The Smout Family: Disney World!

So after having our kids home from school for 2 weeks for Christmas break we decided to plan a family vacation!! Not sure what we were thinking when we planned Scott's vacation for '09 but we did know that we wanted to go somewhere warm in January and that we wanted to go to FL to visit his grandparents who are 94 years old!! So that is what we did. We boarded a plane here in STL on 1/3 and headed to Orlando! We arrived around lunch, checked in to our condo, the kids and I hit the pool and Scott went grocery shopping. That seems awkward I know, but Scott was the only one legally able to drive the rental car and I do love the sun! We had diner at the condo that night and went to bed early since we had gotten to the airport about 6 am that morning.

Sunday morning we went to the Light and Life campground where GG&G Smout go to church and got to visit with them and their friends for a while. While we were there the kids got to see some goats and they were so excited to see these goats I was once again asking myself, "Why do we spend so much $ on Disney tickets?"

That afternoon we met the Ryders our friends from long ago at Downtown Disney for lunch and some shopping/fun. Sam already had found many souvenirs he wanted to take home from the Lego store and the make your own Light Saber section. The weather was so great. Warm. low 80's. Amazing! Sunday evening Scott drove back to get GG&G Smout to bring them to the condo to stay the night with us. On his way there I remembered our condo is on the 3rd floor and there is not an elevator! So Scott carried his little Grandma up and down the stairs and well, Chuck...he could handle it!! We had a nice visit with them. They got to see the kids swim, had dinner and breakfast with us and the adults even had a nice time chatting after the kids went to bed. They are so amazing. Scott and I can only hope to be able to remember dates and events like they can when we are 94 years old!

On Monday Scott took his grandparents back home and we enjoyed another really nice day by the pool. The kids even made a fun little friend whom we exchanged addresses with so she and Claire could become pen pals.

Tuesday was our first day at Disney. We went to Epcot first since I was pushing Scott to make our vacations more educational! The kids got to pick up these masks there that they took from country to country where they got to decorate them and get a stamp and die cut piece for their mask. It was really fun. They also liked the Soarin' ride at Epcot. It was one of the few rides that we ALL enjoyed. We did not make it to every country but we were there from about 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. Then we headed to Magic Kingdom to hit some old favorites. We did Thunder Mountain Railroad in the dark, flying Aladdin carpets and Space Mountain. Sam would not try Space Mountain the first day but after psyching himself up he did try it the next day, but I won't exactly say he enjoyed it! We stayed at Magic Kingdom on Tuesday until it closed and watched the fireworks. Although, I am not a huge Disney fan I do love their fireworks. There is something about the way they are set to music and the twinkle they put in my kids eyes that makes the fact that I just waited in lines all day to see big fuzzy mice and ride rides that make me nauseous just all fade away!

Wednesday was round two but this day we were smarter. Our kids wanted to get autographs of the characters so we bought them T-shirts and I brought Sharpies. But on Tuesday we had 2 unhappy kids because Disney said the characters are not allowed to sign a shirt when it is on a child...something about lawyers?! So Claire had worn a cami under her T-shirt and so she was okay because she could take her shirt off, Sam was out of luck completely and after about half the day Emma would do a "quick change" when she would see a character and put on my hoodie. But by Wednesday we had down the system and everyone had 2 shirts! This was also helpful because it rained! Wednesday we hit Magic Kingdom until 2 and then we went to Hollywood Studios for their block party parade until they closed at 7pm. Their parade was great! It was a party in the street and we are camped out in front of the entire Toy Story gang. The girls and I got to go out and dance in the street doing all sorts of fun mashed potato, the swim and other groovy moves. After the parade we did the Star Wars ride and then outside the ride we watched the Jedi training program where they pick 15 kids out of the standing audience to teach light saber moves to and then they get to fight the real Darth Vader! Please note I am not a Star Wars fan. I have no idea if anything I just typed in spelled correctly. The first show we did not get picked and Sam was bummed he wanted to go to the second show. In the meantime Scott and Claire went to the Indiana Jones stunt show and Emma, Sam and I just walked around looking for something fun for them to do. Just then the Power Ranger mobile started driving down the street and Sam was going wild. It stopped in front of us and we got to watch them all and get their autographs. Emma was even in to Pink Ranger. Sam was most in to Red Ranger although he would have wanted all of their autographs if we had time. But we did not because we needed to get back to the last session of Jedi training for the day so that Sam could get picked, right? Wrong. Emma got picked. Funny how that happens :) It would have been my best mommy moment if Emma would have turned and said, "Can my brother go in my place because he really wants to do this." However, maybe that will happen another time. My dreams are not yet fulfilled. She went on the stage to proudly do her thing! The Star Wars Lady was hilarious. Not scripted and very witty. I know this because I saw her show twice. Her comment to Emma as she is fighting Darth Vader was , "Darth Vader is really afraid of that pink you are wearing!" And as Emma was less than perfect with her jedi fighting moves she said, "Well, Hannah Montana can't help you now!" Even though Sam did not get picked this was still very fun for our family and Sam said it was a good thing he didn't get chosen anyway because he probably would have broke Darth Vader's light saber in half anyway! We stayed again until the park closed hitting the Muppet Show after the line for the new Toy Story ride was 80 minutes long, the Beauty and the Beast musical and the Tower of Terror drop ride (Scott and Claire only). When it was all over we went to Chik Fil-A for a very late dinner where our kids enjoyed playing on the playground and Scott and I enjoyed the fact that even though we were exhausted our kids were happy and healthy and were not fighting-bliss I tell ya!

Another great highlight of this trip was that at the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday we ran into some great friends from my college days, The Bynums. They were my Bible Study leaders during college and had a huge impact on my life. They currently live in the San Antonio area and are people that we keep in touch with but have not seen in about 4 1/2 years. They were at Disney with their entire family kids and grandkids. It was a blessing to get to see and meet them all! What a great joy it is to be reunited with good friends from long ago in a far way place! This is when you start singing...It's a small world after all, It's a small world after all!!

Emma in Jedi Training. It was pretty intense!