We're home!

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

--Walt Disney

We're home from vacation, and I don't even know where to start. We left early Saturday morning, June 2nd. Luke & I couldn't fall asleep until after 12:30 Friday, and had planned on pulling out of the driveway at 4:30 A.M. We ended up waking up at 4:30, and then forgot a few things we had to do. We ended up leaving closer to 5:30, I believe. We had rented a full size car, but all they had left was a premium. We rolled south in a Ford Crown Victoria! We stopped in Smyrna for breakfast at Chick-Fil-A & filled up the tank at Luke's old Home Depot. After driving all day ( and making several food stops, coffee stops, and bathroom breaks--some 20 minutes for Landon's perfect timing!), we arrived in Orlando at my grandparent's house. My Aunt and Uncle and cousins were in from Cape Coral for my Uncle's father's memorial service. We went to bed after some hanging out, dinner, and a trip down the street to Wal-Mart. We were exhausted! On Sunday morning we were awake, our kids woke us up before anyone else was up. The rest of the family and friends were sleeping in the bedrooms and living room in the main house.We got ready for church and realized we had like an hour an a half until it started at 11, so we went and filled a Panera craving before heading to church. It was my cousin's 10th birthday, so the rest of the family came over for lunch and cake.



The birthday girl with Landon and Benjamin.



After some great food and birthday cake, we headed off to Walt Disney World! After a short drive, and short naps by both kids, we arrived at All Star Movie resort!

We got all checked in, carried the kiddos and luggage into the room, and decided to swim for a little bit before eating dinner. Since we stayed at a Disney resort, we were able to get the extended hours at the parks. We also got hopper passes, so we could go to one park in the morning and return to another after naps. Both of those options I would FOR SURE do again! The extended hours was amazing!

We ended up arriving at Magic Kingdom around 9:00 & stopped right on Main Street for the parade. I believe this is my 3rd or 4th trip, and haven't seen it before. I could do without it, but we were right there at the right time, and it gave us an excuse to sit on the sidewalk and watch the kids smile.

The extended hours on Sunday night were at Magic Kingdom from 11-2 AM. This means that only guests at the resort can ride on the rides. And yes, they ask to see your room key ( your 'key to the world', as your meal plan options are on it also as well as the option to charge anything to your room) at each ride before you walk into line. After the parade, we headed all the way up Main Street towards the castle before The Magic, Memories, and You show started at 9:45. This was AMAZING!

I don't know how they do this. Ok, I'm sure it's just projected onto the castle, but it is amazing.They also have pictures that the park has taken all day showing during the show. So, you might see yourself on the castle--amazing! Then at 10:00 were the fireworks. After the fireworks we had a

much needed diaper change and bathroom break. We had about 3.5 hours to play in the park. On Sunday night I figured we would try to ride what might be the busiest during the daytime, but I had no clue we would be able to walk right up and right EVERYTHING that was open with no wait. Once again,AMAZING! We started in Tomorrowland and finally stood Landon up to a height thingy. I was disappointed that we wasn't up to the 40" I was hoping--even with his new shoes on ;) So we rode Buzz Lightyear & then got on the last ride of the Carousel of progress ( for old time's sake) . Landon got off the Carousel and told us it wasn't fun, and he didn't like that one ;) The park wasn't closed yet, so we skipped the space orbiter because there was a small line. We figured we would just hit up Fantasyland and then catch up on Frontier & Adventure Land in the morning. Landon got to ride the teacups ( 2 times) , Dumbo, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Goofy's Barnstormer ( 3 times!), and then I think we headed back home to bed.

The new Dumbo is so pretty! I can't wait for the rest of the new rides!

When we finally got back to the hotel around 2:30, put the stroller back together after having to hold it closed on the bus, both kids were OUT!

We had nowhere to be on Monday morning. We had lunch scheduled at the Crystal Palace at 2:30, so we planned on waking up at no specific time and heading back to Magic Kingdom.

Here is a video from the week, and I'll write more about the rest of the week during the next few days.