I have been somewhat avoiding posting the vacation because we did SOOO much in a week that the task was rather daunting. But, I have some time at the moment and thought two weeks was long enough to wait!
I started talking about going to Disneyworld with Josh about this time last year. I had great memories of it as a kid, and because of McKenna's LOVE of princesses, I thought that it would be great to go before she lost the magic. I also thought the strategy of going the week after labor day would be good to avoid lines and get cheaper prices! I invited my family to come, and we opted to rent a giant house, rather than pay the crazy hotel fees! Ended up being just the perfect trip, aside from the fact that it flew by way too fast!
-our flight left at a reasonable time, but we got to the airport too early and had a snack, she's SO excited--
--after a direct flight to Orlando, we got our rental car and checked into our dream house!--
The first night was fun. We found the house, and thanks to Josh's iphone, we found the combination (apparently I forgot to print that page?) We rented it through vrbo.com and just couldn't have picked a better place! 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom, with plenty of room to spread out and not step on eachother! We went shopping and got some food for lunches and breakfast. That way we were able to eat a little healthier, and far cheaper!
The first day we got up early and made it to the magic kingdom right when it opened!
--the humidity was fogging my lens, but I think you can still see kenna's grin!--
--the first thing we did was buy an autograph book for princesses, I will never forget Kenna's expression when she saw this castle, pure joy!--
--Fantasyland was the first stop, carousel--
--All the girls rode it--
--Daddy and Kenna rode Dumbo (probably the longest line we had to wait in...around 30 minutes)--
--Kenna saw her first 3D movie, LOVED the movie, not the biggest fan of the glasses. She kept giggling and trying to grab what was popping out at her--
--The girls on Snow White....look at that little face--
The only goal I had on this trip was for McKenna to meet the princesses. She had talked about nothing else for weeks! We discovered that 3 of her favorites were in the same meeting place in Toon Town. So after we did Peter Pan, Pooh Bear, and the rest of the rides in FantasyLand, Josh, McKenna and I went to toon town, and the rest of the gang went to Tomorrowland.
Whoever designed this "Princess Meeting Place" was very smart. The three most popular princesses each had a little room. They had about a two minute conversation with each girl and then signed their book and posed for a picture. McKenna was just in awe.
--Cinderella--
--Belle--
--Here is how the room was laid out--
--Sleeping Beauty--
We thought that since we were there we might as well get in the line to meet the fairies as well. I don't know much about the fairies, as I haven't watched the movies, but I think McKenna just liked having them sign her book.
--this is what happens when 4 year olds get sick of posing nicely and saying cheese--
--I love Disney, because every detail is thought about, even the decorations while waiting in line. For the fairies the room got smaller and smaller and the decorations got bigger and bigger, as if you were becoming fairy size--
--Here she is with Tinkerbelle (the only one I recognized?)--
We stopped for lunch and then headed to Frontierland and Adventureland. I was so proud of Kenna as she went on Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster, Splash Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean and wasn't even scared! She loved it!
--trying to decide what her one special souvenir would be--
--no we didn't buy this hat, but should have!--
--The Jungle Cruise--
--Riding Alladin's magic carpets--
--we stumbled upon Pooh and Tigger!--
That evening we decided to head to Epcot as they were having a really neat fireworks and light show. While we were there we did the Nemo ride and the ride that goes through the big ball. For dinner we went to the coral reef which has a HUGE tank that spans the width of the entire restaurant. Sea turtles, dolphin and sting rays would swim right by while you ate! The food was amazing and it was a great choice!
--Coral Reef--
After a very long day, Kenna fell asleep on the way to the firework show. But she woke up and enjoyed it, but zonked right out on the way back to the car. We went for 12 hours that day and she was quite the trooper!
The next morning was one I was really looking forward to. Breakfast with Cinderella! We got to go in her castle and she invited a lot of her princess friends to join us!
--Kenna wanted to dress up so sleeping beauty could see her dress--
--It was so peaceful to get there before the park opened, like we had it all to ourselves!--
--walking up the steps inside the castle--
--she even has her own stained class windows as you climb--
--view from the balcony as cinderella greets her guests--
--taking it all in, the breakfast was actually quite good!--
--Kenna as she is watching the princesses come in--
--all the little girls were waving their wands and making a wish--
--each princess came over and had a little conversation with her. Ariel says "well good morning starfish! Have you been swimming in the ocean today?" Kenna giggles and says...noooo :)
--Snow White advising her to stay away from poisoned apples--
--Sleeping Beauty was so impressed that Kenna dressed up like her, she really made her feel special!--
--these ladies must go to princess posing school! Belle talked about how she couldn't wait to read Kenna's book once her fairytale was written, more giggles--
--after breakfast and a quick change we went outside and met the fairy godmother!--
--and the mean stepmother and stepsisters, they were hilarious yelling "CHEESE" obnoxiously and acting annoyed to be there, we laughed a lot!--
After our breakfast we met up with the rest of my family at Hollywood Studios. This area is really geared more towards older kids, but we found lots to do! Josh and I rode the Aerosmith roller coaster right away, which ended up being my favorite ride. Completely in the dark and blasting Aerosmith music, what could be better?
Later, much to my dismay, I lost the battle of "should McKenna go on Tower of Terror." My vote was of course no, but Josh assured me she would be fine. Well, halfway through the ride she started crying, and by the end she was not happy. Luckily it was over and some quick hugs and a Mickey sucker really cured everything!
--recovering from tower of terror, waiting for Beauty and the Beast to start--
--Kenna LOVED this 20 minutes reenactment of the movie, they sang and danced, and I don't think she blinked the whole time!--
We had fast passes for Toy Story (which was probably the most popular ride in any of the parks, and without the fast pass could have been a two hour wait! As you walk through you shrink to toy size and all the surroundings look really big.
--Kenna waiting in line--
We really like that ride. You shoot 3D creatures and you get your score at the end. Kenna really got into it, and did pretty well! Brandon definitely dominated though...I didn't even come close to his score!
That evening we made it home in time to go swimming again. The house we rented had a pretty good sized pool and Daddy, Kenna and Chelsey spent a good amount of time in it!
--Kenna in her princess floaty--
The next day my family all went to Universal Studios to ride the crazy rollercoasters, while Josh, Kenna and I headed to the beach! It was nice to have a relaxing day with no agenda. Josh did some research and found a great beach right outside of St. Petersburg. It was so beautiful and almost completely deserted!! We changed into our suits and headed for the water.
--Kenna just loved the beach, the birds, the sand, the shells, the water, she may be a beach baby!--
--cheesin for the camera--
--look at ms. attitude digging holes with daddy--
--I am not a beach fan, and even I was enamored with the scenery--
--this is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip, she just had so much fun doing nothing--
--building a sandcastle--
--the only "shade" we could find--
--finished sandcastle complete with moat and seashell decor--
Kenna did not want to leave, but we also didn't want to get sunburned. Apparently I am a lousy sunscreen applyer because poor Josh got really burned on his back (sorry hunny) :( We decided to just bum around town and see what we could see. I did a search on my GPS for shopping and we stumbled upon this cool boardwalk with lots of shops and restaurants.
--entrance to the boardwalk--
--two tiered shopping area--
--I had to take a picture of Kenna's gorgeous sea kissed hair :) --
--having some ice cream--
We attempted to go on a dolphin viewing charter, but unfortunately there weren't enough people interested at going that early in the day, so we were unable to go. But, we did have fun walking around and looking at some of the silly stores.
--second half of the boardwalk--
After surveying our options, we decided to eat at "the hut" for dinner. They were catching fresh grouper in the bay and then filleting it, cooking it, and putting it on my plate. I had a grouper wrap and got my seafood fix for the trip!
--"The Hut"--
--another of my favorite pictures, just so joyful!--
We got back at a decent time again, did bath and bedtime and went to bed early. The next day we went to Sea World. I forgot how amazing these animals could be!
--Shamu--
--feeding the dolphins--
--getting ready to pet a sting wray--
--and after petting it!--
--flamingos just walking along before the dolphin show--
--waiting for dolphins--
--I think the dolphin show was my favorite, the trainers can still swim with them and they are just so smart!--
--silly sea lion show--
--my favorite animal, penguins!--
--more penguins--
--Kenna checking out the big fish--
--orca show--
--its a shame that the trainers aren't allowed in the water, we spoke to one later that says its been a rough year after the death last fall--
--we went to the kiddie section to ride all the rides there, Chelsey is sad that we couldn't all fit in this one--
--checking out the polar bears--
--Kenna actually got to do different movements and the whale responded my waving, rolling and swimming, really smart animals!--
--entering the shark tube!--
--mean looking!--
--this one looks as if he's growling--
After Sea World we went out to dinner then headed home for a quiet evening. We went swimming then Kenna went to bed and we played settlers of catan (one of my fams favorites) and we all called it a night.
Our last day there we decided to just do all the things we liked again. We started the day at Hollywood Studios and rode the Aerosmith rollercoaster about 4 times :) Then we went on Toy Story again, after running to get a fast pass as soon as the park opened! Then my parents took Kenna back to Disneyworld and we headed to Epcot to do all the countries. We had lunch in Morocco and had gilato for dessert in Italy. Then we met back up with my parents in Disneyworld and did the big rides again: Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, etc. On the way to those rides we saw the princess parade, and at one point I was running with the stroller with McKenna shouting, " Mom HURRY you're gonna miss it!!!" Luckily we caught up and Cinderella looked right at Kenna and blew a kiss. She thought that was the coolest thing ever!
After going on all the rides we decided it was time to finally buy kenna the souvenir she had decided on, Belle's dress. Since we have been home she has worn it probably 8 times and absolutely LOVES getting all dressed up! My parents bought her the matching gloves, wand, and crown. It really is quite cute, but also quite ridiculous!
--posing outside the boutique, saying goodbye to Disney--
--all decked out in full princess garb, isn't she gorgeous?--
The next morning was an early one, but we made it to the airport fairly uneventfully. We made it home early and had a great weekend of just relaxing!
--Kenna letting her baby look out the window, she thought this was hilarious!--
The trip flew by way too fast, as I knew it would. We had such a magical and wonderful time looking at something through a 4 year old's eyes! Thank you McKenna for letting us be kids again, and thanks to my family for sharing the memories with us!!
