At least that’s what we eventually decided.
Abbey’s good friend from Florida, Angelina, invited her to go to Disney with her family to celebrate her 16th birthday. At first we thought “how do we GET her there”? It’s a long way to FL, and it seemed a waste to have Randy drive her there and back by himself.
So, we ended up making it a quick family vacation to Magic Kingdom. Dylan’s first time, Lainey’s second, who knows what time for the rest of us. We had yearly passes when we lived in Jax, and took advantage of that quite well.
We arrived Thursday night, big kids had a quick swim in the heated outdoor pool, and then we all headed to bed. After a quick breakfast at the hotel on Friday, Angelina’s family picked up Abbey and we all headed to the park.
It was odd, having just 5 kids with us…the group shots are missing something! Or someone.
They still had their Christmas decorations up, and were playing Christmas music. We were told it was the last day for that…
Payton’s favorite attraction
Obviously…same shot we took back in April 2010! I think he’s changed the most since our last Disney trip.
Zurg captured Dylan!
Tea Cup ride…given my dislike for anything that spins (and knowing full well that Randy would spin it as FAST as he possibly could), I took pictures.
Payton does a perfect Stitch voice, so he and the blue guy had a conversation.
I think Lainey has gotten over her fear of characters…finally.
January 2012
April 2010
He almost got it!
I caught the boys doing a little dance to polka music.
Then, Randy found a friend in the Haunted Mansion graveyard. Will the goofiness ever end?
This wall played music when you touched the different instruments…very cool!
Sadly…
I must…
post all…
of the stocks pictures.
And, then it was nighttime.
Electric parade :)
Then, we headed up to Main Street for the fireworks… The castle was so pretty, draped in Christmas lights!
Yes, there’s a big bush in front of the castle. We did the best we could to find a spot to watch. Apparently, everyone in the free world was at Disney that day. So much for lower crowds in January!
The fireworks were put to music…it was really beautiful.
Finally met up with Abbey! Her and Angelina have been great friends for years, I’m glad to see that hundreds of miles haven’t changed that.
All 6, together at last. It was a fun, hectic, incredible, exhausting day. Disney, you really know how to throw a party.
We crashed at the hotel Friday night, and got back on the road the next day. But, not before meeting up with some special friends of ours in Orlando. Pictures of that next…
January 8th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Beautiful, awesome, fun, happy…and many more words describe your pictures of your quick WDW vacation!! I’ve just gotta say that the shot of the castle in pink, blue & purple with the white fireworks behind it is just about one of the prettiest photos I’ve seen in a long time!!! I would love a print of it!!
Looks like Dylan didn’t exactly care for the WDW sun in his face, but then he went on to enjoy himself, anyway!! I love how you compared some of the 2012 shots with older ones.
Angelina and Abbey are just so cute together, and I’m so glad that their friendship has lasted so long, especially long-distance! Amazing that Angelina just turned 16 and Abbey will soon. I’m sure her family can’t believe that their little girl is growing so fast, as we feel the same way about Abbey!
Welcome back home…and hopefully that’s where you’ll stay to get some much needed rest from so much travel! Hope we can get together soon on a Saturday that we all agree on to celebrate our birthdays!!!!
January 11th, 2012 at 12:23 am
I am not going to comment on the pictures as I loved them all. Seeing them also made me want to go to Disney again. It has been 11 years and I am sure there is a lot of new stuff to see. I kinda feel like I really didn’t have a 25th anniversary celebration and maybe going to Disney would remedy that. Wonder if they have motorized wheel chairs????
Angelina has gorgeous eyes ! I am glad that she and Abbey are still friends, too. I am also glad that all of you decided to take this mini vacation to Disney. Knowing you, you could have found a thousand reasons why you shouldn’t go because there was so much to do at home, but you need to enjoy the kids as much as possible while they are still at home.
You asked if Randy would ever lose his “goofiness” I certainly hope not. I don’t think any of us would want him to as that is what makes Randy…. Randy.