Disney Trip 2009

Well our little Jace turned a not-so-little THREE YEARS OLD on Friday! REALLY hard to believe! My how time flies!
We were extremely blessed to have some friends of ours from Ohio offer us their Aunt and Uncle’s guest passes for Disney (they work there) to get us in to celebrate the big day! We started off the morning with our tradition of breakfast in bed for the birthday boy- and then told him his big surprise! we hurried and got everyone ready to go and hopped in the van and headed to Orlando! We let him open presents in the car since we knew we wouldn’t be back home until very late that night. So he thought that was a lot of fun in it’s own right!
Our Disney day:
* 1st stop- Animal Kingdom to see the Nemo show (OUTSTANDING!) and go on the safari ride for which we were given a priority pass which meant NO waiting! THANK YOU! We also packed our own lunch and ate it there as we watched the “plant lady” (yes, a lady dressed as a plant walking around on stilts pretty much hugging trees… ok you had to be there).
*Next stop- Magic Kingdom. There, we watched the afternoon parade where we saw our very own NORTH CANTON HOOVER MARCHING BAND (did NOT know they would be there until the night before and didn’t know which park!)- Yay! Then we went on the It’s A Small World ride, went to Mickey’s Toontown where we got to meet and greet Mickey and Minnie, played on the playground there, rode the train, ate a much-needed-at-that-point-in-the-day-dinner, rode the carousel, rode DUMBO (YAY, Jace wasn’t scared!!!), went on the boat safari ride, watched the Country Bears Jamboree, and then got some ice cream while we watched the light parade. The kids loved every single part of it! We made sure to not do too much and only pick out things that didn’t require long waits. It didn’t really matter to us how much we got “done” there since it was all about the birthday boy having a good time! This made life a LOT easier for Mom and Dad too! After the light parade we made our way to the front gate where we could watch the fireworks and exit quickly afterward but the kids didn’t make it- they both fell asleep in the stroller on the walk to the gate! People were oo-ing and ahh-ing at them and we’re like, what’s going on? I mean, we know they’re cute, but GEEZ! Finally we peeked at them and both their little heads were bobbing with each step. At the gate, we attempted to wake up Jace to see the fireworks but he wanted nothing of the sort and flopped his head back down. So we then decided to go ahead and return the stroller and head for the car. It was a picture perfect ending if you ask me- two little babes (well one not so little!!) fast asleep in our arms after a magical day at Disney!!
It was an extra special (and sometimes emotional) day for me- since I used to work there- to have my own husband and children there with me. I have such fantastic memories of that place and it holds a very special place in my heart. So to see my own children get so much joy out of being there really meant a lot!
We will never forget that trip!!!! And to my big boy- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

See more pictures HERE!