The S Family Does Disney...

We have just returned from 5 crazy exhausting magical days in Disney World. Wow. It may take weeks for us to recover but it was a great time. I could probably write for hours so I will try to just point out the highlights of each day. I really do not have many pictures. My good camera stayed locked in the room's safe and after the first day, even pulling out the point & shoot didn't happen much. In fact, looking at the pictures I do have, you would really not know that we were there with my parents and my brother and his family. There was just so much chaos. Wait, here is a picture of my dad on the way down... that is his elbow and pink shirt.

The airplane had tv's at every seat so we gladly paid $1.00 a headset for what we thought would be a more peaceful ride, but soon realized that our kids, instead of talking with each other, would actually now be yelling since they couldn't hear themselves.

Nyah's headphones looked like this 5 minutes into the trip. Oops.

Here is the gang when we arrived at the hotel. We used the props in the lobby that are used for professional pictures since it was after hours.

Day 1 was at MGM. Brynn really wanted to see the pink Power Ranger and since the Star Wars stuff was only there on the weekends, the first day was the only day to go. Brynn ended up sad a lot of the day because there were no rides and her tears smeared what hadn't already melted of her face painting. It was beautiful though and she sat so still when it was being done. Later in the week we went for tattoos instead (Luck written in Chinese on one arm and a Hannah Montana one on the other) since they can survive sweat better. Price took the pictures of the Star Wars parade. The big magical hat is my favorite "symbol" at the parks. And the rain shot below, well, it is a fake. We actually had no rain on our entire trip!

After MGM, Caleb, my brother Ron, my dad, and I headed out to the Magic Kingdom. Here is Caleb on the race car rides with Uncle Ron:

On the second day we went to Typhoon Lagoon, the water park. The older boys enjoyed the water slides and everybody enjoyed the wave pool, except for Evan who got roughed up by a wave and ended up with some ugly cuts and scratches on his back. Doug and Caleb got to swim with some sharks though Doug's mask leaked and Caleb just didn't enjoy the snorkeling. On the fourth day we went to Animal Kingdom and on the last day, Epcot. On the second night I went to Magic Kingdom with Brynn (she got to ride in the front car of the monorail and loved it) and on the last day Brynn and I stayed until Epcot closed and watched the light/fireworks show. It was amazing.

On the third day we did the Magic Kingdom. Caleb, Price, and I stayed until just before the park closed. We fast-passed our way onto a few rides watched the parade. On the fourth night, Caleb and I returned to the Magic Kingdom again (front monorail car for him too!) and did a few things that we don't typically do... the Snow White ride, the 3-d show, and Grandpa's favorite... the Carousel of Progress. We definitely enjoyed our park-hopper passes!

So here were my favorite magical moments of the trip:

~ Spending time with my two "older" boys. I so rarely get a chance to really focus on them, since they are in school all day, when they are home the little ones are always around, and when Doug and I divide up, the boys tend to go with him and I keep the girls. Caleb rarely lets me hug him anymore so you can just imagine how wonderful it was when he was forced to grab my arm due to the MAJOR crowds (a few employees at the parks told us there were more people there than they had ever seen before) and then how thrilled I was when he grabbed my hand when he really didn't need too. That was TRULY magical. This picture is for Caleb's friend Maggie... he really would have gone on it this year but, I guess it will have to wait. He did ride the Rock & Roll Rollercoaster and Expedition Everest. Caleb enjoyed the Monster's Inc. comedy show the best and he also liked the test track at Epcot.

~ Watching Price realize that flying was fun (he was really very worried about it before we left) and watching him decide to fight past his fears only to end up LOVING some of the big kid rides ~ roller coasters especially.

~ Listening to Brynn giggle on every ride she went on... even when others around are screaming in horror as the movie makes viewers feel mice run up their legs or as others are nervous about a steep drop or big splash. The only thing that stops this girl from getting on any ride is her height. She is a lot of fun to hang out with at a park as long as there is no one else holding her up from where she wants to be. Also, Epcot has these "missions" that kids can go on... they get a cell phone and are assigned a country and have to complete certain tasks to stop the bad guys. We did a lot of missions and Secret Agent LuLu was successful everytime. All my kids loved doing these and it was the first year we really spent significant time in the countries part of Epcot.

~ Telling Brynn that being called princess was a compliment because princesses are beautiful and smart (Brynn has proclaimed to hate princesses on several occasions) only to have her look at me like I had lost my mind and then say, "No, mommy, princesses are only beautiful, very beautiful."

~ Watching Nyah's eyes light up when she saw the very first dolls, the toy soldiers, in It's a Small World and hearing her hands clap to the music whenever they weren't pointing to things throughout the ride. Nyah liked the teacup ride too but liked to keep her distance from the characters.

~ Hearing Evan exclaim, "That was a blast!" when he got off the teacups the second time. The first time he got on we didn't do a full spin since he has a very weak stomach but the second time, I decide to let him experience the full ride, though we did do it before we ate. Evan also enjoyed the Buzz Light Year ride.

~ While I really enjoyed the chai latte that Doug would get for me each morning (even in the heat it was delicious), I especially loved the fact that he would keep the kids who needed a park break while I got to stay out at the parks with the others. He has told me he enjoyed hanging out at the pool but I still think I got the better end of the deal, though my legs today are aching after 5 nonstop days of walking. Thanks Doug!

~ And finally getting to ride the Tower of Terror and Soarin' (the most amazing ride EVER) after years of wanting too and never getting too because no one could watch the kids, the wait was too long, or I was pregnant.

So while we were rarely all together, it was still a great time. Oh, and even at Disney there are still not-so-nice people... see the stroller Nyah is sitting in? The one that belonged to us? Well, apparantly someone else at the park thought it was free for the taking while we were enjoying the rides. But then again, someone did turn in my cell phone when it fell out of my pocket on a ride so overall, I can't complain.

So now we are back to real life. I am teaching summer school at the high school for the next two weeks and the kids have soccer camp and vacation bible school. We also should have our first t-ball games. Stay tuned!