A Supercalifragilistic break from Reality

We just got back from Disney World!  It was the first time for the kids.  It was their first plane ride too; so it was a week of nonstop overwhelming adventure.  Here are just a few of our favorite memories; it's the cute and funny little things that will stay in my mind:

We got off of the plane and got on Disney's Magical Express bus to our resort...Zach was so excited.  Then it was all we could do to keep it together when Audrey stopped in the middle of Main Street staring at Cinderella's Castle for the first time.

Everyone loved Tom Sawyer Island; they could've played there all day; exploring, pretending that bad guys were robbing the Big Thunder Railroad--they thought it was cool that you could see it from the fort.

Sliding down a leaf

The "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground at Hollywood Studios was really cool.  Zach kept asking us, "Am I really tiny?"

Zach finally got to see the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House!  When we asked him what he'd like to see at Disney World, this was his top choice--he's been watching the movie a lot recently and was so cute pointing out everything that he recognized

Johnathan scarfing down a humongo cinnamon bun at the Main Street Bakery.  We stayed up late each night watching fireworks, hanging at Downtown Disney, and late night swimming;  so we slept in as late as we all could each morning.  This was so nice!  Breakfast was always a little later than we are used to, and everyone was always very hungry--good thing because Disney portions are big.

Audrey loved "It's a Small World";  she calls it "A world of Laughter"   It was so cute to watch our shy little girl come out of her shell a little this week and try things.  Sometimes she'd have lots of questions in line, "Is it fast?  is it dark? Is is going to be loud?"  and we'd tell her what it was going to be like and she tried most things--even the Haunted Mansion and the loud racecars! So proud of her.

Mom and Dad Friedrich came down for 3 of the days we were there.  It was really nice to share this time with them.  Poor Zachy got pooped walking all around; he slept through a few long lines and shows.  He was quite the little trooper though.  We didn't take a stroller down; so he walked a lot. 

We loved Epcot!  There's so much cool stuff to see and do--could have spent another day there.  The kids had fun making masks and getting stamps from all of the different countries and the Fireworks there were amazing.  Johnathan loved Mission Space--Scott will tell you not to do this on an empty stomach--took him a while to recover  :)--and Test Track--Johnathan's growing up way too fast!  It was cool to be able to go on the big rides with him.  The food at Epcot is also really good.  We had the quick service dining plan; which worked out really great. There is a place in the Land at Epcot called Sunshine Seasons--my fav.

Waiting for Indiana Jones to start.  Wish I would have gotten a picture of Jonhathan's face when Indy dropped down from the ceiling; it was so cute.

There were a bunch of rides that Zach couldn't get on because of height restrictions; so he was very excited to be able to get on Goofy's Barnstormer

Waiting for the parades to start.  We loved the parades!  The parades were a nice time to sit and talk, get a snack--because we had a bizillion snack credits and look at maps to see where we wanted to go next.  Its a nice way to see a lot of characters at one time--expecially for kids like Audrey who don't want to get too close.  Zach loved giving the charachters that were walking hi-5s.  He was so cute! He wore this pin that the resort gave him practically the whole trip--apparently when they see the "first time to Disney World" pin the characters and staff try to give you attention--so he was always getting hugs and tickles from the characters--his favorite was Stitch.

One of the kids' favorite memories was while we were waiting for the SpectroMagic parade to start one night.  There was a girl putting tape lines down to mark the parade route and they were watching her; she looked up and gave each of them a roll of tape and sat down in the middle of the road in Frontier Land with them and helped them make all sorts of maskng tape creations--snakes, robots, trees--other kids came over and joined in and they were all helping each other make this big scene while people were walking around them wondering what they were doing.  It was funny to watch, and the kids had a great time.

and the best memories of all--the whole family piling onto rides together, laughing together, talking about our favorites, feeling dizzy and ready for the next one

Life is busy around here; so it was so nice to take a break and just enjoy being together. We were so sad to have to come home.  Disney is an amazing place; the resort, the transportation, the take home mugs(funny what kids think is cool; they'd bring these to breakfast and refill them often) Disney got it all right; it was a perfect first visit.