next stop - orlando

we woke up around 4:30am to finish loading the car and hit the road by 5:30.  we ended up not leaving until 6, but we managed to arrive in orlando just after 9am - aka opening time at disney!  we were a little worried because maddux had a super high fever last night and wasn't doing too hot this morning.  at least his fever had come down and with medicine he was fairly normal so we decided to go for it because this was the only day we could.  as with everything, it was a surprise...

right as i turned the camera off, mason said, "this really is special!"

unfortunately, while we were waiting for my friend, natalie, to meet us at the park entrance and cover our parking, she called and said that a co-worker just told her that the magic kingdom was blocked to employee passes this month.  oh well.  animal kingdom it is!

madelyn remembered peter and they were instant friends, holding hands in the parking lot.  peter is just about a month younger than mason.

we did the animal safari first.  natalie couldn't ride because she is pregnant and it is a very bumpy ride; maddux and i were sliding all over the place.  somehow manning felt asleep on me and slept the entire time!

then we went to the lion king show.  we were a little late but it worked out because we ended up sitting in the second row!

manning really liked it and was pointing at everything.  it was hard to take a good picture because he was sitting on my lap.

natalie took a picture of our whole family

peter got picked to play an instrument for the end of the show!

all our 'boys' sitting on the bench 

the show was pretty great

and then we went out and saw that there was almost no line for donald duck so we took our shot with a character.

vincent, me, manning, donald, matt, maddux, natalie, mason, madelyn and peter

madelyn and peter kept talking about the 'snow' on mt. everest so i took their picture 

peter really wanted to help push our stroller.

we went to dino world/land (i can't remember) and played some carnival games.  i thought it was funny how our group took an entire side.

somehow madelyn won a prize at the ball toss!

maddux was dragging a little but when i pointed out that his balls were orange, his face lit right up!

natalie and i went to take all of the kids (except manning) on a ride.  we just squeaked by when natalie said that madelyn was 7 and could sit by herself.

mason waving to daddy from the flying dinos ride

it was really, really hot on the black top in the dino place so we had some frozen treats in the shade to cool down a bit.  peter had also won a prize at the games - madelyn named her "fiery" and peter named his "fire wings".

 pluto walked by and gave matt a high five but maddux would not wave to or look at him.

we headed over to the nemo show but even 15 minutes early, the show was already full.  they told us that it was standing room only and that they were getting a final head count before letting anyone else in.  the guy also mentioned (more than once) that the show was 40 minutes and we would have to stand the entire time.  fine.  just let us in the air conditioning!!!  once we got in there was just enough room on a bench by the door for three adults so we sat down and each put two kids on our laps.  the bigs might have been fine but vincent and manning we grabbing at everyone and manning was squirming so bad that matt finally got up and took him out.  it was really funny.  if i could have moved at all, i would have tried to take a picture of the three of us holding six kids!  we asked if the big kids could stand in the wheel chair spots in front of us and were told that it would be okay so that gave us a little more room.  and then some people sitting next to the kids left and the three bigs were able to sit down for the rest of the show.  maddux sat on my lap and he fell asleep.  he was really fighting it though - actually smacking his cheeks to try and stay awake!  poor little guy.

after the show we headed out, said good-bye to natalie and her boys and then headed over to our hotel to cool down and eat something.

we stayed at a disney resort (natalie is living with her in-laws and couldn't let us stay with her this time so she used her employee discount to get us a great rate at the park).  while matt checked us in, i checked showtimes and attractions at the other parks to decide where we would go next.  i knew that jake was only at hollywood studios but in looking at the park more, i saw that they had a 5 and 5:50 disney junior live show with puppets.  it was already around 4 but we might make it.

we quickly unloaded what we needed into the hotel room, had a quick snack and went to catch the shuttle to the park.  we got there just in time for a quick picture with jake before the 5:50 show!  and there was almost no line too.  maddux however would not get anywhere near him.  at least he looked at the camera.

all four kids liked the interactive disney junior show.  manning was hysterical because the seating for the show was just on the ground and he could move around.  he kept standing and falling while laughing hysterically.  it was getting so distracting that i picked him up and held him in the back until the show was over.

we walked around for a bit but manning was loosing it.  he was tossing his head back and doing a tired sort of howling - it is so pitiful.  he was so tired that he couldn't fall asleep and didn't want to eat.  he finally calmed down when i held him while standing under a fan.  i told matt to take the bigs to the little mermaid 'ride'/show while i tried to put manning to sleep.  he finally fell asleep when i gave up and put him in the stroller and just walked until he fell asleep.

madelyn with the mermaid fountain from splash.

hollywood studios

mason was the only one interested in posing with daddy in front of the monsters university planter

our next stop was epcot for the fireworks.  instead of the bus, matt suggested the boat.  it was a great choice!  we had a nice scenic ride and the kids had a chance to rest for a while.  madelyn and i sat inside the boat.  she had a headache and laid down to nap while i held manning so that he could keep sleeping.  it was a long painful ride for my back but it was worth it to have some happy kids when we arrived in epcot.

we only had about an hour and a half before fireworks so we didn't really do anything other than walk around the pond.  it was still really nice.  we bought some drinks and chicken nuggets with fries (the first food we had bought all day - thanks to packing pb&js at grandma and big pop's for lunch) and sat down to wait for the show.

maddux was done and laid down on the hot ground while we waited. 

madelyn was refreshed from her nap

it was a super long and hot, sweaty day but i am so thankful that we were able to do it.  we wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for natalie helping us get in; we only had to buy one kid's ticket.  maddux was a trooper and we just kept giving him medicine every four hours to keep him going.

we were all happy to get back to the hotel and take a shower.  i think it was 11 before we were all in bed.  love.