Disney Disney Disney!

Yes, I've been MIA for the past week but that's because we were out of town. Where were we? Another trip to Disney World of course! My mom reserved a week at one of the Marriott timeshares so we went up and spent about 5 days with my parents at Disney. We had two days left on our park passes from when we visited in November so we visited Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The weather was beautiful on Friday when we visited Magic Kingdom. I really wanted to get Daniel his first haircut at the barbershop but we checked it out when we first got there and it was too crowded. We never did make it back for the haircut so that will have to wait. The rest of the park wasn't too crowded but there were a decent amount of people there. We had to wait about 20-30 min for some rides but we also used the fast passes. Allison was quite adventurous - she's graduated from Goofy's Roller Coaster and decided to try out Thunder Mountain. I remember going on Thunder Mountain when I was her age and I swear I almost fell out of the thing so I was a bit nervous about taking her on it. She sat between Jeff and I and seemed to do pretty well but by the last turn she was ready to get off. I could tell she was ready to cry by the end but once she got off she realized it was actually a lot of fun (but definitely did not want to get back on!). I think Daniel's favorite part was the parade. He actually sat in the stroller and waved to all the characters as they came by ( i just love the way he tries to wave). I just thought it was the cutest thing. I tried to get a video of it:

Another highlight of the day was having dinner at Cinderella's castle (thanks mom and dad!). I had eaten there when I was a kid but didn't remember too much about it. First Allison (and then the rest of us) had our pictures taken with Cinderella (and Daniel got a hug!)
Then we went up the spiral steps into the dining room. During dinner there was a little show with the fairy godmother and some of the mice. The food was also very delicious and I think the kids really enjoyed it. Daniel seems to have gotten over his fear of people dressed in large costumes. When we were there in November, he freaked out when Pluto came near him. This time he was happy to see everyone.
Yes, that is a smile on his face, you just can't see it from this angle but you can tell because his cheeks are raised!
The neatest part was when we exited the castle, the fireworks were going off. We were able to watch them from standing under the castle (and looking out the backside). I also walked to the front side and looked up. They had roped off the path a while earlier so no one else was allowed under there. I looked out toward main street and just saw a sea of people and camera flashes. Every time a firework went off, you could see the swarm of people which was really cool. Now I know how the rock stars feel when they look out at the audience. Of course, none of the people were looking at me, they were focused on the fireworks, but it was cool nonetheless. Here's a picture I took from under the castle:

And here we are under the castle after the fireworks:

On Saturday the weather was beautiful again and we hung around the hotel and Allison went swimming with my mom. I was getting over a cold and Daniel had an eye infection so we stayed out of the water. Jeff was busy doing schoolwork in the hotel room. Saturday night we went to a Cinderella character dinner at the Grand Floridian Hotel. We got to meet Cinderella. Prince Charming, and the evil stepmother and stepsisters (who were quite hilarious). Daniel was happy with the kiss he received from Cinderella and Allison listened intently as Anastasia (or was it Drizella) told her how they weren't really mean, that was only in the story.
Here's Allison and her Prince Charming:
And Allison with one of the stepsisters:
And the other one (check out those faces!)

On Sunday the weather turned cold and rainy but we went to Epcot anyway. We were able to go on Soarin' while my mom watched Daniel. Allison was barely tall enough to ride but she made it through and enjoyed flying in the air. We had a great lunch in Mexico. I had always wanted to eat there but never had a chance. I just love the atmosphere inside that pavilion. The rest of the day was spent going on some more rides. We didn't do too many of the countries because it was quite cold and windy.

On Monday, Jeff had more schoolwork to do so my mom, Allison, Daniel and I took a trip to the Orlando Science Center. None of us had ever been there and we were pleasantly surprised at how great it was. They had some really neat exhibits for younger kids. They were also able to feed and touch the baby alligators.
Here's a picture of the kids doing a 13-point check-up on a pretend car:

And Allison is rotating the tires:

The kids also got to pretend to pick oranges off the trees and put them on a conveyor belt:

Petting the baby alligator:

There was also a dinosaur exhibit which Daniel slept through but Allison enjoyed. Here favorite part was trying to put together a 3-D dinosaur skeleton. I don't think most adults could have put this together, let alone the three little kids that were attempting to do so. Needless to say, they didn't get very far.

So overall we had a great trip, despite the fact that we were all fighting colds all weekend. Of course I took many more pictures than what I've posted above. Here's a slideshow of the rest: