No way around it, we had an AMAZING, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disney for Blake's wish! So many memories made, it's hard for me to wrap my mind around how to even blog about it all. I did do some journaling to help me remember everything I want to remember.
We went to Des Moines the night before and stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the airport Sunday night. We hit the shuttle at 4:20 a.m. and checked-in at 4:30 a.m. for our 6 A.M. flight to Chicago.
I have to say that Southwest was awesome to us. Like, a sign up for Blake, a goody bag, getting to sit in the cockpit before take-off awesome. Can't say enough about them!
My highlight going through security was Aaron having to be patted down by the TSA. Our pediasure did look a bit suspicious - LOL! It was the kids' first flights and only our second. I must admit that the flight to Chicago was rough - for Aaron and me! Not the kids, they acted like it was no big deal. Aaron was overheating and I was so nauseous. Clearly the altitude changes aren't kind on my old self!
We landed in Orlando about noon and everything went smoothly from there. A volunteer met us, helped us get our bags and got us to the rental place to pick-up our van.
Since we only had a half day and Aaron hadn't gone to our required orientation at Give Kids the World, we just kind of hung out around GKTW and enjoyed what they had to do there.
Day two was all Magic Kingdom. It was as magical as I had hoped! And it really IS the happiest place on earth!! Here's what we learned: our kids are little ride junkies! Every last one of them. Luckily, the boys were at the 40" requirement for a lot of rides and were able to ride with an adult, which meant the 'fraidy cat mom had to ride with one of the twins. This pic below is the 7D (Seven dwarfs) Mine train. One of our FAVES!
We had to wear our Make-A-Wish buttons every day at the parks and it worked so slick. The workers saw our buttons and we got to go to the fast pass line at Magic Kingdom. I honestly couldn't imagine waiting in line for over an hour for a two minute ride!
The parade at Magic Kingdom was awesome! The floats were beautiful. Bowen loves to read "Beauty and the Beast," so he was stoked to see this float.
This was something super cool that happened. This dwarf spotted Blake and came over to touch his nose and give him a high five. Blake said, "He had big fingers!" LOL Anyway, after the dwarf left, he signaled to Snow White about Blake and she came over and blew kisses to Blake. It was adorable!!
We had to take a break from Magic Kingdom to head back to GKTW. We quickly learned that six hours was the magic number for being at any one place and the twins would be in meltdown city if we pushed our luck. We headed back that night for the fireworks.
Aunt Jill told me she tears up a little when she sees them and I kind of laughed, but she was right!! It was one of my favorite things. I did tear-up a little because they are just amazing! I think I could watch them every night and not get sick of them. Seriously.
Everybody told me to take a lot of photos and I'll be honest - it was kind of hard! Most of the times you were on a ride or with a character, so I did my best, but I still struggled. ;) The picture above is from the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios. It was so fun! We rode it a few times and put it as one of our faves. Thankful for that recommendation from Aunt Mandy!
Our crew in front of the castle. It was St. Patrick's Day which is why we are all in green. Also, not a great idea to be staring into the sun! ;) More posts to come...!
