The Drive

See we made it, everyone's smiling and happy!

We decided in order for us to be able to afford a trip to FL and be able to do the things that we wanted to do on vacation that we needed to drive......well we've never driven before so we were all pretty concerned about how long we'd be in the car.  I think due to the fact that we were so concerned we were all pretty shocked when it was pretty enjoyable.  I think if it were something we did all the time it would've been miserable but I actually had a great time and think we'll definitely do it again.

Sarah in Tennessee, so beautiful!

 

Beautiful Tennessee

Early in the morning on Day 2 in the car, a lot of naps.

Scooby Doo building, is it supposed to look like Scooby Doo

 or am I crazy?

Another first for the kids, Chick-fil-A.  Thankfully they love it just as much as I do.  We stopped there on the way home too.

Thank God for games, snacks, and ipod/iphones

I can't say enough how great the kids were.  I know they're older and should be good but honestly I was worried that they would get a little crazy.  On the way there we didn't hear one time, "are we there yet?" 

Definitely not every year for spring break but I can see us doing more car traveling in our future. 

Photo Pass Pics from Disney

I received our edited photo pass pictures in the mail today.

Here are just a couple of my favorites.....

 

 One of the best things about Photo Pass is that you can get pictures of your whole group.

There have been many vacations that I have no pictures of myself at all because I am always the one taking the pics.  Not complaining because I do not like my picture taken but I know years down the road I will regret not getting more family photos.

 How cute is this of Sarah and Tinkerbell!

I didn't post the pic of Jacob and Stitch, he's just getting to old to be cool anymore.

I love that my mom is able to come with us.

Definitely memories I will cherish forever!!

I'm having serious Disney withdrawal so I was ecstatic to receive this cd in the mail today.

 

 



Please don't make me go to work tomorrow....

I am so tired I can't believe I am not already in bed.

Just waiting on the load of laundry in the washer to finish so I can put it in the dryer and then go to bed.

I've uploaded all our photos already, including the ones from our photo pass.

I'm really happy with them.

I do look forward to taking the time to edit them, crop them, add some fun borders and get them ordered. 

I've added a few of my favorites.

 

 

This one is of our first day in Tampa.

We had gone to the Tampa Bay Brewing Company and walked around Ybor a little bit.

We were all so happy to be there.

 

This one is from our afternoon at Pine Island.

I said if we lived where mom does, we would go here all the time. 

Small little park with a lot of waterfront.

I bet it does get packed when its officially warm in FL.

We were warm enough to swim but there weren't many people in the water. 

 

And this one is from last night, on the Magical Express to the airport.

So very sad to be leaving....until next time Mickey!!

 

 

If you've read any of the past weeks post I apologize for the spelling, punctuation and any other grammar errors.  I was blogging from my phone and most nights I was just too tired to go back and make corrections.  A few of you are picky about your grammar so I just wanted to throw that out there.  Not that I would even know if you cared since NOBODY ever comments on any of my blogs...

why is that????  haha

Last day, Saturday

The last day is always so bitter sweet.
In reality we are all ready to be home but nobody wants to leave.
We started our day packing and repacking. It isn't easy getting our luggage under 40 lbs. another reason we won't fly spirit again. Then they offer rock bottom prices and you have to fly spirit, assholes.
Anyhow we took off for our ressies at Chef Mickeys. Thanks to a couple lucky bus issues we made it on time. Breakfast was good, not great. But seeing the characters without having to wait in line was the best. Even got jakes picture with Minnie, priceless. Good for blackmail. Every pic I tagged him in this vacation he untagged himself, brat.
After breakfast we went to Magic Kingd for the day. I still can't believe the crowds. Another very hot and very busy day. We did get to ride all our favorites though.
We made it back to our resort with time to spare before the Magical Express took us to the airport. I really think it should be renamed for the
trip back to the airport. Sarah cried a little.
Even with the supposed delays because of the government furloughs we didn't wait long in security and we left on time. Getting to Detroit at 1130 at night isn't my favorite but its good to be on the ground. Staying the night in Detroit was a good idea we wouldn't have been able to make it home.
We're on our way to meet nana and papa now to get our babies.
I plan to blog later with pics from my actual camera and anything I forgot.

Friday, Disney

We slept in this morning. We were in no hurry.
Spent the day at Hollywood studios. If I see another star tours montage anytime soon it will be too soon. 6 times we rode that ride 6 times and they wanted to ride it more. We ate pizza for lunch and mama melroses for dinner. Rode tower of terror and rocknroller coaster each several times. The biggest hit was toy story mania which we managed to ride 4 times, thanks to a gentleman sharing his passes with us.
Our meal at Mama Melroses was the highlight of the day. The food was so good. We all left there so full.
I really wanted to see fantasmic but my family pooped out. I'll be lucky to squeeze that last little bit of Disney fun out of them tomorrow.
Can't believe it's our last night here. Feels like we waited forever for this trip and now it's just over. This trip was different. I couldn't get the kids to wait to see the characters and we were all picky about what we would wait for. It used to be they would wait any amount of time for any character or ride. Kids are growing up, bummer.

Disney, Thursday

Busy busy busy day
Breakfast at the Poly, O'hanas. Really is my favorite place.
Fun pics with lilo & stitch and Mickey and Pluto.
Mom came with us to breakfast but we had to say goodbye after we were done. So sad to see her go but I'm happy to know she'll be in MI soon.
After she left we wandered around the poly. Then we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian. It's so very pretty. Feels very fancy. Jeremy says he doesn't think he would feel comfortable there. I think he would feel like he needed to be dressed up. My in laws would LOVE it there. I finally got to go to basin the bath and soap store. Bought some Mickey soap got our bathroom.
When we left there we came back to our little bitty resort full of teenagers celebrating end of the year crap and cheerleaders whose shorts dont fully cover their buttcheeks. Learned a few things this trip. I plan to blog about that later. We put suits on and went to the pool. It was relaxing and even though we put on sunscreen we're all a little burnt.
Casually very casually (frickin slower than slow) we got ready to head out to the parks. They choose Hollywood studios because the boys really wanted to ride the star tours ride. We're also going there tomorrow so it was nice to not be in such a hurry to do everything. We rode star tours first and rode it twice. Then we went over to tower of terror and rocknroller coaster. Sarah wasn't sure she wanted to do tot so we were going to do the trade off. At the last second she wanted to try it.....big mistake. She was crying before it even started. Then screamed let me off while we were riding it. Geez big tears red face sobbing. Crazy cause 5 min later she rode rrc twice and lived it. Upside down super fast in the dark and she loved it. I don't understand.
Anyhow we're back in the room now. Hopefully in bed before midnight tonight, we'll see.
Feeling blue that tomorrow is already Friday. Only two more days.

More and More Disney

I can't blog I'm too tired.
We have to set an alarm for tomorrow. Breakfast at o'hanas.
I know it will be worth it but right now I just want sleep.
Animal kingdom, lots of walking. Finally pics with Mickey.
Took mom to downtown Disney. Big mistake. 3 hrs and lots of $ later we're finally falling into bed.
I'll write more details later.

Disney, day 2

Uh, currently blogging while waiting in line for pirates of the Caribbean. They are having "technical difficulties". We're hoping they get this taken care of soon! It's been quite a day.
Family did not want to get up this morning which made for a crabby momma. Then we drove the truck instead of using Disney transportation. Big mistake. Apparently traveling to magic kingdom is quite a hassle. It took forever.
Which made for a crabbier momma.
Continuing on from the train ride....
Worst part was realizing I left the camera battery in the charger on the wall in our room.
Extremely crabby momma
It's still been a good day. How could it mot be, we're at Disney. There are just so many people here. We'll never do April again.
The kids are having a blast. We've been on splash mountain twice. I loved haunted mansion, the new cemetary queue is fun and entertaining.
And in keeping with the theme of the day we're taking the train to the front of the park because we're currently 25 minutes late for our dinner reservations at Tonys Town Square.
Stat tuned.....
Whew they sat us anyway, 35 minutes late.
Dinner was delicious. Everyone loved their meal. Jeremy's cheesecake was blueberry and in chocolate sauce there was an outline of lady and the tramp.
After dinner we rode the toy story ride and space mountain. Kids jumped on and rode again since the lines were down.
On the way back to the hotel i realized somewhere along the way i lost my room key/park ticket/charge card. Awesome! But in true Disney fashion the lovely lady at the front desk reissued me a card good as new.
So even with all the crappy crap that happened today still we all had fun.
Tomorrow we're off to Animal Kingdom. We'll see if I can get these folks outta bed.

Day 3, Disney

Oh I'm so very tired!
We had the best day. After saying goodbye to Terry and having breakfast at Waffle House we finally made it to pop century. Check in took minutes, and off we went to Epcot.
It was pretty crowded. Not unbearable but higher than we're used to. I thought it wouldn't be so bad since most people would be heading to animal kingdom for the 15th anniversary. I was wrong. We rode soarin twice, still my favorite. Although today Test track was everyone's favorite. We had dinner at Rosé and Crown in England. Everyone loved their meals. Jeremy thinks it was our best one ever in Epcot. Jacob scraped his plate to get all of his dessert. I finally got to have my Grand Marnier slush, yum.
We got pics with pooh and tigger then Alice in wonderland and Mary poppins. All of those characters we just sorta ran into. Not even looking for characters.
Sarah bought her Duffy bear, the normal sized one. Jacob bought a vinyl of Stitch. I bought a dog with Mickey ears to add to my Mickey family that ill put on my suburban. Finally complete with tucker. Grandma Turkey bought a Mickey lawn sculpture that is so cute. Jeremy bought beer.
Now everyone's sleeping and I'm going to set out clothes for Magic Kingdom tomorrow and try to get some sleep.

Disney Favorites

I just enjoyed taking a ride on a blogorail all about Disney.

Apparently there are tons of blogs out there about Disney, I just can't ever seem to find them when I'm craving a Disney fix.  Anyhow I really liked seeing everyone elses Disney favorites. So here are a few of mine.

 

Starting with my kids favorite characters.
Stitch is always such a funny guy when he poses for pictures. 

My absolute favorite characters are Chip and Dale.  Even if my kids don't want to stop and stand in line for pictures with them, I make them lol.  We have so many photos with them and they are all so funny.  I couldn't find the picture of Chip pulling on Sarahs piggy tales the first year we went when she was only 2 1/2 yrs old.  She thought they were pretty silly.

Feb. 2010 My Favorite Characters

  

My favorite ride at Magic Kingdom is Splash Mountain.  I love the characters from Song of the South.  I love Zippedee Do Dah and I love the last big drop.  The only thing I don't love is getting wet.  I try to sit where I think I won't get wet but it seems like I'm always wrong.  

 

March 2011 Magic Kingdom Favorite Ride, Splash Mountain

March 2011 Hollywood Studios Favorite Ride

The whole families favorite ride at Hollywood Studios is Toy Story Mania.  We try to head right back there, get a fast pass and then get in line.  That seems to be the only way to ride it twice.  I really enjoy the queue so I don't mind waiting for a little while.  The first time we road we waited for 2 hours.  Good thing we loved it.  I tend to get a little competitive with whoever I ride with. Probably best for me to ride with Jacob since Sarah seems to get her feelings hurt when I beat her.  

March 2011 Epcot Waiting for Soarin, our Epcot Favorite Ride

My favorite ride at Epcot is Soarin.  I don't have any photos of anything at Soarin, how is that possible?  I have at least a thousand photos of varies trips over the last 6 yrs and none of Soarin. 

I so love this ride.  I can't explain it, it really just makes me happy.  I love the feeling of flying, the smells, the music and the smiles of everyone around you when the ride is over.  I picked the above picture because we had just ate a huge meal at Le'Cellier we were stuffed and we were waiting for our fast pass for Soarin.  I was a little worried that my mom was going to hurl from the flying sensation on the ride but nope we were all just fine.

March 2011, Favorite Meal Ohanas

 

My favorite meal is at Ohanas. 

 I love the breakfast and the dinner.

  I love breakfast for several reasons.

  We love Lilo and Stitch, the kids love the waffles, and I love the juice. 

It's a great very filling meal so its a wonderful way to start your day.

I love dinner simply because I love the food. 

Something about meat on a stick, hahaha!

Seriously the food is delish.  

 

Sept. 2008 Favorite Non-Park Activity Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

 

There are so many extra "things" to do while you're at Disney.  I think you could vacation there and never go to the parks, although why would you do that?  I love to go to Downtown Disney.  One of these vacations I will get a whole day there all to myself.  It seems as if we're always in a hurry when we're there.  Off to a dinner reservation or like the above picture off to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  This was my favorite extra thing we've ever done with Sarah.  It was kind of pricey but totally worth it.  At this age she hated for me to brush her hair but this little princess let the "fairy godmothers" brush her hair for so long and so tightly I couldn't believe it. 

If you have a daughter between the ages of 3-8 I would say definitely do this. 

Totally worth it. 

 

Sept. 2009 Favorite Disney Outfit

Really not related to the parks at all but this was my favorite thing that Sarah wore on our Disney vacation. Nana made her this Minnie dress for Halloween and it fit her perfectly for our trip. 

It was so hot on this day and she never complained once. We got a lot of compliments on it.

How sweet is she!! 

Sept 2009 Favorite Disney Picture

Lastly my favorite picture I've taken of the kids on a Disney vacation.

Nothing at all related to Disney other than I took it at Downtown Disney.

As many Disney outfits as my children wear while we're on vacation this day they happen to be wearing nothing Disney related except for Sarahs bracelet.  

 

So these were some of my Disney favorites.  I hope you enjoy them.  I've already thought of several more for next time.