Disney World

Our family took our first trip to Disney World on January 9th. We were gone for 10 days, and we had a fabulous time. About a year ago, David was asked (challenged) by his sister, Lauren, to run the Disney Marathon. Then, my father-in-law decided to run with them...and there you had it...a family trip to Disney was planned!

David, Nate, and Lauren all finished the marathon in great shape! Although prior to running, they all said they wouldn't do another marathon, David is already excited about the next few he wants to do. (I won't complain though...we get nice vacations out of it!) I so admire their strength and endurance because I don't think I could run to the end of the driveway. In any event, because of their wonderful accomplishment, we all enjoyed a memorable trip!

I remember (guiltily) telling David when we booked the trip that I hoped we would have a fair amount of time to do the rides and attractions that we always enjoyed so much...like Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, and Buzz Lightyear...:) However, when we walked into the Magic Kingdom and saw how excited and in awe Grace was of Cinderella's castle, my agenda immediately became a lot less selfish. David and I so badly wanted her to try and enjoy everything that was there. We apparently tried too hard, because it was my brilliant idea to ride "Snow White's Scary Adventure" first. David repeatedly asks how I thought a ride with the word "scary" in the title could possibly be a good idea...ha! Needless to say, she was terrified and it set us back tremendously in terms of getting her on rides. Instead, we waited in tons of lines to meet princesses, fairies, and a whole bunch of other characters that David and I couldn't positively identify.

So, in addition to meeting the characters, Grace also really liked Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride and the PhilharMagic 3-D show. The carpet ride is exactly like the Flying Fish ride at Sesame. It's also the type of ride that makes me so sick! But Grace really liked it, and it was so sweet to see her so happy. But, by far, Grace's favorite attraction was the 3-D show. Each time we saw the show, she sat on our laps and became so excited everytime a new Disney movie was featured. She would duck and dodge all the things flying at us, and she swayed back and forth while we flew through the air with Aladdin and Jasmine. She's truly the sweetest!!! This show was also Jackson's favorite. Although he didn't wear the extremely cool glasses, he oohed and aahhed right along with the rest of us, and said "Donald Duck" every time his little buddy appeared on the screen. (Donald Duck got all of his attention on this trip! :) ) Of course, the little stuffed Donald we bought doesn't get the attention Jackson made us believe it would. But, like most parents, our babes' twinkling eyes had us buying them things left and right!

Our week really did just fly by! We made it to all 4 parks and were able to make it on most of the rides we wanted. Dave and I ended up getting a date night the last night we were there and it was so fun! We went to Hollywood Studios where we waited in line for 90 minutes to ride the new Toy Story ride! It was a 3-D interactive adventure...tons of fun, but with 15 minutes left before closing, we booked across the park to hit our favorite, "The Tower of Terror." We made it on 2 times, thanks to my super-speed that kicks in when I'm fired up for amusement park rides. (Seriously, it happens everytime we hit a theme park....I just love rides!)

Animal Kingdom was also tons of fun. So many of the books we read to Jackson have to do with animals, so it was so sweet to see his reaction to the elephants, hippos, flamingos, monkeys, and tigers. He's also fascinated with birds, so everywhere we went, whether it was a beautiful parrot at the park or a duck at the resort, he had his chubby little finger out, pointing and saying, "bird, bird!" Grace was just thankful that they didn't have otters there because they make her gag...

So, now we're home, and life's pretty much returned to normal. Grace walks around pretending to sign autograph books and answer questions from little girls. If she asks me, "What's your name? Where would you like me to sign?" one more time, I'm going to have to start making up super-super silly names because I've run through about as many as I can possibly think of!

Every day we were told to have a "magical" day from the staff at Disney! Amidst the crying, whining, bag-toting, and waiting in line, it became rather annoying...but I have to say it really was a magical trip. (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!)

Keep posted for pictures!