Days 6 & 7 in Orlando: More Magic and the long journey home!

So on Monday we decided to take it easy and sleep in, go to the pool and then later in the day go back to Magic Kingdom for Fireworks and parades. So since the boys thought the girls were party-poopers, they left at 1 pm so that we could meet them later.

My mom, Whitney and I decided to go for a walk to find food and we passed this little pond with this sign. Seriously?
Later that evening we met the boys at the Magic Kingdom and scoped out a perfect seat for the Mickey and Friends show that happens right in from of the Castle.
This is me in front of the Walt and Mickey statue. Self portrait, in case you were wondering.
My little animals in front of the castle.

This was pretty much Braiden's demeanor anytime we were doing anything that had to do with Princesses or Pooh or Mickey. If it was Pirates or Roller Coasters, then he is his other personality. What a boy.

This was a very cool show and I highly recommend you don't miss it if you go to The Magic Kingdom. All the favorite Disney characters and Princesses as well as Peter Pan were there.

The group watching the show.

So the next day, we packed up, made one more stop at the pool and headed off to the airport for the long flights home. Again everyone did alright but Paige was not feeling very well. She was running a fever and it turns out she has an ear infection. Surprise, surprise! Thank goodness it was the last day of the vacation.

Home at last. We love Salt Lake and its DRY climate. We all had a great trip but we are so glad to be home and in our own beds. Cameron was so happy to see us. I swear he got longer and smarter while we were gone. He started doing this little army crawl over the last seven days. He is no longer stationary. YIKES!!

Welcome Home kids!

Day 4: Magic in the Magic Kingdom

Its a little late so today I will mostly just let the pictures speak for themselves. We spent the day in the Magic Kingdom which is like the Disneyland we know and love but a little different. We started the day with a character breakfast with Pooh and Friends. We did the Jungle Cruise, The Enchanted Tiki Room, The Haunted Mansion, Its a small World, Peter Pan, Snow White, Dumbo, etc.




The little cafe we ate lunch at was right overlooking the launching area for Its a Small World. Paige was staning there waving to people and it was so hilarious that people were totally waving back at her and getting a huge kick out of it. Some people even took pictures of her which I was not too crazy about but what do you do? She is quite a ham.

Tomorrow? Sea World, here we come.

Day 3 in Orlando: Epcot Adventures!

Today was day number 3 which was dedicated to our journey to Epcot. We had mixed feelings about going there in the first place because alot of people told me that it was not that great and that the kids would hate it. Well I am glad that we decided to develop our own opinions because it was actually pretty fun. There were alot of fun, interactive, educational exhibits for the kids to enjoy and there were some great attractions as well. Braiden saved up his allowance money before the trip and he bought his first souvenir today. Can you guess what it was? No its not the striped shirt.

What is that giant golf ball thing anyway? I have always wondered so we were sure to check that out. Its a ride called Spaceship: Earth and it was pretty cool. It takes you through a bunch of eras of time and in to the future showing you the evolution of inventions and technology.

Also its just the Icon of Epcot.

Paige was looking especially cute today with her coordination headband and dress. She also was being a super stinker today. Her favorite game to play is take-off-my-shoes-and-drop-them-wherever-making-mom-and-dad-mad. That was just the beginning. This is what happens when we go non-stop for 3 days with little sleep and don't get Paige a nappy.

One of my favorite rides today was the Finding Nemo Adventure. It is VERY similar to the underwater adventure at Disneyland but you don't sit in a submarine. Then when you get off there is a huge aquarium that you can wander through and see all kinds of cool fish.
In the dolphon tank the Dolphin would come up to the window and do fun tricks for the people with the help of the trainer. There was also a shark tank. That was separate from the dolphin tank, don't worry. That would not be a fun show for the kids.

All in all, critique of Epcot was everyone needs to go to check it out and make up your own mind. My kids enjoyed it and I thought it was pretty interesting. There are also a couple fast roller coaster type rides there similar to Space Mountain.

Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom day and that's the one we have all been waiting for. We have an appointment at 10am to have breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and Friends. Braiden is probably the most excited about that. Not! Really he has been a pretty good sport about all the Princess and Pooh Bear stuff but don't let him fool you. He likes Playhouse Disney as much as Paige when nobody is looking.

Until tomorrow!

Day 2 in Orlando: Wild Animal Kingdom

So as you can guess I decided to pay the dinero and post my pics. These are beginning from yesterday. This was in the Orlando Airport. We decided to kick-off the tourism with a pic in the airport. This was perfect timing because I think that Paige was beginning to not believe that we were going where Mickey Mouse was since the plane trip was so long. (Sorry for the sideways pic)

Paige was absolutely taken by Snow White as you can see my the look on her face. This was also in the airport.

Ok. I am guilty of putting my 3 year old in a "bikini". Eric looked at me sideways when I bought this last year at Wal-Mart. Doesn't she look cute? We just got her those floaties and she has developed a dangerous confidence by being able to just jump into the pool. One of these days she is going to jump in and forget to put the floaties on first.
The hotel has a great pool with a kiddie wader and an indoor area. We were out there for about 30 minutes and I got burnt. I put 70 SPF sunblock on everyone else but forgot to put it on myself. Luckily at the first feeling of over exposure I went in so I an not a lobster. There is nothing worse than getting fried the first day of vacation.

As you may have noticed, most of the pics with me in them are taken as self-portraits since I am the camera operator. This is at Playhouse Disney.

Yesterday we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios Park and saw Playhouse Disney and other movie related attractions. Playhouse Disney is a must see for those who have little kids that watch the Disney channel. Paige was in awe at first sight of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang. This is her with Leo from Little Einsteins.

Today we made our way to Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom. This was so fun! The kids have never been able to see this many characters as they did today. They were everywhere and so easy to see. The first of the day was Flick.

This recycle bid was talking to Braiden outside of the conservation station. This was pretty clever. Braiden was a little surprised I thinkbut then afterward he claimed he "knew it was not real mom". He spotted the guy in the croud that was taking into a microphone and controlling the motions. Nothing gets by him.

Tired and waiting in line.
Braiden got pulled up to participate in the Lion King show (my favorite, by the way). I love the Lion King so this was particularly exciting for me. I may have been the only adult inthe audience singing full blast to all the music. Hmmm, or not. Braiden was very proud to be up there. He always tells me that he wants to learn to sing and dance so this was a new thing for him. I think he may have changed his mind though.

Donald Duck
Goofy and the fam (the one in the hat is Goofy) hehe.

Whitney and Amy in front of the Tree of Life and at the end of the day. I got soaked on the wild rapids ride so I was ready to get out of there and change my wet bum.

What will we do tomorrow? Its a mystery...stay tuned.

We are on the other side of the USA!! Day 1 Adventures!!

I am writing this post from the Internet office of the Embassy Suites in Orlando, Florida. I brought my laptop and fully intended to post everyday the we are here so that I would not have to do a huge catch up post when I get back with pics and all but I found out that to have wireless in the rooms is $10 a day!! WHAT? Can you say rip-off? I am a total believer that Internet should be free to all. So anyway, here I am in the public business office trying to post and check email really fast.

Lowdown on the trip so far:

The travel day here was good. Long but uneventful an in the world of flying, uneventful is very good. We left SLC at 1pm. Arrived in Denver @ 2:30. Left Denver @ 4:50pm. Arrived in Orlando @ 10:30pm. Got to hotel and checked-in by 11:30pm. Got Paige and Braiden settled down by 12:30am. Barely fell asleep at 2am to be awakened by seriously loud, screeching, high-pitched, nightmarish noise @ 2:15am. Looked out of room to see entire hotel evacuating to parking lot. Got out to parking lot with half-asleep kids by 2:30am. Sat in parking lot for 15 minutes with lots of angry people while the fire dept checked things out. Got the OK that all was clear and stood in line for 15 mins to get back up elevator to the 6th floor and get riled up kids BACK in bed by 3am. Whew.

We got up at 9:30 this morning and went to the pool and swam for a little while. That was very fun. It's a good thing they have a free soda fountain or I would have been really ticked about last night.

Guess what!? Florida is very humid and hot. I can truly appreciate the dry weather in Utah now after having been here for 24 hours. Anything for a little Disney, right? I am sooooo glad that we left little Cameron at home with his Aunt. He would have had a terrible day today in the heat.

We did make it to Disney's Hollywood Studios today and saw Playhouse Disney and some other fun stuff. Whitney and I went to Downtown Disney. Guess what else we learned? Nothing is close by or easy to get to around here. This place is huge. I thought I was the expert but this plaec has humbled me.

Now I am very tired and ready to rest my weary feet so we can get up and do it again tomorrow.

Let's pray for no fire alarms tonight!! Maybe tomorrow you will get some pics if I break down and decide to pay for Internet in my room. Hasta manana!