Our Magical Vacation

After Christmas, we travelled to Orlando, Florida, for our family vacation since Levi was arriving during our usual vacation time, Spring Break. We hopped a plane in Memphis heading toward Atlanta, and arrived in Orlando that afternoon. The boys were mesmerized on the planes as we flew through the clouds, and watched the houses and cars on the ground grow smaller and smaller. Once we landed, we boarded the Magical Express bus which dropped us off at the Yacht Club, our WDW resort home for the week.

That first evening we took a shuttle to Downtown Disney and enjoyed dinner and dessert at the Rainforest Cafe. Afterwards, despite the cool temperature outside, the boys had fun playing in the water fountains at Downtown Disney. Since it was already late, we went back "home" for a good night's sleep since we had a busy week in store.

The first park we visited was the Magic Kingdom. Luckily, since I was almost 7 months pregnant, we received a pass to skip to the front of every line, good at all the Disney parks for the remainder of our stay. The highlights of Magic Kingdom were Tom Sawyer Island, the roller coasters, Splash Mountain, and the Jungle Boat where Jonathan drove for the whole tour! We ate lunch at Crystal Palace and visited with all the Pooh characters. The boys paraded through the "forest" behind Winnie the Pooh and friends.

The next day, we were all exhausted; but we got up anyway and headed to Animal Kingdom. The Lion King show and the Bug's Life 4-D experience were our favorite activities. We also sang along to Christmas songs with a group of carolers.

Our third day, we were better rested and spent the day and celebrated Jeff's birthday at Epcot. We had breakfast with Goofy, Minnie Mouse, and Chip 'n' Dale at Cape May Cafe; and later we ate lunch in the Coral Reef Cafe, where we were surrounded by a huge aquarium. We also watched the special New Year's fireworks show at the end of the day.

On New Year's Eve, we hung out at MGM Studios where we watched the Indiana Jones stunt show and another stunt show with cars, motorcycles, and jet skis. Although we were rained on throughout the day, we still had a blast. We ate lunch in a car at Sci-Fi Dine In, and watched bits of old movies and cartoons. That evening Jonathan rode his favorite ride, the Aerosmith roller coaster, we were all awestruck as we watched the Fantasmic light, fountain, and firework show.

After all the action, we slept in on New Year's Day and took it easy. We took the boys to the arcade and spent too much money on video games, but Jonathan came out feeling like a winner because he was able to grab not one, but two, toys from toy grabber game. Then we went back to Downtown Disney and stocked up at Goofy's Candy Store. We also built Mr. Potato Heads (Caleb's Ms. Potato Head is supposed to be me. Do you see the resemblance?) at the toy store and played with Legos at the Lego Superstore. That evening, we walked to the Boardwalk and watched a very talented sideshow performer. We appeased Jeff by waiting for over an hour to eat dinner at ESPN Sport Zone; and I have to say, it was worth it!

We were able to sleep in on our final day before we loaded the bus to head back to the airport. Although we enjoyed our home away from home, we were so tired and ready to get back to our real home. Aaron and Caleb were even excited to get back to school.

Our family had a blast at Disney World and look forward to going back when Levi is older. It truly was a magical vacation.