It was a great trip. The kids loved the huge pool area at the hotel where my conference was being held. They spent most of Tuesday afternoon, and evening and pretty much all of Wednesday in the pool. That night we headed over closer to Disney and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe by Animal Kingdom. We ate dinner there when we took Mackenzie to Disney 3 years ago and Mackenzie spent most of the time crying. I don't know why I thought Isaac would be different, but I did. This time Mackenzie had a ball and was clapping everytime the animals came to life. Isaac on the other hand was very disturbed by it and at one point actually crossed his arms on the table and laid his head on them. He was a trooper though and made it through dinner.
We spent the next two days at Magic Kingdom. Mackenzie is big enough to go on most of the rides there (except Space Mountain, which we learned about after waiting around for our Fast Passes to be good). She loved Splash Mountain. It rained both evenings we were there. These were not little showers, they were big storms with lightening (all outside rides get shut down when there is lightning within 6 miles). Fortunately for us they came at dinner time each evening and the rest of the day was nice (hot, but nice). So it compelled us to leave and eat dinner out of the park each night and stick pretty close to our bedtime schedule. We didn't get to check out the pool at our hotel there though, or Downtown Disney.
Mackenzie and Isaac came home with a Jessie and a Woody doll. Isaac fell asleep while we were waiting to meet Woody and Jessie and woke up when Woody looked in at him sleeping in his stroller. I am sure when he woke up to see that giant head looking at him he thought it was part of some really crazy dream. But it was nice that he got to meet Woody, and Mackenzie loved meeting Jessie.
There were lots of other highlights, like eating lunch with all of the Winnie the Pooh characters, riding Dumbo and the Magic Carpets, and meeting some of the princesses and Mickey and Minnie, but I think Woodie and Jessie were really the tops for both of them. So even though it was pushing 100 degrees every day, I think we can declare that the Phillips family loved Orlando.
For anyone planning a trip to Disney, particularly with a little girl, there is a barber shop on Main Street, just as you enter the park. If you call beforehand you can make an appointment. The women there are licenced and can cut the kids hair, and they will also put the girls hair up and put paint and pixie dust (confetti with Mickey Mouse shapes included) in their hair. We walked in on Friday morning and they cut Mackenzie's bangs, put her hair in pigtails and put pixie dust in her hair, and they gave Isaac a full hair cut. Both kids also got a ton of stickers from them. Another little boy was getting his first haircut and he got a pair of Mickey ears when he was done. It was really very cute and I hadn't read anything about this on-line or in the book I bought.
We got back to Ohio yesterday. Someone signed a lease to rent our house in Chicago (big yay) starting July 1, so Brian is back in Chicago with the movers today emptying it out. His dad is there with him as well. Linda, the kids and I went to the 577 Foundation for a picnic today, which was lovely. We even ran into one of Mackenzie's classmates, Lexie, there. On the way home Isaac was complaining about something, I honestly don't remember what, and Mackenzie says to him, "Life is hard, Isaac. It is really hard." I was cracking up and also wondering if perhaps we say that too Mackenzie a bit too much. But at least they got a couple a vacation from their tough lives.
