Disney World!

On Sunday after the wedding we headed over to DisneyWorld!  We were all excited -- even though I had been there I knew there wouldn't be anything like watching in through the eyes of a 3 & 5 year old -- and I was not disappointed!

We went Magic Kingdom on Monday, Animal Kingdom on Tuesday and back to Magic Kingdom on Wednesday.  For us, it was the perfect schedule and just the right amount of time.  I think any additional days would have been too much considering we had been in Tampa for the wedding 4 days prior.  We stayed at a resort which was within walking distance to MK which I would highly recommend, especially for the stage we are in.  We didn't spend time on the buses going back and forth during the day when we needed to head back to the hotel for a break/rest.  We went swimming every afternoon and there was a day or two where all the kids wanted to do was swim so we had to convince them that swimming was fun but we can swim in MN but we can't see Mickey, Anna, ride Dumbo in MN!  Most of our time was spent meeting characters.  Madelyn's favorite was Tinkerbell and Jack's favorite was Mickey!  Madelyn's favorite ride was It's a Small World, which also happens to be Nana's favorite :)  Jack loved the Dumbo ride.  We were so impressed with how well the kids did.  They napped in the stroller when they got tired otherwise they just took it all in.  We stayed for the parade on Monday night.  It was fun to see but we weren't in the front row so it was harder to see. We had hoped to stay for the fireworks but the kids were absolutely exhausted.  Thankfully we were able to see the fireworks from the balcony when we got back to our room.  

Animal Kingdom was fun and we all enjoyed the safari ride.  It is a smaller park so we only stayed for 1/2 a day and then spent the rest of the day swimming and hanging out at the hotel.

The last day we spent at Magic Kingdom.....celebrating Madelyn's birthday!  A day I will never forget and I hope Madelyn can have some recollection of her 5th birthday at Disney when she is older!  So special!  We were also able to see Woody & Jessie from Toy Story.  Jack's face lit up when we saw them -- he was such a trooper visiting all the princesses (which he honestly loved!) but it was fun to see someone else and you could just tell that made Jack's day.  As we were getting to the end of the day, I told the kids this was our last day at Disney and we would be flying on the airplane in the morning and coming home.  Madelyn said to me "I'm ready to go home" and Jack looked at me with alligator tears running down his face and said "I want to stay and live with Mickey".  Needless to say, he enjoyed every minute.....we all did!  Our first family vacation was a huge success and we are excited to see where our next one takes us!

Rafiki was too much for Jack, which is why it's mommy & Madelyn in the picture withy mommy closest to Rafiki!  Mrs. Bunny was one of the kids' favorite characters as well.  She as soft and fuzzy, according to the kids :)

We ate at a BBQ place -so yummy!- the night before Madelyn's birthday but they treated her like it was her actual birthday.  She got a cupcake and the entire restaurant sang happy birthday to her!

 While Jack was napping, we each got to spend some one on one time with our birthday girl!