Disney our Destination

We love our friends the Thomas'... for lots and lots and lots of reasons.  But for one, they helped us gain a greater love and appreciation for all things Disney.  

Preston, Kelly, Jaimi, Jeff

When we moved from Illinois last summer we knew the Thomas' would (most likely) be leaving Indiana the following summer - and we were hoping and hoping that they'd make a trip to Disney World with us before their departure from the mid-west.  Sure enough we managed to convince them how much they missed us and what a great idea it was before they move back to Arizona in a few short months ;) 

This past week was our big vacation.  We both drove down and met at our resort in Orlando last Sunday and we've spent the last week enjoying their company and all the magical moments...

Jeff, Kelly, Jaimi, Brynn, Summer, Donald Duck, Gracen, Tyler, Kate, Dylan, PJ

Side note:  Our temple, since moving to Tyndall Air Force Base, is the Orlando temple... which happens to be a 6 hour drive.  We've never lived more than about 45 minutes from a temple so this was a little disconcerting to us.  When we were planning this vacation we knew we wanted to make sure to fit in a trip to the temple.  And in thinking ahead we knew that in the future, when we needed to make the long haul for another temple trip, it would be fun to fit in a day at Disney.  So we broke the bank and splurged on Disney Annual Passes for us :)  Anyway, we were so grateful that Jeff and Jaimi were up to spending a day to swap kid watching and temple attending.

Here is our week in a nutshell:  Like I said, we drove down on Sunday.  Then we spent Monday at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.  Tuesday was the forecasted rainy day so we used that day for the Temple and kids spent most of the day swimming and playing at the playgrounds and swimming.  Wednesday we did Magic Kingdom again.  Thursday was spent at Hollywood Studios and then out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Friday morning was for Animal Kingdom again and then the afternoon at Epcot and then back to the resort for movie night/sleepover (yes we shared a two bedroom condo but this night we actually let all the kids sleep in the same room).  Saturday we had a much needed lazy morning, then we went and checked out Downtown Disney where we needed to do a little shopping.  Then we got lunch at Chevys and headed back to the resort so the kids could spend the rest of the day swimming again.  Sunday morning we sadly packed up and headed home.   

Another side note:  While I love my new home here at Tyndall it does have a few drawbacks.  One, is that we have quite a drive to get anywhere.  Target isn't just up the road anymore.  And Sams Club is a solid 45 minute drive.  Well, I love to eat out.  And while there are plenty of restaurants around here, many of our usuals are noticeably missing.  Imagine my delight when we were driving around Orlando and I caught glimpses of places such as Chevy's, Texas Roadhouse, and SWEET TOMATOES... to name a few.  It was very refreshing.  And now I have another thing to look forward to on our Temple/Disney trips that will be coming up over this next year.

So it was definitely an amazing week...

Let the blogging begin... :)