Headed Home

We got back to the hotel and I fed Killian, everyone went to the bathroom and we loaded up to head home.

Playing in the lobby.  You'll notice a tired big sister.

Happy even though he is exhausted!

Headed home!!!

10 months today so I snapped a picture.

We worked to keep everyone awake until we had filled up with gas so that stopping wouldn't wake them up.  Pulling out of the gas station Keeley was angry with me because I would not let her watch a movie.  I told her she was tired and needed to nap but that if she was still awake in an hour I would let her watch tv.  She fell asleep in 4 minutes.  Kelly and I rode silently as I watched all three kids fall asleep.  About two minutes after the last one gave into sleep, we hit a bit of a problem.  The entire highway was shut down and we were stuck. For one hour we sat in the highway on park and hoped no one would wake up.  We watched people playing catch, walking ahead to see the problem, talking to other drivers.  It was ridiculous.  Fortunately the kids slept for most of it so we at least got the nap they needed.

Because we'd played so long in the Magic Kingdom that last day Kelly and I were not sure how far we would be able to make it.  I did a lot of calculating on my phone about if we stop here tonight we have this much more to go.  As it turns out, it didn't much matter.  When it began to get dark, the rain started.  Kelly missed a turn because of the rain and poorly lit highway.  Our navigation thing told us a way to get back to where we needed to go but it took us on this random road.  Had the Garmin not said to go there, no way would I have wanted to drive down the dirt road.  Pulling back onto the highway, still in the rain, Kelly alerted me to the fact that he thought we had a flat tire. He pulled over under a bridge and I hopped out to confirm that it was flat.

I wouldn't let girls get out to see it because we were on the side of a high way with no real median, at night, in the rain so I took a picture.  Definitely flat.

We called AAA and Kelly attempted to tell them where we were.  Unfortunately, we were under some little country road with no exit and had no idea what mile marker we had passed recently.  Eventually they found us and got my spare tire put on.  We drove to the only hotel we could find to spend the night.  The blessing in that was that the hotel (a Best Western) was really nice and there was a tire repair shop close by.  Everyone got settled in for the night with the plan being that Kelly would take care of getting it repaired while I stayed at the hotel with the kids.  Just so everyone knows, this is now the second time I have attempted to do a hotel breakfast with all three kids by myself and it is HARD.  After our breakfast which only had one ginormous spill, we headed back to the room so that I could figure out something for us to do to pass the time.  I didn't have a lot of options..

Keeley wrote notes.

Kayden waited patiently so she could use the pen.

And Killian played with the lid to our medicine box for a bit.

The medicine box only lasted until he discovered the tissues in the bathroom.  He must have pulled out about 20 before I decided to we needed to do something else.

 There was a McDonald's just a little walk through the parking lots so I decided to take the kids to play.  We got over there only to discover there was no playground.  Fortunately, Kelly texted at that time to tell me he was done so the kids and I headed back to load up the car.  On the road again, still in Florida with a long way to go (16 hours). 

Playing in the car.  Killian spent a lot of time playing in the car because he couldn't really explore or walk around at the gas stations.

We watched this at least 4 times on the trip.  Girls found it hysterically funny.

At Burger King.  I'm pretty sure we've never eaten there with the girls.

I drove most of the day that day and we couldn't decide what we wanted to do about getting all the way home.  A drama filled trip to Chick Fil A for dinner made the decision for Kelly - we would all be sleeping in our own beds tonight.  We got everyone changed into pjs and Kelly took over the driving (because I have a hard time driving at night)

So happy to be in the front seat while the girls changed clothes.

 

Shortly after Kelly started driving, the rain started again.  We drove and drove.  Killian woke up wanting to eat just as we were getting into Garland so we pulled over for me to feed him.  The girls woke up and stayed up for the rest of the drive in.  All three kids quickly passed out once we finally got back home. We pulled in just before 2am - just in time to move the clocks forward an hour for Daylight Savings!

All in all, a wonderful trip.  We cannot wait to go back!!

Final Day in Magic Kingdom

For our final day in Disney World we decided to head to Magic Kingdom.  The girls really wanted to ride Splash Mountain again and meet Tinkerbelle (I thought she was in Epcot but she was not).  We started the day off on a rocky start because Kayden was awake with me from 3-5:30.  She has a tough time sleeping under the best of circumstances but traveling makes it so much harder.  At 4, brother woke up to eat and then wouldn't settle back down so I had to get Kelly to help with him.  The whole family being awake woke up Keeley.  Eventually everyone got back to sleep and we slept until about 7.  The night before Kelly had packed up everything we would not need in the morning.  We ate breakfast, got changed, called the bell hop to get our luggage and hold it until we were done with the parks and hurried out.  

When we met Kendall and Angie at the boat dock, the line was really long for the boat to Magic Kingdom so we hopped on the boat headed to the Contemporary with plans to walk over to Magic Kingdom.  This worked out perfectly, except we missed the opening again.  Oh well.  We'll get it next year!  We arrived early enough, however, to get a picture taken out front of Magic Kingdom and rent park strollers (ours had to be turned in by 11) and get in line for Tinker belle.  The line was short so Killian and Dad could explore in the covered area and we sent Kendall and Angie with all our tickets to get fast passes for Splash Mountain.  I got a text from Kendall that the line was short so they had gotten our passes and were going to ride while we waited to meet Tinker belle. A few minutes later I received another text that the ride broke while they were  on it.  This was the 4th or 5th ride that had broken on us while we were on it, but this is the first time that the ride was really broken.  They actually had to hook the boats, bring them to the sides of the ride, and have all the passengers exit through the back lot area.  That is really broken!

While we waited for Tinker Bell, the girls watch a Fairy movie they had playing in the line.  As we approached the room where we would meet Tinker Bell, there was a cast member explaining how we would pass under the leaves and "shrink" to meet Tinker Bell.

Keeley was concerned about this shrinking.  She was worried it would hurt.  After the fact, both girls were confused why they were still smaller than Tinker Bell and Tinker Bell was more grown up sized...

Waiting to meet Tinker Bell and Terrance.  I bet most of you didn't know that Tinker Bell had a friend named Terrance..

We met up with Kendall and Angie after our photos and were able to ride Aladdin's Carpets, see the show in the Tiki Room, and ride Splash Mountain.  This time the girls insisted on the ponchos.

Kelly took a picture of us riding.  I am not as big a fan of Splash Mountain as my girls!

Killian checking things out while he waited for us to finish Splash Mountain.

I think this is my favorite thing about this stage.  He does this all the time!!

Finding more things to put in his mouth I'm sure.

After Splash Mountain we said good bye to Kendall and Angie and we ate lunch.  My original plan was to leave by then, but we were having so much fun and wanted to give the girls a chance to do their last favorite thing.  They chose the Tea Cups - with me.  I do not spin nearly as fast as my brother and Kelly.  I thought I was nauseous on them last year because I was pregnant.  Turns out I just can't do them anymore!!

On the Tea Cups with me

  

 

After the Tea Cups Keeley wanted a ride since Kayden had gotten to ride in the wrap before.

 

We then made our way out of the park with a stop at the Dreams Come True Show and one for some ice cream.

Carrying the girls to see the show better.

Super Dad!  That is 80lbs of girls he's carrying...

 It was a fabulous last day in the parks!  

Downtown Disney

After the crazy days we'd had with all the transportation and hurry to make our reservations, we decided to take a day and just relax.  Everyone slept until the woke up, we ate in our room, the girls took a long bubble bath, Killian was allowed to take a nap in the pack in play instead of strapped on to me.  Our plan was to head to Downtown Disney and then perhaps go to a park in the afternoon.  I even told Kelly we should just drive our car.  That plan was not acceptable to the girls, however, because "you don't drive your car in Disney World.  You take a bus."  So, bus it was.  We met Uncle Kendall and, fortunately, a bus pulled up just as we got to the bus stop.

Picture in our hotel lobby before we went to the bus.

All smiles so far.

Kayden thinking these water fountains are silly.

We were planning to let the girls spend their money from Grandad and buy some souvenirs.  In the ornament shop, I should have realized things were not going well because Kayden picked Jasmine for her ornament.  Nothing is wrong with Jasmine, Kayden just doesn't care about her at all.  I redirected her to a Minnie Mouse that was pink after Keeley chose a purple Minnie and then sent the girls on to the Lego store with the boys while I paid.

Posing before headed to Lego store.

When I met up with them at the Lego store, things were definitely spiraling out of control fast with Kayden so I decided lunch was needed.  Kayden got in the stroller and screamed at me the entire walk to the restaurant that she wanted a snack.  When we got there, she told me she wasn't going to eat anything since I had not given her a snack for the 3 minute walk to the restaurant.  Good times.  I sat down with a hungry baby and Kelly waited in line with Kayden.  Eventually we were all seated and Kayden did, in fact, eat.  Killian had exhausted all his snacks at this point and I couldn't nurse him but I hadn't eaten yet so I let him have some of the girls' jello side with the tiny fruit inside.  He loved it!

Red Jello EVERYWHERE!

Killian was pretty much done so I found a bathroom where I could nurse him (no baby care stations here) and he and I headed home.  The girls stayed and played for a while in the fountains.  They got SOAKED!!  Kelly had to buy a towel and was thankful that he had the extra clothes in the back pack!

Brother took a nap at the hotel while the girls played.  When they got back to the hotel they played with their new toys for a bit and then I took them swimming while Kelly did some packing and laundry.  We ate in the room and suffered through another massive Kayden meltdown just before the girls went down early.  Kelly did some more packing because I was feeling sick and then we went to bed too, ready to tackle our final day!

Epcot

Epcot was our next stop.  My plan was to get there early, do some of the Future World activities, have lunch with the princesses at Akershus, and then head home to rest before we had our dinner at Park Fare.  Obviously that is not what happened because nothing on this trip went according to plan.

We started off in a bit of a bad way because Killian had a horrible night's sleep.  When baby brother doesn't sleep well, neither do Mom and Dad.  As I heard the girls stirring, I got up with them and my plan was to get them all ready to head out the door with Kelly as soon as he and Killian woke up.  All was going well.  The girls were friendly and happy after the early night the previous night, they were eating breakfast which allowed me to shower and start to get ready.  The girls are so helpful at home, Kayden especially, when it comes to cleaning up their plates from the table.  As I was putting my make-up on I heard the girls start to have some problems.  When I walked into the kitchen I discovered that Kayden had tried to take her cereal bowl to the sink while holding it on her head.  That didn't work out so well and she had milk and cereal in her hair.  I carried her to the shower just as Killian and Kelly woke up.  Showered and dressed, the shoe battle began with Kayden.  I finally convinced her she had to wear tennis shoes until we had lunch and she could then wear her flip flops.  Dad left with the girls and arrived at the park before it opened (hooray!).  Killian and I ended up at the bus stop about 15 minutes after they left but we waited for 40 minutes until another bus came.  By the time we finally arrived at the park, the girls had just finished Soarin' with Kelly (they both liked it).  Kelly had gotten fast passes so I took the girls to Nemo while we waited for the fast pass time and sent Kelly to try to get passes to the Test Track.  Apparently you can't get them when you have an active pass so Kelly came back to meet us at Nemo and then he took the girls on Soarin' again while I went to nurse Killian and get those Test Track fast passes.

In the shark after the Nemo ride.

Playing in the little play area while we waited for Dad.

 We met up in Norway and got ready to meet the princesses (again).  Kendall and Angie had a crazy night the night before with a bat in their room (!) so they were running late and literally ran all the way through Epcot to meet us for lunch.  It was so fun to have them there for the lunch.  Akershus is Belle's lunch so she does not greet you at the tables. I have my photopass picture of her that I will have to add later. We were seated way in the back but it ended up being perfect because we were the very first table all the princesses came to as they entered the dining hall.

Entertaining himself at the waterfall by Akershus

My little "Auroras" are so excited!

Kayden's face is great in this picture.

And look how excited Angie is!

Cinderella trying to get the girls to clasp their hands.  Kayden was all over it, Keeley not so much.

She wanted to pose just with Brother Bear.  He was not so sure about that idea...

Girls are all smiles.  Killian trying to assess just how close she was to him.  She called him a fish and pirate and the girls found that very funny.

After we ate it was time for our Test Track fast pass.  The girls went with me and we did the rider swap.  Rider swap is awesome because your kids get to ride two times in a row.  We just walked up and showed them that Killian was too little to go and they let Kelly have a pass to come back with the girls as soon as I finished the ride.  The girls were all over the rides this year!!  While Kelly went with the girls, I took Killian to the baby area to nurse.  As I nursed him I started to do the math in my head about how long it would take us to get to our hotel and then when we'd have to leave to get to dinner.  It wasn't going to work.  I decided that it would be more stressful to hurry everyone than it was worth the "rest" time we'd get at the hotel.  I met up with Kelly and shared my thoughts.  We then decided to go back to the baby area to let the kids all rest a bit in the quiet and because I needed to buy some baby food for Killian to have at dinner (I had planned on going back to the hotel....fortunately those baby care centers are stocked with all the basics!).

We all cooled off and relaxed.  The girls were able to color some pictures to hang up and Killian was allowed to crawl around and play.  A family entered with a very sick little girl coughing everywhere so we decided to head out again.  Killian, quite tired and no nap in sight, was just about over being strapped on me so we stuck him in the double stroller and I picked up another kid instead. 

This is perhaps another reason I did not gain any weight in Disney World...

We made our way out of the park, stopping to do the ride in the big Epcot ball.  Again, I was stuck in a ride that broke while I held a baby!  We finally got out and continued our way out of the park.

Photo with Daisy Duck.  Keeley will tell you we had to do it because Daisy was "the only character you can't eat with".  Epcot is a great place to see her because the line isn't too bad.

Stitch was right next to Daisy and the girls insisted on a picture.  Totally weird because they don't even know who Stitch is.  Also weird because he pretends to lick the autograph books after he signs them.

 As we made our way out of Epcot, I told everyone that we could just ride the monorail to our dinner and we would get there early.  The wait would be some good rest time for the kids and I remembered that they had a little couch with tv in the lobby.  We approached the monorail and were told that the monorail to the hotels was not going to be open until 6 (after our dinner).  We were instructed to take the monorail to the transportation center and then take a bus to the hotel.  After getting off the monorail we hurried over to the bus stop to wait for our bus.  Of course when our bus arrived it was time to switch drivers so they had to do this entire routine to make the change.  By this point you'd think I would learn to be calm but the transportation threatening to make us late again totally stressed me out.

Again, however, we made our reservation in time.  We checked in, had our picture taken and then got in line to wait for them to open the dining hall.  We were the first dinner seating so it is a big deal to wait.  Because we had gotten there with so little time to spare, we weren't first in line, but we were first in the second line which was right next to the first line.  The hostess came out and asked the first girl in line if she'd like to open dinner and she said no.  Instead of working her way all the way down that file of kids, she then asked our girls if they would open dinner by saying the magic words (bibbidi bobbidi boo).  The girls said no and you could tell that she was a little beat down.  She said, "Will you whisper it to me? They have to be said before we can eat.  Your family can go in first"  The consented to whisper the words and opened the dining.  When the doors opened, all the wait staff was lined up and applauded for us as we walked in.  So fun!

Whispering the magic words to open the dining hall.

After we were seated it was the mad dash to the buffet and prep for the characters again.  This time it was even more challenging though because Killian was SO tired!

First we met Prince Charming.  Look how huge Kayden's smile is!

Then Cinderella.  She may have worn an Aurora dress this year, but Kayden is in love with Cinderella.

   

Anastasia

 She cracked us up because the girls accidentally bumped into each other and then she told us she would do the same to her sister when she came out.  Sure enough, as soon as her Drizella came out, Anastasia ran straight over and bumped into her.

Lady Tremaine.

Killian entertaining himself before we had to take him out of the dining area.

Peek a boo behind my chair.

Drizzela.  Kayden had such a huge smile the entire time.  This is my favorite character dining.

We left the hotel and decided to take a boat back to our hotel.  Is anyone shocked that there were no boats going to our hotel?  Instead of one boat we had to take a boat to Magic Kingdom and then another one to our hotel.  So much transportation for one day!!!!

My big girls were worn out!