M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Earlier this month, Brad had a convention with his new company Capital Choice at the Swan and Dolphin Disney Resort which is on the Disney "compound"! I couldn't resist taking the boys so we loaded up the Ex and headed down south with him. We had to wait until I got off work Wednesday afternoon to leave, so it was really late before we arrived- almost 11. I was hoping to get the pack n play set up and put them both to bed, but Braden was so excited when we got there which just made Parker super excited so they spent the next hour or so bouncing from bed to bed, checking out the room and talking non stop about seeing Mickey! We fianlly got Braden down, but Parker refused to sleep in his pack n play and Brad and I spent the night trying to get him to sleep. At that moment I wanted nothing more than to be back in Georgia where my baby could sleep peacefully in his own bed!

After getting a few hours of sleep we all felt better and while Brad was at his seminar, I loaded up the boys and we headed out to the pools- there were 5 or 6 including one with a slide, a grotto, and 3 hot tubs. My little fish, Braden, headed straight for the water, but Parker was content to just watch from the side and eat and eat and eat and stalk the other guests. After afew hours at the pool we headed up to the room so Parker could nap and Braden and I could get some rest. After Parker's nap, we showered and got ready for dinner then went out to the "beach"- a huge sand area beside a small lake that had an awesome playground. The boys had so much fun playing- Braden made a friend of course and Parker prefered to play solo, stacking giant checkers on top of each other!

Friday was THE DAY Braden had been waiting for- we were going to meet Mickey Mouse! Brad had a morning session, so I got the boys ready and out we headed. Since we were at a Disney resort they offered a shuttle to the Magic Kingdom- which we took, but it ended up being the WRONG one! So after a wasted hour (although Parker was able to get a nap which was nice) and another shuttle and a brief brisk walk we arrived at the Magic Kingdom! Braden was beyond excited! The weather was nice and overcast, so it wasn't too hot and it even rained on us a little, but it always happened when we were under cover or headed under cover, so it wasn't too bad! Brad and Braden visited the Swiss Family Tree House while I stayed back with Parker, but other than that attraction we all did everything as a family which was nice. We rode Aladin's Magic Carpet Ride and the camel "spit" on us and we got wet, we rode It's a Small World, Dumbo, The Carousel, visited Mickey(Braden was so excited!) in the Hall of the Presidents, ate awesomely big hot dogs at Casey's Corner and then dinner at Pinochios's Village Haus, watched the show on Cinderella's Castle, wathced fireworks and visited a souvineer shop, but the best part was watching the parade with all of Braden's favorite characters and seeing his face light up! It was a great day and one that we will remember for a very long time...yes it was magical!

Saturday we spent the day at the pool then went to dinner. After dinner we walked to the Disney Boardwalk and looked at all of the shops. The best part was that we got to ride the ferry back to the hotel and Braden hasn't stopped talking about it yet! Sunday morning we left as early as possible- we had a great trip, but we were ready to get back to our own seperate rooms and beds! I know that Parker won't remember a bit of our trip, so we'll be headed back to Disney one day, but I hope that Braden will at least have some special memories that we created!

This face made the whole trip worth every mile, every sleepless hour, every meltdown- because this was what I imagined- pure joy on his face and in his heart!