Cooling Off

Swimming in the Hilton Pool

It has been b/w 90-95 degrees everyday we have been here. The kids have been so hot that we thought it might be nice to cool off in the pool. Both Mark and Makenna have been taking swim lessons and are doing so well. Here you can see Mark swimming all by himself. Makenna usually has a swim belt on and we forgot to bring her swimmies, so she didn't do as well as usual, but they had a great time!

Florida Vacation - Day 4 (Hollywood Studios)

Makenna with Minnie
Both trying to keep the sun out of their eyes with Donald

With Leo from Little Einsteins

Dancing during the Playhouse Disney Show

Well our 4th day started out better. Matt and Mark headed over to Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning to ride Space Mountain since Mark couldn't ride it the other day, but since learning our stuffing shoes plan worked he took him over there. Mark loved it. He puts his hands up during every roller coaster ride. Makenna and I had breakfast and headed out to Hollywood Studios (MGM). We walked in and immediately saw Minnie Mouse so Makenna got to see her and then headed over to see Donald. By that time Mark and Matt had gotten to the park and hopped in line with us. Matt and Mark then headed to do Star Wars while Makenna and I watched High School Musical 3 show. We then went to see Indiana Jones, then Lights, Camera, Action. The thing about Hollywood Studios is that it is mostly all shows. Makenna kept wanting to go on rides. The shows that were continuous were okay, but in Indiana Jones and Lights, Camera, Action they stop to give the director's view which can be long. Eventually after that we made it over to Pixar Place which they really enjoyed. The Toy Story ride was the Highlight of our day. Both Mark and Makenna really liked that. Then we went to see the Playhouse Disney Live show. They both enjoyed that as well. Makenna finally fell asleep after that and Matt and I headed over to ride Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster. Matt conned me into it even though I DO NOT like roller coasters. I wasn't too happy after I got off of it. It jarred my neck too much. But Matt went on again and loved it. By that time we got our first rain shower of our trip and Makenna woke up not happy again, so we decided to head back to the hotel. By the time we got back and got changed it had stopped raining so we decided to go swimming. They loved it. Makenna complained so much during the day that she was just so hot so the pool was the best solution. We also think she has had a fever the past couple days and has started to get a rash all over. After the pool we grabbed dinner and went to bed. Makenna woke up screaming crying again for another hour straight. It was another long night.

Dinner with Cinderella & Prince Charming

Our Cinderella
Our Captain Hook

Makenna with Cinderella

With Prince Charming

With the Step-Mother

One Step-Sister

The other Step-Sister

Our Dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Wicked Step-Mother and Step-Sisters at the Grand Floridian.

Florida Vacation - Day 3 (Animal Kingdom/Grand Floridian/MGM)

With Goofy
With Donald
With Lilo & Stitch

Day 3...all I can say is WOW...we made it through. Whew! Our day started with Makenna screaming and crying for probably 30 minutes straight. I finally calmed her down by putting Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the TV while I finished getting ready. She has been a nightmare. She is overtired and on top of that she has a cold. She could be happy one minute and throwing a massive tantrum screaming at the top of her lungs the next minute. We always wonder which Makenna is going to show up to whatever we have decided to do. Because if she doesn't like it forget it. I also know something is wrong b/c she didn't eat well all day. We all know Makenna is my little eater, so there is clearly something off with her. Anyways, we finally made it to Animal Kingdom around 9:30 AM. We decided to head down to the Lion King show. On our way, we saw Lilo and Stitch and they were very happy to visit with them. After the Lion King we went outside and saw Goofy and Donald. They didn't want to wait in anymore character lines after that so we headed on to A Bugs Life show. That was okay too. Makenna really doesn't like sitting for shows, but the 3D ones were okay for her. Next we went on to Dino Land. All she wanted to do was ride a ride. She kept asking to ride Dumbo again or the Carousal, so I told her the Triceratops ride was pretty similar. She enjoyed it and then we let them run off some energy in the fossil play area. Even with scraping up her legs and knees she had a great time. Mark and Matt went on to ride Dinosaur (a roller coaster that Makenna was too small for). Side Note: Mark we have found is 43 and 3/4 inches. In order to ride most of the rides in Disney you have to be 44 inches. They weren't letting him ride b/c he was one pinky finger short of the line. So Matt wasn't willing to settle for that and put a pair of Makenna's underwear in each of his shoes at lunch to give him that extra quarter inch so he could ride and believe it or not, it worked. Mark loves going on roller coasters so he was happy about it. They also then went on to ride Everest. The huge roller coaster that as Mark described it, "Was a roller coaster that was broken by a Yeti. So you almost go off the track, but then you go backward instead." He had his hands up in the air the entire time Matt said. Makenna and I just hung out by a nearby pond and I took some pictures of her. After that she was in breakdown mode again, so we laid her down for a nap in the stroller. She was out. We decided to go on the truck ride through the Jungle, but since Makenna was napping I told Matt to take Mark. He insisted that I go, but then I guess last minute decided that he could go too and if he picked Makenna up that she would stay asleep. He thought wrong. Makenna Monster awoke from her slumber in a screaming frenzy. I got her calmed down (b/c she only wants me these days) and she enjoyed the ride. Next we went on to the Kali Falls where we hoped we were on the side on the raft that didn't get wet. We hoped wrong. Makenna and Matt got the worst of it. Mark and I were pretty wet too, but not like them. Makenna's face was priceless. She was in utter shock at first and then just got the biggest smile on her face and started laughing. She wanted to go on it again. We ended our time there with the parade and then hopped on a bus to the Grand Floridian Resort so we could have dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, and her Wicked Step-Sisters and Step-Mother. Both kids fell asleep on the shuttle ride to the resort. That was the best thing that could have happened. We sat outside the resort and let them sleep for about an hour or more. We had to wake them up for dinner or they probably would have slept forever. It took a lot of convincing on my part to persuade Makenna to put on her Cinderella outfit, but eventually she agreed. She was so happy to meet her at dinner as well as the other's. Mark had to dress up too of course and so we brought his pirate/Captain Hook outfit. He was having fun showing it off to the characters that came by. So from there we planned to take a shuttle back to MGM to watch Fantasmic. It was the only chance we had to see it b/c they only show it on Wed or Sat nights. We waited outside for a shuttle for an hour and by the time we got to MGM and literally ran to it, it was full. We were not happy to say the least considering there should have been 4 shuttles in the time it took one to come, but Matt decided that him and Mark might as well ride the Tower of Terror so I took Makenna to the Little Mermaid Show. She loved it. Mark and Matt did not like the Tower of terror. I'm pretty sure they were keeping their eyes closed on that one! By the time we got back it was super late and Mark crashed but Makenna was up. She kept feeling warm to me, but I wasn't sure if it was the 95 degree weather or if she really had a fever so I gave her some Tylenol and told her some stories and she finally fell asleep probably at 1 AM. It was a LONG night.

Florida Vacation - Day 2 (Magic Kingdom/Epcot)

One picture of them by the Castle
Meeting Jasmine and Aladdin

She wanted to ride the Carousal so badly...she was so happy!

Posing for a picture outside of Mickey's 3D Philarmagic

Mark driving around Tomorrowland

Meeting Buzz Lightyear (Makenna woke up while we were in line to see him. She still wasn't thirlled yet to be awake.)

Meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse

Finally so happy and wanted to smile in front of everything at Nemo's Underwater Exhibit. Here with a Stingray.

Well we woke up early again today so we could drive from Uncle Curt's house to Orlando. We got checked into our hotel (where Matt worked his Salesman magic and got us a Suite-thank goodness!) We quickly and literally threw our stuff in the room and headed out to the Shuttle for Magic Kingdom. We got there a little before about 9:30 and headed in. At this point, we had already had to threaten Makenna about not going b/c she had not been good all morning. But eventually we made it through the gates. We started out with Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride and the kids were so happy to see Aladdin and Jasmine at the end of the ride. We continued on and worked out the fast pass system. We rode almost every ride that we could and if for some reason Makenna couldn't ride b/c of a height restriction, then Matt and Mark went on alone and I took Makenna to something else, but most of that was done while she eventually napped in the stroller. Mark LOVED Pirates of the Carribbean, but Makenna DID NOT. This is how our lunch converstation went:

Mark: I loved Pirates of the Carribbean. I want to go on that again.

Ashlee: You didn't think it was scary?

Mark: No, it wasn't scary at all, I liked it.

Ashlee: Makenna, did you like Pirates of the Carribbean?

Makenna: No.

Ashlee: Why? You didn't think it was scary. I know you weren't afraid.

Makenna: Yes, I was scared and it was scary. I don't want to go on that ride again. (Said with TONS of facial expressions and hand motions)

Mark: Oh, Makenna, don't you know none of that is real anyway.

It was too cute. She is so dramatic with her opinons of things. She at first didn't want to go on the Rollercoaster across from Mickey's house and then after she did she wanted to go on it again b/c she liked it so much b/c it went, "SO FAST!" She was pretty crabby most of the day and would just cling to me. She finally got better and much happier toward the end of the day when we got to Epcot (at 8PM!) We ate a late dinner and then Matt took Mark to the Test Track and I took Makenna to Finding Nemo. She LOVED it. We finished the night watching fireworks and then got back to the hotel around 9:45. They of course crashed hard...and as promised...there was no pacifier in Disney World!!!!!!!!!

Florida Vacation - Day 1 (Family Visits)

On the Airplane...all with their own Electronic Device...IPOD, DVD Player, and DS
Makenna, Great-Grandpa Campbell, and Mark

Mark on Uncle Curt's new Harley

Makenna, Aunt Roberta, and Mark walking to the Ocean

Mark and Makenna running out of the Ocean

Planning their next Mission from the looks of it!

We started our day yesterday at 3:30 AM. The kids never fell back asleep in the car, but somehow we perfect angels all the way up to the airport, through the airport, on the airplane, and getting off the airplane. We were thrilled and amazed, especially seeing as how they were up so early. Well...all of the perfectness ended about 10 minutes before we arrived at Matt's Grandpa's house in Winter Haven, FL. Makenna started to break down as did Mark by saying his stomach hurt. They were not great while visiting with their Great-Grandpa unfortunately. Then we put them back in a car for another couple hours to drive to Matt's Uncle Curt's house. They again, were not great. But when we got to Uncle Curt's and they could run around and burn some energy, they were much happier. Uncle Curt and Aunt Roberta wanted to take us to the Ocean and the kids were pumped. They drove them in the car and Matt and I rode Uncle Curt's brand new Harley Davidson. It was fun, but definitely more frightening as a mother now. The kids had a blast on the beach with Aunt Roberta and then we ate dinner at a place right on the Beach that overlooked the Ocean. It was wonderful. They crashed when we got back and were ready to take on Disney the next day.