Disney 2014!!!

We just returned from the greatest place on Earth......DISNEY WORLD!!!! And gracious, what a FUN time we had!!! Our original plan was to leave Wednesday afternoon after school, but we had a "historical" ice storm come in on Tuesday, so we got the heck outta here!!!! When we arrived on Tuesday afternoon, we  headed straight over to Downtown Disney. The girls were really impressed with the Lego village:

 While all of the Lego creatures are so cool, the giant Loch Ness monster takes the cake. I wonder how long it took to build that with Legos???? 

The girls were so excited that McKayla was in Disney also, so we met up with them and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe:

 We ended our night at Downtown Disney with a ride on the carousel:

On Wednesday, we visited Animal Kingdom (and boy was it HOT....it was so weird to think that we were sweating in our shorts while our family and friends back home were getting blasted with ice!!). Like a goon, I left my camera in the car, but Daddy saved the day with his camera-phone!!!

 The "Flying Dinosaur" was our first-ever ride together as a family of 5!! :) 

 Nora also rode her first REAL rollercoaster.....she was NOT a fan (yet). She screamed and held on to her Daddy the entire time!! :)

 We met up with McKayla again to ride the safari:

 This was Ella's favorite ride. She told us "animal facts" throughout the whole ride that blew Josh and I away. She's such a smart little girl. I wouldn't be surprised if she were a veterinarian one day. :)

 Clairy preferred a nap over seeing the safari-animals :)

 And we were OFF!!! We saw a ton of groovy creatures up-close-and-personal :)

 After riding a few more rides, digging a few fossils........ 

 .....and visiting the Tree of Life......

 We headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool :)

The following day (Thursday), we headed over to the Magic Kingdom.....OUR FAVORITE!!

 My favorite ride of all time is "It's a Small World." Josh makes fun of me (he's mirroring my excitement in this next picture), but I don't care. I think it's GREAT and beautiful. The girls were in awe with it, too!! 

 We ran into "Claira-Bell" the Cow!! Thankfully, our Claira-Bell was asleep or should would've been screaming bloody-murder..... :) 

 Riding the magic carpets:

 Watching the parade:

 We met up with McKayla again to ride the teacups:

 "WE'RE SPINNING SO FAST!!!" 

 Here we are on the "People Mover".....can you spy Aunt Deb in the back??? :)

 Since we have had an infant/toddler in our lives for the past 7+ years (on top of the fact that we are "early birds"), we have never been able to experience any of the parks at night. Our goal this year was to visit the parks during the night. After a 2.5 hour nap for all, we FINALLY got to see the "nighttime" Magic Kingdom, and boy, are we glad we did!! It's like a whole new park!!  (Note: Nora got a bit chilly, so leave it to Daddy to give her the shirt off his back). :)

 But before venturing too far, Daddy and I had to make a pit-stop at Starbucks if we were going to make it!! As you can see, it was PACKED with parents who needed a caffeine-fix!!

 We got to see the fireworks show which was truly unreal. I think that's where Disney gets the term "magical." So many times, we asked each other, "How do they do that?" I couldn't get any decent pictures of the fireworks, but the castle at night was breathtaking....

 After the fireworks, the kingdom was pretty much empty, so we got to ride every ride with no wait. SCORE!! Here we are at Winnie the Pooh:

 .....and the carousel.... 

 Big girl..... 

 Such a FABULOUS time at the Magic Kingdom!! It never disappoints!! 

The next day (Friday) was Valentine's Day!! We started our day with a Valentine's Day breakfast, including red velvet pancakes!!

 We, then, ventured over to Epcot (Daddy's favorite park). Clairy kept calling it the "Big Ball." :) 

 When we arrived, we were greeted by Pluto, and many other characters!! 

 Nora was most excited about Mickey Mouse!! Claira also LOVES Mickey, but she wouldn't get too close. :) 

 One of my favorite pictures EVER. True excitement!!!!

 We had to ride "Planet Earth" several times.....

 Watching the "Water Dance" :) 

 The aquariums at "Finding Nemo" :)

 Always so many surprises "Around the World" at Epcot!! 

 Just like the previous day, we wanted to experience Epcot at NIGHT since we have never been able to do that before. After another long nap, we arrived back to Epcot at sunset: 

 The "backwards fountain" was beautiful at night.... 

 And so were the AMAZING fireworks (the pictures don't even come close to doing them justice. It's a must-see!!)

Our final excursion (Saturday) was at Hollywood Studios:

Most of the rides revolve around movies, but I think the kids loved the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground the best :)

While the girls played with the large ants and what-not, Clairy fell asleep while eating her sucker.....you KNOW she's tired if she does that!!

Only my children would plead to join a hula-hoop party at Disney World.....they do have some mad hula skills, though!!

On the "Great Movie Ride," Josh was thrilled that they had a John Wayne portion.....whatever.....

Finally, when it was time to leave to head back home, our kids looked like this within 5 minutes. While Disney is always so much fun, it is quite exhausting!!

And for anyone who wants to know if we got the infamous pose of the past.....

 .....here's the 2014 version. BAM!! :)

Cheers to the MOUSE, and to many more Disney memories!!!