Disney World!!!!

David's Granny turned 90 years old this fall.  She requested a trip to Disney World to celebrate.  We were so excited to be able to join her and all of Dave's family to do just that in true Disney World style.

We stayed for 5-6 days and pretty much saw it all...Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood studios, a day trip to Universal Studios, and some beach time (more about that later though).   It was truly a magical time for all of us.  Especially our kids who hadn't really ever spend that kind of time at any Disney park before (note Amanda and Maren had done a one day trip back when they were much younger).  Their comments were my favorite part..."It's like when a kid dreams here" (Amanda), "Magical"(Maren-That came out of her mouth several times a day). "Do you think I should should hug Mickey Mouse mom? Cause I think I will." (Spencer).  Jacob on the other hand was content with the simpler things like the "magic stair station"(escalator) at the airport, and by far his favorite was the bus ride to and from the parks from our resort.  In fact we had a few tantrums while at parks because he just wanted to ride the bus=) 

We ended up splitting up much of the time, as the girls were excited to do more of the big rides, and the little guys were content exploring and riding some low key rides.  Although they did both do a few of the classics they were tall enough for, like thunder mountain.  I even somehow managed to talk Spencer in to riding Expedition Everest with me on our first day.  He kind of loved it, but would not ride it again.  Jacob who heard every talking about it, was most excited about the Yeti, and talked about it non stop much of the trip.

The boys loved the dinosaur area at animal kingdom, so much so that two months later they still talk about it.  And they loved the steady supply of snacks and food that came with out meal plan we ended up getting to simplify our lives (plus it was free with a deal...who can beat that!)

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And the motor speedway (sideways picture above) was by far Spencers favorite ride.  He must have ridden it a dozen times.  Which was made possible by ...

...his lovely sister who had her own "fast pass" by way of a wheel chair that served us beautifully most of the time.  She was a trooper though and put up with being pushed around all day, rough life!  Seriously though, as her foot was causing her a lot of pain off and on throughout the week she really did do well, and even was a sort of lap stroller for tired kids several times.

The girls had the most fun pairing up with their cousins for trips in the park. Maren and Isabelle are inseparable, and even ended up sleeping in each others hotel rooms most nights.  These two loved going all the scary rides, including tower of terror and Expedition Everest. They even opted to go back and do a second day at Magic Kingdom instead of going to universal with Amanda and the older girls, as they wanted to ride space mountain, splash mountain, and thunder mountain again and again. 

Notice I am the only one with my hands up here...

seriously!

Amanda hung out as much as she could with Mado and Jessica, and they all had a great time catching up again.  My they are all getting so tall!  They spent all day together at Universal and loved Harry Potter World, they are all bookworms so it was super fun to indulge them.  Here they are drinking their butter beer in front of the three broomsticks, and Amanda and I in front of Hogwarts.  I have to say it was worth the trip to universal just for that ride in the castle.  Even the wait in line was incredible!

And here is a few of the younger cousins together who played equally as well together and loved hanging out at the hotel and pool together.

After five days of park hopping Dave and the boys headed to the beach to spend a few days there with lots of cousins, and sand, and a a hurricane sandy churning up a red tide and blowing sand after a few days.

So they headed to the aquarium to get out of the weather.  Looks like the kids had fun anyhow.

Spencer testing his map reading skills at the aquarium

Flash the turtle, Jacob the scuba diver, and Spencer the Octopus

The girls and I had one last day at the park, we decided on a second day at Hollywood Studios, and HAD A BLAST.  We rode star tours a couple of times, then headed over to watch Beauty and the Beast, ride Tower of Terror, and discover their favorite ride of all time Aerosmith's Rockin' roller Coaster.  Which we rode several times, much to my chagrin.  We ended the day watching Fantasmic which was a great way to end a great week.  But I had to laugh as we were about to exit the park, the girls begged me to go to watch the Little Mermaid show, and I couldn't resist, they are only my little girls for so much longer...

The next morning the girls and I boarded a plane and flew to the panhandle area for a fun visit with our friends the O'Gwins.  We loved catching up, watching movies, hanging out, eating Stacy's good cooking, and one fantastic day at the beach to do some snorkling.  Maren and Lise built an amazing hermit crab village, which we ended up snorkling to find them more and more crabs to live in.  

 

 

 All around it was a such a great trip.  Although we were just slightly tired after our fun week playing in the Florida sunshine.