The Magic Continues!

Truly Magic...
a family picture with all four of us looking at the camera and smiling!

The second half of our trip proved as fantastic as the first half! One bummer that started our day on Tuesday was a bright sunburn on Lainey's face. Despite many applications of sunblock, her fair skin just couldn't take all that Florida sun--just like her mom. Meanwhile, Nick's skin looked perfectly creamy as always--just like his dad. Nick definitely pepped up after Monday, but he was still kind of hit-and-miss as far as ride enjoyment and overall energy level. But, (other than the sunburn) Lainey was in love with every minute. We were truly amazed by her stamina and determination to go, go, go! As I planned and envisioned the trip, I saw the four of us together the entire time and even crossed out rides Nick wasn't tall enough to ride. But, in the end, it ended up more a Mark/Nick and Kylie/Lainey adventure, and that's okay. Everyone had more fun that way! Well, maybe not Mark, but I did all the planning, so I figured it was fair for me to reap the biggest rewards!

Getting ready to fly with my girl!

We spent Tuesday morning at Hollywood Studios and Wednesday morning at Animal Kingdom. We decided to skip Epcot in favor of returning to the Magic Kingdom both evenings. Hollywood Studios fell a little flat, because the focus is more on shows than rides, and the kids just weren't that interested. Lainey didn't even want to do the Frozen sing-along, which was the main reason I worked Hollywood Studios into the trip! However, there was a really great Toy Story ride, and a terrific "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground. Mark took Lainey on the Star Wars ride, while Nick and I headed to the playground. I think it was the most fun he had! And he and I finally got some quality one-on-one time together, since he was glued to Mark all day Monday. The other great thing about Hollywood Studios was the ease of character meet-and-greets. To meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom is a 45-minute wait, but we walked right up to see him at HS. We also got quick meets with Jake and Sophia, and saw lots of Storm Troopers (but, didn't manage to nab a photo).

Animal Kingdom was really great! They have a safari experience that was so fun. It was also nice to be completely off our feet and out of the sun for 20 minutes. We also took in a fun Lion King show, and Lainey went on  her first true-blue, "are you really sure?" roller coaster, Expedition Everest. She just met the height requirement for this one. The coaster goes forward and backwards and is half in the dark. It was a little much for her and, unlike the Seven Dwarfs ride, there were no requests for a  repeat ride. Afterwards, we played some carnival games, where I, not Mark (although he was playing at the same time), won Nick a stuffed dinosaur  at a game of Whack a Dino. Then I promised Lainey to buy her the Simba to match her Nala. When I told Mark the deal, he rolled his eyes. I said, "What? He has two things now...Pluto and the dinosaur." Then Mark reminded me she also got Mouse Ears. Oh yeaaah. So, when the time came to buy Simba, I bought Nick a Mickey Mouse. What? It's Disney World!!!

Family picture in front of the Tree of Life

Lainey believe Tinker Bell actually landed in her hand, and she just missed it. 

As for our other adventures at the Magic Kingdom, Lainey did hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and took Mark on Splash Mountain. After each drop she told him, "that was a big one, Daddy, but not the big one." On the last ride of Tuesday night, we took Nick on the Barnstormer--this was one of those misses I spoke of earlier. He did not enjoy it. At all. Oops. Wednesday, I nabbed a FastPass for prime seating for the Electrical  Parade, which was awesome, and we stayed for the fireworks.

Just I was saying to Mark during the fireworks that this was the perfect way to end our stay, Lainey asked to sit in her stroller, because she didn't feel well. We get back to the room and she has a fever of 102.3. We gave her Tylenol and put her to bed. At 3am she woke with a fever of a whopping 103.8. With each tenth-degree uptick, I said, "Oh no, Mark! Oh no," and willed it to stop before 104 degrees. She was doing okay this morning, but her fever rose again on the plane ride home and is blazing tonight. So, not the best way to end things, but at least she didn't fall ill during the action. Fingers crossed this is just a quick virus!

So, those are the main deets on our Disney World/first family vacation! Going into this whole thing, I really believed  this would be a one and done kind of trip, but now I don't know. I could definitely see us going back when Nick is a few years older--say around the time the new Star Wars section is finished, perhaps? That may be just enough to get Mark back on board!