Disney World

We made it back from Disney World in one piece with lots of memories, but very tired! We were going, going, going for the entire time. I think it took us over a week just to get back to feeling somewhat normal!

Here's a link to our WDW video that shares our week at Disney. We had so much fun - I think I've watched this video at least 10 times just remembering our fun times.

We told Jackson we were going to Disney World through a scavenger hunt, just like my parents used to do for Jenna and me on our birthdays. At each clue, there was also a piece of dress-up clothing to put on. He looked pretty cute by the end of the hunt. The last clue was (found in a suitcase) was about watching a movie. When he opened up the cabinet to our DVD player, Mickey was sitting there and had put the Disney planning DVD in for us to watch. He was a bit underwhelmed by the video, but he got more excited as it came closer to the trip.

Jackson took his first plane ride on our way to Florida. I love Southwest. During one of our layovers, I asked if Jackson could just meet the pilot quickly, and the pilot immediately asked if he wanted to sit in the co-pilot's seat. Jackson showed him the plane picture he drew, but said he couldn't keep it. :)

On the return trip, one of the flight attendants gave Jackson his own set of wings. He was so proud of them and told everyone around him that he was the pilot and was driving the plane.

For our first day at Disney, we went to the Animal Kingdom. We saw they were about to start the "Festival of the Lion King" show, so we decided to watch. As we walked in with the crowd, the usher motioned us to follow her and she put us on the very front row! We felt very special...and then we realized we'd be part of the show. To Tom's credit, he did an AMAZING elephant sound, and Jackson did a great job as the "Shaker" and playing Follow the Leader. The show was really good, and we were singing the Lion King songs for the rest of the trip!

After Lion King, we went to meet Mickey and Goofy. Meeting all of the characters was one of Jackson's favorite parts of the trip.

Later that night we went to Hollywood Studios. I was amazed at how many people were at the park. The lights were beautiful.

The next day, after breakfast with the characters at the Beach Club, we went to Epcot by boat. We walked around quite a bit seeing the sights and riding on Soarin' and Test Track. Jackson LOVED both of those. He's quite the adventurer! For lunch, we tried some of the countries cuisine. Tom opted for a Japanese bowl and was a little sad he didn't come with us to the French Boulangerie. Jackson picked out a "cheese/ham samich" and a chocolate donut. Guess which one he ate first?

We had dinner at the Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot and were lucky enough to get a table right next to the aquarium. Jackson kept sneaking glances at the fish and looked for the big sea turtle all night long.

Epcot was closed after we finished eating and it had just finished raining, so we were able to get some good pictures of Jackson and Nemo as we leisurely walked out of the park. It was a great evening.

We went to Magic Kingdom the next day and enjoyed many of the rides in Tomorrowland. He particularly liked the PhilharMagic....especially watching Donald get stuck in the wall.

Jackson saw Donald Duck (again) and was so excited to give him another hug. I love this picture.

Later that night we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We had in our heads that it would be a smaller crowd - boy were we wrong! I think we spent over 1/2 the party dancing with Woody, Jessie and Bullseye. Jackson was so excited to show them his moves.

In addition to the dancing and the Christmas Parade, we also got to ride several of the rides with much smaller wait times. Jackson discovered that he LOVED roller coasters, and we ended up riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at least 3 times in a row. The people in the cars behind us were a little concerned that he'd be too scared, but Jackson would just throw his head back and laugh hysterically as we started going up and down the track. We also got to ride Dumbo and the Carousel.

We stayed to watch the fireworks - they were great. I loved watching Jackson and Tom together as the fireworks burst over our heads with the Castle in the background.

The entire trip, Jackson would randomly give us a hug and kiss and say "I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy". We are certainly blessed!

At Hollywood Studios, we waited in line to see Buzz and Woody. Jackson's face completely lit up when he walked over to meet them.

We didn't ride too many rides at Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Mania was definitely our favorite, but the lines were so long that we only could do it 3 times during the week we were there. Jackson even tried out the Tower of Terror! He was scared during the initial part in the dark, but holding on to his glow stick seemed to help. He loved the part going up and down, though. Tom and I have discovered that we are much more sensitive to motion sickness than we were when we were younger - between Star Tours, the multiple roller coaster rides in a row and the Tower of Terror, we were about done!

When we went back to Epcot, Jackson wanted to see the characters (again...sensing a theme here?). He was so excited that he was finally going to see Pluto (or as he calls him - Poodle).

He also asked specifically to take a picture with Bruce. I had no idea who Bruce was, until Jackson led us here:

The last night, we were supposed to have a character dinner with Winnie the Pooh at the MK. We were all so tired that we decided we didn't have the energy to wait for the bus, ride the bus and repeat it all again back to the hotel after a 1.5 hr dinner. So, we decided for our last afternoon, we'd go back, take a nap, go swimming and eat at the African restaurant in our hotel. It turned out to be a great decision. The nap helped us all, the swimming pool was so cold that it quickly woke us up, and the African food was excellent - one of our favorites the entire trip!

Our flight back was later than we originally thought, so we met Tom's parents (who had just flown to Orlando for their own vacation) and met and their friend at Downtown Disney. We ate lunch at T-Rex, which is like a Rainforest Cafe except with Dinosaurs instead of the jungle.

Linda bought Jackson some dinosaurs while at T-Rex, so he and Tom played with them the entire way back to our hotel and the airport.

At the airport, Jackson found the Universal Studios store and posed in front of one of his favorite superheroes.

It was a great family vacation that we'll always remember.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a busy Thanksgiving this year - in 5 days, we went to Stillwater, Moore, the doctor, put up Christmas lights, and packed for Disney!

My parents picked up my Grandma from Iowa in time for my niece's 3rd birthday party over the weekend. It was great to have her at my parents house for Thanksgiving. We had the best time all being together! While Reese and Jackson were off playing together, Mom, Jenna, Grandma and I got to chat while making dinner and prepping for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Jenna made the best soup and I tried out a new recipe from Pinterest (nutella and greek yogurt served with fruit - very yummy!).

On Thanksgiving, we had our new traditional dinner of crab cakes and the best green beans ever. I know Mom thinks it's sad that our kids won't know about the traditional turkey day dinner....but those crab cakes were so good, I don't think it matters! The best part about the day is all of the time we got to spend laughing and playing together. We played Catchprase while the kids were sleeping. I found out that I'm the weak link in that game - I'm so literal. Room Dressing anyone? That game makes me laugh so hard - can't wait until we can play it again! The kids played Toy Story Yahtzee later in the afternoon; Jackson has to blow on the dice for good luck before rolling them.

On Thursday, we drove down to Moore to spend Thanksgiving with Tom's family, and Rob flew down as well. It was great seeing him again. Rob was great with Jackson - now Jackson keeps asking "Is Uncle Rob going to be there?" anytime we talk about seeing Grandma and Granddad. Tom's parents had saved their toy John Deere tractor from when Tom and Rob were little, and they got it down for Jackson to play with. Jackson liked cleaning it up with Uncle Rob.

I think Jackson really is a farm boy at heart, don't you think?

After a filling Thanksgiving dinner, Jackson took the lead in trimming the tree while we supervised. Jackson really got into it this year, trying to find just the spot for each ornament. He really liked climbing up on the step stool to place them up high....

But he also liked putting them down lower where he could easily see them.

Jackson would keep asking Granddad if that was a good spot where he had hung the ornament. Jackson had begun placing all of the ornaments in this one particular spot, and it was starting to look pretty funny. When Jackson asked if that was a good spot after hanging the 4th ornament in the same place, Granddad said, "Well, I don't know....". Jackson thought that was hilarious and it became a new game. After every single ornament, Jackson would ask his question and would make Tom's dad think about it, shake his head, and say "Well, I suppose so...." in a really funny voice. He'd crack up every time!

We came home on Friday afternoon since we had to pack for our Disney trip on Saturday morning. Despite our best efforts, I ended up getting a sinus infection right before the trip. Thank goodness for urgent care! Fortunately, neither Jackson nor Tom got sick, and we had a great time at Disney (will share pics from our trip in another post).

We also got our Christmas lights up before we left town. Jackson came out to supervise....though I think he ended up doing more snacking than supervising!

He also came up with a new game that basically involved Jackson running around the house as fast as he could...for at least 5-10 minutes. I was getting dizzy just watching him. Thank goodness I wasn't the one on the ladder!

Another good reason why Tom doesn't let me use the ladder for Christmas lights - I'm a danger to myself! I thought I would help Tom out by moving the ladder to the next spot. Our Little Giant was extended pretty far, and I didn't realize how difficult that made it to move. Tom made it look so easy. The next thing I know, I am starting to tip backwards, shouting "Whoa, whoa!!!" and in slow motion, the ladder started to hit the house. Tom thankfully came to my rescue, and I only ended up with a little bruise on my head (and my ego). I am officially banned from the Little Giant!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011 Christmas Ornaments

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year.....not for the food, but to see the creative masterpieces that my mom creates for each one of us in the annual Christmas ornaments. She really outdid herself this year! Each year, she makes at least 1 ornament for each member of our family, and sometimes, if she can't decide which idea she wants to use, she makes 2 ornaments! I can't even imagine how much time it takes her to make these; it takes me usually 2+ days/nights to think up an idea and make her ornament. I can't imagine doing that at least 8 different times! I love it that my mom does this for us. It makes our Christmas tree so special - our tree really is the story of our lives!

Reese went first since she was the youngest (at least for this year - we're waiting for you, Emerson!). Her first ornament was of her and Pamma (my mom) holding hands and singing/playing in the rain - complete with a little umbrella! What a special memory the two of them shared doing this.

Reese's 2nd ornament was of Reese riding the camel in her cheerleader outfit at this year's OSU Homecoming.

Jenna announced their upcoming gift this year while we were dying Easter eggs, so Mom captured the moment in her Christmas ornament this year. Inside the pink Easter egg basket filled with Easter eggs was an Easter egg that looked just like the one they made saying "We're Pregnant!".

Casey's ornament celebrated his achievement of graduating with his Master's. We're proud of you, Casey!

The Campbell family's ornaments:

Like Reese, Jackson also got 2 ornaments. The first one he unwrapped was of him on the camel dressed in his Iron Man costume. I still can't believe Jackson wore his Iron Man costume to OSU Homecoming!

His 2nd ornament was of Jackson's Halloween costume this year: Captain Spider America Man! Jackson is really into superheroes and couldn't decide which one he wanted to be. So for some of his Halloween parties, he decided to make the Ultimate Superhero and combined the Captain America and Spiderman costumes into one!

Mom - did you notice that he really does have the Cook toe? Cracks me up that he doesn't even realize that he's doing it!

Tom started teaching lessons at TU this year as an adjunct professor. In addition to the lessons, he also helps out with the TU marching band and next semester will teach a few more classes. So it was very fitting that Tom's ornament was a little Santa drumming on a TU drum.

This year I was in charge of the Williams Tulsa Area United Way Day of Celebration, which is a big celebration complete with lunch, a skit, giveaways and the check presentation marking the end of the annual United Way campaign for Williams. It was a great campaign (we gave the highest amount ever for Williams at over $2 million!) with a really fun theme of "The Need is Real" and ties to different reality TV shows. For the Day of Celebration, we used the Survivor theme, and as part of the skit, we showed our executives planking in different locations around Tulsa to raise awareness for the United Way. Mom captured it perfectly in my ornament this year!

The McGillen family ornaments:

My grandma was in town from Iowa this Thanksgiving, and my mom made her a special ornament - her with all of her 6 grandchildren!

My parents have spent a lot of time this year working on genealogy, and recently took an extended trip to do more genealogy work and see some of the places where our ancestors were. They've traced our family back to at least the 1500's and came back with lots of interesting stories. One of our ancestors was the Camp family in the Revolutionary War. They actually found the gravestone of Thomas Camp from the 1700's in a small family cemetery at the top of a hill under a tree - just like a postcard. I made Mom a family tree ornament with a replica of the tree (and their initials carved into the trunk).

My dad got 2 ornaments this year. The first ornament was to celebrate the end of all of the work he has done over the past several years updating the church buildings. We got to take a tour of the updated facilities while we were there, and it seriously looks like a brand new church but still kept all of the historical feelings. They did an outstanding job!

Dad also helped implement DamWatch for Oklahoma dams this year, so his ornament depicted a beaver looking out across the water in the dam holding binoculars. So creative!

Mom and Dad's ornaments:

Thank you so much, Mom, for making these ornaments for us. They are very treasured! Decorating the tree always takes on a special trip down memory lane. You are amazing, and we are so lucky.