Day 4 - Animal Kingdom

Our final day at Disney. Wow, how time flies when you are having fun. Such a blanket statement, yet so, so true. Our original plan was to only do two of the parks, Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Then, as youth would have it, we heard through the grapevine about all of the delightful and exciting Star Wars offerings they had at Hollywood Studios. Upon hearing of this, we made the decision to go forward with yet another day of Disney. And then as Disney would have it, why not do the fourth park for a steal.....$20 or $5 per ticket. Why not, right? Right. So off we went to Animal Kingdom and we all agree it was more than worth the $20. I would have to say that MK probably enjoyed it the most. She was in total awe of the animals and pointing out to us which ones had a mommy with them and asking us where their daddies were and looking for the baby animals, total and complete awe. She loved it. To flip over into the boys world, they, too enjoyed this park. First on their personal agenda was Mt. Everest. Being that we had watched the "must do" Disney channel every morning for 3 mornings straight, we knew the ad by heart for Mt. Everest, including the part where there is no track. Yep, that is right, no track....at that point the coaster makes a new spin and its passengers are traveling backwards through twists and turns at an extremely high rate of speed. Crazy. Mommy rode first with the boys. One must laugh as I board these rides with my children. I sit having Pryce lock arms with me as if that is going to keep him in his seat as we spin around. Then, with the coaster in motion, I strain every possible muscle in my neck as I try desperately to look behind me to make sure Colin is still on board. Going back to our day at Magic Kingdom. A vivid memory that I will forever have in my mind is a snapshot that the Disney photographers captured of me, Colin and Pryce riding Space Mountain. To my regret, we did not purchase it. It was the perfect shot, describing our personalities without words to a tee.....me, my mouth with a huge smile, laughing as we are plummeting through space on this coaster; Colin with this total look of fear smeared across every bit of his face; and Pryce with the most relaxed expression on his face, arms gently crossed as well as his feet, simply taking it all in.....so perfect. Ryan rode Everest next with the boys while the girls waited and tried to get a good snapshot of the mountain plunge. See if you can find the three of them....hint, they are towards the back.

A fantastic day. Following our time at Animal Kingdom, we loaded into the van and took a quick tour of our old neighborhood, drove by our old house and had dinner with some friends who still live in Florida. It was a whirlwind of a trip, we all had a blast and we can't wait to go back.

Day 3 - Epcot

Since day one of our trip, the children had been watching the Disney vacation television station in our hotel room. It is the station that shares with its viewers about the "must see" attractions for each park. They loved it and insisted we watch the same advertisement every morning for every park. Then, we would have to do exactly what the station suggested. So for Epcot, it was a ride called Soarin'. I must say that I was nervous. Soarin' is a simulated hang gliding experience. We got in line and the announcer kept saying, "If you are afraid of heights or fearful of flying, this may not be the attraction for you." Ugh, I am not afraid of heights but the flying part is a different story. I do not like flying. However, after a mere 5 minute wait, we boarded our glider and off we went over the California coast. The wind even blew. Very cool. It was a favorite as was Test Track and Turtle Talk. It was during our Epcot day that it decided to rain a bit. Not bad but enough to sway us from taking a lot of pictures and enough to cost us a few dollars on a Mickey Mouse rain poncho for the stroller. We dined in Mexico and the children thoroughly enjoyed attempting to order their food in Spanish. They also took turns shouting at the passersby, "Buenas dias, good day!" China was a must do as well. Though Epcot is a slower paced park, there is so much to enjoy and I am always surprised at how much my children love it.

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Thursday morning we were off to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is my personal favorite and I believe the children would say the same. There is something for everyone. First stop, Space Mountain! Oh my word that coaster gets me every time. Two spins later and we were off to the races. We honestly did it all and we were all exhausted come bedtime. It was on this day that I looked at Ryan and said, "We have become one of THOSE families." Meaning, when we lived in Florida, we would visit Disney for a few hours here and a few hours there, no stress, no worries, we could always come back next weekend. Now that we live 6 + hours away, we MUST see it all in a day which leads to some sketchy planning on our parts, little naps, falling asleep on a bus and screams of fear due to a precious little bunny rabbit. Let me share....we left our hotel at 8:45 am and we returned at 9:15 pm. That is a long day for anyone. We were all weary. We were walking in the hotel complex back to our room. MK openly said she wanted to walk so Pryce asked if he could ride in the stroller. Sure, fine. He gets in and MK gets furious, that is a girl thing I suppose - she didn't want the stroller yet she didn't want anyone else to have it either. So she began to cry or whine really. We notice a crowd standing along the sidewalk peering over into the grass taking pictures. Out of curiosity, we stepped over to take a look ourselves. There, in the middle of the plush green grass sat a tiny little bunny rabbit. With MK still softly crying, the rest of us ooooh and ahhhhed and then continued to walk. All of a sudden, MK's soft cries turned to high pitched wails with her eyes wide as saucers, no blinking. I could tell she was no longer just mad about the stroller, she was spooked. Problem was she couldn't calm down long enough to tell us what her fear was. She just screamed. Poor thing. When we finally got into our room, I held MK tightly and rocked her for a moment. She settled down and we asked her what she was so upset over. Her sweet little voice responded, "It's not my fault, I scared of dat bunny rabbit." So, though I worried how MK would do with all of the wonders of Disney, I never once thought a tiny little innocent bunny rabbit would be the culprit of MK's fears.

Disney Day 1 - Hollywood Studios

Six and a half hours later, we descended upon my Great Aunt Margaret's house in Florida. Aunt Margaret is one of two people (my grandmother, Aunt Margaret's sister, being the other) that I know of that can make the best biscuits ever. Upon arrival, we quickly inhaled biscuits and chatted for awhile until time for bed. Staying at Aunt Margaret's is a must-do during any Florida vacation. I did it as a child numerous times and have very fond memories.

After a good night's rest, we said our goodbyes and we were off. Next stop, Hollywood Studios. There were two "must see" attractions for our boys, the others were bonuses. One "must do" was Star Wars Jedi Training. The training allows each child that is selected to battle Darth Vader, very cool especially to my two boys.

There were lots of loud noises, some that were not so appealing to little three year old girls. MK assumed a position that we would see throughout our Disney vacation when things got too loud.

After battling Darth Vader and receiving their Jedi Training Certification, the boys, all three of them, headed over to the next "must do" attraction, Rockin Roller Coaster. This coaster is like no other. It is based on Aerosmith and the ride begins by going from 0mph to 60+ in a matter of seconds. We were told it is the equivalent of a fighter jet taking off from an air craft carrier....LOTS of force, your stomach gets left behind AND it has a corkscrew + two or three loops, crazy. My little Pryce, in all of his 7 years of age, bravely boarded the ride ALL.BY.HIMSELF. Colin, though he was determined to ride it and put all fear aside, was not about to board the ride without the safety of his father right beside him. They LOVED the ride. MK and I hung out together while the boys did their boy things. We ventured into Disney Playhouse to do a little dancing with some Disney pals, we took in a Little Mermaid show, we shopped, we snacked, just the girls and we were cool with that. The day came to an end, as all days do, and we ventured over to Downtown Disney for dinner at RainForest Cafe. During our California vacation, we dined at RFC only to have MK not eat a thing due to her fear of the live looking elephants that adorned the dining area. Our Orlando RFC visit went much, much better. MK still refused to actually sit in her own chair but so long as she was held in the security of her mommy's arms, she was all good. She ate. She talked to the couple next to us. I would not go so far as to say that she enjoyed her RFC evening but I would definitely say there was improvement. Following dinner, we headed over to Lego World and then it was back to the hotel for a good night's rest. Phew, we were tired.

The Drive

Our family embarked on a Disney journey last Tuesday, February 2. As we approached the town of DeLand, Florida, I couldn't help but go down memory lane. I will take you there as well....Ryan and I married in 1998. We lived in Charlottle, NC for the first six months of our marriage knowing that we would be relocated. We lived in NC long enough to figure out that we could live away from our families, marriage was not THAT bad and that we could parent a puppy. Six months flew by and we were notified that we would be relocated to Turlock, California. Out of all of the possibilities, we were being sent to a plant that was far, far away from what we had ever known. We went. Three weeks later we returned, one of us had a job, one of us was unemployed and we had only been married six months, this would be our first growing experience together. We stayed in California long enough for me to wreck into a non-English speaking resident, visit the hot spots of northern California and long enough for us to realize as a couple that this move was not for us. Back to NC we went. A month and a half later, Ryan was offered an opportunity in Augusta, Ga. Perfect. We settled in nicely after living our first two months there on an air mattress in a two bedroom townhouse. We lived there long enough to purchase our first home, establish a great group of forever friends, find a church home and have our first child, a son, Colin. So, just to keep you up to speed, NC brought us the dog, GA brought us a son. Two and a half years flew by and on Colin's very first birthday, we left our home in GA to establish residency in a town just outside of Boston, MA. We lived there long enough to enjoy many jaunts to Boston, learn a new way of driving as well as a new vocab, experience the wonders of snow and to have our second child, a son, Pryce. Though living up north was a great experience, we longed to be closer to home. When Pryce was a mere six weeks old, we moved to DeBary, Florida. Ryan was working for a company that didn't hesitate to promote fast and furiously. The company saw his potential and strived to move him up the ladder. Up the ladder we went. Florida was an experience. Many positives - Disney, the beach, six hour drive to SC family. It was there, in Florida, that the seed to adopt from China was first planted. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. A friend just casually shared with me that she had attended a meeting for prospective adoptive parents for children from China. As we approached Orlando, I couldn't help but think of that conversation. We used to joke that we had a "souvenir" from each state we had lived in....a NC dog, a GA boy and a MA "northern" boy. It was during our drive on Tuesday evening that I realized we also had our souvenir from Florida. Florida was the very beginning of our journey to MK!