Spring Break -- Magic.

What can I tell you about our amazing and wonderful spring break last week? Well, if you haven't guessed by our first recognizable picture, then I better just tell you:

We went to Disney World. In Florida. And it was AWESOME!! So. Much. Fun!

We drove down, a full 19 hours, two days there and two days back. That's right. 

I won't submit you to the "real time" adventure of our road trip, but instead will show you our kiddos, each indulging in their preferred technological devices...

They were pretty happy to do their own thing most of the time, and scream or bicker the rest of the time. Pretty usual road trip behavior, I gather.

I have to include these wonderful shots of our first hotel in Orlando... Embassy Suites. Look at our lovely view. Brian and I each took turns walking the lovely path around that little pond, complete with piped in music in the lampposts.

The kids loved the pool... here they are heading out.

 And here's our atrium courtyard outside our suite room door...

And now, Let the Memories Begin...
(That's what the sign way back behind us says. Brian wanted a first shot, at the gate. This is what he got.)

 Then, there were the lines. Lots of lines. Lots of sun. Lots of sunscreen. Lots of waiting. Lots of water...

 It should be noted that Natalie did not like the lines.

 And she heartily resisted our restraining orders. There are two pictures of her in this perplexed and frustrated state. But we could have taken 50. My arms are still sore (a week later) from our "restraining"/holding...

 Finally, the rides. Oh, so worth the wait. Every time. But not worth 20 billion pics of us experiencing each and every ride (though you might think that's what we've got here... I've pared it down considerably, believe me.)

 Aside: Did you know, that most mornings as we pulled into the parking lot, the attendants greeted us with, "Have a Magical day!" Hard not to be happy, when it's just such a magical place.

DAY TWO: Animal Kingdom
Before we left, Brian was showing Spencer videos of the different things we could do at Disney. When Spence saw the vids of the animal kingdom, he nervously asked, "But the animals don't eat people, do they??"
Being a sensitive father, Brian answered him with, "Not usually. They just throw one or two people out to be eaten every now and then."
Long, thoughtful pause, then Spencer said, "I don't want to go see the animals."

It took us days to convince poor Spencer that Daddy was just joking and the animals do NOT eat people, and the Animal Kingdom would be a safe, fun place to visit. ha! He was finally talked into it when we told him he could meet up with his buddies, Zach and Parker, while we were there... We spent our Animal Kingdom day walking around with our good friends from here, Adam and Lindsay, and their three kids. Not many pics, but a good time.

Here's Spencer and Parker, on the safari ride...

 And Samantha and Leah, who were bff's the entire day and skipped around holding hands, singing and dancing together all day long. Happy little clams...

 We saw giraffes.

 And fish... Love this pic. :)

 And gorillas. 600 lbs! Huge and fascinating.

And we saw Goofy. A group shot..

DAY THREE: Epcot
We loved Epcot. Here's the big dome, with the super dark Space ride inside. Natalie didn't like it, but we thought it was fun. Rode it twice...

 It was their spring flower festival, and everything was in bloom, and so gorgeously, immaculately groomed...

 Brian made us take this pic in front of a shrub butterfly, with the butterfly house behind us. I balked, because 20-thousand people were trying to walk by on the sidewalk between him and us, and I hate that. But now I like the pic, so, thanks Babe, and sorry I balked. Cool butterfly...

More rides... We loved Nemo, and the whole aquarium after the ride. It was air conditioned, and such a nice break from the 90-degree humidity. (Not to complain, but it was hot!)

A cute shot of Natalie on the move, one of the few times we let her loose from the stroller. She was rampaging around a little playground, which may have been the trip highlight for her??

 Here's US with the big dome in the background. Proves we were actually there, ha! ...

Day FOUR: Magic Kingdom, again.
Back for more rides. We got there as the gates opened, to ride some of the good rides early. The cars...

 Spencer was SUPER excited for his turn on the cars!

 He got to steer, and was ALL OVER THE PLACE! Brian took a little video. If I can get it to load, I'll add it, because it was pretty funny.

 The People Mover was another of Natalie's favorites, though I think she liked Small World best. She likes looking at her surroundings.

Hey look, it's the Castle!... snapped that one as we whizzed by on the People Mover, as it wound around the outside of Space Mountain.

Spencer also loved the Winnie the Pooh ride. Actually, more than the ride, he loved the little playground next to the line waiting for the ride. After we rode, we let them play for nearly an hour. Here's Spence, in Pooh's tree house...

 Samantha, reading all the adventures for herself. I love watching her read. She can't pass a sign without stopping to read every last word!

 Parade! I got lots of backs-of-heads, so there aren't many good pics of the parade. But here's Ariel, waving right at Samantha...

 And we got to meet Mickey and Minnie. Spencer was terrified. (See how he's looking so very tenative and is standing aloof? poor kiddo.) And Natalie was asleep, outside in the stroller. Lucky for her, the Easter Bunny got her a little Minnie soft toy, which is her new love!

 Our last night there, just as we were headed to the fireworks and parade, some workers outside a restaurant stopped us and gave us a HUGE ice cream sundae, with brownies, cakes and cookies inside. Just to be nice! (I think they were closing up shop, and needed to get rid of their last goodies.) It was delicious, and a perfect treat to end our day!

 Waiting for the parade and fireworks, playing Samantha's new favorite, rock-paper-scissors...

 And finally, the show.

 It did NOT disappoint. Except Spencer, who fell asleep about 3 minutes before the fireworks started, and woke up after it was all over. He was very sad to learn he missed it, but even sadder that we woke him up, I think!

This is a boat load of pictures, I know.
But we still have one more half day to go. Ready??

DAY FIVE: Epcot, again.
We loved Epcot. At least, Brian and I did. (And, actually, Samantha's favorite ride was at Epcot -- the mission to mars ride; too intense for pics!)

So, even though we had that 19-hour drive ahead of us for Friday and Saturday, we thought we'd spend just a few more hours visiting the different "Countries" of Epcot again. So fun!

Samantha FINALLY got to meet a princess. (I have a bone to pick with those princesses right now, though I won't get into it here, for how long this post is already.)

And Natalie got one more go on a good playground...

And Spencer got to meet Winnie the Pooh and wasn't even scared! (Progress. Baby steps... maybe next time he'll let Mickey hug him too?)

And Brian and I got to browse around "Morocco" and eat shwarma, couscous, hummus and tabouleh at their scrumptious, expensive cafe. yum!

Guess Samantha did some "browsing" around Morocco, too?

I started taking pictures of the shrub princesses, because it seemed that was the best we were going to get, as far as princesses go. And actually, they were very impressive! Belle and the Beast...

Aurora and Prince Phillip...

Cinderella and Charming...

Spence was more impressed with Lighting...

And Mater...

And Woodie and Buzz... So cool!

 (I'll spare you the many other sculptures... Peter Pan and Hook, the Fairy garden, with Tink and some 10+ other fairies, etc.)

The countries were super fun, to me. And to Brian. We loved the UK. I even bought a REAL English Cadbury Fruit and Nut bar. Ate it before it even had a chance to melt. mmm...

And the last pic I took was of China, which was our last stop.

We finally pulled ourselves away at 4 p.m. and started our 9-hour drive to our hotel. Goodbye Disney. Goodbye, magical, fun, memorable, expensive family vacation! Loved it. (Except the ending, where Spence rode the long drive home with fever of 103 and he and Nat both got hand-foot-mouth disease for the next week. But let's not think about that, amid all this happiness. We'll save that bit for another post, right??)

And now, with all those pics you probably feel like you've been there, eh? Or, maybe now you WANT to go?? Well, let us know and we'll come along!!