Until Next Time Disney...

Today was our last day of vacation.  We were planning on going to Animal Kingdom, but decided to spend the day at Magic Kingdom again instead.  Animal Kingdom didn't have a ton of things for the boys to do, and we've all had so much fun at Magic Kingdom
and wanted to spend more time there.

After a long week it was safe to say we were all exhausted and wanted to take it easy.

We spent the day walking around and revisiting our favorite rides....Dumbo,

  
Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion (or "Spooky House" as the boys like to call it),

  

and Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

Then we took a break and the boys tried one of my favorite treats, cotton candy.  I had been smelling it in this one souvenir shop all week so I finally broke down and got some.  Owen wasn't quite sure what to think.  He liked the taste but wasn't a huge fan of the weird texture.

Joe wanted no part in it, but was just happy to be there.

 

 We finished the day off with an old classic, the People Mover.  Ryan had never been on it before (gasp!).  The boys thought it was fun looking down and seeing all the rides we had been on and it was a nice, relaxing end to our day.

 This was honestly such a great trip.  Exhausting? Yes.  But so worth it.  Going as a parent and watching your kids experience something so magical is incredible.  I love looking back at these pictures and seeing how genuinely happy they were, well, most of the time. ;)
These are memories they will have forever and hopefully we can continue to build on them in years to come.  Now that we have this first trip under our belt, I've learned a lot and know how I can do things differently to make things a little easier on everybody.  And hopefully next time no one gets sick the day we leave.  That would be a huge help too.

Until next time Disney.... 

Late Night at Magic Kingdom

Since it was our last night of vacation we wanted to do something special.  I had been
wanting to take the boys to the Electrical Parade or Fireworks, but it was always too late and
they were way too tired to make it that long.  Tonight everyone seemed to be in great spirits
after our fun dinner, so Ryan and I decided to push through.  The kids were a little reluctant..

 ...but nothing a few light up toys couldn't cure.  They had been eyeing them up all week!

 We found a spot, got a fresh bag of popcorn and waited for the parade to make it's way
through the streets and over to us.  It was definitely worth the wait.  The boys loved it and it
is something they will never be able to see anywhere else.  It was truly incredible.

What a great way to wrap up our last full day at Disney.

I can honestly say that today was magical.  :)

Magic Kingdom - Day 2

Today was our second day in Magic Kingdom.  After watching the boys really struggle
yesterday, I decided to take a different approach today.  The park opened an hour early and
while I wanted to take advantage of those early crowd free moments, if the kids were too
tired to enjoy them it wasn't worth it.  Joe was up a lot last night coughing, which means the
rest of us were up as well.  He asked for some juice around 4:00AM and I gave it to him
thinking his throat must be hurting.  He downed the entire sippy cup full of juice, then he and
I laid back down.  He started coughing and proceeded to throw up all over the bed.

As I sat in the resort laundry room at 5:00AM I came to the realization that no matter how
great those early moments in the park might be, I was turning our alarms off.  Ryan and the
boys would wake up when they were good and ready to.  We've already had so much fun
and at this point everyone needed rest more than an extra ride on It's a Small World.  I laid
back down in bed happy knowing I was doing the best thing for my family.

The kids woke up an hour later than when we had originally planned to get up.  We got
ready and still got to the park only 30 min after it had opened.  Missing those 30 minutes
was completely worth having fully rested kids.  They were happier and in turn we
were happier.  They still weren't super excited to pose for pictures,
but Ryan and I made the best of the great photo op.

 We started our day with a little pick me up at the Starbucks on Main Street, then headed to
the rides.  It's a Small World definitely made our rotation today.  We've been lucky enough
to get the front row both times we've been on.  The boys stand up at the front of the
boat and just take everything in.

 
Then Ryan and Owen headed over to Splash Mountain.  Originally we hadn't planned on
taking Owen on this because the drop at the end is kind of big and we didn't want to
traumatize him.  But the rest of the ride is really cute and he had done so well on the other
roller coasters, so we figured we'd give it a try.  It's safe to say the drop caught him by
surprise, but with Daddy there to hold him he handled it with no problem.
 

After a few rides we went to lunch at Be Our Guest, one of the lunches I had been looking
forward to.  The reservations are pretty tough to get, so I was super excited when one
opened up.  Not only was the food delicious, but we got to eat in the "West Wing," which is
designed to look the way it does in the castle from Beauty and the Beast.  Pretty cool.
 

Before heading back to the room for naps (which clearly Joe is anxious for) we let the boys
use the money Grandma gave them to pick out something special.  It's no surprise that we
left with a stuffed Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck.
 

That night we came back towards the Magic Kingdom for dinner at Chef Mickey's.
 

  
As always, Owen was more than excited to see all of the characters that came by our table.
Joe was pretty playful this dinner too.  He's come a long way from the first night.
 

 

Minnie was lucky enough to get a hug from not only Owen, but Joe too.
 

 

 

It was a great way to spend our last dinner at Disney.