Orlando...

...the Florida kind. Not the Bloom kind. He's old news anyways.

Yep we did it again. We went to Disneyworld. Thanks to my brother Joshua, we were easily motivated to visit this happy place, yet again, as he works through his Disney College Program. That makes this a full family affair as each of us siblings has each done a season interning with The Mouse. The seed has already been planted in my parents to make this a retirement destination as well, so we can truly complete the family circle of Disney employees. Walt himself should be proud.

 

It was awesome as always. This time our little section of the family (Rob, myself, Peanut and Cashew) made a road trip out of it. Though there really isn't much variation in scenery down the I-95 (trees, minor hills, less hills, more exotic trees, billboards) it still was a fun drive. We sang, we laughed, we yelled at each other, we ate, we spilled food, we watched movies and we slept. And we did a little visiting.

A little light reading.

Our first stop was in Wilson, NC where we enjoyed a night stay and some swimming the following morning before heading out on the second leg. We rolled into this little town at 1am Friday morning and to our dismay Peanut was wide awake and fought us at every corner to go to sleep at this awful hour. We were ready to fall down like dead people into our bed. Sheesh kids.


Super sleepy Peanut

Well Friday afternoon, we headed off again to meander our way to SC to visit some awesome friends. The Robison's were kind enough to let us crash in their beautiful home with our two little wild boys. And may I say, they were the epitome of southern hospitality. Our bed was laid out with a welcome basket that included plenty of candy and toys for the kids. We spent all of Saturday with these two, enjoying every minute, then headed out again at O'dark-thirty Sunday morning to try and make it to Orlando in time to get my parents from the airport. Thanks a delay and a missed flight timing couldn't have been better! And thanks to the blessed new car we were able to fit everyone and the luggage inside :). Double handed fist pump!

We checked into the timeshare we were all sharing and then did a little grocery run to stock the fridge and headed out to cheesecake factory for some grub. Yum, yum, yum. I need to eat there more often. We needed to load up to prepare for the run through the parks for the next few days. Naps would be at a minimum and it was hot my friends. Oh. So. Hot. And humid. And each and every day had a
huge rain storm. We were off to the races.

Park Day #1 - Animal Kingdom

Peanut's first ride!

Thank goodness Grandma brought the mickey ponchos!

Snuggling in for a good sleep during
the Nemo show.

Enjoying the dinosaur dig. 

It was so fun to explore some of the play grounds and other shows that were for small children that I had never really explored before because, well, I didn't have small children before now :). Always something new at Disney.

Day #2 - Epcot

Epcot is awesome! It's big. It's full of things to learn. It's fun. It has really good food. We stopped to watch the Beatles tribute band in the UK pavilion. Loved it. Aunt Katie took a ride in the stroller. Glad it didn't break. Desmond was afraid of the Captain Eo show. We just had a good time as usual. You would too.

 

Day #3 - Magic Kingdom

 

And boy is it magic! This is seriously the most fun park take a little kid to. All of us were looking forward to it. We all were thinking of the rides we each wanted to ride with Peanut. Again, these kiddos have no idea how much we like to be with them.

Monorail Ride. Peanut was waiting
for this all week!

The new area was cool. Dumbo theme a new Little Mermaid
ride a Peanut sized Goofy roller coaster. Yay!

And the new Beauty and Beast area was incredible. Try
Lefou's Brew if you ever get a chance. More delicious
than Harry Potter's butter beer. Yep I said it. Sorry
Universal.

Just passing some time on the people mover.

Yummy new restaurant. The Beast's Castle. So glad we
were able to sneak in a last minute reservation. Good job
Grandpa Pete!

And this is a fabulous new attraction. A really crummy photo.
It was the last photo I got before my camera died.
Belle's story time is a must see. My Dad was cast as a knight,
Rob and Peanut were cast as the wardrobe. You act out
Belle's story for Belle! Oh so fun!

Day #4 - Rest Day!

We never take these. It was fun. We all slept in. Swam in the pool. Played in the laundry basket and did a little shopping at Downtown Disney and sadly dropped Katie off at the airport :(

I think I should do a chalkboard
like this.

Day #5 - Universal Studios

Harry Potter World was solely the motivation for this visit and it was a good time. The Harry Potter ride was one of the better story rides I have ever been on. I was even a little bit scared of the Dementors to be honest. Oh and today's rainstorm was the biggest of them all. I went and bought the boys new clothes at the gift shop everything was soooo incredibly wet. It was a great excuse for a souvenir.

 Day #6- Disney Studios

My old stomping grounds during my Disney College Program. I love this park.

I could not keep my eyes open for a single
picture with that flash. I think we tried at
least 10 times.

Well Disney, until next time we bid you a fond farewell!

Begin the Brain Dump...

Here is the first post I have of like 6 that are sitting in that almost done place on my blog dashboard. Man do we have some exciting stuff to tell y'all about. Drum roll please...

WE BOUGHT A MINI VAN! Yep it's official. We are a two car family and I love, love, love, love our new car. If you are not a "mini van person", well I just have one thing to say to you, "Why the heck not?!!!". We splurged on the Toyota Sienna XLE and it is epic! There is so much space to tote around all this kid crap all the time. In all this cavernous space I even sectioned off a permanent spot just for changing diapers. I am also not required to fold up the stroller anymore and take the wheels off just to load it into the car. I just put it in the back, on top of the easiest fold down seats ever. And yes, I may or may not have put those seats up and down, a few times in a row, just to bask in the sheer simplicity of the task. Then I hastily ran to the drivers seat leaving all the doors and trunk of the car open and pushed all the buttons on the dash to close them. I was like a little kid in an elevator. Button bliss. Then I pushed one more glorious button, the keyless start, and marveled that someone would make such a splendid machine where I no longer have to dig through my purse/diaper bag/swim bag/cooler/stroller to find the keys to open the car or start it. They just need to be in a near proximity to the car. Oh hallelujah! I love the leather seats, blue tooth, and all 16 cup holders. I think Peanut and I may go out tomorrow and fill up every cup holder with a drink,  just because we can. Then maybe we'll drive down the street tossing drinks out the roll down front AND rear windows to passers by, while talking to Grandma, hands free, on the blue tooth, accessible with the touch of a button on the steering wheel. Ok I'm going overboard here but it really is great. So for all you minivan haters, if there are any left, just stop. Give in. Love it. 

Also, you should be incredibly impressed with this guy...

He built this.

With his bare hands and engineering mind power. Ok and the help of a few power tools. Direct quote from the neighbor, "Wow. I went inside and took a nap and came out and you had put all these beams up. How on earth did you hoist those up there by yourself? [You small man in your safety goggles]?". That part in brackets is what I guessed he was thinking as our neighbor is a large, muscular man that we guessed was a club bouncer when he and his family first moved in.