Days 3, 4, and 5- In a Nutshell....

Ok... I figured that at the rate I was going with blogging about our trip, I was going to finish around Christmas time. So....to sum it all up, we had an absolute BLAST. Everything exceeded my expectations and the memories from the trip are endless. Disney was the happiest place on Earth for us that week.

Disney Day 2- The Magic Kingdom Part I

Sorry there has been a bit of a break between day 1 and 2. Lets just say that laundry and life have taken front seat this week (as it should). Well, I finally found a quite moment to write about our second day at Disney.

We woke up that morning to beautiful clear skies and the high temp for the day was 79. Absolutely beautiful weather!!!! As we arrived at the Magic Kingdom, we realized that everyone must have had the same idea we did and come to see Cinderella's castle that day. Though it looked like it might be crowded, once you got inside the park, it really wasn't too bad.

After stopping at the castle for a few pictures it was off to Tomorrowland and Buzz Lightyear's Space Spin! We got our Fast Passes and had some time to spare, so we went into Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. This show was probably one of my favorites. So funny and entertaining. I find it amazing as to how the characters on screen actually interact with the audience. The kids and Chris loved the show as well. The timing was perfect because by the time we got out of the show, it was time for our FP.

Chris and I had tried to prep the kids for the rides at Disney. We didn't do so on our first trip when Luke was 3, and he freaked out on some of the rides not knowing where reality stopped and fantasy began. I let the kids watch youtube videos of most of the rides so they would know what to expect. We also did a lot of talking about how everything in the ride was machine. Luke literally tried to climb out of the Buzz ride when he was three, so we were hoping for a much better reaction this time. It was a huge SUCCESS. Both kids loved it and defeated more aliens than I did. They wanted to run to the next ride they were both so excited.

We headed over to Winnie the Pooh ride and to see Mickey's Phillharmonic. Tried to ride the Barnstormer (Goofy's Rollercoaster), but it wasn't up and running that day. We knew were coming back on Friday, so we figured we would just try it then. After lunch and some playtime in Pooh's Playful Spot, we headed to Adventureland to ride the Magic Carpets of Aladin. We also caught the Country Bear Jamboree and the afternoon parade. Wow, it was a full day.

Here is where the funny, not so funny at the time, story takes place (about 4:00pm). Chris and I decided to split up. Luke really wanted to ride Splash Mountain and Hayley is not big enough to ride it. We decided to meet back at Peter Pan's Flight about 5:15ish because we had a fast pass for the ride and the line for Splash Mountain was about a 45 minute wait. So the boys went off to get in line and Hayley and I headed back to Fantasyland to ride Cinderella's carousel. We rode the carousel, had some ice cream, and did a little shopping with the time we had to burn. At 5:15, Hayley and I camped out in front of PP Flight waiting on the boys. 5:30 came, no boys. 5:45 came, no boys. 6:00 came and so did 6:20. NO BOYS! I was starting to get worried and thought maybe we should head over to Splash Mountain to see if we might cross paths. Once we got to the ride, a huge crowd was standing, watching and whispering!!! What was going on? I asked someone what happened and she told me that the ride was stuck. It had only been stuck for about 10 minutes but it had happened earlier and had been stuck for a while. Well.....mystery solved but where were they?!?!? We headed back to Fantasyland and finally found the boys. Yes, they had been on the ride when it was stuck for 30 minutes!!!!! They had just gone down the big hill and got stuck just before the spot where you get out. Once they got the ride up and running again, the boat went straight through the exit and went again. Luke was not too thrilled at first because he was still deciding if he liked it or hated it the first time he went through! Chris said he calmed down and enjoyed the second time around. What an adventure!!!

We missed our FP to Peter Pan, so we decided to wait and try again on Friday. Needless to say, it was time to head back to the hotel and rest up for day 3 at Hollywood Studios........

Disney Day 1 - Epcot

Luke and Belle. Hayley was too shy to talk to the princesses the first day!

Luke and Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty)

My shy girl watching from a distance! (ha ha, for those of you who know Hayley, she doesn't have a shy bone in her body, until this day)

I am going to pace myself as I try and recall all the fun from the last week. Taking it one day at a time will help me remember as much as I can, I hope. So here we go....

Breaking the 12+ hour car ride up over two days worked very well for us. We spent the night in Savannah, and then continued on our way to Orlando. We arrived at our hotel in the afternoon, so the kids got a swim in before we headed to Downtown Disney to check things out. After a dinner at Captain Jacks, shopping, and a ride on the carousel, we headed back to the hotel for a good night sleep.

We woke up in the middle of the night to thunderstorms and pouring rain. I fell back asleep praying that it would be cleared up by the morning. Up at 6:30am, the rain was still falling, though not as hard as it was during the night. We decided to try Epcot since it was raining and they have several indoor attractions. When we got to Epcot, the rain had pretty much stopped and it was actually a very pleasant overcast day.

We headed straight over to The Seas with Nemo only to find out it was down, not working. Bummer!!! So in we went to see the aquarium and Turtle Talk with Crush. What a cool show. Crush, the turtle from Nemo, actually talks and interacts with the audience. Luke and Hayley loved it (so did Chris and I)! Once we finished TT with Crush, the Nemo ride was up and running. Hooray. No wait time and we walked right up and climbed in our clam shell and headed off to find Nemo.

Imagination was next and the kids were introduced to Figment, the purple dragon. I love the science aspect of this park. The ride talked about the 5 senses in such a fun way. There is actually a part of the ride where a skunk sprays and it really smells like a skunk! Hayley didn't like how loud the ride was, but Luke sure got a kick out of it.

We toured around the World Showcase and ran into Jasmine and Aladin, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty. Hayley, my little princess, was so star struck she didn't want to go up to actually meet them. Luke on the other hand jumped at the chance to meet a princess. I mean, what guy wouldn't. He met Belle first and re-caped the entire Beauty and the Beast movie for her. Very cute. She was so sweet and kind and listened very intently to everything he said. Next, we ran into Sleeping Beauty (aka Aurora). Luke thinks that she is the most beautiful princess. He was quite the charmer I must say. He even told her that he wanted to pick her a flower to match her dress but his mommy told him not to pick the flowers in the garden (thanks!) After a 5 to 10 minute conversation (seriously), Aurora gave Luke a kiss on the cheek and even left a kiss print. He wouldn't dare let me wipe it off!!!

We made our way back to Future World and decided it would be best to get in line for the character greeting. We met Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy all in one swoop! That was the longest line we waited in all week and it took us about 45 minutes to get to the front.

After 4 BIG scoops of ice cream and a break, we went to ride Spaceship Earth (or I like to call it the Golf Ball ride). It had been redone recently and was very interesting. Hayley was not at all fond of the dark ride and cried most of the way through (she was also pretty tired at this point). We decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. We knew we all needed a good night sleep if we were going to tackle the Magic Kingdom the next morning..........

Disney...Cannot say enough

Well......We just spent our week in Orlando 2009. Four of the days were spent at Disney World and one at Sea World (I just LOVE Shamu!). We have had an absolute blast! The funny stories are almost endless. The memories of the kids faces each time they saw something new or rode a ride for the first or second time are burned on my brain forever. I am tired to say the least. I took 409 pictures of our trip to document every moment that I possibly could in a picture. I will get down to the stories next week, taking it one day at a time. Happiest place on earth? I would say yes, for us this week, it definitely was!!!!!

Flip Flops

Hayley talking to the seagulls!

So, it was a week ago today that we were "snowed" in and bundled up due to temps in the teens and twenties. Fast forward five days and we were at the beach! Crazy, yes. Incredible, definitely. The weather was beautiful all weekend long with the high on Saturday at 78 and Sunday at 81 degrees. We packed up the crew Saturday morning and headed to Sandbridge Beach. So much fun to play in the sand and get our feet wet.

My beloved flip flops made their first appearance for 2009. When we lived in Hawaii for a little over 3 years, my feet rarely saw the inside of a shoe. Flip flops and the occasional sandal (at work) were all I wore except when working out. My feet grew to love the constant air and ease to be free of shoes at a moments notice. It was a rude awaking when we moved to Fredericksburg and were dumped on by snow 6 times that first winter!!!! My feet had to learn to be covered and they didn't like it one bit! Every year when I get to break out the slippers (aka, flip flops) I get so excited. My poor toes need some TLC, but never the less, I wear my FF if temps reach above 65. Flip flops are the welcome mat to days at the pool and beach, having watermelon on the front steps, chasing lighting bugs, dinners outside, playing kick the can, going to get ice cream after dinner (no longer in the back of a pick up like I did growing up), and sitting on the porch with Chris sharing a Coke and conversation after the kids have gone to bed. Oh, flip flops, how I have missed you!

Snow Day

Hot Chocolate Faces!

Another snow day for us today. At least this time there was actually some snow. Nothing to really scream at, but enough for a little "yippee!" The weather had been rainy and cold all weekend so we were hoping for a winter wonderland when the temperatures dropped on Sunday night. We woke up to just a dusting (if you could even call it that) and lots of ice on the roads. NO SCHOOL was declared and the stir craziness set in. Even though the temps were never really above freezing, we NEEDED to get out and run a little before "Steele Wrestle Mania '09"ended up with a broken bone.
I was not the brave Mama and stood at the door and watched while they ran around a little. I am still very cautious with my knee since the surgery and ice makes me NERVOUS. I forgot how exciting snow can be to a child. Luke hadn't seen snow since he was 2 and we had nearly 8 inches to play in the last February we were in Fredericksburg. He was a little disappointed that there was not enough to make a snow angel or build a snowman. He got over it pretty quickly and ran and ran and ran and ran!!! Hayley has never seen snow until this year. She loved it. She pretty much ate all the snow off one of our deck chairs (I'm sure that was pretty clean). They had both had enough after about 20 minutes, and they came inside for a hot chocolate break. Luke takes after his Daddy and cannot stand chocolate, but he insisted on a cup for himself. After a sip to warm him up, he was done. Hayley could have finished two more mugs full if I had let her.

Today is bitterly cold again, but the weather man tells us it should be 65 and sunny by the weekend. Ahhhh. Spring is slowly creeping in and I cannot wait!