"We're Going to Disney World!"

Hi All,

It's been a couple of months since my last post, so I will try to get you updated on what we have been doing. The end of February and the first part of March was spent getting ready for our big Spring Break Vacation! What this entails for me was spending about 5 days a week at the local YMCA working out. It was a good motivator to know that I was going to spend a week in sunny Orlando, FL. Many days of that being at the pool! This can be scary for many women, but I did my best. You'll also probably notice that you don't see me in any of the pool photos. I think my lovely husband knew I would not be too happy to be in them. Kaylee has been doing very well at school and actually got to miss over two weeks of school for this trip. Our week at the Orange Lake Condo (Craig's parents timeshare) came the week before Kaylee's school had Spring Break. Since she has been doing so well, we felt that she could afford to miss a week of school. Her teacher gave her some work and we did most of the work on the day before she went back to school! Isn't that so typical. We spent the weeks leading up to the trip trying to explain to the girls what it was going to be like while we were there, especially, what to expect at Disney World! They were both very excited.

We left home on Sunday, March 25th at 3:30am. This allowed Craig to drive (his favorite thing) and the girls (including me) to sleep. Morgan actually stayed awake for the first 45 minutes of the trip just looking around. Probably trying to figure out what was going on. The girls and I woke up around 7am and we drove for another couple of hours to get to Fernandina Beach, FL. We stopped at Shoney's and had a BIG Buffet Style Breakfast. We had planned our trip to stop in Fernandina Beach so that Craig could show us where he had worked as an intern in college and show us his old haunts. It was fun to see that piece of Craig. While we were there, we spent a little time at the beach and put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean. It is unbelievable for me to go to the beach and be able to put my feet in without freezing to death. In March, no less. Kaylee went in the water, but Morgan wanted nothing to do with the ocean or the sand. She finally held on to a couple of shells that I picked up for her. Well, enough goofing around, and back into the car we go. We spent the next several hours traveling the rest of the way to Orlando. All in all a pretty good road trip. We got to the condo and unloaded our stuff and went straight to the pool. The girls were a little slow getting used to it, but once they did, watch out! Kaylee learned how to put her head under, do some swim strokes and just have a great time in the water. She spent part of the time in a life vest and then part of the time just on her own. She even went down the lazy river a couple of times. We bought a floaty for Morgan to sit in which she loved. You didn't even need to stay near her, she was so happy to be in the water. She also liked a little game called "Ready, Set Go!". This consists of Morgan saying "Ready, Set, Go!" as quickly as possible and then you throwing her up in the air and letting her splash down in the water. She loved it and then would scream "Ready, Set, Go!" immediately after she came out of the water. This was quite an arm workout for us adults. I even got her to put her face in the water a couple of times. She really seems to be a natural with the water and I hope to get her in a pool often this summer. We were able to spend time at the pool almost every day of our vacation. We all loved it!

We spent two days doing the Disney World thing. On Tuesday, we were at The Magic Kindgdom as soon as it opened. The girls were very excited to see Cinderella's Castle. Our first stop was the Tea Cups (just for my brother, Paul). We tried to get Kaylee to go on them and she wasn't buying into it. Morgan was sitting in the stroller and she yells out "Me do it!". So we said ok and as soon as Morgan was ready to go, so was Kaylee. You can't let the little sister do more than you. Kaylee and I went on Dumbo and the Carousel. We all went to Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and visited Minnie's House. Craig, Kaylee and Holly waited in line for about an hour to get to see the Princesses. Once they got in the room, Kaylee was dissapointed because Sleeping Beauty was not there. She would only sit with and have her picture taken with Cinderella. So, Craig, being the good sport that he is had his picture taken with Belle. Morgan, Grammy and I waited in line about 45 minutes to see Minnie, Pluto and Goofy. Morgan could not stop talking about how she wanted to see Minnie and Goofy. Well, we get in the room, and of course, they are much bigger than she is expecting so she was a little shy. We did get our pictures with all of them. She was very interested in Minnie's shoes.

We spent the afternoon at Epcot and took the girls on the Finding Nemo ride which they both liked. We had been planning on spending the rest of the evening at the park, but Craig and I were worn out. We had a nice double stroller that we rented, but everytime we had to wait in line, we had to hold the girls and the backpack it was very hard. So we decided to come back on another day. We took the girls to MGM studios on Thursday. We got there early and walked by the Star Tours ride. Craig kept telling me that I should go because there was no line. I've never gone on a ride by myself, but he finally talked me into it. It was really fun, but then when you want to say something there is no one to talk to. We took the girls on the Backlot tour. That was really fun, but at one point you are in a scene from a movie with a tanker that catches fire, while you are feeling an earthquake and then a ton of water pours down over the tanker to put out the fire. It was a little intense and Morgan was not loving it. Thank goodness for "meme and papa" or in other words, blankie and pacifier. The girls got to go to the Playhouse Disney show and see lots of their favorite characters. We got to see a scene from High School Musical, lots of characters (including Lightning McQueen and Mater) and visit the Narnia set. We went back to the condo and took the girls to the pool and Craig and I got the night to ourselves and went back to Epcot Center. We got to ride some of the rides that girls could not do and spend some time alone. It ws great!

We had a wonderful trip. Hope you enjoy the pictures.