I found a too-good-to-pass-up Disney deal a few months back, so off we headed to sunny Florida to hang out with Mickey and the gang. The weather was GORGEOUS - mid 70's to low 80's every day and SUNNY! It was SO hard to come back to the cold and brown!!!!!! It was our family, Jen's sister's family and Jen's parents. We were busy, busy, busy - trying to cram in as much as we possible could. We came home completely exhausted, but some of us can't wait to do it again!
We arrived in Orlando on the early evening and headed right to the Magic Kingdom since it was open unitl midnight that night...yup parenting at it's finest. We got to the park just as the nightly fire works show was starting...it was a GREAT way to make an entrance.
We were also able to practically walk right onto a few rides that night. We went on the Pirates of the Carribean ride and couldn't resist playing in the store at the end of the ride.
I found a great deal on stuffed Mickey and Minnie Mouses before we left so we took them with us and left them in the kids beds our first night there. They woke up to Mickey or Minnie in their bed along with a note welcoming them to Disney. 
My sister and I had some fun buying Mickey gear - the shirts were a deal from before we left, the way cool hats were purchased there. Our poor husbands... 
Aren't we cute!?!
This is the sit and stand stroller that saved the trip! It was heavy and a huge pain getting it on and off the Disney busses, but it kept Anna in our sights as well as Simon and kept us going much longer each day as it allowed Anna to rest her tired little feet :-)
Pressed/Squished pennies were the "Item" of the trip. Anna has a few from other places we have visited, so we went prepared with a roll of quarters and a roll of pennies (each costs 50 cents and a penny for squishing). She ended up with around 40 newly squished pennies...a mere fraction of what is available for squishing at Disney....the machines are EVERYWHERE! 
Grandma found a way cool pirate themed fireworks boat ride for travel groups. Okay, so the boat was a pontoon boat, not pirate like at all, but there was a pirate on board leading the cruise...there were disney themed trivia contests complete with pirate booty for prizes and we learned pirate songs. We also sang songs from other Disney movies....much to our hubbies' annoyance, my sister and I knew the songs just as well as all the kids on board :-). Oh, and we got to meet Captain Hook, Smee and Peter Pan.
Anna started this thumbs up thing for pics....she must have picked it up at school. We were threatening to tape her little thumb down if she didn't knock it off...every time the camera came out (which was often as we have over 1000 pics of our Disney adventure), her little thumb popped right up...
Cute matching shirts :-) Jen's mom planned and booked the special activities....Jen embellished them with clothing and head gear :-)
The pirate in charge of our boat - he was a riot!
Yeah, I know, Peter Pan is a bit frightening, but the kids loved him...
Anna's first big roller coaster - Thunder Mountain Railroad. She screamed the entire time....Karen and I couldn't stop laughing :-) Ryan sat in front of us and kept snapping pics over his shoulder :-)
Poor little man...this is how he came back to the hotel on several different nights. No naps and so much to look at and do left him exhausted and falling asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel. I am SO glad I took my Ergo carrier!!!!
Simon and Nemo - this was Simon's favorite thing of the whole trip!!!
The fam inside Bruce the shark.
The girls with Belle and our Princess lunch - yup, we are wearing matching princess shirts and tiaras...it's a princess lunch after all! (By the way, we were the ONLY adults dressed up for ANYTHING! Where's the Disney spirt!?!)
I'll spare you the 101 princess photos that we have...just a few of Anna's favs...
Ya gotta have Mickey ice cream in Disney World!
Yes, we also bought Disney pajamas before our trip that the kids got our first night there...the adults too...okay, just Karen and I :-)
Trying to get these three to smile and be still was a joke....we have so many pics, including ones of Karen and I trying to get them to cooperate...Joel was standing on the bed above them taking the pics...yeah, we're crazy...
Aren't we cute...again...
This is one of my fav pics of Simon. Mickey squatted down to get closer to Si's level and Si just had to do what Mickey was doing.
Enjoying a "beverage" by the pool at our hotel...notice that it is dark out and we are in T-shirts. Our faces are pinked from the sun...we hadn't started in on our beverages yet :-)
Downtown Disney has this area with bulk Mr. Potato Head Pieces....we had SO much fun...okay, my sister and I had so much fun. Anna was into it for a little while, then she got bored with us. You bought by the box size, so you could cram as much in as you could as long as the box closed...those of you who know me can imagine how that went :-)
Tell me this man is not the spitting image of Johnny Depp. Jen spotted him coming out a staging area and chased him down to where he was doing the pirate oath with a bunch of kids. Anna got in on it, but there are no pics of her with him - there were ALOT of kids and she was never close enough :-(
The fireworks show - we saw it 3 times and it was way cool every time.
Simon was thrilled to see McQueen!
He just had to do it!
Thanks to some planning, waiting and assertiveness, Anna got to do the Jedi training at Hollywood Studios. She did great, but her daddy was SOOOOOOOO jealous!
My little girl fighting Darth Vader...in pink shoes as the trainer pointed out :-)
Playing in the huge, heated pool.
We stayed at the Pop Century hotel, which has areas from every decade from the 50's through the 90's. We stayed in the 70's area, but loved wandering and looking at the other areas. These were some of our favs.
This is actually the view from our room.
I LOVED the palm trees!
Pouting as we left the Magic Kindgom the last night :-( Yeah, I know.......
Well, there you go...our trip in a nutshell. Disney World will never be the same...I think they'll let us come back...someday :-)
