Whatever moves us...... Disney, Part 2

Ok, so where did I leave off..... Oh right!  Blisters!  So after a walking filled day at Epcot ending in mom hobbling back to the room off the bus, we got our sleep on for many, many hours.  For real, this was almost better than Disney itself.....almost! Seriously though, at what age does sleep rival the fun of Disney?  Evidently 33.

Day 2 was Hollywood studios!!!  We woke up, lounged, showered, had a leisurely breakfast (cause that's what moved us) then onto the park. 

We went to every show we wanted to, walked in whichever direction we wanted to and ate an insanely expensive adult meal....IN DISNEY!  Right?  I didn't even know big kid food was offered there.  It was like being on another planet!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures that day.  They had been calling for rain and I didn't want to risk my good camera getting wet.  I know, I know, I lived in Florida and they call for rain EVERY DAY....I just couldn't bring myself to risk it. 

It was so odd to be able to just run off and ride any ride I wanted to without worrying about my kids, or if it was close to their lunch time.  "Will I have time to do what I want in between what they need/want"  is the mantra of my life and it was SOOO odd to let go of it.  I think this was the day that I finally started to realize that I wasn't living on a schedule.  I kept trying to since I am so insanely used to it.  

Mom did let me go all power hungry with the park map.  Evidently when I am sans kids I feel the need to still control things that don't need controlling.....wait for it...

...'cause it was what moved me.  HA!  Did you see that mom?  Did you see how I used your term to get me out of looking like a control freak?  WOOT WOOT! The reality was that we did what we wanted, when we wanted....

...and it was amazing.

Stay tooned ha ha tuned for day three, the infamous Magic Kingdom!! (yes, this was the day I took pics so there will plenty in the next post.)

It's the little things....

That make me the most proud.  The first time she stabbed a piece of food with a fork and fed herself, the first time she hugged me back, the first day of preschool....

.....the first time I saw her go out of her way for a friend.

I got this email from Natalie's teacher this morning along with the photo. 

Lori,
This was just too cute. . . I had to take a picture and show you!  We were doing a song with clapping.  Natalie all by herself went to a friend to help her clap during the clapping part of the song!  She did it several times! :)

I am a proud mommy and once again amazed by my girl and how much she is growing up.  

Back to Disney part 2 tomorrow.  :)

Whatever moves us...... Disney, Part 1

So this amazing thing happened this year.  After YEARS of missing Disney I managed to make it there twice....

YES, TWICE this year!  WHAT!?  The first time back after almost 15 years was this past July for the Down syndrome convention.  It was awesome beyond awesome BUT we never made it to the parks due to the heat and small kiddlings.

Around 2ish months ago (seriously, who has any sense of time with these things?) my mom randomly calls and is all "We should go to Disney, I'll pay." To this I said "OKLETSGETONTHEPLANERIGHTNOW!"....then I remembered I am a mom and have responsibilities and no sitters.  Insert sound of a bomb dropping slowly here..........

Mom: "We can do a long weekend sort of thing and you can get someone to watch the girls for one day."

Me: "Yeah right, mom's aren't allowed out of the house to go to Disney World.  We are only allowed out for things like hospital visits, doctor appointments and funerals."

Mom: "We can make this work!"

....and by golly she pulled it off.  Mom of the year that I am up and left my children who would love Disney and went without them.  WOOT!

Thank you to our now live in roomy and the second mommy in the house I have always wanted Sabrina, I left on a Friday night and didn't come back until Tuesday afternoon!!!!  WHUCK! That was an insane thing to wrap my brain around!

So we get to the airport Friday night around 6ish and my mom whips out this folder..... It had anything Disney we could ever need.  HILARIOUS!  The secretary in her just can't stop and it completely cracks me up.  It is organized and all but dear lord, she whipped out a stuffed folder FULL of things for 4 days in Disney.  HAHAHA!  LOVE IT!

"Mom, do you know what time the buses come to our hotel b/c I am sure there isn't any other way to find that out at the hotel."  Mom: "SURE!  Let me just check the folder." ....seriously.....for everything. tee hee


We got to our hotel, Riverside at Port Orleans Resort, and just knew we were not in Kansas anymore.  Nothing quite compares to staying on Disney property.  The Riverside section is designed to look like plantations in New Orleans and they totally did!

 The fountain in our courtyard.  aaaaaahhhhh.....the sweet bliss of not having little children to keep out of the water.

This is where we stayed...follow the arrow.


The view back toward the lobby once you stepped out from the building we were in.  Hence "riverside". 


View of the lobby from the water park pool.


....and another view....ok, I'm done.  I should get paid as a Disney advertisement.  

Moving on, the next morning we woke up all ready to take on Disney like women on a mission of fun and relaxation.  We were PUMPED to hit Epcot, to walk where we wanted, go on what we wanted, shop where we wanted and eat where we wanted.....we head to the hotel restaurant for a quick breakfast and...2 HOURS later finally got on our way.  



We both have this teeeeeeeny tiny ehem, issue that we enjoy talking.  Conversations go on for hours and hours and we literally have to make ourselves shut up or else we won't go do anything.  We stayed that whole time enjoying the fact that we could.  This trip was all about doing "whatever moved us" and dang it we did just that.  hahaha

We hit Epcot all day Saturday and enjoyed every bit of doing whatever moved us for our entire first day.  I am not going to go into detail of what we did at every park because, well, I am thinking that anyone besides us doesn't really care which rides we rode when, just that we rode them and had a GREAT time. We got back to the hotel after dinner only to find that mom had worn her shoes a bit too loose and got blisters....wait for it

on the balls of her feet!  AAAAH!  Day one of Disney and we had our first casualty.  She amazingly managed to hobble her way around for the rest of the trip. Disney, being Disney, was extremely accommodating and supplied us with gauzy pads, cleaning wipes and neosporin.  "We are doing this dangit!"