We are back from our trip to Disney World. It was a quick trip that went VERY quickly like all vacations do, but we had a great time and got a lot in considering we had two small children along! This post has a lot of pics, but it was hard to choose which ones to put on here:-).
It was obviously different not having my mom there. Every other time I've been to Disney (which is probably around 20 times) I've gone with her so I missed having her there. She would have loved going to Disney for the first time with her grandkids, but I'm pretty sure that while we were at "The Happiest Place on Earth" she was still having a much better time at the happiest place anywhere--Heaven:-). Joyce came along and the night before we got there her and my dad got engaged!! I am so happy that my dad has met a new life partner who makes him very happy! They plan on getting married in the fall.
The rest of my fam left on Thursday, but Joe doesn't have much vacation time, so we met them down there on Friday. Here we are leaving home...
Here is Layla on her first bus ride (I think) on the transfer bus that took us to the airport (we left from Detroit)...
And here she is on her first plane ride. She did great! She was a little crabby part of the trip until she fell asleep on Joe. She isn't used to sleeping on people--she likes to be laying down in a crib--but after she cried a bit she fell asleep and slept most of the ride. We sat by a lady that had a granddaughter Layla's size (not Layla's age--5 months younger:-D) that held and played with Layla for a bit. It was nice:-). So far Layla loves most strangers! She got lots of attention from strangers (as babies always do). A few times people around her on the bus would be talking about her and she'd be "talking" and sqealing with delight at the attention. Then if they started ignoring her she'd start "talking" and clapping again as if saying, 'Look at me please!!!'. She definitely is not shy so far!!
She loved exploring the hotel room. She always picks up the smallest little things--so any crumb on the carpet goes right towards her mouth--it's disgusting!
I was trying to get a pic of her with her "towel buddies" but she took the ink pen out right as I was going to take the picture--looks like she's trying to sing into it:-).
Posing in front of our hotel before going out the evening that we got there...
We ate at one of our favorite places in Orlando, Chevy's, and then shopped for a bit at an outlet mall. What would vacation be without shopping? :-) Oh, yeah, and I have to wear that splint on my wrist for 3-5 weeks! I went to the doctor the week before we left because my wrist had been hurting for about a month and was getting worse. Turns out I have De Quervain's Tenosynovitis (stuff around my tendons in my wrist are immflamed)--I must have gotten it doing something and then it just kept getting worse doing things like carrying Layla and her stroller, her carseat, washing her bottles, etc. Pretty much I blame Layla for it:-). Hopefully the splint works and my wrist will feel better in a few weeks!
Saturday was Magic Kingdom day. Layla enjoyed watching the birds outside of our room before leaving in the morning.
Waiting to go on Layla's (and Gavin's) first Disney bus!
Getting closer to getting in!
We're on on way in...it was REALLY busy!!
We of course had to get the traditional castle pic...
And we of course had to stop to enjoy a healthy breakfast...yes, that's my chocolate
cupcake muffin:-).
Again infront of the castle...
Layla's first ride was one of Mommy and Daddy's favorites--Pirates of the Caribbean...
Enjoying one of our favorite Magic Kingdom traditions...Dole Whips, yum!!
Posing with Captain Hook and Smee...
We went back to our hotel late in the afternoon so that the kids could nap. Here we are waiting to get back on the bus...
We came back at night with my dad and Joyce...
We ended up taking turns going on most of the rides as Layla would often be sleeping in her stroller when we wanted to go on a ride or it'd be a ride that she wouldn't enjoy. Thankfully Em doesn't like roller coasters so she waited with the kids while Mike, Joe and I went on the roller coasters at each of the parks.
Gavin and Layla in their Mickey/Minnie pj's and holding their Pirate Mickey/Minnie that were a gift from my dad and Joyce...
Sunday we headed to Hollywood Studios...
Layla and Gavin spent some time playing at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground--it's more for older kids so they had to make sure they didn't get trampled on:-).
Layla enjoyed listening to the High School Musical show (the rest of the fam was at a different show)...
Layla loved napping and relaxing in her stroller. I searched high and low trying to find the perfect stroller for the trip and this Baby Trend Trendsport worked out great! I wanted a light weight stroller that had the features of a full size stroller--apparently there isn't a huge market for that because there aren't many out there! I saw a TON of people with this same stroller in Disney--they must have found out too that this is one of the only strollers that meets those requirements.
In the afternoon we came back and went to the pool. We thought Layla would love it since she loves sitting in the bath tub...we were wrong. It might have just been because she was already tired and crabby, but she did not like the water! We only went once to try it out since we stayed so busy! Hopefully this summer we can try again and she likes it better!
Monday we went to the Animal Kingdom...
Layla went on her first safari!
She was pretty tired out from all the excitement by the end of it...
Finally she got to meet Minnie!!! As you can tell she didn't love the real Minnie as much as she loves her Minnie dolls:-)...
She got better with the characters after they stopped touching her...she did not appreciate that...
Joyce and Goofy goofying around:-)
We had perfect weather the whole time except for a few brief showers on Monday. It stopped raining by the time we put on our ponchos and stroller rain covers:-). We got these ponchos last time we were at the Animal Kingdom and it rained--good thing we took them along!
This is how Gavin spent a lot of the trip:-)...
Monday night Joyce and my dad were nice enough to watch Layla so that Joe and I could go to Epcot. The rest of the fam had been there Thursday night and all day Friday before we got there so they just ordered take out and ate at the hotel. We were only gone about 3 hours, but we got in 4 rides and ate twice which I thought was pretty good considering how busy everything was!
We enjoyed some sushi in "Japan"...
And then some tacos in "Mexico"...
Tuesday morning we ate breakfast at the Contemporary and had some time before our flight took off so we took the Monorail to get there...
Em and Gavin showing off their Mickey tees...
Me and Layla wearing our Minnie garb...
Both kids at the airport displaying how excited they were to go to Disney! :-)
She did great on the plane ride back besides pooping twice--one of which was a blow out. That was a challenge to change in the tiny airplane bathrooms without a changing table!! But we survived:-). She got her first pair of wings which I was going to take a picture of but my camera died!! Apparently my lens broke. So if anyone knows of a place that can repair cameras, let me know. Canon charges $100 just for the labor to look at it plus then whatever parts it needs!
We had a great trip and even though I know that Layla won't remember it, I love having her first pictures with Mickey and the gang. She definitely was tired from the trip--she's been napping a ton since we've been back!! Minnie wore her out!!
