Disney World Vacation Recap--Day 2

First of all, please forgive me for not sticking to my plan of blogging about each day of our vacation on consecutive days. What was I thinking? I'm back in the REAL world, not Disney World.

Day Two
Cowboy and I woke up at 3:45 AM so that we could get to the airport on time.
Here are the kids, in the dark, walking on the tarmac to get to the plane.

We were so nervous about how Little I would do on a plane. He did GREAT!

Disney Travel Tip
When you stay at a Disney Resort, Disney sends you luggage tags so that you don't have to claim your luggage when you arrive in Orlando. They also provide ground transportation to and from the airport. If you pre-register within 10 days of your arrival, the check-in time at the resort is SHORT!

Here's what we saw when we got to our room.
Let the magic begin!

We quickly sat down our bags, took a fast bathroom break, and headed out the door for some fun!

We caught the bus to Epcot (my favorite park). We went straight to "Land" to ride Soarin'. Then went over "Sea" to see Turtle Talk with Crush. FINALLY we got to go back to Land and eat at The Garden Grill. It was AMAZING!!! Our stomachs may have been partly influenced by the fact we hadn't had a real meal all day. Here we are with all the characters at The Garden Grill.

Highlight
The best part about Day 2 was definitely the food at The Garden Grill.

Lowlight
In the midst of a crazy day of traveling, Little I managed to have 2 accidents. One happened on the plane. (I wiped his seat clean as we left the plane). The other happened in our brand new stroller. For the rest of the day all I could smell was urine! I know it was all in my head, but I couldn't get that smell out of my nostrils!!!

Disney Travel Tip
We all decided after this first day at parks that we should have done Magic Kingdom for our first day. It just feels more "magical". Fortunately, four of the five of us have experienced the magic of Disney World and Little I didn't know the difference.

Disney World Vacation Recap--Day 1

I recently went to Disney World with Cowboy and our 3 biggest kids. We were away from home for 10 nights! It was amazing!!! Since I've not blogged in awhile, I thought I might just blog each day for the next several days and tell anyone who cares our Disney travel tips, highlights, lowlights, or memorable events of our trip.

So...
without further ado here's the 1st day:

Day One
The munchkins took the day off from schoolwork, laid around, and watched old Disney movies as we continued to acquaint Little I with all things Disney. I packed like a crazed person. Cowboy came home early from work. We did a triple-check of everyone's packing lists and loaded up. We dropped NoBo off with our good friend who kept him the entire time we were gone and headed for Wichita, KS.

Disney Travel Tip
Why Wichita? Cowboy is a bargain-hunting cheapskate and flying out of Wichita, instead of Oklahoma City, saved us $850!!! The drive only takes about 2 1/2 hours and Wichita has QT's and Spangles! We discovered that most hotels near airports now offer "Park, Stay & Fly". You stay one night with them, leave your vehicle with them, and they'll shuttle you to and from the airport. This was cheaper for our family than leaving our van at the airport the whole time.

Highlight
The hotel we stayed at clearly used to be a Holidome. Does anyone have fond memories of those growing up like I do? Anyway, now there's shuffleboard, miniature golf, ping pong, and arcade games instead of the large indoor pool that Holidomes were centered around. We had a blast playing with the kids!






Lowlight
Little I cried for about an hour and a half while we were trying to get everyone to bed at a decent hour so that we could wake up WAY before the crack of dawn to catch our flight. He said things like, "I want my own bed. I want to go home." We we prayed like crazy that the next 9 nights would be a nightmare for us!

Why are we paying for what we can get for free?

Some months back Cowboy and I decided to join the gym where Miss B swims 5 nights a week. We decided this was a great way to spend our time while she was there. The boys would all go to the childcare room and we'd get in some much-needed workout time. The plan seemed to go along rather nicely until..

VBS, back-to-school activities and planning, numerous trips to the chiropractor, sick kids, and life in general!

So I was looking back at some pictures from a couple months ago when Little Bit came to spend the night with us and realized WE DON'T NEED TO PAY TO GO TO A GYM! Here's why...



Cowboy can get a great workout by doing push ups with little ones all over him or just by crawling around on the floor while carrying Little Bit. (She weighs a TON).



I have my own live-in trainers who LOVE to push me WAY PAST MY LIMITS!!! (Can you see the look of pain on my face? My trainer loves to get me to make this face.)



Bench pressing little ones can give a great upper body workout.



Parenting NoBo requires me to act as his physical therapist (and speech therapist, and child development specialist,etc.)



Did I mention we already have our very own highly trained child care provider on site?

These Sweet Blessings

Today Miss B reminded me yet again that she's growing up. It can't be stopped, I know, but I wish it would just slow down sometimes.

She fixed lunch for us. She worked hard to cook and prepare everything for her brothers and me. She added a bit of flair with her presentation that is SO not me (or maybe it was, because it was all symmetrical). Anyway, she had a lovely plate of fruits and veggies that was laid out so beautifully in the middle of the table for us.

I decided she could just be in charge of lunches around here. Shoot, I have enough things to be in charge of. So...I'm turning over the reins to my very capable girl. She's going to capably care for a family of her own someday, I'm quite certain. I hope she has a whole mess of kids!!! Of course, she'll adopt them all because she can't bear the thought of actually birthing a child. I think that's just fine, too. The love is the same no matter how they come to you.

Tonight as C-Man was lying down to go to sleep he looked up and said, "Thanks, Mom." I questioned what he was grateful for and he just said, "Thanks for everything." I tried to keep him from seeing me hold back the tears. How tender that boy is! He is going to be a fine husband someday...just like his Daddy.

OK, I'm too sentimental tonight. I'm crying just writing this.

I'm just blessed to be Mom to as many Sweet Blessings as God wants me to be--hopefully only 4, though. OK, God? Did you hear me? I'm totally good with 4.

Family Tradition

Cowboy started something years ago that the kids LOVE!!! What's not to love when you're given the freedom to use your dad's back as a canvas?

Anyway, the tradition has morphed and changed. It is no longer just about coloring on dad's back. ANYONE is fair game in this house!

Brown-Handed

So this morning C-Man says to NoBo, "I've caught you brown-handed".

He said, "I would have said 'red-handed' if he was an Indian."

C-Man makes me laugh! He knows he's funny, too, which can be problematic at times.

Mental Defect

I have a sickness, a mental defect, if you will.

I LOVE school supplies--fresh, new, unsharpened pencils, crayons with perfect tips, new pencil pouches, neatly arranged colored pencils, binders screaming for fun scrapbook paper to be placed in their front covers to make them look all cutesy, RSVP pens in all colors,...




Maybe my mental defect stems from my elementary years. Our family would go to Ratcliffe's Books to purchase our workbooks that our school required for the year. Because it was a college bookstore, my eyes would wander to the other items the bookstore sold. Such excitement--everything was colorful and new!!!

Or maybe my mental defect stems from my need to have order. Unmarked workbooks, pages without eraser marks. No mistakes have been made in any books! How peaceful...




Or perhaps my mental defect stems from my public school teaching days. That first day of school with all those fresh school supplies was the last day of complete cleanliness and order for the entire school year.

Wherever it came from, my sickness is here in FULL force. I love the beginning of something new...something pure...something clean!!!

Wait a minute, those things I LOVE about new school supplies are just the things God does in our lives. His sweet mercy and grace takes us from the marred mess we are and makes us new, pure, and clean! What a beautiful gift!!!