Disney Day

After Amy and I's 2 hour planning session, you can clearly see from our notes that we decided Wednesday was going to be our Disney day. Wednesday is the day they have the electric parade at midnight. When we looked at the opening and closing hours it say 6am and 6am which we were sure was a print error. But when we arrived in Florida we were assured it was not a mistake. They were going to be open 24 hours for the Leap year celebration. The big hype in Florida was "one more day". We even got button souvenirs.

So off we headed to the land where dreams do come true.

Minnie was very welcoming.

 With tickets in hand we headed in to see the castle ahead.

 And I took the opportunity to have some fun with my camera.

 Our first souvenirs were sunglasses. It was just so darn sunny.

 We were lucky enough to find some clip over ones for Joshua and in the motorcycle style he likes since he really can't see a thing without his glasses now.

 While Joshua and Noah were excited to be tall enough to drive alone, Jacob and Brady were just happy to be able to drive. Of course he went so fast the wind was whipping through my hair.

I don't think Brady could see over the wheel so I'm glad I wasn't in that car!

                            
                             
We saw a few friends and I threatened the boys to get a picture taken with him. Though I'm not surprised they don't like to because as I type this I am reminded of how Joshua used to freak out whenever he saw large characters when he was young.

I love love the colors cast on the castle at night. I actually like it better than in the day.

Amy finally got to ride Splash Mtn. but it almost didn't happen. After waiting 50 minutes in line we were just about at the end and it broke down. "It could be 5 minutes or 5 hours. You can wait or you can go". We waited a few and all was good. Though I didn't feel so safe knowing we were the guinea pigs after it had broken down. You can see from Amy's face, it did not disappoint.

Because it was so hot out in the day...

we didn't even need our sweatshirts while we waited for the parade at midnight. It was still 80 degrees.

While I prefer the castle at night, I prefer the parade in the day.

We did have a magical day. Even though we stayed until 2:30 am, we didn't get to do all that I wanted to do. All the more reason to go back!
Thanks for visiting ♥ Michelle

Their Favorite Day

When people ask the kids what their favorite part of Florida was they say the resort day. Then when I go on to say how much money we could have saved Joshua wants to change his mind. I told him it was ok that the pool day was his favorite. The trip was about making memories and they have great memories about playing in the cool pools.

There really is a lesson to be learned. Sometimes parents feel they need to buy things, go special places, to give their kids a memorable childhood. Sometimes the best memories are the simple moments spent together.

I mean really, how cool are palm trees? Amy and I wanted to dig one up to transplant up here but we didn't figure it would survive long.

Brady and I had to wait poolside because mommy forgot the bubble...I know, such a bummer to have to sit poolside, soaking up rays in February.

This was $27 I will never get back. At the resort they had  a lazy river. You have to pay $9 a day for the tube. My boys are anything but lazy. They don't know how to relax and enjoy. They went around in them once and as you can see, it wasn't slowly. I couldn't go around on mine because it was so long that I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them. I could have had three more drinks!

The resort has a couple of golf course and two mini golf places. We ended up doing only one of our two course. Time just flies by when you are on vacation!!! I was the keeper of the pen, but I had 2 eight year olds making sure I was counting every stroke of the 4 year old :) Must be the age.

Thanks for visiting ♥ Michelle

Day 2 Animal Kingdom

Despite the disappointment of knowing we were going to Animal Kingdom instead of hanging out at the resort pools, we ended up having a good day. Amy and I made the mistake of making the plan after about 36 hours on one hour of sleep so we misread the closing time. We were planning on 8 so we didn't rush out in the morning and were bummed when we saw everyone heading for the gates at 5.

As you can see from the squinters, we needed to find sunglasses on this trip or else the pictures were all going to be like this.

The Tree of Life is just an awesome wonder. Tons of animals carved into it all around the trunk.

 The whole gang, they really did get along pretty darn well. The only tough times were between the 2 eight year olds in the van vying for placement rights.

 I just love experiencing things by watching my kids. The amazement and wonder on Jacob's face especially always makes my heart grow two sizes.

This one I admired from the bottom. Well, someone had to sit with Brady. :)

Follow the arrow to see our crew. I had to take a few trial pictures because I had no idea which cart they'd be on.

 And aren't we a cute couple? That's not a rhetorical question so feel free to say "Yes".

 On the safari with his new 'friend' he won at a basketball game.

 A sampling of the animals. It was actually a bit hard to get good pix because as you know they are on a schedule and have to keeps those rides moving. I would have loved to go on the safari again but we had to leave sooner than anticipated.

 I'm so bummed that this picture really does no justice to just how drenched we got on this ride. Amy and I were the lucky recipients of a thousand gallons of water over our backs while the kids remained practically dry. So not fair!

 That is why of course they wanted to go on it again...we were all set with that and sent them on their way.

 We were so lucky with nice weather that it was a treat to enjoy the first ice cream of the season. Jacob had been waiting for his Mickey ice cream since I used it in the clues.

 And just to prove we were there, and still have it going on....!!!!

Thanks for visiting ♥ Michelle

Hitting the Road

This trip really wouldn't have been possible without Betty offering it, Auntie thinking of me when it came up, my hubby for being willing to work so we could play, Amy's husband Chris for giving up homecooked meals for the week while Amy came with me and Amy for her willingness to drive with me and 4 boys for 24ish hours. So to all of them I say, "Thank you!".

In my opinion it was pretty smooth sailing. We did not get lost once, no one got car sick, no flat tires and we barely heard, "Are we there yet?" or "I have to go to the bathroom". Before we left we found one of our video players had a ruined screen and that Amy only had one. Since we were really counting on them for entertainment Jim took a quick ride to Target...problem solved.

We did drive straight through. The boys looked like angels when they were sleeping. We almost hated to stop for gas in fear of them waking.

We stopped for a dinner/movement break and saw a whole bunch of these guys. Unfortunately because it was dusk neither of our cameras could get a good shot.

And by the end of the 24 hours the van looked like we found a tornado, barely any room for people.

Another quick stop for one of our gormet planned meals....

and movement break.

The boys were so excited when we finally arrived. We actually got in early before the last people had even checked out so we spent the day poolside while the room was cleaned. We finally got our call and rushed to the room. "I hear someond in there mom", "No, no one is in there, they are all done", "Oh, hello cleaning lady". We weren't leaving though! "It looks great", we said. (Remember our traveling digs, anything looks clean compared to that)

The boys and I shared this room. I actually felt loved when they were disappointed when it wasn't my night to sleep with them.

Our dining room table we officially used 2 or three times despite our commitment to doing this vacation 'cheap' and using the kitchen :)

And what a nice kitchen it was. Stove, fridge, microwave, dishwasher.



Right out the back was a golf course and these friendly little buggers.

They were interested in our little buggers.

The boys look forward to finding these guys when we come to Florida. The challenge is to catch them without them losing their tail.

We were fortunate to have cool pools right at the resort. When asked for their highs and lows of the trip, more than one of them responded that their high was swimming in the pool.

Now that Joshua has glasses the he can see good with he realizes just how much of the world he doesn't see without them. It is hard to find him without them now.

Another highlight was the basketball hoop right over the pool. We need to get one of these around here.

The had two of these kind by the other pool. We really needed a few more days to be able to really use the resort.

I guess Amy didn't have her camera ready when I went down the slide, sorry folks.

Thanks for visiting ♥ Michelle