First Few Days at Disney!

I hadn't been to Disney since I was 15 and it had been a while since Mark went.  It is huge!  It is bright!  It is amazing!  It's everything I remember it being-magical.

 

I realize my children are probably too young for this huge (expensive) experience, but we couldn't resist the opportunity given to us by my parents!  Now looking back, I think Avery and Mack will have these memories for a lifetime AND it's a good foundation for more trips back.  Plus, it was the time with family that will also be in their memories.  We can't thank Mum and Papa enough!! 

 

My parents were very excited to get to share this experience with all six of their grandkids.  We all got there a few days before my brother and his kids-there was no way we could wait for them to get there...Avery and Mack talked about the castle for months!  So off we went, we headed to The Magical Kingdom...

 

MeMe came with us to help-Lincoln got to come for two days

They lit up when they arrived and it just so happened the show in front of the castle was in process.

Avery grabbed her outfit from the stroller and put it on!  She was so precious and in awe of all the princesses.

Did I mention how HOT it was?  Our kids did great with it, but we needed to go into the air conditioning for lunch and cool down a little bit.  It felt great and Lincoln took his nap, but we learned how expensive the food was that day.  The next few times we packed our own sandwiches! On a side note: you can bring in your own coolers with your own food-they are very accommodating to this.  It was also nice to feed them while waiting in lines.   

Right after lunch, we were lucky to get a front row seat for the parade.  Now, Avery and Mack were terrified of the Easter Bunny and Santa, but here they were high fiving every character that walked by.  Mack sat and waved the whole time-even Lincoln had the biggest grin on his face...like I said it was MAGICAL!

After the parade, we ran over to wait and meet the princesses and lucked out on the line.  Avery and Mack got to meet Rapunzel, Aurora, and Cinderella! 

Mack wouldn't go up to any of them though

My parents had taken Lincoln home for some swimming and we continued on until about 5:00 that evening.  The biggest hit of the trip was the Tea Cups.  Mack would laugh so loud!  That is all he will talk about now.  After our first day at the parks we noticed how many germs were around and took Mack's paperwork up to guest relations.  They were able to give Mack, plus six people, a fast pass-he got to ride the tea cups 5 times!!  With no lines he was able to enjoy much more at the park!

We didn't have much time at the house, but when we did, we tried to relax!  Disney is busy!!

More to come later...

From the Beginning-Disney

It's strange to not be thinking about our trip to Florida!

color coded snacks

 

 I spent so much time thinking, reading and planning for our long journey to Disney World.  It's not easy to travel with three young kids, but I knew a road trip would be easier than a trip across the ocean with two under 2! 

healthy snacks-I even put ranch and peanut butter in little cups

 I read a lot of blogs (thank you to everyone who posts ideas for road trips) and learned so much.  The first part of my planning was to collect little toys/activities along the way-dollar store and target. This was probably the most helpful part of our planning.  Whenever they started to get restless, we would pull out a wrapped gift and then they had something to play with. 

The next helpful tip, was to pack healthy snacks.  I loaded up at Trader Joes and then got my fresh food.  It was a life savor to have lots of snacks!  I even read on multiple blogs to color code the snacks (one was Kidfriendly.com).  This was nice and each kid knew what was their food.  It also helped when I was packing their back packs.  Each kid had a set of markers, crayons and paint brushes and these were all color coded-there was no fighting over things.

Each kid had a back pack full of books, toys, and paper

I used packing paper to wrap all the gifts- then I could write the first letter of their name on them

Here is a bag full of snacks

This was Lincoln trying out his cousin's LEASH!  We weren't sure if we would need it...don't worry we didn't!

Of course it wasn't a perfect journey-that would be crazy to say-but they did an amazing job!  I can't believe how good they did!  We drove along with my parents.  This allowed each kid to have a turn in their car (this was helpful) and it was extra time with Mum and Papa. 

 

Through watching movies, playing with toys, and drawing we made the first half of the trip (13 hours) with only three stops.  This was what we wanted because we wanted to get there...if we do it again, it would be fun to make more stops and give them more opportunities to see the land.  The drive through Tennessee was AMAZING!

 

 

 

They were all excited to get out of the car and enjoyed a night in the hotel.  Lincoln loved staying up saying "hi" to us all...a little later than we all wanted. 

 

The next day our trip was shorter.  When we arrived to our beautiful house, it made it all worth the drive!  We made dinner and relaxed...because the next day it was DISNEY TIME!



MeMe and Avery Relaxing

                                

 

Then, we arrived!!!  The excitement with Avery and Mack, made our journey and packing all worth it.  Their eyes lit up when they saw the castle!

 

                                             

The following posts will be our journey through the land of Disney!

Starting WAY Back

The weeks leading up to our vacation were busy.  Between being in the hospital and packing for our trip, I had not pulled my camera out to add one important post...

 I totally missed Father's Day!!  Well, it was pretty calm-the kids were sick and so was I.  We did manage to go out just the two of us.  Mark's parents watched the kids so we got them ready for bed and snuggled up for a movie.  They loved having popcorn and watching a movie together. 

 On Sunday morning, we woke up to make Daddy breakfast and give him some gifts.  There aren't too many men out there like Mark.  The kids adore him and want to be by him all the time.  The boys  and our daughter have a great role model!

 And so do Mark and I.  Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of Mark's dad stopping by (he snuck in for dinner since the kids were sick), but my parents stopped by for dinner.  It was fun to celebrate all the important men in our lives.

Dads should know how much their kids admire them and know how blessed they are to have a family that loves them!!!  Happy Father's day (almost a month late)!