Day 3 animal kingdom

Animal Kingdom was lots of fun! Just like being on safari. We ate lunch with Minnie, Mickey and the gang. The kids had a blast!!

Disney day 2! Magic Kingdom

The first full day we went to Magic Kimgdom. The first ride they did was the teacups. Since Mommy gets sick on most spinny rides so I opted out of the tea cups. We got to meet Alice and the White Rabbit when we were leaving. Anna Kate was terrified of the rabbit but did talk to Alice. We then headed to lunch at crystal palace. As you can see from the pics, Anna Kate was having NO part of any of the characters and was screaming and scrambling to get away from them!! By the time we made it through the character rotation once, she had warmed up to them and was fine the rest of the trip. So glad for that! I was concerned she was going to be scared the whole time we were there. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Barnes had so much fun and just loved seeing all the characters. I love this age, he just believes absolutely every magical thing that this wonderful world has to offer. To him, meeting the characters was as real as anything could possibly be. That's why I am so thankful we took them now. Another 3 years and he would be too old for the magic of the characters and would just think it was people dressed up. :)

My favorite memory about this day is during the fireworks show, they have a narration by Jiminey Cricket that talks about dreams and wishes coming true. Barnes leaned over to me and said, "mommy, will all my dreams really come true?!" Oh, how sweet and precious his little spirit and soul is!!! I am so blessed that God gave him to me. I cried the rest of the show. That one moment made the trip more magical and wonderful than I can ever describe. Children are life's great, great gift!

The surprise (err, I mean worst surprise) of a lifetime!!

Brad and I were fortunate to take the kids on a 10 day trip to Disney earlier this month. We surprised them early one morning by pulling them out of bed and telling them they were going to DISNEY WORLD. I've seen YouTube videos of kids being surprised and I expected our reveal to be quite similar.

1. Lots of screaming!!!!!
2. Jumping up and down!!!!!!
3. Pure elation!!!!

Well let me say, that Brad and I were so thrilled at the idea of taking them. We would lay in bed at night for several hours planning our character meals and talking about how we might surprise them or what we should do while we were there. It was fun to dream and look forward to going!! Even for two thirty-something parents.

So fast forward to the morning of the trip. We wake the kids at 5:15am. I have their Disney shirts laid out in the bed downstairs with cute little personalized bags the travel agent had made for them. We bring them both downstairs. And I ask, "Barnes, look at that shirt over there, where would you wear it? (It's a Mickey ears t-shirt and a pair of jeans). He says, "church." I say, "you don't wear jeans and t-shirt to church. Where would you wear that Mickey shirt??" He says, "church." Hmmmm, this is not quite going how I thought it would. But it's WAY early and the kids are WAY foggy and not thinking clearly.

BBP asks, "do I have my t-ball practice this morning??" I say, "well, mommy and daddy have a big surprise for y'all!!! How would you like to go to Disney World instead of Tball practice???!!!!" This is the response:

1. Lots of crying
2. More crying
3. Anna Kate crying
4. BBP saying, I just wanna go back to bed!!!
5. I can't miss t-ball practice!!
6. More crying!!!!

Welp, definitely NOT the response we had planned on. My words of advice for surprising your kids about Disney world or anything else for that matter....

1. Don't do it at 5:30 am when it's dark out and they didn't get enough sleep. They're confused and foggy and even mad for waking them up so early. Just do it at a normal time when they're thinking clearly and can appreciate the $5k+ surprise you just dropped in their lap!!!

I will be telling the story of how my two monkeys cried and screamed bloody murder that they didn't want to go to Disney, for the next 4 decades!!! So funny!! Wish I could upload the video! It's priceless.

Here are pics.

We have a surprise....

Brad came to me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to go on vacation in April for a week. Of course, I said, sure! Where?

Fast forward to this past week and we were discussing where to go. I had mentioned some time ago that is love to take the kids to Disney before the new baby gets here in August. That turned into a phone call with a Disney travel agent and the trip was booked the following day! It all happened that fast!!

The kids don't know and they are going to be soooooo thrilled when we tell them! 10 days at Disney... They will be absolutely over the top with excitement!

Can't wait to make memories that will last forever and see the magic on their little, precious faces!!