The Most Magical Place on Earth!!

It’s true; we went to Disney World!! It was unbelievable! We surprised the kids—we told them we were getting them out of school for a dentist appt. that day. We didn’t tell them until about 3 min. before we left for the appt. Andersin was more logistic about the news—he was concerned about school and forgetting the homework his teacher sent home—Laycie was just smiling in awe.

They were bouncing off the walls on the way to the airport. We had a smooth flight there, and had a personal chauffer meet us there to drive us to our hotel—sounds super fancy? Well, it was actually only $5 more than the public shuttle; one perk of being a big family. We loved our hotel, it had a heated pool, free shuttles to and from the parks, and we had an in-house Applebees that we got 4 free kids meals 3 times a day at. Needless to say we ate there A LOT! By the end my kids hated the menu! But, it saved us a lot of money not having to buy food. Either Lance or I went to eat with the kids, then brought the leftovers up to the other. Since we flew Southwest, we got 10 free pieces of luggage so I just packed soooo much food! I froze go-gurts, cheese sticks, etc and brought every type of other food I could get. I think we are the first people in the history of Disney that have ever been at Disney World for 5 days and didn’t spend one penny in the park—not on food, drinks, or souvenirs. Well, enough on our thrifyness; after a good night’s sleep we woke up and headed to Epcot!

                           

It was the perfect park to go to that day because it rained a bit, but most things were indoors so it didn’t bother us a bit. Our first stop was to see Mickey himself and all his friends. All the kids were a bit shy about it, but totally loved it!

                         

Aubrey just tried to eat Mickey’s nose when she met him, and she obviously didn’t like Minnie too much!

    

Laycie got all bashful and blushed after she met Goofy because he knelt down and kissed her hand like a princess!

Over the next 4 days we hit 4 more parks—Magic Kingdom twice, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios—talk about exhausting! Doing it over again, we’d take a day off the middle. It was so taxing on our kids, especially more Masen. I never thought it was possible to have too much fun, but one night as we were sitting down to order dinner and the kids started melting down I looked at the clock and saw it was almost 10pm—how could I blame them! All and all, we absolutely loved it there. Here are some highlights:

               

We loved the Nemo ride and exhibit—especailly talking with Crush, everyone was right: he does sound just like Lance!

                           

Masen and Aubrey had to do some waiting here and there while the older kids went on the big rides, but we kept busy!

Lance and Aubrey grew really close this trip. She took practically every nap in his arms. She couldn’t have been more angelic the whole trip. I think in the 6 days we were gone she cried maybe twice. Super easy on the trip! We just love her!

          

The parades were so much fun! I just love the look on Andersin’s face when the characters started coming by. Masen on the other-hand was so nervous and shy about seeing them that I couldn’t get him to come much closer. We saw a few parades and in everyone Laycie was sure that one of the princesses was looking right at her and waving. It made her day. Speaking of that, Lance actually did have a princess (Snow White) look right at him smile, wave, and even ask, “Is she sleeping?” because he was holding Aubrey asleep. I think it was the highlight of the trip of Lance. She obviously was hitting on him. He obviously liked it. I obviously can’t compete with her.

                                                                  

You can tell they all got tired of walking—thank heavens for our sit n’ stand stroller! The the weather was a bit chilly on a few of our days (upper 40s, lower 50s) but we got a day or two of nice, warm FL weather.

                                                                                                        

                                    

Above is us waiting for a 3D/4D movie. We watched a few of them, they were all great, but my favorites were Mickey’s Philharmonics and A Bug’s Life! Absolutely incredible to watch (and feel!)!

                                                                   

Here’s us playing UNO while we wait for our Shuttle after Magic Kingdom’s fireworks. It was so late, but look at all those happy faces!

                           

                          

I thought I’d give ya’ll a up-close look at the super cute shirts I made---yea, I’m pretty much awesome Ok, so they are iron-ons I got on the internet that JaNae ironed on for me because I was too busy…..I’m still cool though.  Anyways, let me tell you the HIGHLIGHT of our trip:

                                                   

Bryce & Amy’s family came!! My kids are mega obsessed with them and they were so excited to hear they were coming. When we told Andersin as we were leaving that he’d see Preston he said, “Mom, I don’t care where in the world we go, as long as Preston’s there.” They were so sweet to sacrifice their time and means to come spend two days with us. They rock!

                                                         

                                                                      Waiting for another parade, the kids having fun just being together!

                                                                      

We saw the Indiana Jones show—along with many other shows! We went to Magic Kingdom (again) and Hollywood Studios with them and wish we could have seen more; there is just too much to do and too much fun to be had!

           

This might have been my favorite part of our trip; the castle show before the fireworks. You wouldn’t believe the cool/beautiful things they can do to the Cinderella castle with lights and computerish-projection stuff. I especially loved the fact that I had sweet Aubrey wrapped up and asleep on me (look at that cute little face peeking out!!).

My second favorite part was the evening concert/dancing! We only stayed for like 10 min because our shuttle was leaving (and we had quite the experience from the night before when we missed our shuttle…), but next time we go we’ll plan to stay for it. Check out Lance’s dance moves; Bryce’s weren’t too shabby as well!

         

Look at Andersin & Preston and Madison & Laycie. Awe. Masen was definitely the one more enamored with Madison, he was her little puppy dog following her around wanting to be with her every minute. She was so good with him too!

But every good thing must end, and Bryce’s family had to leave a day before us. It was a hard good-bye.

                                         

                                                                                                     

  

These are the teary-filled, red eyes and sad faces that we faced when their cousins drove away from our hotel .

I have such tender-hearted children; they always struggle with goodbyes.

 

 

 

 

BUT, we can’t stay sad for long, because we caught our shuttle and headed off to Animal Kingdom for our last day! We had another great day of rides, shows, and fun! Lance took the two older ones to ride a splash ride and boy did Laycie get the wrong seat! She didn’t mind a bit.

                                                                                           

Here are a few other high-points I don’t want to forget:

Here are a few low-points that have got to be mentioned:

• Aubrey’s diaper blow-out. Now, I’ve been a mom for almost 8 years. I’ve had 4 kids. I know a thing or two about blow-outs, and I’ve seen my fair share. Nothing has ever compared to what happened in the shuttle on the way to our hotel from Day 2. I’m talking all over my shirt, all down my pants, all over the seat, all over the floor, all over her clothes, all over our bag, all over her blanket, all over our carrier. Not just a little here and there—a massive amounts EVERYWHERE. I have never seen so much potty in my life. It will go down in history. Even when we got out of the shuttle and I was holding her as Lance was cleaning the guy’s van, she went again and it shot out all over my shoe and he sidewalk. Not our best moment.
• On the night of Day 4 I got the stomach flu and was up most of the night throwing up. And I never throw-up. Garrett threw up too and Andersin, Amy & Lance were pretty nauseous the next day. Luckily, it didn’t affect the trip too much.

                                                                                                        

Leaving the park was a sad realization. We hope to save our pennies and be back in a few years! Bye Mickey, we’ll miss you!!