Day Six

Not a lot to say about day six. Rain, rain, rain. The kids didn't get to bed until about 11:30 p.m. the night before, so we hadn't planned a big day for Tuesday. We thought we might head back to the Magic Kingdom in the afternoon just to hit our favorites, but it rained a ton.

We ate lunch at Giordano's Pizza (a Mark request). Then we told the kids they could either pick out a souvenir tomorrow at Disney or look at Target for something today. Do kids ever choose to wait? They wanted to hit Target.

The boys especially had a very hard time making a final selection. They looked at legos, Star Wars action figures and several other items. It was funny to watch them. Hayden came home with two lego sets, Conner picked out a Star Wars jet and action figure and Millie picked some play food. They took so long it was time for dinner so we headed to my favorite Chick-fil-A and then back to the condo to play with the new toys. It really did rain the entire day, but we were able to relax and recoup for Epcot tomorrow.

Here are a few photos from the day starting with Giordano's...
In the aisles of Target...

Day Five

The Magic Kingdom. The day started out great. We were there early and got to see the opening program as they dropped the rope.
We headed straight for Thunder Mountain thinking it might have long lines later. They both loved this ride and it was their favorite ride of the trip!

The view from our seats...
From there the boys and Mark went on Splash Mountain. I was proud of them for trying it and Hayden really liked it. They didn't get too wet and it was after that ride that it started raining.

Because of the rain we headed to the Jungle Cruise. We had a great tour guide. At one point he yells "get down, the cannibals are restless." Hayden immediately gets off his seat and crouches down near the floor. Mark and I were laughing so hard (not letting Hayden see us). He never caught on that no one else on the boat moved. Several other people were laughing too. He stayed in that position for several seconds until the guide said it was safe.
We headed back to our condo for dry clothes and lunch. We left about 11:45 and came back around 2:30. We got to see the 3:00 parade. They really do an amazing job with the parades here Millie is waving at someone (she was always waving at characters).


I was not up for the tea cups. Mark said he would ride, but was not up for spinning. At one point I think he was the one spinning them all super fast.

It is not a day at the Magic Kingdom without a ride on It's a Small World. Millie really enjoyed it and I did to. We walked right on and it was relaxing. I'm not sure if you can tell, but the boy behind Mark was totally asleep.

The kids picked out a sucker before we headed over for one last ride and a spot for Illuminations, the evening light parade.We walked right on the Buzz Lightyear ride and rode it twice before the parade.

The castle changes colors throughout the night.


Despite the rain, this was a great day. We walked on most rides and the rain held off for both parades and the fireworks.

Day Four

We began our Sunday by attending a local church. No, not really. Maybe we should have, but we slept in and then headed to Celebration-a planned community with a school, shopping and restaurants intertwined with the large neighborhood. I think it originally had some association with Disney...I'm not sure if it still does. There was a water area the kids enjoyed trying to dodge the water spouts.



Then we enjoyed another ice cream break. I'm wondering when the kids will realize that the superman ice cream-or anything with neon colors, really isn't that great compared to what they could choose. They are missing out!Next we headed back to Downtown Disney, this time without the rain. We checked out the Harley Davidson store...


Headed again to the Lego store. This is the exhibit just outside the store. These people and dogs are amazing.


We were getting hungry and decided, somewhat spontaneously, to have dinner at Rainforest Cafe. It is a fun experience and the atmosphere obviously keeps the kids entertained while we waited for food. We came just before the true dinner crowd, so we were seated right away-always a bonus when the kids are tired and hungry. This picture is of one of the aquariums, plus tons of the rainforest look abounding.

Every 20 minutes the animals 'come alive' and make their animal noises and move around. Every 45 minutes they simulate a thunderstorm.

We headed home from here and the kids hoped to swim, but a thunderstorm popped up and derailed that plan. It was another fun and somewhat low key day we needed before we tomorrow's Magic Kingdom day.

Day Three

Saturday we planned to make a beach day. Had we had internet access in our room I would have realized that low tide was around 11am and we would have headed out in the morning. We planned to go to Clearwater Beach on the gulf side because the beaches are beautiful and the shelling is much better. Conner has talked about wanting to look for shells at the beach for years. I also enjoy looking for shells. The best time to do so is when the tide is 'out', thus revealing the most shells.

All that to say, I thought the tide would be out in the afternoon (as it always has been when we were on spring break). So we spent the morning in the oh so warm pool and headed to the beach around lunchtime.

Some pictures of the morning swim...

Notice my bedhead in this photo...Millie, ready to head to the beach.The water was amazing. We spent several hours and two different locations on Clearwater. We all found fun shells and even saw some live crabs in shells that some girls found when the tide was out (rub it in will you?). You KNOW if Mark is in the water the ocean must be warm. The lifeguard station reported the water at 82 degrees. It was wonderful. I'm excited to make our next vacation a beach vacation! It was definitely worth the hour and a half drive each way.

We ended the day with dinner at a Mexican Restaurant called Senor Locos. The food was very good and Conner especially loved it. I don't think he knew he liked Mexican food so much.

It's very common for a thunderstorm to pop up this time of year. On the way home we could see the rain ahead and looked out to spot a rainbow over the ocean...that was a first for me.

Day Two

The second day of our trip was planned for Hollywood Studios. This was a great day full of a Star Wars ride, a Jedi warrior show, the 3:oo Block Party Parade, and riding my favorite ride Toy Story Mania. The lines were short...we walked on most things within 10 minutes (I kept trying to tell the kids to look at all the line areas that were blocked off that people often stand in). I'm not sure they could appreciate how short the lines were, but I sure did.

I would TOTALLY recommend finding a time to visit Disney in the 'off ' time. There are still many people, as always, but only the most popular rides had waits and we would usually ride them first thing in the morning and then get a fast pass for later that day.

Here we are in line for Toy Story Mania. I love this ride because it's a 4-D experience where you shoot virtual darts at targets to earn points. It was fun to compete against the kids and Mark. As you shoot different things, like a balloon, a poof of air would hit your face. It was really great. Many of the rides/shows are 4-D experiences with smells, air, mist etc. adding to the 3-D experience.



These photos are outside the Star Tours ride and Jedi training the held throughout the day. Neither of the boys even thought about volunteering to be a Jedi in training (although Millie wanted to know when she could go on stage). Hayden, however, thought seriously about volunteering later that day.

They did a very good/realistic job and Darth Vader was very authentic.


Very fun giant Popsicles. It was pretty hot this day.


Part of the Block Party parade...

Millie and Mickey...At the end of a long day...

Vacation Day 1

We've returned from vacation. I didn't have internet access in our room, so no blogging took place all week. I've decided to take it day by day (mostly because it would take me forever to post the whole week at once).

Aside from a short delay getting started, the kids did well on the flights.

Our first day of our trip to Florida was great. The kids swam for a bit in our really warm pool located all too conveniently very close to our room. Then we headed to downtown Disney which is full of restaurants, shopping and a fun atmosphere. The kids were very excited to head to the Lego store located there, so despite a bit of rain, off we went. The boys saved some Christmas money and were very excited to pick out whatever they wanted to buy with it. Of course Star Wars Legos was the choice for both. They really love legos so much and play with them all the time, so I was glad they were so excited about them.

The store wasn't huge, but was really incredible. The had a huge display in the middle with nearly every Star Wars lego set put together on it.

This Shark is made of legos!

Day One- and it's off to bed because tomorrow we head to Disney's Hollywood Studios.