Day 1, Part 1

***Disclaimer - so as to not completely overwhelm our readers with a very long post, the next couple of days in Orlando will be split up among a few (hopefully shorter) posts. Thanks in advance for enjoying our memories with us!***

We had a wonderful time at Disney. It was such a great opportunity to spend some serious time with our family. Craig and I tried to mentally prepare ourselves for tired children, whines of wanting something in every gift store and a few random meltdown and arguments. However, they didn't happen. The kids were great!!!! Even the rain didn't slow us down. There was mostly just drizzle - enough that we had to keep rain jackets on, but not enough to get drenched. The rain also kept a lot of the crowds away!!! Such a blessing it really was for the first day.

Every trip to Disney has to include a picture in front of Cinderella's Castle - wet and all, we made it happen.

Xander favorite ride of the whole trip was Buzz Lightyear. He loves the Toy Story movies and loves shooting - what a great combination for him. Everyone else had a blast too!!

Xander and Uncle Jeff - shooting down the bad guys!

We all had fun on Cinderella's Golden Carousel. Craig seemed to have way too much fun!!

Aren't Jeff and Ashely the cutest together? They were awesome with the kids all weekend!!

What's a trip to the Magic Kingdom without stopping by Mickey's and Minnie's homes?

Xander got to ride his first roller coaster - the Barnstormer. We were a little nervous about how much height restrictions would impact the kids' fun, but it wasn't too big a problem. He had a blast (as did the other kids). During the ride, he wasn't too sure about it, but as soon as it finished, he said, "Daddy, I want to go again . . . faster!"

Just barely, but he made it!

The pin trading was a big hit. Note for next trip - Craig and I are getting pins of our own to trade and we're getting more. There were so many interesting pins we saw on people. Here are the kids with their first trader. Thanks, Frances for this excellent tip!!

Lunch at Pinocchio's Village Haus was just delicious! Finding a spot where all nine of us could sit down and eat, not the easiest thing.

The Dumbo ride has always been a favorite. The kids loved any ride where they got to "drive". Each ride brought a new mixture of people together. It was fun to see that Papa and Mimi got some quiet, relaxing time to themselves!

The Mad Tea Party teacups are also a long-time favorite. We decided that the grands (grandparents and grandkids) would be in one cup while the middles would be in another. This was a purely selfish move on our part as we wanted to spin as fast as we could. We thought that would be lots of fun and a great idea. However, as we finished, there was some discussion on that plan. Much dizziness, but it was worth it!

We'll end Day One's post with this shot - is there really anything more that needs to be said?