Disney World, Baby!

There are a few places on this earth that are near and dear to my heart.  My farm is one.  Lake George is another.  And third on the list would have to be Disney World.  As a kid, my family went only a few times.  I remember bits and pieces, but I have the pictures memorized - from looking at them so much growing up.  My family took a Disney hiatus for a few years and then we went again when I was in middle school and again as a freshmen in high school.  My parents took us out of school that year to go, under the premise of visiting colleges for my sister.  We did visit one school while we were there so we weren't completely fibbing.  

Since then, some combination of my family has gone almost every year.  My parents go every year, for the most part and it just depends which one of us siblings is going to hoard in on their trip.

Six years ago, it was these kids hoarding...

The following year, my ENTIRE family went to Disney together (10 adults and 7 children)..which I don't have a picture of because since then our computer crashed and I may or may not have lost all those pictures.  But the memories remain!

About three years ago, Scott and I went on a Disney cruise...

Two weeks before the cruise, I had found out I was pregnant with Brooke.  So, not sure if it was baby nausea or sea sickness, but I was a little queasy here and there.  Probably won't do a cruise again - but if was fun, because after-all, it was DISNEY!

Since then, we have upped our personal family count from just the two of us to the FOUR of us - so it just made sense to head to Disney yet again.  

Karis did great and brooke loved it, despite getting the tummy bug on our last day.  Poo.  Literally.

I do not describe many things (if anything) as "magical" - but Disney World comes pretty close.  I'm sure those who live close to Orlando think all us people who live faraway are whack jobs over our love for Disney.  It's not just a "place" for many of us who grew up going there as a family - there are memories and nostalgia attached to it - and though things change from year to year, there are still so many of the same rides and attractions that I LOVED as a kid that I get to see my children LOVING.

Don't get me wrong, we are definitely not "those" people...ok, maybe we are a little bit.  I'm not going to go decorate my house in all things Mickey or buy one of Disney's new luxury homes in their own Disney subdivision (had I won the mega millions, I may have, though...)

I do love the memories though and reminiscing with my sister about our childhood Disney vacations - and the thought of my kids being able to share the same experience is really quite magical.

I'm already planning our next trip.  According to my calculations, we have three more years before being tied to the public school schedule.  So, the goal is to get to Disney World again in February 2015, before Brooke heads to kindergarten.  And I don't want to have a baby at Disney this time around, or be pregnant, so that means if a third baby is in the books, it would have to be born by February 2014.  That means I'd have to be pregnant by May 2013.  So that gives me a little over a year...  

There's nothing like planning your family around a Disney World vacation.

Oh, and P.S. - another Disney plus  - you can't beat the warm Disney weather and this cutey-patootey ready for a dip in the pool!  Magical (and cute!) indeed!