How it went down

We're home and rested.  We've celebrated the 4th (and the 5th, I'll explain), and it's time to get this blog caught up and in real-time :)  Last I wrote, I was on a plane destined for Orlando.  Our plan was to get to our hotel, and then surprise the kids with what I expected to be the surprise of their lives before heading off to Disney World for the evening.

It went nothing like this plan, but honestly, does it ever?

Truth be told, traveling went very well.  I was impressed because to be honest, traveling, just by itself, stresses me out.  Traveling with little kids creates much higher anxiety.  But the airport went smoothly, the kids were great on the plane, we got our rental car (and our rental car seats - makes life sooooo much easier!) without a hitch, and we were off to our hotel.  Funny enough, we hadn't said anything to the littles at this point about where we were going, but on the way to our hotel, the GPS kindly announced that one of the exits was titled Disney World.  Brad and I made eyes at one another and tried not to giggle as we held our breath, and sure enough, our ever-observant little boy said, "Disney World - I want to go there!"  Maybe we should have taken that opportunity to announce our surprise, but we didn't.  I think I said something akin to maybe one day or we'll see.

We got to the hotel, the kids oohed and aahed over the pirate ship in the pool, we brought our bags in, caught our breath, planted the kids on the bed, and set the video camera to record - they were more than ready for their big surprise!  I handed them each a pair of Mickey ears and a map of Disney World (Jack loves any kind of map).

And the video rolled while crickets chirped.

Then, clear as day, Jack announced that he already had a Mickey hat.  On the video.  (Apparently, somewhere underneath the super hero costumes and princess tutus, there is a Mickey hat that Jack received from Grandma after their Disney cruise.  I had, quite obviously, forgotten about such hat.  Jack, quite obviously, had not.)  Aside from making a mental note that I needed to work with him on how to appropriately respond when receiving a duplicate gift so as not to hurt someone's feelings, I was floored.  Seriously?!  So in my happiest, chipper voice, I said, "We're going to Disney World!"

More crickets.

"Isn't that so exciting?  Aren't you so happy?"

"Today?"

"Yeah, we were thinking we could go right now, do you want to?

"Hmm...how about...we go to the pool today, and then we can go to Disney World tomorrow, Mom?  Is that okay?"

I'm pretty sure it was at this point that Brad turned his video off, but I was still recording, hoping I could savor the moment.

I asked again, just to be sure they knew what they were deciding.

{Video: Choosing the Pool Over Disney World}

Finally, I turned off the video and gave in.

"Of course we can, you guys.  If you're excited about the pool and you want to do that tonight, then that's what we'll do."

Brad was surprised I changed the plans so quickly, but I was pretty sure my heart couldn't take it if we went to Disney World and they complained and were sad all evening about missing out on the pirate ship pool.

I put on a happy face and my swimsuit, and we were off to the pirate ship!

Disney's competition :)

 Jack learned to swim without his water wings on our trip

Hannah loves balancing on hands and then falling into the water

 Snuggling in her new towel

Testing out the hammock

So, while the night went nothing like I'd expected, it was tons of fun, and we all had a great time.  We were able to get some groceries, unpack and get settled, and prepare for Wednesday - our first day at Disney World!