magical....

When the kids got up Friday morning and came into our room (as they always do)we encouraged them all to go together to take Boss on his morning walk.
They found this on the front doorstep.



Elise opened it up, and read the inside to Lila (who was in the middle of a melt down about holding Boss's leash at the time, but whatever....) and Bennett.
It said,

Guess What? You are about to go and get in the car to go to DISNEY WORLD. Put your happy faces on and bring your best manners, and let's have a great time! Can't wait to meet all of you! Love, Mickey

Mickey also left some special bracelets with my cell number on them for the kids to wear all week. They put them on immediately, and were really surprise when we told them the car was packed and we were really leaving. RIGHT NOW!


We made it to Disney!!!
We have been soooo busy and having sooo much fun I have not managed to find a minute to document it, but I am making time tonight because, since this is our scrapbook, I don't want to forget anything about this magical trip!






The kids did great on the car ride on Friday. We made it all the way through, until 5 minutes away from the park, and just stopped and stayed in an inexpensive hotel.





When the kids woke up there were surprises waiting for them, since they had been so good on the car ride! Inside were some key items to have for Disney: a stuffed Mickey, an autograph book/bag, and a big pen.










They were thrilled!!

After a quick breakfast in the room we got dressed and ready for our first big day- we were heading straight to the Magic Kingdom!

Our hotel is wonderful, and so accommodating. Even though we weren't able to check in until the afternoon, we were able to pull up there, unload our car (they stored our luggage for us), and catch the monorail right to the park. So convenient!!! I can't tell you how thrilled we are to be staying on the grounds, and how easy it has made things for us!

I had to fight back the tears as we entered the park...the looks on the kids' faces were priceless....Especially when they saw the castle...

David and I decided our game plan would be to ease into the rides...we weren't really sure what to expect and what the kids would think.

So we headed straight for the classic tea cups!

Success!! Then Dumbo (THEY LOVED)...

...Small World, and Cinderella's Carousel...

Then they got another surprise...{side note: I thought it was pretty funny when Elise told me Friday morning that I am sneaky. In a good way. It finally set in that we had been planning this for a long time, had the car packed, etc....}

When some special friends came running our way as we got off of the carousel....

The Barrois are ALSO in Disney! Yippee!!

David and I talked about it later, and had to laugh at ourselves...we wasted a whole lot of breath on our Friday pep talk about how special it is to get to come to Disney, and how not everyone gets to, how they should be grateful, etc...etc....Well, they know a TON of people here! So, I think that little pep talk went in one ear and out of the other.

After our little Mandeville reunion we headed to lunch at the Crystal Palace- where Winnie the Pooh and gang hang out and greet you.....Here we encountered the first little "hiccup" in our trip. Lila was completely and utterly terrified of the characters.

She spent the whole meal with her head either buried in my shoulder or David's, and then we finally just started taking her away from the table when a character came up....Poor baby!!

Meanwhile Elise and Bennett were LOVING it!!

The great thing about the character meals they offer in Disney (unless your child is like Lila and miserable) is that it entertains them while you eat, allows them some one on one time with characters, which hopefully means you'll spend less time waiting in line for meet in greats in the park and more time doing rides or watching parades, etc...

Other than feeling guilty for torturing our daughter (she has since had an epiphany, I'll will recap later) we really enjoyed it. Especially since Elise and Bennett love it soooooo much.

Let me tell you, no surprise here, but Elise takes her autograph book very seriously. At the top of each page she has written, "I met...." and then, if she has seen their movie, she writes that at the bottom. And she is straight business. She gets that book out, hands it over, and then poses for her picture. She has the system down. Bennett just loves to hug them!

After lunch we did some more rides....and Lila was back to her old self in no time....

Since we are sooo "sneaky" we had another surprise for the kids late in the afternoon. We took a boat from the Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian for the Luau they offer. And we were meeting the Barrois there!

It has been quite an overwhelming day, and with all of the surprises the kids got a little wild at dinner. But, overall we had a great time and really enjoyed the show.....

The girls LOVED getting on stage to learn to hula....

I'll end my day one recap with a family pic. They are hard to come by.....

More memory making to come!