Monday brought more fall-like weather. The kids were hard to
get out of their warm beds. We got the kids dropped off at school and then I
went back to Lincoln’s school to help in his class. I really don’t get to
interact with him too much since I do spend some time taking kids out in the
hall to work on sight words and reading, but he gets so excited when I’m
coming. For a kid that has had a hard time with time and days of the week, he
knows that I will be in his class on Monday. After I got done there, I ran home
and quickly got ready for a run. I knew I was going to be cutting it close, but
I went ahead and did five miles. I figured my time of exercising outside is
slipping away, so I’m trying to get some miles in. Andrew called as I was
finishing up (he can live track me) and was wondering if I was still getting
the twins since it was 10:55 and they get out at 11. I had planned to just get
straight in the car when I got back to the house and pick them up even though I
was a sweaty mess. He offered to get them though, which worked out.
Earl came for part of the day and almost finished up what is
left to do with the remodel. Jackson had his football banquet that evening.
They were having pizza and drinks and mentioned that if anyone wanted to bring
a dessert, they could. I was going to make cookies, but Jackson and Ellie
really wanted to do it, so they took over and did most of the work. Ty had one
later and said not to tell his mom, but ours were better than hers J. At the banquet, they
showed some highlight films while we ate and then they did a little award
ceremony where every boy got an award. Ellie and Lincoln had to head to soccer
practice during the middle of it but since we were at the Primary school, they
were able to walk to the soccer field just down the street. Jackson received
one of the Most Versatile Defensive Player awards. Between offense and defense,
he and Andrew counted that he played seven different positions over the season.
The head coach put in a lot of work throughout the season organizing everything
and then putting together the banquet which we were appreciative of.
I picked up the kids from soccer and it has become our
routine that since Lincoln gets done first, I bring his library book with me
and we read it while we wait for Ellie. He is really enjoying the Magic
Treehouse series. The next morning was cooler again and I just couldn’t force
myself to ride outside so I just got on the trainer for a quick ride before
going grocery shopping. After school, the twins spent a lot of time playing
with their big boats-the toy of choice for the last few days. I made brownies
for the Parent Teacher Conferences at Ellie’s school. I almost forgot I signed
up to do it, so it was a last-minute thing. Jackson had basketball practice
that night but I was able to squeeze in dinner in between Andrew finishing his
bike ride and practice. Andrew said he would just go to the office after he
dropped him off and just pick him up later. But then Ellie and Lincoln decided
to join him and I think it was mainly to get out of having to clean up after
dinner J.
I was able to finish up most of my packing though and the kids were getting
pretty excited. The twins had a conversation about giving Mickey Mouse a hug
and then the list went on to include Pluto, Goofy and more. Then Wednesday
morning, as we were getting ready for school, Bennett wanted to show me what he
would do when we got to Disney World and he smiled real big, put his hands in
the air and jumped up and down. Their teacher is a big Disney fan and she told
them she was anxious to hear about their trip. I didn’t let them know that they
were missing out on their school Halloween party. I was able to get the house
cleaned, last of the laundry done, dishes cleaned and last minute packing done.
The twins and I also watched some YouTube videos of Mickey’s Not So Scary
Halloween Party.
The twins, Lincoln and Jackson rode with my parents to
Kansas City and left after school. Ellie stayed with Andrew and I and we went
to Ellie and Lincoln’s Parent Teacher Conferences before heading out of town.
We were going to stay at Andy and Autumn’s house that night since they left for
Disney on Wednesday, but Finley had been throwing up the night before we left
so we decided to just get hotel rooms near the airport. We hoped that would
keep any of us from getting sick and wouldn’t have to mess with traffic and
parking since the hotel had a free shuttle. The conferences went well. The kids
are doing great academically and behaviorally. We headed out of town afterwards
and met up with my parents and the other kids at the hotel that night. The
twins had quite a problem settling down and they didn’t go to sleep until
closer to 11:30 and my alarm was set for 5:15. We made it to the airport the
next morning and got checked in without incident. It was the twins first time
on an airplane and they were excited. But first they had to run off some energy
at the airport.
They did well on their first flight and we were excited to
see Lissy when we got off our plane. We ate a quick lunch and then tried to
find our way to the Magical Express-I think we took a few wrong turns, but we
finally made it. We had around a 45-minute ride to our resort, Kidani Village
at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Our rooms were ready, so we were able to get right in
and I got things organized for our stay and for our night at Mickey’s Not So
Scary Halloween Party. The kids were so excited and loved being able to see
different African animals out the windows at the resort. We picked up the
Taylors on our way to the bus stop and then made our way to Magic Kingdom to
use our first Fast Pass to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Although it is not a
big roller coaster, it was enough for the twins, especially since it was their
first time riding any sort of ride like that. I think they were a little scared
but also had fun with it. After that we met up with Andy’s family (Finely was
better but then Briley got sick at this point) at the Liberty Tree Tavern where
we all had dinner reservations, although not all together. Our little family was
seated by ourselves. The twins were getting cold, so we went ahead and put on
their Halloween outfits in preparation for the party.
Throughout the evening we collected candy at the
trick-or-treat spots, rode some rides and watched the fireworks show. The kids
also got to meet “talking” Mickey and they were enamored. We didn’t make it
long enough for the last parade which was at 11:30. It had been a really long
day and the kids really wanted to get to bed. Ellie did stay with my parents to
watch it, though. We had planned to get up early and be at Hollywood Studios
when it opened so that Jackson and Lincoln could sign up for the Jedi Training
but they decided they would rather sleep in rather than do it, so sleep in we
did. While we were getting ready to go, Bennett kept complaining that his
stomach hurt and would just lay around. I kept wishfully thinking it was
tiredness or constipation, rubbed some compounded Phenergan cream on his wrist
and we loaded up to head to the bus stop. Then while we were waiting, he
started complaining again, so we got him out of the stroller and got a bag for
him and he proceeded to throw up. Andrew took him back to the room and that is
where they stayed all day. He threw up a couple more times and slept a lot. The
rest of us spent the morning at Hollywood Studios. I was sad that the twins
were separated and didn’t get to enjoy it all together. Our first Fast Pass was
to Toy Story Mania and Miles loved it. When we finished, some of the green Army
men were in the street and one found Atticus’ squeaky shoes pretty entertaining
and followed him around. We also had a Fast Pass for Tower of Terror and we
convinced Lincoln to go with us. He got nervous in line but he would take those
rides like a champ. Jackson wouldn’t go on it though-he said he had been on it
two times before and didn’t want to do it, but Ellie was all for it. Most of
our group went back to the hotel to rest and go to the pool but Molly and I
stayed with Jackson, Lincoln, Ellie and Briley and we did Star Tours which the
boys loved. Then Jackson and Lincoln got to make their own light sabers.
By the time we got back to the hotel, there wasn’t much time
before my family had to leave again to get to our dinner reservations at Via
Napoli in Epcot. The others had a later dinner with some of the princesses.
Lissy got to join us and she was so lucky. Our bus took a while to show up at
the resort and we had a very thorough back-checker at the entrance to Epcot, so
then we had to sprint all the way to the back of the park to get to our
restaurant. But we made it and were doing okay until Bennett decided to throw
up again soon after our food was served. Lissy and the waiter helped to clean
it up while I took him to the bathroom to get him cleaned up and changed.
Andrew and Lissy didn’t let it bother them too much and kept eating. I went
ahead and took Bennett outside until they were done and they brought me some
Italian donuts. Bennett seemed to feel much better after that. We rode a few of
the smaller rides until the others were out of their dinner and then we did
Mission Space and Test Track. Lincoln decided Mission Space was his favorite.
The twins did Test Track with us and, like with many of the other rides, it
scared them but they had fun and were laughing afterwards.
Saturday morning, we woke up without anyone feeling sick. I
wondered if I was getting sick but it may have just been being tired. We had
breakfast that morning at Epcot at the Garden Grill along with Farmer Mickey,
Pluto and Chip and Dale. The restaurant slowly rotated, which threw some people
for a loop. While we were waiting, Ellie thought she must have been really
tired and dizzy when she didn’t realize the restaurant was rotating. Kaitlin
didn’t realize it until the dinner was almost over. She said she noticed a few
things changing and thought she was going crazy, but was afraid to say
something to someone else. We got to ride Soarin’ after breakfast and with the
upgrades, it was even better. The twins had been dying to make their own
lightsabers after they saw Jackson and Lincoln’s, so I researched the night
before was happy to find a place in Epcot where they could make them. Jackson
and Lincoln helped them and they were so excited. Miles went for green but
Bennett did red. I asked him if he was sure he didn’t want blue and he wanted
the red. Until later that afternoon when he decided he did want blue and cried
about it. That afternoon I started packing up and then we went to the pool. My
parents took most of the kids first, while I was packing and then Jackson and I
headed down. Andrew decided to join us at the last minute. The kids had a lot
fun going down the slides and swimming around. We had several meal credits
left, so we used up quite a few at the pool bar. The twins had not eaten much
at any the meals we had been to and then decided they liked the Uncrustables,
so they blew through several Uncrustable kids meals and ate the most at the
pool than they had eaten the days before. It was also a good time to just sit
around and visit with everyone. We had awesome weather and it was so pleasant
sitting outside.
That evening we went to Magic Kingdom for our final night at
Disney World. We did the Jungle Cruise and I don’t think the twins knew quite
what was going on, especially in the dark. It was pretty busy, so we didn’t get
a lot of rides in. We did get to do one of the kids’ favorites, the tea cups.
And we managed to get on Splash Mountain. We had a fast pass for it but it was
temporarily shut down. It opened up just in time. We also did the Haunted Mansion
and ended with riding Small World with Molly.
We were up pretty late that night making sure everything was
ready to go for the next morning and then we had to be up at 6:15 the next
morning. My parents and Molly had a later flight, but Lissy’s flight was about
the same time as ours so she joined us on the bus ride back to the airport. Our
flight was fine but them it seemed like to took a while to get out of KC and on
our way home. It took a long time for the luggage to come out. They actually
had a backup of luggage on the carousel, so they couldn’t let anymore come out
until that got cleared. Then we got back to the hotel to get our car and it was
over an hour since we had landed until we were on the road. But then we ran
into backed up traffic on 152 and it took forever to get out of Liberty. But
then things were good and we got home around 5.
I am so happy we got to take the kids to Disney World. They
were so excited and looking forward to it. It definitely wasn’t without its
troubles, whining kids, Bennett getting sick and having to stay in the room
most of one day, large crowds and Andrew not wanting to be there, but it was
worth it. Here are a few fun memories…
·
Getting on the plane and Miles saying, “I’m so
excited to meet Mickey,” as he ran down the jetway.
·
The tight grips and terrified faces on the “scarier”
rides followed by the giggles when it was all done.
·
The smiles and excitement when they first met
Mickey. The twins were so excited to give him a hug.
·
Lincoln going on Space Mountain-“It jumbled my
brain.”
·
Miles saying several times on different rides, “Does
this have mountains?”
·
Miles as we were going up a small hill on
Barnstormer after having rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, “Oh no, not dis again.”
·
Heading out to the park and seeing three red
shirts in the elevator as the doors are closing. Then hearing Lincoln yell, “Twins!”
as it started going down. They made it back up and were a tad embarrassed and
were blaming each other.
·
Lincoln trying to get down an escalator that was
going up when we were staying down.
·
Jackson not complaining and going with the flow
for his younger siblings and cousins.
·
Lincoln’s sense of adventure at wanting to try
the new rides and not being afraid.
·
Getting to hang out with family and have fun
together.
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