On Sunday, Lauren, Gigi, Aunt Kay and I drove to Orlando for 6 days of girl fun! Gigi had a conference and we wanted to keep her company! ;-) We stayed at the Hilton on Disney property right across the street from Downtown Disney. It was so nice to use the Disney transportation buses and be a tourist for an entire week! And boy did we do a lot.
We settled into our hotel room then strolled over to Downtown Disney to play in the shops...
pose with Sleeping Beauty...
and just look around.
We sat outside while we waited for our seat at Rainforest Cafe. LEB waved at a lot of people while we were waiting.
She loved Rainforest Cafe. The aquarium, the animated animals, the food. Everything!
Posing with Aunt Kay and ready for our day.
Eating breakfast at the hotel. We did this every morning while Gigi was in her meeting.
Aunt Kay and I took Lauren shopping at the outlets...we played dressed up and shopped so much...
Lauren passed out with Bunny.
Then we shopped some more.
We met up with Kaylee, Ashlynn, Aunt Mary and Miss Betsy at The Florida Mall for a quick visit.
"I know I just ate like 10 minutes ago, but can I have yogurt now? Please."
Watching the hibachi chef at Benihana.
Waiting on the bus to come and take us to Magic Kingdom! Not walking yet, but it won't be long!
Riding the bus...Lauren was very impatient and wanted to get down and play on the floor.
So guess what Gigi let her do...play in HER wallet!
The Magic Kingdom is so magical...
Our first ride was "It's a Small World". Lauren immediately loved the ride and was full of surprise the entire time.
She just looked and looked around. This is definitely a Tricia Story, so try to stifle your laughs: We had not been on the ride 60 seconds and I realized how great of a miracle the moment was. Sitting on "It's a Small World" with OUR baby with her smiling and pointing and loving it. The last time I rode this simple ride we were living in Orlando and remember not really feeling comfortable riding without a baby and realizing that I was surrounded by happy parents watching their children enjoy such a simple, 40 year old ride. Well, you know what happened...I started crying! Right there with Gigi and Aunt Kay sitting on either side of me! Kaitlin just started laughing and Mama said something like "oh my gosh, Tricia". Tears, crying tears. Well, anyway, it was special, magical and just so wonderful to experience it with OUR baby and I hope that if a lady without a baby happened to be riding "It's a Small World" at that moment, I hope she saw how grateful I was. Told you it was a Tricia Story...
Later we watched the night parade.
And then headed for Dumbo. Lauren gathers a crowd from time to time with all of her waving and squealing.
"Hey! I think I'm going to like this!"
1st ride on Dumbo...and Bunny was with us! ha
It was getting so late at this point. LEB was such a trooper and good girl.
The next morning, we went to Typhoon Lagoon.
Playing in the water is so fun!
There's that look again. It still doesn't really mean anything.
"WEEEEEEEE!!"
We only stayed for 2 hours or so, but it was a perfect morning outing. We even took LEB on the lazy river ride.
After OUR naps, we met up with Gigi after her day's meetings and went to Animal Kingdom.
Tree of Life
One part of the park had an area where you could dance with a few characters. Lauren loved looking at most of the characters from a distance but didn't necessarily want to get up close.
Dancing to some good music!
"Hi, Dale!"
Lots of smiling and squealing!
She was so excited, she couldn't focus her attention on one thing for long!
Pretty Pocahontas
Taking a rest before we got on the Safari Tour
Silly KK
Afterwards, we went out for Pizza at Pizzeria Uno. Delicious!
"Oh what fun I had..."
"...and now I'm spent!"
Wednesday morning, we drove to Baldwin Park to visit with Ashlynn and Kaylee (Kaylee was taking a nap when I pulled out the camera) AND let Bunny take a bath in Aunt Mary's washer!
Sweet Ashlynn ~ 5 months old
Afterwards, we met up with Noah and JB at Chick Fil-a. Unorganized Mommy left the camera in the car but we had a good time eating lunch and watching the boys play in the playground.
Waiting on the bus to take us to Hollywood Studios
Riding the bus and needing puffs to make it.
We ate an early dinner at Sci-Fi dinner theatre! Some people made reservations months in advance. It was so neat. You sat in "cars" and watched old B&W movies on a big screen while you ate.
Playing in the rain...the twins.
Most of the characters at this park were inside...it was so nice to be out of the heat and rain.
Loves the characters from a distance but not so much up close.
She made an exception for Mickey though. She warmed up to him rather quickly.
Wanted to touch his nose...
and then give him a kiss! It was so sweet! She doesn't even really give us kisses so this was something to watch! (I tried not to think of how many other kids had done the same thing without Mickey Lysol'ing his nose...oh well!)
Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She kept trying to crawl up there and didn't understand why she couldn't!
Bunny's Eye View Watching High School Musical cast perform.
And...she's out!
Hollywood Studios was so nice!
We had a great time with Gigi and Aunt Kay! It was so fun!!! Thank you, Gigi, for taking us along!
