Friday was our 10th wedding anniversary. It may seem amazing that we’ve made it this far but love has kept us together for 10 years so far and we’re planning on keeping it that way for a long, long time. We spent our anniversay day at the Magic Kingdom again to hopefully see the rest of the lands (Frontierland, Adventureland, and Liberty Square). We did manage to get through them. We passed on Splash Mountain as we were only going to do that one to get cooled off. Well, the daily Orlando rain popped right in and we got caught in the downpour. All of us were literally soaked. We rode more attractions that day. We even rode on Space Mountain. Jake enjoyed it but even though Abi and Ben survived, they vowed never to go on that one again.

We went back to our hotel to recuperate a bit (and change clothes) before heading back for the fireworks. Too tired to go out somewhere, I let Mandy take a nap in the hotel room and I took the kids out to dinner at some swanky fast food restaurant. I brought back Mandy’s and my own dinners to the hotel and set up the table for a “romantic” dinner while the kids watched some television quietly. Dad, I told you that it’s not tradition unless it happens at least twice in a row… Well, I guess you told me so. But at least I stepped it up a notch and had it at a nice hotel. Let’s ignore the fact that 4 children were with us. (more…)

Part 4? This is becoming quite an epic! Yesterday was Ben’s 8th birthday. What a big guy he’s getting to be. He had a great time, well, because he got to spend it in the Magic Kingdom! The weather did us fairly well as it was overcast and a bit showery which was just dandy. The rain felt good in the midst of the 90 degree heat and crowds of people. We rode the ferryboat over and Abi just beamed excitement when she saw Cinderella’s castle across the lake. After getting onto Main Street USA, we tried on the various hats in the hat shoppe before going down the street for a photo op in front of the castle. We then pretty much went through the entire east side of the park which included Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We rode lots of rides like the Mad Tea Party (probably our favorite), Dumbo, Goofy’s Barnstormer (which was Nick’s first rollercoaster), and the Speedway.

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Rain spoiled our plans for another boat ride and the beach on Monday. Instead I believe it was a day out at lunch at the Cracked Egg (they definitely believe in big meals, was so full) and then a bit of grocery shopping for the trip up to Orlando and home. After work, Steve and Holly came back to the house and surprised Ben with an early birthday cake. This one had a cone from their ice cream shop and frosting to simulate his favorite flavor there, “blue goo.” Good cake and fun on the Wii was had as Mary’s boyfriend wanted a rematch in Brawl. We then tried to get some things packed and some sleep to prepare for the drive to Lake Buena Vista on Tuesday.

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