Disney!

You might want to grab a beverage. This is a long vacation post with lots of pictures and stories. :)

Rachel and I just got back today from our Disney World vacation! For anyone who missed the post on this before, we got free tickets the whole time because Mike's brother Nick is working for an internship at Disney World. Mike didn't come because of work. All we had to pay for was the plane ticket and food. (Maybe I shouldn't say "all", since park food was like 5 dollars for a pretzel, 9 dollars for a hamburger, etc.)

So we spent a week in Florida, in the lovely sunny weather, NOT being snowed on, unlike in Utah. We had to get up at 4:30 to drive to the airport and make our 7:15am flight. Ugh. We spent about 7-8 hours traveling each way, including an hour layover in Phoenix. Rachel did ok on the flight out, but she was really tired. For a while there, we were that lady and screaming baby on the plane that everyone wishes they weren't sitting next to, but eventually Rachel conked out. The flight home was much better, as Rachel fell asleep before we even took off and slept for a whopping 2 hours. Beautiful. My recommendations for anyone flying with a toddler are M&Ms and a bunch of dollar store toys.

Nick and Carisa were kind enough to let us crash in their one bedroom apartment for the week. I slept on an air mattress and we made Rachel a makeshift crib on the floor with a dresser, suitcase, and boxes for sides. Sleep was elusive, however, due to late nights in the park, unfamiliar surroundings, and babies sleeping in too close proximity to each other. (I scream, you scream...) But we're catching up. Rachel went to bed tonight at 5:45. :)

Pictures!

Riding the tram from the parking lot into Magic Kingdom. Rachel and her tongue are very excited.

The obligatory castle picture. I've decided that November is the absolute perfect time to go to Disney World. The weather was in the mid to high 70s (mostly), the Christmas decorations were up, and the parks were relatively uncrowded.

The castle was all lit up for Christmas. So pretty.

Mickey ears! Which we didn't actually buy because they're so stinking expensive, but I had to at least get a picture.

The Characters
Rachel's very favorite part of Disney was the characters. We spent a lot of time visiting them, and it never got old for her. She was never scared either, although she wasn't interested in the facial characters, just the big fuzzy ones. Anytime she saw one, she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, and would only stop hugging when we tore her away. It was adorable.

This one is Cicily giving Jiminy Cricket kisses. Aw.

Rachel just kept hugging Mickey's nose and would not let go. We could not get her to turn around for a picture, she just stayed there, hugging his nose, until we dragged her away.

Thanks to Nick's inside connections, we got to be one of the few people who got to take a picture with a bunch of characters all at once, which apparently does not happen often.

This is Carl from the new movie Up. We know Carl well. I mean, we really know Carl. Per Disney rules, whenever we were inside the park, we could not say things like, "Nick is being Carl today." Disney is really adamant about keeping the magic alive. Instead, we had to say, "Nick is friends with Carl today." So we got to have a picture with Nick's "friend" Carl. :)

I have to preface this next picture. This picture is an accidental button push picture. However, it looks like Donald is trying to cop a feel, so I thought I'd share.

Parade. Rachel was a lot more interested than she looks in the picture.

The Babykins and the Stone. She refused to stand, so you might be able to see me behind her, holding her up for the picture.

Dumbo! This was just next to the Dumbo ride. For the most part, Rachel did really good on the rides and liked them. Also, I would like to hug whoever came up the FastPass idea. Bless them. One year olds do not have the patience for 50 minute long waits.

Epcot

Hollywood Studios

This is Rachel happily shoving Cicily. When they were littler, Cicily used to push Rachel around a lot. I guess she's trying to get even.

This is back at the apartment. Nick and I had gone out grocery shopping while Carisa stayed home with the girls. When we got back, Rachel had crashed under the computer desk.

Thankfully, both girls took a decent nap every day in the park, and usually ended up falling asleep and waking up at the same time. It was a perfect time to park them and switch off going on the big rides, especially when Nick was working and it was just me and Carisa.

Fat Lip
Towards the end of the first day, we were at Epcot switching off watching babies and going on a bigger ride. Carisa was on the ride and Nick and I were letting the girls run around where the ride lets out. Rachel is still kind of unsteady, and she fell, as she often does. But this time, her head came down after and hit the hard linoleum floor. She started crying and I picked her up and saw that her mouth was bleeding. Scared, I rushed her off to the bathroom to try and assess the damage. She had cut her lip and it was bleeding pretty badly. Like, mouth of blood, first time mom panic-inducing bleeding. An employee escorted us to the first aid station (of which there is only one - on the other end of the park). She stopped bleeding, stopped crying, and I eventually decided she was ok enough not to get any further attention. We actually even stayed to watch the fireworks. And now, a week later, you can't even tell she hurt it. I'm glad I didn't freak out TOO much.
I don't think this picture does justice to just how fat her lip was. (Click on the picture to enlarge it for a better view).

Thanks Nick, Carisa, and Cicily!
We had a great time, although we missed Mike a lot. It was the perfect length vacation, I think.

Oh, and I think Mike missed us too, because this was taped up on the inside of the garage wall as we pulled in...

And this was on the table...

Rachel and I are lucky girls. :)