Disneyworld...finally!

This post has been in the works for months, but I usually get kicked off the internet or frustrated with my incredibly slow computer, so I never finish it. But today I was bound and determined to post!

Back in April, we were able to take the kids to Disneyworld! It was such a fun experience! The kids really lived it up and had a great day, every day!

Day one: check out this hotel!!!

This is the courtyard outside our room. Lots of wishes were made in this fountain :)

Check out this bathtub! We all fit!

The kids were very anxious to explore the hotel. But Araleigh was even more anxious to hit the pool!

Ready to swim!!! She was a girl on a mission! :)

Ahhh, the pool!

It was just a little one :)

After a nice dip in the pool, we headed over to Downtown Disney, where we went to DisneyQuest, which is an awesome indoor virtual reality theme park. It was like a giant arcade, full of virtual rides! Our favorite was the Pirates of the Carribbean, where you go into a room surrounded by screens, and you are on a "boat" - one person steers the ship and everyone else shoots cannons at the other pirate ships. It was a lot of fun and the kids did a great job! There was also a fun river raft ride where you had oars with sensors on them and the screen responded to your paddling, so you could choose your course. It was definitely a cool place!

Day 2: The Magic Kingdom

despite the fact that the weather was crappy and it rained all day, the Magic Kingdom was definitely our favorite place! We got there as soon as it opened, and were suprised that the kids never ran out of steam - we stayed til it closed at midnight! But they were so good and happy, so it was fine!

We started with Pirates of the Carribbean, which the kids liked, but it wasn't really exciting enough for Traeden! So the next stop was Splash Mountain! Jaxon was excited about it until we got on the ride, then he started having second thoughts. Araleigh had no idea what we were getting her into. They were both pretty mad at us after the ride, and I think this picture says it all! So cute!

Thankfully, by the time we got in line for the Haunted Mansion, they had fully recovered!

Next, we decided to go for a little drive. Traeden was very happy to be tall enough to drive alone, while Jax went with Dave and Araleigh drove me.

Araleigh was a very careful driver :) Kept her hands at 10 and 2 the whole time!

The rain continued all day, but it didn't stop Araleigh from enjoying the castle and the wishing well!

Make a wish!!!

Yes, Dave and Jaxon are rockin the garbage bags... I was against it the whole time. But Dave did not want to spend $12 on a plastic poncho, so he raided the custodian cart instead :) But, hey, at least they were dry! They didn't mind!

And of course, what would Disney World be without the big man himself,

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! The kids got to be the first ones in the room, which meant a personal escort by Mickey and Minnie themselves! They felt pretty special!

Last ride of the night was the teacups! The park closed at midnight, and we were very surprised that our kids all wanted to stay right til the end, and weren't even tired or cranky! They put in a good 14 hours of damp fun, and were ready to go again bright and early the next morning!

Day 3: Hollywood studios

The first ride we enjoyed at Hollywood Studios was the Buzz and Woody Midway Games, an interactive ride where you get to play virtual ring toss and other midway games while riding around. It was a lot of fun, probably one of our favorites in the trip!

The boys got pulled out of the crowd by the army guys, and went through some drills. It was very fun, and the guys were really funny and cute with the kids.

Other highlights of Hollywood Studios included The Tower of Terror - which Jaxon was so excited to ride until it was time to get on, then he was not so excited anymore! We took poor, unexpecting Araleigh on it too, and she still hasn't forgiven us! But hey, Traeden liked it!

We also did Aerosmith - which happens to be Jax's favorite band - thankfully it is completely indoors so we didn't know what the ride would be like, because if Jaxon had known that it went 60 mph, did all kinds of loops and corkscrews, in nearly complete darkness, he would have never ridden it in a million years! But he didn't know, and went on the ride, and lo and behold, he LIKED it!!! He wouldn't do it a second time, but at least he came out happy!

Day 4: Epcot

The first ride we hit at Epcot was the new Test Track, which Jaxon was a bit nervous about, but the boys all ended up enjoying it! It was a little fast for Araleigh, but she wasn't too freaked out!

Next we went to the Finding Nemo ride, which was cute, but our favorite part was after the ride, when we went to the "Talking with Crush" attraction, which was awesome! We went into a room with a large screen that looked like an underwater viewing window. The kids all sat on the floor in the front of the room, and Crush swam up to the screen and "talked" to the kids! He let them ask him questions (and even called on them himself, knowing what they were wearing or what they looked like) and then he asked the kids some questions about human life. It was the cutest thing ever, to see these kids talk to him. And he was very funny, encouraging all the kids to use the word "dude" more often :)

We then headed over to Tinkerbell's garden, which was full of butterflies and "fairies" :) Araleigh was very excited about this!

Last, we took a tour of the world, which is always a lot of fun!

First, stop, Canada!

Bet you didn't know Bambi lives there, but Araleigh was delighted to see him!

In Paris now, where we were lucky to meet some famous locals:

I don't remember this kitty's name at the moment... But she's cute and Araleigh was happy to see her!

And Belle lives in Paris, of course. Araleigh told Belle that she is "daddy's favorite princess" (it's because she is smart, likes to read, doesn't want to marry the meathead, stands up for her daddy, and doesn't have love at first sight. He is not a big fan of Ariel, understandably)

And Araleigh's favorite princess, Sleeping Beauty!! The boys are too cool to get their pictures taken with the princesses now.

Dave made me get in a picture, so I guess now I can prove I was really there.

I think this was Italy...can't really remember though. Anyone know?

In China the kids became very interested in the puppets, hoping for a souvenir.

But the Chinese acrobats caught their attention, they were really amazing!

So our trip ended with Epcot, we flew home the next morning. It was such a fun trip, of course it ended way too soon! But it was so fun to be together in the most magical place!!!