One of the rides we wanted to be sure to go on at Magic Kingdom was the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. And by we, I mean Dave, Adam, Luke, and Maggie. I’m not a big fan of roller coasters.

As you can see, the kids had mixed reactions.

Luke thought it was awesome. Adam and Maggie disagreed.

We started the next morning bright and early. We were on the bus to leave the hotel at 6:45 am to get to our 8 o’clock breakfast reservations with Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.

Adam saw the ice cream machine and asked if he could have some. He had already eaten eggs and some waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse, so we said yes. I mean, if you can’t have ice cream for breakfast at Disney World, where can you?

Maggie’s current favorite princess is Jasmine, so we knew we wanted to stop in to see her at Epcot. I had picked up a Jasmine costume after Halloween last fall (for $3.50, hooray for 90% off clearance at Target). This was before we planned our trip and before I even knew she was Maggie’s favorite princess. It was pretty much meant to be.

Adam was pretty excited about the Mickey shaped food.

We also got to visit Elsa and Anna at Epcot. I brought costumes for Maggie Elsa and Annie to wear for that meeting too. Someone (Dave) may have thought I was a bit nuts for having the girls change outfits like Cher in concert, but it is a decision I stand behind 100%.

Seriously, how cute is this? 

Maggie pulled just one of her braids over her shoulder when she met Elsa, so their hair could match. When we were with Anna, she showed both braids.

So stinkin’ adorable. I can’t stand it.

Epcot is definitely on our list to go back to again. We had so much fun there!

After our lunch with Chef Mickey, Dave’s parents headed home and the rest of us jumped on the monorail to go to Epcot.

We were there during the flower and garden festival and so there were lots of fun topiaries all over the park.

I decorated our stroller with a Hawaiian lei and fun sign. It helped find our stroller when we got off of rides and was especially helpful the time it got moved to a different location (it was our fault though, we’d accidentally left it in a no stroller parking zone).

Annie and I missed out on our first planned ride of the day. She napped and stalked Daisy Duck getting a spot in line for when Dave and the other kids were done.

The kids, Adam especially, loved it when the Disney photographers offered to take magic photos. For these ones, we had no idea what the photographer was doing and didn’t find out until we looked at the pictures later.

Poor Luke got soaked on the Frozen Ride.

We visited with Joy and Sadness (you can probably figure out which one is which), from the movie Inside Out.

Baymax didn’t sign autographs. He did give the kids hugs and high fives though.

Snow White was the first princess we met. It started to rain right after she arrived and she ended up leaving to check on the seven dwarfs after meeting the people in line behind us.

For the second half of our Florida vacation, we surprised the kids with a trip to Walt Disney World. Dave’s parents drove over an hour to eat lunch with us at Chef Mickey’s and it was the perfect way to start our stay.

As we ate, a few of the characters stopped by our table to visit, pose for pictures, and sign autographs.

Goofy was a big fan of Luke’s shirt.

Adam indulged me in recreating a picture. In the first, he was just two and a half months old.

Our last full day with Dave’s parents was spent going to two different playgrounds, visiting Dave’s grandparents, and of course, more time in the pool.

This next picture serves as a reminder that I have ridiculously unrealistic expectations when it comes to getting pictures of four young kids.

Annemarie Audrey was tired and crabby, but I am so glad she was able to meet her namesake, her great grandma Audrey.

The kids decided to all jump in together.

Maggie opted out, but I still love these pics.

After fishing we went to lunch and then to the beach to look for shells.

Well, they started out looking for shells, but it wasn’t long before they ended up in the water.

Their favorite thing to do was to run from the waves.

My favorite thing to do was watch. They had so much fun.

Dave’s parents also treated us to a fishing trip (we’re all spoiled, not just the kids).

Maggie was over-the-moon about her pink, princess fishing pole.

Luke was the only kid to catch a fish. He really liked fishing. Turns out he did not like catching.

Luke brought the perfect Uncle Pete the Cat book for the trip though.

Adam asked me several times to remind him to ask Grandpa if he could drive the boat (he’s just pretending here).

Grandpa let each of the big kids take a turn helping him drive.

Next time, Annie can give it a go.

One of our Florida adventures was a trolley tour around St. Augustine. Before we left, Adam, made a family word search out of blocks. Can you find his name, and Luke and the girls’ names too?

The trolley stopped at a chocolate factory. We were hoping to do a tour, but the didn’t have any spots available. The kids were okay with it, they still got candy.

We had a delicious lunch and then kids played a quick round of golf.

Then it was back on the trolley again.

We explored Castillo de San Marcos – the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States.

And then it was back to the pool! It was a really nice way to celebrate Dave’s birthday.

This last month has been super busy – as you’d probably guessed. It’s been full of dentist, orthodontist, and doctor’s appointments. I had a huge project due for school and we had our spring break trip to Florida. We also had visitors – twice! For now, let’s focus on that vacation though.

We were at Dave’s parents’ house for less than an hour before the kids were in the pool.

The kids were thrilled with the sleeping arrangements at grandma and grandpa’s house!

Adam wanted a picture in front of a real live palm tree.

Annie even got in on the swimming – she LOVED it!

Swimming all day and s’mores at night – those kids aren’t spoiled at all!