DISNEY and SEA WORLD!!!!! Part 1

Right after our trip to Indiana, we decided to surprise the boys and told them that we were going to go on an airplane to a very special place.  (Alex was the only one who was really aware of what was going on.)
Once we arrived at our destination, we set up shop at our hotel.  That next morning, we got ready as usual and packed the boys in the car.  As we were driving towards our destination, we pointed to a big sign and asked Alex what characters he saw, to which he emphatically stated, "Mickey Mouse!!!""  We said to him, "That's right, Alex!!  We're going to go to DISNEY WORLD and SEA WORLD!!!!!"  It was so great to see his reaction.  He was so excited!  (Plus, I was just really surprised that Joseph kept this secret as long as he did...he's not very good at keeping secrets because he gets so excited himself.)
We were in Orlando from December 2-6.

Me and William in the airport. 
A HUGE thanks goes out to Erin Long for
letting us borrow her Ergo baby carrier (best
baby carrier by far).  If she hadn't lent it to us,
we wouldn't have been able to get through the airport,
the plane ride, or survive in the theme parks.

THANKS MAMA!!!!

Alex and Elmo at the airport, waiting for
Joseph to get the rental car.

Little did this kid know that he had a
HUGE surprise waiting for him that next morning.  :)

Alex's reaction to his big surprise!

Magic Kingdom, here we come!!  This was our first full day in Orlando.

Alex, Joseph, and William on the tram that took us
from the parking lot to the monorail.

Inside the Magic Kingdom!  "Let the Memories Begin!"

Me and the boys on Main Street!  I love Disney! :)
The weather was absolutely perfect!  We went from
chilly Indiana weather to sunny and upper 70s in Florida.
PERFECT!  Not too hot and not too cold.

Our first stop was Pirates of the Caribbean.
This was one of Alex's favorite rides because he likes
the song that's played throughout the ride.
Here's Alex, holding up his imaginary sword and
shouting, "YARRRR!"

Here's Alex with some busts from the Haunted Mansion ride.
They had some pretty cool, interactive things to play with while we
were waiting in line for the ride.  Luckily, we went during the first week
of December, so the longest we had to wait for a ride was about 15 minutes!!

Joseph and William, in line for the Haunted Mansion.

Here's Alex playing an organ while waiting to get
on the ride.

You could touch each instrument and it would play the sound!

Me and Alex, getting ready to go on a
magic carpet ride!!

My men on Aladdin's carpet ride.

Me and the boys in front of the Little Mermaid ride.

We were so excited to take Alex on
the Little Mermaid ride because it was brand
new and Alex loves the movie.  (He thinks
the seagull and Sebastian the crab are hilarious.)
While we were on the ride, there were some
technical difficulties, so we were stuck in one
room of the ride for a little bit.

Ariel and Prince Eric

Scuttle, the seagull, one of Alex's favorite
characters from the movie.

After an eventful morning of walking around the
park, we decided to take a quick snack break
in the new portion of the park.

After our snack, we stopped by "Enchanted Tales
With Belle."  (From Beauty and the Beast).
We weren't familiar with this, because it was new,
so we decided to check it out since it was interactive.
Here's Alex playing some checkers in Belle's cottage.

Here's the talking bureau that told us what
the children were going to do during the
interactive story hour.  The animation was really neat.

Alex was chosen from the group to portray
"Chip" which was a teacup character from the movie.
His role was to hop up and down when prompted.
He made a very cute Chip.  :)

Here's the bureau telling us what was going to happen.

Here's our little actor in action!

Princess Belle with Alex on the right.

She was very sweet with him and he was so excited!

There's our little "Chip!"

Alex got to hold hands with Princess Belle and walk around the room.

Alex with Princess Belle.

She gave him a bookmark for his troubles.  :)

Our little munchkins.

Awww!  Snuggle time :)

Love these guys :)

Fruit snacks time :)
Whenever we're out and about, we always have fresh cut fruit for
the boys to snack on.  It's never good to go out of the house unprepared
with little kiddos...temper tantrums a-plenty if you do.  :)

Cinderella's castle

Me and the boys in front of Cinderella's castle.

Joseph and the boys waiting for our character lunch at the Crystal Palace!
We were so excited to surprise the boys, yet again, and waited to tell
them that we were going to have lunch with Winnie the Pooh and his friends!!

The restaurant decorated the table with Mickey Mouse confetti
in honor of William's birthday and even had the characters sign a birthday
card for him!  What a treat!

Alex, Tigger, and William.  (Tigger is Alex's
favorite character from Winnie the Pooh.)

We were SO surprised at how into the characters
William seemed to be!  He was just as
excited as Alex was, once each one came to our table.

Since William reacted so well to the characters, we decided to book
a character lunch for the next day.  We figured that at least we'd get
some good food and wouldn't have to wait in line for forever just
to get pictures with each individual character.  Plus, the kids got some great
one-on-one time with their favorites!

Next up was Piglet!  I love how bashful he looked while he was
waiting to catch William's attention.  Meanwhile, William was still
cracking up because of Tigger.

Alex loved giving each of the characters a giant hug.

Awwww!

We loved seeing William's reaction.

Alex and William with Piglet.

Alex and Eeyore.

It's like they were old friends.  :)

It seems as if William was having a deep conversation with Eeyore.

Alex loved snuggling with the characters.

Alex, Winnie the Pooh, and William!!  Alex was so thrilled.

Alex got up and marched in a little parade around the restaurant
with the characters.

After the parade, Alex wanted to take pictures
with the Winnie the Pooh floral arrangements.

Once we got back to the table, the restaurant had given William a
birthday cupcake as dessert.  How sweet!  :)

William only ate a little bit of it because
he had had quite a bit of food at the buffet earlier.

Parade time!

Alex was beyond thrilled to have a front row seat to
the parade so that he could high-five all of the characters
as they passed by.

Alex, playing in Winnie the Pooh's home.

Alex with some honey pots.

He thought it was SO cool to be in
Winnie the Pooh's home.

The Mad Tea Party ride!!  (One of my favorites
because Alice in Wonderland is my favorite Disney movie.)

Joseph and Alex at the Mad Tea Party.

Family Selfie!!  (With William playing with
Alex's teeth...what a sneaky little guy.)

HA!  Here's our little family on the
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride
where you get your own gun and have to shoot
at the targets throughout the ride.
Let's just say that Joseph and I got somewhat
competitive.  Can you tell by the looks on our faces?
I will say, I had a very wiggly William in my lap,
so I demand a rematch, Jojo!!

Me, William, and Alex on the People Moverride in Tomorrowland.

Time go to home!  I loved how they
lit up Cinderella's Castle during the winter.

Main Street all lit up at night.

Alex, checking out the moving holiday scenes
in a store-front window.

I am most definitely one of those people that absolutely loves Disney.  As soon as I walk onto Main Street, I am immediately transformed to being a kid again.  Goosebumps are all over me and the exciting jitters course through my being.  What's even better is seeing the excitement through our childrens' eyes.  Months later, and Alex is still talking about this trip as if it happened just yesterday.  He still shares the same excitement as he did when he was there experiencing it. 
It was so great to get away on this little excursion with our family and to create new memories that we'll share for years to come.  Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki