Orlando 2013

We did it. We took our first family trip to Disney World. It. Was. Awesome. And also exhausting. Very, very exhausting.

At the last minute Adam and I decided to suck ut up and fly because our kids are demons in the car. A trip to Columbus is painful enough, 7

times that would result in me wanting to leave my kids at a gas station somewhere in the south and walk the opposite direction. I figured

we may as well start the trip off still liking our kids, so Merry Christmas kiddies! They did great, even made buddies! Nori wears

5hrs of sleep well, obvi.

The real reason we went to Florida was for my cousin’s wedding. It was the only day it rained and man it poured ALLL day. But quit

just in time for their outdoor ceremony and reception! It was beautiful! Since I was off duty I consciously forced myself to observe and enjoy

and not take any pics. But now I have nothing to show for her wedding. Doh.

Spent Ali’s 2nd angelversary relaxing with “the Southern Tracys.” It was great to see them since only big occasions bring us together

and aren’t often enough. Our couple days together were lovely!

And then the boys were ready for Mickey! (Yes, Poppi ensured I packed Nico’s matching outfit. Yes, that’s so adorable.)

My aunt Judy had all these made for the kids. Our other cousin’s kids had them too but we didn’t get to see them in their hats!The kids sleeping schedules were all sorts of crazy after leaving too early after the late night of Halloween. So when we finally got to

the happiest place on Earth…they were only kinda happy about it. Right after this picture was our first parade so the “meeeeh”

quickly became “woooohoooo!”

As expected, I was emotional. Parades and music and laughter and excitement! It’s so wonderful and overwhelming. I mean, I cried

the last time I was in Disney with Ali, Ben and a crapton of high schoolers and that was before I was even a Mom! Besides the fact I can cry at

anything heart warming these days, I was also up against the sadness of missing Ali. We all had our moments. Moments we were angry

she wasn’t there (physically) with us. The moment we looked at Olivia in her Cinderella costume hugging a real life Cinderella and were

so sad Ali wasn’t there clapping and giggling for her girl. We are certain Ali would have insisted on the bibbidi bobbidi boutique

makeover for all the girls. And the moments we realized it’s been two whole years since we last saw her. Two years?! We were exactly where

we should have been, though. All together in a wonderful place. She would want that.

The Incredibles character seemed big but looks like a giant next to poor Mia and Britt. HA!

Small World holds a special place in our hearts. One of those rides you remember as a kid. It was practically pitch black at parts but I had to catch their expressions. Thank God for the MarkIII and 12k+ iso capability!

This is the only ride I rode all weekend. I don’t do rides. I don’t like to go fast. I don’t like to spin. Puke annnd puke. If you really want to know, it’s also

part of the reason I don’t drink. It just faareaks me out not to be in complete control of my body. And now you now.

Bahahaha. I love this guy. If it’s not obvi, he’s displaying his love for the MomJeans in front of him.

Nonni used a wheelchair so she could keep up. It was really just an open invitation for my Poppi to goof off. Shocking.The 3 big kids powered through every day but these 3 got to crash. I was jealous.

Until I was going through these, I completely missed Brittany in the background. HAHAH! And thanks for the photobomb, Mr. Worker.

I didn’t realize till after sunset that we didn’t take pics with the real camera in front of the castle.

He drove banged me back n forth around the Speedway. Hilarious. He was so proud of himself.

Perfect depiction of Nico. Sprinting away from the crowd. I reeeeeally wanted to leash him but we never caved.

He wouldn’t stop running from Adam, so he pinned him to the wall. He clearly enjoyed it. Little snot.

We got to Animal kingdom an hour before close. We clearly didn’t plan well that day. But just in time for closing parade, so pretty!As we walked in I asked an employee what’s the best thing to see with so little time. They said “definitely do the safari!!” So we did and it was well

worth it. Beautiful lands and wowsas! The animals were right next to us. Like reach out and pet a rhino!

Brian decided to keep his hands in the vehicle. 🙂

We even had to stop for a herd of these guys to walk in front of us.As we walked out, we saw this full perfect rainbow. I wasn’t able to get the whole thing with the lens I had but it was gorgeous.

Immmma gonna puuuke.

We didn’t meet Mickey till our 3rd and last day in Magical Kingdom. He actually talked through a voice box and blinked. Completely

unexpected since the other masked characters don’t talk.I just loved all the parades. So cool.

FOUR TRIES AND STILL NO SUCCESS.

There is a picture of my dad and uncle right around these same ages. So we had to stop and get it for my folks since they’d already left.

Olivia participated with Belle and her story time. Looks like Nico and Belle are sharing a moment. 😀At the end of the night they do a light show on the castle. There is something like this at Music Hall in Cincy but this was way cooler.

So my favorite part of Disney? Doing yoga with the characters. We didn’t meet that many because of lines, but all the ones we did were

way up for it. In yoga class before we left, we joked with our yogi friends that we would get a character to pose for them. We kinda took

it a step further.  All the kids couldn’t wait to see them pose with us. We had to keep it simple, especially because we weren’t sure the

reaction we’d get and with the long lines of people staring at us, we didn’t want to be annoying.

Sleeping beauty’s best squat. I suppose a corset is hard to get low in.

I got fresh with Jessie. HA! I guess I’m actually her seat in “chair pose.” 😉

Rapunzel was my favorite. She was super sweet and not annoying like the princess next to her. AhhemmSnowWhite.

We couldn’t break Snow White. She actually made me a little angry. In her high pitched ooo’s and ahhh’s she insisted they don’t do yoga in

her kingdom and she’d never heard of such thing. She was the only one who was hesitant. I asked her to smile at the camera and she acted

like I was speaking another language. “And what do you call this again?” “Yoga.” “Ooo It feels so good on my back (insert too many voice

inflections)!” “Stretching is wonderful, isn’t it?” “Oo! What is stretching? That sounds fun!” “You’re on my nerves Snow White, peace out.”So I’d always approach them with “you want to do yoga with my sister and I?” I’d always get a very energetic head nod. They’d motion for

me to show them what to do. And soooo many times just after the shot, the character would pop into another pose. I LOVED IT! Mike

jumped into a couple other poses with a “tada!” Adorable. And I giggled like I was 5. Sully was all, ummm prayer hands is all I got.

The green army man from toy story was cool too. After he planked with us, he showed off his skills in multiple slow push ups which made

everyone around cheer. 🙂 I really hope they all go out drinking together after their shifts and talked about us. 🙂

Mickey was super excited but the lametown ladies in charge of him wouldn’t let him do more than this.

Howevvvver, as soon as we stepped away he popped into warrior 2 and we ran back over before we could get kicked out. Mickey is the best.

I could post so many more pics and write so much more but let’s face it…it’s the fall which means I’m getting my arse kicked with work.

Busier than ever and I can’t keep up. Since I’m finally caught up with blogging, I took a minute to post since people keep nagging me

about it. And clearly all these images were straight out of the camera/cell phone so sorry half of them are sucky! Anywaysss can’t

wait till our next Disney trip! Must get back to real work. Heart, Melanie.