a HILL of a good time.........: M-I-C-K-E-Y .. Round 2 // 7.2015

Round 2...

THIS was a very common sight, these kiddos were exhausted. That was really my master plan everyday because I didn't want to fight bedtime. And yes, they slept in their clothes sometimes. I don't like to fight the petty stuff.

Back in their spot. They really did love this spot.

Day three was Animal Kingdom. This was my favorite! But it started out a little scary. Of course I have a story! As we were walking in I see a little girl, maybe 5 years-old, wandering around. I keep a close eye on her as I didn't see any adults around. I knew my parents had my kids so I held back for a bit to make sure she was ok. She looked up at me with massive crocodile tears in her eyes. I asked her where her mommy was and she wouldn't answer me. I knew at this moment, my momma instincts were correct and I took her by the hand and headed over to the kiosk of Disney employees. The hubs noticed what was going on and went off on a mission to find her momma. I stayed back with the little girl. The entrance is lined with stores and the hubs got to one about 40 yards away from me to hear a terrified momma screaming out her kiddo's name. He quickly found her and told her we had her little girl and everything was ok. By the time she got to me and her little girl, she too was in tears.... and yes, so was I. How scary to think you could lose your kid at Disney. Do you know how many people there are?!?! This quickly turned into a brief safety lesson for my kiddos, not that we hadn't talked it 8,902,948,949 times before and during this trip.

Now that we got that out of the way, back to the fun! This tree was very cool. Yes, I am aware it is fake but it was still super cool!

He isn't fake. Oh no, ladies, he is allllllllll mine.

Yep, 100% mine.

Ok fine, you can have him. Bahahaha!!

I love this. Chaz was looking at the river boats going under the bridge. Baby brother wasn't tall enough to see so he decided to peak through the spaces in the brick. Adorable!!

Thank goodness for Papas!

And the "take a picture of me with this" kid is back! Don't mind the pesky little brother who wants his own spot.

Really now, didn't I tell you to take him! :) Such the ham! I wonder where my kiddos get it.

Chip off the old block!

I am pretty sure we sat and watched the monkey's for a good 30 minutes. They were a riot!

This may have been the scariest animal I saw there!

And then we saw tigers.

This guy was attempting to eat a watermelon. The kids loved watching it!

Mesmerized.

He loved the tigers! I love how he is holding his daddy's face. It looks all sweet and innocent but it was really his way of turning his head so he would look at what HE wanted him to look at. Hilarious!

We got to see these two battle it out.

And then back to the tiger who looked like he really wanted to eat those last two guys. Now wouldn't THAT have made an interesting story and completely traumatized my kids.

And then we ventured through the trail of the bird sanctuary. I am pretty sure Chaz made me take pictures of every bird he saw. I finally gave him and handed over my camera. He does a pretty decent job with it!

I was seriously in awe of this tree. It was SO cool!!

The boys were pretty excited when we saw Kind Louie and Baloo. The Jungle Book is one of our favs!

Yeah we did!! But it was just us two because the littlest dude was throwing a fit and the "handlers" of Baloo and the King were rushing everyone.

And then we hoped aboard the BEST RIDE EVER!!! The safari. It was SO cool and the boys LOVED it!!

That is a big ol' bunch of hippos!

Birds. Guess who made me take this picture. His obsession with birds was a little out of control this week.

Crocs!

These are my mom's favorite! They were beautiful!

Little baby!

Dane kept telling me the elephants were "HUUUUUUUGE"

Chaz was begging for me to get a picture of them flapping their ears. Here ya go!

I have never seen flamingos this white! They weren't what I was expecting but they were certainly beautiful!

Stubborn things would NOT turn around.

I loved seeing this. They may not always be nice to each other, nor were my brother and I, but when it comes down to it, he is his protector. My heart may have exploded a little!

Oh and he wasn't head palming him, he was turning him so he could see everything. HA!

SO beautiful!!

After the safari, we headed to see some more animals. Dane was my spotter as I tried to get a picture of the manatee swimming. I love these animals!

Chaz took part in a scavenger hunt with some of the other kiddos.

Probably my favorite part of day. We happened upon these little gorilla babies. They were wrestling and it was a riot!

He looks like he is in pain but he isn't they were just being typical siblings.

This was a little creepy for him bu he also found it fascinating.

He really liked this part! here were a bunch of "hey mom, take a picture of this" moments!

And of course we found a place to play. The Hills ALWAYS find a place to play!

Including, and usually lead by, this Hill.

Yes, if you are noticing, the big guys went first... followed by the kiddos. He is my first born, always.

This kid has ZERO fear.

This cute "little" dude was just hanging out. I am pretty sure he was lifesize.

You think he wants to ride this one??

And this one was about spent.

We rode that dinosaur ride and then we found these crazy dudes. So fun!! The staff photographer obviously didn't know how to focus my camera... HA! And yes, I totally got a selfie with Goofy!

The selfies from my phone are seriously my favorite part of the trip!! SO FUN!!!

Love Dane's little face in this one!!

Once we were done with our selfie experience, Papa was waiting with some tickets to play games. Of course they chose a shooting game, they are boys!! Chaz had to take off his hat so he could shoot better. HAHAHA!!

This is probably one of my favorite games. Note: I am not very good and it freaks my anxiety out but I still love it. Usually I don't get to play, I just take the pictures. #momlife

Trying to get the 3 year-old to wait while holding a ball is really, really hard.

We decided to head out and go back to the resort. Everyone told me they were NOT tired.

Back at the resort....

Needless to say, we rested a bit before heading to Downtown Disney for dinner. I won't even go into explaining the mess of trying to get to the boat ride but we did make it and it was fantastic. Aren't they stinkin' adorable??!?!

The rest of the little crew. Loves them all!!

I seriously am so in love with their love. Everyone could learn a thing or two from these two. They are simply amazing.

After a delicious dinner, my parents headed back to the resort to rest. Have I mentioned how awesome they are for doing this Diney trek with us?!?! Troopers!!!

We had to hit the Lego store. This guy was there and oh so fun. Yes, I will admit it, I had panic running through me thinking about how Captain DANEstructo could really make a mess of something like this.

And Buzz.

Crazy kids!!

He got tired pretty quickly.

Soooo, this is a funny thing. We were out of beer at the room so the hubs decided to google the closest place to buy beer. He was so excited when it said it was "5 minutes away" He took Dane and the stroller (thinking maybe Dane would fall asleep on the walk) to go. Chaz and I hung back and went through some of the stores and took some pictures in front of the Lego dragon.

Organizing his smashed pennies. He was so proud of his collection.

About 45 minutes later, Daddy and Dane were back. I don't think it was a quick 5 minute walk. So then we had to trek to the other end of Downtown Disney and over to the boat with beer, shopping bags and two very tired kiddos. We made it back but it was not without some struggles. HA!

The last day and it was back to the Magic Kingdom.

Of course we went back to the Buzz Lightyear ride, it was our favorite!!

As we rounded out of Tomorrow Land we happened upon a performance. Nice timing!!

I am pretty sure I was enjoying this part more than the kiddos.

Dane really pepped up when he saw Captain Hook. I think this was more of a Jake and the Netherland Pirates, but whatever.

Then we headed over to the side of the park we didn't make it to the first day. First up, Swiss Family Robinson treehouse!

Too small hat and WAY too much hair but I love this guy so much!!!

Notice the little brother's arms and legs, big brother was in major protector mode.

This is hilarious. This camel "spits" water. You don't really notice until you get hit and then you realize there are kids standing around waiting on the camel.

This kiddo was all about getting his picture taken this day. Such the poser.

It was SUPER hot this day and he was not having my selfie on the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride.

This is as good as it is going to get. I am sure I promised him something or threatened something. That is how I get things done.

Yes, Gaga and Papa rode it too.

No, they didn't just ride with Ryan, you can see the top of Dane's head in this one. #shortguyproblems

Yes, they are trying to get spit on by the camel .

Next up was the jungle cruise. Dane was in awe of our tour guide. He was so funny!

Yes, I tried to convince the kids that this was real. At that point, Chaz stole my camera and started taking close ups so he could tell. Smart kid!!

He did pretty good. Not the most focused pictures but still pretty good for a seven year-old.

Mom and Dad headed back to the resort, I am pretty sure we wore them out over these five days. We stayed back, did a little shopping, caught our first Orlando mid day rain shower of the trip -- good thing I packed 18 disposable ponchos! Didn't use a single one.

When we were leaving we decided to try, try is a very good word to use here, to get a picture in front of the Mickey shrubs. Here are the results. You.are.welcome.

This is as good as it gets.

But this was super fun. Yes, I trust him. He has been tossing our kiddos for 7+ years.

And the kiddo was loving it.

He isn't tired. He told me so. He promised. Nope, not tired at all!

When we got back, after a short rest, we decided to hang by the pool. He had a blast!

Yes, this is what he is grinning about. Noting like a daddy concocted game. Also known as have the kids lean on the edge of the pool and them yank them as hard and fast as you can.

They loved it and the hubs was getting a workout. Double bonus!

This kid thought it was fantastic to let the fountain hit him in the face. Such a goof.

I'm fairly sure you are not suppose to ride on Donald.

Why wouldn't they sit on a fountain? Again, goofy kids.

This face. I can't even handle the cuteness.

Then it was time to kick it on the slide.

He comes up smiling. LOVE!

Oh yeah, there is the big kid.

He was having a blast. And no, he doesn't have armpit hair even though this picture would lead you to believe else wise.

That night we got a date night and headed to a fancy dinner at Epcot. Loves him so!

If you know me, you know I love to people watch and often snap shots of randomness I see. I didn't do a great job on this trip because all my focus was on the short people but while waiting for our reservation I got to see this.... If your heels hurt and you are going to end up barefoot in Epcot, you probably don't want to wear the painful shoes. Don't worry girl, you will learn this later in life. You should also think twice about wearing heels to Disney.

Dinner was fantastic and my date wasn't too shabby himself.

The next morning, we headed to downtown Disney to do a little shopping. I may or may not have promised the kiddos that they could do the build your own Mr Potato Head.

But first we have to play because we got there super early and the shops weren't open yet.

There was a little teacup ride that Chaz was really wanting to ride.

Why wouldn't you smush two littles and a grown man in a tiny little teacup. Note, the hubs didn't ask to ride the attendant said it was required because Dane was three. I am pretty sure he was safe without his daddy! Note-- it was a muggy 90+ degrees already at this point.