Disney World - Day 6: Epcot

Whew...our last day at Disney World and we were pooped! We "slept in" this morning and didn't get into the park until about 10:30. Even though we had been to Epcot in the past we had never gotten to spend a whole lot of time there. We decided to ride some of our favorite rides including "Soarin'" and "Finding Nemo" but then we wanted to "tour the world" which we had never done. While walking around the world we saw a lot of different characters along the way including Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, and Mulan.








We couldn't leave without saying good-bye to some of favorite characters: Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto! So, after 1 week, 4 parks, 40+ character autographs, and many, many special memories we say "Good-bye Disney World...you truly are one of the happiest and most magical places on earth!!"






I must say a VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to my mom and John for letting us stay with them for the entire week! My mom was a total trooper and went to all 4 parks with us and hung in there after only 3 months after hip surgery! Also, thank you, mom, for giving MacKenzie a special and most memorable birthday! We would not have been able to do all we did without you! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Disney World - Day 5: Magic Kingdom and MacKenzie's Birthday

Day 5 was, as hoped, the best day EVER!! My baby girl turned 5 today and we couldn't have celebrated any better! We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom riding all kinds of rides and meeting a ton of characters. We met a lot of the princesses and you would have thought MacKenzie had died and gone to heaven! She was completely smitten with all of them. Mason thought they were all pretty cute, too! When MacKenzie met her favorite princess, Princess Aurora, (aka Sleeping Beauty) she was speechless! She stood there mesmorized...it was so great!













We topped the night off by having dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine and the evil step sisters. I think that was the highlight of the entire day. The evil step mother and step sisters were the best characters just because they completely stayed "in character" at all times...they were cracking us up!






After all that we went back to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks show and to see Cinderella's castle one more time. I got all sappy at the end and started crying because it was all so much fun! II was also completely exhausted after being in the park for over 14 hours!!)


Happy Birthday MacKenzie! Mommy and Daddy loves you very much!

Disney World - Days 3&4: Animal Kingdom

Day 3 of our vacation consisted of us doing a whole lot of NOTHING, which we greatly needed after going hard for 2 straight days. The kids swam in Nana's pool and they BOTH took a nap...which never happens anymore. It was a good thing, because the next 3 days were what I called "Disney Marathons"!!

Day 4 we got up early and spent the day at Animal Kingdom where we saw all sorts of animals throughout the day including giraffes, hippos, rhinos, elephants, meerkats, antelope, gorillas, and Mason's favorite, the TIGERS!! We also saw the "Lion King" and "Finding Nemo" shows which were fantastic! Jarrod, Nana, and I all rode the roller coaster "Everest" which still makes me nervous thinking about it!!








The kids got to meet a bunch of characters and got all of their autographs. MacKenzie also met the first princess of the week...Pocohantas. I truly believe if all they got to do was meet Disney characters all day long they would have been completely satisfied! Their expressions and reactions to each of the characters was PRICELESS!! They got soooo excited everytime they met a new one! MacKenzie would just hug all of them and didn't want to let go! She also had a special "birthday button" so it really made her day when one of the character pointed to her button to wish her a Happy Birthday! We also met "Guitar Dan" who was this improv guitar player/singer. He came up to us while we were standing in line and made up this entire jingle about MacKenzie and Mason...it was hilarious! I'll try to post the video on facebook. Here are some of the pictures from all the character greetings...