We left Destin and headed to Orlando. It took longer than we thought but we finally got there around 4. We checked into Saratoga Springs finally! The girls were really excited about the whirlpool with a window into the bedroom.
If you can't tell, Lyla was extremely excited to be at Disney World. She is finally old enough to actually ride everything that she wants to ride, and to enjoy it.
Even though its not a very exciting ride, the girls always want to do the It's a Small World ride. I was thinking as we were riding it how cute all the dolls are and that they should sell dolls like those from each country. Lo and behold, later I saw them in the Main Street store. They sell everything at Disney.
The girls got to meet Rapunzel and Snow White. I'm pretty sure that Gwyn is too old for meeting the princesses. They talk to the kids in character and she was about to crack up the whole time. There will be a point at some time where it becomes fun again, but for now it's just too silly for her.
Our first evening in the Magic Kingdom wore Lyla out. Even though the park closed at 7pm ( for the Mickey's Christmas Party which required an additional $60 per ticket to attend) she was out on the bus to the hotel.
The next morning we went for a late breakfast at the Ohana restaurant in the Polynesian. This was Lyla's introduction to Lilo and Stitch. She had never seen the movie, but she decided Stitch was her new favorite character. This suits her personality better anyway.
The girls love the Swiss Family Treehouse. They always insist that we walk through it. I think it would be a dream come true for them all to have a huge multi-room treehouse of their own.
Lyla decided she could handle a real roller coaster. She was so excited! We road Big Thunder Mountain. Then Splash Mountain. And again and again. She's hooked.
Everybody had to get the pineapple ice cream in Adventure Land.
Celee and I even logged our first Florida geocache. It happened to be a virtual cache because you can't place real ones in Disney. But we did get our Florida sticker.
Saratoga Springs has art stands in their counter service restaurant. They also have a heated pool with a cool tunnel slide. It was great as long as you stayed in the water. The air was a bit cold if you got out, but the girls swam anyway and had a blast.
Lyla was also big enough to ride the Star Wars ride finally. The lines were super short so we walked on three times! The story is different every time so you never know what it's going to be like.
Celee really wanted to ride The Tower of Terror. I reluctantly agreed to do it with her because I was the adult least likely to get sick. It wasn't as bad as I remember it. Celee really loved it. She wanted to ride it again, but I declined.
We met Stitch again and this time got his autograph.
We did the Test Track at EPCOT. We all got to design our own cars if the future and then "test drive" them. It was super fun! I wish we really could have cars like that!
Soarin' is always fun. Gwyn was in a bit if a funk at this point so I don't think she enjoyed it as much as she could have, but hormones aside, everyone likes it.
We do like the trolls! Maelstrom is a pretty cool little ride in the Norway section at EPCOT.
We flew through The Seas (which is the Nemo ride at EPCOT). We were running out of time! We fit in Captain Io. What a crazy 80s pop sci-fi movie. We also blew through A Figment of the Imagination so that we could race to Spaceship Earth right before the park closed.
We ate lunch at The Crystal Palace where the Winnie the Pooh characters are. Lyla was really excited about meeting all the characters this time, which is quite amazing considering how hysterical she got every time any one of them got near her two years ago.
Everyone enjoyed the Haunted Mansion.
We had a blast at Disney this time. For some reason we were all really laid back, not in a rush to get anywhere (except trying to cram in as many rides as we could in EPCOT before it closed). We slept when we wanted, ate when we wanted, an rode what we wanted. I'm happy to say that not one fit was thrown the whole time. And no one had the gimmies too bad. That's my problem with Disney - the circumstances create a really consumer-oriented and stuff-buying situation. But I'm proud of the girls. They all did get pins to trade and a toy, but they really were more focused on spending time with Monty and Pop and enjoying the parks.
We were all sad to say goodbye to Monty and Pop on Sunday. But we had a really long and boring drive to get home. 700 or so mile of I-95. Thankfully it was broken up a little by the spectacle that is Pedro's South of the Border in South Carolina. What a crazy place. I must say that they get you wondering so far away ,like Wall Drug, that by the time you get there you have to stop just to see what it is. I felt like we stepped back in time to the 70s. I told Jason he needed to grow a mustache to fit in there with the scenery. He'd look cute in short shorts and an OP shirt too!
Anyway, we did make it home and back to life. Vacation's over and now we get to look forward to the holidays!
It was super nice to have Aunt Gale here! Not only did we just miss her and enjoy her company, but it is really nice to have another adult around to help out! One of her many gifts of service to me was that I only washed dishes once all week! Thank you Gale!!
Other than eating, we did a lot of vegging out and watching TV. 
Lyla is working hard on Mario. 
We were all super sad to see Gale go on Friday. The week went by too fast as it always does. But we kept ourselves busy by cutting down a tree! This cedar tree is the only one that was a major source of shade for the area where I want my garden to be in the Spring. I had hopes that the top of the tree would be suitable for a Christmas tree, but no such luck. We all worked at that tree for about 5 hours, but by dark all the limbs and logs were lugged away and cleaned up. We conquered the day! And all the girls had to pose with the chainsaw, which they thought was super cool.
