chris.reese.girls1.2.3.4

We awoke early from Orlando and packed up for our shuttle to Port Canaveral. My mom rented us our own bus, which was awesome. The kids sat together to play and watch a movie and the adults rested a bit from the grueling few days at WDW. But the excitement was very real when we arrived at the cruise terminal and Minnie was there to greet us! Yay!!! We were so stoked to get on board! The check-in process is actually quite smooth and painless. We scoped out our rooms, divided kids around (we pretty much knew where everyone would be), and the kids quickly changed into their swimsuits! They know the drill! We all met up on Deck 11 for the big Sail Away party! The pools are always a highlight on the ship and every spare minute we had the kids were in them! The older kids literally roamed free once we were on board. Paige carried a Wave phone (each room had two and basically they are phones that only work on board the ship). Paige slept in a room with her cousin, Ad...

Day 3 we were in Animal Kingdom (only missing the Bryce Dalley family this morning, although they joined later). This was the hottest day and the day with very little A/C and/or shade. We struggled to stay cool. Our little Apken family had never visited this park before so it was our first time. There are a few major rides that we wanted to check off our list, but in general the park is pretty small and manageable in one day. We soaked up the major "To Do"s.  First up was Expedition Everest, notably the best roller coaster in all of WDW. It's a long, fast ride that goes forward and backwards. As we utilized the system with our stroller ride/switch passes and fast passes, we ended up getting A LOT of rides on here. Some of my kids rode it 7-8 times by the end of the day. I know I rode it at least 5 times. It was awesome every time!    I had to bribe Finley to ride, which she did twice and then she was done. She is a total trooper!  Chris and I on the Ka...

Day 2 we were all at the Magic Kingdom. Traditional photo at the start of the day at the front gates! We worked the rides really well after rope drop...headed to Fantasyland and did all of the rides there. Our timing was pretty perfect throughout the whole day. We hit all the rides...and the big ones multiple times. These 5-year olds are at the PERFECT Disney age! They were a such a joy to be around! The 7-year olds! Attached at the hip!  Cousin BFFs! Always together! Aunt Erin joined us finally! The kids loved being around her!    In our matching shirts we took the opportunity to take a few family photos mid-day. Love the big group photo with ALL the Dalley. And Meg needed her own photo session because I just can't resist a baby in her mouse ears! We went to Disney at a pretty perfect time for her because she wasn't too mobile! As I'm typing this (end of Nov.) I can't even imagine how much more difficult she would be if we did this f...