My folks (who are awesome, just for the record) gave my little family a Disney vacation for Christmas this year. It was scheduled for last week (which is April school vacation for my kiddos) and, ohhh boy, did we have a fantastic time! I have so much great stuff to share with you that I'm going to have to break it down into two posts!
First up..we drove. From NH to FL. (A 24hr drive, in case you were wondering..) I know, I know, you're thinking we're nuts. But I have to tell you, in all honesty, my kiddos are FANTASTIC road trip buddies. They sleep, chat with us or read. There wasn't a single complaint.
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| Roadtrip Buddies |
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| Disney or Bust! |
On the trip down, we made it as far as South Carolina and just ran out of steam. So we stopped at a lovely Inn where we were absolutely charmed by the southern hospitality. (Fun story..my hubby, Brandon, LOVES Arby's, and since there was one across the street from the Inn, we indulged him and went there for dinner. When the lovely woman at the counter took his order, she asked for his name so she could call him when it was ready. When our food came out, she called out "Mr. Brandon, your food is ready". He was so tickled by the "Mr." he demanded we call him Mr. Brandon for the rest of the trip ;)
The next day, we finished the last 7 hours of our drive and landed in FL at the GORGEOUS condo we were staying at with family (we had the great pleasure of traveling with friends, cousins, aunties, uncles and my cousins' lovely Nana <3) There were 16 of us total, 11 adults and 5 kiddos, and there was plenty of room for all of us AND our very own private pool and hot tub!
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| The condo |
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| Kid's room |
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| Living Room |
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| Sitting Room |
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| One of the bedrooms (I loved the swan :) |
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| My girls and their cousins testing out the pool |
Our first day of Disney, we went to Animal Kingdom. I have never seen such amazing animals so close up! We rode on the Safari and saw elephants, lions, hippos, giraffes, crocodiles and gazelles. We also got to see some beautiful birds (including a gorgeous parrot!) and gorillas. I was so impressed with the beautiful habitat that had been created for these animals and how much freedom and space they had!
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| Tree of life Garden |
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| Hippo! There was a glass panel built into the side of his pond so you could see him swim! |
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| Polly wanna cracker? |
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| These trees were just breathtaking |
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| Rhino |
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| Crocs |
..sooo..remember when I said it would take up two posts? It might take 3..as I was editing these, I realized that (in addition to 3 other Disney parks) I had also taken OOODLES of pictures at the American History Museum on our trip home (including some pin ups and pictures of the First Ladies Inaugural gowns!) More to come!
Hugs and Smooches,
D
That is such a beautiful photo of the hippo! And those trees are pretty amazing.
ReplyDeleteA 24 hour drive? That's an impressive effort. You deserve a break after just that.
It was a long time to be in the car. The kids behaved much better than the husband ;-)
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