Here’s a peek into our first day at Disney, pool side!  Our resort was full of nature everywhere!  It was literally breath-taking!  We enjoyed just being outside and taking it all in; sights, smells, all of it!

The girls loved the water wheel!  It was attached to a big pole that went inside the dining room, and the energy from the water pushing the wheel spun around an entire table up in the air over the room.  It was so cool!  The girls kept wanting to go inside and then back outside to check out how it worked!

 

They were playing Disney music (of course) and had lots and lots of fun pool games and prizes for the kids!  The girls kept saying, “This is the best pool party ever!”  So cool!

Rose and a friend she made had this huge toddler-friendly pool all to themselves, surrounded by beautiful pines that reminded me of East Texas; I had no idea there were pine trees at Disney!  I guess I was just taken aback at all the nature we saw.  I just thought it would be lines and concrete and lots of people, but it was no that at all.  Taking time to enjoy the natural beauty was a huge gift; So thankful!

 

The pool was awesome!  We swam several nights when we got back to the resort.  The hot tub was hot, hot, hot (just the way I like it), and all the Disney pools are heated.  The kids were in heaven!

 

Anna Kate was so excited they had life jackets and swam all around the pool feeling confident and safe!  She has come so far in the water this year!  We’re so proud of her!

  

Rose loved walking around the stars and freezing when the music stopped.  She made it pretty far in the game too!  I love that she is starting to really get everything around her, participate and have fun!  I am getting it that she is not a baby anymore, parts of me are so excited for her, and other parts of me are so sad that she is growing up so fast.  No matter what, she will always be my sweet baby Rose.  And Noelle was just hamming it up and having a ball!  With Noelle, it’s always a party and a great time!

Our riverside neighbors put their balloons outside in the bushes for all of us to enjoy!  So thoughtful!  The pink Minnie inside the clear balloon was a hit with our girls!  Thankfully, we didn’t have to lug one around because none of the girls picked a balloon for their prize!  We let the girls each pick one special souvenir; They could pick anything they wanted.  As it turns out, each girl picked something totally different and on different days too.  More on that to come!

I did Noelle and my toes the day before we left, and when we all got our sandals on, Rara’s toes were almost the exact same color!  I love all of our Disney sandals!  If you’re not detail-oriented, you may miss this part about Disney, but see all of the little dots and holes in the pavement?  At the Dumbo ride (elephant), they had peanuts in the holes on the ground.  Walking into Ariel’s grotto, there are sea shells ever so many steps.  There’s no way you can notice all the detail and thought put into everything.  Nothing is missing.  Nothing is off.  It’s simply amazing!

Here’s the river side of our resort.  We loved eating our quick service meals at the resort dining room.  During each meal, the kids had a parade through the dining room with instruments and sang a song Disney had made up just for the resort!  *Best tip I got for dining – if you have a meal plan, get all adult entrees with your quick service meals.  The kid’s meals are smaller portions, and for quick service, they don’t differentiate between kid’s meals and adult meals.  For table service, they do, but not quick service.  Also, you get free mugs for free drinks anytime at your resort if you are on a dining plan.  So, use your mugs for drinks during quick service meals at your resort, and get water bottles as your quick service meal drink to take with you to the parks each day.  That way you aren’t using your snack credits for bottled water!  Just little tips I appreciated knowing ahead of time I wanted to pass along in case it might help.  And we shared a lot!  We would get 3 quick service meals for the 6 of us and split it up.  That was more than enough!  We ended up not having to pay any extra for food other than tips, which is a pretty penny (about $25-30 every table service meal), so plan for that!

Down at the River si-e-i-e-i-d…

Our late night flight didn’t stop these girls from getting up at the crack of dawn to start our first day at Disney, pool side!

 

Rose is not a morning person, just like her Mommy!  We were so thankful for this extra day and how everything worked out.  My first Disney trip tip would be to go a day early to just relax and enjoy the resort.  That way you are rested from your day of travel before you jump right into all of the action.  This wasn’t planned for us, but it worked out sooo much better this way!

*If your little ones are into soft blankets, the brand Tralala, makes the most amazingly soft blankets with silk around the edges that won’t fray but is still super soft.  They are SO expensive, but when I did a Google search and found these Disney colored “kankys” for $25, I was so excited!  At home, we only have one of these blankets, and Rose sleeps with it on top of her every single night, so washing it is hard to do.  Now, we have 3, so everyone has one and we were all comfy cozy at Disney!  We took these blankets in a bag with us everywhere.  You never know when the kids are going to get cold (the Disney buses, which no one can avoid, get pretty chilly), so that minimized some late night melt-downs for us. Lol!

We were so excited a dream that we’ve wished for for a long time was finally coming true!  Mike and I have never been to Disney World, so we all couldn’t wait to experience all of the magic!  We even got a bonus day!  Luckily, Mike checked on our flight two days before our departure and found out our flight had been cancelled; It all worked out though!  We caught a flight the night before we were supposed to leave, giving us an extra day to enjoy our resort at Disney!

This is what excitement looks like right here!

  

  

The girls were so excited to see our airplane before we boarded!

 

Silly girl!

What do you do at midnight in the Orlando airport when you are waiting on your bags, the airport is empty, and you are Disney bound?  Dance your little heart out, of course!

 

 

We were so excited to get a Princess and a Frog themed room!  It was freshly remodeled and spelled like hard wood.  It felt like being at a fancy summer camp.  Anna Kate was the one who chose to sleep beside the crocodile each night!

 

Mike and I have wished to go to Disneyworld all of our lives.  Neither of us have ever been.  During our last 10 years of marriage, we talked about going from time to time, but we wanted to take all of our kids, so we decided to wait until the timing was just right for each one of our girls to experience the wonder and magic of such a once in a lifetime experience, especially as little princesses! 

We couldn’t say last February, but instead of taking a 10 year anniversary vacation, we were saving for this dream to come true, and last week, it did!  I’ve wished for a trip to this iconic fairytale land all of my life, and I can honestly say, it lived up to my dreams, and then some.  It was worth the wait!  As a family, we are so grateful for this experience that we got to share together and don’t take a moment of it for granted.  Words can’t describe the beauty, wonder and fun of it all!  Watching the girls experience the magic through the eyes of a child was my favorite part!  And seeing them so happy and alive!  Mike and my glances of pure joy back and forth to each other while watching them revel in feeling special, loved, beautiful, and important made me the happiest wife and mother in the world!  Rara came with us too, and that was incredible in and of itself!  We could not have gone without her, as it would have physically been impossible.  She pushed me in a wheel chair the last 3 days, otherwise I would not have been able to keep up due to my health problems.  I’m beyond thankful for her love for us!

With all of that being said, of course, we took WAY too many pictures.  I spent a couple of hours during nap time earlier this week looking at our pictures for the first time, and that was all I had time to do.  I don’t know how to even get started.  I was a little disappointed in our camera.  The flash broke for part of the trip, and we have lots of pictures that just didn’t turn out.  The memories are so much more alive, vivid and colorful to me than the pictures.  I guess real life is just better, but pictures help kids remember experiences, and that’s why I enjoy taking them.  I’m planning to post and post and post, because this blog is first, for the girls, and I want them to remember this trip and enjoy looking at their pictures digitally for years to come, so if you get Disney-ed out, check back around Christmas.  I’ll probably be through posting by then!

*After I post all of our pictures, I’m going to post more pictures from our Disney PhotoPass that their photographers took of us.  They are super cute, but I have to edit them before I can download them to our computer, so that is on my Post Disney Recovery list, lol!

We had such a fun Halloween evening trick-or-treating with our neighbors and family.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story!  Fun times!

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Love, Pumpkin Pond (Rose, 2/12 years old), Jessie (Anna Kate, 4 1/2 years old), and Groovy Girl (Noelle 7 1/2 years old)