DAY 1

Love how this turned out. It is hard to narrow down the pics I use for my daily LOs. I love all my pics. Patting myself on the back for buying myself a new camera before the trip. It was soooooooooo worth it!

We begin every trip in the backseat of my car. It has become a tradition. We always begin our vacation early in the morning and typically begin the morning with a breakfast at Denny's. On this particular morning, breakfast wasn't too hot...but we didn't care. We're going to DISNEY WORLD!!!
We arrived @ the airport early. (about 2 hours pre-flight). We had 7 bags in tow. (we are allowed 2 per person) When the shuttle came to pick us up, it was FULL of people. We couldn't even put our luggage on the rack. We had to carry it. I had printed our boarding passes at home so that part was out of the way. We tagged our bags and checked in without a problem. For the next hour we wandered around the airport. (first time in an airport for all of us but Dean). We watched planes take off and land. As time grew closer, I got a little more nervous.

The time had come to check our carry-on bags. With our shoes off and our belongings in a tub, we passed with flying colors! YAY!!!! Then we sat and waited for our plane. Seemed like forever, I was just anxious to get on the dang thing and get it over with. I swore I would never fly. But come on....WE WERE OFF TO SEE THE MOUSE!!!!

They called our number, we got in line and soon made our way to the plane. It wasn't until I walked down the hall and could see the plane through the windows that I really started to panic. I tried to be calm as I knew Kate was very nervous about her first flight as well. We made our way to the back of the plane. All of the good seats (as if there is such a thing!) were taken. We had no choice but to sit in the very last row. Andy wanted to be next to the window, I wanted to be between both of my children. Kate was on the end and Dean was the row across from us next to the window. I didn't want to sit next to Dean because he has always told me that I just need to "get over" my fear of flying. In my defense (especially after having tried it), it is NOT something that you "get over". It was a very turbulent flight and the pilot kept the seat belt sign on most of the flight.

NOT A PERFECT FLIGHT 2 BE MY FIRST!!!!
Andy, turned his MP3 player on and slept most of the flight. He did wake up to eat the cheese nips and peanuts. He woke up as the flight attendant was counting down the landing (he was HILARIOUS the entire flight!) The descent was horrible and I become nauseated thinking about it now. We joke about this now but it was not pretty @ the time. (Thank God 4 the puke bags they put behind each seat!) When he got to 4 on the countdown, Andy reached for the bag...and yup...you guessed it. Poor little guy. He has always had a problem with motion sickness. It is wonderful to be on the ground but very scary cuz I felt like we were going way too fast and we were SURE to plow into something.

Thankfully, we made it to our destination without any major problems.
When we got to the airport. Wow! What a change from KCI!!! This place was HUGE!!! Very organized but HUGE!!! We were able to get our rental car (after quite a little wait). We got a gold 2008 Ford Fusion. Not a bad little car. I drive a Ford Focus every day so it was very similar....just a bit larger.
This was our first look @ Orlando. Wow! What a beautiful place. I am sure Dean got tired of hearing me say that but it just amazed me how well kept everything was. The trees were beautiful everywhere we went.
I guess this is the part I was the most nervous about. I have had everything reserved and paid for since January. I was just afraid we would get to the rental house and it wouldn't exist. Even after we found the place. I made everyone wait in the car to see if the code that the owner had given me would work. (it is a passed on blessing in my family for something to go wrong @ EVERY turn...I have learned to expect it) Without a problem, the code worked, we were in! It was truly breath taking. Every room was just like the website displayed. PERFECT!!! Everyone was happy...even Dean (he is to say the least..VERY hard to please).

We then went back out to get some groceries for the week. We didn't use a lot of the things we bought, we got up early every morning and headed to the parks. We decided on Sizzler for supper. It was very very good. Any restaurant with a buffet is PERFECT for us cuz it takes a lot to fill up a teenage boy!

I couldn't wait to begin shopping, so we hit a bargain store on the way home. (THEY ARE EVERYWHERE DOWN THERE!!!)

By the time we got home, it was after 9.We were all DYING 2 get into our pool so we did just that.
After about an hour of swimming, it was late so we got out and got ready 4 bed. Kate thought she needed a treat.
This is what she settled on! It is good to be a kid!

Thought I would grab one more of Kate before bed. She LOVED her room and it gave her some ideas for her new room.