, played a Rudolph antler toss, and a Rudolph dice game.    

    
    
  

School is officially done for 2016!! 

Grand Rapids Ballet presents the Nutcracker. My little ballerina was dancing in her chair and afterwards.   

    
    
    
    
    

 

  

   
Not sure why Bella is frowning. We were making pancakes and of course Mickey Mouse appears, Disney lives on with us.

Bella has been blessed with an AMAZING teacher for kindergarten. She gave each child super reader capes because they have learned reading strategies and she calls them reading powers. 💗

    

John insisted on keeping the tradition alive. Star Wars in opening day!

  
But Bella has another movie on her brain  

Play date with a school friend.

    
 
My present helper. She helped attach bows and write To and From on each package. She also carried down the presents when they were done. See the picture below for her placement- I laughed out loud. So glad she loves to help me! 

While Bella and I wrapped presents John and Cooper were outside building a mega fort in a large snow pile (I heard it is epic…I will take their work for it).
   
 
This is a huge accomplishment for me- presents are wrapped and organized!!!

   

   

Integrity Dance Benefit Concert- Bella danced to Winter Wonderland

   

    

 

Gingerbread house decorating!

  

  

My Grandma Wood told me many years ago, that John will never be overweight. This comment was while watching him play with a frisbee all by himself at a picnic. He is such a kid at heart and the neighborhood boys seem to love every minute of it. 

John

• Director of Wealth Management at Principal Financial Group
• First trip to the Rose Bowl
• Played softball league for church
• Led church league in homeruns
• Played softball in coed Ed league
• High ankle sprain sliding into third base, sad realization he’s not young anymore

Audra

• Crandell Family President
• First trip to the Rose Bowl and California
• Wine trip to Traverse City with friends
• Finished 2 year term on MAPS board
• 1st grade Catechist at St. Sebastian
• Girl Scout Troop 4663 Daisy Leader
• Volunteer (kindergarten and 3rd grade, Hand2hand, Reading Counts)

Cooper

• Resident Noise Engineer
• Played Upward basketball
• Eye surgery at Helen DeVos
• Lost his FIRST (and second) tooth
• Received his First Eucharist
• Turned 8!
• Played AYSO soccer
• Played Coach pitch minor for Byron Township
• Ran a mile for Dynamite Dawgs
• Started piano lessons (Has been practicing Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger and We Wish You a Merry Christmas)
• A summer of sleepovers
• Started 3rd grade
• Loves math!
• Saw the ocean for the 1st time

Bella

• Director of Coloring
• Turned 5!
• Read 1,000 books before Kindergarten
• Saw her first ballet, Snow White
• Peppa Pig Live!
• Performed on stage at her dance recital without any tears
• Became a Girl Scout Daisy
• Played T-ball
• Got ears pierced
• Jumped off the diving board
• Started kindergarten
• Learning to read
• Saw the ocean for the 1st time!!

Family

• First trip to Science and Industry Museum in Chicago
• Camp Fort Hill trip
• Strawberry picking
• Blueberry picking
• Honey Creek Resort in Lake Rathbun, IA
• Adventureland
• Tons of swimming at the Thornton’s pool
• Whitecaps game
• Fredrick Miejer Garden
• Discovery center
• Jester’s Court
• Hiking
• Beach days
• Bike rides
• Boulder Ridge Zoo
• Started the Harry Potter series
• Enjoyed the Summer Olympics
• Disney World
• Disney cruise to Bahamas and Castaway Cay
• 5+ trips to Iowa to visit our family

Looking forward to the adventures that await us in 2017!!

*Side note- I wrote this when we were Disney over a month ago and it never got published. Better late than never!

Eating breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table might just be the best thing at Disney! You arrive at the park early to beat the crowds in but most importantly, you get to meet Cinderella and many of her friends. Bella twirled in her dress for Cinderella and got her autograph of course.

   
 
The pastries and food were fantastic, but that was not the focus. The castle is breathtaking. 

   
    
    
    
    
    
 
Aurora had Cooper giggling and hiding under his chair- he will remember this breakfast for sure. 

Character meet and greets at Magic Kingdom. Bella had three different outfit changes throughout the day, she would have brought every princess dress she owned but we limited it to two (Mom or Dad had to carry the oversized backpack all day). 

John was unimpressed with the character meet and greets but this little one- LOVED THEM!!! 

Elsa and Anna are only at Epcot 😔

   
    
   
What happens when you wear princess costumes at Disney? Disney employees will tell you as they are walking by, “Hi, princess!” The BEST was when we were at Disney Springs and a garbage man stopped his cart, and bowed to Bella. He said, “your majesty.” Then Bella curtsied, she will never forget it. Disney knows excellent costumer service! I am secretly wishing I could work here 😉

  
Bella’s reaction to seeing the castle for the first time. 💗 

Family and friends- if you haven’t gone to Disney yet and have been wanting to- BOOK IT NOW!!  John and I booked this trip 13 months ago because we knew it would be something that we would continue to say, we need to go. Yes, it is expensive but book early and make a payment plan. These looks, smiles, head on your shoulder at the end of the night on the bus ride home because you are so exhausted moments are ones that will never be forgotten. 😢

 

 
So proud of him! Merry Christmas 🎄

We will be coming to Iowa the first weekend of Dec. to celebrate Krista’s Bachelorette party so we spent our first Thanksgiving in MI this year. Our amazing friends, the Thornton’s invited us to spend it with them (from the moment we moved here they have welcomed us to their table).

 
John’s brilliant idea- make your own Macy’s Day Parade! They had a parade route, balloons (Elsa, Anna and a sword), spectators and more. 
    
 The Gale Family tradition was shared with our friends. TURKEYS!  

   

   

New Family tradition was possibly started this year. We (by that I mean John) cut down our familys first real Christmas tree.

 
Cooper was on a mission to find the best tree.   

We FOUND IT!

    
 
 Timber!

   
  A little break for Hawkeye football. Cooper is wanting to sign up for tackle football 😕next fall so he is showing a bigger interest in learning the rules.   
The one time of the year the space above the door gets cleaned 😁    
    
    

   

John and I didn’t use Internet for the last 5 days- it is good to be back????

Our Disney cruise was great, but to be completely honest after such an amazing Disney World experience we could have ended our trip four days ago. We don’t want to seem ungrateful but we wanted to relax and the cruise really wasn’t as relaxing as we had imagined. 

One thing I can say for Disney Cruises- they take cleanliness VERY seriously!! Anytime you walk onto the food floors you are handed a hand sanitizer wipe. They have bathroom attendants for every bathroom by the pools and restaurants- they are always in tip top shape. The employees are always wiping something down inside and outside the ship. The utensils on the buffets are changed frequently. 

Here are the best things about the cruise: family time, food (I am pretty sure I gained at least 5lbs.), sun, and shows. The kids took full advantage of the unlimited pop and ice cream. 

Audra’s favorite- We played in a Family Fusion game show the first night and we led until the very end. 

John’s favorite- watching the late showing of Dr. Strange with Cooper

Cooper’s favorite- The Leap of Faith water slide at the Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas

Bella’s favorite- princesses. She met Anna and Elsa (which even though we were on a Disney cruise was a very hard ticket to get). 

We have had a full week of family time. John and I were hoping to get a little bit of alone time together but it didn’t happen. They had an Oceaneers club where you can drop the kids off to play and they will babysit for you. It is open 9am-midnight. The kids went the first night for about 30 minutes and then we couldn’t convince them (mostly Bella) to go back. 

As we sit in the Orlando airport for the next five hours waiting for our flight, I am reflecting on the memories we made the past week. Yes, we are a little tired of each other, the kids just want to play and not be dragged everywhere but we realize how extremely blessed we are to have experienced this together. 

  
Cooper’s face when he saw the Dream for the first time- it is HUGE!!

  
We were contestants on a game show!

  
This girl was writing the entire trip!

  
  Bella was wearing her Elsa dress while carrying her Anna doll, she didn’t want to leave anyone out 😉 
Cooper in front of The Leap of Faith waterslide. It ended next to an aquarium of sharks! Check it out on You Tube- the water slides at this Aqua adventure were the best I have ever been on.

  
  
SHARK!!!

 
Cooper was a big eater on this entire trip. We joke that he probably grew an inch. He had 2 servings of meat every night.
 
Towel animals were waiting for us every night before bed.

   Pirate night! 😂
  
It isn’t every day you run into Belle walking to a show!

  
   
 
Snorkeling anyone?

  
Crandell Family vacation 2016= SUCCESS!!!

8am-8pm today at Hollywood Studios. 

We used our first hour to sign up for Jedi Training. Kids ages 4-12 could sign up, John wanted to do it so badly and wondered why there wasn’t one for adults. We tried to convince Bella but she decided to sit this one out, afterward she wanted to be a Jedi too.    
  

 
  
Breakfast with Disney Jr. Characters. Cooper loved Jake and the Neverland Pirates when he was about Bella’s age. Bella loves watching Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins. It was a yummy way to start the day.

   
   

We separated for most of the afternoon. Audra and Bella went to Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Frozen a sing along celebration. John and Cooper went to Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones. 

   

   
Watch this video and you will realize why my favorite was Frozen, the look on Bella’s face is priceless. 

A side note, Bella came to Disney wanting to purchase an Elsa plush with the money Gramy and Gramps gave her to spend. We have yet to find one, we found Anna. It seems crazy to me that Disneyworld doesn’t have a huge Else selection (we aren’t going to Epcot but maybe they have them there).

   

 
   
 John favorite- watching Cooper in his Jedi training

Audra’s favorite- Frozen, A Sing-along celebration

Cooper’s favorite- building his 7ft long lightsaber (thanks Gramy and Gramps)

Bella’s favorite- seeing the princesses in Fantasmic to end our time at Disneyworld

We went hard three days in a row and are really looking forward to some relaxation. Cooper is excited to be done with the PhotoPass, look at his face in the last picture. Tomorrow we begin our cruise on the Disney Dream. Thanks for following our Disney journey!