The Big Surprise and The Drive Down to Disney

The plan was made. I had spent Friday afternoon writing a scavenger hunt with clues all related to Disney. The plan was to drive to Birmingham Friday night after Jason got off work and then spend the night before driving the long drive to Orlando. We had told the kids that we would be going to see Gammie and Doc and they were great with that. But, Saturday morning when they woke up...the big surprise was revealed! It was so exciting. Abigail and Aaron absolutely loved the scavenger hunt. They had so much fun. It ended in our minivan with presents on their seats in the van. For Abigail, a tinker bell shirt, little fan you where around your neck, and a Minnie autograph pen. For Aaron, a Cars t-shirt, little fan, and Mickey Pen. They were thrilled with the scavenger hunt and presents. Then, they read the final note.

You know how you build something up in your head. And you expect one thing and get another. I often times will tell Jason...I need you to be really excited about this, I need a BIG reaction..because he just doesn't give really big reactions and well...you all know, I do... Well, that just about sums up what happened when the treasure was revealed. Abigail looks a little surprised and says...really?...then sort of does a little jump and smiles. Aaron looks like we just told him to go inside and take a nap for the rest of the day. Seriously, he did. He was bummed because he wanted to stay at Gammie and Doc's house :) I was wanting screams people :) But, it was cute and funny and we will treasure it. We videotaped it and if I can utube it I will and then put it on here so you can see it. Once we got on the road though, they started getting really excited. Talking about it got them pretty pumped. So that by the time we made it...Aaron was so excited and delirious from the long drive that he was literally "backing" like a chicken and pointing to all the huge billboards outside that showed Disney characters. Abigail let out some huge squeals and screams and then really quietly said, "did I just scream?". It was adorable. They were so good on the drive down. I think it is because they have always driven places...to Texas or the beach...they don't know any different and that is good for Jason and I because we didn't hear any complaining or whining about when we will get there. We had no problem getting there either. Jason bought a GPS; which we fondly call "Little Miss". She has gotten us everywhere...we would have been going in circles without her. Because I can't read a map and Jason does most of the driving.

We pulled into the Embassy Suites (my favorite hotel from growing up and now my kiddos favorite) I mean who can beat free 'shirley temples and popcorn at 5 for the kids'...siblings I know you are going down memory lane right now. Abigail and Aaron called it the E hotel. It had an indoor/outdoor pool with the movie 'Enchanted' playing on one of the big walls of the hotel that you could watch from the pool. The kids had a blast. We swam and swam and didn't get to bed that night until 10:15! Late night...but worth it. Sunday morning we slept in until 8 and then had a great breakfast. We tried to stuff their faces so they would be good and full until lunch. Then we made a Walmart run before hitting Animal Kingdom for the day. Now, all of you know I am a Walmart fan. Love it. Well, this Walmart topped the charts. They had Disney stuff everywhere as you might imagine. Abigail fell in love. She wanted to go shopping and spend her birthday money. In fact, when we told her it was time to leave...she strongly says, "why are we leaving Disney World so soon? How sad..and funny....she thought Walmart was part of Disney World! Obviously, my kids live a very sheltered life. he he he "Little Miss" led us directly to Animal Kingdom, no problem. Abigail requested that we put on the 'Mickey Mouse' CD so we drove into the park with Mickey Mouse Club playing. Straight out of the movie Vacation (siblings, you are going back down memory lane) :) My very smart and clever husband had done his research and got us this pass thing so we got to park right up front. And then right after we entered the park the kids wanted to look at the flamingos...while we were there, a lady that worked at Disney starts shouting..."you have won a disney sweepstakes....you all are going to receive fastpasses for the rest of the day at animal kingdom for all the big rides. Yippee!!!! For those of you that don't know, you usually have to go and reserve a fastpass and you receive a time, etc..to get you to the front of the line. With these tags they gave us...we just went on any ride we wanted, when we wanted! Oh Yeah! It was so great!!!! We were completely spoiled today. We never waited in a line all day. We saw some great shows. The Lion King and Nemo were our favorite shows. And Abigail rode every roller coaster that was there. She is so thankful to be over 48"! She rode the roller coaster on Mt. Everest today...didn't even get scared. As a roller coaster lover myself, I was so proud and excited to enjoy that with her. The only not so great part of the day, was that we scared the kids on the Dinosaur ride. Aaron absolutely loves dinosaurs, but this was pretty scary. Abigail cried...Aaron was doing good until the very end. The ride stopped in complete darkness right before the exit...for like 4 minutes. It was 4 minutes of pure torture for the kids. Aaron imagined he heard t-rex's footsteps coming for us. poor baby. But, once we got off, he was fine and went about the day. Even saying he liked the ride all except for the end. Throughout the day, there were several times that I just teared up because I was so happy to see the kids so excited and happy. This is a vacation we all will treasure for a lifetime.

At the end of the day, we arrived at the resort place that we are staying at for the rest of the week. It is so nice. We have 3 bedrooms, 3 baths. The kids room is decorated in all Mickey and Minnie stuff. The kitchen is huge. We have our own pool and a clubhouse pool with a huge slide. The kids are beyond pumped. And it is so nice to have space to spread out and relax after a long day at the parks. So, all in all, it was an absolutely wonderful day! We are having a blast!