On Thursday evening we loaded up our car to drive to the airport.  We had found a nice cheap flight for our trip ($152 per person, round trip) but we had to drive to an airport 3 hours away.  Our flight was leaving at 5:50am on Friday, so we thought we would drive up on Thursday night.

We left around 10pm and Hailey went right to sleep.  We stopped when we were about 40 minutes from the airport so that Rich and I could sleep a little too.  But then Hailey woke up around 1:30am and was wide awake and would not stop talking.  Eventually we figured we would just go the rest of the way to the airport.

We hung out in an empty airport until the we could go through security.  Hailey kept herself occupied with her MobiGo but had no interest in going back to sleep.

Finally on the airplane!!  Hailey slept some on our first flight.  She woke up before we landed and when she looked out the window during landing it made her sick.  Thankfully I was ready with the barf bag.  During our second flight she was sound asleep the whole time and didn’t get sick at all!

Posing in the Orlando airport.

Waiting at the longest red light ever in front of our resort while we were on the Magical Express.

Finally there!!

When we got to our room these 2 lovely bird type things were hanging around outside our building.

After some lunch and a nice nap for Hailey and Rich (while I organized the room) we headed off to Magic Kingdom.

When we walked in Pluto was there signing autographs.

Pluto and Hailey

Us

Then we had to stop and see Chip and Dale

Posing with Chip and Dale.  Dale is pulling on one of Hailey’s braids.

Us in front of the castle.  I have no idea why Hailey’s face looks like that- she really was excited to be there!!  See the crane in the background behind the castle?  Apparently they are already putting up lights for Christmas time.

We got there just in time to see the Dream-Along with Mickey show.

Some more of the show.

Then it was time for the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party.

Hailey got the dance with Chip.

Then we went on our first ride of the trip- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

Hailey was begging to go on Splash Mountain, since she spent the last year hoping she’d be tall enough to go on it.  But we had a dinner reservation to get to so we decided to wait.

Hailey waiting for the train.

Then we were off to ‘Ohana for dinner.  Since ‘Ohana means family they treat you like family there and everyone is cousins.  It’s so much fun!  When Rich and I ate there for our anniversary we loved it, so we just had to go again.  The food didn’t seem as good this time, but it was still pretty yummy.

Hailey had fun in the parade.

And the coconut race was cute.

On our way out of ‘Ohana.

After dinner we went over to Epcot to enjoy the Extra Magic Hours.  It was a little after 9pm when we got there.

Hailey wanted to go on one of the big rides and the wait time for Test Track wasn’t too bad, so we decided to give it a try.

Finally tall enough!!  Last year she was just a little under 40 inches and couldn’t go on some of the rides.  This year she was definitely tall enough!

Waiting in line for Test Track!

Sitting in the car waiting to go, looking a little nervous.

And she did NOT like the ride.  When it was over she said, “I didn’t like it Daddy, can we go on Nemo?”  She said it was too fast and she was scared.

We were pretty exhausted by this time- so we decided to end the night with Hailey’s favorite ride- Nemo

Hailey loves posing inside Bruce’s mouth.

Then we went back to our hotel and slept very soundly for the night!

Favorite of the day- Hailey picked The Seas With Nemo and Friends as her favorite ride.

Here are some more pictures from our trip to visit my brothers and my sister in law.

We celebrated Mike’s birthday while we were there.

Me with my brothers Mike (sitting) and Matt (standing).

Hailey had fun swimming with Pa and Uncle Matt while we were at Mike’s.

We played a really fun game at Matt and Ellie’s house (I can’t remember what it was called).  Rich had a good time acting out whatever he was acting out here.

Ellie, Hailey and my Dad having fun with the game.

Hailey with Tuxedo

Family picture (taken by Matt and Ellie’s camera)

We had lots of fun visiting with everyone!!

Back about a month ago we went on a little vacation to visit my brothers and sister in law.  On our way to visit them we stopped somewhere in Virginia and stayed over night.

Hailey enjoyed playing in the closet at the hotel.

Hailey had really been looking forward to going swimming.  So even though it was raining out Pa still took her in the pool.

After we left the hotel we stopped at a Safari park where the animals walk right up to your car and stick their heads in your windows hoping that you have bought some feed to give to them.  We had a blast- lots of laughs!

Hailey loved getting to feed the animals.

I loved the zebras.  I had never realized before that their stripes go right up onto their mane.

“Hello… is anyone in there??”

“Ahhhh yes, there you are.”

This little pig was so fat he had a hard time waddling over to the car.

After we finished the drive through part of the safari there was a part to walk through too.

Hailey had to pose for a picture every time she saw one of these.

My pretty little miss.

Cute little baby pigs.

On our actual anniversary we decided to go to Hollywood Studios.  At first we had thought we would skip going to Hollywood Studios.  While we enjoy Hollywood Studios it is not our favorite park.  But we had done the other 3 parks and felt like we should go to Hollywood Studios.

A quick pose on our way into the park.

I always want to go see American Idol when we’re there and have never been able to until this time.  I really enjoyed it!  I don’t know if Hailey will love it when we go back next month but I’m hoping to go again.

I didn’t take any pictures but I really enjoyed going through One Man’s Dream.  Since Hailey doesn’t have any interest in reading every little thing about Walt Disney we usually go through it pretty quickly.  This time I took my time and read every little tidbit of information.  It was so interesting!

I love Beauty and the Beast and we ate delicious sundaes while we watched.

Us on the Backlot Tour.  This was right before we got soaked.  We were in the front row of the tram and it looked a little cloudy when we started the tour.  A few minutes into the tour it just started pouring.  Since we were in the front row and with the direction the wind was blowing- the rain pretty much poured right into our laps.  We had to finish the tour in the pouring rain.  We were soaked!

There was no time to change our clothes before we went to dinner at Ohana- so we ate soaking wet in the air conditioning.  Fortunately we didn’t actually look wet, but I was freezing!  Even so it was definitely the best food I have ever eaten.  All of the food was amazing and the bread pudding we had for dessert was like nothing I have ever had before.  After we had stuffed ourselves so much that I felt like vomiting at the thought of ever eating again our waiter brought us a special plate of desserts from Kona in celebration of our anniversary.

It looks delicious to me now but at the time we could barely even try the yumminess.

After dinner we went back to Hollywood Studios.  We were able to see a few more things and ride Toy Story Mania.  It had a 3 hour wait but thanks for our fast passes we only waited about 20 minutes.

We watched the Rock N’ Glow band play for a while and enjoyed that.  We weren’t able to see Fantasmic because it was full about 2 hours before showtime and we weren’t willing to wait that long, so we headed back to our hotel.

In the morning we went back to Magic Kingdom.

We rode my favorite ride- Splash Mountain a couple of times.

We enjoyed one of Rich’s favorite rides- the train.

Rich posing in front of Mickey’s house.

Me in front of Minnie’s house.  I can’t believe these houses will be gone when they redo Fantasyland.  We are going to have to take lots of pictures when we go back next month.

I just had to share this picture of us on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.  Can you see the look of concentration on my face as I try to defeat Zurg??

One last picture on our way out.

We relaxed by the pool back at our hotel for a couple of hours.

One last picture of Coronado Springs.

Then it was time to head home.  We had an amazing time and it was the perfect way to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We missed Hailey sooooo much but know it was good for us to go away by ourselves.  Hailey had a great time with her grandparents back at home and continues to ask me when we’re going away again so she can have her grandma and pa come and stay with her.