Disney Part 3!

Good morning! Happy almost New Year!! While for many reasons I am happy to see this year come to a close, it is bittersweet in some ways too. I have been reflecting a lot on this crazy year and what I want to focus on moving forward, not just in 2024 but for the rest of my life. I am in the process of setting some good goals for 2024 and can't wait to share them with you. 

In the meantime though, how about we finish this Disney trip??😉

Before we start, I just want to point out that both kids bring up Disney in some way DAILY. Yesterday it was LG asking everyone what their favorite ride was (even though she already knows, she loves to hear it again 💕). Liam asked for a toy monorail for Christmas and he pretends his passengers are getting off at Magic Kingdom or Epcot. It's so dang cute and I love how much they love Disney. Is it expensive and exhausting? Heck yes, but 100% worth it.

Day 5: Magic Kingdom

First up, Magic Kingdom again! Magic Kingdom is by far the kids' favorite, so we wanted to make sure we had another day to do all the things we wanted to do. Lily Grace wore her Jasmine costume today and Liam wanted to be one of the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Devin and Lily Grace rode Space Mountain while Liam and I rode the People Mover and did the Buzz Lightyear ride (this was my first time for Buzz Lightyear-- it was so cute!). 

Fun fact: while LG is our big roller coaster girl, Liam would've been perfectly content to just ride the various modes of transportation around Disney. He had so much fun on the monorail, Skyliner, People Mover, the train that goes around Magic Kingdom, and the boat from Swan & Dolphin to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. It's the most cliche little boy thing ever, and I think it's adorable. 

After those rides, we made our way over to the Tomorrowland Speedway. Both kids love the Tomorrowland Speedway because:

 "I get to drive by myself and I am not even 16!!" - LG 

"Yeah, and I'm a good driver!" - Liam (after watching him drive, I can confirm he has significant room for improvement 😉)

After the speedway, Lily Grace got her Driver's License while Liam wanted to drive again with my dad. 

After the speedway, the kids were ready to go back to their favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain. 

As Lily Grace said, "I want to ride it 20 times today." We didn't get to 20, but we rode it probably 5-6 times. 

Here's my mom in the front, Liam with my dad:

 and LG with my sister:

Then another time and we switched up riders:

Next up, lunch! We just did something easy this time and ate at Pecos Bill in Frontierland. As we were walking over there from Big Thunder Mountain, a big parade went through!

After lunch, my picture taking dropped off significantly, but we went to:

- Tom Sawyer Island

- Pirates of the Caribbean

- Jenni and Devin rode Tron (I had no interest) while the rest of us rode Barnstormer

- We rode the train around Magic Kingdom

- the Little Mermaid ride

- Swiss Family Robinson House

- Aladdin and Jasmine's Magic Carpets:

It was starting to get to the end of the day, and Liam was resting in the stroller, so LG and I walked around and shopped for "beautiful gowns for Santa to bring me". I told her she could only ask Santa for one, so she went around trying most of them on (by holding them up to herself) before she made a decision (Elsa dress, but they didn't have her size in this store). 

We decided to put it on her list for Santa.

After shopping, we attempted to grab some family pics in front of the castle:

While this one came out okay, a majority of the pictures looked more like this:

Lol!! Every time I look at this, I find something new to laugh at. Clearly everyone was starting to get a little tired! 

We had some food packed in our cooler, so we gave the kids some snacks. While they ate in the stroller, Devin and I grabbed a few pics. 

At this point, the kids were really sleepy. We intended to stay for fireworks, but then this happened:

We decided to just head back so we weren't overtired and cranky on our last day.

Day 6: Epcot

Magic Kingdom and Epcot are our favorites, so we decided to finish out the trip with Epcot. Unfortunately, I have very few pictures from this day. 

We started strong with some pictures in front of the Epcot ball...

Then we headed straight to ride Frozen. After Frozen, we rode Finding Nemo, checked out the aquarium for a bit afterwards, and then went to the Moana area again. 

The kids love the trains in Germany soooo much, so we spent a long time there. The kids pretended they lived in the little village and told us "that's our house" and  "that's my school" and "that's where Nana and Pop Pop live". 

We spent the remainder of the day walking around, taking in all the Christmas decorations, riding rides and going to shows (the kids loved the Beauty and the Beast Sing a Long in France). Liam went back to play more drums:

and we ate to our hearts' content! 

We had the most wonderful time on this trip and I feel so lucky that I felt well enough to enjoy it. Disney is truly the most magical place on Earth, and I am already mentally planning our next trip there in 2 years!!

Thanks for reading along! See you back here on Monday as we kick off 2024 right!