Disney Day 4

Friday was our last day full day of vacation.  We didn't even go into the park that day, just hung around the hotel and had TONS of fun.  The first time we walked around our hotel I didn't think it was that cool and then on Friday when we walked around again we discovered way more stuff to do! There were several pools, a water slide, water fall, sand volleyball, basketball courts.  I kind of wish we had discovered all the cool stuff earlier in the week, but to be honest we probably wouldn't have been able to do it all.  It wasn't too exciting which after Graham jumping into the pool the last time boring was a welcome change.  Later the night we went to downtown Disney so we could eat dinner and have the kids pick out a souvenir.  Everything was fine until we waited in line for dinner.  They told us a 35 minute wait and we thought, "Great not bad."  And then we actually waited an hour at subpar, overpriced, food in the loudest environment known to man. with lights that changed color that almost gave me a seizure.  If you're ever in Downtown Disney skip the T-Rex restaurant, trust me on this. We did have a great time picking out the kids gifts though, definitely one of the better moments of the night.

Thankfully they had life jackets so I was less stressed about Graham, that thing never left his body while we were at the pool.

Caroline got some great swimming practice while we were there.

Look at her go!

Nicely done!

Go Caroline!

Devin was really excited about swimming so I tried to teach him a few things while we were there.  He did great!

Nice pool!

These two fight kind of a lot but they were great buddies that day. 

Graham insisted his picture be taken as well.

And Devin warming up.

Shawn and Devin building is light saber.

Can you guess who that is?  It was a long ride home.

Sweet Graham was cold so he put his hands inside the arm cushions on his arms to keep warm.  Funny kid.  I really wish we could take a vacation like that every year, it was amazing, and much needed.  Best vacation EVER!!!

Disney Day 3

Day three had some bumps in the road at the beginning of the day but by the end of the day it was maybe one of my favorite days there.  Shawn started the day at the conference and we went into the park to meet up with Sandra and Phillip.  Devin wasn't too thrilled that he couldn't go on whatever ride he wanted but I reminded him that Shawn would be with us later and that seemed to keep him happy.  We tried going on a few rides by ourselves and I thought it would be lots of fun and it would have been if Devin wouldn't have thrown a huge fit because he had to sit by Caroline.  I was trying to be patient with him but on the second ride when I had to physically put him in the ride and push the bar down to keep him from moving I was done.  We then split up and Sandra and Phillip were saints and took the boys while I took Caroline and Maya to see Rapunzel.  Thankfully Shawn left the conference early and met up with us not long after.  I was so happy to see him I almost cried.  I can't explain how much better our vacation was when Shawn was with us.  The kids were a little more than I could handle on my own at times.  He was constantly cheery and optimistic.  Anyways once we met up with Shawn we hung out with Sandra and Phillip some more then said goodbye to them and headed over to Hollywood Studios for some low key fun.  We started off at the Tower of Terror which was really fun but I held onto Graham's shirt the entire time because I was sure he was going to fly out of his seat.  We took more time walking around finding things to do.  Caroline, Graham, and I watched a short play of Beauty and the Beast play while Shawn and Devin went on a real roller coaster that does flips and  everything.  We later went back to the hotel and ordered dinner from Chili's.  Not fancy but after walking around Disney World and days eating trail mix and beef jerky, Chili's was one of the best dinners I've had in a while.  Enough talk, onto pictures.

Waiting in line for the carousel. 

Devin was only willing to ride this as long as we found a boyish horse. 

Maya and Graham

Caroline and Maya

And Devin on his very masculine horse. 

Caroline and Maya waiting to see Rapunzel and Snow White.  These girls are so cute!

Caroline was very shy and refused to tell her she was Caroline's favorite.

And Snow White, I kind of felt bad for Snow White because come on I don't think kids like her nearly as much as Rapunzel.

I was so tired from walking around so while Shawn took the big kids on Space Mountain Graham and I went on the People Mover.  Sounds lame and little it is but it was really nice to sit down.

Sweet baby Castle. I never heard this kid cry, he was so laid back.  He wasn't too pleased I was watching him while his mom and dad went on a ride.

We actually got a group picture!

Watching a Muppets show together.

Come on, how cute is that?

The kids were so tired and ready to go back to the hotel.  We were smart enough to take a boat straight back to hotel that night.

I'm not sure what the kids are doing here.  Shawn took this one.  Yet another awesome day at Disney.

Disney Day 2

I almost forgot to post about the rest of our trip!  Wednesday we took a break from the park and hung out with Sandra and Phillip at their hotel while Shawn got to listen to people lecture on surgery.  I'm quite confident we got the better end of the deal!   The resort Sandra and Phillip were at was nice!  We went swimming in the heated pool, rode these huge bike things that seat six people, and went on paddle boats, climbed a rock wall and basically had an amazing time.  Later that night when Shawn was done with the conference we walked around Downtown Disney and went to Disney Quest which is basically a huge arcade.  They also had some virtual rides which oddly enough the kids were not tall enough to ride.  Kind of dumb that they could ride the real space mountain but not the pretend version of it.  Anyways, after some dinner we took waited at the bus stop to take us back to the hotel got on a bus, sat for about 30 minutes before realizing we were not on the right bus.  It was less than fun.  Apparently the bus stop had two busses.  One for a single resort that is HUGE and another for 4 other hotels.  It was almost 10 when we figured it out but the bus driver was nice enough to take us dummies back to our hotel.  Anyways on to the pictures!

Devin taking a snack break.

This is from our first day but I forgot to put it in.

Caroline having fun in the pool.

Uncle Phillip teaching Graham the beginnings of how to swim.  Unfortunately Graham took that first swim lesson to mean he could now do laps in the pool, and a few minutes later when the adults were sitting on the  sides of the pool Graham decided he'd go for a swim without parents or a floatie!  I saw him very quickly but that is the scariest thing ever!  He cried and then perked up and said, "At least I didn't get hurt!"  This child is insane!

A view from the balcony of Sandra and Phillip's room.  Their balcony was bigger than our hotel room!  

Caroline with the LEGO friend girl a the LEGO store. 

The kids in front of Buzz and Woody.

And now the Hulk.  All these were made of legos.  It was awesome.  

Graham trying to play a racing game.  He didn't win. :)

Devin playing a Star Wars racer game.  

And Shawn playing the same game.  Shawn and Devin had a ton of one on one time this trip.  It was one of the best things about going.  They had a great time hanging out together.  We had a great second day despite Graham trying to kill himself and us sitting on the wrong bus for half an hour.  I'd still do it again in a heartbeat!  Well I'd be ok if Graham didn't jump in the pool.

Disney Day 1

Ok everyone, are you ready to hear about the BEST vacation ever?  I almost cried when we left because we had so much fun, seriously people it was awesome.  I've decided to take it a day at a time so I can try and remember all the fun things we did.  And don't worry, not every moment was awesome I'll keep it real, but overall it was spectacular!

So Monday Shawn and I packed up our bags bought a huge amount of snack food at Costco and hung out.  Really it was so nice just having him home I knew the trip would be awesome.  While packing our bags we were looking for Graham's swim suit and asked him to help look for it. So he went around the house yelling, "Swim suitee, where are you?  Its Graham Rodney Funk."  Shawn asked him if he thought his swim suit would answer back and he said, "well he knows me, he just doesn't talk very much."  He's so weird and hilarious.   We then took the kids out from school school early and made them guess where we were going.  Caroline guessed and they were thrilled, but when I told them we could see all the Disney princesses Devin yelled, "Ah man!"  He did not care about that at all.  Anyways after a long drive down to Florida we crashed at a hotel for a little while and drive into the park on Tuesday.  We woke up in time to get to the park right when it opened because we were bound and determined to have as much fun as possible and fun started when the park opened!  Ok are you ready for a picture overload?

Here is Devin on the bus to the Magic Kingdom, he was getting very excited.

Shawn making sure the kids keep up with him.  He walks WAY faster than all of us, it was hard to keep up at times. 

Our first ride was Space Mountain and since I had never been I got to take the kids.  Graham was too small so he hung out with Shawn and went on a Buzz Lightyear ride.  Dumbo was the first ride all together.

Caroline rode next to me.

And Shawn took the boys.

We met up with Sandra and her family a few minutes later and played with them the rest of the day.  My kids LOVED being around cousins.  Caroline even said that she had as much fun with Maya as she does with Mabel.  Its a huge compliment in her book.  

All the cousins. 

Graham getting special treatment from Shawn.

On the Little Mermaid ride.

Shawn and Caroline hanging out in their clam shell.

Devin riding by me.

Meeting Ariel!  Caroline actually really enjoyed meeting the princesses. 

In front of Rapunzel's tower.

I know this is lame but we really took pictures at the same time.  And we were having so much fun I don't care its lame.

Waiting for Splash Mountain!

Waiting for Thunder Mountain.  This was my favorite ride, I think.  And everyone was tall enough to go on it!

Devin driving the cars.

Graham and Caroline were so tired by the end of the night.  Devin wanted to keep going so Shawn took him on another ride and I took these two to the bus stop. 

  That night we went to Mickey's Christmas party and when I saw the crowds I"m sure my blood pressure was rapidly rising by the second.  I had all three kids around by myself while we waited for Shawn to finish his presentation at the conference.  I would highly recommend not taking three kids by yourself during busy hours at the park, unless you want to cry.  Once Shawn met up with us we had a blast again, I just needed him to help keep me calm!  

Caroline resting on the bench while waiting for the bus.  It was a great first day and we were all wiped out by the end of it, but the exhaustion was well worth it!  The lines were short, and the weather was perfect, we were in heaven!