Our Trip to Disney

I am writing this mostly for my benefit, so that I can remember our trip. Please do not feel obligated to read this long blog.

We headed out to Florida on Friday, March 26th. We picked up lunch and went over to pick up the kids from school early. Then off to Florida we go. We figured, Teresa would eat her lunch and then within an hour she would be napping in the car. But, boy were we wrong. First, she was fighting sleep and then she had to poop and turned out she was constipated and was trying to poop for hours! You try pooping strapped into a carseat and see how easy it is. Turned out, she was up the first 6 hours of our drive! Despite everything, she was pretty happy during this time. We finally stopped to get something to eat at Cracker Barrel (seems there is one pretty much at every stop from here to Florida) and then off we went again. Only an hour more into our trip and Kayla now had to poop! Another stop for us for poop. Off again. Finally, Teresa falls asleep. No one is allowed to talk! But, of course, after about an hour she wakes up! We decide to start looking for someone place to stay to sleep. We got all the way to Charlotte, NC and stayed at a Residence Inn. Everyone slept all night.

Day 2 road trip to Florida. We eat breakfast and are off by 8am. Making good time. This time Teresa must have been exhausted and we caught her sleeping at 10am, but not for very long...maybe a half hour. When she wakes up, we look for a place to eat. We stop at Perkins in Savannah, GA. Once into Florida, we decide to stop at Aunt Gina's to let the kids run around. After that only 2 more hours to Orlando! The only traffic we hit on the way down was getting off our exit in Orlando.

We stayed at a Hilton Grand Vacation. We had a 2 bedroom condo type place. We had a full kitchen, washer/dryer, two balconies, living room, and the master bedroom had a jacuzzi tub and it's own private bathroom. We had Annie and Kayla sleeping in a bedroom, Dominic slept on the couch, and Teresa slept in the playpen in our bathroom. Yes, she slept in the bathroom. But, it was the best thing ever! It was so dark and big, that she slept 12-14 hours every night! I don't think she ever slept so good!

Grandma and Grandpa Kodek was with us in another room. They came on vacation with us to watch Teresa a little so we can go to Disney with the older ones. What a blessing it was to have them with us.

Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom. We saw a 3D Bug movie, that Annie was afraid off. Annie and I went on a Flying Elephant Ride. The kids played on a big playground. Then we went on a animal safari. That was really cool and we even had rhino's chasing our jeep! During the safari it started pouring! We stop and get some pancho's. Michael took Kayla and Dominic to see a dinosaur movie, while Annie and I had a snack. We all hoped it would stop raining, but alas, it did not. Back to the hotel we went.

Monday we did Hollywood Studios. And this was my favorite! We split up and did alot of different shows. Annie didn't like doing any of the scary shows. Between all of us, we saw nearly everything we wanted to. My favorite was the Little Mermaid Voyage. It was a mixture of life action and animation. They even had water falling onto the stage, like a waterfall, and then mist in the air with lasers that made it look like we were under water and waves above us. It was SO cool and Annie loved it! At the end of the night we saw Fantasmic, which was a laser, fireworks, water show that was amazing! A great show to end the day.

Tuesday, we took Teresa with us and headed to Magic Kingdom. It was so crowded and not easy to manuveur through the crowd with the stroller. We saw a couple shows and Teresa was so super good sitting through them. We saw the big parade at noon and at first Teresa was terrified of all the characters. She finally stopped crying, but sat so still it was funny. Dominic was so excited to see and slap hands with all his favorite characters, including Woody, which was his highlight. And Princess Belle blew Annie and Kayla a kiss that was the highlight for Annabel.

While at Magic Kingdom, we all (even Teresa) rode the Tea Cups and everyone loved it. Michael took Dominic and Kayla to ride the Haunted Mansion ride, while Annie, Teresa, and I stood in line to meet the princesses. We waited in line so long, that Kayla got to cut in before we got to see them. The big girls were in awe over the princesses and nearly speechless! While, Teresa was again terrified of them. They got to meet Cinderella, Princess Belle, and Princess Aurora. I am sure this was the highlight of the trip for the girls. Kayla even had them sign her hat, which will be a treasured item for life.

At the end of the day, we were walking out and decided to try and beat the crowd and miss the last parade of the day. As we were walking out, the parade started and like heaven opening up....a space opened up just big enough for us to see the parade. We were meant to sit there and watch it. It was an amazing parade full of lights and characters.

Wednesday, back to Magic Kingdom without Teresa. Now time for us big kids to ride some rides. Again, we nearly rode everything we wanted to. The fast pases are awesome when you have kids. We pretty much only rode rides with fast passes and walked right on. The kids even got to ride Space Mountain twice (well, not Annie). Since we saw the parades the day before, we decided we would go meet Mickey and Minnie while everyone else was watching the parades. With only a 20 minute wait we all got to meet them. Dominic was so excited to meet Mickey! This was our last day at Disney.

Thursday morning and afternoon we lounged around at the hotel and enjoyed the pool. Then off to Auntie Gina's we go.

We arrived at Aunt Gina's just in time for dinner. The kids went right into the pool and the adults got to eat in peace:) Then the kids ate. My kids were so happy to see Aunt Gina and her family. And I think they had more fun there than at Disney. Cousin Maria kept them all occupied with coloring, computer games, and video games. They thought it was so cool to hang out with big cousin Maria. Maria even babysit one evening so us adults could have a night out. WE went to dinner, movie, and played poker. During our stay we hit a couple playgrounds and a beach.

We stayed at Aunt Gina's until Easter. WE all went to church together and had lunch with Aunt Gina's family, and Uncle Franks brothers family. What a wonderful way to end our vacation.

Back on the road we go. We made it day one all the way to Charlotte, again. WE stayed at an Embassy Suites. But, not before sitting in traffic in Florida for an hour!

Monday morning we had breakfast and off again. This day was the worst day of driving ever! We got stuck twice in an hour a piece of traffic. Once in the Carolina's and once in West Virginia. It took us 10 hours to get home from Charlotte, when it should have been only an 8 hour drive. But, despite it all........the kids were amazingly good.

I was so proud of all my kids during this trip. They were so good and listened so well during this whole trip. I couldn't have pictured it going any better.