Florida Vacation Day 6: Magic Kingdom, Part 1

Well, as it often does, life got in the way of me finishing the entire week of my Disney memories posts quickly. But I'm back! So here we go again down (not-so-distant) Memory Lane!

 I think it’s safe to say that everyone was really excited about our first day at the Magic Kingdom. We were up and out the door early again, everyone in Mickey Mouse apparel. We parked right around the time it opened, but we didn’t realize or remember that we’d have to take either a Monorail or Ferry over to the actual park. We had no idea which would be faster, but it looked like the Ferry was loading and we didn’t know if the Monorail would be as easy with all of our strollers, so off to the Ferry we went. It was a nice quick trip, and we were able to start the sunscreen process there, so that was a little timesaver. Once we were in the park, we headed down Main Street toward Fantasyland. It was so cool to see Cinderella’s Castle right up close as we walked by! As we rounded the corner to the back of the castle, WHO did we see but Cinderella's Fairy Godmother herself, with basically no line at all! Mollie was not too sure about her, but Natalie went right up when it was her turn. Mollie will still tell you that she DID see the Fairy Godmother, that she waved to her from the stroller - all true, just funny! Once we were in Fantasyland, we tried to come up with a better game plan than we had at Epcot. The guys headed over to get Fast Passes for Peter Pan’s Flight, and ended up with bonus FPs for Mickey’s PhilharMagic. At that point, we didn’t realize that you could only have one FP out at a time (although the PhilharMagic was a legit bonus FP), so the guys went to get Fast Passes for the Winnie the Pooh Ride too. They asked a technician who was there about why they couldn’t get another FP, and he explained it, but then printed FPs for them anyway! Score! So with three FPs waiting to be used, we got in line for the Teacups! That kind of tilt-a-whirl type ride has always been my favorite, plus, it’s such an iconic Disney ride, so it was a perfect place to begin! Next up was another iconic ride – Dumbo! I was not at all sure if Mollie would be ok with it since it’s basically the same ride as the Dr. Seuss One Fish Two Fish ride, but she said she wanted to ride it and Brad went with her this time, so I think she felt more secure with Daddy. Natalie had more fun on each ride that we went on, although she’s not quite as adventurous as she would like you to think! It’s very cute though. After that, we were off to use our Fast Passes. First up was the Peter Pan ride. I loved it so much! I am really leery of most rides – I hated rides when I was younger and I certainly hated people trying to force or trick me onto going on them, thinking they knew better than I did (which happened PLENTY). Now I still don’t like them much, but I was so pleasantly surprised at Disney because they were all about a FUN experience instead of a thrilling or scary one! Anyway, I think that’s why I have a special place in my heart for Mollie’s unease with rides. I skipped as many Six Flags & Frontier City rides as I could, and I think I turned out JUST FINE. ;) So, I have vowed since I was little that I’d never even slightly attempt to make my kids ride a single ride in their lives if they didn’t want to! But – back to Disney! Hahah I loved the feeling of floating around in a sailboat over the Peter Pan story, and the girls loved it too! After Peter Pan, we headed over to wait in line for Winnie the Pooh. Even the Fast Pass line was rather long, and everyone was so drained. It was nice to get into the main part of the wait where it was dark and cool. The ride was cute – we rode through as families in cars that looked like pots of honey. However, it had to do with the “Blustery Day” story, and it was actually a little unnerving for our girls at a few points. They did totally fine with it, and definitely had fun when it was over. The ride let out into a gift shop, and they wanted to get Pooh stuff, but we (quite easily) convinced them that they might want to wait until later in the week and maybe get something somewhere that they had more selection. Our next attraction was Mickey’s PhilharMagic. We didn’t expect much, or at least I didn’t, but we were looking forward to getting to sit down in a comfy seat indoors with air conditioning. The 3D show was a lot cuter than any of us expected, I think! There were also a few (not scary) surprises that made it even more fun.

We brought sandwiches into the park for lunch that day – we got really great premade subs at the SuperTarget the night before and had those – MUCH cheaper than the park and still really good! After lunch, we headed over to Tomorrowland. We intended to go to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, but decided to give the Stitch's Great Escape ride a try first since the boys were sleeping. Matt and I waited with the sleeping boys and Mollie since she wasn't tall enough to go. Mollie was in a bad mood and wasn't minding very well. I was really hoping that the ride would be done soon (they'd been gone a while and it was supposed to only have a 5 minute wait). All of a sudden, Brad and Natalie were back. He said that Natalie was just getting too anxious and upset by the videos that they play while you wait in line for the ride. Well, not too much longer, and here comes Sheila with Kara and Elizabeth. Sheila said that Kara was screaming like she had never heard her scream before, and Elizabeth was bawling. She had to ask someone who worked there to let them out of the ride. We expected to see Lisa, Eric, & Aubrey come out any second, but they actually stayed for the whole ride. Aubrey didn't like it at all, but Lisa was able to keep her calm. I can't believe that a ride for kids would be so scary! Definitely the worst part of our trip!

After that crazy experience, we decided to leave Tomorrowland and try to find Rapunzel to get her autograph. We went to the location the app on my phone listed, and found nothing. One of the Disney Cast Members told us that as of that week, Rapunzel was only doing her Meet & Greet at the front of the park and that she would actually be in the parade now, starting in a little less than an hour. We were heading toward the front, when we ran right into a show going on at the Castle! We were off to the side of the show, not directly in front, but the kids still had so much fun watching Minnie, Mickey, their friends and some of the princes and princesses dancing!
When the show was getting close to being over, we decided to go a little further toward the front and get a good seat for the parade. We were so hot, and Brad suggested getting ice cream, so the guys walked down to the ice cream shop and brought back cool treats. The girls and I got cups of ice cream, but theirs had a small waffle cone and two chocolate cookies that made it look like Mickey. So cute! I wasn’t sure what to expect from the parade, but it was GREAT! The girls got to sit on the curb, and so many characters came right up to them for high fives or hugs or shaking hands! Unfortunately, after Natalie’s experience at the Stitch ride, she was scared by Stitch coming up and wouldn’t agree to sit at the curb any more. :-/ After the Parade, it was time for the BIG kids to ride Space Mountain. We went back and forth about whether Natalie & Kara would be ok on it and eventually decided not to chance it. That proved to be a good decision! Lisa and I waited with all of the kids while Brad, Eric, Matt, & Sheila rode the ride. They enjoyed it, but definitely thought it would have been too much for any of the girls. During the wait, Mollie told me she had to go potty, so I took her into the restroom that was really close by. She had the third of her insane meltdowns in there. She was the one who told me that she had to go, but then she didn’t want to and then she wouldn’t say she was done (or not done, she was just ignoring me). Then she started screaming and crying and it was like I couldn’t get her to snap out of it. It had happened to me a couple times before over the week, and that’s one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever dealt with (second ONLY to Natalie’s one horrible, terrible, awful, no-good, very bad fit in Target last summer). I finally had to carry Mollie out screaming. Good times. Anyway, when I got back to the bench where Lisa and the kids were waiting, I saw my sweet Natalie, cowering behind our stroller, hunched down as much as she could. I looked at Lisa, then followed her eyes to see what Natalie was hiding from. Who else but Stitch?! I have to say, again, I’m so frustrated with Disney for attempting to kid-ify a scary ride!!

We decided to head back home since we located Deb (who had taken Al to dialysis and her cell phone was not working). On the way out, we saw that Mickey was there at the front signing autographs in his Dressing Room, and the wait was estimated to be only 10 minutes. The wait was indoors and the cool felt wonderful! The Cast Member in charge of the line was entertaining and loved our big family of girls with our two little guys added in. They definitely make you feel like you’re backstage waiting to see a BIG STAR for this experience. We got into Mickey’s Dressing Room which the kids thought was SO cool – Natalie and Mollie still talk about it and describe it. Mickey started signing autographs and we gathered in and out of groups for lots of photos with the Mouse himself. We so hoped that Minnie would be with Mickey, but we weren’t sure what to expect. To our disappointment, she wasn’t. At one point, Mollie somberly said something that sounded very much like, “We LOVE Mickey,” to which Brad replied, “Yes, we love Mickey, don’t we?” Then she repeated what she said, as if she were gently correcting him and I realized what she really said was, “Only ONE Mickey.” I almost laughed out loud. When she sees Mickey & Minnie together, she always gets excited and says, “TWO Mickeys!!” So she was disappointed that she wasn’t meeting Minnie. I just let Mickey think Mollie loved him though. No use in disappointing the guy, right? After one of our longest park days, we headed back to the vacation house. We thought surely the girls would nap, but they didn’t. They all wanted to play and swim, so we obliged them. After having so much fun at the afternoon parade, we started thinking about the night parade and the fireworks and how awesome it must be. Since the kiddos didn’t nap, we asked Al & Deb if it would be ok if we put them all to bed and then left them with the sleeping grandkids while we all went back to the park for the nighttime festivities. They were quick to agree and said we didn’t even need to put them to bed, but we knew that would be easiest, so we got them cleaned up, pajama-ed, and in bed and raced to the park.

It was a pretty weird feeling being just the six of us with no kids. None of us could remember the last time that happened! Actually, I’m wondering if that has ever happened before since Kara was born before Lisa & Eric’s wedding! We decided to give the monorail a try, and were glad to learn for the future that we could push strollers on. So the six of us were off for a kid-free adventure! We go places without the girls from time to time, but it was an incredibly strange feeling for me, anyway, being there with no stroller, no bag, no cooler, no kids to keep an eye on, and heck, I didn't even bring my purse! Crazy! We raced into the park and managed to find a spot right close to the entrance where we had an almost completely unobstructed view of the parade - which hadn't even started yet! It was so much fun! Disney just seriously knows how to do everything perfectly! We'd been there a couple minutes when one of us mentioned that the girls would probably enjoy it. After about 10 minutes, Sheila and I looked at each other with the same thought: We HAD to bring the girls back the next night!

Once we decided to bring the girls back the following night, the decision was made to take advantage of the lack of lines in the rest of the park and ride some rides that the kids wouldn't like. We had fun almost running through the park to try to get to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. So, full disclosure here: I am not big on thrill rides. Like, not.at.all. But I tried to just not think about it and know that this is not real, it's just a ride, etc. Except the problem isn't really that I'm easily scared. It's that I'm easily startled...and I'm always afraid that I'm going to scream out and embarrass myself. So I was pretty sure that there was going to be a high chance of that happening on this ride. So I snuggled up close to Brad in our boat, grabbed his hand (probably cut off his circulation, too, sorry about that, hubby!) and we set off. Brad kept saying that he didn't think I had to worry until the end, but I was ON GUARD for the entire ride. It was so incredibly well-done and interesting, but in the back of my mind, I totally expected something to startle me. We loved how Capt. Jack Sparrow was part of the scenery - they did an amazing job of making him look completely lifelike as well as exactly like Johnny Depp! It was fun trying to see where he'd pop up next. And before you knew it, the ride was over - and there wasn't anything to scare or startle us! The part that Brad remembered had apparently been changed at some point along the way, even! I still don't think that the girls would have enjoyed it - it's so creepy and ominous and there are some things being shot at your boat in some parts. But I'm so glad that I rode it! Wish I could do it again and relax!

The next stop on our adults-only Disney night was The Haunted Mansion. Now here, I thought - Disney is not going to fool me! This place MUST have scary things that jump out at you! So again, I was ON GUARD, cutting off Brad's circulation again. The ride was cute and interesting, but mainly silly and definitely not scary at all for adults. Again, I wished I could have ridden it another time so that I could relax and enjoy it more.

When we exited the Haunted Mansion, the fireworks were just beginning, so we stood there in Liberty Square, watching them. Again, I'm sure the girls would not have enjoyed it, but we sure did! I love fireworks, and as usual, Disney does not disappoint! When the fireworks were over, we made our biggest mistake. We didn't weave back through the "lands" to get back to the front, we followed like sheep along Main Street. DOH! It took us forever and ever and ever and everandeverandEVER to get out of the park. Totally ridiculous! We kept weaving in and out of people, and I feel certain that helped, but still: FOREVER. THAT was definitely not something we could risk doing with the girls, but thankfully, we were FREE of kids, strollers, bags, and all of the usual trappings of parenthood, so we made it out as quickly as we could while forming the perfect plan for the next night. We were in line for another eternity waiting on a monorail, and then had to crowd on like sardines - but at least it was cool, and even though the end was sort of miserable, it was all worth it! :)

Instagram Wrap-Up: Next On Deck: Another Day at Magic Kingdom & breakfast with the princesses!

Florida Vacation Day 5: Clearwater Beach

I had no idea that Orlando was land-locked, and although it was disappointing that we had to drive a couple hours to get to a beach (after already driving 23 hours to get there), I was super excited when everyone agreed to go to Clearwater Beach. We've been there several times when visiting friends in Tampa, but our most recent trip was three years ago when I was pregnant with Mollie - you can see pictures of that trip here. The last time we went, we found this awesome stretch of beach with almost no people, so that's where we headed for on Monday. Luckily, the parking lot for that part of the beach is right next to a restaurant with amazing food, so we were able to easily find the same area AND have a super delicious lunch there again!

We spent our beach day taking turns standing in the water, watching the kids and relaxing in the shade of our rented umbrella (worth every penny if you ask me). The kids had a blast, and it was so much fun to watch them. It always makes me smile at how easily all of the girls seem to jump into to being best buddies even though we go months in between getting to see the Ohio clan.

I'm not sure whose idea it was, but Eric asked me if it was ok if he buried Natalie in the sand with Elizabeth & Aubrey. I had to see that! So we watched while he made a 3-headed mermaid out of the three 4-year olds. :) Kara was busy doing her own thing, and Mollie (not surprisingly) declined. ;)

We had lunch at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, right on the beach. Their Grouper (in any form) and She Crab Soup are A-MA-zing! I really hesitated to get hot soup, sitting outside on the deck in the sun, but I was soooo glad that I did. It was just as good as I had remembered.

Mollie was a little bit hesitant about getting in the water earlier in the day, but I took a walk with her up and down the shore and we kicked up big waves as we walked, which she thought was really funny. I also remembered swinging Natalie so that the waves rolling in brushed her feet and how much she enjoyed that when she was a little younger than Mollie, so we did that and she really got a kick out of that too. It was as we were walking that I remembered it was almost exactly 3 years to the day since I'd been walking the same shore, quite pregnant with Miss Mollie, so I told her that, and she thought that was neat. They love it when we talk about how Mollie kicked me in my belly, but Natalie was just hanging out being comfy.

After a lovely morning and afternoon on the beach, we headed back to Kissimmee, and the girls slept the whole way! That night we all got take-out on our own and then - what else? - the girlies swam in the pool all evening.

Instagram photos from the day:

Next on deck: MAGIC KINGDOM!!

Florida Vacation Day 4: Epcot

Sunday morning, no alarm clocks were needed as the five girlies were up and at 'em in plenty of time to get us all to Epcot right as the Future World part of the park opened. I'm sure the excitement of being on vacation, going to Disney World, and sleeping in the same room with their cousins (over the course of the week, they all took turns sleeping in two bedrooms with two twin beds in each) all contributed greatly! It was exciting to be driving onto Disney property for the first time for me. We got decent parking spots and skipped the tram in favor of just walking so that we didn't have to collapse strollers or anything. Our trip took place during the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, and while I'm sure that Epcot is always very pretty, it was absolutely gorgeous during our trip. It was so much fun to see the creative ways that so many characters and scenes were displayed with flowers and plants and other natural materials! I was so glad that we were able to go during the festival! Of course we had to get some family shots with Spaceship Earth to begin with! Too bad the girls were too excited to hold very still or look happy! ;)

As we walked further into the park, who did we see but Daisy Duck! Our very first character sighting! We got in line and the girls took turns having Daisy sign their autograph books and having their picture taken with Daisy. Mollie was absolutely NOT going to even get out of the stroller, much less give Daisy a hug. We definitely didn't want to upset her, so we totally let her be, hoping that she would warm up to the characters as the day (or week) went on. Natalie was a little timid herself, so Brad had to visit Daisy with her.

Our first ride was Spaceship Earth, which was the perfect way to start our day. The line was short, and the ride was interesting and not at all scary. There are even a couple of fun things at the end that gave us all some giggles. After that, we got Fast Passes for the Test Track ride and then just walked around looking at the scenery. I really just cannot say enough how much I loved walking around Epcot's World Showcase! It was gorgeous and so interesting! I haven't traveled much, and it was so much fun to feel like you were going from one foreign country to another. It made me want to travel to all of those places for real. Maybe I'll settle for another Disney trip again soon! :) We missed SO MANY things at Epcot that I really feel like the next time we go, it will probably seem like a brand-new place!

While we were wandering through the countries, we got to meet Belle in France, Mulan in China, and Snow White in Germany (where we stopped for lunch and had really delicious bratwurst and sauerkraut). Belle didn't seem to be especially talkative, but she was sweet. The girls still weren't feeling brave enough to visit with the characters on their own, so Brad went with them again to talk to Belle.

The girls love the movie Mulan, and I was excited for them to meet her. Her line was the longest we'd seen to that point (but it definitely wasn't the longest we would wait in by the end of the trip) and there was no shade. I felt bad for Mulan, dressed in all those thick layers! She seemed to be doing just fine though. She was really neat - she asked Natalie if she had seen her movie, and when she told her that she had, Mulan said, "Well, keep watching my movie, because you know every time you watch it, you become just a.little.bit.more.brave." Natalie has absolutely remembered that advice. I actually don't know what Mulan said to Mollie, but she became a fan superfast, and she literally snuggled into Mulan's chest. It was absolutely adorable. The photos I got don't quite do it justice!

On our way back around to Future World, we ran right into the line for Snow White! Now, THAT was a long line (although still not the longest we'd wait in). I couldn't hear what she said to Natalie at all, but she greeted her sweetly right away with a big hug. I'm not sure why, but Mollie decided not to get out and talk to Snow White. Maybe she thought it would be wrong to hug another princess so soon after falling in love with Mulan? ;)

After sight-seeing and lunch, we headed back to Future World so that the adults and big kids could ride Test Track. Deb and I stayed back with Elizabeth, Mollie, Caleb & Levi. It sounded like all of the others really enjoyed the ride, and we were glad that we let Natalie go on it. The only other ride that our family did was The Seas with Nemo & Friends, which was a lot of fun and definitely perfect for even the littlest of our crew. We rode around in a big shell trying to find Nemo, mixed in with animated sea life as well as real sea life. It was a really unique idea and the kids loved it!

After Nemo, we raced back to United Kingdom in World Showcase so that Natalie & Mollie could meet Mary Poppins & Alice in Wonderland. Luckily, their little areas are really close together, so we met Mary at the end of her shift and Alice at the very beginning of hers! Mary was sweet, but still very much what you'd expect, ever-so-slightly stern and in charge. She was almost done chatting with Natalie (who wasn't really saying much back to her), when Mollie walked up too! She asked her name, and Mollie didn't respond. To that, Mary replied, "Well, if you won't tell me your name, I'll be forced to call you 'Natalie's Little Sister!'" so I said that her name was Mollie, and they posed for a little photo.

Sheila got all of the kids "First Visit" buttons to wear, and when Alice saw their pins, she said, "Oh, so I see this is your first visit here. I'll tell you something, during my first visit to Wonderland, I didn't know anyone, but I met SO many new and wonderful friends, so I have a question for you. Could I be YOUR new friend here?" The girls nodded, and she said, "Well, now that we're friends and I've signed your book, let's take a picture together!"

After meeting those two ladies whose movies are near and dear to Natalie's heart, it was quite apparent that our girls were done for the day. They were quiet and their eyes just looked like they could fall asleep at any moment. We considered some other rides or trying to meet up with the rest of the family, but the girls were just so exhausted that we decided to head back to the house. It seemed like as soon as we made the decision, they both totally conked out in the stroller, which really isn't made to be a sleeper for two. They slept all the way home and then let us relocate them to their beds where they took a nice long nap!

Eric was the birthday boy on Epcot Day, and he chose to have grilled steaks, hamburgers, fries, yummy corn on the cob, and fresh pineapple for dinner. After our dinner feast, the girls spent the evening playing in the pool - what else?! Mollie was really, really nervous about getting into the water. She hurried around here and there with her puddle jumper on forever, without touching even so much as a toe into the water the night before. She started off the same way again that night, but she had her eye on Levi's turtle floatie and finally asked if she could get in it. It was adorable watching her float around the pool with her puddle jumper plus the blow-up turtle. Natalie discovered jumping into the pool at some point and became totally obsessed with it. It was pretty much every night's business to DRAG the girls from the pool for showers and bed!

And, the day's obligatory Instagram phone download:

Up next: Clearwater beach!

Florida Vacation Day 3: Harry, Seuss, & the House

On Saturday, we woke up bright & early and made our way to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Our main goal was to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but Seuss Landing was a must-see as well! It was a gray day that was already supposed to be light crowd-wise, and that proved to be true...UNTIL we got to Harry Potter. It was crazy, crazy, crazy crowded, but it was SO cool to be able to see Hogwarts and the snow-capped roofs of the village of Hogsmeade right there from the park! I wanted to stop and take pictures every five seconds! There were tons of people lined up at barrels in the street to buy Butterbeer or Pumpkin Juice and we just missed a group of students from Durmstrang giving some kind of performance! Unfortunately, we weren't able to ride the rides since it was just our little family at Universal, but we still had fun wandering around the "town." We went into Zonko's, then let the girls choose candy in Honeyduke's. So fun!

I loved seeing the Hogwarts Express and the Owl Post!

The highlight of our Harry Potter fun was having lunch in the Three Broomsticks! I had frozen Butterbeer (in a fun plastic souvenir mug) and Brad had regular Butterbeer, but we all sampled each other's. I had no idea what to expect, but it's similar to cream soda with a little bit of butterscotch. Then it's topped with butterscotch foam or ice cream. SO.GOOD. I've been craving another one ever since I finished mine that day! Funny story - I really wanted a straw for my drink (it was like trying to drink a slurpee with ice cream on top with no straw or spoon or anything), so Brad went to get a straw from where the other condiments were. He didn't see one, so he asked a (completely in-character) hostess. She said something like, "Well, I'll give you a hint. It's very near by. Although, I must ask, for what do you NEED a straw?" Brad told her that it was for a Butterbeer, and her reply was,"Oh my. While I cannot stop you from using a straw with your Butterbeer, we do not advise it! It will cause your Butterbeer to foam over!" Brad took a straw from her anyway, and we had no "foaming over" issues. :) We all had a traditional English meal of fish & chips, and they were quite yummy! The Three Broomsticks was awesome - it looked just like the movies. If you looked upstairs from our table, from time to time if you paid close attention, I noticed that you could see the flickering shadows of what looked like people talking upstairs.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to ride any of the Harry Potter rides since the girls aren't big enough and we didn't have anyone to stay with them and we didn't want to ride alone. Someday, though! When our girls are bigger we will absolutely go back and experience it all!

From the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we went to Seuss Landing, a really neat "land" full of everything Seuss-like and several completely kid-friendly Seuss-themed rides.

Our first ride was The High in the Sky Trolley Train Ride. I was really nervous about how Mollie would do with rides, but I thought if she didn't want to go on, it wasn't a big deal - she and I would just wait while Brad and Natalie rode. The ride was not scary at all, and Mollie willingly got right on and did great. She did get a little nervous when we went out over the water, but she was ok by the end, and the first thing that both girls said when the ride was over was, "That was FUN!" I'm pretty sure it's the first real ride of any kind that the girls have ever been on. From there, we went on the Caro-Seuss-el, which was a definite favorite.

The next ride was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. This is really similar to the Dumbo-type rides at Disney. I was really uncertain about Mollie, rightly so this time. Brad and Natalie got into one of the fish, then I tried to sit Mollie down in the next one with me, but she was not having it. Never one to make a scene, I scooped her up and we watched them from outside. I was sort of glad because they ended up getting pretty wet! Of course, after it was over, Mollie decided it looked like fun, but we were already on to something else - The Cat in the Hat Ride. We got to ride around inside the story of The Cat in the Hat, together in a blue couch! It was cute, but actually a little scary for our non-thrill-seeking girlies. The Cat causes quite a lot of havoc and the couch does a lot of spinning, so the girls were a little uneasy about all of that, but it turned out just fine.

Our final stop was a play area in Seuss Landing called "If I Ran the Zoo." It was really cute - lots of things for the kids to twist and turn, poke, crawl under, and spin. One part had little holes you could peek into to see things, and the last one said it was a photo surprise, so I took a picture and it was a reflection of Natalie next to me, looking through a different hole with her nose pressed against the window, so I took one of her and one of Mollie. Those were good for lots of giggles. :) There was a tall white furry Seuss creature who would play tic-tac-toe with you electronically on it's belly, and Natalie got a kick of that. Then there was another guy in a bathtub who you could twist a lever to make him come out of the tub and then spray water. I don't know if this part had a name, but there was a manhole cover, and when you stood on it, it was like you could hear someone in a goofy voice underneath who supposedly was suffering from a bad cold. Natalie would stand on it for a long time and just when you were sure it wasn't going to actually do anything other than talk, it would "sneeze" and water sprayed up onto the person who was standing there. Mollie wouldn't stand on it, but Natalie thought it was fun and did it a couple of times.

After exploring all of Seuss Landing and walking around just a bit in the rest of the park, we decided to head over to the vacation home where the whole family was staying. The house was nice, just about the perfect size for our family (although 7 bedrooms would have made it perfect, instead of 6). It was in a really nice gated community with a big shallow pool, but each home also had a private pool on the lanai with a soft mesh fence that we could lock so that we could sit on one side with the babies and watch the girls play in the pool. It was the perfect setup. Natalie was so anxious to swim that I came upstairs looking for her and found her totally naked, rummaging through bags like a small crazy person, trying to find a bathing suit. Pretty funny!

And here are my Instagram phone pics from the day:

Up next: EPCOT!!!

Florida Vacation Days 1 & 2: The DRIVE

First of all, I feel like I need to apologize to family, friends, my girls, and myself for not posting more often! I've been so busy with my photography business and also definitely enjoying my family that I just haven't found enough time as I'd like to WRITE about it. But a ginormous trip to Disney World is the perfect reason to jump back on the blogging wagon in a big, fun way! So without further ado, here's the first in a long series of posts with many, many photos! :)

We started out our journey around 4:00 am on April 12. Everything was going smoothly: Brad had almost everything packed into the Rondo the night before, we got the rest of our things packed in, woke the girls, and they each went potty with no complaints. When I bought Natalie into the car, Mollie was excitedly waiting there, WIDE awake, talking about Dis-en-ee-wall, as she calls it. It was adorable. So, we set off on the highway. AND THEN...we were about 20 miles down the road and I realized that I didn't pack the tickets. I'd left them out on the counter as soon as I got them in the mail, but then things got set on top and they never made it into the car! So, I was so embarrassed and felt terrible for wasting time, but we turned around and got the tickets. I'd have to say that was the LONGEST trip we've ever made from Moore to OKC. After that, things went great! A couple of hours later, I realized another mistake that I'd made (go ME, right?! Ugh), but we got that figured out, and luckily that only cost us a few dollars and ZERO extra time on the road.

We did stop at a really nice Holiday Inn on that first night. We didn't have time to swim or anything, basically just hang out a bit to unwind and get some rest in our comfy beds, Brad with Natalie and me with Mollie. I'll just say it's hard to say who had it better - Natalie is big enough to just go to sleep, but Mollie still thinks it's great fun to be in the bed with another person, so she pinched and poked me, but all in all, she snuggled up close, and fell asleep, and that's pretty sweet in itself.

We got into Orlando Friday, but we couldn't check into our house until Saturday. Al & Deb flew in with Caleb while Eric, Lisa, & Aubrey drove from Ohio. The Hilton that Lisa found beforehand for all of us was sooooooooooooo incredibly nice! After all that time in the car, I didn't want to leave! The rooms were gorgeous, the pools (yes, PLURAL, poolS) were gorgeous, and the weather was amazing. We ate dinner by the pool and then let the girls play in the water before bed. They had a blast. Mollie surprised us by getting right into the water in the zero-entry pool with no hesitation, and by the end of the evening, she was laying in the water, splashing around and playing! I'm super excited for pool time for us this summer - last year, she was way too scaredy to even play in the baby pool happily. We had a super great stay there, and after warm baths for the girlies, Mollie had a crazy spell of running and yelling and basically losing her little mind. So we put her to bed (this time in Brad's bed), and she was asleep within minutes. SO funny how little kids get when they are exhausted and how quickly they can go from CA-RA-ZY to ASLEEP. I think Natalie was having a little trouble relaxing since she was excited about going to Universal the next morning, but we all finally did get some good rest!

The entire trip from OKC to Orland took . . . wait for it . . . drumroll . . . 23.5 hours. Yeahhhhh. Good times. OK but seriously, it really wasn't that bad, and we most certainly saved over $1000 vs flying & renting a car in Orlando! So no regrets here! During what I'll refer to as our Big, Fat, Florida Trip, I started using Instagram to busy myself and document our trip. Here's my "phone dump" from the two days that we spent on the road, ending at the Orlando Hilton.



Up next: Day 3: Universal Islands of Adventure!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year!

The girlies still love watching our "2009 Year in Photos" video (ok, ok, I do too!), so I decided I HAD to make one for 2011. Maybe someday I'll get ambitious and do 2010 since I missed it. :)

For now, here's 2011: