The Dudley Four: Disney

Way back in October, we took a trip to the most magical place on earth. My parents and sister joined us for a few days, and Big Sister had a blast taking them on all her favorite rides. Since they came down a few days into our trip, we decided to let Little Bud ride down with Papa and Grams, giving us a few days to spend time with Big Sister. It was fun to be able to ride rides together with her (last go around we had to take turns riding with her, while one of us waited with Little Bud). Big Sister loved having us all to herself, and Little Bud had the best time spending the night with Grammie and then heading to Florida with Grams and Papa (he even visited with family in Apopka before they met us at Disney).

Neither of the kids knew that Jamie was flying down for the weekend, so when she showed up they were so happy! My Aunt and Uncle met us at Epcot one day, and it was nice to spend a bit of time with them too.

Overall it was a good trip. This year was a bit more challenging than last (Little Bud fully understood that he was getting left behind when he wasn't big enough for a ride and he isn't a big fan of riding in the stroller or waiting in lines), but both kids have talked about the trip almost non stop for the last few months, so I guess that means they are treasuring the memories we made. Little Bud has told me countless times that Jamie and/or Papa and Grams are going to take him back to Disney World, and every time we drive past the Shelby County Courthouse, he tells us that it's Donald Duck's castle!!

We've found that sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees when it comes to vacationing with little kids. It's hard work, much more challenging than "normal" life, but once you get home and think back, we find that there's always good memories to treasure.

John says that our next trip to Disney will be when both of the kids are tall enough to ride every ride, which will be at least 5 years from now. I'm hoping that we'll take a motorhome trip to California in a few years, and we'll make a stop at DisneyLand while we're there :)