Finally the last of our Florida Trip

I am finally going to finish up writing about the remainder of our trip. I wish I would have written daily while I was down there because I know I am going to leave something out, but oh well. This is going to be long, but it is all about journaling our experience! Anyways, the last couple of days we went to the Animal Kingdom, Epcot again, MGM studios, and finally The Magic Kingdom one more time.

(Oh and I forgot to mention that Kambryn is walking all over the place now. She loves to get herself up and toddle everywhere! Made going to the parks really pretty enjoyable. Because when she wanted to get out of the stroller, I didn't have to worry about her getting all dirty on the ground. She just walked and was so happy and of course PROUD of herself!)

The Animal Kingdom closed early and so we weren't able to let our little girls get a good morning nap andthat just kindof started off the day alittle bad. This day was hot and HUMID! Yuck! I hate humidity. Well we went on a safari ride and that was pretty fun! Everyone was enjoying it, and surprisingly it was a pretty long ride, at least 15 minutes. But we were all having fun and excited to explore the rest of the park. Unfortunately more and more people also decided that Animal Kingdom was the place to be that day and it was packed!! We had some bad luck with a few rides breaking down either right before we were getting on or else while we were on the ride. Kristen, Kara, Evelyn and myself got stopped ON the rapids ride for about 20 minutes and were finally helped off the ride because it had broken down, that was a first for all of us. However, it was a pretty fun day but also frustrating not being able to get on many rides for about 3 hours. I was pretty excited to be going back to the condo alittle earlier that day and relaxing at the pool and getting the girls into bed early!

We were all pretty worn out from 3 full days of going to the parks that we decided to go back to Epcot and tour around the worlds/countries on the back side of the park. We were able to explore about 10 different countries all in one day! This was a pretty neat thing that we all enjoyed. I couldn't believe the detail that Disney puts into all these mini countries in order for you to get alittle taste of what it really would be like to see or visit that country. We also got to watch some more fireworks that night. I just love fireworks. This time Kambryn loved watching them and didn't get scared at all. I am sure that was just a one time thing and the next firework show will freak her out again! But another fun night at Disneyworld!

Saturday, our 5th day in a row, took us to Hollywood MGM studios. A fun park to visit but definitely didn't have as much rides and attractions as Jantsen would have hoped. A few highlights were: the 2 rides Tower of Terror and Aerosmith Rocking Rollercoaster, the stunt show (racing cars and jumps and fire and the whole works) Beauty and the Beast show (one of my favs of the day), Playhouse Disney show(Jantsen's favorite) and meeting Mater (from the movie Cars).


Meeting Mater actually turned into quite an adventure for the day. Walking into the park I overheard someone say that you could meet Mater that day and of course for Jantsen, a 3 year old boy who absolutely LOVES anything to do with that movie, this was a must for us to do! There were only about 4 different half hour times that Mater was going to be out so you could meet him so we kindof planned our day around those specific times. Our plan was to make it to the stunt show that would end at 2:40 and Mater comes out at 2:30 so Kyle would just leave early with Jantsen and head over there. So we get over there at 2:45 and NO MATER!! Oh I was ticked! I guess he only stayed out for like 10 minutes and then went back. Well we only had one more time that we could see him. So guess what, Kyle stood in line for over 30 minutes to make sure we were going to see him. While him and Jantsen ran to the very end of the park, I went on the roller coaster. (yeah for me! haha...Kyle definitely was dad of the year for making sure Jantsen saw Mater.)
Anyways, I come walking up and I won't forget the look on their faces. First, remember that it is about 90 degrees with about 70% humidity. Anyways, so I come walking up and they are sitting against a dark brown fence with the blazing sun beating down on them and add in the black asphalt, but they are 3rd in line!! Jantsen is just sweating and so is Kyle. Unfortunately for about 25 minutes, until I arrived, Kyle had been just cooking in the sun because he couldn't get out of line and Jantsen was too scared to go sit in the shade without Kyle so both of them are just dying in the heat. I switched places and they were able to spend about 10 minutes under some shade while they drank a Sprite. But I will never forget how determined and how much it meant for not only Jantsen but especially Kyle to be at the front of the line!! He wasn't going to miss it this time! Well Mater finally came out and the look on Jantsen's face made the whole day wonderful! He was pretty excited! Of course the whole "meeting" only lasted about 45 seconds but it was PRICELESS!! That was how we finished the day at Hollywood Studios! We were so hot and sticky and sweaty but it was fun!

We spent Sunday (mother's day) in Tampa with Kyle's aunt. We went to church there and the mom's were given a flower and a cute little book by Spencer W. Kimball. Unfortunately I had to leave the cute potted flower in Tampa. We had a great BBQ and fun hanging out and relaxing. After we drove back into Orlando, we decided to try to head to the Magic Kingdom and watch the parade. Too bad they didn't have a night parade...so we rode the train and watch fireworks, again...I loved it again...and then went back to the condo to pack and get ready to fly out the next day.

We were able to rent another car for way cheap over the weekend. We did this because we were all flying out at different times of the day on Monday. Well Kyle and I got stuck with the little mini convertible, nice you might say, but trying to put all our luggage and strollers and car seats and everything in this little car, not quite as comfortable as the minivan. But we got it all to fit and it worked out just great for us. Since our flight wasn't until 7:00 that night and we had to be out of the condo by 10:00am, Kyle and I decided that we would go back to the Magic Kingdom and just let Jantsen decided what he wanted to do, instead of pulling him in every direction, trying to please everyone like we did before. It was so relaxing and not to mention, the weather was AMAZING!! 80 degrees and about 20 % humidity! Wonderful to spend the day at the park.

Of course Jantsen's first thing he wanted to do was ride the train! We actually could have spent the whole day riding the Monorail from park to park and really he would have been the happiest little boy ever!! The train took us to Mickey's house and so we walked through it, stood in line for about 20 minutes and were able to meet Mickey and Minnie. Jantsen loved it, Kambryn was loving it, as long as she was in my arms. The second I put her down to walk towards Minnie, she gave me the back-of-the-arm-fat deathgrip!

We also went on Buzz Lightyear ride, watched the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor show, rode It's a Small World, a little kid rollercoaster, and then watched the Disney Parade!

We had the perfect spot to watch the parade, right on the corner with no one behind us or in front of us. Jantsen had about 5 different characters come up and give him five or shake his hand, it was awesome! It was just a fun time to spend as a family.

Disneyworld is really the happiest place on earth! We loved this vacation! So much thanks for Kyle's mom for putting it all together and taking us along! Thank you SOO much! We can't wait for 2 years for the next one. However both Kyle and I feel that we needed a vacation from this vacation because of how busy we were the whole time! But we wouldn't change anything! We loved it. Jantsen is still talking about all his memories, bad rides and good rides, parades and characters, he loved it! So that was the trip, Tuesday-Monday going to the Disneyworld Parks!!

It was Kristen's birthday on the 18th and I just want to say Happy Birthday! She is just a wonderful sister-in-law, friend, mother, and a great example to me! I appreciate all the long and fun talks that we have had and I am just so grateful for her! I think she is an amazing mom to her beautiful little Emerson. She is so thoughtful for others, especially little things like birthdays and anniversaries. She is so creative and her home has a wonderful spirit in it. Kristen I know you didn't want anyone to say anything about your birthday or to make it a big deal but it is your day, I just hope you had the best! We love you! Thanks for all you do!