Disney world

After spending Christmas with Tyler's family in Virginia, we joined Rachel's parents and brother in Orlando for a trip to Disney World. Unfortunately something went wrong when we were copying all of our pictures from our phone onto the computer, and we lost almost all of the pictures we took. The only ones we still have are from Rachel's parents/brother's phones, or pictures that we had texted to each other. Either way, we made a lot of good memories!

We stayed at a hotel a short way from the parks. They had some fun amenities such as mickey mouse shaped waffle maker, cool colored bubble water glass wall, and a shuttle to and from the parks.  

Grandma and Grandpa Judd really enjoyed seeing their grand kids, especially the babies.

Uncle Sam apparently didn't get enough food to eat, because he tried to comp on Melody's little baby toes!

We visited the Magical Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot Center during our trip. The kids loved being in Disney world, especially seeing Cinderella's castle. 

We didn't go on too many rides due to long lines, the kids being too small to go on some of them and too scared to go on others, so some of their favorite things were seeing the sights and watching the shows.

They absolutely loved watching shows at Cinderella's castle. They watch characters from Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and frozen dance and sing songs, alongside the original Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Pluto.

They could have stayed there all day watching shows like that!

Some things had changed since Rachel and I went there as children. For example you can't walk through Cinderella's castle anymore. They had it closed to the public, presumably for the cast members to change costumes or do other prep for the shows that took place at the castle.

As you can see, we took a lot of pictures around the castle. We took lots of other pictures too of course, but those were some of the ones that got lost. 

There were plenty of Christmas decorations around the park also, seeing as how it was between Christmas and New Years.

It was nice having so many arms to help hold the kids. Christian and Melody took little naps while we were waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. 

One ride that had a short ride and the kids did really enjoy was the Dumbo flying circus ride. Uncle Sammy got us some fast passes, so we zipped through the line and got to fly up and down on flying elephants!

It was a long, busy, fun filled day. By the end the kids were very very tired out as we waited for the shuttle to take us back to the hotel. 

This was the sleeping arrangement for Rachel, Sylvia, and the twins. Tyler and Andrew shared the the other queen bed.

The next day we went to Animal kingdom. Sylvia used the time we spent waiting for the bus to teach uncle Sam how to do the silly face she likes to make. 

Right as we entered we got to catch a parrot show. A whole flock of differing size and color birds flew in right on cue and the handlers fed them treats until We really felt like we were going into another world when we entered the Pandora section of the park. It was amazing how much effort and detail they put into creating the floating rocks and the different plant life.

It was a truly out of this world experience.

This tree of life didn't have any special fruit growing from it, but it still looked cool. 

The big kids had differing responses to walking around and waiting in line for rides. Sylvia got sleepy and Andrew got crazy!

We rode on a dinosaur ride, which was very similar to the dumbo ride we went on before. The kids may look nervous in this picture, but they really did have fun. We even got to see some cool creatures in the different animal displays they had around the park. 

We spent the next day at Disney Springs and Epcot. Sylvia loved the princess statues outside one of the stores. 

There were lots of cool displays at the Lego store. Sylvia fit right in with the other cool girls, and Uncle Sam and Andrew felt pretty cool being surrounded by Lego girls. 

Uncle Sam and Sylvia have a friend in Buzz and Woody.

Grandma Judd picking up a baby, and Uncle Sam picking up a babe.

We found the Loch Ness Monster! And Sylvia found a whole room full of Mickey and Minnie Mouse dolls. 

Speaking of Minnie Mouse... Sylvia absolutely loved this Minnie Mouse dress, and she wanted to get us for a Christmas present. 

Here is she is wearing it out of the store. 

Later that day we went to Epcot. The lines were really long for most of the rides, so the only one we went on was the Three Caballeros ride in the Mexico part of the park.  

It was fun to walk through different sections of the park that were modeled after different places around the world. We also found a place where we could relax inside and the kids could play some cool learning activities. 

It was getting to be lunch time and the kids were getting restless, Andrew even ran off away from the group and Rachel had to sprint off after him. He ran back to the fountain pictured below, he was mad that we left it because he wanted to keep playing in it. Poor Sylvia ate something that disagreed with her, because she vomited all over Rachel. That's when we decided we'd pushed the kids long enough and it was time to call it a trip. Uncle Sam had to carry her back to the hotel room, she was so exhausted

On Sunday we went to church at a local ward, and drove to Rachel's aunt and uncle's house a short drive away. Grandma Judd even found a lizard running around outside, the kids were kind of scared to touch it at first but then they thought it was cool. 

It was lots of fun to see where they live, and see even more family while we were down there!

Even though we lost some pictures, we made many great memories. We will have to go back again once the kids are older though, so Christian and Melody can make their own memories. Next time though we be extra careful when taking pictures off our phones.