The Mickey Adventure Day 8 and 9

It was our last day in Disney and we were definitely beginning to feel the exhaustion!!  Chels was super invigorated today by the extreme heat but the rest of us were not as much!!  We chose to use our last day in Epcot.  The older kids convinced us that all of us could endure the Soarin' ride..it was fun..once we landed back on the ground (Rick and I kept saying..how do you hold on if your palms are so sweaty!).

 (Notice the little green thing..we affectionately call a "bug stopper" after yesterday's bug in the chai incident!) We decided to split up and let the older kids ride Mission Space (they were supposed to just ride the tamer version but called us and asked to go on the more difficult one..so we let them..and 2 were green and dizzy the rest of the day!)  We enjoyed a saving exhibit, a fire safety and storm safety exhibit as well with the little kids.

They pretended to be asleep in the play house and then I would pretend to be the fire alarm and they would crawl out to a meeting spot.

We found a neat calm boat ride in the Mexico exhibit that we all enjoyed.  We also enjoyed time in the China exhibit where Chels found some egg rolls, we shopped and saw the tomb soldiers as well as watched a video about China that was enjoyable for our whole gang.  We were all tired and hot (and some of us dizzy) but Chels wanted to at least walk by all of the countries in Epcot so we kept going!!  Eventually we made it back around and all decided that it was time to go.  The little ones wanted to do Spaceship Earth one last time and then to do the monorail for fun as our last thing in Disney.

Cam waving "goodbye" to Disney!

After surviving a hot day, we stopped at McDonalds for some cool treats!  We returned to the house to pack and ordered pizza and had a final swim before our early bedtime.  

The air conditioning wasn't working that night and it was pretty hot so we were kind of thankful when the alarms went off at 5am the next morning!  God was gracious to us and we were able to make it out at 6am.  We drove 16 hours and made it back in just one day to our home in IL.  The kids did very well on the trip and we all collapsed into bed as soon as the van was unloaded.  We went to bed happy for the special memories of our time together and for His many blessings to be with us and to have provided so amazingly for us to be able to finally take this trip!!!

The Mickey Adventure Day 7

Today someone stopped us when Corey was crying hysterically and said "what is wrong with the little prince?" and I just smiled and said "this is day 6 at Disney" and the worker smiled knowingly :) :)

We got up a bit earlier to see if we could be at Magic Kingdom when it opened.  It was fun because we took the monorail there and went through the Contemporary hotel right above Chef Mickey's where we had eaten earlier in the week.  We arrived in time to watch all of the Disney characters coming by train and to see them arrive at the opening gate with songs and dancing :)  It was one of the many times today we were in the right place at the right time!!

The lines were very short so we were able to ride many of our favorites in a short period of time.  Cam loves the "shooting one"..Buzz Lightyear. 

Caleb's happy look before the ride when I gave him the chance to redeem his loss to me at Toy Story Mania...except that by some miracle I hit 4 high scoring targets and got over 400,000 points..beating him..again :)

Snack time while the older kids rode Space Mountain and Astro Orbiter.  Then from up above Tomorrowland while we were on the People Mover ride we saw Buzz Lightyear!!!  Cam has been very excited about the characters so we got in line and got pictures!  He is always a bit shy when we take the photos but loves it all the same :)

 My favorite ride is still "It's a Small world"..I resisted the urge to buy a snow globe that sings the song..for fear it might drive the rest of my family insane..but it makes me smile :)

Christian age 12

Caleb age 14

Chelsea age 16

Cameron age 5 1/2

Caelyn age 7

Corey age 5

We enjoyed being able to get there in time to hop on a few rides that are popular before it got crowded and hot (it's uncharacteristically hot here in Florida for this time of year..I think 80 was going to be the high for the day!!)  We happened upon an afternoon show around the castle that was fun to watch and the little kids got gummy Mickeys to enjoy :)  We went back to the house for about 2 hours before returning to the Magic Kingdom in the evening.

The crowds were very low so we let Corey and Cam walk together holding hands...so stinkin' cute!!!

We enjoyed a "to-go" dinner at Chickfila and then rushed back to our last night at Magic Kingdom!!  We attempted a few more family photos (with a crane in the background as this is the time of year when they are fixing things around Disney) and finished our evening with a last time Carousel of Progress ride (we had the theater to ourselves) and then a final fireworks before slowly leaving the park..just magical.. we left with thankfulness in our hearts..knowing the time was coming to an end but just so thankful for God giving us this time together as a family.  HE was so amazing to give us wonderful weather and good health and strength!