~ RELAXING AND ENJOYING OUR LAST DAY - APRIL 16TH ~

This would be our last full day in Florida and we had such a tough decision to make... should we go to another park with the crazy "C" family or should we listen to our aching legs and stay behind at our resort?

Well, we took a vote and then voted again...we decided it was best for us to relax a bit and stay around the resort. We woke early and daddy and Anthony walked to the resort restaurant and brought back our breakfast. We all ate outside on the little balcony...I actually sat out there for about 40 minutes while Mia and Eddie were sleeping and daddy and Ant where out getting the food. Oh was it relaxing to just sit and listen to the waterfalls and the birds...yes, it was relaxing :)

We all put our bathing suits on and walked to a pirate pool daddy had found during one of his morning walks. It wasn't open yet, so we went next door to the playground.

The kids really enjoyed the pirate pool and there was also a big water slide that Anthony,and even Eddie loved! We ate our lunch poolside and I enjoyed a delicious pina colada :)

At one point I went back to the room by myself ~ "ahhhh" ~ to pack for our flight back home the next day. Wow, what you can get done all by yourself :) When everyone came back to the room we all changed and headed out for Downtown Disney to meet up with the "C" family! (They had gone to Animal Kingdom, but had to leave early because poor Maddy was running a fever!)

We walked around and shopped a bit, enjoyed some ice cream and shopped a bit more :) We met up with the "C" family and went to the RainTree Cafe for dinner.

This was our last dinner together on our fun and adventurous vacation! We told the waitress we bring our own animals along with us...who needs the thunder and animal noises of the Rain Tree Cafe?!

Our 7 "dwarfs" in the airport in Orlando!

What an amazing, fun, crazy trip we had! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends...really family to spend our time with and to vacation with...it just all works so well when we're together. Not sure if our next vacation will be a Disney-one...we are thinking of maybe an island vacation (not as much walking and running around!) or maybe Atlantis... it will be interesting to see where we end up ~ for now we have these fun memories of our 2010 vacation and what wonderful memories they are :)

~ MAGICAL KINGDOM!! ~

We arrived at the Crystal Palace restaurant for our 10:30 character breakfast, but had to wait quiet a while for the previous breakfast to finish up...we were hungry! Once inside the kids enjoyed meeting Pooh and friends - so far we have done this breakfast every time we've been to MK ~

Of course, we had them sing

"Happy Bday" to Eddie...again :)

We went on a few rides before the moms took the little girls; Mia and Maddy to Cinderella's Castle - the Bibbidi Bobbidi*Boutique!!! The time was finally here...all the waiting and wondering (if both or one of our girls would actually do it!) was here:

The boutique was buzzing with excitement as soon as we entered! It was right out of a storybook - beautifully decorated with thick, velvet curtains and many fairy godmothers fluttering about! We were escorted to one of the dressing rooms; where we changed the girls into their princess costumes - the mood was lightening a bit...with Mia telling "secrets" to Maddy -which consisted of "sha sha sha" or something like that - she is so silly :)

As we waited our turn in the waiting room, Maddy sat on mommy's lap observing everything; and Mia browsed the rack of princess gowns and shoes :) Mia had to make a quick bathroom break - oh, the timing!! When we returned it was time for Mia to climb up on her "throne" for her makeover!

She pointed to the picture of her desired hair do,

and

sat still as her fairy godmother combed and pulled her hair into a bun!

...had her tiny little nails polished :)

I love how Maddy has her little hands clasped together!
So sweet:)
Barb and I sat there amazed and teary eyed.
It really was a special moment~

The one thing Mia did not want to do
and was a bit nervous about was the eyeshadow:
she told me for months "day poke me in da eye???"
I told her if she didn't want eyeshadow applied that was fine.
SO, when I looked up and saw Mia's wide eyed look...
as the fairy godmother approached with eyeshadow
I had to put a stop to it :)

Ready for the hair spray!

The fairy godmother waves her wand~

"bibbidi bobbidi...boo!"

When they turned Mia's chair around so she could see in the mirror...

she was amazed! She just kept looking back at herself :)

I found this very emotional. I thought back to all that she has gone through. I thought of all that she has accomplished. How far she has come, especially emotionally; she went from a petrified baby girl, who cringed when touched and who cried when someone got to close to her; to a confident and secure little princess. Needless to say, I was a mess :)

A good, proud, mommy-mess!

When we were all done, we walked across to the

princess store where we took some professional photos.

While Mia waited, she just had to admire herself...again!

Princess Madison & Princess Mia!

After the girls photo shoots, we met up with the others. They all swooned over the little princesses - so sweet!

Daddy & his girl

While everyone else went on the race cars; Mia and I went to Toon Town to see Minnie & Mickey's houses. She enjoyed walking through each house (two or three times) and taking her time looking at every detail. Mia has been obsessed with the Mickey Mouse Club*house show lately so I wanted her to take her time and enjoy :)

Minnie's mailbox!

We went on a few rides again before heading back to Cinderella's Castle, this time for our dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table! We started off by meeting Cinderella and taking photos with her. Then we climbed the circular stairs to the dinning hall. It was just beautiful, fit for all of the princesses! There were wishing stars on the table for everyone;however, Mia decided to collect most of them in her bag! They handed out magic wands for the princesses and swords for the princes. As we ate our dinner (which was quiet good!) the princesses were announced one by one and greeted everyone and took photos. My favorite was Snow White, she was totally in character down to her squeaky voice...she counted 7 of us as her dwarfs and asked who was the grumpiest (we had quiet a few at this point in the trip!), the smartest, shyest, etc. Mia was much more comfortable and talked and took photos galore! Oh the dessert was fabulous (some chocolate-yumminess)!!!

After dinner, our family went back to Toon Town to wait in line for our photo with Mickey & Minnie. I have done this every year we've come! The line was long, but moved quickly - they played old cartoons and that really entertained everyone.

Mickey & Minnie were so fun - they made many silly gestures

and made the kids laugh :) Mia was SO thrilled to meet them

and giggled so much -it was adorable!

What a Magical Day!

~ ISLAND OF ADVENTURE - APRIL 14TH ~

We started off our morning with a delicious I*HOP breakfast - the kids were excited to go to the other side of Universal this time. I wasn't sure this park would be much fun for the little ones, but it turned out to be a great idea!

Mia just flirted shamelessly with Brandon during this trip!

While the big kids and dads ran to the roller coasters,
we went to "Seuss Landing"; which was SO colorful!!!
Where ever you went it was so detailed and
just crazy-fun - great!

The Seuss play area had lots of tunnels, in's and out's
and interesting creatures :)

This was the only ride that disappointed, it was a

train ride above Seuss Landing, but it was so quick and

was not worth that loooong wait at all.

Oh the love :)
Eddie and Max :)

We all agree that the Spiderman 3D ride was totally the best!! This ride had lots of twists and turns and bad guys "jumping" at you - but in a fun way and not too scarey. As soon as the boys got off the ride, they ran over to me and said, "mom you have to come on with us !" I'm so glad I did :)

My sweet gun-toting daughter...

We stopped for dinner on the way out of Island of Ad. and went to Margaritaville. What a fun, delicious dinner! There was a man on stilts who entertained us with balloon making; and when he found out Eddie's birthday was coming up - he challenged him to a sword fight! Eddie won the duel and popped the man's sword/balloon twice - it was so much fun! As we waited for the food, we took turns shopping in the Margaritaville store - ahhh eating and food wrapped up into one - perfect!

Birthday boy (again!) with his sword and bday hat :)

While we ate, Anthony was having a shirt made up -

he was thrilled with the outcome... what a nut :)

~ SEAWORLD - APRIL 13TH ~

Who doesn't love Seaworld?!

We were all looking forward to seeing the

dolphins, the shows and our luau dinner!!

(I think today is the day they "found" Mia's car seat too.

We had been using a loaner until they could locate

her car seat...it was lost somewhere between L.I. and Florida!!)

More flirting,
more cuteness :)

I saw this little girl at one of the parks with a BAB panda in a red silk outfit -

I had to get one for Mia! So, we found a shop while the big kids were on

a ride and picked out our panda bear, stuffed her (she was named "Emma")

and then to choose her outfit...of course, Mia wanted pink...

Mommy wanted the red Chinese silk outfit with the matching pocketbook!

we both won...but of course, "Emma" wore her pink, tutu outfit :)

(Still waiting for her silks to be put on :)

The Shamu show was very different after the recent death of one of the trainers.

I was very surprised that the trainers still got so close to the whales; however,

they did not go into the tank with the whales...

(we all thought the show used to be better)

We spent a lot of time at Shamu's Happy Harbor.

The kids could go on all the rides; while Anthony and the

older kids went on such rides as Manta;

the new sting ray roller coaster - which he loved!

Those petting hands belong to my

Anthony & Eddie!

They loved feeding the dolphins...

I watched from behind the fence (with Mia asleep in the stroller);

they changed the rules a bit, and now everyone who came into the dolphin area

had to pay for a tray of food.

Or, you could watch from behind the fence!

My flamingo lovin' boy!

As soon as we entered the park A.Barb spotted stuffed

flamingos in a store window!! The excitement!

These flamingo's are still being loved around our house :)

The Makahiki Luau at the Sea Fire Inn was amazing!

The show was entertaining, funny & the costumes where beautiful!

The hula dancers and music were great and the food was really good too :)

Miss grumpy-pants had just woken from an afternoon nap

and was in a less than perfect mood. We took our complimentary

photo with a "head-less" Mia...all of us smiling with our leis and

Miss Mia like this!! She did eventually come out and enjoy :)

Flamingo Love

Since Eddie's birthday was coming up

we had a candle put in his dessert (for the 100th time!)

and sang to my handsome little guy :)

We got back to our room quiet late and found

ourselves unable to enter our room! For some

reason the card key did not work and we had to

wait for daddy to get another...