Magic Kingdom

Loaded up in our rental van, almost there!!!


After parking the van you need to take a shuttle and then after you buy your tickets you still need to take the monorail to the park and quite a bit of a walk to get into the park. It was crazy getting there!

Waiting in line to buy our tickets.

After purchasing our tickets and learning that it was our first time to Disney World, they gave us these "1st visit" buttons. I thought we might get some kind of special treatment if we wore them, but I was wrong.






All wet after Splash Mountain!

I love that Sullivan is the only one that doesn't looked at all phased that we are dropping 50 feet at the moment.

Pirates Rule. K...the ride in California is much better, just sayin! It was still fun though.


First celebrity meet and greet. Sullivan thought it was pretty cool.



That's how he rolled.




A must take photo.

The Haunted Mansion. The line forked and we chose to take the longer path which had some fun things to do and look at. The kids loved it.

They look like quadruplets.

Touch these instruments and they play.

London's most important thing to accomplish while in Disney World would have to be meet her most favorite princess Rapunzel. We waited for well over an hour and a half in the hot sun while Jeff and Ashley took Sullivan and kept him entertained. I was frustrated and hot waiting that long, but seeing how happy my girls were when they met Rapunzel made it worth it. Rapunzel played her part well and chatted with each girl about Pazcal and her dress etc.,. She made my girls feel like princesses themselves. It was a great experience. Ever since that moment we started referring to our most important things to accomplish in Disney World as our "Rapunzel's."


After Ranpunzel, we ate lunch and headed to the next ride.

Waiting for the Jungle Cruise ride was TORTURE! It was mid-day, Sullivan fell asleep in Jeff's arms and looks like he's suffering from heat exhaustion and we waited in line for well over an hour.






If Sullivan had a "Rapunzel" (most important thing to accomplish), it would have been meeting Buzz Lightyear. We actually spotted him on our way to the Buzz Lightyear ride, but he was finishing up for the day. Poor Sullivan cried so hard when I told him. We took this picture from a distance and the girls and I set to distracting him from his pain...so. sad.

A rest and sunscreen application stop. The sweet boy next to us saw how bright red Sullivan was an offered him his fan for a bit.

This picture cracks me up!!! I'm slightly competitive, k...I'm pretty competitive. Not so much that I get upset over it, but I do like to win. The ride has lazer guns that you shoot and when you hit the Zurg targets it keeps score. I rode with Ashley and I was so into trying to beat Jeff that I hardly had the time to answer her questions as to what to do and what to shoot. She looks confused in this photo and I look hard core. ;) Love it.



It is a vacation miracle!!! The girls are getting along together and are actually acting like they love each other like sisters should. Of course I had to capture the love on film. The pic doesn't do this justice. Kam decided she wanted to sit by London. They walked into the ride with their arms draped over each others shoulders. It totally brought tears to my eyes!

Side note...if a ride wait time is about 10 minutes or less in Disney World then know that it is a dumb ride. The Lilo and Stitch ride was awful!

We had to use up some time before the fireworks and parade, so we hit up a couple of stores. The girls both earned $100 to spend at Disney World by doing chores and they were super excited to spend every last penny. When the cashier noticed that our girls didn't get to go to the princess boutique (gives princess makeovers) like most of the little girls do, she asked my permission to give them some fairy dust. She asked them to close their eyes and make a wish and then she sprinkled them with glitter. They loved it, they loved it so much that when we got home they attempted to do the same thing with the Walmart glitter that I have (chunky glitter) and a week later I'm still trying to get the huge pieces of glitter out of their hair and off of my floors.



We scouted out the perfect spot for the electrical parade.






What we've been waiting for all day! The fireworks show did not disappoint! It was a great ending to a great day!

Unfortunately, it seemed like all of the people in the park had the exact same idea as we did and we ALL left the park at the same time. The lines to get on the monorail and shuttle were HUGE! Poor Jeff was carrying a sleeping 40 lb boy the whole time since we had to return our stroller. It was worth it though.

Hello Orlando

After arriving in Orlando, we rented a van, checked into our suites and then proceeded on to accomplish my #2 most important thing to do while in Orlando. For some reason my top 2 things to do in Orlando involved food...so sad. Anyway, we attempted to go to Planet Hollywood where they have the most delicious lasagna I've ever tasted. It was so good that I've remembered it after all these years and I've only ate it once. So, on to Planet Hollywood we go. It is late and we are all hungry. The wait was 40 minutes, so we went ahead and got signed up on the list and waited. The music was sooo loud, the atmosphere was not great and I ended up getting flustered and told my family that we should leave. We left, everyone is really cranky now. They just want food. My bad! Little did we know at the time that 40 minutes of waiting would sound like a piece of cake after a week @ Disneyworld.

We go to Walmart and stock up on some food/water for our vacation. Then we see an Olive Garden across the freeway and decide to go eat there. We didn't end up making it there because Jeff saw a Friendly's Restaurant and pulled in at the last minute. At this point, I don't care, I just want food. On a business trip a while back he ate at Friendly's and ate a sandwich that he's never forgotten. We actually played a game to keep the kids entertained while traveling which consisted of your top #3 favorites of whatever we could think of ie: food, games, movies, books etc.,. Jeff listed this sandwich in his top #3 favorite foods. So, it was a must! I also ordered that sandwich and it was AWESOME!

Everyone seems so much happier after eating. Weird that food can put you in a better mood! ;)

The weather in Florida is amazing! After dark it was still in the 70's. It felt warm enough for the kids to go swimming. They had a blast! Even though it was a long travel day, we still had a great time and very much anticipated what was to come.

Almost there...

I know this sounds really weird, but the kids were very much looking forward to riding on an airplane for the first time. (Kam has been on an airplane before, but she was very little.) They see Jeff go on business trips all the time and have always wondered what it was like to travel like that. London was a little anxious about the plane ride. She knows that I'm not a big fan of them. Before the trip Sullivan constantly said "When Mommy rides umpain (airplane), she goes "Ahhh!" We talked about turbulence etc.,. This also probably didn't help London's anxiety.

We woke up VERY early and had to be at the airport by 6 am. Here we are waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport.




Checking in, gotta put tags on each piece of luggage.

Done with the security check, now we wait to board the plane.


During our first flight, we were on the receiving end of some RAK (random act of kindness) when a stranger paid for London to have access to the movie/TV. It was very sweet of them and definitely helped put London at ease.

Pre-vacation fun

Jeff got severely trunky on the Friday before our vacation to Disney World. So, he took a half day at work and took the boy and I golfing for our first time of the year. I'm quite rusty, wasn't a good golfing day for me. Plus the weather was deceiving, it look all sunshiney and warm but it wasn't!!

After we went golfing, we packed and packed and made lists so that we wouldn't forget to pack anything.

Saturday we went to Jeff's parents house and we saw Hunger Games with Ash. I really enjoyed it. I think I am quite critical when it comes to books that I've read that are turned into movies, but this one stayed true. It was great. My only complaint was some of the actors/actresses that were chosen to play the parts.


Sunday we attended church, drove to Utah, checked into our hotel and went to visit Jeff's brother Justin and his family.

St. Patty's Day

I've NEVER had fun with St. Patrick's Day. I usually am focusing on what to do for Easter and to me it isn't really a holiday that needs to be celebrated. However, my sister-in-law taught me how fun this holiday can be. Melanie brought her kids down for a few days for the busy bag swap and she brought tons of fun things for St. Patrick's day, she made me a believer because my kids LOVED it!! See for yourself...

First (my most favorite activity) was a taste sampler with everything green. The rule was that everyone had to taste everything! I loved this because it made my picky eater try things that she would never have tried otherwise. She spit out most things, but at least she tried them!

-Green Wasabi peas, cucumbers, green peppers, grapes, pistachio pudding, green apples, kiwi, snap peas, pears etc.,.


They played games...

Don't Eat Lucky was quite hilarious since Kam can yell pretty loud. It always made the participant jump a little.

Sullivan loved playing with baby Ryan.


They built a leprechaun trap and set it out that night.


The next morning the leprechaun left a note that said to find your shoes and that is where he left some treats.

For breakfast the girls made a healthy fruit rainbow. They look like they had fun with it.

Thanks Whams for making our St. Patty's day the best ever!

Makes me Happy

-All 36 Busy Bags are complete. And the swap was that night, excited to get it over with.
-A fresh book to start reading.
-Kam's lunch already made.
-Kam's recorder not being practiced (that has taken patience!)
-And finally...Kam's homeworked pushed aside, sciptures open beside a cereal bowl.

V-day fun

We had the cousins over to help us make Valentine's Day fun. We did some crafts, ate a treat and then they played together. We sure love that we have family here!