Aaaaand, we're off! Disney World was a whirlwind of a trip, but let me just say first and foremost, that we learned 3 years ago that a trip to Disney World at any age or stage is NOT for the faint of heart. This is especially true if your trip includes small children...and even more so if it includes a BABY. I honestly didn't know what to expect-- whether I'd be staying at the condo all day with a fussy Leah, or be able to get in on some of the action, it totally could have gone either way. Luckily, she did amazingly well, and our trip overall was a success! Would I go again with a baby that young? Probably not.:)
Our vacation began on Saturday, February 9th when we decided to drive down to Florida all in one chunk. Yes, you read that correctly. 9 hours in the car with a 3 month old, 3 year old, and a very talkative 6 year old-- as well as my mom who had come a few days previous to help. Luckily we all survived. Sunday morning we decided to bless Baby Leah since my Dad and brother Devin were available to participate, and we were able to get Jon's parents on the iPad so they could watch as well. Despite the fire alarm going off about halfway through, Jon did a great job!
Baby Leah gazed sweetly up at Jon the entire time during her blessing-- it was so cute! She sure loves her Daddy. After our family's make-shift church service, we headed outside to explore the area.
Lucy and cousin Eva playing outside. We loved all the gorgeous Spanish moss everywhere!
We changed out of our church clothes and decided to burn some steam at Down Town Disney, where they have lots of little shops and restaurants catered towards families. Lucy absolutely LOVES her cousins and would go anywhere and do anything they were doing.
Jon and Zach posing in front of the Hulk at the Lego store.
Baby Leah hanging out in the front pack. I've mentioned how she HAS to be held all the time, so luckily she counts the front pack as "being held." She never once rode in the stroller we brought-- she preferred to be able to see everything this way.
Cousin Sophie and Lucy playing with the toys at the Disney store. So fun! All the kids were so pumped to hit Disney World the next day after looking at all that merchandise! We spent the rest of the day eating dinner together, and buying our tickets at Shades of Green.
DAY 1: MAGIC KINGDOM
Monday dawned bright and beautiful so we all headed over to Magic Kingdom. Let's face it-- there is nothing else like Disney. It's magical. Everywhere you look it's eye candy. Nothing like walking through those front gates and seeing Cinderella's castle looming ahead!
We decided to not make the little kids wait any longer and headed straight for Fantasy Land. We did the brand new Ariel ride first because the lines can get pretty long there. They've re-done Fantasy Land since we'd been there 3 years ago, and the new stuff is awesome!
We got to ride Dumbo which I hadn't done since I was just a little kid. Zach loved the rides! He and Lucy were both willing to go on
anything, which was fun.
Heading into "It's a Small World." I think I nursed on this ride and every ride like it except for roller coasters.:) Seriously, anytime I could sit down for longer than 10 minutes and top the little Butterball off, I did.
Speaking of the Butterball, here she is! We got lunch in Tomorrow Land with the rest of the park (CRAZY!), and then quickly continued making the rounds of the park.
The castle is lit up starting at dusk and it is so beautiful! Lucy was a total trooper and walked probably 80% of the time with the adults. By the end of the day my mom's FitBit recorded us walking almost 12 miles!
The 11 of us together for one group shot! It was hard keeping everyone together, but we managed pretty well.
We ran into Woody and Jessie in Frontier Land. Howdy!
We finally got to the Haunted Mansion towards the end of the day, which strangely enough, is both Lucy and Zach's favorite ride. They LOVE this one! We closed the night off with a trip to Space Mountain, and a little dance party in Tomorrow Land with Stitch, Pluto, and Chip & Dale.
DAY 2: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
Tuesday morning we headed to Hollywood Studios (used to be MGM) and were promptly greeted by Minnie Mouse herself!
I was waiting off the side taking pictures, but Minnie couldn't help herself when she saw Baby Leah and came right over to say "Hi." There were a bunch of Japanese tourists snapping pictures of it, so by now we're probably famous there.
We did the Aerosmith roller coaster, the Tower of Terror, the Toy Story Ride and caught a few shows before we headed to the Sci Fi diner for lunch.
You get to sit in cars and watch the old Sci Fi movies from the 50's, and the food was actually really good. It was nice to take a load off and enjoy eating without feeling like you were rushed for once.
Props go to Lucy for being brave enough to try this ride! I wish I could have seen her face during the first big drop, but after a mishap with Space Mountain the day before (she HATED it), she loved this one and wanted to go again.
My Dad posing in front of the Indiana Jones stunt show. Those kinds of shows were really cool, but SO stinking loud I never could sit through them with Baby Leah, so we usually ended up out on a park bench waiting for everybody else.
That night we closed down the park and caught the "Fantasmic" show which is a laser light show on water, and has all the classic Disney heroes and villains. It's a pretty cool show, although again, Zach was down for the count, and Leah couldn't handle the noise, so we were 1 for 3. At least Lucy loved it!
DAY 3: EPCOT
We ended up losing our stroller the night before at Hollywood Studios (we parked our stroller in the wrong place before the show), so we had to go pick it up at the park's Lost & Found by the Magic Kingdom. We booked it over to Epcot and luckily caught up with everyone else and didn't miss too much. We spend the rest of the morning riding the Test Track roller coaster and Soarin'. After lunch we headed over to the Countries, starting with England.
And who did we meet, but Alice in Wonderland herself? The Countries are always my favorite part of the whole Disney World trip-- again, EYE CANDY!-- and they're usually so much less busy than the rest of the parks.
The girls meeting Ariel, near the water in France. So fun!
We stopped in France to check out the bakery and try some delicious pastries. I finally got to try an authentic French macaroon, and it was yummy!
Viva la France!
Lucy with Sleeping Beauty in France.
Our own little Sleeping Beauty checking out the sights and sounds in the front pack!
Deutschland!
The kids (minus Zach-- poor kid needs a boy cousin) had a blast tracking down the various princesses in all of the countries. Snow White was the last one. You can tell how thrilled he was to meet her.:)
A big thunderstorm started to roll in, so we kind of had to rush through the rest of the countries because we didn't want to get rained on. We were also supposed to meet my sister Whitney, who had flown in from Utah, for dinner that night.
The gang at Epcot!
Luckily my parents adopted Lucy for the week, since with Baby Leah we moved too slowly for her tastes. It worked out perfectly because she got to do everything they did, and we could meander behind at our own tortoise pace. Did I mention I had to stop every 22 feet and nurse?!?
DAY 4: SEA WORLD
Because Jonathan is military, Anheuser Busch parks give all families one free day in any of their parks. We've never been to Sea World, so it was a great way to spend that extra day, since our Disney park hopper was only good for 4 days.
FINALLY, the lines and park itself were not insane. Apparently, though we thought we'd planned differently by going in early February to avoid spring-breakers, the entire state of Lousiana comes to Disney World to celebrate Mardis Gras because everyone gets the week off. We only had to share this park with the flamingos!
Shamu's Happy Harbor (the kids rides area) was basically empty. Lucy and Zach could ride whatever they wanted and then stay on and ride it again if they wanted.
Cruising around on the train!
We caught the Shamu show in the morning, which was pretty impressive. It does make you feel a little sorry though for those big huge whales to be stuck in a bath tub, basically. But the kids loved it. We got to eat lunch while watching an Elmo and Friends concert, check out Shark Alley, see polar bears and walruses, and then headed over to the big roller coaster for mom and dad to ride. All day it had been a bit drizzly, but by late afternoon it started pouring so we decided to call it a day. There was still a lot to do and see, but we had to save it for next time!
DAY 5: ANIMAL KINGDOM/ MAGIC KINGDOM
Friday we spent the morning checking out Animal Kingdom. There are some can't miss attractions like the Safari ride in Africa, and the roller coaster at Mt. Everest in Asia. And Animal Kingdom is BEAUTIFUL! You can venture through Africa and Asia, and Dinosaur Land USA. 
We loved the yeti roller coaster! I think Asia was by far the coolest land with its authentic decor and food.
While everybody did the "It's a Bug's Life" 3D movie, Zach stayed out with Leah and I to see the birds. Zach loved the various ducks and birds that wander around the parks, and would feed them his crackers. Unfortunately it wasn't until after the whole bag was gone that I noticed we were sitting right next to a "DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS" sign. Whoops!
Grandpa Tom Tom and the Little Peanut (as he nicknamed her). He was always game for a turn with the front pack. By day 3 or 4 I literally thought by back would break from all the carrying and hunched over nursing. Being pregnant was nothing compared to this!
After lunch it was on to the Magic Kngdom, re-visited! The kiddos wanted one last chance to ride their favorites and we still had yet to catch the Electric Lights Parade or the fireworks.
So cute! Sarah was SO wonderful to take Lucy along with Eva whenever they would go hunt down princesses to meet. She was such a good sport to wait with them in the looong lines and take pictures for me (which reminds me, all of these photos are thanks to her or my mom). Thank you!
Snow White and Prince Charming! Never saw him before!
Finally! Tinker Bell! I think they waited at least an hour to meet her. What good sports!
We got to do Thunder Mountain Roller Coaster one last time with some fast-passes Sarah rounded up. The wait (for Friday evening) was up to 90 minutes. Who does that?? This was easily Zach's favorite ride. He loved the earthquake part. We finished the night off with a bang watching the fireworks and then kissed our Disney trip good-bye! Always a bitter sweet moment. All 4 days we came when the park opened and left when it closed. Honestly, looking back, I don't know how we did it.
Saturday morning we checked out of our condo, met for breakfast at Waffle House (my dad's old stand-by), and then headed back up North for home. At least we got Whitney to come with us and stay an extra day, since she flew out of Raleigh early the following Monday morning. It was such a great trip being able to see family (which we are starved for), all while being entertained Disney-style!
