P for neumonia.....

Hyrum was admitted yesterday to the Children's Hospital in Seattle, where he'll probably stay for 7 days. He has pneumonia with a pleural effusion. The pleural cavity (sac surrounding the lungs) is filled with pus and tissue, and it pushes on his heart as he tries to breathe. We're waiting to see if he needs to have it drained (with a soda-straw type needle jabbed through the rib cage.)

"How quaint!"

We went out for ice cream the other night. Brielle put on her tiara, several necklaces, some rings and bracelets, her pink fluffy pom pom boots, and two purses. This is her idea of how a lady should dress when going "out". As we walked in to the ice cream parlor, Brielle noticed a group of teenagers talking outside, determined to play her part as a grown-up, she turns to me and in her best polite-conversational voice, says: "Look, Mom...... humans."

I just hope she didn't give our secret away.

Disney World

For Christmas this year, my parents took the whole family to Disney World. (Well, except Matt, sorry little buddy!) We went a few days after Christmas to avoid the crowds and we spent 7 days going to all of the Disney Parks, over and over and over again! It was wonderful. (Russ took that picture, along with several other castle and firework shots, so praise it up the wazoo!)

Brielle on the Dumbo ride....this was one of Hyrum's favorites.

And there's no point traveling hundreds of miles and going to an expensive theme park if you're not going to ride the merry go round over and over. =0)

Brielle and Mary waiting with Grandpa to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride.



Ahhhhh the Teacups, everyone's favorite.

Josh and Darcy and their four kids squished into a cup.....

Josh and Cassie are in the front seat and Russell and I are right behind them.

Brielle's FAVORITE ride was It's A Small World. She went on that ride more than 20 times probably. Good thing we had 7 days!!

Watching a 3-D movie with Mickey and Donald.

Waiting for the parade. Both of my children ADORED the parades.


Hyrum gets to shake hands with one of Cinderella's Mice.


Christian, Shannon and Tyson after the fireworks one evening.

Hyrum was a big fan of Tom Sawyers Island.


As previously mentioned, we really didn't take many pictures, but we all had a wonderful time! We stayed in a huge house with our own swimming pool and hot tub, more beds than we needed, we laughed and talked and ate Oreos constantly. And every day we'd head to one of the parks, go on rides, watch shows and parades, wait for fireworks and go on even more rides. The children have been talking about it non-stop since we returned home! It was magical.

Favorite Rides:

Russell: Expedition Everest (animal kingdom)
Heidi: Space Mountain or Splash Mountain
Brielle: It's a Small World
Hyrum: Dumbo
Dad: Splash Mountain
Mom: Serengeti Safari (animal kingdom)
Cassie: Space Mountain
Tyson: Winnie the Pooh
Darcy: Not a ride, the shows, EVERY show!
Josh: Space Mountain
Christian: Peter Pan's Flight
Shannon: Thunder Mountain
Mary: Not a ride, meeting the Princesses

feel free to comment and change your vote!

Princesses and Fairies

Despite the expressions shown below, Brielle was ecstatic to meet her favorite Disney Characters!

I only had my wimpy camera with me so I could take one shot and then by the time my camera reset its flash we were already meeting the next character. So there WERE smiles, I just didn't capture any.


Hyrum on the other hand, not quite so thrilled. =0)


Tinkerbell is Brielle's favorite.

Fawn, the animal fairy.

And Terrence, who looked so intimidating neither of my children would pose with him. Those male fairies can be scary!

Epcot and Hollywood Studios

Confession: we were lousy at taking pictures. Our main goal was to make sure we went home each day with the same number of children that we had taken INTO the park.

However the magical MEMORIES that we made are impossible to count. It was the best vacation ever!

Brielle and Mary sitting on a fountain in Morocco (Epcot). My favorite part of Epcot is visiting all of the countries! I went there on 4 of the 7 days and still didn't get enough (though we only went for a few hours on those days).

Brielle trying on armor in a toy shop in England (Epcot).


Riding the ants in the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground. (Hollywood Studios) This playground is amazing! Huge blades of grass, spider webs to climb, legos, coke can slides, giant dog noses, caves through the cement dirt......very well done. Wish we had more pictures, you'll just have to go there yourself!


Visiting with Anchor and Chum after going on the Finding Nemo ride at Epcot. At the end of the ride they have an Aquarium with dolphins, manatees, sharks, eels, and gorgeous tropical fish.

You'll notice that suddenly the kids are in winter parkas. Our first few days in Florida we had balmy temperatures in the 70's. But the last part of the trip was FREEZING!! (Honestly freezing, in the 30's) It felt funny to come home to Washington and find it so much warmer than Florida.


And that sums up those two parks........there are a million more things we should have taken pictures of, but didn't. However rest assured that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Animal Kingdom

We went on the Jeep Safari in Animal Kingdom. It's our favorite thing to do at that park, you drive right by all the African animals!

Brielle and I looking out of the jeep at a Kudu or Sable or something....

Giraffe

Crocodiles
One of the times we did the Safari the hippos were up walking around, they're HUGE!

Elephant. There were a lot of other animals too, but this is primarily a people blog. =0)

I wish we had a better picture of the tree of life, I think I'll post one from a different photographer so you can see. All around the huge tree they have animals carved into the trunk. Here's Hyrum at the base sitting on a gorilla.



The Nemo show was amazing!! There were people holding the fish and sea creatures, but you tend to forget that at times. We couldn't use our flash, so the few pictures we have are pretty blurry. I wish I had a picture of the jellyfish scene, that was my favorite!

One at a time

The Francis grandchildren from oldest to youngest:

Cassie

Mary

Brielle

Hyrum

Aubrey

Tyson

Sadly we didn't get one of baby Evan, the group session had worn him out.

The weak link

A few days after Christmas our family flew to Orlando to vacation with Heidi's whole family (minus Matt on his mission). While there we attempted to take a picture of all of the grandchildren. It did not go well. Some of the children were more difficult than others, actually just ONE of the children. MY child. Let's see if you can tell which one....


Dance Dance Revolution....

"I have to be on the couch huh? This IS on the couch...."

"Whoa! Did you see that, Aubrey pushed me off again! I didn't jump, honest!"


Towards the end there Hyrum broke into a beautiful rendition of "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes"

Head...

...knees.....
...toes.

We didn't get a single good picture, not even something we can mess around in photoshop with. Oh well......