One HOT Disney

At the end of May, we (minus Trevor) headed down to Disney with John, Tracy & Baylie. Trevor being 9 months old we thought it was best to leave him with my parents - we were very thankful we did. We (Tracy & I) were pretty excited about this trip and we actually kept it a secret from Brody until the day before we left. Needless to say he was pretty excited when we told him where we were going. Both kids had been to Disney before but never with a friend so we were sure they would have a blast.

It seems when you go to Disney you really never have a chance to enjoy the hotel so we left early Sunday morning and checked into Animal Kingdom Lodge. None of us had ever stayed here and we thought it would be pretty cool for the kids to be able to look out from their balcony and see animals - and boy did they enjoy it - more on that later. Once we checked in (which our room wasn't ready yet) we changed and headed to the pool. The kids LOVED the slide and they must have gone down the slide about 30 times and what was even better is that they were able to go down it all by themselves and we just stayed in the pool and waited for them. We weren't sure how Brody was going to like it, but he amazed us. He and Baylie were even sneaky at times - there would be a line and before we knew it they would be coming down the slide. We realized that they used their size to their advantage and snuck right up to the front. We stopped that pretty quickly.

Inside Animal Kingdom Lodge.

The BIG pool

After a few hours in the pool, our room was ready. Of course the first thing to see was the balcony and see what animals we could see. There were actually a couple of giraffes along way off. Our rooms were right next to each other so Brody and Baylie could talk to each other all they wanted to - and boy did they ever. After resting a little we headed to Downtown Disney to TRex cafe. This is a great place for kids since it is so loud.

The giraffe out our balcony.

Best buds. At TRex Cafe

Monday was Magic Kingdom - we so weren't prepared for all of the people. Disney had been running a special for 4 days for $99 - a very good deal, but you had to use the tickets by Tuesday (the next day) so of course it seemed as if EVERYONE was there for their last day. The park was VERY crowded - but we were going to make the most of it.

The kids had a blast - we tried to do Fantasy Land first but I think everyone else was trying to do the same thing. I think one of their favorite rides was the race cars - Baylie and Brody were racing each other even though they couldn't see over the steering wheel.

Jason was the only adult who would ride the tea cups - the other 3 of us don't do twirls.

Tracy trying to get pictures.
No wonder the driving was so bad - he can barely see over the wheel.

They are in a heated race.

Thank goodness they fell asleep and we found a cool place to sit and rest while they slept for about an hour - and then we headed to use our fast passes for Space Mountain. The normal wait was about 70 minutes - the ride is good and all but not worth that wait time so fast pass it was.

2 tired little kids.

We then headed to see Mickey and Minnie because a trip is not complete unless you see them - thank goodness we only waited about 30 minutes. The kids were troopers through the entire wait. There was one time when Brody was getting a little anxious and shouted out "All these people are in my way" - priceless. It actually poured while we were waiting in line - INSIDE - great timing.

After our visit with Mickey & Minnie we decided to go ahead and leave - it was about 6:00. We then headed back to Downtown Disney and ate at Earl of Sandwhich. This place is great and very reasonable. We then went and had Girradelli ice cream - YUMMY!! While Tracy and I were waiting on our sundaes - the guys were at the center court watching our kids show off their dance moves down front. It was the cutest thing ever. Baylie was telling Brody that she was the princess and he was the prince and he was spinning her in their dance moves. We laughed so hard. They must have danced for about an hour or so. We really don't think of Brody as much of an outgoing person, but he actually led the way down front to start dancing - shocking. They had so much fun and were pretty exhausted but continued to entertain people on the bus. Who would have thought that it was about 10:00 and these kids had been at a park all day.

Showing off the twirl action. This is the guy who led the dancing. They really wanted a picture with him.

Of course when we got back to the room, the first Brody wanted to do was see if the animals were out. There were several zebras pretty close to our room which was cool. Thank goodness he fell asleep pretty quickly.

Tuesday morning we got up and actually went our separate ways from John & Tracy.

Baylie wasn't very happy that Brody was leaving.

Tuesday morning on our way out.

We wanted to go to the outlet mall and IKEA on the way home so we said our goodbyes and headed out. Let me just say that I could do some shopping damage at the outlet mall in Orlando - they had everything you could ever want there. I actually found my Mother's Day present (a little late). Jason couldn't find the right one before Mother's Day so he figured while we were in Savannah or while in Orlando we would find something - he was so right. We also hit Hartstrings - which can be damaging on my checkbook so I usually only shop when it is 70% off. They had some great deals and actually got matching outfits for the boys for Trevor's 1 year old pictures -I can't wait for them to wear them. Also, they had the cutest rowing "crew" shirts so of course they each got one. I actually rowed for a year in college so I love buying them rowing shirts whenever I see them.

Of course Brody had a blast on these 2 things. He usually doesn't care to actually "ride" it so we don't have to spend any $ but he really wanted to "ride" the car.

After about 2 hours around 1:30 or so we left for IKEA and Brody was so good with no nap. The purpose for IKEA was to find a sofa bed for our office. They have cool stuff online but we really wanted to see it in person. WOW - I never thought this store was so big. Brody had a blast in the sofa section - he took his shoes off and did just what the signs say - test out the couches. He had his cars and was rolling them all around. He actually had pillows for Bradyn, Baylie, and Trevor - it was so cute. We picked out our couch and 2 1/2 hours later of going through the entire store we went to the bottom and loaded the boxes on our cart. Jason measured the boxes and the back of our vehicle and it was going to be tight but we were determined to get it in there.



Taking a break from all the shopping.

Here's a picture of our sofa but ours in beige.

Well, I had to drive home since the seat was eating the steering wheel - just what I wanted to do. As soon as we got in the car, Brody passed out and slept for about 2 hours - he was pretty exhausted.

It was such a fun trip, but I think next time we'll try to plan it a little better so it isn't so hot and crowded.