As a Florida resident, we get sweet deals on certain tourist destinations. Disney World is one place that really offers a good deal. We got tickets for almost half the price it would have been just by being Florida residents. The first time we went down to Disney, it was much harder than we anticipated. This time around, we decided to just take the older two and leave Daniel and Jenna with my mom. It was really hard for me to leave them behind, but wow, what a difference it made. Jenna is the world's easiest baby, for sure, but she's still a baby and needs certain attention. It was nice knowing that all of her and Daniel's needs were being taken care of while we were gone.
We decided to go up to Columbus over Mother's Day weekend. We spent the weekend with my parents and then left from there to go down to Disney. My parents were so gracious to watch Daniel and Jenna. It was great. The weekend was super fun. We went to Country's BBQ on Friday night and listened to the blue grass band play while we ate. Above is a picture of us on the iconic red rocking chair. You just have to take a picture in it while you're there.
The next day, my dad took us down to Market Days in downtown Columbus. It was really neat. There are tons of family owned businesses with little stations set up selling their passions. I got a few baby headbands, some yummy food, and just loved looking at all of the arts and crafts.
We had to stop for a snow cone break, of course.
After a fun Mother's Day, we headed down to Disney with Anna and Andrew. We decided to stay at one of their resorts this time. We found the cheapest one they offered. We got it for $100/night. They shuttle you to whichever park you want too. It's a great deal. With parking being $20/day if you stay outside of the park, we knew this was the way to go. Every time we go to Disney, we are incredibly impressed with how everything is done. They have literally thought of EVERYTHING. It is truly impressive.
Andrew loves making this pose for every picture. We have about one billion pictures of him with his dinosaur hands out.
On the way to Hollywood Studios.
I LOVE having these wristbands. They are linked to your account so you don't need a wallet. You just scan it to buy anything you want. I loved not having to worry about losing my credit cards or cash. It's a great idea.
I probably loved this ride the most. It was super fun and a great first ride of the day.
Andrew looks less than thrilled in this picture but let me assure you, he was having a great time.
We got to meet Jake! The kids thought it was SO cool!
There's that pose again.
The Frozen show was less than impressive. It seemed like quite an afterthought. Anna loved it though. We loved that it was air conditioned!
This Beauty and the Beast show was incredible. The singing and dancing were spot on. One of the best shows there, by far.
We were having such a fun, wonderful day. It was so nice to be able to have some time with just the two of them. We made lots of crazy face pictures.
Love her!
Okay, the funniest and also most embarrassing memory of the trip.... Anna and Andrew both got to pick out one thing to buy while we were there. Anna chose a spray water fan. Smart girl. It was hot. Andrew chose this gun. I'm not super excited about him having a fake gun but we decided it wasn't the end of the world, so we let him get it. For the rest of the trip, Andrew decided to shoot every animal that he saw. He also shot bad guys and anything that got in his way. When we went on the safari trek, he shot every animal there. It was both hilarious and embarrassing. We are not gun people. We don't hunt or anything. I'm sure that all the people there thought we were rednecks and wondered why we would let our little boy bring a gun to a Disney theme park. There's nothing wrong with hunting, for sure, but having a four year old shoot giraffes on a Disney ride is a little crazy. We were dying laughing though.
Anna making a fish face outside of the Ariel ride.
Anna tore it up in the hula hoop contest. She's quite good. Definitely better than her mama.
On the second day we went to Animal Kingdom. Our expectations were really low and we wondered if we should even waste a day there. Were we ever wrong. Animal Kingdom is perfectly geared toward our children's ages. The rides were just right for them and they loved seeing all of the animals.
This fossil playground was a hit. It was so nice because there weren't many people there. That's one great thing about living in FL. We can plan our Disney trips around times when we know it isn't going to be over crowded.
The Finding Nemo Show was my favorite thing we did the whole time we were there. It was incredibly impressive. The costumes and props were so creative and the actors were top of the line. I would have gone to see it again if we had time. We LOVED it.
Andrew was loving all his hunting time.
We did a little dancing in the streets. Super fun in India.
We played some drums in Asia. We were jammin'!
Andrew kept telling me, "Don't worry Mom. I got that one."
The tree of life. The only bad part of the day was going to "It's a Bug's Life." The kids were super scared of it and cried throughout the show.
Anna's giraffe impression. Pretty good if you ask me. ;-)
A little water fun to end the day.
The park was super fun but after the park closed, we had just as much fun back at the hotel. Josh left to get us some food so I stayed with the kids. We didn't bring swimsuits so I told the kids they could just jump in the pool with their clothes on. They were hesitant at first but once they felt the water, they were all in. Literally. It was a perfect night.
We swam until we saw lightning. We ran around taking goofy pictures. We raced to the "Winner's Circle". It was perfect. Simple, but perfect.
We definitely made some great memories that week. We have one day left with our Disney pass and are super excited to go back.
