We're Back!

Well, after a long hiatus from the blog, I am finally back. We had a fabulous week long vacation in Florida, complete with several trips to Walt Disney World. Kurt and I had low expectations of the fun factor for us on this vacation, as we are not big fans of theme parks, crowds or Disney stuff. We knew all along that this trip was for Julia and that Jimmy will not remember this. But we had a great time and the kids were just so excited to be there. The best was spending time with our old neighbors (Steve, Kelly & Ethan). Now that they are on the other side of the state we don't get to spend that much time with them.

Friday - We arrived in Orlando a day before our friends, so after we got situated, we decided to go to Epcot to see the Nemo & Ocean exhibit and walk around the "world." Epcot is not a good place for kids, but we knew they'd like the Nemo/Ocean stuff. We had 6 days of tickets, so it wasn't that big of deal to "burn" one at Epcot.

Saturday - Bright and early we got up and arrived at the park to have breakfast at the Castle with Cinderella and the rest of the Princess Gang. It was kind of pricey ($100 for all of us), but it was worth it for Julia to meet all her girls in under an hour and see the Castle inside.
Julia with Cinderella..

The girls were given wands and the boys were given swords...Jimmy's got taken away, as he was about to take out a waiter or princess..

Julia with Belle...
Julia with Snow White
Julia with Jasmine Jasmine was a little buxom for the Princess Rated G Breakfast, but Jimmy & Kurt did not seem to mind.

Julia with Sleeping Beauty
Jimmy wowing the crowd at Ariel's Grotto
Julia & Ariel
Jimmy & Ariel - shirtless since he got doused by water in the Grotto.

Julia, Haley (Kelly's friend's daughter) & Ethan would relax most nights with an episode or two of Scooby Doo...they had so much fun together
Sunday: This day we relaxed and hung out at one of the pools in the morning and just let the kids run around. Later in the day we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and window shopping.

Julia goes down the slide with Kelly (baby Emily is in utero, so she was there too)

Not that it is a shocker to us, but Jimmy is not afraid of anything. He loves the water and would go down the slide all by himself. He is a little daredevil.



The resort we stayed at had several pools and kid areas. This pool area also had a splash pad and the kids loved running around in it. Fortunately you could situate yourself between both this and a shallow pool and watch everything.

After a day in the sun, we decided to go to Downtown Disney and let the kids play and look at all the stuff. They had a great time at Lego Land building stuff.

Monday: We all visited the Magic Kingdom. We arrived early to see as much stuff before it got too hot and the kids lost it. The kids rode lots of rides and had a great time. Julia rode the kid roller coaster and LOVED it. She screamed the whole time and when it stopped, she couldn't stop laughing. She is so my girl. In a few years and when she grows a few inches, we'll have some REAL fun at Cedar Pointe.

Julia & Stitch

After some R&R back at the Condo...we returned for more fun at the park in the afternoon.
Julia & Mickey & Minnie
Wednesday: We decided to go to Animal Kingdom. There were several shows we saw, Lion King, Pocahontas and her Animal Friends and we also rode a big truck to see tons of animals. It was pretty hot that day and there was little respite from the heat...this is probably why this was my least favorite day.

Julia & Goofy

Julia & Donald

Julia & Pocahontas
After the crazy hot day, we got back to the Condo and cooled off in the pool. This is when Julia finally rode the water slide by herself. She screamed the whole way.

Kurt & Jimmy Smile for Kate

Thursday - We decided to make one last trek to Magic Kingdom. The kids had so much fun there and there were a few things we thought the kids would like to do there. Julia rode the Splash Mountain ride, although you have to be 40 inches, she snuck on with Kurt and LOVED it. Again, more screaming...out of joy. She was all smiles and soaked when she got off. She told us this was her favorite part of the trip...riding it with Daddy.

We came back on Friday. Julia is a great flyer, Jimmy is not. It could be that he was riding on our laps or that he is just the devil -but he was either fighting or yelling pretty much the entire time. We were never to so glad to land. Julia slept most of the way.

Some of the things that bugged us most about the trip were the crazy people who can't stop on the side of a walkway and clog up the traffic. Kurt many times wanted to use our stroller and kids as a weapon and once had to stop the stroller and pull it back for fear or a lady that was walking and not looking. She deserved to fall...but not on my kids or stroller. I am sure that we could come up with a top ten list, but I have better uses for my time.

What really matters is that Julia loved every minute of it and several times she told us she never wanted to leave and that she was having a great time. Only once during the trip did she get a little homesick for her neighborhood friends. The kids couldn't have been better behaved. Will we become Disney Visitors every year? Absolutely not, but we'll go back at some point in time probably. Although our next vacation will be no kids and somewhere where I can just read a book on the beach and relax with a drink.

:-)