The Hailey Herald

The Hailey Herald

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Disney Part 2....(Photo bomb)

This was Hailey's second trip to Disney.  Her first trip was right before her first Heart-anniversary.  We celebrated the one year anniversary of a fixed heart, Ian's 5th birthday, Brayden's 9th birthday and Jason and I's 10 year anniversary during our trip to Walt Disney World last year.  It was a celebration...the icing on the cake trip.  It was just the 5 of us.

This year, there were 19 of us (yes, you read that right and most of the time we are sane, but some might think we are crazy!).  My husband's parents, siblings, spouses, and our nieces and nephews met us in Florida for 9 days of very hot, sticky weather.  Some may say we are obsessed with the land of the Mouse.  My in-laws have gone there somewhere between 25-30 times in their lives.  I went for the first time when I was in my 20s and I think I've been almost a dozen times already.  At times it can get a little stressful with 19 of us, but it is always good to spend time with my nieces and nephews and the kids LOVE spending so much time with all of their family from Indiana.  Hailey even came up with her own signs for the family members names that she can't say.  I asked her speech therapist if that was "normal" (you know how I hate that word!)...she said no, but it didn't surprise her with Hailey :-)  She is still using them two weeks after vacation to ask for family members.  (Some of them are funny, so I almost feel like I should apologize to them!)

We "might" have had special manicures and pedicures for the occasion. 



Fortunately, the flight to Orlando was uneventful and everyone was fabulous!  Hailey even slept half of the flight!


Hailey did well in the hotel without all of her "toys" because we all know that most of the time she is playing with dishes, shoes, boxes, etc.  It was officially her last time to sleep in a pack-n-play.  She had about 2 inches clearance both directions.  She slept good so that is all that matters :-)  She felt, however, that it was better for shoe storage than her bed!


Thank goodness, Hailey slept good at night and she napped good.  We were very excited about that...except for the naps that she took "on" Dad.





We did 5 days at the park and a few "off" days in between.  The first day we headed to Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom.

Ready for our first park!

The three little ones hanging out with Papaw while everyone else rides Tower of Terror

Ian & AJ with a green army man....yes, we all wear matching colors at the park!

Waiting for Jedi Training and to fight Darth Vader

Apparently, dinner was very exciting that night!


First day got the best of the little three!

The girls all took Hailey to breakfast to see Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins.  I think Hailey would fit in perfect if Disney decides to add a mischievous princess :-)  The boys all went to a character breakfast with Mickey, Goofy & Donald.  We ended the day with smores on the beach of our hotel and a swim.







Hanging out with Aunt Staci right before smores.

Roasting marshmallows

Hailey very unsure of the texture of the sand

You always have to worry when Jason and Scott are both smiling...poor Dylan in between them...generally means they are up to something.

Despite the heat, the weather was gorgeous.

Hailey cheering after her trip down the slide.

She tried to break through the fence when the dumping bucket scared her!

Cousin Dylan rescued her!

Someone get me out of here before it dumps again!
 
There are no words for this one....

Ha!  Mamaw will save me :-)
The next day was...yes, you guessed it...yellow day!  We spent time at Epcot and Magic Kingdom again.

The "big" kids

Can you tell that she "thinks" she's cute :-)

At least the boys will take good pics with the characters...even if it is Minnie Mouse!

Ian with his favorite...a baked potato
 Apparently day 4 was boring and uneventful because I didn't take any pictures :-)

Day 5 we headed back to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  The boys love going to the SciFi Dine in Theater restaurant.  They love watching the black and white movies while they eat and they think it is cool to eat in the "car".  Mamaw and Papaw joined us for lunch. 



Hailey eyeing Papaw's ice cream sundae!

Unfortunately, the girl has a sweet tooth!
 I took Hailey to see Disney Junior Live after lunch.  The girl was in heaven...Mickey Mouse, Sofia the First and her favorite...Doc McStuffins.  She had so much fun..she squealed and yelled Doc!



Look at the pure joy on her face!





Yes, she likes attention.  Yes...that was green day...Hailey had an early "incident" and had to ditch her green shirt.


Yes, she's a ham, too!
Hailey never lacked for someone to entertain her or someone for her to entertain.  She is quite the social butterfly (most of the time).  She had to say Hi, wave and high five everyone she saw.  She loved the crowds and waved like "she" was the parade!  

Hanging with Dad on the bus

Ian is always fun to play with



For our "blue" day, we spent the entire day at Magic Kingdom.  We even got Ian to ride Space Mountain this year.  


Catching a ride on Papaw's shoulders

We had to take a picture of Aunt Kerri's door (the one on the right)...yes, she is a little shorter than the rest of us.

Cousin Dylan is always one of her faves to hang out with.



Brayden & Ian at our dinner at the Polynesian resort - Ohana.  One of our regular faves.


Hailey showing her disapproval of dinner.  This was the only meal she wouldn't eat and I thought it would be her favorite!

Ian ate better here than he did all week.

They brought her a "special" plate of kid favorites.

Coconut races around the restaurant.


Ian trying to eat everyone's ice cream by himself.

Some days, Disney was just too much for our little girl.

Dumbo!




I liked the way this new addition looked against the dark, cloudy sky.

I only made out for a run one day that week.  I forgot how exhausting Disney can be with a group of professionals :-)  The sunrise was worth the lack of sleep!!



Ian and Hailey passing the time until we left for the airport.

Brayden chose technology over crayons.

Unfortunately, the trip home was not as smooth.  We spent 7 1/2 hours in the Orlando airport.  Ughhh....luckily the kids were troopers and didn't complain (Mom did enough of that for all of them!)




 As always, we had a great trip and within a few days, we started discussing/planning our next trip to Disney World.  The adults never seem to tire of it...will the kids follow our footsteps or tell us they have had enough.  I'm sure as they get older, they won't "enjoy" the matching shirts, but with 19 of us...it makes finding one another so much easier!!!  Maybe next time, Hailey will actually enjoy the characters.  I'm sure by that time the boys will be rolling their eyes at them or refusing pictures!

Oh...we did get to enjoy lots of great food (if you don't count the one night with raw steaks....)






This was Hailey's special plate the night she refused to eat...no, none of it was healthy, but at least she ate a little!




3 comments:

  1. That food looks fantastic!! Your family looks like they had a blast! What a fun vacation :)...And that picture of hailey piling all the shoes in the playpen, lol, Russell does that all the time too!

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    1. I left off the pic of our raw steaks (long story). I think I took those shoes out of the playpen about 100 times!!! Drove me crazy :-) The food was awesome!!!

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  2. So much fun! Makes me want to start planning a trip to Disney ASAP!

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