Frozen on Ice

Towards the end of October we surprised the kids with tickets to Frozen on Ice! This was the third Disney on Ice show I've been to in the past couple of years, and I think it was by far my favorite (previously we had seen Princesses on Ice, and Disney: Celebrations). The kids LOVED the show (as we anticipated!), and I could not be happier with the photos that I took. I'm going to post some here (including wide shots and videos) and some on the photography blog as well.

The show told the story of Frozen, all the way through. The way they translated some things from the movie to the ice was very inventive! It's going to be hard to choose my favorites, but I'll do my best!
(Editorial note before I start: I took all of the wide, pull-back shots with my iPhone, and same with the videos. So the quality isn't as good, but it was the easiest thing to do. The close-up, better photos were taken with my camera!).

As with all Disney on Ice shows we've gone to, they start off with a big number with a lot of Disney characters. I caught some of this on video.


Then it was time for the show! The set design was really pretty - there was something to look at everywhere.

The first video I captured was of Anna & Kristoff singing "For the First Time in Forever"

 Then Elsa's coronation

 Then we got to see Kristoff and Sven! The guy playing Kristoff turned out to be a pretty great skater.

 Everyone's favorite part, of course, was Elsa's reveal, which happened on the raised platform in front of us!

and "Let it Go".  I was so involved in taking photos during this that I only realized afterwards that I didn't get any video! How awful of me. Natalie wasn't super happy to realize this either.

 But it was just so visually gorgeous!

I also really liked Olaf's song "In Summer". It was all so bright and colorful!

Another crowd favorite was Marshmallow. It was really cool how he inflated on the ice, and they rolled him around the rink!

The trolls were also cute

And then of course it was time for Anna to sacrifice herself to save Elsa at the end

 And for the two sisters to reunite.

Definitely a great show, and we all loved it!

Janniversary Trip to Wintergreen

For the first time in over a year, Evan and I were able to get a weekend away together, just the two of us! We chose to make this happen for our Janniversary; 2015 marks 16 years! After discussing a few options, we decided on heading to a local ski resort. There are a few options...but we decided on Wintergreen Ski Resort in Nelson, since it's not far away, pretty inexpensive, and where I grew up! I hadn't been back to Wintergreen since college, and at the foot of the mountain is Evan's favorite brewery (Wild Wolf), so it worked out well for both of us!

My lovely coworker Brooke offered to watch the kids for us for the weekend...so amazing of her! I told her not offer or we'd take her up on it...but she was happy to do it, and the kids had a blast with her. It meant we could go away for the weekend with no concerns!

We arrived late on Friday, and really only had Saturday there for our activities, but we fit a lot into that one day! We started off by sleeping in a bit, but also enjoying the sun coming up over the mountains. Check out the view from our balcony of the ski resort! (For more lovely sunrise photos, click HERE)

 We decided not to ski this trip, as we wanted to spend a lot of time relaxing. So instead, we bought a 90 minute ticket to "The Plunge" for some snow tubing. It was SO MUCH FUN! As you can see, there are about 10 lanes, and over our 90 minutes we were able to go 8 or 9 times. I absolutely loved it, and we can't wait to take the kids next year!

 A little selfie before we got on the tubing, and a shot of Evan on his tube in front of me as we're about to go down the hill!

 

This was the first time I've really wished for a GoPro camera to strap to me. I wanted to take a video of us going down the hill, and luckily I was able to use my iPhone, but I was definitely nervous about dropping it! Here we are on a couple of our runs. You can hear in this me shout "Holy cow!" on the second hill (the steep one) - that one got my stomach! Luckily I remembered I was filming and didn't shout what I really wanted to shout!

In this one, we went down a run with a less steep second drop (that was the biggie on each hill), but we actually ended up going farther at the end, despite going more slowly than we did the first time.

And then I thought to do one filming myself...some of my faces amuse me :)

We then enjoyed a quick lunch, followed by our nice relaxing afternoon at the Wintergreen spa! Lounging while reading, pedicures for both of us, the sauna...yeah, that works!

Then we got ready for a nice dinner at one of the restaurants there. Before we headed out...check out the lovely sunset!

At dinner, they gave us free champagne because it was our anniversary!

 And I had a super yummy dessert.

We then ended our evening with a trip to Wild Wolf Brewery so Evan could enjoy his favorite beer.

Sunday we took a leisurely drive back, but got back home by early afternoon so that Brooke didn't lose her entire weekend! It was a great way to get some time together, and we are now excited to take the kids there next year.

Disney Day 4: Hollywood Studios

Finally we come to it: our last day in Disney! We spent it at Hollywood Studios, just the 4 of us (Lynn and Doug drove back home that day). Evan had kept telling me how much he loved HS from when he was younger; I didn't have very clear memories of it from our trip there in 2002, but I knew they had things the kids would enjoy so a day there should be worth it. And oh boy was it ever! We had a blast there. This post is kind of long, but it's full of fun!

 

I'm glad I took some photos of the iconic Sorcerer Mickey hat, as we learned it's going to be torn down and replaced with something else in the next year!

 We started the morning with the Muppets 3D. We actually used a FastPass on this, which turned out to be completely unnecessary...but as we really didn't have lines on anything we wanted to do at HS, that was ok. We arrived early, so we explored the whole area. It's really fun how they've designed everything!

 And we had some fun with photos taken on the "streets" of NYC. Backlots are cool! I like how HS really does try to take you behind the scenes of Hollywood.

 

After the Muppet show, it was time to hit the Star Wars part of the park! We rode the Star Tours simulator about 3 times in a row - there was no line, and the kids loved it! Henry in particular, of course :) I was glad we could get these shots afterwards (by Disney photographer).

And then it was time for Evan and Henry to make their light sabers! It's awesome that you can do this, for basically the same price as buying a pre-made one at Target.

Then we used a FastPass to go on Toy Story Mania. This ride was just as much fun as everyone had told us it would be!

We took a little break to do some hula-hooping with HS employees, while being misted from the Coke stand nearby (it was pretty warm, although not as hot as it had been at the Animal Kingdom the day before).

We then made our way over to "Wandering Oaken's Trading Post". I thought it was just a Frozen store (which would have been fine), but it turned out to also be a snow-filled adventure! There was a large area inside where you could get this photo taken:

And then we waited in line to play in some "snow"! It was a great way to cool down, and the kids had a blast sliding around on the snow, digging in it...they do enjoy snow!

We then headed over to the Disney Jr Live show (I think this was our final FastPass of the day).

The kids really liked this one, and we were so excited to finally be sitting down front for a show! Of course, it turned out that it would have actually been better to be sitting further back, as we were on the floor and the stage was a bit high. We could see just about everything, and the kids did enjoy it...but note to anyone else who goes: sit farther back!

And then afterwards, we stood in line for Natalie to get her picture taken with Sophia (this one is from the Disney photographer).

Our afternoon was filled with shows. First was Beauty and the Beast (click on the name to the left to see more photos from this lovely production!).

After which, Henry was kind of done with shows (B&B lasted about 45 minutes, and it was a long time for him to have to wait, and then sit through). So Evan and Henry went back to the Star Wars area while Natalie and I watched The Little Mermaid.

The guys were still doing some other things when Natalie and I walked past the Frozen Sing Along, on our way to meet them. I didn't even know about this, and we didn't have a Fast Pass, but we thought we'd try to get in. Luckily, we did - this  was by far my favorite thing that we did that day. They have "chroniclers" who walk you through the story, with all of the songs playing on the screen (with lyrics) for everyone to sing along to. 

It was funny, entertaining, and listening to hundreds of people sing along was just such a great thing to be a part of. I wish we could have gone a second time, but unfortunately we were at the last show of the day! I"m sorry that Evan and Henry missed this one, but I'm so glad that Natalie got to go.

All in all, a very fun day at Hollywood Studios!