It's Official

On this very day, thirteen years ago, a little boy was placed in my arms for the very first time and I became a mother.

On this very day my baby takes his first big step into the teenaged years.


Thank you God for blessing us with thirteen years of joy. Here's to 100 more.

PS His baseball team won their first game today 7 - 6!!!

Day 5

Our last day to enjoy the parks... The kids wanted to go to Downtown Disney one last time so we did that in the morning. Steve spoiled them with fudge and chocolate covered marshmallows.


And then we skipped back over to MGM. This time we got a better hang of how to manage the crowds and use the fast pass to our greatest advantage and we got to see a couple of cool stunt shows and a couple of 3D shows.

I thought this was the coolest illusion. The buildings in the background are just painted.


Herbie was there!

We all got in line for a quick ride before we saw the car stunt show and just as we were getting ready to get on, E decided nature was calling and she couldn't ignore the phone so she and I skipped out to find a bathroom. When she discovered everyone had gotten on the ride without her, she bawled. She was inconsolable.

Steve and the kids got off the ride and met us for the stunt show and E promptly did this:

That explained all the crying. Poor Steve had to carry her up a million stairs... really, I wish I'd taken a picture of the stands. It was a lot to climb with an extra 50 lbs to carry. He was understandably a little hot by the time we got to our seats.


Maybe you can tell how high up it was by looking at the stage we were watching:


Anyway, after MGM we went back to the hotel for one last swim and to pack up. The next morning we headed out early for the airport. I think we all needed a week of sleep to catch up with all the sleep we gave up to play while we were there.


Hope you enjoyed our vacation! I know I sure did LOL!

Day 4

I'm sorry for the long delay between days. We got home and Steve left right away again and I'd been uploading pics to his laptop.

Friday we started out in MGM trying to take advantage of the EMH (extra magic hours) in the morning but other than the Tower of Terror, a Star Wars Parade and the High School Musical pep rally, we didn't get much done. It was hot and it was crowded. I think it was the hardest morning of our vacation.

We had reservations for lunch in Epcot with the Princesses so the girls got all dolled up and ready for their date.

Then it was off to MGM for a few hours. Now you might think I'm nuts for letting my baby ride the Tower of Terror but she did really well on Big Thunder Mountain and she really wanted to ride it so she did. Steve said she was fine when they dropped her the first time but then the ride goes back up and opens the doors so you can look out over all of MGM. He said she looked out those doors and it was like, "Ok, this is serious!" She cried when the ride was over and the entire rest of the vacation if anyone said, "Tower of Terror" she would go, "I don't want to ride the Tower of Terror! It was really scary!"


It was Star Wars Weekend in MGM so we were treated to a lot of Star Wars stuff, including a parade with storm troopers and Jedi Micki. Steve is a big Star Wars fan so he was thrilled.

This picture is for my sister. She knows why.

This was the worst moment of the vacation. I'm sure the girls loved it but it was HOT and it was PACKED with people. I didn't wear much makeup on vacation but by the end of this show what little bit I had on, melted off my face. Literally. It was HOT.

They invited the kids up to dance with the cast and I think E was the first one out of her seat.
Our Princess lunch was in Epcot so we gave up on MGM and hopped a bus on over there.


I don't remember what E was pouting about but I've titled this picture, "The saddest little princess in the land."


We had some time before lunch so we hit a few countries. The boys are watching a glass blower in Mexico.

We parted ways - the boys were off to find more adventurous rides - and sat down to wait for our lunch. They were running about a half hour behind in their reservations and while we waited, E fell asleep sitting completely upright. I pulled her down on my lap and she slept until our name was called.
At the table, waiting for the princesses to appear.

All the princesses were there. We saw Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White. I won't bore you with all the pics we took but Cinderella is our favorite and Snow White was the best Snow White I've ever seen. She even sounded like the girl in the movie.



After that we went to the hotel for a couple of hours and then hit Magic Kingdom to take advantage of the EMH there. We saw the electric light parade and the fireworks and then we rode a bunch of rides until about two in the morning. Yes, you read that right. Two A.M. It was awesome because during the day you'd stand in lines and even with the fast passes you'd maybe only get three or four rides in but at night the crowds are down by probably 3/4 of what they were during the day and there isn't a single thing we waited longer than ten or twenty minutes to ride.

Day 3

This one has to be fast because I don't want to miss the fireworks tonight.

We went to Magic Kingdom yesterday which was fantastic. Because we're staying on Disney property we can take advantage of extra Magic hours. MK was open early and Epcot was open late and we took advantage of the lack of crowds to do most of our riding then with a short break in between for naps and a dip at the resort pool. Here're the pics:






Ok, wait, I gotta tell you this story. We went to Ariel's Grotto to see Ariel and get her autograph which the boys were not all that crazy about doing. In fact, look at Ty's face in this pic. He SO didn't want to sit there and I made it worse by asking Ariel if she'd kiss him. LOL!



Anyway, while we were standing in line there were these little water things the kids could play with and E, G, Ty and Steve (to chaperone) ran off to mess around. S3 stayed behind in line with me and made snide comments about the little kids and about his brother being this little kid. After about 10 minutes of watching them play, he said to me, "I'm going to go over to Dad." I watched him. He didn't end up anywere near his father.



Some things you just gotta do. For us it was the Tea Cups, the Pirates of the Caribbean and eating Mouse ice cream.







Met Jasmine, Aladdin and the Genie.



I think Ty's highlight of the day was watching this bird catch and eat this little frog.



E went on her first rollercoaster (I'll edit the pic when I get home so you can see the family better)



And her reaction???



We hopped over to Epcot to do the extra magic hours and ended up riding different rides until Midnight. They tricked me into riding Test Track which now, a day later, I can admit was pretty cool although I'll never ride it again but last night... well let's just say I didn't react to my ride on a quasi coaster quite as well as E reacted to her full coaster.

Day 2

Today Steve had to attend a conference so the kids and I headed to Downtown Disney and did some shopping.

Ty is filling a bucket of Legos from a wall of Legos. It was like heaven on earth for him. Oh and don't you love his Goofy Pirate hat?



They have these really cool bouncing fountains. The girls decided to run through them causing me to have one of the biggest laughs I had all day.




We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe (and if you've never been there, try to find a way to get to one. They're cool) and then came back to the resort to rent some boats and do some swimming. It seemed unfortunate that a rainstorm came up while we were out on the lake but in reality it was a total blessing. We took out two boats that should have cost us $41 per half hour but eight minutes before our half hour was up, the lifeguard closed the lake and I only had to pay $11.



Yes, they actually let S3 take out a motorized boat with out an adult on board! Yikes!


The kids were thrilled we got to boat and we talked Steve into bagging the conference early and going back to Downtown Disney. We had ice cream at Ghirardelli's for dinner and then came back to the resort to swim in the dark. As we were walking back to the room from the pool one of the girls said, "This is like paradise!"

Wish You Were Here

Today was our first day of our first big vacation as a whole family. We were blessed with this opportunity thanks to Steve's work. He's been gone for a few months and as a "reward" they have paid for us to fly to Florida, paid for a rental, paid for two rooms at the Coronado Springs resort and paid for three days of Disney park hopper passes for all six of us.

Here we are in Philly getting ready to board the plane:

G and T on the plane:

Check out the rental!

At the Coronado Springs:

There is a really awesome pool at the resort. The kids are allowed on the steps of this Mayan temple but they're not supposed to go higher than the first set of branches. You can see it's quite high up.

By the time G and E started climbing over the second set of branches I was saying, "Steve! Steve! Do something!" He whistled his really loud whistle and got not only the girls' attention but the lifeguard's attention as well. Between them they managed to stop the girls after they'd gotten a little more than half way up.

Dinner with Pluto:

See you tomorrow!