Disney... Day 4!!

Drew at the fountains... love this pic :)


Matt and the kids on some big dinosaur.




The girls with Chip.. or Dale... not sure which




Drew with his little girlfriend. :)


Today is Animal Kingdom. This is the park I am least looking forward to. I HATE the zoo... and I'm a bit worried this is just a glorified zoo. =P

Our plan is once again waking up early and getting there when the park opens. Everyone wakes up pretty well and we have our room service breakfast... donuts again. lol This time we added a little juice because I'm starting to feel guilty at all the crap I've let these kids eat. =P

Hop on the bus... no problems this morning. And arrive at the park. I tell Matt that I have a "secret" entrance into the park that not too many people know about. This will allow us to be ahead of all the crowds. There's a Rainforest Cafe that opens right into Animal Kingdom. He of course is skeptical that we won't be able to get through that way but since all my other plans have worked out so well he's willing to try it. We get there and there's only a couple other families there. Start talking to them and discover they were subscribers to the same VIP site I was. And here Matt thought I was the only nut who did this. lol This one lady's husband admired my little notecards and turned around and told his wife she needed to do it my way. Apparently they had been carrying around this HUGE binder of info all week... which he looked none too thrilled about. haha Anyways... so they open the doors about 15 minutes before the rest of the park can get in and we walk right in. Then we had to go stand where they have the actual rope drop... where you can go further into the park. Since we went through that secret entrance we were at the very front...awesome! Matt and Hannah are going to be riding Expedition Everest and Brooke, Drew and I will go get fastpasses for the Safari. Now this park is HUGE and the amount of walking you have to do is unreal! Add to it the fact that it's 400 degrees hotter than the other parks because of all the plants and trees that they have for all the animals! Ropde drops and once again we are stuck in the middle of a herd of cattle. AND we have to go uphill the whole way to get there! And this is when Brooke falls apart... I sooo knew it was coming! lol She tells me she can't walk anymore.. it's too hot... she's too tired... take Drew out of the stroller so I can sit... or push us both... are you freaking kidding me! It's all I can do to push Drew and Hugo... let alone add her to the mix! So I start making all kinds of bribes... I'll buy you ice cream... a toy... hell I'll pay you just to get where we need to go. But she's NOT having it! And here we are... stuck in the middle of a thousand people who are all trying to get to the same place. =P Ahhh. this is such a relaxing vacation. lol

We finally get the fastpasses and then have to walk ALL the way over to the other side of the park to get back to Matt and Hannah. Matt calls me and tells me to hurry so I can ride the roller coaster right away too. Um yea...not happening! As much as I love roller coasters.... there is no way in hell I'm hauling ass yet again in this ungodly heat! And Brooke is finally settled down again and god knows we don't want to repeat that little scene! So we took our time and stopped to smell the roses... or was it elephant shit? lol We see a few different kinds of birds along the way and of course Brooke asks me what they are. Um..not a clue! Then this cast member hears her and stops to tell Brooke all about the birds. OMG... I should've just told her they were vulchers and been done with that. But nooo... we have to listen to this lady go on and on about what they are, how long they live, where they're from... did I tell you I hate the zoo! =P Seriously... my idea of hell is having to work at the zoo! We finally break free of this woman... thank you Drew... he no longer wanted to hear this lady talk. lol

We all meet up in Dinoland and ride a few rides. Drew can only ride a few things here so he wants to ride this ride that goes round and round 15 times! Since there's no wait they let us ride as many times as we want. Now normally spinning rides never bother me... but at this point I'm about to hurl. =P We then go play at the boneyard... which is basically a glorified playground that's about 150 degrees! We've already gone through $10 in water and it's only 9:30!

We head back across the park to ride the Safari. This is really cool... if you're into animals. It's basically like an African Safari... and I promptly tell the kids this is the closest they will ever get to Africa! No way in hell will you ever find me paying that kind of money to chase a bunch of zebras. =P On our little safari we see elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, ostrichs, crocodiles,flamingos, tigers, wildabeast...can't remember what else. This is definitely my way of touring a zoo. Sit in a little jeep for 20 minutes and see it all! lol

We then see the Lion King show... best show ever! It's a long show and Drew was just mesmerized the whole time! Hannah got pulled up to be a part of the show for a few minutes... the rest of the kids were all really young so she was so embarrassed... she's definitely a teenager. =P

We ate a quick lunch ... pizza which wasn't terrible but definitely not my favorite. And then headed over to the water ride.. Kali River Rapids. Drew just misses the height requirement so I go to find us a shady spot to wait in and Drew enounters a fountain along the way... and in he goes! It took them about 20 minutes to ride and in that 20 minutes Drew had a blast! He decided his clothes were weighing him down since they were soaked so he took them off... right there... underwear and all ! People were cracking up... and I'll admit so was I. :) He didn't quite understand why he had to put atleast his shorts back on. lol

After that we did a few more rides and then decided if we didn't all want to have heat stroke we needed to get the hell out of there! And since I didn't get to ride the water ride... or run through a fountain naked ;)... I was complaining about how hot I was. So Matt decided to cool me off and dump an entire water bottle on me! OMG... do you have any idea how long it will take this padded bra to dry! lol

I've decided that I definitely like Animal Kingdom more than the zoo.. but it's not my favorite park by any means. Maybe if they could air condition it and add a few more coasters I would enjoy it more. lol

We head back to the resort, shower and change and decide to head offsite for dinner. The kids choose Golden Corral. Can't be too bad right? Wrong! Obviously Florida doesn't have health codes... because this place is sick! Flies everywhere... I kid you not! Food clearly isn't cooked properly and the ice cream is green! So we paid $65 for dinner that no one ate. Thank god they have those Rice Krispy treats back at the resort. lol

Since we don't have to get up early tomorrow... not doing any parks... we decide to let the kids stay up late and swim. Drew and I seek out to find the fountains because he seems to really love playing in them. We get there and immediately this little girl befriends him. Drew of course is showing off for her.. typical boy. lol She follows him all over the place and Drew's loving every minute of it. Another little girl comes up and wants to play with Drew too... but the first little girl tells her she can't play because " he's mine!". Fabulous... he's 3 year old and already taken. lol We then head back over to the pool after hid "girlfriend" leaves and he gets in with the girls. All 3 of them play for over an hour... passing a beach ball back and forth, diving for toys, catching Drew as he jumps in, etc. Matt and I sit on the side and relish in the fact that for the first time ever the 3 of them are getting along AND enjoying it! lol We didn't go back to the room until after 11pm! Showered.. which this whole business of 5 people and 1 shower si geting to be annoying lol .. and then hit the food court for a snack... aka dinner. lol

Tomorrow we have to switch resorts... I just can't wait to clean up all this mess! =P And we're hitting Downtown Disney for some serious shopping! Matt is already dreading the shopping....

Disney.... Day 3!

The kids in front of the Nemo ride




Room is already trashed and we've only been there 2 nights! I refuse to clean it since I'm on vacation too! I just continue to top the maid really well. LOL


Didn't realize how many people were actually reading this until I started getting emails asking me when I was going to write another post..... glad my family has given you a little cheap entertainment. haha

Okay.. so day 3! Epcot! Matt has really been looking forward to going to this park!

We start the morning off at about 6:30 again... except this time the kids aren't getting up quite so willingly. A few little threats of ice cold water on them took care of that problem though. ;) Matt decided we would eat a quick breakfast in the room today as opposed to eating at the bus stop. Today's menu.... Entemann's donut holes and Coke. A nice jolt of sugar will help anyone get going. lol

We made our way to the bus stop just as the bus is getting ready to pull away. We don't want to have to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus to we haul ass! Now if we just had to worry about getting ourselves on the bus then this wouldn't be too hard. But remember .... I have that big ass stroller ( I think we'll name it Hugo), a big bag full of crap, water bottles, etc. Everything has to be taken out of the stroller in order for Matt to fold it up. And once again... the girls have Gumby arms... why does this keep happening?! So I've got Drew in 1 arm and mountains of shit in the other. Matt's trying to haul Hugo up the steps and the girls... well since we're in Disney I'll just call them little princesses. =P We make it on the bus though.. and off we go! I'm really enjoying this letting someone else chauffer us... even if I am standing, holding a 35 pound kid!

We arrive and once again I see that people must just camp out the night before to be at the very front. Not too worried though because yesterday we made it through just fine. Matt and I go over our plan for rope drop.. he heads to Soarin to get fastpasses and I trek it to Nemo with the kids. No problem! Matt shimmies his way to the front again and I'm getting more and more squished! Drew decides he doesn't want to sit in the stroller... uh sorry kiddo... they're are thousands of people practically standing on top of us and I'm by myself! The girls are starting to get a bit nervous with not being able to move. I reassure them that this will be just like yesterday and when they drop the rope... the crowd will spread out and we'll have plenty of room. Rope drops... Matt's gone... and why the hell aren't these %*#&@ people moving out of my way! I clearly see it's time for me to take matters into my own hands. To hell with being nice! I quickly learned the art of ramming my stroller into the back of people's heels! For some reason.. it makes them move every time! lol Unfortunately the asses behind us are doing the same thing. =P And don't even get me started on everyone riding those damn electric scooters. Brooke's screaming at me to let this lady on a scooter go ahead of me... over my dead body! That woman has run over my foot 5 times in the last 2 minutes... no way in hell is she going to get to Nemo before I am! haha We finally make it to Nemo without any major bruises... unless you count the people's ankles in front of our stroller. lol

Drew goes nuts the second we get to Nemo! This is one of his favorite characters! I let him climb on the fish statues outside the ride.. which I'm sure you aren't supposed to do. =P But it turns out... I could've taken a little more time getting there. haha The soarin fastpass machine is pretty far into the park.. and although Matt was the first one there.. again!... it took him a little while to get all the way back to us. We all ride Nemo ( very cute!) and then see Turtle Talk with Crush.. cool show but way over Drew's head. We then make it over to see Figment and Honey i shrunk the audience... both over Drew's head as well. We take our turns riding Soarin... and Drew has officially decided he hates Epcot! The only thing he's liked so far ( and understood) is Nemo. And he's going ot let us know how unhappy he is with being "stuck" at Epcot. Let the tantrums begin. lol Over the next 2 hours we continue to ride things that he doesn't understand and continue to take turns riding things he isn't big enough for...thus him having to wait an awfully long time for both matt and I to take a turn. We eat lunch... my god is all the food the same in Disney =P And then try to fit in one more ride before we leave for break. This one wasn't on my little notecard to ride at this time... and we now know why! This was the longest we waited the entire trip! Half the line is in the blazing sun... which is so unlike Disney... they usually do a very good job of keeping you in the shade or a/c. Drew is DONE! DONE! DONE! at this point! He proceeds to spend the next 1/2 hour letting everyone in line know that he is DONE! Yes folks... we were THAT family... you know the ones with the crying screaming kid that just can't be controlled, consoled, whatever. =P We enjoyed a full 1/2 hour of evil stares. People thinking to themself that if this was their child they would spank them, or leave, or whatever. I was more than willing to let some of these "perfect" parents try their luck with him... but for some reason no one volunteered. lol We finally make it on the ride.. Matt looks at me and says "we'll stick with the plan". haha

We leave after that and make our way back to the resort for a much needed swim and rest! After swimming for a bit Matt and I decide that since Drew despises Epcot so much..he would head back with the girls and I would stay with Drew for a while to hopefully get a nap in... yea right. lol He takes Hugo with him so I don't have to try and hold Drew and that big old thing at the same time! nice thing about Disney is you can leave stuff sitting around for hours and no one bothers it! Kings Island that crap would be gone in no time! =P I swim with Drew for quite a while and he has so much fun just tossing a beach ball back and forth. I can't believe this is the same child that grew devil horns just a few hours ago. =P I tried to get him to nap but he was more interested in seeing how high he could jump on the beds. lol So we hit the food court on the way to the bus... just needed a little sugar rush ;) and then picked up the bus.

The whole bus ride Drew is talking to a lady about how he was at his new house at Disney World and how he was going to Epcot... you know the park with the big golf ball. lol He was so excited to go back to Epcot! Awesome... he's in a great mood and it's already 6pm so surely we'll all make it to the fireworks tonight. :) Meet up with Matt and hit the world showcase. This is the ONLY way you will ever find me traveling to other countries. lol I quite enjoy being in Mexico, then Norway, then France...etc. all within 5 minutes of each other. I've never had a single desire to backpack through Europe... but I have no problem walking through it in 10 minutes. haha I quickly see though that once again there is NOTHING for Drew to do here. Which means he isn't going to last too long. I see that there's a show of Chinese acrobats on in a few minutes and I was hoping he would enjoy that. It was a very cute show... if we didn't have to stand there with kids on our shoulders. =P It was packed and standing room only. Matt is hot, tired and beyond done by the time we walk out of there. Drew's also starting to get antsy. I suggest we find something to eat as it's getting pretty late and we haven't had dinner. We walk into a couple more countries and there isn't a thing that the kids and I will even think of eating... thus the reason I will really never go to Europe. lol Matt announces he's going back to the resort with whoever wants to go. Damn... there goes my plan of fireworks for all of us again. lol Hannah jumps at the opportunity to go back and Drew going back was a given. Brooke decides that she would love the chance at having another evening with just me so she decides to stay. Good! I was getting worried that they would all abandon me and I would be forced to go back too. lol

After they take off Brooke and I set out to find something to eat. Here we are in Epcot... which is known for it's unbelieveable restaurants with food from all over the world. And what do we eat... Brooke a soft pretzel... me a funnel cake! lol We find the perfect spot to watch Illuminations.. their night time show. We sit down, eat our dinner ( if you can call it that lol) and talk about the day. I am loving having this one on one time with her. She is so taken with all the magic at Disney and is just enjoying every single minute of it!

We enjoy the show... which is awesome by the way... and then make our way back to the bus. Thinking it would be similar to last night's crowds I figure we'll be back to our resort within 1/2 hour or so. Wrong! We get to the bus stop and it's beyond packed! Even with numerous busses coming for our resort it's taking forever! Then we get to the very front of the line and they cut us off! We just missed being able to ride the bus in front of us! Damn! We had to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus to come. We start chatting with people around us and meet a family with 4 boys and 1 girl all under 8! Oh. My. Hell! Either these people are saints to have the patience to tour the parks with that many little kids.. or they're nuts. lol Turns out mom was insistent that this wouldn't be hard at all and would be nothing but fun. Dad didn't look like he was having too much fun dealing with the 4 older kids and the 2 double strollers while mom held the baby most the time. =P I helped him get one of the strollers on the bus and help him with the kids as well. He thanked me and said he just couldn't wait to get up tomorrow and do this all over again. haha

We get to the resort and I glance at my watch and realize it took us over 1 1/2 hours to get back to the resort! Shit! It's after 11pm and we'll need to get up early again tomorrow to get to Animal Kingdom when it opens. I'll be fine.. but Brooke needs her sleep... or else we ALL pay! We'll see how it goes.....

Disney.... Day 2!

The kids and I in front of the castle... poor Matt is too busy running all over the parks.



Drew got the biggest kick out of this little guy with one eye :)



Brooke and I on our way out of Magic Kingdom


Today is the day.... our VERY first day at the Disney parks... and we've chosen Magic Kingdom. You just can't start a Disney trip in any other park but the original. I can't wait for the kids to see that castle!

Now me being the major Type A personality that I am.... I planned this trip down to the last minute! Matt has watched me plan this trip for about 8 months now. From reading books the size of the yellow pages, to scanning message boards, to actually paying for a subscription to a site that gives you the touring plans that the VIP tour guides do. I had little index cards for each day. Starting from the time we needed to arrive at the park, what we would ride first, where we would eat, when you were allowed to pee, etc. lol These touring plans are supposed to help you stay ahead of the crowds. Not going to be an easy feat considering we're going at the 2nd busiest time of the year!! Matt was VERY skeptical of these plans and basically thought I had lost it. haha

The key to these plans is to get there at rope drop ( park opening). Park opens at 9am... so this shouldn't be hard to accomplish right? HA! I wake everyone up by 6:30 to be out of our room by 7:15am. Why are we leaving so early you ask? Because it takes forever to get to the parks when you have to wait for a bus, monorail, ferry, etc. I also want to make sure we are towards the front of the crowds going in. The kids get up pretty well since we got them to bed at a decent time the night before. Drew has successfully peed a good 2 gallons all over the bed... which remember he's sharing with Matt.. hehe. Normally I will moan and groan at this and then have to strip all the bedding, etc. Not this time. I say thank god for housekeeping! We wad all the sheets in the middle, throw $5 on the bed and call it done. =P Go to give Drew a quick bath but realize that I now have a teenager that god forbid anyone see undress/dress. So she's now occupying the bathroom while she gets ready. Damn! Guess we'll be running a few minutes behind. Brooke is literally bouncing off the walls with excitement... I'm sure the pure sugar diet she's been on for the last 24 hours is helping with that too. lol We get everyone out the door and head to the foor court to fill our refillable mugs. Disney has these mugs you can buy at the resort to use for your entire stay at that resort. Fabulous deal! Even more fab when you use Julie's that she bought 2 years ago. haha! Soo not the way Disney intends for you to do it... but don't worry... they'll be making a fortune off of us in the following 2 weeks!

We decided to try the free Disney Transportation and get in line for the Magic Kingdom. Ahhh... our very first line of the day. :) I dole out breakfast... Rice Krispy treats again... plenty left over from yesterday. We enjoy our breakfast while sipping our frozen Cokes... good thing we aren't diabetics. lol I sunscreen the kids up and Matt and I quickly glance over the itinerary for the day. Rope drop, rides, break by 2, return by 5, then stay through fireworks at 10pm. Matt says to me that maybe we won't need to take the break... suuuurrreee

Bus pulls up and we all board. I hear this grumble behind me. Oh that's Matt.... cussing under his breath at me that I just HAD to bring the 40 pound stroller... why didn't I bring the lightweight $150 stroller I specifically purchased for this trip... because I'm a woman and I changed my mind. lol Plus I knew that I wouldn't be the one hauling it off and on the busses so what do I care. =P We get on the bus and it's standing room only. A little old lady offers to hold Drew on her lap while I stand in front of her. So very nice of her... I think I'll skip mentioning that sometimes he pees his pants. hehe The lady beside her is quite surprised at how easily Drew goes to her. What she doesn't know is Drew has an obsession with boobs... and will go to anyone with big boobs... which this lady had. lol We make our way to Magic Kingdom and really enjoy letting someone else do the driving.

As we arrive at the gates it's 8:15. There are already several hundred people in front of us! Good god what time did these people get up to get here! We squeeze our way into the mob. An employee comes around and asks if the kids would like a little pixie dust... which is little mickey head confetti. You're supposed to throw it when they do the countdown to the park opening. The girls thought this was really neat... they were there for 5 minutes and already received a little bit of magic. :) Matt and I take a look at the little card again and he knows he has to head to Space Mountain first to get our fast passes. I feel bad that I'm sending him to go running through the park while I get to walk down main street with the kids for the first time. But we HAVE to get these fast passes. lol And I would go and get them... but let's face it... my fat little legs don't move near as fast as his do. lol

We watch the little opening show... which is absolutely adorable! As the gates open Matt is gone in a flash! I try and keep up with him a bit... but with pushing a big ol stroller and 2 kids hanging on for dear life it's not working too well. =P I'm being very polite and not running over anyone's toes and letting the little old ladies in the scooters go in front of me. And then we see it.... the castle!! Hannah's exact words... HOLY CRAP! They were just awestruck by it. We stopped for a quick picture in front of it and then made our way to our first ride of the day. Winnie the Pooh. We wait for Matt and hope that he made it through the stampede okay. He makes it to us much quicker than I thought... turns out he was the first one there. Which is no easy feat! He shoved his way to the front. lol We all hop on Pooh, then Peter Pan, Snow White, the carousel, Tea Cups ( the girls made Matt nice and sick lol), It's a small world, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Carribean and Philharmagic. This is all by 11am!! Matt is calling everyone he knows letting them know that my plans works. lol Yes Matt... I'm always right. ;) We have a quick lunch... ride a few more rides and matt declares it's time to take a break. Geez Matt... I thought we didn't need a break. =P He's quickly discovered that being in 100 degree heat with gobs of people gets a little exhausting!

We head back to the resort for a swim and maybe a little nap. I know there is no way that the kids will nap though.. but Matt and I sure could have!! lol We head to Magic Kingdom and get to enjoy our first of the summer storms that Florida has. We duck in and out of a few shows... Tiki Room and Country Bear Jamboree... my god that thing needs to be shutdown! Anything that is older than I am is not entertaining. =P Most of the rides are shutting down due to lightning and we still have quite a few sets of fastpasses to use! We stop for dinner and I've already come to the conclusion that I hate Disney food! No big surprise there... being that I am the world's pickiest eater... but what the hell are the kids and I going to eat for the next 2 weeks.... I'm about out of rice krispy treats. lol We ride a few more rides and then Matt declares he's tired and he wants to go back to the resort. WHAT?? Matt... the guy who runs everyone to the point of exhaustion is giving up first? Wow... Disney really is Magic! haha He volunteers to take Drew with him... and Hannah says she's pooped and wants to go back too. What is this? Did they not read the card? It says we are staying through the parade and fireworks! Matt says he thinks there won't be any because of the weather... nah.. it will blow over soon.... I hope! =P So Brooke and I stay behind and stake out our spot for the parade. We've got an hour before it starts. We sit there and talk about all her favorites for the day.... she goes on and on about how she loves seeing all the little girls done up like princesses. Little does she know she has a little surprise coming later in the week. ;) As were sitting there the sky is getting darker and darker. Damn! And then it begins to pour! We run into a shop and hear the announcement that there will be no parade due to weather... I swear Matt paid them to say that. =P Damn damn! I admit defeat and we make our way out of the parks with all the other suckers that thought there would be a parade. Hop on a bus and head back to the resort. It was nice to have that one on one time with just Brooke. :)

Get back to the resort and Brooke and I decide we're hungry and would like a little snack. Stop at the food court and OMG... you are NOT going to believe what they have there.... Rice Krispy Treats! But not your ordinary rice krispy treats... these are in the shape of Mickey... and the ears are dipped in chocolate! Holy shit...I've found what I'm going to live on for the next 2 weeks! lol We sit outside... the damn storms have stopped by now =P... and eat our treats and talk about tomorrow..... our first day at Epcot!

The Griswald's ( er, I mean Carver's) take on Disney! Day 1!

The girls in front of the "playdoh can" at POP Century resort



The Hippy Dippy Pool at POP



The monsters at the car rental place

( Yes I know these pictures aare out of order but I'm too tired to fix them =P )


I've decided to make a trip report of our Disney trip. Mainly so when I actually get around to scrapbooking it ( like 10 years from now =P ) I'll have some jorunaling to fall back on. Also thought you guys might get a good chuckle out of it. :)

Day 1.... supposed to leave for airport at 5am.

I stay up waaaay too late the night before doing all those last minute things... so therefore sleep was a bit slim for me that night. I wake up at 3:30 to get everythig... and everyone... ready and out the door. The kids are all so excited to go to Disney! They get up right away, wear what I have picked out for them ( major shocker there!) and are out the door in no time flat! Matt's parents kindly volunteered to meet us at the airport and drive our car back for us. i think they mainly did this so they could giggle watching us trying to get into the airport itself. lol As we started unloading all our luggage, carryons etc. Judy just looked at me and said how in the world are you guys going to get all this stuff down there? I didn't really think we had THAT much stuff. We only had 5 suitcases, 6 carryons, a few purses, a BIG stroller, a carseat... okay we had a lot of shit! lol But since we're practically right in front of the check in counter it's no big deal right? Wrong! I thought for sure the girls had 2 working arms when we left.. but all of the sudden they were completely incapable of lifting a thing. So Matt and I load up the stroller, each grab 2 suitcases and somehow manage to make it around the corner. I coud've sworn I heard a little snicker as we walked away... pretty sure it was Judy. hehe We get up to the check in counter, go through the usual and then they tell us we have to take all our suitcases around the corner to check them. ANd thus we have the first fight of the day... and it's 5:15 am!! The girls are yelling at each other to get out of each other's way so they can move their suitcases. People checking in after us are whispering to each other that they hope to god they aren't sitting by us! lol We get all the suitcases checked in, take a deep breath and head for security. This shouldn't be too bad. Until I remember we have to take all electronics out of the carryon's. OH SHIT! We have a laptop, 2 dvd's players, 3 cell phones, 3 gameboys, 1 camera. I'm fairly certain we took up an entire rack of those little tubs. haha We get everything on the belt and then they tell me I have to go to a seperate line with the stroller so they can xray it. Seriously? So I have to leave Matt with all this crap, 3 kids... and hope to god he'll get everything! Get to the other side and Matt somehow has everything... all shoved in 1 bag! Oy vey! obviously I've got to rearrange all this crap before we get on the plane. lol

We get to the terminal now and I figure we've got a good hour to get everything situated. I hand out a nutritional breakfast to everyone... Rice Krispy treats. haha Hey we're on vacation! We sit for approx. 5 minutes and they call for boarding families with children under 5. Oh man.. I forgot about that part. So our disheveled bags are just going to have to stay that way. Oh well. We get on the plane and Matt sits with Brooke and Drew and I sit with Hannah. I figure I'll get a good nap in! Ha! I forgot Hannah is a nervous flyer... and when she gets nervous she talks incessantly! Damn! Drew is busy saying the plane is going down... god I hope no one hears him! =P I've been so nervous about how he will act on the plane that we are expecting the worst... but he did great! Thank god!!

We land in Orlando and practically run off the plane! We are all so excited to get to Disney! We hurry to get to pick up our luggage... and wait... and wait... and wait. Drew is completely done with the whole sitting and being quiet thing and is now completely intolerant of being copperative at all! He's running through the airport at record speed! I've decided I've had enough of that and put on the leash... yep you read it right... one of those little harness things. It has a little backpack on it and is actually kinda cute. I always swore I would NEVER use one of those things .... but then I had Drew! Nuff said! I bought it specifically for this trip just in case I needed it at the parks when it was really crowded.. never did I imagine I would have to use it before we even freakin got to Disney. =P We FINALLY get all the luggage and try and make our way to the shuttle for the rental car place. The girls once again have Gumby arms... therefore are of absolutely NO use to us! So picture this... 2 very tired adults trying to pull 5 overly stuffed suitcases ( okay I overpacked!), 6 carryons, a carseat, a stroller and a 3 year old who is about to hang himself with this harness because he's pulling so damn hard on it! No idea where the girls are... behind us, in front of us... doesn't really matter. At this point I'm so disgusted with them that I don't care if they spend the next 2 weeks in the airport. =P We make our way to the shuttle.... finally!

We arrive at the car rental place and the kids are starving! Ahh... so that's why their arms don't work... they're hungry. =P We acknowledge that they're hungry and tell them we will be serving their royal highnesses within the next 1/2 hour. Matt's goes in to do the easy check in and get the keys to our rental van. And comes right back out. Wow that was fast! uh oh... probably a little too fast! Guess what Jenny... they don't have any rental vans here right now but they can give us a little SUV with 4 seats. Um we have 5 of us... and enough luggage to fill a school bus! They tell us there are 4 families in front of us waiting for a van. Fabulous! I's 14,000 degrees... I have 3 starving kids and a 3 year old who has become completely wacko by this point! Matt and I look at each other and say OH.MY.HELL.... what have we done! Matt...being the awesome man he is... is determined to get us out of this mess! So he tells the rental dude that we have friends waiting at the airport for us and we have to get to them ASAP. Apparently we have parented the girls a little too well... they promptly tell the man that our friends are coming to the airport for another 5 days. My god you little monsters... can't you just lie this one time! Do you want to spend the rest of the day here? =P They finally pull up with another van that desperately needs an oil change and the brakes are shot... it's perfect... we'll take it! lol We manage to get all our luggage and the kids into it... although I was willing to leave a kid or 2 behind at this point. haha

Finally... we are almost to Disney World! Woohoo! The drive is a quick one and we arrive at Pop Century Resort with no more problems... thank god! We get out of the car and I start dancing that we're at Disney.... much to Hannah's dismay. haha We check in and are pleasantly surprised that we can get into our room early! We grab a quick lunch in the food court and then head to our room. The room is great... if you had 2 people in it. haha. It's just a little smaller than my bedroom... which those of you that have seen it know it's a pretty big room. But we don't usually have all 5 of us in it... for a week! lol We manage to cram all of our stuff in there and I tell the kids not to bother unpacking their stuff as there's no where to put it. We have a little air mattress that Brooke is going to sleep on... thank god that child is still the size of a 5 year old. lol

We spent the rest of the evening touring a couple other resorts.. which the kids found VERY boring to do. I had planned on doing it a bit again later in our trip but will scrap those plans. Kids don't give a rat's ass what other hotels look like. lol We head back to POP and take everyone swimming in the Hippy Dippy Pool. I go take care of buying all of our park tickets...can you say expensive! And also pick up the HUGE box I had shipped to the resort ahead of time that's full of snacks, sunscreen, glowsticks, etc. Crap.. now that thing has to fit in the room too. lol

We get everyone settled down and tucked in for the night and Matt and I are finally able to relax and are really looking forward to our first day at the parks... we will start with Magic Kingdom.



Stay tuned....