Spring Break

We just finished up the kids Spring Break vacation this past week. We enjoyed a wonderful week in none other than Disney World. 

We love our Mickey towels. 

The kids and I checked into Port Orleans Riverside on Sunday evening and were there through Saturday. 

Just arrived... where do we go?

Shawnie sporting his spiral Mickey

The girls, plus a little silly bunny! 

On the bridge to 'Ol Man Island 

Oh, except the crowd levels. It was packed to put it lightly, but it didn't bother us much. We were happy to spend time at the pool and just mill around the resort. Relax was the theme. 

When I was a teen, my family stayed at POR, but it was Dixie Landings then. 

I have a picture of me and my 3 sisters on this very fountain.

After we settled in and headed over to the Magic Kingdom for late night Extra Magic Hours. We all smooshed into one teapot and spun it as fast as we could. Actually as fast as Blake would let us before throwing up. Then we rode the Indy Speedway cars, kids favorite. Onto the People Mover where we saw Space Mountain stuck and all lit up inside. That was crazy! After Tommorowland we hopped over and rode Pirates then watched the Electrical Parade. The girls rode Splash mountain while me and the boys got some popcorn. It was past midnight, and we were wore out. Back to the hotel we went. 

The next morning we jumped on the boat and headed to Downtown Disney. 

 Blakie wanted to take some photos. I was the his subject. :-)

We passed by the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs. These look so cool. I would love to stay in them one visit.

Lunch at Earl of Sandwich...Yum!

You can't ever pass up a picture with Mickey and Minnie. 

Blake couldn't wait to wear his Custom made Cars shirt. 

Gracie showing off her Tink outfit

After Downtown Disney we went on over to Hollywood Studios. 

We watched the Little Mermaid Show first. 

 We kept our eyes on ToyStory Mania, but the line never got shorter than 120 minutes. 

Then we did the Backlot Tours. Thats always a good time. 

Abbie with Darth Vader

Oh yeah!

 Oh and look we ran into when leaving the BackLot... Sully and Mike... and Boo's door! 

We headed over to the Rock N Roller Coaster and we all jumped in the Single Rider line for that. 

Then Gracie and I rode the Tower of Terror while Abbie, Shawnie and Blake  went back on the Rock N Roller Coaster. 

After that Abbie and Gracie rode the Tower of Terror. 

The boys and I grabbed some turkey legs and waited for the girls. 

After we ate, it was back to POR. Our Mousekeeper, Maritza had a few little surprises for us in our room. 

All set for bed. 

Buddy is never forgotten.

cute holders for makeup brushes and toothbrushes.

The next morning (Tuesday) we woke up and made our way over to Epcot. 

We ate at The Biergarten (Beer Garden according to the fruto children)

The Bell Ringers were amazing

The kids loved the food and entertainment here. Even though they didn't want to try it at first.

Something we never realized, but witnessed twice on our trip, there is a real drawbridge in Epcot .

Kids playing the drums waiting for the bridge to go down. 

Epcot was very busy so we all agreed after lunch we would go back to the resort and enjoy the pool.

The water was a bit too chilly for me, but not for the kids

The weather was perfect

They love the pool at Port Orleans Riverside 

Wednesday morning we had breakfast reservations at 'Ohana. This is Shawnie's favorite place in all of WDW. 

Checked in, got our lai's and are waiting in the lobby

I forget to take pics of the food before we started to eat. They have the yummiest passion-guava fruit juice.

first we were greeted by Stitch

Next to the table was Lilo

Gracie loves seeing the characters

Gracie and Shawnie helped Mickey lead the parade 

After the parade, Mickey came and visited us

And finally Pluto stopped by. 

After breakfast, we went straight back to the hotel. The kids wanted to ride the Surrey bikes and spend the remainder of the day at the pool. Worked for me!

Here we are all ready to start our journey around the resort via Surrey Bike

We stopped for a quick photo. Gracie LOVED ringing the bell. The big kids liked to pedal wicked fast, and it kept knicking me in the back of the ankles. (the pedals are tandem and go at the same rate as the seat in front or behind)

Gracie giving swim instructions

Gracie flying down the slide

My view of the kiddos. This is about as close as I got to going in. I did however use the jacuzzi a couple times.

Thursday was good ole St. Paddy's Day. 

Of course we were prepared. 

Green Tie Dyed Mickey shirts for everyone :-)

Waiting for the bus to Animal Kingdom 

This one is for Daddy... DaVine is his favorite

In front of the Tree of Life

 Abbie, Gracie and I rode Mount Everest. The boys played in the Boneyard. We all rode Dinosaur and then we had a minor meltdown over where we should eat lunch. It was hot and crowded and everyone was getting a bit irritable. We finally left Animal Kingdom and went to the Polynesian for lunch and Dole Whips. We ate and when Gracie and Shawnie went to get their Dole Whips, the machine was down. Aarrrgh. Well, we thought we would hop onto the monorail and head over to Magic Kingdom and get some Dole Whips over there. When we got off the monorail the kids changed their minds and opted to just go back to the pool and get some ice cream there after dinner. Again...works for me.
After swimming, we were walking back to our room, and stumbled across a fire pit where the Rec. dept was roasting marshmallows for the kids. Who's really going to pass that up? Not my kids.

These kids know how to make a great roasted marshmallow

Shawnie wasted no time at all

Enjoying her masterpiece

Gracie starts right away, too!

Friday...Our last full day, already? We wanted to go back over to Epcot to get some rides in and see the Flower and Garden Festival. Plus we had lunch  ressies at Teppan Edo in Japan. First thing we did was send Abbie over to Soarin' to grab fastpasses. 

Blake and I waited by Mission Space while Shawnie and Gracie rode and Abbie got fastpasses for Soarin'.

A little star struck... we saw the filming of a Disney Channel commercial starring Gunther and Tinka from Shake It Up (The kids love that show!)

Cool 'huh?

We love the topiaries in the  F&G festival

Gracie sporting her sun hat

A trip to Epcot is not complete unless you visit Club Cool

This was one of my favorite topiaries from the festival this year... Lightning McQueen from Cars 2! 

Japan

They are ready for us!

Hibachi style...Shawnie loves it!

After lunch we were able to use our fastpasses for Soarin'. 

Then we walked through the butterfly garden

Gracie had to make sure her skirt was twirl-a-riffic

Even though we tested it at home

Apparently it must be tested again at the park! :-) 

I thought this was great... Lotso really smelled like strawberries! Just like the old Strawberry Shortcake doll. Gosh, I love Disney.. They think of everything! 

Blake's first Disney must have was a Woody doll.

We decided to take a break from the park, since it was just 3pm and Epcot had evening Extra Magic Hours. We had fastpasses for TestTrack, and thought a little swim and dinner at the resort and then we would head back to Epcot to ride TT and watch Illuminations. It worked out well. We used our fastpasses, rode Mission Space, watched Illuminations while eating funnel cakes in the American Pavilion and then rode Norway on the way out. It was a good week. Relaxing and fun. Couldn't have had better weather. Only thing missing was Daddy.