Happiest Place on Earth

You probably thought I had forgotten about our blog, didn't you? Well, between teaching, photography, soccer season, church and life in general I kind of did. But now I'm on Spring Break, the boys asked for a day at home to "rest" (ie play with their neighborhood friends) and I have a few minutes in between cleaning and photography stuff to blog.

So....when you picture the perfect family vacation what do you picture? For me it's a stress free time full of laughter and priceless memories. That's what our recent family vacation to Disney was. At the recommendation of friends, we stayed on the Disney property. The hotel room itself was far from fancy but the resort was so much fun- a couple pools, a football field, an arcade, ping pong tables. You name it, it had it. A kid's paradise. In fact, between you and me, I think the boys would've been perfectly happy if we had just stayed at the resort because there was so much stuff to do. But, since it was E's first Disney experience we dragged them to the theme parks. The first day, at Animal Kingdom, E wasn't so brave. He didn't want to go on any rides and I think it's safe to say that "It's a Bug's Life" scarred both boys for life. The second day we ventured to Magic Kingdom, where E became super brave. He rode on all but one ride, his favorite being Gumbo (or for the rest of the world, Dumbo). That was our last ride of the day because we were so tired. But I bet if we would've started the day on that ride we would've ridden it 20 times.
The weather was perfect both days. There was no stress about money because I had budgeted the correct amount. Rob and I compromised and worked as a team. We, as a family, got a lot of laughs...sometimes at the expense of another family member. (Like when I dropped an unopened bottle of Coke and it EXPLODED all over the people in line behind us or when Rob tripped over a curb playing tag with P or when both boys were screaming louder than the "It's a Bug's Life" movie that they didn't want to watch any more of it.)
When I look back on our vacation, that's what I'll remember. Sure, I'll remember the hot air balloon ride that we took or the lunch we had at the T-Rex Café (where E thought he was eating dinosaur fossils when he ordered the baby back ribs) or the safari we did at Animal Kingdom or the teacups ride at Magic Kingdom. But, even more than that I'll remember the belly laughs Rob and I shared on the drive home. I'll remember the look of excitement on E's face as we rode the bus to the theme parks. I'll remember the yelps of excitement that P let out when he saw the resort football field. Because, to me, that's what made the vacation better than great. It made it about as perfect as one vacation could get!