happy 8th birthday at the happiest place on earth

the day madelyn had been mentioning to everyone who had come within earshot for weeks - she was spending her 8th birthday at disney world! we had some breakfast in our rooms (well, the kids were sugared up in big pop and grandma's room) before heading over to the park.

all the kiddos were rearing and ready to go, but the rest of us where trying to make sure we had all of the supplies for the day before getting on the shuttle.

our first line was outside of the hotel. i tried to snap our only non-sweaty pictures of the day...

and then we were there! everyone was super excited. our goal was to get in line for elsa and anna first thing since the fast pass option was already full when i went to sign us up - and there was already a one hour wait.

manning wouldn't go near elsa or anna, but had to have a picture with this minnie mouse elsa.

one of manning's highlights - flying in a yellow dumbo

madelyn with uncle josh

covered in sweat and waiting for the pooh ride

boys in a cage (i.e. eeyore's house)

sweet jude

we were quite a large group

interactive 'honey' screen while we waited in line

wyatt keeping cool in line.

uncle josh with the kids - what else is new?

entertaining luke

another highlight, getting 'sprinkled with pixie dust' while waiting for the peter pan ride

manning was more excited for rapunzel and cinderella and would get in a picture. apparently, 20 is the maximum allowed in with the characters at a time, so we just made it!

another high point for manning - he LOVES cinderella

i had promised grandma a group picture. we might be sweaty, but we were all here and i asked a teenager waiting in the shade to please take our picture.

some of our group split off after the picture to go back to the hotel for naps and some pool time. the rest of us sweat on (seriously, it was brutal hot. the 'feels like' was 103.)

after another ride or two, we decided to go inside for some air conditioning, cold drinks and snacks. the place was packed even though it was after 1pm and we had to wait in line for a small table for the 11 of us to stand around. but it was air conditioned so no one complained. this seemed like a perfect time for madelyn's birthday cake oreos (our go-to for on the road birthdays).

and then we split again. grandma went with brad and his three older kids to space mountain while we went up to see mickey mouse and go back to the hotel to take a break from the heat. plus, our kids were dying to check out the pool since we were the only ones not to make it yesterday.

manning, who had walked all day, fell asleep while we were in line to meet mickey mouse and did not want to wake up.

have you noticed that maddux is afraid of costumed characters, yet?

i must say, the pool felt amazing. being disney, when you went underwater you could hear music playing.

we all met up again around 6pm to eat some dinner prepared by big pop and grandma. all of us had been willing to put back on our slightly dried clothes; ready to go back for more!

sugaring up for the late night

manning was still going strong around 9pm riding the aladdin carpets

in the dark and crowd, we had all gotten split up again. after our family watched the fireworks (while matt was trying to find our camera that i was sure i had set down while sitting on the curb with manning and mason trying to find everyone; only to later discover it in our backpack after crying about the loss of all of our pictures from this trip), mason was still feeling the need for speed and we made our way over to the speedway.

it was a rough ride. madelyn drove herself, mason and matt rode together and manning and i were driven by maddux. let's just say that it is a good think the cars are on a guide and maddux bounced us off almost every inch of it.

we were done.

manning (who had walked almost the entire day and was well, well past bed time) cried for me to carry him the entire 30 minute ride back to the hotel. our family was standing at the front of the bus and, with my knee, i have a difficult time keeping myself upright. there was no way that i could safely hold him. and he would not let matt hold him. so he screamed "carry me" for 30 minutes and maddux fell asleep standing up. i did not feel bad for anyone listening to the screaming because no one offered me a seat so that i could hold him. i did feel a little bad for our very tired guy.

and we get to do it again tomorrow! love.