Animal Kingdom

 We hit Animal Kingdom full force on a cool morning. There was no amount of convincing Callan that riding the water ride at 9AM on a cool morning was a bad idea. So Brent accepted the challenge that mom was not willing to take and took Baylor and Callan on the Water Rapids ride. The first time through they did not get a drop on them, so the nice ride director sent them right on through again where they got so soaked that Callan cried... and cried... and cried. Luckily we had not yet made souviner purchases and went for some new Disney shirts that were DRY!

They also enjoyed Expedition Everest. They rode this ride until Dad could not do it anymore. The lines were so good that they rode it straight through about 5 times in a row. Luckily, I had taken the younger 3 off to watch Finding Nemo.

Cruz spent a lot of time covering his ears, not knowing what was coming next and Eliza always just went with the flow... as long as the ride was not scary or dark.

AND THEN WE HAPPENED UPON HER!!!! Eliza's favorite princess. The only one she truly cared to see. We were just walking along headed to the Lion King show and then she appeared at the edge of a forest... just standing there alone. We thought it was a miracle. No line, no people, we just RAN straight to her. She was full on in character because when I said to the lady" we were hoping we would see you but did not know where to find you", she told me she had been in the forest with her friends. The Lion King was amazing too, except for the part where I fell down a step onto some people who did not speak English.

Day 3 EPCOT… and lunch with the Princesses

Off to Epcot we went.  Of all the places to be the most crowded...  this one was it. The lines seemed the longest, but the kids acted like champs and rolled with the flow.

Cruz loved Nemo!

When I heard a group of older gentlemen come off this ride and claim that they "didn't know that they were going to make it" I was worried about the crew I had just sent on this ride. They all came off smiling and Silas still claims that this one was his most favorite.

Eliza, Cruz, and I hit the little character stop. We did it for Cruz and his love of "HOT DOG" but he would have nothing to do with the characters not even his beloved Donald. Eliza racked up the signatures and loved posing with each one.

The highlight of the day for our little princess was our Princess Luncheon in the Norway Pavillion. I had no idea that Disney goes to Norway to hire young people to work each country pavillion. I asked our server a lot of questions and learned quite a bit about the work Disney puts into making sure that the experience is authentic. Our server was on a year work visa and had been there 7 months. Her hope was to return home just to apply to come right back!


I was truly surprised how much attention each princess gave to each individual table. I was very impressed with their kindness (especially Cinderella). Eliza had princessed out with her makeover and being Cinderella all day the day before so she was not interested in dressing up. Not only did she get attention, but the boys got red faced a few times at the attention these princesses paid to the princes.


We did not get to spend as much time at the different country exhibits as I had hoped we would for educational purposes... but in the end... after a little Soarin' and Test Track we were all good to go.

Disney Day 2 Back to the Magic…

We took Disney Day 2 a little slower. We knew we were going to come back for a late night visit with the Extra Magic Hours and Fireworks show so we planned accordingly. We spent the morning hanging on “the other side” of Magic Kingdom. I sat with the littles while Brent and the big boys tackled Space Mountain. By this point we had learned the switch pass rules on top of the FastPass rules and Baylor and Callan had fun running back through the line. One time was good for me- thank you very much!
Just when the younger natives were getting restless rain started to move in. Because Splash Mountain was closed on our first day, Dad and the big boys stayed around to tackle that ride, and the littles and I ran to the train to try to get back “home” before we turned into ducks.
Once everyone made it home, we rested up before heading out for our nighttime adventures.

Disney at night was spectacular. We were late to the fireworks show because the boat ride took longer than normal, but to see the Castle all lit up was amazing. I just sat there and stared. Cruz was mesmerized right to sleep, but only until we decided to take Dumbo for a night time spin. Where he sat up and started yelling “YAY! Up, Down, Up, Down.” We also gave the teacups another spin and headed back over to Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion. I was still drizzling, but the kids were full force loving every minute!!!

Disney Day 1- Magic Kindgom

Our first day was AMAZING!!! We paused for a photo before the adventure began on the deck of our cabin.

From Fort Wilderness Cabins you had to take a ferry boat to the Magic Kingdom. You could not contain their excitement!!!

Daddy and Eliza on the boat trip over.

Baylor was the first to speak. His words were "This was not what I expected... this is AMAZING!"

We got several shots of the castle... but this one with Sissy makes me happy!

This just makes me laugh!

Having no idea what the tea cups are all about!

Our first character meet and greet. This is Callan all about some Tigger!

This was Eliza's first roller coaster. It was also her last. You can see her holding on for dear life. Her words "Get me off of here and get me to my makeover!!!"

I almost cried during the Parade. I am a sucker for parades with drums, they make me cry and I don't know why. Luckily there were not drums, just music and my sweet little boy who was afraid of the characters close up. But, when he saw them in the parade... "HI!! WOODY!!!"

Taking the boat back home. The park closed early... but that was okay we had Downtown Disney to get to... and a makeover.

Somebody wanted to participate in the standing bus ride.

Lord have mercy!!! I had no idea what we were getting into. She had a blast and we carried enough glitter back to our cabin to last all year. In fact, Baylor refused to sleep next to her afraid that he would be Pixie dusted to death... so we had to locate a shower cap just to contain the glitter. (as much as we paid for this diva-do we were not washing it that night)

5 Little Monkey's

We decided to leave a day early for Disney. We thought we would take our time getting there. However, we forgot that 2 full size beds don't fit 7 people comfortably. When we have done it in the past we have taken a blow up mattress. That was not on the Disney packing list,so we tried out a few sleeping combos.

This test run lasted about 2 minutes. We ended up with the 3 big boys sideways in the bed. Eliza between me and Brent, and Cruz on his handy dandy rest mat... on the floor... on top of a blanket pallet... surrounded by pillows.

Welcome Home

The Jones family has grown again! Keith and Tracey welcomed home their sons to their forever family!

My 2 littles

Our two littlest kiddos were so proud of their costumes I thought they deserved some more photo time. Eliza has fallen in love with Pocahontas (and we are studying about her in school too), and have you ever NOT seen a cute zebra???

I have to add that I was so proud of my oldest son this Halloween. He did forgo the extra friend time and quickly running from house to house in order to carry Cruz slowly door to door as he collected candy and said "Fank You".