That's What She Said: The Big Disney Vacation

After months of planning, our Disney vacation has come and gone. On the one hand, it was a much-needed break from sress and work and everyday life. One the other hand, it was hotter than hell and we were constantly on the go so it wasn't really relaxing. But having all that time with the kids and Seth - time together that we don't usually get - was really great. We are very blessed to have a wonderful and beautiful family. For as hot as it was, the kids were SO good, really didn't complain too much, and had a great time. Hearing Abby say, "This is the best birthday ever!" and seeing the smiles on thier faces all week long made it all worth it.

I have a TON of pictures - 775 to be exact. I can't believe we took that many. I will not be posting all of those on here, but hopefully over the next few days I will post a little from each day to give you a sense of what we did. So...here is the first installation.

I took Thursday, June 11, off work to get ready for the trip. I literally spent all day cleaning, packing, doing laundry, and running around trying to get last minute things. I swear I spent so much time on this vacation it was exhausting. Thursday night (after the kids took baths) we started celebrating Abby's birthday a bit. We wanted her to be able to open some presents so she opened a couple from us and some from Seth's family.

Abby got a lot of books this year, which is great because she loves to read.

Adam helping Abby open her ballerina Barbie.

We had the kids get to bed shortly after because we had to get up super early on Friday, the 12th. I think Seth and I had our alarms set for 4 a.m. and we had to leave the house by 5. Our flight was at 7 - so early.

This is Abby and Adam on the plane. You can see Abby was all smiles and Adam, not so much. This will be a recurring theme throughout the vacation pictures. Adam will not smile on cue so it looks like he is miserable the entire time, but I guarantee you, he was not. I think he's just stubborn! Abby, though, will smile at anything!

We brought our little DVD player so the kids could keep entertained on the plane. This is them watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

This is Seth, Abby and Adam on Disney's Magical Express, the bus that takes you from the airport in Orlando to the resort.

Abby and Adam on the bus. There's one of the few smiles you'll see out of Adam that we actually caught on camera. After we checked in our resort, The Boardwalk Inn, we went to Animal Kingdom.

Here is the entrance.

This is the tree that is the centerpiece of the park.

Abby and Adam at the park.

Me, Abby and Adam in front of "Mount Everest" (way in the background - this is part of the big roller coaster there called Expedition Everest. We didn't get to ride it - it's hard to ride the big rides when the kids aren't tall enough or don't want to ride them).