DisneyWorld

Two weeks before Christmas the four of us packed up and drove to Orlando for our first family vacation to DisneyWorld. We were gone five nights and enjoyed every, well, almost every, minute of it. Considering all we did in a short period of time the boys did amazingly well which made for a great vacation. We headed out on Friday afternoon, stopped for lunch and dinner and made it to our condo around 10pm I think. On Saturday morning we hung out at the condo, played on the playground, ate lunch and napped. We discovered what a climber Joshua can be at the playground-only 11 months old and already has no fear.
When we got up we headed out to Magic Kingdom. Nicholas was very excited to see Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse. That's all he talked about for the longest time. We headed straight to the back of the park where we rode on Dumbo, Pluto's roller coaster and met up with Minnie and Mickey Mouse. Nicholas really wanted to see them, but once we got in to take our pictures he got all shy and wouldn't go near them. When he did he had his head held down and wouldn't even smile. We ended up getting in the picture with him and did catch a smile, but it was just funny the way he was acting. He then didn't want to leave. Strange boy.

Sunday we headed to Animal Kingdom. We walked through the jungle, took a safari ride and watched the Nemo show. The kids loved it all and us too. It was so much fun to see the excitement and amazement on their faces. Joshua even clapped during the show once we got him settled down in our laps that is. Nicholas was excited to see Dory, Nemo and Marlin and enjoyed seeing live animals. His favorite was the hippos, although we caught him sleeping. Oh well.

After naps and dinner we went to Downtown Disney. We got some dessert from the Ghiradelli store and Nicholas rode on the train and carousel a few times. We then headed to the Lego store where Burt and Nicholas built a car to race and Joshua crawled around trying to find the smallest pieces he could of course. I was able to divert him to the larger pieces though which was good. He was just happy to be out of the stroller moving about I think.

Monday we headed back to Magic Kingdom. We rode some of the same rides and some new ones. Burt and Nicholas headed to the cars and tea cups while Joshua ate his breakfast. Then we went to see Minnie and Mickey again. The boys still weren't interested in taking pictures really. We tried though. We rode some more rides, ate lunch and then went to take naps.
After naps we returned to Magic Kingdom and headed to the other side of the park where Nicholas danced to some music in the tiki pole thingies (he would have stayed their forever too), rode the Jungle Ride, Its a Small World (both boys loved it, although Burt didn't want to go, but how can you not?), and something else I can't remember now. Then we went to have dinner where we found a place with cool music and not a lot of people so we were able to enjoy our meal while the boys ran around the tables near us. It was very relaxing. Then we headed outside to watch the fireworks. Everyone enjoyed watching them. It was a long evening, but well worth it. We all konked out once we got back to our condo.
Tuesday morning it was very warm in Florida, go figure. We decided we would head to the pool and spend the morning playing in the water and going around the lazy river. It was so much fun and felt like a real vacation at that point. The boys loved being outside in the pool and we enjoyed ourselves too. It definitely wore them out that's for sure.
After we ate lunch they went down for naps and when we tried to get them up to go to MGM for the evening they were so passed out we could hardly wake them up. In hindsight we should have let them sleep more and just hung out at the pool again, but we got them up and headed to MGM.

We visited Disney's Playhouse which the boys loved. It is interactive which is great. They both really got into it. We also watched the 3-D Kermit Show and saw the musical Christmas light show, plus saw Mater and Lightening McQueen. Nicholas played with the "big scary robot" outside of Star Wars and they almost made it on that ride, but he just missed being tall enough. It was a short evening, but we made the most of it. We headed home and got ready to leave the next day.
The ride home went a little smoother since we left earlier and only had to stop for lunch and a short potty break. We made it home in time for dinner which was nice. The vacation was so much fun. Nicholas probably had the most fun riding on the train, bus and tram. Everytime we saw them he got all excited and never wanted to get off once we were on. And the only souvenier he wanted was a big lollipop. That was fine by us, although we did buy him a shirt too. Oh to be a child again. Joshua enjoyed himself too, as far as we could tell and Burt and I had a great time hanging out as a family for a week. Hopefully we will be able to do it again soon. It was definitely well worth the trip. DisneyWorld is fun for anyone at any age.