Brynn and her Buddy

Brynn and Summer were best buddies all week long.  It was fun seeing them back together again.   Brynn has always needed friends - they make life more enjoyable for her.  Having Summer on the trip made Brynn a happier girl.  In fact, the two of them were angels.  There was no complaining - they walked and walked and walked and never made a peep because they always had a hand to hold...

Brynn was also a little braver than usual - Summer was able to convince her to try some (not all but some) rides that she would have normally fought us on (and then she'd end up loving them and the two would beg to go on them again and again)...

And sometimes they would share and buddy up with others.  My girlies were so sweet and cute on Its A Small World.  Kate was in "aw" just staring at everything and Brynn was pointing stuff out to her...

But there were a few rides where Brynn needed a bigger buddy.  As usual, we told Brynn she had to try a roller coaster again (no we are not above parental force).  And she cried... while Kate (who was trying out a roller coaster for the first time) loved it and asked to go again :)

Buddies are the best...

I couldn't help it.  After seeing them together this week I had to pull up some old photos of them to reminisce...

And this photo reminded me that their personalities were the same back then as they are now...

... this was at a medical school Easter activity.  Brynn was scared of the Easter Bunny and would not sit with him for me.  Summer went up and helped Brynn do it and showed her it was okay :)  So cute...

Kate and the Characters

Kate was just a baby on our last trip to Disneyland a couple years ago.  So, one of the things I was looking forward to most, was seeing her meet all the characters she LOVES to watch at home.  I knew it could go either way... either she'd be terrified or thrilled.  Of course I was hoping for the later.  And oh was she cute!!  She was so excited and not afraid one little bit.  She'd get the biggest smile on her face and go right up to them and love them.  It was the highlight of our Disney time - watching her with them...

She's quite the character herself...

She kept calling herself Princess Kate.  And she was absolutely positive that this was "Kate's Castle"...

 A girl can dream right?!

And while she wasn't scared of the live characters, this shark statue scared the bajeebers out of her?!...

Since it was her first real visit to Disney she got to pick out her stuffed animal (previously on their first visits Brynn chose Minnie, Tyler chose Mickey, and Dylan chose Pluto).  She picked up this stuffed Goofy and danced with him in the middle of one of the shops and decided he needed to come home with her.  And so he did...

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... :)