Disney World

Whenever I think about the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I think of the line "...the gang's all here!" as Mickey does roll call. Traveling with 5 children, 6 and under (and Zach and occasionally my dad), meant a constant roll call - do we have everyone? That makes me smile. Traveling in large groups does not always mean convenience, but it is sure to mean helping hands and great memories...

Woody made the flight down! Our plane left entirely too early to worry about changing clothes. We transferred babies from beds to carseats. Bennett entered our hotel as Woody - the staff loved it! He received a birthday button upon his arrival. We were conveniently located close to Magic Kingdom - a simple boat ride away!

Hanging by the pool...dancing to music, hula hoops, jump tic tac toe game (papaw and camden in the background), our party of 11 meant we eventually earned a hot tub to ourselves. The adults were rewarded with an afternoon frozen cocktail and the kids loved playing in and around the water.

Waiting to see Mickey! It was really nice to stay on the property. We could easily move around from resort to park without the need of car seats, etc. They are so prepared for small children and strollers...thank goodness.

Magic Kingdom in sight! The boys taking it all in. Our weather was amazing. The highlights and great memories are numersous. After deleting, I still have more than 300 photos (and we forgot our camera for one entire day). Just a few that come to mind now include Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, breakfast with Handy Manny, Disney Junior Live on Stage, The Muppet Show, my entire family pictured wearing our 3-D glasses as we headed into an interactive Buzz Lightyear ride, Peter Pan, Main Street, ice cream cones, meeting Mickey and Minne Mouse

Pluto signing Bennett's autograph book. The characters are so wonderful with the children. All of the boys were comfortable meeting them and Elly Rose was intrigued, as well. She didn't care much for characters touching her if she was not being held by one of us and she let Minnie Mouse know about it...

Papaw and Memaw with their grandbabies! No small accomplishment to get them all wearing their hats and mostly looking like they are ready to be photographed. Papaw promised some ice cream after we did the photos...good trick...it worked! And Rosie loves ice cream. She was hysterical if we were not giving her a fair share.

Its a Small World! Bennett will randomly start singing this song now...warms my heart.

(fastforward...we didn't have our camera Handy Manny and many other highlights. Thankfully, my sis and mom did!)

Legoland! Daddy, Bennett and R2D2. Zach was thrilled to see a Star Wars presence at Disney and Legoland. Legoland is located outside Orlando and conveniently, in the same community where my grandpa and Tootie live. It just opened and we had a fabulous time. R2D2 is made exclusively of little legos. You can find this throughout the entire park. One exhibit, sponsored by Ford, includes a car - close to 1 million legos to make it.

Zach, Mom and Bennett are in the fire truck...it was a race. The sight of them pumping an air-compressor to move it along, then pumping water and aiming to the window was in one-word, hysterical. At least they won! Later in the day...Zach, Bennett, Camden and I faced off against Amy, Chris, Cooper and Carson...it was a battle and our team one again :) I think Zach's pumping method left my sis laughing too hard to contribute much help to her team...

We spent the end of our day at Legoland in the Duplo Village. It was perfect for Elly Rose (and Bennett and Cooper). Clean, gated areas to explore, play with legos and participate on simple rides.

And ending our last evening out for mexican and margaritas! Fun trip with family...Bennett talks about bits and pieces of this vacation regularly. It was his first exposure to pirates and peter pan...I have a feeling his fascination with Wendy, Captain Hook and gang will continue to grow.