OUR FIRST MAGICAL EXPERIENCE

We have never been to DisneyLand as a family.  In fact, the last time I went, I was a senior in high school. So, it has been MANY YEARS coming for us to hit the famed Disney theme park.  But why go to Disney Land, when you can go to Disney World, right???

Taylor is ultra against the cost and headache, so I always figured if I were to go, it would just be me and the kids, trekking to California.  Last year, his company Visible Equity had a conference in Disney Land and paid for all the families to go.  We didn't plan well and Naomi was born right in the middle of the conference.  We discussed all the ways Taylor could go and still take the boys, but it just wasn't good timing.  But, we were blessed and this year, VE conference was in FLORIDA!!  His company paid for the flights and the AMAZING hotel and we covered the theme park fee.  DEAL!  SOLD!

 As much as we adore Mimi, we figured the trip would be much more fun without her... So we begged Grandma and Heather to watch her while we were gone.  She had almost as much fun as us with her new family. (see next post) We said the only rule was that she couldn't learn to walk while we were gone, and Aunt Heather did a good job holding her most the week so she wouldn't practice at all!! :) 

And were off on a Jet Plane.  The boys were excited to fly again.

 Taylor, Not so excited to fly.....

 When I say this vacation couldn't have been better, lets just say we had a driver waiting for us with our names when we got out of baggage claim.  We are high rollers like that.  Or at least Visible Equity is. :)

 The boys pumped to be in a sweet sprinter van.

We stopped on the way to the hotel and bought some Chik fil A.  That was a perk in and of itself.  the driver even let us eat in the car.  What was he thinking?!

All of us in the elevator on our way to the first Disney Theme park.



One of our favorite things were all the shows.  The monsters inc comedy show (3D glasses below) was one of the favorites at magic kingdom.  Of course space mountain had to be ridden 3 times just because we had fast passes.

The first day there we started out at Magic Kingdom but came home for lunch and I had to FORCE them back to the park for the evening.  They found the cool pools at the hotel and would have been happy to stay there the whole trip.

 The pool was also on the beach.  The pool had people playing games with them while they swam.  Perfect for me to sit on my lounge chair and watch. :)

 Nate didn't even make it through dinner that day, but luckily his little nap rejuvenated him for the light show that night.

 A couple pictures of the light show at magic kingdom.  Cool enough we could see the fireworks from our hotel room.  Like I said, the boys didn't want to ever leave the hotel!!!

 The next day, Taylor had meetings and so I took the boys to downtown disney to play.  It was a perfect day 2.  They had the largest arcade I've ever seen and everything was included with our wristband... sweet.

They had a fun racing game that all the boys could connect and race against each other. They played that over and over.

 We took a break to eat lunch (over looking downtown disney) and headed back to the arcade.  It was like a little village and they had some super great shops.  The boys spent time at the lego store of course and built race cars and actually had a course to try out the dynamics.

Here's little video of the actual race! BROTHER'S LEGO RACE

 A little stop at the Harley store to take a few cool pictures....

The shuttle ride home was exhausting!  You know it's been a good day when they haven't even eaten dinner yet and this is how they feel.

 Taylor's work had rented out a cool building in the Epcot Center for dinner.  We think we liked the The dinner was good and fun.  And the live entertainment was a hit with all the VE guests too.

 After dinner, we had dessert in a sectioned off terrace with front row seats to watch the light show and fireworks at the Epcot center.  SOOO COOL. Click here to see it: EPCOT NIGHT SHOW

 So glad we have tomorrow to really explore the whole Epcot center.

Day three...  We spent the morning at Animal Kingdom

 The exhibits and shows were pretty fun there. We liked the bird show and the bugs life ride/show.

 And we felt like we really were in Aftica as we took the safari trip!

 Kind of looks like the tree of life. Good photo op for us!  The boys favorite ride at Animal Kingdom was the dinasour one and the avalanche mountain.

After lunch (and a swim) we grabbed Taylor and headed back to the Epcot Center.  This time, we were smart and rented a stroller.  Kept the boys much happier while strolling around the park.

 Test Track... was super cool and the boys built their own cars and then raced them while driving them.  Pretty cool, eh?

 The aquarium had a some fun exhibits and a really fun nemo comedy show the boys interacted in.

 For dinner this night, we went to ITALY.  Of course we picked a place that we all would eat. :)  PIZZA.  And since it was Luke's big 10 Birthday... they gave him a little song and dance with our meal.  I'll post more about his birthday in his own post.  But he was a good sport to let us all celebrate on our trip.

 Another fun Filled day.  We are sad to say goodbye to disney... but we still get 3 more days at the beach, and if you know us Nadaulds... we won't complain about that!

Nate spent most the time cuddled up with me on the beach.

Sam became a true boogie boarder

Luke did some good surfing

Jake also really enjoyed surfing and we rented both the big boys boards for the day.

Happy fish Family at the CoCo Beach in florida.  Now, this is the magical place for us! Click here to see the boys in action: CATCHING A WAVE

 I took up my favorite spot at the beach (staying dry), while Taylor took up his spot playing in the Ocean with the boys. 

 Lucky for us... a huge microburst came through and we about died.  Not really, but it was pretty cool watching the storm roll in.  We played most the day, so no one was too upset when we had to leave.

 This was the short walk from our hotel (the yellow building in the back) to the beach.  Yet another awesome part of our trip. :)

 INSIDE OUT kept us entertained while we were taking cover from the rain.  Can you tell all of their different emotions?

Good thing we love each other, because we all slept pretty snug in the hotel at the beach (not quite as spacious as our Disney Suite)!

We made it to church the next morning (didn't get a picture of that - bummer) and then headed to the airport.  After a total survey of the Nadaulds, the only negative part of the trip was the water.  Kind of tasted like fish water.  We don't do fish. :)

Thanks Visible Equity for planning a great family trip.  We'll remember it for years I'm sure!