Magical Moments- Day 6 and Day 7

Day 6- Magic Kingdom and Epcot

Tuesday was our last full day there. Since we had the opportunity to visit all the parks, we decided we would use Tuesday to go back and finish up several sections at Magic Kingdom and Epcot that we didn't get to do earlier in the week.

We once again arrived at Magic Kingdom before the gates opened.

 Once the park opened, we headed for the Tomorrowland section. The adults took turns riding Space Mountain- an indoor roller coaster in the dark. While Jim and Oscar rode it, Kristina and I took the kids on a Buzz Lightyear ride. They liked it so much that when Kristina and I rode it, the guys took the kids on it for a second time. It worked out great.

The Buzz Lightyear ride. 

Posing with Stitch

Couldn't get enough of all the sights. 

On the People Mover! Sweet smiles!

The crew!

Waiting for our lunch reservation.

It was a Winnie the Pooh and crew character meal. 

She was O.U.T!

Taking in the show in front of the castle. 

At the souvenir shop

After lunch at Magic Kingdom we then rode the monorail over to Epcot.  The boys were SO excited to finally be able to ride it. Jacob had been asking all week. 

At Epcot

Best Buddies! I love how Luke has his arm around Annie!

Since this was our last night at Disney, we decided to stay up for the firework show at Epcot at 9:00. It was SO nice not to have to rush out of the park by 6:30 so we could get back to the hotel in enough time to get the kids down by 8:00. We got to do several other rides and shows at Epcot after dinner. We then headed back to Germany and visited our favorite sweet shop. I guess the Germans are known for their caramel because they had the best caramel desserts there. My favorite was the caramel apple with peanuts and the best was an oatmeal cookie with chunks of apple and caramel on top! We happily used up our snack credits at this little shop. Yummy! 

We enjoyed our sweet treats right on the lake waiting for the fireworks. They do a great job with their firework show and the kids loved it. We strategically watched the fireworks by the back exit of the park so that we could slip right out when they were over and walk back to the hotel. We were able to get back, get the kids bathed and in bed by 10:00! 

Day 7--Bye Bye Disney

We ended up having one meal credit left on our meal plan so we used it for breakfast Wednesday morning before we headed to the airport. We went to one last character meal in the hotel that connected to ours, The Beach Club.

After breakfast we had about an hour to go back to the room and pack our bags. We had connecting rooms with Kristina's family and the kids had a blast being able to so easily go to each other's room all week. They had more fun playing in both rooms. After we got packed up, we took the Magical Express bus to the airport.  

We made it back safely to DFW thanks to an easy, on-time flight. Miss Sarah slept for most of the flight and the boys kept themselves entertained and were great travelers! And, all of our bags made it. Yea! Kristina's family caught a connecting flight back to Tyler from DFW so we said our goodbyes and were on our way back home!

It's always good to get back home but it's never fun having to readjust back to normal life and come out of vacation mode. There is nothing like being on vacation. We absolutely love it. It can be a lot of work with the kids being so little but they love it just as much as we do so it makes it all worth it! 

We are so thankful we got to go to Disney again. This time with Kristina's family. We've never done a trip together like this before so it was unique and special in so many ways. We made the best memories and the kids had a BLAST being together. They got along GREAT and truly enjoyed each other and everything around them. Despite the few mishaps we had, we are thankful everything went as smoothly as it did. 

Magical Moments- Day 5

Day 5--Animal Kingdom

Monday morning we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day in Florida. Such a nice sight after the rainy, rainy day we had the day before. We took the bus over to Animal Kingdom and had another fabulous day.

Anxiously awaiting the bus to take us to the park. 

Enjoying the bus ride. 

Animal Kingdom is the one park we didn't go to last year. For some reason I had the impression that Animal Kingdom would be similar to a zoo. But boy was I wrong. It was a fantastic park with lots to see and do.  Here we are standing in front of the Tree of Life. A beautiful tree!

A close-up of the carvings on the tree. 

It really was such a sunny day that Sarah wore her little sunglasses for awhile.

Enjoying a little train ride around part of the park. 

The African Safari ride was one of the few rides where we saw animals. It was a really well done ride. We road on these safari cars and saw some amazing animals.

They really did a great job transforming this land into a "safari". We saw lots of different animals up-close which the kids loved.

We actually had to stop several times and wait for the giraffes to get off the road. So cool!

We had lunch reservations at The Tuscan House. A buffet with African type food. It was a little different but fun to try different things. 

 This was another character meal and the kids loved seeing all their favorite pals dressed up in their safari-gear.

 Sarah really was such a trooper. Napping on the go whether it was in the stroller or several days she ended up falling asleep during lunch and slept in the booth next to me. We first had to adjust to the eastern time zone then two days later we had to adjust again to daylight savings time. I think Sarah felt the time changes the most but we tried hard to make sure she got the rest she needed during the day and at night.

 Luke was also such a trooper. Normally, he still naps 2-3 times a week. I was a little concerned about how he would do being on the go all day for 7 days and probably not really able to get a decent nap in. However he did wonderful. He napped only 2 of the days we were there and both were for 20 minutes sleeping like this. But he really was fine and such a sweet little trooper!

An awesome roller coaster- Expedition Everest. 

Sarah and her Aunt Kristina. 

I love this picture of Luke!

Let's just say, after we got home from this trip I had to get a massage from sore muscles from carrying  our backpack and Sarah! Whew- my arms definitely got a good workout this week!

There was a little carnival area,  Dinoland USA where the kids enjoyed lots of rides. There was one ride,  The Primeval Swirl ride that only Jacob and Gabriel were tall enough to ride. It was a little roller coaster that they loved and ended up riding it twice. 

Snack break as we waited for the rest of the gang to come off the Dinosaur ride. Jacob, Gabriel and Annie did NOT like this ride (it was a bit scary).  However, Luke and Grace were all for riding it a second time and loved it! At one point during the ride the first time, Annie was crying and Luke looked over and asked her why she was crying. Somehow, he didn't think it was scary. Our little brave boy! 

They had a really great play area for the kids here. One side was a huge playground and the other side was this little area, the Boneyard Playgound where you could dig for fossils. So nice for the kids to be able to run around and play for awhile.

What would a day be without a little extra excitement?  I had given my phone to Sarah so she could watch a video so she would stay seated while we were walking through the park to head to our first ride. Once we got to the ride, I went to get my phone and couldn't find it. Jim calls it and we don't hear it ring anywhere. So he and I back track our steps all the way back to the front of the park while we leave the kids with Kristina and crew. We didn't spot it anywhere. We had only been in the park about 30 minutes at this point. So we thought we should go ahead and check the lost and found. We head to their administration offices, wait in line and finally get to talk to someone. We tell him the story and he goes to the back to check the lost and found and comes walking out with my phone in his hand! I couldn't believe it! All our prayers to St. Anthony had paid off! What a relief. 

Next up- Day 6- Magic Kingdom and Epcot