Weekend in Orlando

I'm exhausted. Isn't vacation supposed to be relaxing and rejuvenating? I guess that walking and standing for almost 8 hours straight for 2 days in a row, lugging children and all their stuff, fighting crowds like I've never seen before would do that... Ahhh...Orlando! Ahhh...the sunshine and warm weather (except on Saturday - when the high only got to around 60 something - so the in morning it was only around 40 something). Ahhh...the throngs of people that had the same bright idea as we did and went to a Walt Disney World theme park...

Saturday we went to Epcot. The kids have never been there before, and Jeff and I haven't been for like 16 years. We had reservations in Norway for breakfast with the princesses...so we were literally walking into the theme park as they were opening the gates at 9am. Then...there were crowds of people all in Tomorrowland being held back by a rope. We told some Disney employees that we had reservations for breakfast and they let us through. It was so weird...it was like we owned the park. For about 5 minutes we were seemingly the only family in the entire theme park...until they finally took down the rope and let everyone through. Anyway - here are some pictures from our day at Epcot.

Kendall and Carson looking at a waterfall as we waited our turn to go into breakfast.

Kendall meeting Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) when we first walked into the restaurant.

Carson taking a big-boy sip from Daddy's water glass.

Kendall looking for the princesses as they were making their way through the dining room.

Kendall and Mulan.

Carson & Mulan.

Mulan made a lasting impression with Carson...just look at his cheek. :)

The kids and Jasmine (from Aladdin).

The kids and Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty).

Kendall and Snow White (although Jeff and I think that the girl that played Snow White was by far the prettiest of the princesses...she was also the most aloof...she gave Kendall a hug after this...but it seemed she didn't want to get as close to all the kids as the other princesses).

Kendall standing by a pillar in Italy.

Carson in one of his rare "free" moments (not being strapped into the stroller).

And this is why it was a rare free moment... (no...he didn't make it in the fountain...)

Kendall and her "pirate" hat.

Daddy found a hat he liked too...

While Daddy was riding the Mission Earth ride, I let the kids run around a bit on a little grassy hill.

Overall - Saturday at Epcot was fantastic. It was a little cool in the morning when we got there, and in the evening as we were leaving - but it was beautiful blue skies and there was hardly any crowd there at all. As I was getting Kendall into her pj's that night - she said to me "Mommy, I had a lot of fun today." I said "You did?" She said "Yes. Can we do it again tomorrow?" So cute!!!

So...Sunday we went to Magic Kingdom. It was a little warmer...okay...a LOT warmer that day. The high got into the mid seventies I think. And...the crowd was a LOT bigger!!! There was hardly any room to move it seemed... The lines to ride the rides were a minimum of 30 minutes all the way up to an hour or more! There was even a line to change diapers in the bathrooms!!! And as amazing as it was...we even ran into some friends we knew. With all the thousands and thousands of people that were there on Sunday...we ran into Matt and Kristin D. and their two girls (I didn't even think about taking a picture...which I now regret...). Anyway - here are some pictures from Sunday.

Daddy and Carson on the train.

Mommy and Kendall.

Daddy and Kendall standing in line to ride the tea cups.

Daddy and Kendall in the tea cup getting ready for the ride.

Kendall being unusually still for a moment at an area in Disney for the kids to play on slides, etc.

Carson on Daddy's shoulder's as we waiting in line (do you detect a theme here...) for the carousel.

Kendall waiting in line...

Daddy and Kendall taking a much needed break on a bench. No...that isn't coffee Kendall is drinking...it is milk in a coffee cup.

As exhausted as we all were on Sunday as we were leaving...the kids still managed to show more energy than I would have though they had left on the ferry boat back to the parking area.

If there was any question that we had fun...these videos will show that if nothing else...Kendall had a ton of fun. :)

It took almost the entire walk back to the car to convince her that we had to go home. What finally did it...was telling her that if we stayed at Disney she couldn't play with her train set or play kitchen she got for Christmas. Then...it was okay to go home... What a cutie!!!