If a Picture is Worth a thousand words...

then what's a thousand pictures worth?



'Cause that's what I've got here: a thousand pictures from our Disney va-cay.



Well, actually only 262.



Wait, don't go! I'm not posting all 262 of them. Really, I'm not. But even hitting only the highlights, there are a lot of pics, I won't lie. Are you ready?



We left for Disney on Wednesday, March 4th at 4pm. We decided to drive, and honestly, it was all good. Gas was only $1.85 a gallon, there was very little traffic, and the kids did great.



Gabe, are you excited?



We pulled into Orlando around 8:30am on Thursday. Ate some breakfast at IHOP (yum), then headed over to our resort, where we explored and swam and stretched out those cramped muscles. After unpacking, we took a boat to Downtown Disney and shopped and played to our hearts' content.

Legoland was a big hit with the whole family! We promised to come back at the end of our trip to buy some cool stuff.

We had two character meals planned: Mickey's Backyard BBQ was the first. All you can drink beer and wine for the adults. Characters and alcohol? Say no more: we are there!

Can you tell we're glad to be here?

Remember, I did say ALL you can drink. That fourth glass of wine was tasting goooood.

Gabe was loving the Mickey ice cream treats. I think he ate about a hundred over the course of the week!

Sunny and 82 degrees was the forecast for the whole week. We couldn't have paid for better weather! Friday was our first day at the parks, and we kicked it off at Magic Kingdom with a character breakfast with Pooh and friends.

(I made these matching shirts before we left. Isabel has Pooh, Elijah has Pirates of the Caribbean, and Gabe has the Mouse.)

The food at the Crystal Palace was phenomenal! And getting to see Pooh and his friends without standing in line was even better.

The crowds were light this time of year, so we got to ride every single thing we wanted without much waiting in line. It was a great day!

That night, however, Gabe woke with a fever. We rented a stroller for our Epcot day on Saturday, and Gabe slept most of the day. Lots of Tylenol and grape water later, he was on the mend. Just a bug, I guess.

Poor little guy...

Elijah and Isabel loved Epcot. Definitely a place for the older kids. All of the different countries to explore in World Showcase, with authentic food and employees who were from those countries here on scholarship. Other than worrying about Gabe's fever, we had an interesting day here.

Isabel wanted this beret from France for her souvenier. I couldn't resist, she looked so darn cute.

Sunday, we went to Animal Kingdom, along with the rest of the Orlando crowd. This was our "crabby" day, in which I didn't even take many pictures. Gabe got to dig dino bones and we went on a safari. Then we went back early and swam at our pool. Ahh, much better.

Monday was Hollywood Studios. The day we got to meet the Mouse. And Bolt. And Lightning McQueen. A good day indeed, except for the end...

Oh, and some Storm Troopers at the Star Tours ride. Love the expression on Gabe's face!

We ate dinner at the Sci-Fi Drive-in restaurant. Steak. Which didn't sit well with my stomach at.all. By the time we were heading back to the buses, I knew I needed a bathroom. Right now. Unfortunately, so did the rest of the damn women at the park. Did you see those white pants I was wearing? If I ever wanted to wear them again, I needed to run. So I left Joe with the kids near a fountain and took off in search of an out-of-the-way potty. Got there in the nick of time, if you know what I mean. Went back to the fountain to get the family, only to find that Elijah had tried to follow me to the bathroom and was now LOST. Two minutes later, a Disney employee brought him back to the fountain, calm but in tears the moment I grabbed him into a huge hug. On this trip, I just knew it would be Gabe that would get lost at some point. I never thought it would be Elijah. Thank goodness he doesn't seem to be too scarred from the whole experience.

On Tuesday, we let the kids pick their favorite rides to re-visit. We had had such a great day at Magic Kingdom, it was no surprise that they wanted to go back.

I love this pic of Gabe on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Priceless. He kept screaming "We're gonna die! Ahhhh!!!".

The Tomorrowland speedway was a fave for Elijah and Isabel. Visions of drivers' licenses swimming in their little heads. Thank God we have a few years left for that!

In the late afternoon, we took the monorail over to Epcot, where we just had to go back to these cool "jumping" fountains to cool off. The kids loved "catching" the water and getting soaked.

Epcot also had a cool Kim Impossible adventure, where you got to solve a mystery using this cell phone and following clues in the different countries in World Showcase. Our country was Norway, full of Viking ghosts and shape-shifting bad guys. Elijah and Isabel loved this!

Back to Animal Kingdom for our last day at the parks. Much less crowded, much more fun. Gabe and Joe in their matching safari hats made a cute pair, and Elijah's pirate Mickey ears rocked! Isabel made the decision to ride the Everest roller coaster, which you can see in the distance.

Gabe was content to play with his little dinosaur figures while the big kids rode the "scary ride". Everest has a scary Yeti monster in one of the tunnels, and Gabe was NOT interested in seeing that.

They conquered Mt. Everest!

By the end of each day, Gabe was exhausted. If we walked one mile, we walked fifty. Thank goodness for a sweet sister sharing her lap...

One of our favorite places to hang out was our resort, Port Orleans Riverside. The room was clean and big enough for the five of us, and the grounds were gorgeous. Little paths, bridges, restaurants, pools, an arcade, ponds and waterways, frogs and geckos and ducks and squirrels...a fun escape from the intensity of the theme parks.

And then, like all good things do, our vacation was at an end.

Poor Gabe, he cried when he realized we were leaving. "I want to stay to Disney, Mommmmy!" he sobbed, as we loaded him into the van. And although I was ready to sleep in my own bed and get back home, I kind of felt the same way. This had been our best family vacation yet, and it was sad that it was over.

Six movies, 940 miles, an icestorm and many coffees later, we were home. My Friday the 13th was spent unpacking, cleaning, doing laundry...

and generally recovering from the adventure known as a Disney vacation.

I missed you guys! Once my head is up out of the water, I'll be over to visit.