Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I wish everybody a Merry Christmas. As I suspect this will be my last post before vaction, Happy New Year to everybody!

9 Days to go!

Can you tell I'm getting excited. All of our boxes we shipped two days ago. Over 40 pounds worth of boxes are on the way to Florida. I'm glad I don't have to carry that in a suit case through the airport.

I mentioned in a previous post that we have family traditions. Another tradition relates to photographing our family. We have a spot in each park where we take photos of the kids and then the whole family. The idea is that years from now, we can put the photos together as a way to see how the kids grew and changed over the years.

We're planning nine days as Disney World. After Disney World, I will be attending Image, a national photographers' conference in Tampa. While I'm working the rest of the family will be playing. Sheryl wants to take the kids to the beach at Clearwater. I'm not sure what else she has planned but in the meantime, I'm also looking forward to seeing what's new and exciting for wedding photographers.

During my absence, Magical Moments Photography will be closed. I will not be checking e-mail but will check voice mail for any emergencies. The studio will reopen on January 11, 2008. Please plan accordingly.

2 Weeks to go

In two weeks we leave for vacation. But this weekend is going to be busy. Since we will be in Florida for nearly two weeks, we decided to ship our summer clothes to Florida. So this weekend is going to be spent organizing and packing. According to FedEx, we need to ship the box on Monday to make sure it is waiting for us at the hotel when we arrive.

We all know about holiday traditions. But did you know our family has some vacation traditions related to Disney World? Everytime we visit our first park is always the Magic Kingdom. It does not matter what time we arrive or when the park closes. If we can get in the gate, we're there. Next, our first sit down meal is at Tony's on Main Street. I'm not sure how this tradition got started but it goes back before Meghan was born.

Tony's is just inside the park right next to the train station. In a way, it provides a nice transition from the normal world to Disney. We arrive and then sit down for a meal, Disney style. During our meal, we have a chance to find out what's happening at the parks and plan. All too soon, and yet not soon enough our meal is over and it is time to leave Lady and the Tramp for the rest of Disney World.

We do have other family traditions... more about that another day.

All Albums and Prints have been shipped

If you ordered your anything from Magical Moments Photography for the holidays, as of today, everything has been shipped out. If you do not receive your order by the end of the week, please contact me so we can arrange for a replacement order to arrive in time for Christmas.

By the way, happy birthday to my brother Rick!

The roof is done!

It is finally done. And just in time. Within an hour after Chris and his crew left, the snow started falling upon our new roof. Over the last couple of days, they have been removing the old roof and replacing it with a new one. Since they didn't want to leave the roof partially done with the bad weather, they would clear a section and then put the new roof on. It was quite an operation to watch. Finally we have some work completed from the Schaumburg HUD grant loan. It has been a long haul with lots of pitfalls to get to this point. Now we need to get the windows and water heater replaced and then the HUD work is completed. After that, onto the upstairs....

Meanwhile only 20 days until we leave for our vacation. Where are we going? If you know us, there is only one place we go... Walt Disney World. This will be our first vacation in over three years. Following the family tradition, Michah will have his first haircut at the Barber shop at the Magic Kingdom. They make such a big deal out of it and we did it for both Meghan and Mathew that we have to do this for Michah. I hope he has enough hair by then.