I don't even know where to start!! The DISNEY trip was absolutely wonderful. So so fun. So so special. But, NOT NEAR long enough!! The surprise was pulled off without a hitch!! Shawn and I stayed up late on Friday night (despite Braxton's repeated entertainment sessions by coming out of his bedroom after bedtime!) and got the car all packed up. We woke up early on Saturday morning to get showered and dressed and get our bags packed up without the kids knowing about it. We had made Braxton a haircut appt. just to give a reason for Shawn to take Reilly and Braxton out so I could get the last things in the car and be fully ready for the "reveal" once they got back! After they got home, around 9:00am, we sat them down on the couch and just asked them what they wanted to do for the day. Reilly said she wanted to build a new train track on the train table and Braxton said he wanted to build a fire with Daddy!! About that time, I started playing a song from my iphone that they both know is connected with Disney world (it's the song I have playing on the video I made from our last trip!). They both looked at me confused, knowing what the song was! Shawn and I looked at each other and just yelled, "WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!" They didn't know what to do! Reilly immediately got excited and Braxton started shouting "I see Buzz Light-cheer!" SO so so FUN!!! Reilly didn't quite know that we were really going...like RIGHT THEN! After calling DeeDee and Poppi to tell them the news, we all piled in the car and were OFF!
The trip to Jacksonville was awesome. Reilly and Braxton really are great travelers, and for that we are so grateful!! Layton did pretty well, although he had about an hour of fussiness and crying. We got to Jacksonville about 4:00 and went straight to the pool for some swimming!!
Sunday morning, we pounded down the awesome Embassy Suites buffet breakfast and jumped back in the car to continue our trek to Disney! It only took us about 2.5 hours to get to Disney from there. We pulled in right around 1:00 and luckily, they were able to get us right in a room!! As we were unloading the car in front of the Wilderness Lodge, the Magical Express transportation that Mom and Dad took from the airport was pulling up!! PERFECT timing! Mom and Dad came around the corner and surprised the kids. They went crazy!! It was awesome. We did some exploring around the resort, which was amazing! IT was chilly and pretty cloudy on Sunday, so we couldn't go swimming. We had to pick up our tickets for the parks at Will Call so since we had some time before dinner, Shawn and I took Reilly and Braxton and went on a little adventure! We took the boat over to Magic Kingdom and got our tickets, and then took the monorail to the Contemporary Resort and then caught the boat from there back to our Lodge! So fun!! Dinner was at the Whispering Canyon and it was really yummy! It was a loud and fun place and since Reilly and Braxton had birthday buttons on, they were surprised with cupcakes and singing!
We got up early on Monday morning so we could get to Magic Kingdom in time for the ribbon cutting ceremony! The one regret I have from the whole trip was not having a video camera on Braxton when he first saw the characters. During the ceremony, the train came pulling in with Mickey and several other characters on it. Braxton was up on Poppi's shoulders and just began bouncing up and down, screaming "HEY MICKEY!!!!!" It was absolutely priceless!! I had a pretty good touring plan laid out for us and thankfully, it proved to be a perfect plan for allowing us to see all we wanted to/needed to at Magic Kingdom! A couple highlights....Braxton seeing Buzz Lightyear and showing him his little Buzz toy. Seeing Reilly's "awe" when she met the princesses (she just recently watched Beauty and the Beast for the first time, and since this is her first real movie, she is all about Belle!). After we left the princesses meet and greet, I pulled Reilly over and told her that while we were in there, Cinderella invited us to come have lunch with her at the Castle!!!!! (I needed a creative way to tell her we were going there, so I came up with this plan!! and it was perfect!) She was beyond exited. I then told her that we had to go change because she had to have a fancy dress to eat lunch in the castle! I surprised her again with a Cinderella dress (from consignment sale! hello!), fancy shoes, and a tiara for her hair. We ran into the bathroom and got all dolled up and off we went for our reservation! The castle was awesome. We first got to go and have a formal picture taken with Cinderella and we even got a print package as part of our lunch reservation! Once we got upstairs in the dining room, we were treated like royalty! The girls all received wands and the boys got swords. Our lunch was super fancy and really yummy! One at a time, we were greeted at our table by Belle, Ariel, Aurora, and Snow White. Another highlight for me was watching Reilly and Braxton on the Magic Carpets ride. They asked if they could ride together, so we decided to sit in front of them so I could take pictures, obviously! Their faces and excitement was absolutely priceless. On such a basic ride. Awesome. The best part of the whole day was by far the blessing of the weather! There was 70% chances of scattered storms ALL.DAY.Long and not a single drop of rain fell on us until AFTER we left the park to head back to the resort! And one other huge blessing....LAYTON!! He was so great. I was worried about how he'd do b/c I literally had NO time planned for him to take naps at the resort! He was as happy as he could be. When he got tired, he just fell asleep on whoever's shoulder that was holding him and I would lay him the stroller for a short nap! He even went on all the rides except a few! So precious. What a blessing that was, for sure!! Thank you, God!
Tuesday morning we started off at one of our favorite places...Chef Mickeys!! Such great food and always so fun to have some one-on-one time with the main 5...Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto! We went to Hollywood Studios and saw the kids favorite friends...the Little Einsteins and Handy Manny! We also saw the wonderful, Broadway like show of Beauty and the Beast. It was super hot and gorgeous so we headed back to the resort around 2:00 and hit the pool!! Mom and Dad offered to keep Layton at the resort and allow us to take Reilly and Braxton back to Magic Kingdom for some special time. Reilly and I rode Space Mountain while Shawn and Braxton rode Buzz Lightyear over and over!! The best part was eating dinner on a patio right under the castle...lit up in the night sky! It was awesome. We got to ride the Astro Orbitor and watch the fireworks from way up high! We took our time leaving the park, had some cotton candy and browsed in some stores to find Reilly some fancy Mickey ears with a bow :)
Wednesday morning was super sad pulling away, but we were on the road by 9:00 and headed straight to Chick-Fil-A for some chicken biscuits and SWEET TEA!!! Holla! The drive back was looonnng, but again, Reilly and Braxton did great! It was me that was a bit antsy and Layton was exhausted. Of course, before we even got out of Disney World, we already were faced with the question..."When can we come back?!!!!"....and it was coming from Shawn and I!! Hopefully not too long before our next trip :)
