The Magic of THE Kingdom

It has been a CRAZY month. I mean literally nonstop amazing fun... I am wilting in my comfy chair just thinking about the MILES that have been walked this last month. I really should have worn a pedometer that would have been fun to track. ANYWAY I have about fifteen posts to to be caught up and since I have a sewing project I am desperate to start but cannot allow myself until my blog is caught up, thus begins the post marathon. I am going to try and do one a day for the next little while so watch out world! As a wonderful graduation present Christopher's parents took our family on a ten day vacation to Disney world. That's right people ten days in Florida at the happiest place on earth. I had been planning for this vacation for over a year and with the help of my good friend and fellow obsessor compulssor Sarah Crookston felt like I was very prepared. To begin the trip Chris and I decided that instead of breaking the 12 hour drive up into two days as originally planned (meaning only one small day in between our arrival home from Cleveland and out departure) that we would do what our parents had ALWAYS done and get up and start driving at 4am. I of course was to excited to sleep! Luckily Chris had some books on ipod to listen to and gracefully drove the first three hours, while I struggled to get my increasingly ginormous preggy body comfy in the back seat. We then bleary eyed let the boys go crazy at a McDonald's out door play place in their pajamas as people in the drive through line gave us curious looks. Needless to say it was a LONG day of driving and I vowed not to make that mistake again (said vow was promptly broken when we drove straight through on the way home :)) Christopher's parents had booked us an amazing Condo right down the road from the parks with gorgeous warm pools and playgrounds. It was a gorgeous apartment with a HUGE comfy bed and an equally huge tub. We crashed early ready to begin our first day at the magic kingdom! I had our days completely planned out having printed off daily itineraries from the experts ... down to which turnstile to enter from. We headed straight for Dumbo. The line was about twenty mins long but the torture everyone around us in line had to experience at the hands of our two boys must have made it feel like hours. Both boys LOST it. I mean screaming, kicking, bucking you name it. I looked at Chris and literally felt tears welling up in my eyes. Was it going to be ten days of this!!!! So much planning, so much time and for heaven sakes so much money and they were screaming. Then to add salt to the wound when we got to the front Sam refused to go on. I seriously thought I was going to launch into a "YOU WILL RIDE IT AND YOU WILL LIKE IT!" speech but my ever calm husband had already whisked him away. My guide book suggested having any extra "accompaniers" get in line twenty behind you and then passing off your child so they get to ride twice without having to wait again. We did so with Liam and at least was able to get one cute pic of him and his grandparents (who luckily were not associated with the family of tantrum throwers).

Thankfully that was the only MAJOR melt down that day. Sam started to grasp the concept of waiting in line and we shoved enough ice cream down his throat to keep him happy ;) This was due mainly to the fact that the week we were there FL had a record heat wave. The average temp was about 97... yeah yucky! But when you buy huge drinks have portable spraying fans and a good attitude it isn't that bad :) The boys loved the carousel and I tried to snap some pics without falling off my horse.

Liam lookin chunkyAfter all the rides in Fantasy land Sam spotted the steam boat. Well anything that blows steam and has a whistle is awesome in his book so we took the 20 min boat ride around the island. Liam sat and chowed on his favorite snack, ice. By the end of the boat ride this is what Liam was doing:

So we thought it was probably a good time to head back and take a nap and let the guys go on all the cool rides. This turned out to be a very good idea as we all zonked for over two hours and returned refreshed.... well at least most of us, Liam was still draggin a little. He was a little worried at first, but it turned out he loved Aladdin's magic carpet ride... which is essentially Dumbo but instead of an elephant you are on a carpet, so you imagine my amazement when Sam also LOVED it. But his favorite by far was Pirates of the Caribbean. Which we ended up going on four times! By this time it was getting dark so we hurry and jumped on the Jungle Cruise which turned out to be Liam's favorite. He refused to peel his eyes away for even a second to take a photoBoth boys totally thought all the animals were real and we enjoyed the witty humor of our guide. Sam loved playing Captain and pirate afterwards with the wheels they have right outside the ride. They didn't even realize that they were part of a game that you had to pay money to play. They were just happy to keep spinnin' the wheel.
While Chris and I took Sam through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house (and then Chris had to take him again... and again... its pretty cool apparently) Chris's parents bagged us a sweet spot for the Spectromagic parade. It was then that I broke out what I think was the hit for the vacation, dollar store glow in the dark wands. The boys thought they were sooooo cool and people kept stopping and asking us where we got them. Ha! Jokes on you Disney vendors who charge 12 dollars for a light up toy!

The parade was amazing and although I tried to take pictures they just never turn out cool. The boys had fun going on Pirates again and Sam used his wand to light the way through any scary parts. He then set up camp for the amazing fireworks show. It was beautiful! It was then that Sam got to enjoy his favorite part of every day the "mamarail" ride. He literally called the monorail the mamarail every time he saw it. Then we waited in line to get on his other favorite train "Toby" or the tram that drops you off at your section. Ahhh the little things in life. Thus ended our first day.