Now for the fun posts on our fabulous family vacation to Walt Disney World! I will apologize in advance for the crazy amount of pictures in this post and several to follow. There were over 300 pics that were taken between me and my sis during the trip, so at least I narrowed down from that number. ;) We left on Sunday and it had SNOWED the night before - CRAZY! It took us forever to get out of Dallas and there were pretty intense driving conditions with the icy roads and accidents every where you looked. We were so thankful we got out safely and were even more thankful that we were heading some place warmer! :) Driving to Florida with 3 kiddos under 4, Aunt Zuzu (praise God that she was able to come!! We would have never had been able to do this trip without her! Man to man defense is a wonderful thing! :), and all of our stuff for a week long vacation went exactly the way you would think it would go. There were many moments you wanted to pull your hair out, but for the most part all 3 kids did a great job. We spent almost 24 hours of driving time to get down there and any one who has kids knows that will push anyone to the limit. :) We spent the 1st night in a hotel in Mobile, AL and it was a night I would like to forget - all of us in 1 room with 2 beds= NOT good times, but we made it. :) We decided not to tell the kids exactly where we were going. They just knew it was our "special trip". Here is a pic that I took right outside Orlando when we told them that we were going to Disney to meet Mickey and all the princesses. There was squealing involved. :)
They were very excited and I love that they were already holding their Mickey and Minnie. (I didn't plan that!:)
This is a pic while we were driving into Disney. The excitement was at an all-time high for all of us. We were also so relieved that the car ride was almost over!
We stayed at the Old Key West Resort and it was WONDERFUL!! We loved everything about it, from the great condo layout to the location and the heated pools. I would definitely suggest it to anyone and hope we can stay there next time we go (Yes! There will be another time hopefully in the future! Right, Honey?;)
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. the 1st morning and headed to the Magic Kingdom. We were given the most incredible book - The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and it gave us so much info for our trip including touring guides of each park. The guides worked great and were custom to our needs with having such young kiddos. The above pic is one of the 1st pics I took when we entered the park. I was so proud that we got there before the park even opened, so that we could get a early jump on the rides.
We were SOOO thankful that Ainsley was walking by this trip!! (It was a major goal for us.) She was able to ride everything with us and explore as much as she wanted.
Sisters! The last time we were at Disney World together it was like 1986 or something. So great to share these memories with Suz! AND did I mention what an AMAZING help she was all week long??!!
Daddy and Ains - this was also Andrew's 1st trip to Disney World. :)
Before the park opened, there was this fun musical presentation.
Such sweet faces experiencing the "magic" for the 1st time. I LOVE it!
Cinderella's Castle!
Our attempt at a family pic in front of the castle.
Riding the Astro Orbiter. We went to the Dumbo ride 1st (of course!;), but I didn't get any pics. Austin spent his very 1st ride at Disney in tears b/c he had to ride in a peach Dumbo instead of a blue one. (Oh the DRAMA!) Thankfully, he got to have a 2nd redeeming ride with Zuzu in a blue Dumbo. :) MEMORIES!
Fun carousel.
Austin's favorite ride by far was the Buzz Light year ride. (And yes, he came home with a Buzz action figure which is his new fav toy:)
Riding the Buzz Light year ride. I think all boys love to shoot bad guys. :)
Audrey was NOT a fan of the dark ride on the 1st day. (She was fine on the last day when we went back to the Magic Kingdom.) She cried pretty much through rides like these. Poor thing! It really was pitiful. :(
We went back to our resort almost every day to eat lunch, take naps and have a couple of hours of down time. We wouldn't have been able to push the kids every day until like 11 if we didn't do it and I am so thankful that we could all go back and recharge for the next leg of the trip. Disney World truly is an amazing place, but it is NOT somewhere you go to relax or sleep in. We were very busy the entire week and still think we would have loved to stay 1-2 more nights. We just loved every minute!! The above pic is of us on a ferry on our way back to Magic Kingdom after naps. we were excited to get going again. :)
I just love pictures like this one. :)
Ainsley having a big girl moment. :)
This was the last picture of the day because shortly after this I LOST my camera in between a dinner and a diaper change. It was one of those things that I was hoping wouldn't happen, but I thought might. :( So, Zuzu took the pictures for the rest of the day (including our 1st Mickey and Princess encounters that I will save for a later post. :) My sweet hubby saved the day (as he usually does!) and we ended the wonderful day with my camera in hand! He went to the lost and found at the end of the night and someone had found it and turned it in! (Thank goodness for honest people!) The fireworks show was incredible as was the whole 1st day! Day 2 recap coming soon! Thanks for reading!
This is Princess Aurora (or Auroree as Audrey calls her.:) She was the first Disney character for us to meet and she was so sweet! Austin of course was the first to walk right up to her and introduce himself. He was such a good sport meeting all the princesses during the week. He knew how important it was to Audrey. Such a great big brother!
Audrey was super shy at first, but she caught on quickly. :)
Such a sweet pic!
Audrey's favorite Disney princess is Cinderella, so we were VERY excited that she could meet her. I seriously teared up watching this dream come true for my little girl. I know you are thinking, "How silly!", but it is true! Right now all Audrey wants to be is a princess and for us as parents to be able to make that a reality for her was so special.
Sweet hugs
I love this pic! This is when Cinderella was telling Austin what a handsome prince he was. It was a funny moment. Austin thought Cinderella was 'very pretty'.
All I could think about when he took this pic was man, will I be able to use this later in his life and boy, he is going to be mad at me in about 10 years! ;) Look how cute he is!!
Meeting Mickey and Minnie for the first time was truly magical. The kids were so excited. I love that Suzanne was able to catch this sweet hug Audrey gave Minnie when she first met her. :)
A very excited little boy right now! Three things that Austin usually wants to sleep with these days: his blanket, Rudolph and Mickey. I love it!
Epcot was where we had the opportunity to meet a very large number of characters and Daisy was the first that day. LOVE this pic of her walking with the girls!
Daisy was Ainsley's favorite character by far. I love that she had absolutely no fear with any of the characters. She would just walk straight up to them for hugs and kisses. So sweet!
This is our 2nd Mickey encounter. Austin was very excited to get his autograph again. :)
My favorite character picture!
I mean, how precious is this??!!
More kisses for Minnie too...
...and hugs of course! :)
The Disney characters do such a great job of loving on kiddos. I really was impressed with all their fun-loving spirits and patience.
Pluto was a lot of fun! The kids really liked him.
Looks like Donald is about to eat Audrey! haha! 
They all knew the drill by now. :)
Goofy was so tall!
More sweet hugs. :)
I love going back and remembering sweet moments like this one! I have ONE more Disney post coming and it is one of favs - Audrey's 3rd Birthday. Thanks for bearing with me and all of these picture-filled posts. I at least know that the grandparents are loving it! :)
