Vacation 2015 - Travel Days Friday and Saturday

Ahh Vacation! When we went to Disney World back in 2011 we knew that we were wanting to have another baby sometime and decided at that point that we wouldn't come back to Disney until that child was potty trained. We didn't realize that we would get pregnant with little miss Kelsey less than a month after getting back from that first family Disney trip either! But blessed we were and I kept reminding Will that Kelsey would probably be potty trained by summer of 2015. So we kept that in the back of our minds and planned to go to Disney in 2015. I just KNEW that Kelsey would be potty trained by then. 

So back in November 2014 I put a deposit down on our Disney 2015 trip! We decided to go in late May for a few different reasons. We didn't want to miss baseball or softball, we wanted to go when it wasn't so crowded or hot, and if we went before Kelsey turned 3, she still got in for free (score!). So we decided to leave the day the kids got out for summer break. (as a side note, Kelsey was not potty trained by the time we left, but it ended up being better than if she would have been)

Then, Will got his new job in Georgia and we had to kind of rethink how we were going to leave and get down there and all that. But it ended up working out that me and the kids would just meet Will at his camper and then go down to Florida the next day. Broke the trip up for the kids (and me) and kept him from having to drive home and then right back to Florida. 

We decided we wanted to keep this trip a secret from the kids because, who doesn't love a surprise trip to Disney World?!? And also, I didn't want the kids asking me every day when we were leaving!

The kids had been wanting to go visit Will down at his camper since he moved down there, so we told them when school got out that we would drive down and spend some time at his camper. They didn't question me packing up all their clothes and getting the van all ready to go or any of that since they knew we were going down there. 

On Friday I took off work and took the kids to school (even Kelsey) and came back home to pack the van up. It took much longer than I anticipated because, have you met me? Everything takes 4 times as long for me to finish as I thought it would! But anyway, I got the van packed up as much as I could (after a quick trip to Walmart) and then went and got Taylor and Liam from school. We finished packing and then I went and got Kelsey from her school. We had 2 portable DVD players already and I had bought a new one at Walmart and when I was packing everything up to go I broke one of them. So, after we got Kelsey picked up we stopped at the Walmart in Lenoir City and got another one. I was not willing to only have 2 DVD players and 3 kids in the car with a 6 hour trip to Georgia in my future!

We had originally planned to leave right around 3 or 4 and get down to Will's around 9 or 10. But...we didn't. After our impromptu trip to Walmart it was already around 6 and the kids needed to eat supper so I ran through the Krystal drive thru and got supper and after getting everyone settled with drinks and food, we were on our way!

The trip down was actually very very good! Kelsey was minimally whiney, they all watched movies and ate snacks. And there was even some napping in there at some point for Taylor and Liam. Kelsey never closed her eyes the whole time! We made it down to Will's camper around 12:30. The kids wanted to run around for a few minutes before getting settled but finally, we got them back in their bunks and they fell asleep. For all they knew, we were staying there the whole week and spending time with Daddy!

We woke up the next morning and got the kids dressed. They ate some cereal and we told them we had a surprise for them. We told them we would drive somewhere and it was going to take a little while to get there. We also broke the news that we were not, in fact, staying at the camper all week. Liam was quite disappointed! I told them I had hints for them along the way too!

They had fun playing around the camper park that morning before we told them we were leaving.

All ready to go again!

Their first hint was a pair of sunglasses...because it was going to be sunny where we were going!

So cute with her little head phones!

The second hint was a spray fan, because it was going to be hot!

Resting

The third hint was a water bottle, because they were going to get thirsty!

The last hint was a Disney plush for each of them. The still didn't know what it all meant. We were very very close to the entrance of Disney at this point and when we were just about a minute away from the entrance sign we told them to look up there and see if they knew where we were going. Finally... Taylor and Liam saw the sign and yelled, "we're going to Disney World!" We have a video of it and maybe one of these days I will figure out how to load that on here!

It was a fun surprise! I was so glad we waited to tell them!

I had originally planned to wrap up our magic bands and give them to the kids but I wasn't sure if they would understand what they were or not. So once we got into our hotel room I opened them up and showed each of the kids. They were very excited about their bracelets. As a side note, I loved the magic bands. These were our keys to the room, our tickets into the park, our fast pass scanners, and how we paid for all our meals and souvenirs. 

After we got everything somewhat unpacked we decided to spend a little time at Downtown Disney. BAD DECISION!!! They were doing construction in and around the area and it was crowded and it was just awful! Once we finally figured out where to park and walked all the way to Downtown Disney it was getting later and the kids were getting hungry. We were going to eat there in the area, but it was going to be such a long wait everywhere and we just didn't think the kids (Will...) would be able to wait without melting down. We did go to the store there and let the kids pick out some Mickey ears. There were so many to choose from and it was a very very difficult decision for our kids to make! They finally settled on some ears though and we spent WAY too much money on them (I mean seriously, you don't even want to know how much 3 pairs of Mickey ears cost!). After we left there we visited the Lego store there and looked around. Then we decided to just leave and run through the McDonalds and get supper on the way back to the hotel so the kids would still have time to swim that night. We ran into our friends Darren and Julia and their kids while we were at Downtown Disney. They were going to be at Disney the same week we were and we were happy to run into them!

When we got back to the hotel the kids just had to go swimming so they got their bathing suits on and I took them out there. Will needed to run out and get something and for the life of me I can't think of what it is right now. But he joined us at the pool when he got back. 

After swimming everyone took a shower and it was time to go to bed! Notice the time on the clock...oh so late! Nonnie had sent new pajamas for the girls and a new shirt for Liam to open once they got there. 

They were very excited to open them and wear them that night. 

It was a long day full of more driving and waiting and swimming and excitement, but we had to get up early the next day and be at breakfast. The kids didn't have trouble falling asleep and I don't think me and Will did either! Taylor and Liam shared a bed and we had brought Kelsey's pack and play for her to sleep in. There was just enough room for it!