fun in orlando!!!

ok. this might be the longest post ever. i do have a lot to include and i will try not to forget anything for you. here we go...

DAY ONE

we left on sunday the 3rd for the airport. our flight was supposed to leave at 1pm. the day prior was when dallas had all that bad weather and when the dallas cowboy's practice tent collapsed. well, of course our layover was in dallas. so our flight was originally delayed 30 min., then after 30 min. the plane hadnt arrived yet. so we waited, and waited, and waited. we finally took off for dallas at around 2:15pm. by the time we landed in texas, our connector flight to orlando was supposed to take off in 15 minutes. GREAT!!!! i figure, no big deal, we will hurry off the plane and hopefully the gate wont be too far away. WRONG!!!! the gate was on the other side of the airport. we had to take a train/shuttle to get there. imagine this picture...me running through the airport holding my purse, the laptop, jj's backpack, and ellie's hot pink carseat; jj holding his carseat running behind me; my mom carrying ellie while holding her bag and ellie's backpack. we must have been a site to behold. needless to say, we arrived at the gate 10 minutes too late. the flight left without us. WONDERFUL!!! luckily the next flight to orlando was only 1 1/2 hours later and we all had seats. so we took our time and ate dinner at mcdonalds. meanwhile i am trying to call our car service to tell them we didnt make the flight and that we would be late. all i was able to do was leave messages. hopefully they will still be there. doubtful, but maybe!! by the time we arrive in orlando it is 12:20am local time. the kids hadnt slept on any of the flights and i knew they were very tired. when we came down the escalator, low and behold, there was the car service!!! yay!!! after about a 20 minute drive and the driver talking our ears off, we finally arrived at the hotel. i figured that since it was 1am and jesse had to present the next day at the conference at 8am, he would be sleeping, but no he was wide awake. the kids were dying to see him. they both fell asleep right away. we bunked them both in a double bed the whole time and they did surprisingly well. we were all exhausted, but excited for what the week had in store. NOTE: my mom went with us. she was a huge help to us. thanks mom.

DAY TWO

the original plan was that we were supposed to start our 3 day park tickets on monday and go thru wednesday and have thursday be our rest day. since we were sooooo tired from our flights, we decided to make monday our rest day. we walked to IHOP for breakfast and came back and went swimming for a couple hours. the kids had a blast. jj was jumping in the pool with his floaties and goggles on. he was having so much fun. ellie was really scared to get in the water because she thought that alligators and sharks were in there. after many minutes of convincing her they werent. she would get in only with a death grip around my neck. we sunbathed for awhile and went up to the room for lunch. there were soooo many bugs at the pool. it was gross. 

before we left, i had faxed a local grocery store a shopping list for us. they pulled the items and all we had to do was go and pick them up. luckily, jesse did that for us the day before so we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. it was just enough to tide us over for dinner. after, the kids took naps and when we woke up we all went to downtown disney for dinner at planet hollywood. the wait wasnt long at all and we had good seats too. i even had a coupon for a free appetizer. you know me and how cheap, (i mean frugal), i am. after dinner, we walked for awhile around the shops. the first place we came to had men on stilts and dancing. they were pulling passerbyers in and making them dance with them. of course, they chose us and the kids loved it. they made us pose and then we did the chicken dance. it was fun!! we ate ice cream and a churro for dessert and jj ran through one of those jumping fountains out of the ground. he tried to chase the water around until he finally caught it and got soaked. i mean reallly soaked!!! i took off his shirt and rung it out. then he was freezing. came back to the hotel and went to bed. we had a big day ahead of us at magic kingdom tomorrow!!!!!!

DAY THREE

we didnt stay at a disney hotel, but our hotel still had a complimentary shuttle service to take us to and from the parks. well actually only magic kingdom, but then once your there, you either take the monorail or a bus to get to the other parks. we actually arrived just in time to see magic kingdom open. they threw "pixie dust" (confetti) to celebrate the opening for the day. once we were in, we saw daisy duck. ellie loves daisy. at disneyland we are never able to find her. she only comes out in the early morning and we always miss her. ellie even wore her daisy shirt that day so she was in heaven when she got her picture taken with her. while we were in line, we saw mary poppins too. both ellie and jj love that movie. mary poppins chatted with them for awhile and told them to look for bert on the rooftops. well that was it, they were completely focused the rest of the day on finding bert on the rooftops. everywhere we went, "i dont see bert!!" "he's not there!". we managed to see a small firework show at the castle, go on dumbo, see ariel, see mickey and minnie, and three princesses all before lunch!!! 

i think we really lucked out, the park was not very crowded. we only waited 15 min. for dumbo and get this...20 min. for the princesses!!!! at disneyland, i have waited 1 1/2 hours for them for ellie. for those of you who know, ellie's fav. princess is sleeping beauty. she says it like this "seeping booby". we have never seen her at disneyland either, we always get the other ones. well, again, it was our lucky day because we walk in and we see cinderella, belle, and "seeping booby". ellie gasps and is soooo excited to see them. we were able to ride the speedway (formerly autopia), buzz lightyear, the stitch ride, and the laugh floor with mike from monsters inc. after those we were able to see the tail end of the parade as we made our way towards adventureland. we went through the swiss family treehouse, saw the country bear jamboree, and went on haunted mansion before heading back towards the exit. we wanted to ride small world and we literally walked straight on the boat. no stopping. then we rode the carousel and made our way back towards the exit. we were exhausted and the kids were cranky. we did all this by 5pm. we were waiting to take the monorail back to the shuttle stop when the driver invited us to sit up front. it was awesome. he even gave the kids co-pilot cards. we were pooped when we got back to the hotel. we ate pizza, swam a bit and called it a day. i forgot to mention how hot and humid it was. i think that was the worst day of the week as far as the heat goes.

 

jj and ellie at cinderellas castle. ellie didnt want to smile for the picture.

DAY FOUR

jesse was done with his conference and we were able to go to the animal kingdom with him. he had been looking forward to going to this park. he isnt the walking in the heat, taking in the crowds type of person. he does really like animals, just like jj, so this was the perfect park. jj knows soooo much about animals its weird. 

we took the shuttle to the park and headed towards the safari ride. you ride in a safari type vehicle/truck and go through the park. seriously awesome!!!!! it was kind of scary and cool because there were no fences, except for the hippos, rhino and crocs. we were really close to so many animals. at one point, an ostrich was walking in the middle of the road causing a back up of the trucks. it was pretty funny. when we got to the giraffes, one was right in front of us eating. so cool!!! the lions were sleeping when we saw them. after that we saw the gorillas and made our way towards asia. jesse, me and jj rode the water raft ride. we got pretty wet but not soaked. thank goodness. the picture below shows jesse on the left, jj in the middle, and me on the right. the ride was a nice cooldown for us in the heat. we walked around and saw the tigers (jesse and jj's fav.) and bats. the bats were neat and disgusting at the same time. they were huge. their bodies were as big as a large cat. their wings looked like they had latex wrapped around their arms. after asia, we made our way to dinoland usa and jesse and jj rode dinosaur the ride. me, my mom, and ellie made our way towards rainforest cafe for lunch. we had to eat and leave the park by 1:30 so jesse could catch his flight back home. 

by the time jesse and jj met us for lunch, the place was packed. they said the ride was scary and loud. probably too much for jj, but he made it through. at rainforest cafe, every 20 min. there is an "animal earthquake" where all the fake animals started moving and chattering. we were sitting directly in front of the gorillas. when the gorillas started up, you would have thought ellie wanted to disappear into the ground. she was mid-sentence when she heard them. she stopped and dove into my arms for me to protect her. she didnt want to look at them. once it was done, we explained that they were stuck to the ground and they werent real. then she was fine. she even explained to other children sitting near our tables, who were scared that they werent real and they were stuck to the ground. her advice didnt help them much. we came back to the hotel and took naps. jesse left for the airport soon after we came back to the hotel.  after naps we ate sandwiches by the pool and then went swimming. jj is getting really good at being in the water. hopefully swim lessons this summer will help him a lot. as we turned the lights off for bed, jj got the giggles. he compared himself to the old man from mary poppins who laughed so much he floated to the ceiling. finally we fell asleep around 10pm. one more day of walt disney world to come!!!!

jesse in black sitting next to jj and me on the other side of him.

DAY FIVE

looking back at all the parks, we definitely saved the best for last. EPCOT is awesome!!!!!!!!!

again, we arrived at the park very early (when it opened) and started our day. they have a really cool innoventions center where the kids can experiment, observe, touch, listen, play, and do anything else they can think of with different science stuff. jj and i sat in a 3d stormtracker film. it simulates a hurricane and goes over how to make your house safe. we signed up for a kim possible secret mission. we then rode the coolest rides ever!!!!! mission: space was awesome. it simulates like you are going up into space on the shuttle. you have mission control alerting you when certain buttons should be pushed so that you land on mars safely. you can even choose whether you want a more milder journey or an intense one. next we went on spaceship earth. its the ride in the big white sphere, epcot is famous for. it takes you into space and based on what you put into their computer, it tells you what your future might look like. they have a section of the park dedicated to nemo and friends. they have a ride through an aquarium   (similar to the nemo submarine ride at disneyland) and turtle talk with crush. we have never been able to sit through that experience at california adventure. so we were glad that we were able to experience that.the show allows the kids to interact with crush and ask him questions. the kids sit on a carpet up front and the parents sit on bleachers behind them. so the parents and kids are separated until the end of the show. before the show, i told jj and ellie to wait for me when its over on the carpet. dont move!! i will find you. i cannot begin to tell you how proud i am of my kids. they were the only ones who stayed on the carpet cross-legged waiting until their parents arrived. it was great. they actually listened to me!!!!! 

they also had a huge aquarium with manatees, fish, sea turtles, and a dolphin. so awesome for the kids. we ate lunch and made our way towards the world showcase area. before we got there the kids got masks to decorate and a passport so that when they go to the different countries they will get their passports stamped and add a charm to their masks. each country is represented by restaurants, stores, gardens, architecture, clothes, and music that show what they are all about. it was sooo interesting. it gave the kids a sense that they were visiting each of these countries. we went to mexico, norway, china, germany, italy, usa, france, morocco, united kingdom, canada, and japan. it was kind of funny to hear the kids ask "where are we going next?" and then hearing our response "we are going to japan next, we are almost there."

the kim possible secret mission gave us a phone with secret clues leading us to find a certain item in each country. it was all interactive and very fun, but it was soooo time consuming. we only lasted one country and then gave up. that was another great thing they have for the kids to do there. we left around 6pm and we were all pooped. we barely made our shuttle back to the hotel and then we packed for our airplane adventure back home. epcot was the best park by far!!!! i highly recommend it to people. i have always heard great things about it but to experience it was something else.  

gaga donna and the kids

jj and ellie posing with our local newspaper in front of the sphere. hopefully this picture will make it in the paper. i will keep you guys posted.

jj and ellie looking absolutely adorable in japan. this picture makes me laugh because the moment we got back to the stroller, they both started fighting and crying. at least i captured the best moment on film!!! :)

DAY SIX

we had to get up at 5am east coast time and be ready for our car service pick up by 6 so we would be at the airport with plenty of time. when we were checking our luggage and getting our boarding passes, i had to change our seats because my mom would be stuck with both kids rather than one and one. i asked the man to help us and he came back and said he wasnt able to get us two together in coach but was able to get us in first class together FOR FREE!!! yes, you heard me right, for free. i have never sat in first class. i was sooooo excited until i boarded the plane and realized that united doesnt have first class like other airlines do. they still had three seats to each side but they gave us 5 extra inches in leg room. that is not what i wanted. i wanted to sit in the huge leather big butt chairs. nothing like that. oh well, maybe next time. the kids fell asleep most of the flight. we connected in denver this time and were home by 1pm local time. when we got home, we relaxed for a bit before i started unpacking and sorting through loads and loads of laundry. fun times!!!! 

we did have an extraordinary time on vacation. we were lucky that my mom went with us to help and jesse was blessed enough to present at the conference. he did an amazing job!!! he already has gotten phone calls regarding him speaking. he even had an article written about him and his school in the daily press (high desert area newspaper). it was neat.  we are glad to be home and to have had such great memories of our trip. at least jj will remember it when he gets older, but maybe not ellie. we do have pictures though. if you do want to see all our pictures, check out my facebook page under photos. 

things we discovered or learned in orlando:

*you know when you are in the south when you ask for iced tea to drink and they ask "sweetened or unsweetened?"

*ellie needs a nap EVERYDAY!!!!!

*ellie must do everything on her own, even if it takes 10 years to pick out her clothes.

*90 degree heat and humidity give my kids heat rash all over their bodies.

*jj LOVES the pool!

*spf 50 sunscreen keeps my children from burning but doesnt keep them from tanning. so nice!!!!!!

*disneyworld is much less crowded in may than disneyland is. 

*i have never heard so many british accents in one place in my life. (i have never been to england so i can still say that)

*jj is obsessed with disney pin trading. he would exit the stroller no matter how fast it was moving. if there was any person wearing pins to trade in the vicinity he was outta there and gone.