Disney Trip

We're back!  Actually, we got back a few days ago, but between laundry, VBS prep and yet another trip to the pediatrician for strep tests, I'm just now able to sit down for more than five minutes.

I won't bore you with loads of pictures (just a few, I promise!).  I will say that we had a great time and we'll probably go back five to six years from now so that the boys will have some memories of the place.  It truly is a magical place, although the number of fussing/whining/crying children we saw totally contradicts the "Happiest Place on Earth" slogan.  If it was truly the happiest place on earth, it would be free of whiny, overtired children, but maybe that's just me.  Anyway....

Sydney and I spent a day at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and had a blast:



I let her choose what we did the entire time.  She got her Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant:



And she got to buy a wand (Hermione's, if you're curious):



We also discovered that if you're half an inch too short to ride the main ride and you cry in front of the person who tells you that you can't ride it, you'll get a gift certificate allowing you to be the first in line the next time you come and a personal escort to the front of another ride.  Not bad.

Disney was fun, too.  The kids got to meet their heroes, Woody and Jessie from Toy Story:



Liam loved all the rides he was allowed to go on.  In fact, by using their FastPass and Switchoff options, he got to ride most of them several times while poor Evan sat in the stroller waiting for all of us to finish riding the rides he was too short to go on.

We caved and bought all three kids some mouse ears:



And we forced them to pose for all of the standard photo ops:



We had a couple of "rest" days and stayed at our condo to play at the pool:



And we even took a detour on our 16 hour drive home to see the Atlantic Ocean:



I'd seen both the Atlantic and the Pacific but never actually set foot in them, so this was a first for me, too.  The water was the perfect temperature and the kids had a blast jumping in the waves (in their clothes) and getting soaked.  Now we know that we have to make a trip to the gulf for a day at the beach sometime this summer.

Anyway, we had a great time.  The drive was long and boring and by the end of our last day of driving (we totaled about 1800 miles), we were ready to kill each other.  But the rides, the shows and the overall fun overshadowed the irritation of the drive.

And what do you know....I even left most of my Type A personality at home.  While yes, I did have a spreadsheet prepared for each park with each ride's specifications and height requirements, I truly didn't care when Liam did this:



or this:



I even let Sydney take a picture of me with a Butterbeer mustache.

Wait....you didn't think I was going to let you see it, did you?

:)